Flash Forward: Three Dark Decks for Black Friday
by Mike Likes // Nov 27, 2020
Hello and welcome to Flash Forward, the article series that provides you with a sneak peek of some decks that will be Standard legal with the release of the next upcoming set. Since the next set releasing in Japan is Shining Star V, which only has a few new cards, I'll be taking a look at some other decks from Japan, and showing you how to modify them to be Standard legal in America. This week, in celebration of Black Friday, we'll be taking a look at three decks that all feature Dark Type Pokemon. Let's get started.
Crobat VMAX / Altaria Deck
We start this week with a deck that attempts to less the effectiveness of your opponent's attacks. Let's take a look at the deck.
New Card Translations
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Crobat VMAX – Darkness – HP300 [D][C] Stealth Poison: 70 damage. Your opponent’s Active Pokemon is now Poisoned. Switch this Pokemon with 1 of your Benched Pokemon. [D][D][C] Max Cutter: 180 damage. When your Pokemon VMAX is Knocked Out, your opponent takes 3 Prize cards. Weakness: Fighting (x2) |
Crobat V DAA 104 has been a Standard staple since it was released. With its Dark Asset Ability, it has been a source of drawing cards for many months. Now it has a new evolution, Crobat VMAX. With Crobat VMAX, you'll want to use its Stealth Poison attack often, which Poisons your opponent's Active Pokemon and also deals 70 damage to it. You'll then switch Crobat VMAX with one of your Benched Pokemon. If your opponent has a Pokemon V or Pokemon-GX as their Active Pokemon, you'll want to bring up Altaria CPA 49. If they have any other type of Pokemon as their Active Pokemon, you'll want to bring up Goomy FLI 91. Both of these Pokemon have Abilities that will hinder your opponent while they make their attacks.
To make this deck Standard legal, you'll need to replace a few cards. Swablu DRM 56 is no longer legal, but can easily be replaced with Swablu CPA 48. Goomy FLI 91 has also rotated out of Standard and is more difficult to replace. My suggestion will be to swap it with a couple of copies of Sandile UNB 113, which has the Intimidating Fang Ability that reduces the damage done by your opponent's Active Pokemon. Counter Gain LOT 170 will be replaced with an additional copy of U-Turn Board UNM 211, allowing all of your Pokemon to retreat easier. Finally, Cynthia UPR 119 can be replaced by Professor's Research SSH 178, allowing us to draw additional cards.
Here's my version of this deck with changes made to make it Standard-legal.
Crobat VMAX / Galarian Cursola Deck
The next deck I have for you can make it difficult for your opponent to want to attack. Let's take a look at the deck.
New Card Translations
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Crobat VMAX – Darkness – HP300 [D][C] Stealth Poison: 70 damage. Your opponent’s Active Pokemon is now Poisoned. Switch this Pokemon with 1 of your Benched Pokemon. [D][D][C] Max Cutter: 180 damage. When your Pokemon VMAX is Knocked Out, your opponent takes 3 Prize cards. Weakness: Fighting (x2) |
Like the previous deck, this deck utilizes Crobat VMAX as an evasive attacker, attacking on your turn and then switching places with one of your Pokemon from your Bench. This time, you'll be switching places with Galarian Cursola RCL 79. While you'll never be able to attack with Galarian Cursola RCL 79, you can use its Perish Body Ability as a deterrent to your opponent attacking. If you have a copy of Air Balloon SSH 156 attached, you'll be able to swap places with Crobat VMAX easily, allowing you to attack with its Stealth Poison attack.
Three cards will need to be switched in order to make this Standard legal. The two copies of Mysterious Treasure FLI 113 can be switched with a pair of Air Balloon SSH 156, allowing for easier swapping of Pokemon. Counter Gain LOT 170 can be replaced with another copy of Evolution Incense SSH 163. Finally, I'll be replacing Cynthia UPR 119 with three copies of Bird Keeper DAA 159, offering both switching of Pokemon and card drawing.
Here's my version of this deck with changes made to make it Standard-legal.
Crobat VMAX / Galarian Weezing Deck
The final deck this week features numerous ways to Poison your opponent's Pokemon. Let's take a look at it.
New Card Translations
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Crobat VMAX – Darkness – HP300 [D][C] Stealth Poison: 70 damage. Your opponent’s Active Pokemon is now Poisoned. Switch this Pokemon with 1 of your Benched Pokemon. [D][D][C] Max Cutter: 180 damage. When your Pokemon VMAX is Knocked Out, your opponent takes 3 Prize cards. Weakness: Fighting (x2) |
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Koffing – Darkness – HP60 [D] Ascension: Search your deck for a card that evolves from this Pokemon and put it onto this Pokemon to evolve it. Then, shuffle your deck. Weakness: Grass (x2) |
Since we've seen that Crobat VMAX's Stealth Poison attack can leave the opponent's Active Pokemon Poisoned, it would be nice to take advantage of that Poisoning. This deck does that with the help of a pair of Pokemon. Galarian Weezing RCL 113 has the Severe Poison attack, which increases the amount of Poison damage done between turns from one to four damage counters. Toxicroak SSH 124's More Poison Ability increases the amount of Poison damage an opponent's Pokemon takes by two each turn. Use that additional damage to Knock Out your opponent's Pokemon quicker than usual.
There's only a single card that needs to be replaced in order to make this deck Standard legal, and it's an important one. Ditto Prism Star LOT 154 needs to be replaced, and there's no perfect replacement for it. It was the only Pokemon that Toxicroak SSH 124 could evolve from, so it needs to be replaced with a copy of Croagunk SSH 123, as that is the only Croagunk currently Standard legal.
Here's my version of this deck with changes made to make it Standard-legal.
Wrapping Up
As you can see, Crobat VMAX will definitely have a place in Standard once it's released in America. Hopefully you've enjoyed this look at a few decks featuring this powerful Pokemon.
What do you think of these decks? Do you have any suggestions for improvements? Leave a comment below and let me know what Pokemon you'd like to see featured in next week's decks.
And be sure to join me here again next week as I continue showing you innovative decks using cards from upcoming sets. I'll see you then (in the future!)
- Mike Likes