Darkrai-EX/Hydreigon/Sableye Deck

[Henry'sDad]

Hi,

We've been building a Darkrai EX / Hydregion / Sableye deck for my 8 year old son. The strategy we've been using is to get Hydregion up as fast as possible, attack with Darkrai EX, and heal. We've been playing in league for about a year and we've been in two tournaments.

Pokémon: 14
3 Darkrai EX
3-1-3 Hydreigon (Deino, Zweilous from NVI, Hydregions from DRX)
3 Sableye (Junk Hunt)
1 Mewtwo EX

Trainers: 34
2 N
3 Professor Juniper
1 Cilan
2 Skyla

2 Rare Candy
3 Max Potion
2 Ultra Ball
3 Dark Patch
2 Level Ball
1 Random Receiver
3 Eviolite
3 Pokemon Catcher
2 Enhanced Hammer
1 Computer Search
2 Hypnotoxic Laser
1 Super Rod
1 Energy Search

Energy: 12
8 Dark Energy
2 Blend GFPD
2 Double Colorless

Main questions:
- Do we have too much of a mix - should we have a smaller variety and more of certain cards?
- Any cards we are missing that we should have?
- Should we use Crushing Hammers instead of Enhanced Hammers? or Leave them out all together
- Do we need more Rare Candy to make sure Hydregion comes out early?
- Should we have 4 each of N, Professor Juniper, Max Potion, Dark Patch, Eviolite, Pokemon Catchers, Ultra Balls, Hypnotoxic Lasers? This is related to the too much variety question.
- How is the energy combo? Should we substitute the 2 Blends for 2 more Double Colorless?
- Should we add 2 Virbank City Gym Stadiums?
- We are using Mewtwo EX as the emergency attacker instead Shaymin EX and especially in case the opponent is using Mewtwo EX or as a defense against Fighting. Should we add a 2nd Mewtwo EX?
- Are there any other ways to defend against fighting types?

Thanks in advance. We are learning a lot every day and really enjoy it.

 

[AlexanderTheAwesome]

RE: Darkrai EX / Hydregion / Sableye Deck

Hello,

Not sure why you have DCE in here. It seems helpful at first, but trust me it really isn't. Cilan isn't too good of a supporter so I would take that out. Also eviolite isn't as good as it used to be as the format has kind've turned into an offensive game unlike last season where it was more defensive so I would replace those. That being said here is what I would change:

-2 DCE - can't move them around with dark trance
-1 Cilan
-3 Eviolite
-2 Hypnotoxic laser - this is usually used in Speed Darkrai decks with Virbank City Gym not really Hydreigon so for now I would take these out
-1 Enhanced Hammer - also used in Speed Darkrai, but I see where you're coming from so I would have 1 in there just in case.
-1 Level Ball - this should really only be used as Skyla bait so cutting it to one shouldn't be to harmful.

Now what to add:
+2 N - Pretty standard in stage 2 decks. In speed decks cutting it down to 3 is usually okay but this is not a speed deck
+1 Juniper - Standard in pretty much all decks
+1 Colress - This is a good one of card especially in this deck where you pretty much fill up your bench by turn 3
+1 Pokémon Catcher - this is a staple card. Especially in Darkrai
+2 Blend Energies - Just to replace the DCE's
+2 Rare Candy - you were absolutely correct setting up Hydreigon is very important and lone deinos are just catcher bait.
+1 Ultra Ball / Dark Patch - In speed Darkrai (which if you haven't noticed from me mentioning it 3 times is what I play) I would say you have to have 4 dark patch. Now in Hydreigon I'm not really sure which you should have. But in my eyes these are your options - 4-2 Dark Patch-Ultra Ball 3-3 DP-UB (What I would recommend) or 2-4 DP-UB (I don't recommend this at all).

So the only way you can figure out if any of my suggestions work is just to play around with the deck and figure out what build works for you. Depending on how smoothly your deck works and its consistency you may tottaly change the build altogether. Also I would try out Dark Claw as a tool in this deck, its kinda helpful but this list seems pretty tight so finding the room might be kinda difficult. Good luck with the deck

 

[littywitty]

RE: Darkrai EX / Hydregion / Sableye Deck

Prior to the guy that apparently burns souls adjustments, I would like to make some changes myself:

-1 Rare Candy (you only are going to be setting up 1-2 Hydreigon, running 3 candies will more than suffice and 4 is taking up too much room.)
-1 Enhanced Hammer
-1 Pokemon Catcher (One of the best parts about this deck is that items can be reused easily, you want to vary your options items wise.)
-1 Energy search (this card is iffy but you can replace it with a card of more purpose.)
-1 Max Potion (call me crazy but I have found myself in too many situations that max potion is a dead card. And again, you can reuse items.)

+1 Shaymin EX (has been called a staple to this deck multiple times.)
+1 Ultra Ball/Dark Patch (depending which you put in from his article. Getting this set up makes a donk a more likely possibility. Making this deck a bit faster, NO WEAK POINTS.)
+1 Benchtini (Klinklang counter)
+1 Crushing Hammer (more flexible than Enhanced Hammer.)
+1 Eviolite (You can never be too sure ...)

 

[Henry'sDad]

RE: Darkrai EX / Hydregion / Sableye Deck

Thanks for the feedback so far. We blended together feedback from both littywhitty and alexander. As this is his deck, I let my son make some final decisions based on his sensibilities. Here is where we stand today:

Pokémon: 15
3 Darkrai EX
3-1-3 Hydreigon (Deino, Zweilous from NVI, Hydregions from DRX)
3 Sableye (Junk Hunt)
1 Shaymin EX
1 Keldeo EX

Trainers: 33
1 Computer Search
2 Virbank City Gym
2 Colress
2 N
3 Professor Juniper
3 Hypnotoxic Laser
3 Dark Patch
3 Max Potion
3 Ultra Ball
3 Pokemon Catcher
2 Level Ball
1 Tool Scrapper
1 Crushing Hammer
1 Super Rod
3 Rare Candy

Energy: 12
8 Dark Energy
4 Blend GFPD

My son's been playing this combination with some success - he recently won the Jr.'s division of a local tournament. During state championships, the competition was tougher and he had some issues getting Hydregion up and keeping him up. What would help the most with getting Hydregion up quickly.

Some considerations:
- My son is 8 and he loves attacking and EX's. We'd like to keep both Keldeo EX (to prevent stalls) and Shaymin EX(for late game) in there.
- He does like have the variety - i.e. 3 cards of a type vs. 4 cards of a type allows for more variety. That's mainly why we have it setup this way - 3 of many instead of the usual 4.

Thanks in advance

 

[DrunkSpinda]

RE: Darkrai EX / Hydregion / Sableye Deck

If your son likes EXs and attacking, maybe he should go with Big Basics instead(Landorus EX/Mewtwo EX/Tornadus EX). If you want him to stick to this, I would first of all teach him how to work better with the deck, as this is more of a control deck than a beatdown deck,

I would remove the lone Crushing Hammer for the 4th Laser, imo, as it's more important and with Hydreigon+laser+virbank you'll deal 180 damage. I would also remove either the Shaymin EX or one colress to add the 4th rare candy

 

[littywitty]

RE: Darkrai EX / Hydregion / Sableye Deck

I would get rid of the Keldeo EX, and put in a random receiver. That thing is gonna save you so many times! (judging by the amount of supporters your running) But besides that fact, I would highly recommend more supporters. You leaving out supporters leave you SUPER vulnerable early game and with the format we've been set with, speed and consistency are the main keys to success.

 

[Atlatrozius]

RE: Darkrai EX / Hydregion / Sableye Deck

You pretty much have the concept of the deck down, but there are a few problems with numbers and inefficiencies that you will find with that build. The first thing that you have to decide is how fast do you want your build to be VS how strong do you want your late game to be with techs. Personally I prefer the former, as it is possible to get around a 50% turn two night spear with a faster build and this is especially necessary in your Ray/Eels and Blastoise/Keldeo/Kyurem match-up were they can demolish you turn 2 but are weak to getting their pieces hit early.

For the "Speed Builds" consider "Speed Darkrai" a template

The Pokemon line is pretty linear.
3 Darkrai EX-your main attacker
3 Sableye-your main go to guy for fast starts and late game retrieval of max potions
3/0/3 Deino(Deep growl as the dark one gets donked by landorus) Hydreigon-from over 15 hours of test hands alone as well as quite a few actual games the zweilous is not necessary and generally slows you down and burns a hole in your hand
1 Keldeo-bad laser flips happen, and apparenly articuno is a thing but this can also function as an attacker against big basics, and it gets even better if you decide to play prisms
Tech Pokemon
Mewtwo EX-while loading a bunch of energy on this is deadly, its also deadly to you, a single mewtwo+DCE from your opponent and you will be crying as well as set back a few turns
Shaymin EX-this can help against keldeo as it one shots them after they have taken two prizes, or come in for a x/1 sweep but like mewtwo its is two fragile and an easy prize to take for you opponent.
Sigiliph-this card can be great to stall, but overall to many people are running counters to this and klingklang
Victini(V-Create)-good attacker against KlingKlang, but you already have a hydreigon that can one shot klingklang without getting one shot back
Boufolant-probobly the best on this list, it functions as an alternate attacker against Big Basics and Ray/Eels (if they have already set up) and dealing as much as an EX while only giving up one prize makes this thing a monster

Supporters, Its all about speed and getting yourself out of those clogging hands
4 N-while this build is fast, it can have issues with falling behind the same as regular Hydreigon builds, late game these also save you from decking out
4 Professor Juniper-while ditching your stage twos can be somewhat frustrating, if you want to keep pace this is sometime necissary, this also functions to fuel your dark patch lines, also any crucial items you get rid of can be junk hunted back
2 Skyla-simple search helps you make your stage twos with a higher level of speed as well as getting you a catcher or max potion when you need it.

Items, being a speed build, there are a lot
ACE SPEC-Computer search-comp search gets you your supporters faster on bad starts, while on good starts gets you a free dark patch when you can discard an energy
3 Bicycle-this is one of those ideas that looks bad on paper, but in practice turns out to make an unfathomable difference, simply put it gives you a much more productive turn one, as those 2-3 cards your drawing could just happen to be your supporter for the turn, or an ultra ball or pokemon you need to set-up
4 Dark patch-getting the extra energy on board on the first two turns lets you quickly set up a Darkrai or two within the first few turns and in order to land a turn two night spear you need to use one of these.
1 Level ball-Grabs deinos and thins the deck quickly to let you draw into the things you need
2 Max potion-with all the decks capable of one shotting playing 3 can get problematic for getting fast starts 2 seems right to me
4 Pokemon catcher-Really not much explination here, youcan simply catcher to clear your had anyways so that you have one in the discard to hunt back later
2 random receiver-Along with bicycle this card is also "junk hunt"able, making it a semi-replenishable supporter
3 Rare candy- 3/0/3 along with 3 candies gets you your hydreigon consistently
4 Ultra ball-this is the card you want to start with, deck thin, hand thin, setup, this does it all and lets you bicycle for 2-3 cards and set up you discard for a dark patch

Item Techs
Enhanced hammer-a really good 1 of tech that helps against big basics and klingklang as it can be junk hunted for to keep removing DCES and Blends/Prisims and if you chose to play dowsing machine over computer search than you can get two off in the same turn with junk hunt
Hypnotoxic laser-this card deserves some mention because of its abillity to put the math for a KO right were it need to be
Pokemon comunication-lets you shuffle out your hydreigons for anything you want before you juniper or gets two cards out of you hand (the new pokemon is going on the bench) for bicycle
Tool Scrapper-this will be very useful against garbodor, maybe hit a Exp share, eviolite, or dark claw

Energy, standard for the most part
3 Blend GRPD
10 Darkness-this number is the best for getting one into your discard early if you plan appropriately allowing turn one dark patches to land quickly

Energy Techs
If you are concerned about big basics there is a wonky strategy against them, Keldeo being your attacker. Simply put play 2 keldeo and 4 prisim and start laughing manically when keldeo one shots landorus.
2 Blend GRPD
4 Prism
8 Darkness

Although it may feel like I'm throwing an entirely different build at you, you don't have to use it. But if you do feel like you current build is to slow and your getting rolled by turn 1 and turn two power plays then take this build for a spin!

 

[Henry'sDad]

RE: Darkrai-EX / Hydregion / Sableye Deck

Thanks for additional fantastic. We will incorporate them in practice and report back - we are going to try a slight variation of Atlatrozuis' recommendation. Littywitty - we will definitely add Random Receivers and more Supporters. DrunkSpinda - we have been testing 4 Hypnotoxic lasers and will compare them with how the deck plays out with the latest change.

 

[MrGatr]

RE: Darkrai-EX / Hydregion / Sableye Deck

I'd suggest taking out the Level Balls as you really don't need them, and adding in another Tool Scrapper (Just trolls Gabordor now) and a Sigilyph DRX. Sigilyph will win you the big basics match, as they generally don't run Terrakion anymore, because of Lasers.