Pokémon TCG: Sword and Shield—Brilliant Stars

HGSS-on Darkrai/Tornadus

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Pokemon
3 Darkrai EX
3 Tornadus EX
1 Mewtwo EX
2 Smeargle
1 Shaymin
T/S/S
4 Junk Arm
4 Dual Ball
4 PONT
4 Professor Juniper
3 Skyarrow Bridge
4 Dark Patch
2 Dark Claw
3 Random Reciever
2 Switch
2 Eviolite
3 Pokemon Catcher
2 N
1 Super Rod
Energy
9 Dark
4 DCE
Strategy is to use darkrai's night spear (and hopefully use it t1) and use tornadus so I don't get mauled by fighting pokemon. Mewtwo to counter other mewtwos and to serve as a soft counter to fighting decks without mewtwo. Smeargle to increase consistency, and shaymin to power a surprise mewtwo, or dark patch onto darkrai and move it to tornadus.
 
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what does everyone think of the tornadus and darkrai numbers? I need to buy 2 tornadi (personal belief for plural of tornadus) and 1 darkrai the way I have them in the list now. If i could reduce the amount I need to buy without affecting the playability of the deck that would be great.
 
Why hasn't anyone responded in the past 2 days? I'm sure this deck is far from perfect and I could use suggestions on what to change. I'm sorry if this comes out whiny but I just feel like I may be doing something wrong when noone (besides me) posts in two days and other deck advice threads get responded to fairly quickly.
 
The list looks pretty solid, but I have a few suggestions. I think you can do with 1 less of each Mewtwo and Smeargle. Playing more than 1 Mewtwo significantly increases the risk of a Mewtwo start, which you don't want. Mewtwo is too easily KOed by another Mewtwo, and you don't want to give up 2 prizes that easily. Darkrai and Tornadus are pretty effective in dealing with opposing Mewtwos, so you really only need a Mewtwo of your own to prevent your opponent from loading a Mewtwo up with energy and steamrolling you.

The Smeargles are great, but less important in a Tornadus build. Because you can attack T1 pretty easily with Tornadus/DCE, it's less important to get a T1 Dark Spear, which is the principal reason for running a high Smeargle count. I've been using 2 Smeargles in my Darkrai/Tornadus list, and I can't think of a time when I wished I had another Smeargle. If you do decide to run a 3rd Smeargle, however, you definitely should add a switch to take advantage of the Smeargles.

As for the Tornadus count, I think that really is a metagame call. If Eel decks are still prominent in your metagame, I think 3 Tornadus is risky because they are too easily KOed by Thudurus/Zekrom/Raichou. On the other hand, if Eel play declines, which it may, 3 Tornadus is great because it gives you the flexibility to shift completely to Tornadus when facing fighting decks. I personally play with 2 Tornadus and it's worked fine.

On the T/S/S lines, I think you need to beef up your draw engine, either by adding a couple more draw supporters or a couple more Random Receivers. Even with the Smeargle, I think 12 draw supporters/Random Receivers is a minimum for consistency. How you whack it up is a matter of preference, but I would include a couple of N. The card is just too good. I've personally tried to reduce my Juniper line because my list has a number of 2-of trainers that I don't want to discard. I've compensated by using 3 Engineer's Adjustments (I reduced my PONT count to 3 also), which gives me another way to discard an energy, and nets me 4 cards on the draw. I'm not completely sold on that approach yet, but it's worked pretty well in testing so far.

I don't think you need the Dark Claw in the deck. The extra 20 damage is great (especially on an Eviolited Pokemon), but I think it's more important to keep your Darkari/Tornadi alive. You could use those 2 spaces to increase your Eviolite count and/or to add 1 or 2 SSU/Potions. You also could consider adding PlusPowers, which can be used with Tornadus as well as Darkrai, while still getting the benefit of Eviolite.

Finally, 4 Skyarrow is overkill. A lot of decks are running Skyarrow now, so there's a good chance your opponent will play it for you. I'm currently running 2 (with 2 Switches), and it's been fine. If more fighting decks pop up using Ruins of Alph, or there end up being more decks not playing Skyarrow, I think a 3rd Skyarrow probably would be necessary. Until then, however, I'm more likely to increase my Switch count than my Skyarrow count.

I hope this is helpful. There are a lot of ways to skin this cat, so much of it comes down to play style and preference. I play my deck with a healing focus (SSU/Max Potion), but you should look at the winning decklist from the Finnish Nationals, which was designed for energy denial. Whichever way you go, however, consistency is king and, if nothing else, you should up your draw supporter/Random Receiver count. Good luck.
 
Thank you for your suggestions. I think taking out 1 skyarrow an 1 smeargle would be ok. I saw a good amount of zeels on "what won battle roads" near my area, so I think cutting a tornadus would be good. I don't agree on cutting dark claw completely, maybe down to 1. I am a little hesitant on cutting the mewtwo because it is my only way to ohko exs vs. Klinklang. But lets talk about what to add in. I've decided on cutting 3-5 cards, so I am going to have 3 more draw supporters/random reciever at worse. I cannot really think of any other draw supporter that would be good for this deck, except maybe N. So I could add in 2 N and 1 more random receiver. Once I have decided whether I am going to cut a mewtwo and a dark claw, I will decide what to put in. I also am thinking of taking out 1 dual ball and putting in 1 ultra ball. Ultra ball lets me discard dark energies and get a guaranteed pokemon when flips aren't going my way. I also have already looked at Esa's nationals report and I don't think I could really find space to fit in the hammers and sableye.
 
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You probably only need 2 more draw supporters/Random Receiver, but I would never argue against more consistency. As for Ultra Ball, I used to play 2/2 Dual Ball/Ultra Ball, but switched to 4 Dual Ball. I really don't like the flippiness of Dual Ball, but I didn't find the Ultra Balls to be as useful as I thought they'd be. Given the obvious synergy between Ultra Ball and Dark Patch, however, I'm also trying a 3/1 split to see if that works better.
 
Thank you for your reply. I would like to know which draw supporter you think I should put in and the what you think about the two cards that I decided I may cut. If I cut them the only thing that I can really think I need more of is catcher or eviolite.
 
I am no metagame expert, being a rogue player myself, but I still question the 4 Skyarrow Bridge. I understand they are important for Smeargle, but it only works for Smeargle and Shaymin. Sure 4 Skyarrow can help you a bit, but it helps your opponent a lot more. Personally, I would take out 1-2 for switches or maybe some Engineer's Adjustments. Engineer's would hopefully allow you to discard a basic dark, draw four, and dark patch the energy back. I play similar decks with energy recycling, so hopefully this will help.
 
Thank you for your reply. I would like to know which draw supporter you think I should put in and the what you think about the two cards that I decided I may cut. If I cut them the only thing that I can really think I need more of is catcher or eviolite.

I would put in N. It obviously can be great late game, but it also can be used to refresh your opponents hand to give you a better chance of using a supporter from their hand. As for the other 2 cards, if you think you have a lot of KlinkKlang EX, I definitely would add Lost Remover/Enhanced Hammer. They are the biggest threat to that deck. SSUs are great. You also could use PlusPower. With any of those, I'd definitely use them as a 2-of to give you maximum benefit. Alternatively, you could add a Switch (or an Eviolite) and a Revive/Super Rod, which would compensate to some extent for cutting the Mewtwo and boost your use of the Smeargles. The 4th Catcher is always nice, but I think you get more benefit out of one of the other combinations. Which way you want to go with the last couple of cards, however, is really a play style issue -- the Lost Remover/PlusPower approach is more agressive; the SSU route more tactical; and the Switch/Revive approach is more for consistency.
 
Came back from a battle roads. Went 1-2 drop. Twice I lost to a catcher on a damaged pokemon, so I would like to find a way to fit in ssu. I feel like I may also need another eviolite. In the darkrai mirror, which happens alot, it is a way to prevent a 2hko on darkrai from an oposing darkrai. My only real option to donk is turn 1 night spear. If I just had a pluspower I could kill smeargles with blow through t1. So I would like to fit in one or two of those.
 
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