I'll avoid starting a quote-a-thon: you responses were concise and followed the points I laid out. I shall just continue using the same point numbering for my responses.
1a) First I confess, I took out a "just" that was supposed to be before "a Bench Sitter". Adjusting both for presentation and clarification, this point should read "
Darkrai EX isn't just a Bench-sitter, but also an attacker, albeit not the deck's main attacker.
1b) As for your response "that depends on the deck", I am going by the Dark decks people have been testing and shared with me. Some of alternative uses presented in this thread are very different.
1c) The Bench may become less safe, but
Raikou EX will still require two turns to KO a Benched
Darkrai EX where
Darkrai EX is functioning as a Bench-sitter. Consider what that means: two attacks where the Dark deck's
actual attack is completely unmolested. Given the usual build I've heard suggested for a
Raikou EX deck, the Dark deck just needs to bench a replacement
Darkrai EX and the free retreating is restored, while the
Raikou EX deck probably just had its own Bench assaulted, even if it required
Pokemon Catcher.
1d) You're going to have to break down the attack and explain why you consider it so poor, because while it doesn't look as versatile as X-Ball or as potent as some other Pokemon EX attacks, it hardly looks like the worst they have to offer and I believe it will be quite useful to Dark decks.
2) I am not sure what you are asking here. I just now went and checked again:
Darkrai EX is :fighting: Weak, as are most (if not all) useful currently legal :dark: Pokemon. This will make it especially vulnerable to
Terrakion focused decks... but I'd be much more concerned if
Darkrai EX ignored Typing and was weak to, as you put it, the BDIF's type
lightning
or the BCIF's type
psychic
. Being vulnerable to a good deck is common; see BDIF and BCIF. Being weak to the BDIF or BCIF... well that's another matter.
3) Now please proceed to playtest those
Terrakion decks while not apply Weakness. Are they still doing well? This does closely tie in with point number two, I realize. If being vulnerable to
Terrakion is an automatic deal breaker, which is how I took your comments, then shouldn't :lightning: decks be failing instead of dominating?
4a) Does not alter the point;
Mewtwo EX right now is everywhere and commonly played. If players don't wish to pit
Mewtwo EX against
Darkrai EX, and yet
Mewtwo EX remains the go-to Pokemon EX, said players essentially lose access to
Mewtwo EX.
4b) Sometimes retreating to a
Terrakion isn't an option.
4c) Even when it is... you realize what you just did?
Terrakion apparently was dropped from hand and powered in one move. Okay, fine, that's a good move, and already one of the
Darkrai EX's (and deck's) admitted Weaknesses.
4d) Now do you realize the other thing you just did?
Terrakion doesn't score a OHKO with Retaliate in this scenario:
Mewtwo EX smashed something, then
Darkrai EX hit
Mewtwo EX, but did
not KO
Mewtwo EX. Retaliate only does 60 to
Darkrai EX. You have to be able to fully power Land Crush in one turn now to OHKO
Darkrai EX, which is much harder.
Darkrai EX will also have a free Retreat Cost unless you somehow strip it of all :dark: Energy, making it easier for it to retreat out (and it is less damaged than
Mewtwo EX), or perhaps one would just try to pursue
Mewtwo EX (such as with
Pokemon Catcher) to finish the job.
Bear in mind, if
Darkrai EX has a
Darkness Claw attached, even if
Mewtwo EX has
Eviolite protecting it
Darkrai EX can 2HKO it
plus has hit one other Pokemon for 60 points of damage or two other Pokemon for 30 points of damage over the last two turns (barring of course, that all possible targets are protected with copies of
Eviolite).
If
Darkrai EX is not equipped with
Darkness Claw but is equipped
Eviolite itself,
Mewtwo EX needs an
Eviolite still to avoid being 2HKOed. If
Darkrai EX can tap
PlusPower and/or Special
Darkness Energy to make up the difference and the deck
Mewtwo EX is in doesn't somehow heal or protect it (yes, this is at least bordering on cherry-picking my scenario) it could still 2HKO
Mewtwo EX. I bring this up because a
Darkrai EX with
Eviolite will survive a shot from either of
Terrakion's attacks, unless
Terrakion itself is boosted.
As stated, I am getting into some fairly specific scenarios, and I don't want to turn this into endless Theorymon. Still we have to feel out the scenarios because one bad match-up seldom ruins a card just as one favorable one rarely makes it.
