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 a pair of Serperior working together to defeat your opponent. Let's get started by taking a look at the deck list.
Double Serperior
LittleDarkFury
Pokemon
2 Bayleef 9
1 Fezandipiti ex 142
2 Chikorita 8
2 Meganium 10
3 Serperior 6
1 Serperior ex 3
3 Servine 2
4 Snivy 4
2 Teal Mask Ogerpon ex 25
Trainers
2 Boss's Orders 183
4 Bug Catching Set 143
1 Dawn 87
1 Energy Switch 173
4 Forest of Vitality 188
1 Lana's Aid 155
4 Lillie's Determination 119
1 Max Rod 116
1 Night Stretcher 196
4 Poké Pad 81
3 Rosa's Encouragement 84
1 Special Red Card 82
2 Ultra Ball 131
Energy
11 Grass Energy
Serperior POR 6 is the main attacker for this deck. You'll usually want to use its Solar Coiling attack, which deals 100 damage to your opponent's Active Pokémon. This isn't a great ratio of damage to the amount of Energy needed to use this attack, but Solar Coiling deals an additional 150 damage if you have a copy of Rosa's Encouragement POR 84 in your discard pile. That changes the ratio entirely, making this attack so much better. The real trick will be to get a copy of Rosa's Encouragement POR 84 into your discard pile.
Serperior ex BLK 3 helps your attacks deal additional damage due to its Regal Cheer Ability. Dealing an extra 20 damage can be the difference between Knocking Out an opposing Pokémon, or leaving it alive long enough to perform a massive counterattack. Serperior ex BLK 3 also has the Command the Grass attack which can be a nice backup attack, netting you 3 cards from your deck in the process. Teal Mask Ogerpon ex TWM 25 also makes for a terrific backup attacker. Its Teal Dance Ability allows you to accelerate your Energy attachment, which in turn allows its Myriad Leaf Shower attack to deal additional damage.
Meganium MEG 10 is included in this deck for the use of its Wild Growth Ability which doubles the effectiveness of your Basic Grass Energy cards. Each of these will provide two Grass Energy instead of one, enabling you to use more powerful attacks more quickly and more easily than your opponent.
Found in most Standard decks is Fezandipiti ex ASC 142, which is included for the use of its Flip the Script Ability. After suffering a Pokémon Knock Out, Flip the Script allows you to draw some extra cards, helping to catch you up and keep you in the game.
While Rosa's Encouragement POR 84 can only be played if you have more Prize cards remaining than your opponent, getting it into your discard pile is important in order for this deck to deal the maximum amount of damage possible. It lets you attach up to 2 Basic Energy cards from your discard pile to 1 of your Stage 2 Pokémon (like Serperior POR 6). Energy acceleration is never a bad thing. Getting your Stage 2 Pokémon into play as quickly as possible is also important for this deck. Luckily, there's a playset of Forest of Vitality ASC 188 included to help out with this problem. While this Stadium might also help your opponent, the benefits you receive will almost certainly make playing it worthwhile.
Max Rod PRE 116, the ACE SPEC for this deck, does a great job of returning Pokémon or Basic Energy from your discard pile to your hand. It's five times as effective as Night Stretcher ASC 196 which does the same thing as Max Rod PRE 116, just on a smaller scale. In a similar manner, Lana's Aid TWM 155 also returns Basic Energy and Pokémon from your discard pile to your hand, but the Pokémon she can return are limited to not having a Rule Box.
Bug Catching Set TWM 143, Poké Pad POR 81, and Ultra Ball MEG 131 are all useful in helping you find the Pokémon you need from your deck. Bug Catching Set TWM 143 has the added benefit of being able to find Basic Grass Energy cards as well. Please note that Ultra Ball MEG 131 requires you to discard 2 other cards from your hand in order to play it. This is the only way this deck has of getting Rosa's Encouragement POR 84 into your discard pile without playing her from your hand.
playing Dawn PFL 87 is a fantastic way to find a Basic Pokémon, a Stage 1 Pokémon, and a Stage 2 Pokémon to put into your hand. Remember that the Pokémon you find with Dawn PFL 87 don't have to come from the same evolution line, so you can fill in any gaps you might have. If you're not able to search for what you need, you can always play Lillie's Determination MEG 119, the premier was to draw a new hand of cards currently in Standard. You might find just what you need when you draw a new hand with this Supporter.
Since you'll want to be as efficient as possible with your attacks, you can play Boss's Orders ASC 183 to choose which of your opponent's Pokémon you want to attack. Try to choose a Pokémon that will provide you with multiple Prize cards when it is Knocked Out, if possible. Energy Switch SVI 173 can be a great way of moving extra Energy you've attached with Teal Mask Ogerpon ex TWM 25's Teal Dance Ability to your Active Serperior POR 6, or vice versa. The final card in this deck, Special Red Card CRI 82, is included as a means of slowing your opponent down if they've gotten the jump on you in taking Prize cards. By reducing the number of cards they have in their hand, you can often gain momentum over the next few turns, especially if they aren't able to draw any cards to help them manipulate the cards they have in their hand.
Wrapping Up
While Serperior POR 6 requires you to get a copy of Rosa's Encouragement POR 84 into your discard pile for it to deal its maximum amount of damage, in my opinion, the juice is worth the squeeze. Yes, there might be other decks that hit harder from the get-go, but I happen to like playing Grass Decks, which makes this deck perfect for someone like me to try out.
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 Pokémon TCG. I'll see you then!
- Mike Likes
