Darkrai/Hydragon Deck

[Luckygirl0616]

Hi, I have never ran Darkrai Hydragon before and this is just a list I put together It is okay but I think it could be better. I'm not sure what to do to change it. I'll take any suggestions, Thank you!

Energy: 12
8 Regular Dark
4 Blend GRPD

Trainers: 34
4 Juniper
2 Bianca
4 N
2 Skyla
1 Computer Search (Ace Spec)
4 Catcher
4 Dark Patch
3 Rare Candy
3 Max potion
2 Super rod
3 Ultra Ball
2 Random Receiver

Pokémon: 14
3 Darkrai EX
3 Deino (Dragon type)
1 Zwelious (Dragon type)
3 Hydragon (Dark trance)
1 Sigilyph (With ability to take nothing from EX's)
1 Mewtwo EX
2 Sable eye ( Junk hunt )

Again, I will take any suggestions you think will help my deck! Thank you!

 

[anythingbutgrass]

I haven't competed with my deck( it's now very different from the one on my deck list thread), but you might want to consider dropping:
-1 rare candy (I haven't seen it be essential, two should be enough especially with junk hunt)
-1 ultra ball (again junk hunt)
-1-2 catcher (not sure about this one, my deck doesn't currently have one, but is a good deck w/o it)
+2 enhanced hammer
+2 crushing hammer.
Watch the NE regional finals in Philadelphia to see how these are played. Those trainers tore mewtwo terrakion apart by discarding opponents energies almost every turn. Paired with sable eye and hydreigon, the energy war should be all yours. I think.... Lol. LMK if I'm wrong, I'm basing my deck off of this strategy.

 

[Blah]

I haven't competed with my deck( it's now very different from the one on my deck list thread), but you might want to consider dropping:
-1 rare candy (I haven't seen it be essential, two should be enough especially with junk hunt)
-1 ultra ball (again junk hunt)
-1-2 catcher (not sure about this one, my deck doesn't currently have one, but is a good deck w/o it)
+2 enhanced hammer
+2 crushing hammer.
Watch the NE regional finals in Philadelphia to see how these are played. Those trainers tore mewtwo terrakion apart by discarding opponents energies almost every turn. Paired with sable eye and hydreigon, the energy war should be all yours. I think.... Lol. LMK if I'm wrong, I'm basing my deck off of this strategy.

*shakes head*

This, of all decks, should not be including Hammers. The finals of PA and NE were entire decks based around the use of Crushing Hammer and Enhanced Hammer, and Hydreigon just does not have room for them.

Anyway, the list is looking pretty good, I really only notice a few kinks. I would drop the 4th Dark Patch for another Ultra Ball, drop a Super Rod for a fourth Max Potion. I would also try to find room for Shaymin EX (to help against Terrakion and as a fantastic late-game attacker) and a third Sableye (this deck likes being defensive, and a third one of these can really help with that). I'm not sure what I would take out for them though, possibly an energy and *maybe* the last Super Rod, as it's often very situational.

 

[anythingbutgrass]

Yeah, I think I'm still going to try it in my deck, but I agree, it's very hard to fit an extra four trainers in this deck. The hammers really helps against a late game shaymin though. In my practice it has been the difference between shaymin sweeping the field and it sitting unable to attack. Also mew two powering up with a DCE is put back a turn by enhanced hammer, giving you at least a turn to put off x ball.

 

[Blah]

Yeah, I think I'm still going to try it in my deck, but I agree, it's very hard to fit an extra four trainers in this deck. The hammers really helps against a late game shaymin though. In my practice it has been the difference between shaymin sweeping the field and it destroying a catchered hydreigon. Also mew two powering up with a DCE is put back a turn by enhanced hammer, giving you at least a turn to put off x ball.

Keep in mind those are two very specific situations that can often be handled by other cards. Even if you couldn't, always follow the master rule of Consistency > Techs/Situational cards.

 

[anythingbutgrass]

Except that mew two is played in almost every tier one deck around. Not finding a mew two is a situation and every deck has to attach energies to play. Eels might be hammer Bain though. And against another darkrai hydreigon deck, the effect of the hammers would only be temporarily, but an extra turn to set up darkrai or mew two is a big deal. Super rod= situation. All decks need energy to play, so why is hammers situational trainers? They aren't supporters so they can be played more than one at a time and it doesn't destroy the consistency of the hydreigon because you still run two ultra balls and two rare candies with a 3-1-3 line. I don't know if I would cut catcher again, that really could destroy the consistency of the deck, but cards like PJ and super rod only get used every so often. Cut a super rod and a PJ and keep the catchers, saving the element of your deck that is essential.

---

Oh, what other cards handle attached energies? I didn't see any, but I am fairly new.

And BTW I'm not trying to be snippy, I don't understand how this destroys the consistency of the deck. I'm currently running three enhanced hammers and I could effectively cut one out no problem, but still, those cards really come in handy. I am waiting for my ends of some trades to go through the mail before I get a realistic list up. Thanks.

 

[Blah]

Except that mew two is played in almost every tier one deck around. Not finding a mew two is a situation and every deck has to attach energies to play. Eels might be hammer Bain though. And against another darkrai hydreigon deck, the effect of the hammers would only be temporarily, but an extra turn to set up darkrai or mew two is a big deal. Super rod= situation. All decks need energy to play, so why is hammers situational trainers? They aren't supporters so they can be played more than one at a time and it doesn't destroy the consistency of the hydreigon because you still run two ultra balls and two rare candies with a 3-1-3 line. I don't know if I would cut catcher again, that really could destroy the consistency of the deck, but cards like PJ and super rod only get used every so often. Cut a super rod and a PJ and keep the catchers, saving the element of your deck that is essential.

---

Oh, what other cards handle attached energies? I didn't see any, but I am fairly new.

And BTW I'm not trying to be snippy, I don't understand how this destroys the consistency of the deck. I'm currently running three enhanced hammers and I could effectively cut one out no problem, but still, those cards really come in handy. I am waiting for my ends of some trades to go through the mail before I get a realistic list up. Thanks.

---

I'm taking this to profile comments. This isn't the place for this discussion.

 

[anythingbutgrass]

Hey, in case you were wondering, Blah and I have talked and he blatantly knows much more about this game than I do. LOL. You should probably listen to his advice. My bad... oh well.

 

[Luckygirl0616]

Thank you both for your feedback on my deck. This weekend I will try some of your suggestions and try to obtain a Shaymin EX (I currently don't have one.) I will run my list I originally had tomorrow (Saturday) and I will try some of our suggestions Sunday and compare my result. I will tell you how I did. Once again thank you for your feedback!

 

[Blah]

Thank you both for your feedback on my deck. This weekend I will try some of your suggestions and try to obtain a Shaymin EX (I currently don't have one.) I will run my list I originally had tomorrow (Saturday) and I will try some of our suggestions Sunday and compare my result. I will tell you how I did. Once again thank you for your feedback!

Sounds good, and good luck at the tournaments you go to.

As a note about the general strategy of this deck, you want to try to get Sableye active early and start recycling resources. If they have a slow start and you have a good one then it's sometimes a good idea to go aggressive with Darkrai, but other than that it's normally a better idea to just let Sableye do his thing as you get more and more set up. However, if you ever see Landorus EX, start pounding away at it ASAP, because if it get's three energy on it it can OHKO Darkrai without discarding energy with a Pluspower (not that common, but it's gaining popularity in fighting decks) and can straight up OHKO Hydreigon, which is kind of a big deal. Other than that, this deck does very well as long as you can get the Hydreigon going.

 

[DNA]

The Deino you pick can also have an impact on your start. The {D} type one (NVI) gets donked by Landorus, and the {DRG} type one (DRX) gets donked by Rayquaza. Based on what your meta has more of, plan accordingly. There's also 2 {DRG} type Deinos; I personally think the one with Deep Growl ( {D} for 50% chance of paralysis) is better than Guard Press, but that's just me. But who knows, maybe that 10 damage from Guard Press might come in handy. Could allow you to get that extra damage on Terrakion. And, of course, the best Zweilous is the Draw In one.

Darkrai decks also tend to use Cresselia instead of Mewtwo, due to Dark Trance's ability to easily mobilize the 4 Energy required for its attack - which, after you use, makes Cresselia virtually impossible to kill (due to it removing the weakness). I'd swap Mewtwo EX for Cresselia EX. You could swap the Sigilyph out for the Shaymin EX, but they're both very situational. I think Sigilyph's better because you only give up 1 prize (instead of 2) when it gets OHKO'd, and Safeguard is a huge blessing.

You could also trim the RR for a 3rd Skyla and 3rd Bianca, but that is just personal preference. For the most part, your build looks very similar to my friend's (who also runs DarkHydra in Seniors and does quite well with it, but he uses Cresselia).

You might also consider running Switches in here - no more than 2, though. You might need it for retreating, Dark Patching, then sending Darkrai back up - or in case you get trapped by something like paralysis. Don't laugh - there are times when you may need to retreat twice. As for what you'd take out? I don't know. DarkHydra lists are usually very tight on space.

But, for the most part, looks great!

 

[Luckygirl0616]

Thank you Blah, on Saturday I went 2-3 and then I made some changes to my deck, mostly the ones you suggested and I went 3-1. Thank you DNA, I also took some of your changes after the tourney such as testing it with out the RR and with an extra Bianca and Skyla. Thank you for your suggestions, next week I will go to another Tournament and test the new changes I made. If you want I can post what I finally came up with in the end.

 

[Blah]

That's great news! It's always good to see improvement, especially after making changes to your deck.

I would suggest keeping the RR, mostly because of Sableye. It can get you out of some tough situations if you don't have a supporter, but if you test it and find you like it without RR more, feel free to change it. Remember, a lot of deckbuilding is often based on personal playstyle.

I'm curious to see what your new list looked like, so if you don't mind posting it or updating the OP with it, that would be awesome. Good luck in the rest of the tournaments you go to, and I'm glad my advice helped!

 

[exdarkrai01]

That's great news! It's always good to see improvement, especially after making changes to your deck.

I would suggest keeping the RR, mostly because of Sableye. It can get you out of some tough situations if you don't have a supporter, but if you test it and find you like it without RR more, feel free to change it. Remember, a lot of deckbuilding is often based on personal playstyle.

This. People will argue about what is the perfect line of trainers to run in a deck, there really isn't one. Like Blah said, it all depends on how you play. Looking at it I think it could use some level ball. It is really important in a Darkrai/Hydreigon to get those deinos out and the sableye active, all while loading up a Darkrai on the bench. If you getting them out with your current list, that's awesome but it can't hurt with as much landorus and tornadus as there is in our current meta.

 

[TeGeTeGe]

cresselia ex is a very good tech to knock out mewtwo and shaymin is very good against keldeo

 

[Luckygirl0616]

The final product that I have come up with for my deck I find is better than what I originally had:

Energy: 12
8 Regular Dark
4 Blend GRPD

Trainers: 33
4 Juniper
3 Bianca
4 N
3 Skyla
1 Computer Search (Ace Spec)
4 Catcher
3 Dark Patch
3 Rare Candy
4 Max potion
4 Ultra Ball

Pokémon: 15
3 Darkrai EX
3 Deino (Dragon type/Paralysis)
1 Zwelious (Dragon type/Draw in)
3 Hydragon (Dark trance)
1 Sigilyph (With ability to take nothing from EX's)
1 Mewtwo EX
2 Sable eye ( Junk hunt )
1 Shaymin EX (Revenge Blast)

I currently don't have a Shaymin EX for this weekend so if I can borrow one or trade for one, I'll just put in a second Mewtwo EX in it's place. I also don't have a Cresselia EX and I don't know anyone who does so I'm not going to test with it until I know for a fact I can get it! Thank you all for your suggestions and opinions on my Darkrai/Hydreigon list and I will see how I do at the Tourneys this weekend with this build. If you see any other changes with this list above I'm still all ears for any suggestions you may have! XD

 

[rukario]

try adding lopunnys for healing the damage of some more cheren..at least a pretty cool deck

 

[Mora]

try adding lopunnys for healing the damage of some more cheren..at least a pretty cool deck

???

Max Potion is all the healing you will ever need. Anything else is just redundant.