Searching Standard: Tsareena 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 Tsareena ex PAR 46 and generally Knocks Out multiple opposing Pokemon at one time. Let's get started by taking a look at the deck list.

Tsareena ex PAR 46 is one half of a team of attacking Pokemon in this deck. By using its Icicle Sole attack, you can reduce the HP of your opponent's Active Pokemon down to just 30 HP. This is the main attack you'll want to use for the majority of the time, even though it will make scoring Knock Outs challenging.

To finish off your opponent's Pokemon, you can rely on Hisuian Braviary SIT 149's Eerie Cry attack. This attack can be used without having any Energy attached to Hisuian Braviary SIT 149, and it will place 3 damage counters on each of your opponent's Pokemon that have any damage counters already on them. So by reducing their HP to 30, you'll finish off any Pokemon you've already attacked with Tsareena ex PAR 46's Icicle Sole attack.

In order to draw extra cards, this deck opts to use the Bibarel BRS 121 and Skwovet SVI 151 combo. You can shuffle your hand to be put onto the bottom of your deck with Skwovet SVI 151's Nest Stash Ability. Then draw an additional four cards with Bibarel BRS 121's Industrious Incisors Ability. Doing this will allow you to cycle through your deck quite quickly.

Both Manaphy BRS 41 and Jirachi PAR 126 are included in this deck for their defensive Abilities. Manaphy BRS 41's Wave Veil Ability protects your Benched Pokemon from taking any damage from your opponent's attacks. Similarly, Jirachi PAR 126's Stellar Veil Ability prevents your opponent from placing damage counters onto your Benched Pokemon.

Since Tsareena ex PAR 46 is a Stage 2 Pokemon, you might need help evolving it quickly. That's where Rare Candy SVI 191 comes into play. By playing Irida ASR 147, you'll quickly be able to find both Tsareena ex PAR 46 and the Rare Candy SVI 191 you might need to help it evolve.

Panic Mask LOR 165 can make it so that your opponent is never able to damage your Pokemon. By equipping it, you'll be able to prevent any Pokemon that has 40 HP or less from damaging the Pokemon that has a Panic Mask LOR 165 attached. Arven SVI 166 is a great help in finding a copy of Panic Mask LOR 165 for you to attach.

Finding the Pokemon you need from within your deck is always important. Battle VIP Pass FST 225 is the best way to make sure you have a Bench full of the Basic Pokemon you need, but it is only playable on your first turn. Level Ball BST 129 can also find any of the Basic Pokemon in this deck, but it can also be used to help find a copy of Steenee OBF 17 to Evolve with. Ultra Ball SVI 196 can find any Pokemon you need, but it does require you to discard two other cards to use it.

Since taking Prize cards isn't this deck's main priority, playing Iono PAL 185 will usually result in you drawing a new hand of six cards, while your opponent draws fewer than that, depending on the number of Prize cards they've already taken. Colress's Experiment LOR 155 helps you choose the best cards from the top five cards of your deck to keep, while sending the rest to the Lost Zone. Super Rod PAL 188 provides you the means of using Pokemon and Energy cards again, after they've gone to your discard pile.

Since taking Prize cards usually happens for this deck at the end of the match, Counter Catcher PAR 160 can be particularly useful. There's also one copy of Escape Rope BST 125 included, which forces both players to switch their Active Pokemon with one from their Bench.

The final Trainer cards in this deck are both Stadium cards. By playing Dyna Tree Hill CRE 135, you prevent all Pokemon from being healed. This is especially useful against certain decks, as you want their Pokemon to remain with just 30 HP remaining. Finally, there's a pair of Path to the Peak CRE 148, which is generally a counter for decks that utilize a lot of Abilities. You might find matches where Path to the Peak CRE 148 has no effect, but for the other times, you'll be happy to draw a copy.

Wrapping Up

This is a pretty unique deck. With most decks, you want to Knock Out your opponent's Pokemon and take your Prize cards, but with this deck, those things are not as important. If possible, you'll want to get enough of your opponent's Pokemon down to 30 HP so that you can win on the spot with a well-timed Eerie Cry attack. If this type of challenge sounds fun to you, I encourage you to give this deck a try.

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