Searching Standard: Hisuian Arcanine - Revisited

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 Hisuian Arcanine LOR 84, who can deal out a decent amount of damage without having any Energy attached. Let's get started by taking a look at the deck.

By attacking with its Very Vulnerable attack, Hisuian Arcanine LOR 84 will deal 10 damage to your opponent's Active pokemon. That's not great, even for an attack that doesn't require any Energy to use. However, if you manage to get all of the cards out of your hand before attacking, this attack will deal an additional 150 damage.

Skwovet SVI 151 is here to help make sure you have as few cards in hand as possible. By using its Nest Stash Ability, you'll be able to shuffle your hand into your deck and draw a single card. With a bit of luck, you can play that card before attacking with Hisuian Arcanine LOR 84. However, since it's important for you to be able to get the cards from your deck as quickly as possible, it's best to have Radiant Venusaur PGO 4 on your Bench. With its Sunny Bloom Ability, after you attack, you'll be able to draw cards from your deck until you have four in hand. Finally, since you'll want to have both Skwovet SVI 151 and Radiant Venusaur PGO 4 on your Bench, it can be useful to have Manaphy BRS 41 on your Bench as well. Its Wave Veil Ability will help protect all of your Benched Pokemon from taking any damage when your opponent attacks.

As additional attackers, this deck employs a variety of supplemental Pokemon. We'll look at them in a minute, but it's important that all of them rely on using the Phantom Transformation Ability of Zoroark EVS 103 to get into play. Each of these supplemental Pokemon is a different type, allowing you to attack into an opponent's Weakness.

Appletun EVS 121 is able to use its Thick Mucus attack, which is especially useful against an opponent using any Special Energy. Mightyena ASR 96 is able to attack with its Wild Tackle attack for free, if your opponent has any Pokemon VMAX in play. Raichu SIT 50 excels against an opponent that has used their VSTAR Power during the game. Finally, Hisuian Zoroark LOR 76 has the Doom Curse attack which it can use for free, which will automatically Knock Out your opponent's Defending Pokemon at the end of their next turn.

To get your Pokemon into play as quickly as possible, there are a variety of cards you can use. First is Battle VIP Pass FST 225, which is only useful on your first turn of the game. Next, there is Mesagoza SVI 178, which can let you search your deck for any Pokemon to put into your hand. This works for both players, so you might find that your opponent is able to benefit more from this effect than you are. Playing Nest Ball SVI 181 lets you put any Basic Pokemon from your deck directly onto your Bench.

Continuing with the ways to search for Pokemon, we come to Level Ball BST 129. This lets you search your deck for any Pokemon with 90 HP or less to put into your hand. That's only about half of the Pokemon in this deck, so you'll need to pay attention to the Pokemon you've already seen to be able to know what you can get. Both Great Ball SSH 164 and Ultra Ball SVI 196 can be used to put any Pokemon into your hand, however Great Ball SSH 164 only looks at the top seven cards of your deck, while Ultra Ball SVI 196 allows you to search your entire deck.

While the damage Hisuian Arcanine LOR 84's Very Vulnerable attack can do is impressive, you'll generally need two attacks to Knock Out some of your opponent's Pokemon. Both Grant ASR 144 and Choice Belt BRS 135 offer you the chance to increase the amount of damage you deal. Grant ASR 144 also helps you get rid of cards you have in your hand, as you can discard two cards in order to return Grant ASR 144 from your discard pile to your hand.

Making sure the damage you deal will be most effective is extremely important for this deck. By playing Boss's Orders BRS 132, you get to choose which of your opponent's Benched pokemon become their Active Pokemon, and can choose one you're sure to Knock Out. Escape Rope BST 125 is similar, except your opponent gets to choose which of their Pokemon moves, and you also have to switch one of your Pokemon. Make sure you have a powered up attacker before playing Escape Rope BST 125. Playing Switch SVI 194 lets you move your own Pokemon around, keeping a Pokemon that has taken damage from getting Knocked Out.

Arven SVI 166 is played in many Standard decks. He allows you to find a Pokemon Tool and an Item card from your deck to put into your hand. While the only Pokemon Tool in this deck is Choice Belt BRS 135, there are numerous Items that can be quite helpful. Hisuian Heavy Ball ASR 146 happens to be one of those helpful items, as it allows you to put a Pokemon that is in your Prize cards into your hand, replacing it in your Prizes with Hisuian Heavy Ball ASR 146. You could also search for Pal Pad SVI 182 with Arven SVI 166. Pal Pad SVI 182 lets you shuffle up to two Supporters from your discard pile back into your deck. We've already seen some very good Supporters, but there's a few more below.

Peony CRE 150 lets you discard your hand in order to search your deck for up to two Trainer cards to put into your hand. Keep in mind that you don't have to search for two. You could just search for one. Judge SVI 176 forces both players to shuffle their hands into their decks and draw four new cards. It's a great way to reset your opponent's hand, and can help you get some cards out of your current hand that you're not able to play or discard otherwise. Klara CRE 145 offers you a way to return up to two Pokemon from your discard pile to your hand. You'll most likely choose to get back a Hisuian Arcanine LOR 84 and Hisuian Growlithe ASR 70 that was previously Knocked Out.

Wrapping Up

I've previously written about a deck featuring Hisuian Arcanine LOR 84, nearly seven months ago. Since then, rotation has happened and a few new sets have been released. At that time, playing a deck featuring Hisuian Arcanine LOR 84 was a blast, and this new, updated version is as well. By featuring a Pokemon that requires no Energy for attacking, your opponent can never feel truly safe.

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