Searching Standard: Marnie's Grimmsnarl ex

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 Marnie's Grimmsnarl ex DRI 136, a powerful Pokémon that benefits from a new ally from the latest release. Let's get started by taking a look at the deck list.

Marnie's Grimmsnarl ex
LittleDarkFury
Pokemon
  1 Psyduck 7
  2 Marnie's Grimmsnarl ex 136
  4 Munkidori 95
  3 Marnie's Impidimp 134
  2 Snorunt 51
  2 Froslass 53
  1 Budew 4
  2 Marnie's Morgrem 135
  1 Moltres 14
  1 Bloodmoon Ursaluna ex 141
Trainers
  4 Lillie's Determination 119
  2 Boss's Orders 114
  2 Spikemuth Gym 169
  1 Secret Box 163
  1 Artazon 171
  1 Air Balloon 79
  1 Buddy-Buddy Poffin 144
  1 Rare Candy 191
  1 Nest Ball 181
  1 Energy Search 172
  1 Ultra Ball 131
  3 Night Stretcher 61
  3 Iono 185
  1 Technical Machine: Devolution 177
  2 Counter Catcher 160
  2 Technical Machine: Evolution 178
  4 Arven 166
  1 Pokégear 3.0 84
  1 Super Rod 188
Energy
  1 Luminous Energy 191
  1 Fire Energy 2
  6 Darkness Energy 7

Marnie's Grimmsnarl ex DRI 136 is a powerful Pokémon that enables you to search for up to 5 Basic Darkness Energy cards to attach to your "Marnie's" Pokemon however you would like when it evolves, thanks to its Punk Up Ability. It also has a nice attack requiring only 2 Energy to use, Shadow Bullet, which deals 180 damage to your opponent's Active Pokémon and 30 damage to one of their Benched Pokémon.

As a means of countering Gholdengo ex, you can utilize Moltres PFL 14. Its Fighting Wings attack will deal 110 damage if your opponent's Active Pokémon happens to be a Pokémon ex. Due to Weakness, this will be doubled against Gholdengo ex, offering you a good chance of Knocking it Out right away due to the additional damage this deck can do.

Speaking of additional damage, that's just the role Froslass TWM 53 is here for. With its Freezing Shroud Ability, you'll place 1 damage counter on each Pokémon other than Froslass that has an Ability. This will include your own Pokémon, but fear not. That damage can be moved to your opponent's team with the help of Munkidori TWM 95's Adrena-Brain Ability.

As a finisher, there's few better than Bloodmoon Ursaluna ex TWM 141. Its Blood Moon attack can often be used for little to no Energy (thanks to its Seasoned Skill Ability) and it hits like a ton of bricks. Psyduck MEP 7 is included in this deck for its Damp Ability, which prevents any Pokémon Ability requiring that Pokémon to be Knocked Out in order to use it. Finally, the lone copy of Budew PRE 4 is a great early game attacker who can often keep your opponent from playing as efficiently as they normally would.

In any deck featuring Marnie's Pokémon, you're likely to see a copy or two of Spikemuth Gym DRI 169. There's no downfall in playing it as long as your opponent isn't also playing a Marnie's Pokémon deck. This deck's ACE SPEC is Secret Box TWM 163, which provides you the means of finding your most important cards from your deck all at once.

Since this deck features a Stage 2 Pokémon as its main attacker, it shouldn't be surprising to see a copy of Rare Candy SVI 191 included. Technical Machine: Evolution PAR 178 is also included as a means of quick Evolution, plus you don't need to have the Evolution in your hand when you use it.

This batch of Trainer cards all help you find the Pokémon you need from your deck. Artazon PAL 171, Nest Ball SVI 181, and Buddy-Buddy Poffin TEF 144 all help you find the Basic Pokémon you need, while Ultra Ball MEG 131 is more flexible and can find any Pokemon, regardless of Evolution.

For card drawing power, no card in Standard is better than Lillie's Determination MEG 119. While Iono PAL 185 has the ability to allow you to draw a lot of cards at certain points during the game, her main usage is to reset your opponent's hand and slow down their progress.

Arven SVI 166 is, in my opinion, the best Supporter to use to help search for other useful cards from within your deck. You can find both an Item and a Pokémon Tool when you play him. Pokégear 3.0 BLK 84 is also a great searching card, but it can only find a Supporter card within the top 7 cards of your deck, so it does have its limitations. Energy Search SVI 172 can be a terrific way of finding the single Basic Fire Energy from your deck.

To make the most of your attacks, you can use both Boss's Orders MEG 114 and Counter Catcher PAR 160 to choose which of your opponent's Pokémon will be in their Active Spot. A copy of Air Balloon BLK 79 is included for you to use in the event that your opponent changes your Active Pokémon unexpectedly.

Our last batch of cards are pretty general purpose cards found in most decks. Using the Devolution attack from Technical Machine: Devolution PAR 177 is a great way to counter a deck that relies heavily on having numerous Evolved Pokemon in play. Both Night Stretcher SFA 61 and Super Rod PAL 188 offer cards in your discard pile a second chance to be played.

Wrapping Up

I've always liked Marnie as a character, so it's great to see that a deck like this, featuring Marnie's Grimmsnarl ex DRI 136 can be competitive. By adding Moltres PFL 14, you eliminate one weakness the deck previously had, making it even more competitive than it once was.

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