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 Tyrantrum POR 45, a Pokémon who just got a lot better with the release of a new Stadium card. Let's get started by taking a look at the deck list.
Tyrantrum
LittleDarkFury
Pokemon
2 Barbaracle 43
2 Binacle 42
1 Bloodmoon Ursaluna 25
2 Lunatone 105
1 Relicanth 84
3 Solrock 75
3 Tyrantrum 45
3 Tyrunt 44
Trainers
2 Air Balloon 181
4 Antique Jaw Fossil 68
2 Boss's Orders 183
2 Colress's Tenacity 57
4 Fighting Gong 187
3 Fossil Quarry 76
4 Lillie's Determination 192
1 Night Stretcher 196
4 Poké Pad 81
1 Rare Candy 125
1 Special Red Card 82
2 Tarragon 85
Energy
8 Fighting Energy
1 Legacy Energy 167
4 Rocky Fighting Energy 87
Tyrantrum POR 45's Tyrannically Gutsy Ability offers this one-Prize Pokémon to obtain the HP of a Pokémon ex or a Mega Pokémon. As long as you're able to attach one of the five Special Energy cards to Tyrantrum POR 45, it will gain an additional 150 HP, bringing its total HP to 330. That's a remarkable amount of HP for a Pokémon without a Rule Box. It also has a good attack, Wreak Havoc, which only requires 2 Energy to use, deals 160 damage, and can discard a number of cards from your opponent's deck, making things a little unpredictable. The main drawback of playing Tyrantrum POR 45 was that there wasn't an easy way of searching your deck for Antique Jaw Fossil POR 68, but as you'll see later on, that problem now has a solution.
The duo of Solrock MEG 75 and Lunatone ASC 105 offer you a solution for every decks need to draw additional cards. As long as you have a copy of each of these Pokémon in play, you can use Lunatone ASC 105's Lunar Cycle Ability which allows you to discard a Basic Fighting Energy in order to draw 3 cards from your deck.
Helping you accelerate the amount of Energy you have attached to your team is Barbaracle POR 43. Its Stone Arms Ability allows you to attach a Basic Fighting Energy from your hand to one of your Fighting Pokémon, once per turn. This is in addition to your usual allowance of attaching an Energy card to one of your Pokémon. You can fully power up Tyrantrum POR 45's Wreak Havoc attack or spread the Energy around as you see fit.
Bloodmoon Ursaluna SFA 25 makes for a great backup attacker. Its Battle-Hardened Ability gives you the opportunity to attach up to 2 Basic Fighting Energy from your hand to Bloodmoon Ursaluna SFA 25 when you play it to your Bench. This allows you to fully power up its Mad Bite attack right away. Mad Bite has the potential to deal a ton of damage, which is increased by any existing damage your opponent's Active Pokémon already has on it. The single copy of Relicanth TEF 84 is included because of its Memory Dive Ability. This offers Tyrantrum POR 45 the ability to use Tyrunt POR 44's Get Angry attack. With Tyrantrum POR 45's potential of having 330 HP, the damage Get Angry can do is massive.
I mentioned before that searching for Antique Jaw Fossil POR 68 from within your deck became a lot easier, which is why playing is now much easier. That's all thanks to Fossil Quarry PBL 76. This new Stadium lets a player search their decks for up to 2 Item cards that have "Antique" in their name to put onto their Bench. It's pretty unlikely that this will help your opponent, but it's extremely helpful for this deck. You might have noticed that a lot of Abilities in this deck provide you with a benefit if you discard a Basic Fighting Energy card. Tarragon POR 85 helps you return some of that discarded Energy back to your hand. He can also help return Fighting Pokémon as well, helping you out if you've had any important Pokémon get Knocked Out. There is a single copy of Rare Candy MEG 125 included in this deck as a way to help you evolve into Tyrantrum POR 45 a bit easier.
Fighting Gong ASC 187 is a great way of searching for the Basic Fighting Energy or Basic Fighting Pokémon you need. Colress's Tenacity SFA 57 also offers you a way of searching your deck for a Basic Fighting Energy, but more importantly, you also get to search your deck for a Stadium card (Fossil Quarry PBL 76) to put into your hand. Poké Pad POR 81 is one of the best ways to search your deck for any Pokémon you need as long as that Pokémon doesn't have a Rule Box. This Item is widely played in decks like this full of one-prize Pokémon (they only give up 1 Prize when they are Knocked Out).
We've reached the point where the remaining cards are all Standard staples. Lillie's Determination ASC 192 is the premier way in Standard to draw a new hand. Play everything you can from your current hand before playing Lillie's Determination ASC 192 and it'll feel like you're taking a second turn because of the number of cards you're able to play. Boss's Orders ASC 183 is the best way to choose which of your opponent's Pokémon you'll attack. Choose something you can Knock Out easily and that will provide you with multiple Prize cards, if possible. Air Balloon ASC 181 can be attached to your own Pokémon to provide them with additional mobility, often allowing that Pokémon to Retreat for free.
Night Stretcher ASC 196 is a less potent version of Tarragon POR 85, offering you only 1 card instead of 4. Finally, Special Red Card CRI 82 can only be played if your opponent has 3 or less Prize cards remaining. It offers you a way of slowing down their momentum, allowing you the chance to catch up.
Wrapping Up
Now that Fossil Quarry PBL 76 is in Standard, searching for Antique Jaw Fossil POR 68 has never been easier. This allows Tyrantrum POR 45 to be played more easily, speeding the tempo of this deck up and making it a viable threat.
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
