La_displuke said:
Pokemon
3 Darkrai
4 Zoroak
4 Zorua
2 Sableye
1 Mewtwo
Item
3 Ultra ball 2 Communication
2 Evolite 1 Superod
4 Catcher 3 Dark patch
2 Switch 3 Dark claw
3 potion 1 Energy search
Supporters
4 N
4 Cheren
2 Skyla
Energy
12 Dark
I love this deck, and have recently made it myself! It is really refreshing to play in a metagame full of big basics and intense set up decks.
Lets get into helping you out though:
To be honest, you want to put yourself in the supporter range of 13-15 to really have a fighting chance for consistency in your deck. I would say add a full line of Juniper, and an extra Skyla. Split the Bianca and Cheren 2-2 instead of just 4 cheren. Four N is great and shouldn't be altered in my opinion
So, so far:
+1 Skyla
+4 Juniper
-2 Cheren
+2 Bianca
+5 cards. So what should we take out? Well, in having tested a variant of your deck against tier 1 and tier 2 competitive decks, I would say to take out the potion. Most of your stuff is going to be 1-shotted anyways, or a pretty easy 2-shot. Potion, more times than not, won't change the assured KO next turn
-3 potion
Also, drop your switch! You are running Darkrai. There is also a decent chance skyarrow bridge will be in play since many meta decks play it currently.
So, -2 switch.
BAM there is the 5 card slots you need to ensure your deck will run much more consistently!
That was the biggest problem I saw mechanically with your deck, other changes are not as important but could help your deck in small ways. An example of this would be to drop 1 darkrai ex, no ultra ball (sounds crazy but it works!), and run 4 level ball. SInce you are running zoroark and intend to use brutal bash, why not try to get as many basics on your bench as possible? Zorua's ascension attack can evolve it into Zoroark t1, so I favor light ball over ultra ball due to this. You can draw in to your darkrais, or run 3 level ball, and 1 communication. That recipe has worked out great so far in testing!
I would also like to point out energy search is basically worthless in this deck. Why not just skyla for a darkpatch instead? This deck is actually a rather cheap energy cost for damage output deck. You could actually pretty easily get away with 11 energy in this deck since dark patch is just such a good card for dark Pokemon.
Something else you might want to consider. If you follow my advice and are running 2-2 Cheren/Bianca, why not add in pokedex and even a single battle city counter stadium as well? You'll be amazed to see how the pokedex/draw engine can really raise your consistency and also give you insight into tough decisions like whether to N or Juniper your hand away.
In addition, since you are running Sableye, why not throw in some enhanced hammer? Special Energy is pretty popular in the top tier decks now, and will only increase in popularity when Plasma Energy hits the field. Throwing in a couple enhanced hammers might be a great meta play for you.
You are spot on with the three dark claws. It really can assure you of a strong 2HKO on most Ex's. I don't know if 2 eviolite is a good play though. Zoroark does not benefit from it, and that is what you run most of - especially if you take your third Darkrai out. This sounds a bit crazy, but you can actually run Giant cape instead. This helps all of your pokemon, especially zoroark! why? Don't forget about zoroark's second attack! Giant cape makes it even better - making most smart EX players think twice about attacking your zoroark with a Dark clawed Night spear or a Power Blast. Giant cape makes it so you can survive and dish out a 1HKO back! If you do take this route, you might want to hang on to your potions - which I have discussed before in this now novel that I hope is not too long
Super rod is great in this deck, as it is in all swarm-style decks. Great card!
Don't forget your ace spec card! This deck style does not HAVE to have the ace-spec to run smooth, but it can always help! Currently, I am torn between comp search and gold potion. I am currently leaning toward comp search since it raises your already now decent consistency and it synergizes well with Dark Patch. Gold potion is great too, and you can abuse it better thanks to Sableye's junk hunt. You would really only use it on your Mewtwo or Zoroark, since most good decks can 1HKO a Zoroark anyways.
Finally, and someone already touched on this - but you have a Mewtwo in your deck, and Brutal Bash only requires CC to go off. Shaving off a few dark energy for 2-3 DCE is a great play in my opinion - especially since you have dark patch to recycle energy for you!
Best of luck with this deck! it really is a blast to play.
