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 Jellicent ex WHT 45, a Pokémon that might make your opponent concede when you play it. Let's get started by taking a look at the deck list.
Jellicent ex Revisited
LittleDarkFury
Pokemon
1 Bloodmoon Ursaluna ex 141
1 Budew 16
1 Dudunsparce 129
1 Dudunsparce ex 121
2 Dunsparce 128
3 Dusclops 36
1 Dusknoir 37
3 Duskull 35
3 Frillish 44
2 Jellicent ex 45
2 Latias ex 76
1 Lillie's Clefairy ex 56
1 Meowth ex 62
Trainers
1 Boss's Orders 114
2 Buddy-Buddy Poffin 144
1 Counter Gain 169
3 Hilda 84
2 Lacey 139
4 Lillie's Determination 119
2 Mystery Garden 122
2 Night Stretcher 196
4 Poké Pad 81
2 Pokégear 3.0 186
1 Secret Box 163
3 Special Red Card 82
4 Ultra Ball 131
Energy
3 Ignition Energy 86
4 Telepathic Psychic Energy 88
Jellicent ex WHT 45 has the Oceanic Curse Ability, which makes it so that your opponent can't play any Item cards or Pokémon Tool cards from their hand while Jellicent ex WHT 45 is in your Active Spot. Assuming their deck is like most other decks played in Standard, they'll need to be able to play Items to search their deck for Pokémon and Energy they need and to swap their Active Pokémon with one from their Bench. Plus, if you attach a Telepathic Psychic Energy POR 88 and an Ignition Energy WHT 86 to Jellicent ex WHT 45, you meet the Energy requirement Jellicent ex WHT 45 has that will allow it to deal extra damage when attacking.
Both Dusknoir PRE 37 and Dusclops PRE 36 have the Cursed Blast Ability, allowing them to Knock themselves Out in order to place damage counters on one of your opponent's Pokémon. This can be a terrific way of Knocking Out a Pokémon that has been hurt by an attack, but has retreated to the safety of the opponent's Bench. Your opponent will never feel that their Pokémon are safe while you have a copy of Dusknoir PRE 37 or Dusclops PRE 36 in play.
As a means of drawing extra cards, this deck utilizes the Run Away Draw Ability of Dudunsparce TEF 129. However, if you should need it, Dudunsparce ex JTG 121 can be a great backup attacker. While its Tenacious Tail attack is only effective if your opponent has some Pokémon ex in play, its Destructive Drill attack can be put to good use against any opposing Pokémon.
As a late game attacker, there are few Pokémon as good as Bloodmoon Ursaluna ex TWM 141. With its Seasoned Skill Ability, you'll often be able to attack with its Blood Moon attack for very little to no Energy attached. In a similar way that Bloodmoon Ursaluna ex TWM 141 is a great late game attacker, there's no one better as an early game attacker than Budew ASC 16. Its Itchy Pollen attack prevents your opponent from playing any Item cards from their hand, similar to Jellicent ex WHT 45's Oceanic Curse Ability.
The final remaining Pokémon in the deck all have the capability of attacking, but they are primarily included for the use of their helpful Abilities. Latias ex SSP 76 has the Skyliner Ability, providing your Basic Pokémon a way to Retreat for free. Lillie's Clefairy ex JTG 56's Fairy Zone Ability is a specific counter to some popular decks. It changes the Weakness of your opponent's Dragon Pokémon to be a Weakness to Psychic. Finally, Meowth ex POR 62 has the Last-Ditch Catch Ability, which allows you to search your deck for a Supporter card to put into your hand when you play Meowth ex POR 62 onto your Bench.
One great Supporter you might want to find is Lillie's Determination MEG 119. She allows you to shuffle your hand into your deck and draw a new hand of 6 cards. You get to draw 8 cards instead if you have exactly 6 Prize cards remaining. She's excellent in the early game. For the late game, though, you'll likely want to draw Lacey SCR 139 instead. She also has you shuffle your hand into your deck, but you'll draw a new hand of 4 cards. If your opponent has 3 or fewer Prize cards remaining, you'll draw 8 cards instead. Another way to draw extra cards is by having Mystery Garden MEG 122 in play. You can then discard an Energy card from your hand in order to draw a number of cards equal to the number of Psychic Pokémon you have in play. You can't do this too often due to the limited amount of Energy in this deck, but if you're in desperate need for a certain card, this can help you find what you're looking for.
Like Lacey SCR 139, Special Red Card CRI 82 is another great late game card to play. It forces your opponent to shuffle their hand to the bottom of their deck and then draw 3 cards. This can really slow down your opponent's momentum, as the number of options they have suddenly drops.
Helping you find the Pokémon you need is the typical batch of Items most decks in Standard play. Buddy-Buddy Poffin TEF 144 can get you a pair of Basic Pokémon whose HP are 70 or less. Poké Pad POR 81 can find any Pokémon without a Rule Box. Finally, Ultra Ball MEG 131 can search for any Pokémon you need, but it comes with the added cost of needing to discard 2 cards from your hand when you play it.
Secret Box TWM 163 also has a major discard penalty, but this ACE SPEC will allow you to search for 4 cards that can help swing the game in your favor. Secret Box TWM 163 might not be able to search for Pokemon or Energy, but Hilda WHT 84 sure can. She allows you to find any Evolution Pokémon and any Energy card to put into your hand. The final search card is Pokégear 3.0 SVI 186, which technically only searches the top 7 cards of your deck. If you find a Supporter card there, you can put it into your hand, and, as you've already seen, there are a lot of great Supporter cards in this deck.
Speaking of great Supporter cards, Boss's Orders MEG 114 is one of the best. When you play Boss's Orders MEG 114, you get to move your opponent's Active Pokémon to their Bench, plus you get to choose a replacement to move into their Active Spot. Choose a Pokémon you're sure to be able to Knock Out for maximum effectiveness. Counter Gain SSP 169 is a terrific card to have when using Pokémon that have expensive Energy requirements to use their attacks. As long as you have more Prize cards remaining than your opponent has, you'll get a discount to the Energy needed to use the attacks of the Pokémon Counter Gain SSP 169 is attached to. The final card in the deck is Night Stretcher ASC 196. When you play this Item, you'll be able to put any Pokémon from your discard pile into your hand. Since there is no Basic Energy in this deck, Night Stretcher ASC 196 can only ever return a Pokémon, but since you know that in advance, it's easy to play around.
Wrapping Up
If you're able to prevent your opponent from playing Item cards during the early stages of the game, you'll often be able to get a big enough advantage over your opponent that will make it impossible for them to catch up to you. Even in the late game, though, locking your opponent out of being able to play Item cards (and Pokémon Tool cards) can be just as effective in giving you an advantage over your opponent.
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
