Searching Standard: Melmetal + Snorlax

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 Melmetal SCR 104 as the main attacker, who is capable of dealing 250 damage in a single attack. Let's get started by taking a look at the deck list.

As I mentioned earlier, Melmetal SCR 104 is the main attacker for this deck. By using its Reforged Axe attack, you'll deal 250 damage to your opponent's Active Pokemon. The only catch is that you'll need to discard a Pokemon Tool from Melmetal SCR 104, otherwise the attack will do nothing. If only there was a way to easily find a Pokemon Tool that we could attach to Melmetal SCR 104 again and again...

Lo and behold, there is such a way. With a Snorlax MEW 143 on your Bench, you can activate its Voraciousness Ability to put up to 2 Leftovers MEW 163 from your discard pile into your hand. This allows you to reuse Leftovers MEW 163 over and over for Melmetal SCR 104's Reforged Axe attack, ensuring you'll deal 250 damage each time you use it.

To make sure you have the Energy needed to use Melmetal SCR 104's Reforged Axe attack, you can use Metang TEF 114's Metal Maker Ability to filter through the top four cards of your deck, attaching any Energy you find to Melmetal SCR 104. This is also a good way to power up your backup attackers.

Speaking of backup attackers, in addition to Snorlax MEW 143, this deck relies on Zamazenta CRZ 97 as a potential backup attacker. With its Retaliate attack, you can deal 220 damage on the turn after one of your Pokemon was Knocked Out.

In order to easily find Leftovers MEW 163 from your deck, you can play Arven SVI 166. He'll also help you find an Item, which could be Hyper Aroma TWM 152, the ACE SPEC card for this deck. Hyper Aroma TWM 152 allows you to search your deck for up to three Stage 1 Pokemon to put into your hand. This will help ensure that you have access to both Melmetal SCR 104 and Metang TEF 114 when you need them.

Also helping you find the Pokemon you need are the cards in this next batch of Trainer cards. Buddy-Buddy Poffin TEF 144 can help you find a pair of Basic Pokemon with 70 HP or less each. Nest Ball SVI 181 can find any Basic Pokemon, regardless of its HP, but will only find one Pokemon. Finally, Ultra Ball SVI 196 can be used to find any Pokemon you need from within your deck, but playing it requires you to discard two other cards from your hand. If you have Snorlax MEW 143 in play, discarding a pair of Leftovers MEW 163 can be a no-brainer.

In order to maximize the effectiveness of your attacks, you can use both Boss’s Orders PAL 172 and Counter Catcher PAR 160 to choose which of your opponent's Pokemon you want to attack. By choosing a Pokemon you're sure to Knock Out, you can gain some Prize cards easily, getting you closer to winning the game.

In order to have more options, it's imperative to draw more cards. Both Professor's Research SVI 190 and Iono PAL 185 do this, but Iono PAL 185 also resets your opponent's hand, potentially slowing down their momentum, giving you a chance to catch up if you've fallen behind.

A full playset of Super Rod PAL 188 is included in this deck as a means of reusing any Pokemon or Energy that has gone to your discard pile. These will help you recover any Pokemon you might have lost when using Metang TEF 114's Metal Maker Ability. There's also a copy of Jamming Tower TWM 153, which is included to help prevent your opponent from raising the HP of their Pokemon. By nullifying the effect of all Pokemon Tools, you make it easier to Knock Out your opponent's Pokemon, while still being able to discard your own Pokemon Tools for Melmetal SCR 104's Reforged Axe attack.

Wrapping Up

If you're a fan of combo decks, you should give this deck a try. Once you have a powered up Melmetal SCR 104 alongside Snorlax MEW 143 and a copy of Leftovers MEW 163, you can rip through your opponent's team with ease.

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