I'm looking to build a weavile/exeggcute deck but am struggling to afford junk arm and dark patch. Are there any alternatives/ ways of getting round without using them, without the deck losing its reliability?
The short answer is "No."
The long answer starts with an explanation of the bad news: a proper
Weavile [Plasma] deck needs to max out
Junk Arm (and probably
Dark Patch), and this is a major part of its strategy as it frequently grabs the exact Item it needs from the discard, and may periodically send up
Sableye (
BW: Dark Explorers 62/108) as a sacrifice, using its "Junk Hunt" to get back two
Junk Arm. The two are not impossible to obtain using the slow and steady method, though: how good are you at the trading game?
Emhpasis on "game"; the trading side of the PTCGO is a game all in and of itself. The easiest way to earn the trading fodder you desire is to find a less demanding deck and try to win a few Legacy Format tournaments when some of the more in demand Legacy Format boosters are the reward. The good news is that these two cards are Uncommons, so while they are pricey, it isn't as ridiculous as (for example) needing even just a couple copies of
Tropical Beach or
Celebi Prime.
The mediocre news is that you
might be able to create a "functional" Legacy Format deck even without these two.
Weavile [Plasma] tends to rely
heavily on both so that is not a great fit; if you insist on running it, however, you can try to use
Colress Machine and
Plasma Energy plus manual Energy attachments of
Darkness Energy (basic or Special Energy version). You'll be vulnerable to stuff like
Lost Remover, but
Weavile [Plasma] is normally a OHKO, so losing that Energy isn't as big of a deal as it might appear. Lacking
Junk Arm means a less reliable deck; take the four slots that would have gone to
Junk Arm and add in extra copies of the most vital cards.
Finally a minor bit related to the deck, but not the specifics of the post; once you have
Dark Patch, make sure you go with
Sneasel (
HS: Undaunted 68/90). There was a rude player that did me a solid because, while belittling my earlier build of this deck, he pointed out that I was an idiot for
not using this version. The big deal is the free Retreat Cost, as it can save you a
lot of hassle if your
Darkrai-EX is a no-show, or if your opponent has no chance of winning so long as you don't bench a Pokémon-EX. Beat Up is a pretty solid attack, at least once your Bench is full. Not something upon which to rely,
but nice in a pinch, such as an opponent stalling with
Silver Mirror after you're out of
Tool Scrapper and
Junk Arm.
Addendum: I just checked out the In-Game Item Exchange subforum over on the official PTCGO message board. While some of the trading groups are all "Value upon request", at least list
Junk Arm and
Dark Patch outright. S'gonna cost you, but looks like
Junk Arm will cost you around eight packs of
Sun & Moon per copy, while
Dark Patch will run you more like three per. Those are prices from one of the trading groups, so if you've got the patience, you could try offering about half as much for Public Trades and try your luck. You then just keep re-posting the offers, upping it until you either get what you want, or you may as well go to said trading group and pay their rates.
If paying around 32
Sun & Moon booster packs for four
Junk Arm sounds outrageous, remember it is a
staple; most decks want at least two copies of it, and would prefer more if they had room. Many run three and quite a few run the full four, like in the
Weavile [Plasma]. Once you've got them, they should
quickly pay for themselves... or at least slowly do it barring some surprise giveaway. XP Getting the four
Dark Patch shouldn't take too long; if they would help you enough, perhaps getting them first is in order.