Searching Standard: Dewgong Swim Freely

Hello and welcome to another episode of Searching Standard, where each and every week I look for new, innovative decks for you to play in Standard. This week, I'm looking at a deck that was recently featured on the YouTube channel of LittleDarkFury. It features Dewgong LOR 34, a Pokemon capable of Knocking Out any opposing Pokemon with a single attack. Let's get started by taking a look at the deck.

Dewgong LOR 34 has the Swim Freely attack, which, you'll soon see, is very important. Having this attack doesn't mean you'll actually want to use it, as it does very little damage to your opponent's Active Pokemon. Instead, you'll want to use Dewgong LOR 34's Floe Return attack, which deals 40 damage for each Water Energy you return from your Pokemon to your deck. Those Energy are shuffled back into your deck, allowing you to search for and play them again, dealing more damage with them on future turns. Now, if there was only some way to be able to attach as much Water Energy as we'd like each turn...

Oh yeah, there is! Thanks to Finneon LOR 40's Oceanic Accompaniment Ability, you can attach as much Water Energy from your hand to your Pokemon each turn as you'd like. You'll often want to attach as much as you can, so you'll be ready to Knock Out any threat, no matter how many HP they have.

Since the Energy used for Dewgong LOR 34's Floe Return attack gets shuffled back into your deck, you'll want to be able to draw it from there with ease. This deck utilizes Bibarel BRS 121's Industrious Incisors Ability to refill your hand to 5 cards each turn, providing you with lots of ways to draw that Energy you need (in addition to everything else you might need).

Additional ways of getting extra Water Energy into your hand include these cards. Earthen Vessel PAR 163 can search for two Water Energy, while Letter of Encouragement OBF 189 can help you find three, but only if you had a Pokemon get Knocked Out during your opponent's last turn. Cynthia's Ambition BRS 138 doesn't specifically help you find Energy, but it can be used to draw a bunch of cards which might happen to have Energy in them.

This next batch of cards all help you find the Pokemon you need. Both Artazon PAL 171 and Buddy-Buddy Poffin TEF 144 help you find Basic Pokemon from your deck, while Ultra Ball SVI 196 is best used to find the evolutions you need.

Additionally, Hyper Aroma TWM 152 can help you find up to 3 Stage 1 Pokemon from your deck to put into your hand. This is a great way to search out those Dewgong LOR 34 and Bibarel BRS 121 that are hiding, plus you get to look at your deck to see what might be hiding in your Prize cards.

By playing Iono PAL 185, you not only get to refresh your hand, but you also refresh your opponent's hand as well. This can be especially useful when they have taken multiple Prize cards, as they might only draw a new hand of 2 or 3 cards, which might not be their most important cards at the time. Irida ASR 147 is a great Supporter for this deck, helping you find a Water Type Pokemon plus an Item card. She can really get things started for you in a hurry. There's also three copies of Super Rod PAL 188 in this deck, which can be very helpful in returning Pokemon and Water Energy that has gone to your discard pile back to your deck.

The final pair of Trainer cards help you with mobility. Since you'll often be behind on taking Prize cards, playing Counter Catcher PAR 160 can be a great way to attack whichever Pokemon your opponent has that suits you best. You can take out one worth multiple Prize cards, catching you back up in no time. There's also a copy of Switch SVI 194 that you can use to move up a fully powered Pokemon to your Active Spot, or to reset your attacker if your opponent moves it back to your Bench.

Wrapping Up

Decks that are able to circumnavigate the rules concerning the amount of Energy you can normally attach each turn have the potential to be very powerful. That makes the one-two combination of Finneon LOR 40 and Dewgong LOR 34 so impressive.

What do you think of this deck? Do you have any suggestions for improvements? Let me know by leaving a comment below. And be sure to join me here again next week as I continue my search for innovative decks in the Pokemon TCG. I'll see you then!

- Mike Likes