Flash Forward: Toxicroak, Ditto V, and Decidueye Decks
by Mike Likes // Dec 18, 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. Japan's latest release, Shining Star V, continues to provide us with fun and competitive decks that we can play. I have a few more for you this week, so let's get started.
Crobat VMAX / Toxicroak / Galarian Weezing Deck
Our first deck features a trio of Pokemon that like to Poison the opponent's Pokemon. 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) |
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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) |
Start out by attacking with Crobat VMAX's Stealth Poison attack, which deals 70 damage to your opponent's Active Pokemon and makes it Poisoned. You'll then need to switch Crobat VMAX with a Pokemon from your Bench as a result of this attack. You'll want to switch it with Galarian Weezing RCL 113. Doing so triggers Galarian Weezing RCL 113's Neutralizing Gas Ability, leaving your opponent's Active Pokemon without an Ability (most likely). You'll also be able to deal extra damage with your attacks that Poison your opponent's Pokemon by having a copy (or more) of Toxicroak SSH 124 on your Bench. Thanks to Toxicroak SSH 124's More Poison Ability, your opponent's Poisoned Pokemon will take an additional two damage counters in between each player's turn.
For this deck to be Standard legal, there are a pair of cards that will need to be replaced. I'll replace Ditto Prism Star LOT 154 with another copy of Evolution Incense SSH 163, allowing us to find the Evolutions we need more easily. Cynthia UPR 119 also needs to be replaced, and my choice of replacement is a couple of copies of Bird Keeper DAA 159. This will allow us to draw a few extra cards, while also providing additional means of switching our Pokemon.
Here's my version of this deck with changes made to make it legal in Standard.
Ditto V and Friends Deck
The next deck I have for you features Ditto V alongside a few other Pokemon V. Let's take a look at it.
New Card Translations
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Ditto V – Colorless – HP170 Ability: Metamorphosis [C] Stick On: Attach 1 basic Energy from your discard pile to this Pokemon. When your Pokemon V is Knocked Out, your opponent takes 2 Prize cards. Weakness: Fighting (x2) |
Even though this deck runs a full playset of Welder UNB 189 and the other trappings of a Fire Type deck, there are only a couple of Fire Type Pokemon in the deck. In actuality, it's a combination of a Fire Type deck and a Ditto V deck, which gives you a lot of flexibility. Ditto V has the Metamorphosis Ability, which allows you to switch Ditto V with any other Basic Pokemon V in your discard pile. Because of this, you have access to multiple Pokemon V's and their attacks and Abilities. In many ways, Ditto V reminds me a lot of Mewtwo & Mew-GX UNM 71, and Ditto V might become a spiritual successor of Mewtwo & Mew-GX UNM 71 once rotation happens.
There's a handful of cards that need to be replaced in order to make this deck Standard legal. Adventure Bag LOT 167 can normally help you find a couple of Pokemon Tool cards, so I will replace it with a copy of Skyla RCL 166. Escape Board UPR 122, Counter Gain LOT 170, and Heat Factory Prism Star LOT 178 all also need to be replaced, and I'm choosing to replace each of these cards with Bird Keeper DAA 159.
Here's my version of this deck with changes made to make it legal in Standard.
Galarian Obstagoon / Decidueye Deck
The final deck I have for you this week can dish out the damage, but attempts to take none in return. Let's check it out.
Decidueye DAA 13's Deep Forest Camo Ability prevents all damage done to Decidueye DAA 13 by any attacks of an opponent's Pokemon V or Pokemon-GX. That can allow you to use Decidueye DAA 13's Splitting Arrow attack each turn to deal 20 damage to two of your opponent's Benched Pokemon each turn. While this attack is pretty slow, if your opponent can't damage you, you'll have all the time in the world to score a Knock Out.
Our other main attacker is Galarian Obstagoon SSH 119. With its Obstruct attack, you'll deal 90 damage to your opponent's Active Pokemon, and you'll prevent all damage done to Galarian Obstagoon SSH 119 by your opponent's Basic Pokemon on their next turn. As you can see, between Galarian Obstagoon SSH 119 and Decidueye DAA 13, you might be able to make it so that your opponent has no way of attacking your Pokemon.
This deck only has a pair of Cynthia UPR 119 cards that need to be replaced to make it Standard-legal. My choice is to replace these with a copy of Professor's Research SSH 178 and a copy of Bird Keeper DAA 159.
Here's my version of this deck with changes made to make it legal in Standard.
Wrapping Up
Shining Star V continues to bring with it new decks that you can use for fun against your friends or compete in tournaments. I'm looking forward to the time these cards are released in America.
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