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 Espeon ex PRE 34, a Pokemon that is capable of devolving your opponent's Pokemon. Let's get started by taking a look at the deck list.
Espeon ex Deck
LittleDarkFuryPokemon
4 Blissey ex 134
4 Chansey 113
2 Eevee 133
2 Espeon ex 34
3 Munkidori 95
1 Umbreon ex 60Trainers
1 Artazon 171
4 Arven 166
2 Boss’s Orders 172
2 Cheren's Care 134
1 Earthen Vessel 163
2 Glass Trumpet 110
4 Iono 185
2 Nest Ball 181
2 Night Stretcher 61
3 Pokégear 3.0 186
1 Precious Trolley 185
2 Professor's Research 190
1 Rigid Band 165
1 Switch 194
1 Technical Machine: Turbo Energize 179
3 Ultra Ball 196Energy
4 Basic Darkness Energy
2 Basic Grass Energy
2 Basic Psychic Energy
4 Double Turbo Energy 151
Espeon ex PRE 34 is a great finisher for this deck, capable of devolving each of your opponent's Pokemon with its Amazez attack. When you use this attack, you'll shuffle the highest Stage Evolution of each of your opponent's Pokemon in play back into their deck. By timing this correctly, if those Pokemon have any damage on them, you may be able to Knock Out each of the Pokemon you just devolved. The lone copy of Umbreon ex PRE 60 is for use as a backup attacker, capable of dealing 160 damage plus Confusion with its Moon Mirage attack.
While Blissey ex TWM 134 can certainly be a backup attacker, the main purpose for including it in this deck is for the use of its Happy Switch Ability, allowing you to move a Basic Energy from one of your Pokemon to another Pokemon, once per turn. This can be a great way to quickly power up Espeon ex PRE 34's Amazez attack.
Any deck running Darkness Energy should include some copies of Munkidori TWM 95. When you use its Adrena-Brain Ability, you can move up to 3 damage counters from one of your Pokemon to one of your opponent's Pokemon, once per turn. By spreading the damage around on your opponent's team, you can set up a devastating Amazez attack by Espeon ex PRE 34.
Our first batch of Trainer cards are all here to help you find the Basic Pokemon you need. Precious Trolley SSP 185 can be a great way to find all of the copies of Chansey MEW 113 from your deck, setting things up for future turns. Both Artazon PAL 171 and Nest Ball SVI 181 also help you find Basic Pokemon, but Artazon PAL 171 can only be used to find Pokemon without a Rule Box, where Nest Ball SVI 181 can find any Basic Pokemon.
Rounding out our Pokemon searching tools is Ultra Ball SVI 196. This Item can find any Pokemon you need from your deck, but playing it requires you to discard two other cards.
Now that you know how to search for the Pokemon you need, our next group of cards all help you search for the Energy you need. Similar to Ultra Ball SVI 196, playing Earthen Vessel PAR 163 requires you to discard to use it, but you'll only need to discard one other card. Attaching Technical Machine: Turbo Energize PAR 179 to a Pokemon provides it with the Turbo-Energize attack, which can quickly power up your team. There's also a pair of Glass Trumpet PRE 110 that you can use to put additional Energy onto Blissey ex TWM 134, moving to your other Pokemon later on with the Happy Switch Ability.
Keeping up with our 'Trainers that allow you to search for something' theme, we come to Pokégear 3.0 SVI 186, which allows you to look at the top 7 cards of our deck for a Supporter card to put into your hand. Let's take a look at some of the great Supporters in this deck...
Arven SVI 166 offers you the means of searching your deck for an Item and a Pokemon Tool, giving you card advantage over your opponent. By playing Boss’s Orders PAL 172, you get to choose which of your opponent's you would like to attack. By choosing something that will give you multiple Prize cards once it is Knocked Out, you can gain quite an advantage over your opponent. Cheren's Care BRS 134 is a great way of helping you ensure that your Blissey ex TWM 134 doesn't get Knocked Out. It can also be a great way of moving it from your Active Spot if your opponent moves it there with their own play of Boss’s Orders PAL 172.
I mentioned card advantage earlier, and this next pair of cards can offer you a great amount of card advantage. Playing Professor's Research SVI 190 requires you to discard your current hand of cards, but it allows you to draw a new hand of 7 cards. It's the best way to refill your hand in Standard. Depending on how many Prize cards you've taken, playing Iono PAL 185 can also be a great way of refreshing your hand. Iono PAL 185 also resets your opponent's hand to the number of Prize cards they have remaining, so this can help slow down their momentum if they get too far ahead.
The final cards of this deck are more general purpose cards that you'll find helpful most of the time. Night Stretcher SFA 61 offers you a way of being able to reuse a Basic Energy or Pokemon from your discard pile. Rigid Band MEW 165 provides some extra defense for Blissey ex TWM 134 (or any of your Stage 1 Pokemon, really), allowing the Pokemon it is attached to to take 30 less damage from attacks. Finally, Switch SVI 194 offers you a bit of mobility, letting you exchange the placement of your Active Pokemon with a Pokemon from your Bench, without having to discard any Energy to pay a Retreat Cost.
Wrapping Up
Sequencing is very important for this deck, and knowing how much damage to move to your opponent's Pokemon can allow you to score multiple Knock Outs with a single use of Espeon ex PRE 34's Amazez attack. While this deck can excel against a deck relying on Evolution Pokemon, it also has the tools to defeat decks that focus on Basic Pokemon as well.
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
