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Standard Darkrai Deck

P

PokeyNurPikachu

Aspiring Trainer
Member
  1. Hey peeps my name is Ken... I started playing TCG a few months ago to bond with my step son and was hoping to get some insight to my deck. I'm very competitive and was thinking of taking him to Madison next month so we could both compete.


Pokemon:
  • 3 Darkrai EX
  • 2 Yveltal (XY)
  • 2 Yveltal Break
  • 1 Absol (the one with the ability to move damage counters when placed on bench)
  • 2 Sharpedo EX
  • 2 MSharpedo EX

Support:
  • 3 Professor Sycamore
  • 1 Hex Maniac
  • 2 Escape ropes
  • 3 Team Flare Grunts
  • 4 Trainer's Mail
  • 4 Max Elixir
  • 3 VS Seeker
  • 3 Fighting Fury Belt
  • 3 Ultra Ball
  • 2 Pokemon Center Lady
  • 2 Enhanced Hammer
  • 3 Paint Rollers
  • 2 Sharpedo spirit link

Energy:
  • 10 Darkness Energy
  • 3 Dangerous Energy
We play every Saturday in a league and I have done well but it's not as strong as it once was and was looking for input. With guardians rising on the horizon I'm hoping for the Absol that was printed in the strengthening pack and using field blowers and energy lotos. Again any and all comments are welcome and much appreciated
 
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Okay, first off, you should play straight Darkrai, none of the other BS. That means no Sharpedo, it slows the deck down WAY too much. Drop the Dangerous Energy, they don't do anything good for you. They can easily be Enhanced Hammer'd and will decrease your Max Elixir chances. Both of which, will hurt Darkrai's damage output extremely bad.
It's also a good idea to drop Yveltal Break since it doesn't have enough HP to maintain 3 energy, and doesn't do enough damage to make 3 energy worth while. If you manage get Darkrai set up well, you'll be able to do enough damage to render Absol useless. There's far too much to say with only one comment, so I'll give you a skeleton list for now:

Pokemon:8
4 Darkrai EX
2 Yveltal XY
2 Shaymin-EX

Trainers:34
4 Sycamore
2 N
2 Lysandre
1 Hex Maniac
2 Silent Lab
1 Parallel City
2 Fighting Fury Belt
2 EXP. Share
4 Ultra Ball
4 VS Seeker
3 Trainers' Mail
4 Max Elixir
2 Escape Rope
1 Enhanced Hammer

Energy:12
12 Dark

Free space:6

Comment back if you want more information :)
 
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gumball51321 said:
Okay, first off, you should play straight Darkrai, none of the other BS. That means no Sharpedo, it slows the deck down WAY too much. Drop the Dangerous Energy, they don't do anything good for you. They can easily be Enhanced Hammer'd and will decrease your Max Elixir chances. Both of which, will hurt Darkrai's damage output extremely bad.
It's also a good idea to drop Yveltal Break since it doesn't have enough HP to maintain 3 energy, and doesn't do enough damage to make 3 energy worth while. If you manage get Darkrai set up well, you'll be able to do enough damage to render Absol useless. There's far too much to say with only one comment, so I'll give you a skeleton list for now:

Pokemon:8
4 Darkrai EX
2 Yveltal XY
2 Shaymin-EX

Trainers:32
4 Sycamore
2 N
2 Lysandre
1 Hex Maniac
2 Silent Lab
1 Parallel City
2 Fighting Fury Belt
2 EXP. Share
4 Ultra Ball
4 VS Seeker
3 Trainers' Mail
4 Max Elixir
2 Escape Rope
1 Enhanced Hammer

Energy:12
12 Dark

Free space:8

Comment back if you want more information :)
Click to expand...

This is a good shell list!

Couple of cards to consider as additions to this list. You can probably do some internet research on Turbo Darkrai and find some good lists for it. Two cards I see a lot are both Hoopa EX and / or Regirock Promo. I provided links to both. Hoopa is there to help you set up your bench faster. Regirock is there to literally be a rock you can stick an EXP Share on and your opponent can't drag it up via Lysandre, Escape Rope, etc. They could still drag it up via Hawlucha or other similar cards, but not many people are using cards like that, so it should be safe to sit on your bench soaking energies. Of the two, I see Hoopa a whole lot more than Regirock.
 
Hi @PokeyNurPikachu First off, I'd like to commend you on using Pokémon TCG as a means to strengthen the bond you have with your stepson. I'm also a Poké-dad whose kids played the game about 10 years before going to college. We have some great memories of our various trips, as well as building upon our personal relationships.

@gumball51321 made some really solid points, but I play a variant of the list he posted. Personally, I also like to run: 1) Tauros GX (and Ninja Boy) as a means to "surprise" KO a main target and 2) Yveltal EX which is still one of the game's strongest D Pokémon attackers. In addition, for the 6 (not 8) remaining slots, consider the following:
  • Brock's Grit - to recover and recycle discarded Basic energy and Pokémon. Alternatives could be Super Rod or Sacred Ash.
  • Delinquent - removes Stadium in play, but also disrupts opponent's hand.
  • Hex Maniac - Adding this for a total of 2. Given what I'm expecting at Madison (I'm playing there too), a 2nd copy could be quite useful.
  • Olympia - provides some minor healing, but also switches your Active back to the bench.
  • Professor Kukui - provides 2 cards-draw support, but also boosts damage output.
I hope you find these comments helpful.
 
A lot of awesome info here... I've seen the blueprint, if you will, on the Darkrai turbo Deck, and while I'm a huge if it ain't broke don't fix it person I also want my deck to be my own... Since posting I have ordered 4 silent labs and will probably replace the paint rollers with them since most are playing decidueye decks now... I know shaymin is a staple in pretty much every top 8 deck I just can't bring myself to spending $100.00 for a card that will be out of standard in 8 months. The ninja boy Tauros combo seems dirty and might have to try that...
 
gumball51321 said:
Okay, first off, you should play straight Darkrai, none of the other BS. That means no Sharpedo, it slows the deck down WAY too much. Drop the Dangerous Energy, they don't do anything good for you. They can easily be Enhanced Hammer'd and will decrease your Max Elixir chances. Both of which, will hurt Darkrai's damage output extremely bad.
It's also a good idea to drop Yveltal Break since it doesn't have enough HP to maintain 3 energy, and doesn't do enough damage to make 3 energy worth while. If you manage get Darkrai set up well, you'll be able to do enough damage to render Absol useless. There's far too much to say with only one comment, so I'll give you a skeleton list for now:

Pokemon:8
4 Darkrai EX
2 Yveltal XY
2 Shaymin-EX

Trainers:34
4 Sycamore
2 N
2 Lysandre
1 Hex Maniac
2 Silent Lab
1 Parallel City
2 Fighting Fury Belt
2 EXP. Share
4 Ultra Ball
4 VS Seeker
3 Trainers' Mail
4 Max Elixir
2 Escape Rope
1 Enhanced Hammer

Energy:12
12 Dark

Free space:6

Comment back if you want more information :)
Click to expand...
This is an awesome skeleton list... I feel like I'm the only one playing with energy disruption at times with team flare grunt and can't figure out why... I actually ordered silent labs right before checking this so apparently I'm on somewhat of the right track... I just can't see myself getting shaymin due to the chances it's out of standard by the end of the year... I tried going the limited Mon route and found myself with no one to use the max elixers on more times then I cared for so I bumped up my totals a bit.
 
PokeyNurPikachu said:
This is an awesome skeleton list... I feel like I'm the only one playing with energy disruption at times with team flare grunt and can't figure out why... I actually ordered silent labs right before checking this so apparently I'm on somewhat of the right track... I just can't see myself getting shaymin due to the chances it's out of standard by the end of the year... I tried going the limited Mon route and found myself with no one to use the max elixers on more times then I cared for so I bumped up my totals a bit.
Click to expand...

If you aren't going to go Shaymin, Oranguru can help offset that, but your deck will definitely be on the slower end of the Turbo Darkrai scale though because half of what makes the deck so fast is the ability to keep cycling cards via Shaymin on that first turn in order to hit as many Elixirs as possible.

Without the Shaymins, I honestly think you might want to consider pursuing a more disruption style of deck. It won't be as fast and you are going to need to find some space for crushing hammers somehow. It won't be "Turbo Darkrai" anymore, but it would have its own flair. Honestly, at that point, you might try looking hard at adding an Umbreon GX or two to your list which can be effective as well. Umbreon with Team Flare Grunt + Team Skull Grunt can put some major pressure on Deciplume if timed right due to Deciplume's small energy counts. Not saying this is a great deck list or anything, but without the Shaymins, I don't think the deck will be fast enough to keep up with other decks in the format without a major refocus on energy disruption.

Other folks, please chime in if you think I am off with this comment. Maybe the Orangurus add enough speed. Having used them, I can say in all honesty that they *do* usually bring me back more cards over the course of a game than Shaymin and are well worth the bench space for slower decks. Unfortunately, Turbo Darkrai isn't a slower deck and I think they will just end up putting the deck into a limbo of "not effective enough" against way too many decks without ways to slow your opponent down.
 
This is the list I have been testing and its been doing fairly well.
Pokemon x10
3x Darkrai EX BKP
2x Shaymin EX ROS
1x Yveltal EX XY
1x Yveltal STS
1x Yveltal BKT
1x Yveltal Break
1x Hoopa EX (AOR)

T/S/S x38
4x Professor Sycamore
3x N
3x Lysandre
1x Hex Maniac
1x Professor Kukui
4x VS Seeker
4x Max Elixir
4x Trainer's Mail
2x Escape Rope
2x Fighting Fury Belt
1x Float Stone
2x EXP Share
1x Parallel City
2x Silent Lab
4x Ultra Ball

Energy
12x Darkness Energy

Shaymin EX and Hoopa EX are really the spine of this deck, of course with Elixir. This deck makes me miss dark patch even more T.T. I run a different 'Mon set because sometimes I have to mulligan too many times, don't have anything to Elixir for value, or the deck is too narrow against disruption style decks. The different Yveltal all serve their purpose here, Yveltal EX just puts out stupid amounts of damage, Yveltal (Obivion Wing) helps to set up attackers and can soak up damage, Yveltal (Fright Night) obviously shuts down tools for one and can punch benched EXs to weaken them for Yveltal Break. Yveltal Break deals a decent amount of damage and can snipe weakened benched EXs like Shaymin EX.
 
Fayld said:
If you aren't going to go Shaymin, Oranguru can help offset that, but your deck will definitely be on the slower end of the Turbo Darkrai scale though because half of what makes the deck so fast is the ability to keep cycling cards via Shaymin on that first turn in order to hit as many Elixirs as possible.

Without the Shaymins, I honestly think you might want to consider pursuing a more disruption style of deck. It won't be as fast and you are going to need to find some space for crushing hammers somehow. It won't be "Turbo Darkrai" anymore, but it would have its own flair. Honestly, at that point, you might try looking hard at adding an Umbreon GX or two to your list which can be effective as well. Umbreon with Team Flare Grunt + Team Skull Grunt can put some major pressure on Deciplume if timed right due to Deciplume's small energy counts. Not saying this is a great deck list or anything, but without the Shaymins, I don't think the deck will be fast enough to keep up with other decks in the format without a major refocus on energy disruption.

Other folks, please chime in if you think I am off with this comment. Maybe the Orangurus add enough speed. Having used them, I can say in all honesty that they *do* usually bring me back more cards over the course of a game than Shaymin and are well worth the bench space for slower decks. Unfortunately, Turbo Darkrai isn't a slower deck and I think they will just end up putting the deck into a limbo of "not effective enough" against way too many decks without ways to slow your opponent down.
Click to expand...
Oranguru, while slower, is better than continuing with the energy disruption route. Also, Acro Bike is good with Oranguru if you can't afford Shaymins since it gives you a decent amount of speed. Almost enough to catch up to regular Turbo Dark. It just takes up space, discards more cards than necessary, and relies on you playing your whole hand out.
PokeyNurPikachu said:
This is an awesome skeleton list... I feel like I'm the only one playing with energy disruption at times with team flare grunt and can't figure out why... I actually ordered silent labs right before checking this so apparently I'm on somewhat of the right track... I just can't see myself getting shaymin due to the chances it's out of standard by the end of the year... I tried going the limited Mon route and found myself with no one to use the max elixers on more times then I cared for so I bumped up my totals a bit.
Click to expand...
That's fine. I personally play 1 Yveltal EX because it's something that you can stack energy on without really punishing you. The skeleton I gave was just the stuff you absolutely need, and left everything else to preference. Given your dilemma, here's the completed list the skeleton(and factoring in that you don't want to have to buy Shaymin)

Pokemon:10
4 Darkrai-EX
2 Yveltal XY
1 Yveltal-EX
1 Oranguru
1 Hoopa-EX

Trainers:38
4 Sycamore
2 N
2 Lysandre
1 Hex Maniac
1 Olympia
2 Silent Lab
1 Parallel City
3 Fighting Fury Belt
2 EXP. Share
4 Ultra Ball
4 VS Seeker
3 Trainers' Mail
4 Max Elixir
3 Acro Bike
2 Escape Rope

Energy:12
12 Dark

Try playing with that! You can make adjustments to fit your play style a bit more, but keep in mind you want the deck to run fast, and you want to make sure you dead draw as little as possible.
 
Fayld said:
If you aren't going to go Shaymin, Oranguru can help offset that, but your deck will definitely be on the slower end of the Turbo Darkrai scale though because half of what makes the deck so fast is the ability to keep cycling cards via Shaymin on that first turn in order to hit as many Elixirs as possible.

Without the Shaymins, I honestly think you might want to consider pursuing a more disruption style of deck. It won't be as fast and you are going to need to find some space for crushing hammers somehow. It won't be "Turbo Darkrai" anymore, but it would have its own flair. Honestly, at that point, you might try looking hard at adding an Umbreon GX or two to your list which can be effective as well. Umbreon with Team Flare Grunt + Team Skull Grunt can put some major pressure on Deciplume if timed right due to Deciplume's small energy counts. Not saying this is a great deck list or anything, but without the Shaymins, I don't think the deck will be fast enough to keep up with other decks in the format without a major refocus on energy disruption.

Other folks, please chime in if you think I am off with this comment. Maybe the Orangurus add enough speed. Having used them, I can say in all honesty that they *do* usually bring me back more cards over the course of a game than Shaymin and are well worth the bench space for slower decks. Unfortunately, Turbo Darkrai isn't a slower deck and I think they will just end up putting the deck into a limbo of "not effective enough" against way too many decks without ways to slow your opponent down.
Click to expand...
I guess I've been playing some what of a Darkrai disruption combination but with sycamore I've been able to get set up fairly quickly as well. I have to admit I am in awe of how fast some of these decks build with shaymin which really makes me interested to see if oranguru was ptcg giving us something for next year or if there are bigger and better things on the way... Also with sylvian GX coming I think a lot of players will be running a fairy deck which could hurt Darkrai possibly
 
gumball51321 said:
Oranguru, while slower, is better than continuing with the energy disruption route. Also, Acro Bike is good with Oranguru if you can't afford Shaymins since it gives you a decent amount of speed. Almost enough to catch up to regular Turbo Dark. It just takes up space, discards more cards than necessary, and relies on you playing your whole hand out.

That's fine. I personally play 1 Yveltal EX because it's something that you can stack energy on without really punishing you. The skeleton I gave was just the stuff you absolutely need, and left everything else to preference. Given your dilemma, here's the completed list the skeleton(and factoring in that you don't want to have to buy Shaymin)

Pokemon:10
4 Darkrai-EX
2 Yveltal XY
1 Yveltal-EX
1 Oranguru
1 Hoopa-EX

Trainers:38
4 Sycamore
2 N
2 Lysandre
1 Hex Maniac
1 Olympia
2 Silent Lab
1 Parallel City
3 Fighting Fury Belt
2 EXP. Share
4 Ultra Ball
4 VS Seeker
3 Trainers' Mail
4 Max Elixir
3 Acro Bike
2 Escape Rope

Energy:12
12 Dark

Try playing with that! You can make adjustments to fit your play style a bit more, but keep in mind you want the deck to run fast, and you want to make sure you dead draw as little as possible.
Click to expand...

Glad to get a second opinion on it. I play Turbo Darkrai, but it isn't one of my primary decks, so variants on it are more theorymon for me than they are with other players which is why I was hoping someone with more experience with the deck and variants would respond :D. Thanks @gumball51321
 
PokeyNurPikachu said:
I guess I've been playing some what of a Darkrai disruption combination but with sycamore I've been able to get set up fairly quickly as well. I have to admit I am in awe of how fast some of these decks build with shaymin which really makes me interested to see if oranguru was ptcg giving us something for next year or if there are bigger and better things on the way... Also with sylvian GX coming I think a lot of players will be running a fairy deck which could hurt Darkrai possibly
Click to expand...

Check the list @gumball51321 just posted. It looks fast. It is super item dependent, but the deck was already super item dependent anyway :)
 
Pokemon - 10
4 Darkrai-EX
2 Yveltal XY
1 Yveltal-EX
1 Oranguru SM
1 Hoopa-EX

Supporter/Item/Stadium - 38
4 Professor Sycamore
2 N
2 Lysandre
1 Hex Maniac
1 Olympia

4 Ultra Ball
4 VS Seeker
4 Max Elixir
3 Trainers' Mail
3 Acro Bike
3 Fighting Fury Belt
2 EXP. Share
2 Escape Rope

2 Silent Lab
1 Parallel City

Energy - 12
12 Darkness Energy

I'm going to go ahead and second this list as well. Also, I cleaned up the formatting a bit so it's easier to read.

-Asmer
 
Fayld said:
Glad to get a second opinion on it. I play Turbo Darkrai, but it isn't one of my primary decks, so variants on it are more theorymon for me than they are with other players which is why I was hoping someone with more experience with the deck and variants would respond :D. Thanks @gumball51321
Click to expand...
Yeah, I forgot to mention I've won 3 League Cups with the deck. And I plan to take it to a forth. And I don't think Sylveon GX with see play, since it relies on it's GX too much to really do anything. Yeah, it's REALLY good for support, but fairies are really slow as it is, and don't need more Pokemon to put in. That's how I feel about it anyway. People might come up with a deck out deck with it, cause' it seems like that's something it would be great at. Especially with Acerola coming out in SM2+. I think I know what I'm playing next season now.
 
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