Standard Black Box (Yveltal Ex / Drampa GX / Zoroark / Yveltal)

[Dark Espeon]

BLACK BOX

Pokémon (16):

• 2 Tapu Lele GX (beatdown)
  
• 3 Drampa GX (beatdown)
• 3 Yveltal XY (beatdown)
  
• 4 Zoruark (beatdown)
• 4 Zorua (evolve)

Trainer (32):

• 4 Professor Sycamore (draw)
• 1 Professor Kukui (draw)
• 1 Hex Maniac (control)
  
• 2 Lysandre (control)
• 1 Bridgette (search)
  
• 3 N (draw)
• 1 Rescue Stretcher (retrieval)
  
• 3 Choice Band (beatdown)
• 3 Max Elixir (accelerate)
• 1 Field Blower (discard)
  
• 4 Vs Seeker (retrieval)
• 4 Ultra Ball (search)
• 4 Altar of the Moone (free retreat)

Energy (12):

• 3 Double Colorless Energy
  
• 9 Darkness Energy

STRATEGY:

Start with any Basic Pokémon and accelerate with Yveltal and Max Elixir. Use Ultra Ball to search for Tapu Lele GX in order to set up. Lead the offense with Drampa GX and Tapu Lele GX. Zoroark is an additional attacker that capitalizes on the opponent’s bench size

 

[Dark Espeon]

Hi folks,

Would be interested in comments on how to improve this deck. Thanks for the assistance in advance.

 

[kai88]

Maybe decrease the reverse valley count? I mean, you should only need 2/3, so maybe
-1 reverse valley
+1 yveltal breakthrough

The breakthrough yveltals kills nightmarch, disabling float stone, fighting fury belt, and absolutely destroying shaymins

 

[TuxedoBlack]

Nice deck.

I concur with @kai88 in that Fright Night Yveltal is too good not to incorporate into our deck.

When I've used Malamar EX, I also included a few Energy Switch to move the attached energy to another Pokémon that could use it. Energy Switch should also compliment Ninja Boy quite well too, IMO.

In replacing 3 current card slots for the cards mentioned above, I'd suggest for your consideration:

-1 Spiritomb - a nice "cleaner" near game's end; 2 copies increases your chances of starting with 1
-1 Reverse Valley - lower priority
-1 Ultra Ball - lower priority ​

I hope you find these comments helpful.

 

[Dark Espeon]

Hi kai88,

Thanks for the review. I concur too. That is the reason I went with a 2-2 split on both Yveltal non-Ex. Fright Night Yveltal (XY08) is an awesome card to break evolve from.

Hi TuxedoBlack,

Thanks for the review. will be sure to check out a variant with Energy Switch but would rather cut Escape Rope instead of the fourth Ultra Ball to fit three of them into the deck and may consider to replace Sableye with Absol. sableye is mainly good turn one to send the opponent to sleep and Ninja Boy him into Darkrai ex to follow up with Dark Head. Absol would benefit Yveltal a little more and may make the deck a little more versatile.

 

[Dark Espeon]

Hi folks,

Above is the list that can be used until the rotation. Once the rotation is in effect consider to use Darkrai instead of Malamar. Another card that could be considered would be either Spinda or Absol.

 

[gumball51321]

Hi folks,

Above is the list that can be used until the rotation. Once the rotation is in effect consider to use Darkrai instead of Malamar. Another card that could be considered would be either Spinda or Absol.

I already playtested the deck with the PRC- on rotation, and Absol is better for multiple reasons. First off, it doesn't take energy that will just be discarded like Spinda. No. 2: it can be ninja boy'd after use, and since Darkrai is slower in damage for this version, Absol basically lets you put an energy and a half onto the board(Because your opponent most likely will retreat a damaged Pokemon while both players are setting up). I also should mention Absol's effect is an Ability, so it now only doesn't basically discard your energy, it also doesn't need to waste the turn attacking. And like Tuxedo Black said, Energy switch are also really good. Not just for Malamar or Ninja Boy though, but for your Yveltals as well. And if you're setting up a Darkrai, you can use Max Elixir into Energy Switch and suddenly be able to attack. The deck functions a lot like Water Toolbox, so if you do plan to use this after rotation, I suggest you go get used to Water box on TCG One or something. Hope I helped!

 

[Dark Espeon]

Hi gumball51321,

Thanks for the review. At present I focused more on the fairies lists for the next rotation and on this pre-rotation list. Absol is a decent card and works well with Yveltal XY08 and Yveltal BREAK. Darkrai non-Ex is another decent option but he seems to be a little too slow. I would remove both Malamar Ex for a third Yveltal BREAK and one Absol to make the deck legal for the next rotation in September. Pre-rotation Malamar Ex is the best option since it makes the deck more versatile and combos well with Darkrai Ex and Yveltal alike.

Still not sure on Energy Switch. tried it and it turned out that I did not need it that much. Ninja Boy worked far better than Energy switch for me.

 

[TuxedoBlack]

Why run Pokemon Ranger vs. Pokemon Center Lady? Pokemon Ranger affects BOTH Active Pokemon in removing all effects; whereas Pokemon Center Lady would only affect yours, plus heal 60 damage.

Post-rotation, you may also want to incorporate at least 1 Parallel City as a counter to the M Rayquaza EX et al decks that need a large bench.

 

[Dark Espeon]

Hi TuxedoBlack,

Thanks for the review. Pre-Rotation Pokémon Ranger is used to shut down attack-based effects such as Jolteon Ex and Seismitoad Ex. Post-Ration Pokémon Ranger will be replaced with Parallel City.

Here is a list of the Post-Rotation modifications:

- 2 Malamar Ex
- 1 Pokémon Ranger
- 2 Darkness Energy

+ 1 Yveltal BREAK
+ 1 Absol XY06
+ 1 Parallel City
+ 2 Double Colorless Energy

The deck will be more focused on beatdown and bench snipes once Malamar Ex is rotated out. Until then Malamar Ex sure is the better choice since he can be rather disruptive and combos well with Ninja Boy and Super Rod to recycle lost attackers and make use of the energies attached to Malamar Ex at the same time.

Not sure that M Rayquaza Ex will be a top tier deck after the rotation since there are numerous counters to that deck that also work well against other decks. It also does not seem to be fater that Rainbow Force which can trade more favorable and is less hurt by Parallel City with two benched dual types. Nevertheless Parallel City is a great addition since it can also mess with Volcanion decks and can hurt Faries on occasion.

 

[TuxedoBlack]

@Dark Espeon - I am curious to know what your testing resulting have been with Yveltal BREAK. That Pokémon interests me since I a big fan of spread decks. Thanks.

 

[Dark Espeon]

Hi TuxedoBlack,

Thus far I focused on the current standard version with Malamar Ex as an additional disruption element. Yveltal BREAK worked fine when evolved from Yveltal XY08 and combos real well with the status effect from Malamar. Pitch Black Spear while the opponent is asleep and follow up with Yveltal BREAK turned out to be effective since Yveltal XY08 shuts down Pokémon tools and the sleep status effect buys the deck a turn to thko the opponent. I use him more to disrupt and soften the opponent than as an actual spread tactic. Did not test the new standard format variant much thus far but I believe that I will miss Malamar Ex a lot.

 

[gumball51321]

Hi TuxedoBlack,

Thus far I focused on the current standard version with Malamar Ex as an additional disruption element. Yveltal BREAK worked fine when evolved from Yveltal XY08 and combos real well with the status effect from Malamar. Pitch Black Spear while the opponent is asleep and follow up with Yveltal BREAK turned out to be effective since Yveltal XY08 shuts down Pokémon tools and the sleep status effect buys the deck a turn to thko the opponent. I use him more to disrupt and soften the opponent than as an actual spread tactic. Did not test the new standard format variant much thus far but I believe that I will miss Malamar Ex a lot.

It actually won't miss Malamar-EX that badly. And since I already tested the new format(Since I got my cards early), the deck only changes by a few cards for the straight dark variant. And if you only use Yveltal Break as a disrupt tactic, why play more than 1? playing the 1 Break with the 2 XY Yveltal and the 1 BKT one is more than enough. And now about energy switch: It can get pretty situational and you won't use it too often, so that's why I only play 2. But with that being said, since my list plays only basic dark, it can set up your Yveltal BKT, Yveltal Break, Yveltal EX, and potentially a Darkrai(If you choose to play it). And if you were using an attacker for a single situation, Energy Switch helps out with getting those energy to those Pokemon. While Ninja Boy is good with those types of situations, the best way to play it is with Shaymin-EX. Letting you bench a Shaymin, Ninja Boy'ing, and Ultra Ball'ing for another Shaymin is absolutely insane. Now about Absol: While I did say it was good, and it works with Ninja Boy, I ended up dropping it. Here's why: It steals a bench space from your attackers, which you really need to have as much as possible so you can Max Elixir for a variety of Pokemon. And don't forget about Ninja Boy being a Supporter, so that crucial Sycamore/ Lysandre sometimes has to wait. But the reason I dropped it was because the deck play the BKT Yveltal. If you want my list, go ahead message on the thread saying so.

 

[Dark Espeon]

Hi gumball51321,

Thanks for the review. The tactic with Yveltal BREAK you discribed is identical to the one I am using. The combo here is with Yveltal BKT (aka. Yveltal XY08). The only differnce is that i like to use Malamar Exs ability as an additional safety net with it. Malamar Ex is a nice extra which can allow Yveltal BREAK to steamroll the defender. It could be me but I do like that card a lot with Ninja Boy out now.

In the new standard format version I still plan to use a one-off Absol but I hardly needed more than one thus far. Above is a list of modifications that I will make to this version to make it legal for the new standard format but until September I do enjoy the variant with Malamar Ex a lot. I would indeed be interested in a list of differences between our decks to test it the modifications too.

 

[thevegasbomb]

I have been looking into the same concept lol
Here are a couple more options:
Umbreon (double prize clean up)
Jirachi (vs xernea break)

 

[kai88]

I believe that a minimum 3dce is necessary, so maybe -1 Giovanni, +1 dce?

 

[Dark Espeon]

Hi thevegasbomb,

Thanks for the review. Will be sure to include a tech Umbreon in the Post-rotation variant once Mega evolution start to become more popular in the local meta-game. At present the only ones are M Mewtwo Ex and Steam Siege M Gardevoir Ex.

Hi Kai88,

Thanks for the review. I do run a total of two Double Colorless Energy at the moment. Not sold on the third one since Yveltal Break cannot make use of it.

 

[Dark Espeon]

Hi folks,

Updated the deck list above for the new standard format. Darkrai replaces Malamar Ex as the staus effect disabler of the deck. The deck does not focus exclusive on a certain tactic but tries to combine three tactics to enable the deck to adapt to the current board-state.

 

[WuBMaYNE]

If you're planning on adding a couple DCE, you might throw an Umbreon EX in there. I think he'd be a cool tech for probably the new Mega heavy meta. I'd cut the 2 regular Darkrai, I don't see there ever needing to be a point to use them. Here's the changes I'd make;

-1 Yveltal Break
-2 Darkrai
-1 Gio or Sycamore

+1 Darkrai EX
+1 Umbreon EX
+2 Double Colorless Energy

 

[Dark Espeon]

Hi WuBMaYNE,

Thanks for the review. Not entire sure. I want the deck to have a certain feel in terms of tactics and what I am looking for is a status disabler to slow the opponent down while Yveltal BREAK hunts them on the bench. In the ideal case sleep as a staus effect would be wonderful since it also combos with Darkrai Ex. I do have two other Darkness decks and one of them is focused on beatdown. Would like this deck to have different tactical options. Pre-rotation Malamar was used instead of Darkrai and he worked like a charm. The deck had the tactical feel that I was looking for. Darkai was the only left over replacement that came to mind since Hypno feels a little to cluncky to me. Any other idea on a status diabler that can inflict the status condition sleep faster and more efficient than Darkrai?