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 Team Rocket's Crobat ex DRI 122, a Pokemon that will deal damage to your opponent's team simply by evolving. Let's get started by taking a look at the deck list.
Team Rocket's Crobat ex
LittleDarkFury
Pokemon
4 Archaludon ex 130
4 Duraludon 69
1 Fezandipiti ex 38
1 Iron Bundle 56
1 Relicanth 84
1 Squawkabilly ex 169
2 Team Rocket's Crobat ex 122
2 Team Rocket's Golbat 121
2 Team Rocket's Zubat 120
Trainers
1 Artazon 171
2 Arven 166
3 Boss’s Orders 172
2 Earthen Vessel 163
3 Iono 185
1 Maximum Belt 117
4 Nest Ball 181
4 Night Stretcher 61
1 Pokégear 3.0 186
2 Professor Turo's Scenario 121
4 Professor's Research 155
1 Team Rocket's Watchtower 180
4 Ultra Ball 91
Energy
8 Basic Metal Energy
2 Team Rocket's Energy 182
With the help of Team Rocket's Crobat ex DRI 122's Biting Spree and Team Rocket's Golbat DRI 121's Sneaky Bite Abilities, you'll be able to deal a small amount of damage to your opponent's team of Pokemon. When you evolve into Team Rocket's Golbat DRI 121, its Sneaky Bite Ability allows you to put 2 damage counters on 1 of your opponent's Pokemon. Similarly, when you evolve into Team Rocket's Crobat ex DRI 122, its Biting Spree Ability allows you to put 2 damage counters on 2 of your opponent's Pokemon. You'll also be able to use Team Rocket's Crobat ex DRI 122's Assassin's Return attack provided that you have a copy of Team Rocket's Energy DRI 182. This will allow you to return Team Rocket's Crobat ex DRI 122 to your hand, allowing you another chance to evolve it for additional damage.
Archaludon ex SSP 130 is the heavy hitter for this deck. Its Assemble Alloy Ability allows you to power it up right away. By attacking with its Metal Defender attack, you'll deal 220 damage to your opponent's Active pokemon while simultaneously shoring up Archaludon ex SSP 130's Weakness to Fire Type Pokemon. Relicanth TEF 84 is included in this deck for its Memory Dive Ability, which will allow you to use the Raging Hammer attack from Duraludon PRE 69, which can deal quite a bit of damage, depending on how much damage your Archaludon ex SSP 130 has taken.
The remaining Pokemon in this deck are all included for their useful Abilities. Squawkabilly ex PAL 169's Squawk and Seize Ability offers you additional cards to play during your first turn of the game. Fezandipiti ex SFA 38's Flip the Script Ability offers you a chance to reset after suffering a Knock Out. Iron Bundle PAR 56's Hyper Blower Ability offers you the chance to switch your opponent's Active Pokemon with one from their Bench, making your attacks potentially more effective.
For some additional damage, you'll want to attach Maximum Belt PRE 117 to your Active pokemon. This ACE SPEC allows that Pokemon to deal an additional 50 damage to your opponent's Active Pokemon ex. Similar to Iron Bundle PAR 56's Hyper Blower Ability, Boss’s Orders PAL 172 also lets you switch your opponent's Active Pokemon with a Pokemon from their Bench. There's also a copy of Team Rocket's Watchtower DRI 180 in this deck, which will cause all Colorless Pokemon to lose any Ability they might have.
Another Stadium included in this deck is Artazon PAL 171, which you can use to help find your Basic Pokemon. You can also use Nest Ball SVI 181, which is able to find any Basic Pokemon, including ones with Rule Boxes. Finally, there's a playset of Ultra Ball PAF 91 cards, which you can use to find any Pokemon from your deck that you're in need of.
For unconditional card drawing power, there's no Supporter better than Professor's Research JTG 155. The only drawback is that you need to discard your current hand before you draw a new hand of 7 cards. Iono PAL 185 also has the potential to draw you a lot of cards, but her real power is that she resets your opponent's hand, slowing down their momentum in the process. This deck also includes a single copy of Pokégear 3.0 SVI 186 which can be used to help find an important Supporter card from the top 7 cards of your deck.
As a way to help ensure you have the Energy needed to attack, there are 2 copies of Earthen Vessel PAR 163 in this deck. Since a few of the cards that allow you to search your deck for important cards require you to discard cards, this deck includes a playset of Night Stretcher SFA 61 to help reuse some of those discarded cards. There's a pair of Arven SVI 166 Supporter cards in this deck, arguably the best Supporter currently in Standard. He's great when you need to search your deck for specific cards, as he finds you the exact Item you need to begin that search.
Professor Turo's Scenario PRE 121 is the final Trainer in this deck, and it's a very useful method of returning Team Rocket's Crobat ex DRI 122 to your hand after playing it. This gives you another chance to deal a bit of damage, making it easier to Knock Out your opponent's Pokemon when attacking.
Wrapping Up
The extra damage provided from evolving into Team Rocket's Golbat DRI 121 and Team Rocket's Crobat ex DRI 122 makes attacking with Archaludon ex SSP 130 more likely to Knock Out your opponent's Pokemon with a single attack. This extra damage could pair nicely with other Pokemon as well. Who do you think could benefit best from the extra damage Team Rocket's Golbat DRI 121 and Team Rocket's Crobat ex DRI 122 provide?
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
