Searching Standard: Yanmega Damage Spread

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 Popsicle Knight. It features both Yanma CRZ 8 and Yanmega CRZ 9, spreading damage to your opponent's Benched Pokemon and delivering powerful attacks. Let's get started by taking a look at the deck list.

Yanma CRZ 8 gets things started with its Swoop Across attack, which deals 10 damage to each of your opponent's Pokemon. While that's not much damage, this attack only requires a single Energy to use. The damage can be increased by having a Telescopic Sight VIV 160. This will deal an additional 30 damage to your opponent's Benched Pokemon V (including VMAX and VSTAR). Once you Evolve into Yanmega CRZ 9, you'll be able to use its Shoot Through attack, dealing 20 damage to your opponent's Active Pokemon and 20 damage to one of their Benched Pokemon. Yanmega CRZ 9 also has the Jet Wing attack you can use, which will deal 160 damage. The downside to this attack is that Yanmega CRZ 9 can't attack during your next turn. This is not usually an issue, though, as Yanmega CRZ 9 has a Retreat Cost of zero, so you can easily switch positions with another powered up Yanmega CRZ 9.

Thanks to the Spring Bloom Ability of Cherrim BST 8, you'll be able to attach as many Grass Energy cards from your hand to anyone on your team during your turn. Doing this will allow you to use Yanmega CRZ 9's Jet Wing attack right away, dealing lots of damage quickly.

As a means of drawing additional cards, this deck includes both Bibarel BRS 121 and Snorlax VIV 131. Bibarel BRS 121 has the Industrious Incisors Ability, allowing you to draw additional cards once per turn until you have five cards in your hand. Snorlax VIV 131 has the Gormandize Ability that lets you draw cards until you have seven cards in your hand, but this Ability can only be used if Snorlax VIV 131 is your Active Pokemon and using it will end your turn. Both of these Abilities will certainly help you draw through your deck faster in order to find the cards you need.

The last pair of Pokemon are included as safety measures because of their Abilities. With Radiant Charjabug CRZ 51's Shocking Block Ability, whenever your opponent attaches an Energy card from their hand to one of their Pokemon V, that Pokemon will receive two damage counters. This Ability will not affect your team since you aren't running any Pokemon V. Manaphy BRS 41 is seen in most decks due to its Wave Veil Ability, which helps keep your Benched Pokemon safe from damage.

Since it's important to have a pair of Yanmega CRZ 9 ready to attack at all times, this deck includes a lot of ways to find the Pokemon you need. When you attach a Capture Energy RCL 171 to one of your Pokemon, you can search your deck for any Basic Pokemon to put onto your Bench. If you have Turffield Stadium CPA 68 in play, you'll be able to search your deck once per turn to find any Grass Evolution Pokemon to put into your hand. These two cards allow you to find both Yanma CRZ 8 and Yanmega CRZ 9 fairly easily.

This next batch of Item cards also help you find your Pokemon more easily. Quick Ball SSH 179 can find any Basic Pokemon. With Level Ball BST 129, you can find any Pokemon with 90 HP or less. Finally, Ultra Ball CRZ 146 can get any Pokemon you need from within your deck. By remembering these limitations, you can always use the best poke ball for any given situation.

Another way to find the cards you need more quickly is by drawing extra cards during your turn. Professor's Research BRS 147 lets you draw seven new cards, but you'll need to discard your current hand when you play it. Both Bruno BST 121 and Judge FST 235 have you shuffle your current hand into your deck before drawing new cards. With Bruno BST 121, you'll draw either four or seven cards, depending on whether any of your Pokemon were Knocked out during your opponent's last turn. Judge FST 235 forces your opponent to shuffle their hand into their deck as well, and then both you and them draw four new cards.

Being able to attack a specific Pokemon from your opponent's Bench can be crucial to you Knocking that Pokemon Out and drawing Prize cards. By playing Boss's Orders BRS 132, you'll switch your opponent's Active Pokemon with one from their Bench, giving you the advantage. If your opponent manages to move one of your Pokemon to your Active Spot that you would rather have on your Bench, you can use Switch SSH 183 to move them back. Finally, if you attach a Choice Belt BRS 135 to one of your Pokemon, its attacks will do an extra 30 damage to your opponent's Active Pokemon V.

As we begin to wrap up this deck, we get to some universally played useful cards. Energy Retrieval SSH 160 is helpful for returning up to two basic Energy cards from your discard pile to your hand. Ordinary Rod SSH 171 is similar, although it can also return a pair of Pokemon instead, and whether you return Energy or Pokemon, those cards are shuffled back into your deck instead of being placed into your hand. Finally, by attaching an Air Balloon SSH 156 to one of your Pokemon, you'll allow that Pokemon to Retreat for two fewer Energy. This can be very useful if your opponent switches the positions of your Pokemon a lot.

The final Supporter in this deck is Raihan EVS 152. Even though you're very limited on when you can play Raihan EVS 152, doing so is sure to help catch you back up after suffering a loss.

Wrapping Up

While this deck has some obvious weaknesses (especially since you're reliant on a pair of attacking Pokemon that are weak to the same type of Pokemon), it can still be a ton of fun to play. For anyone newer to the game, playing this deck should be very straightforward. Even though it's not complicated, it can still win a fair amount of the time and is a blast to play.

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