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 some new Pokémon with the Hide 'n' Sneak Ability and ways to capitalize on it. Let's get started by taking a look at the deck list.
Hide N' Sneak
LittleDarkFury
Pokemon
4 Banette 34
4 Dhelmise 39
3 Dudunsparce 129
3 Dunsparce 120
1 Lillie's Clefairy ex 76
4 Poltchageist 5
4 Shuppet 33
4 Sinistcha 6
1 Spiritomb 35
Trainers
2 Boss's Orders 183
3 Buddy-Buddy Poffin 184
3 Gwynn 78
4 Lillie's Determination 192
2 Night Stretcher 196
4 Poké Pad 81
3 Prism Tower 80
4 Ultra Ball 213
Energy
2 Basic Psychic Energy
1 Legacy Energy 167
4 Telepathic Psychic Energy 88
Dhelmise PBL 39 is one of the main attackers for this deck. Its Vengeful Anchor attack can be used for a single Psychic Energy. This attack deals 30 damage, but if you have 4 or more Pokémon in your discard pile that have the Hide 'n' Sneak Ability, it will deal 170 damage instead. Sinistcha PBL 6 is the other main attacker for this deck. It has the Hide 'n' Sneak Ability, which prevents all effects of your opponent's Pokémon's attacks and Abilities from affecting itself. It also has the Matcha Spin attack which can be very useful once you have 6 or more Pokémon that have the Hide 'n' Sneak Ability in your discard pile. This attack will place 4 damage counters on each of your opponent's Pokémon, setting up a big attack later on from our next Pokémon...
Spiritomb PBL 35 is the late game attacker whose Spiritual End attack will quadruple the number of damage counters on up to 2 of your opponent's Pokémon, as long as there are 13 or more Pokémon with the Hide 'n' Sneak Ability in your discard pile. This attack is a great way to be able to Knock Out both Pokémon at the same time, and for you to take multiple Prize cards.
Both Banette PBL 34 and Shuppet PBL 33 are primarily included in this deck because they have the Hide 'n' Sneak Ability. If you can avoid it, you won't want to put either of these Pokémon into play and should try to discard them whenever you can.
Dudunsparce TEF 129's Run Away Draw Ability is the best repeatable way this deck has of drawing additional cards. Drawing extra cards during a match is never a bad thing, and it will provide you with some card advantage over your opponent. The lone copy of Lillie's Clefairy ex ASC 76 is included in this deck for the use of its Fairy Zone Ability which changes the Weakness of your opponent's Dragon Pokémon to be a Weakness to Psychic. This makes fighting Dragon decks much easier.
In order to be able to discard cards from your hand so that you can meet the required number of Pokémon with the Hide 'n' Sneak Ability in your discard pile, this deck utilizes a variety of Trainer cards. Gwynn PBL 78 lets you discard up to 2 Pokémon that don't have a Rule Box. You'll then be able to draw 3 cards for each Pokémon you discard, which can help fill up your hand. Prism Tower CRI 80 is a Stadium (usable by both players) that allows you to discard 2 cards from your hand in order to draw 1 new card. Finally, Ultra Ball ASC 213 forces you to discard 2 cards in order to play it, but it also allows you to search your deck for any Pokémon you might need. It's one of the best ways of finding exactly what Pokémon you need from your deck, which is why it's a Standard staple card.
Buddy-Buddy Poffin ASC 184 and Poké Pad POR 81 round out the Trainer cards that you can use to help find the Pokémon you need. Buddy-Buddy Poffin ASC 184 has a pretty big restriction on what it can find, but there should be plenty of targets for it to find. With Poké Pad POR 81, you'll be able to get any Pokémon from your deck except Lillie's Clefairy ex ASC 76, making it almost as good as Ultra Ball ASC 213.
The final Trainers in this deck are more general purpose cards that are found in most decks. Boss's Orders ASC 183 offers you the means of choosing whichever of your opponent's Pokémon you would like to attack. Lillie's Determination ASC 192 is the best card in Standard when it comes to drawing you new cards during the match. Finally, Night Stretcher ASC 196 offers you a way to return any Pokémon or a Basic Psychic Energy from your discard pile to your hand. Use this to return one of your attackers back to play if they happen to get Knocked Out.
Wrapping Up
By playing cards that force you to discard other cards, you'll be able to fill up your discard pile with Pokémon that have the Hide 'n' Sneak Ability. This allows your attacks to begin dealing major damage, and it's very possible you could take all 6 of your Prize cards at once. If that sounds like fun to you, you should give this deck a try.
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
