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Standard I really need help with this Darkrai deck. It almost always draws so awful.

S

StevenM

Aspiring Trainer
Member
It's pretty much an exact deck that top 8ed a recent regionals but yet in testing, it's drawn very awful a lot of times. I'll get hands like Yveltal, Darkrai, 2 Exp Shares, Elixir, Altar, and Choice Band. It happens a lot and idk why that is considering it's the same thing that top 8ed. It's very frustrating because I just can't see how someone did well with something that draws so poorly.

If there are any ways to improve this decks consistency, I'm all for it.

****** Pokémon Trading Card Game Deck List ******

##Pokémon - 10

* 1 Shaymin-EX ROS 77
* 4 Darkrai-EX BKP 74
* 3 Yveltal STS 65
* 1 Sudowoodo GRI 66
* 1 Tapu Lele-GX GRI 60

##Trainer Cards - 36

* 4 N PR-BLW BW100
* 3 Lysandre AOR 78
* 4 Professor Sycamore BKP 107
* 1 Lillie SUM 122
* 4 Max Elixir BKP 102
* 4 Altar of the Moone GRI 117
* 4 Choice Band GRI 121
* 4 Ultra Ball FAC 113
* 4 VS Seeker PHF 109
* 4 Exp. Share PRC 128

##Energy - 14

* 14 Darkness Energy Energy 7

Total Cards - 60

****** Deck List Generated by the Pokémon TCG Online www.pokemon.com/TCGO ******
 
Try losing a Lysandre for a second Lele if possible. Maybe add in some Nest Balls too if your having trouble finding your Pokemon, but I'm not quite sure what to cut for them. That's pretty much all I can think of. Good luck :)
 
All right so i have a few questions and will thsn follow it up with some explanations. Do you only play thos deck online amd have you tried playing it irl? What is your luck usually like when you play decks irl?

Now for a bit of explaining. The algirithims in the online game are awful. When i play online decks preform nowhere near aswell as i would playing irl its just a fact. Finially if you are playing a carbon copy of a deck that did well at a regional you are doing it wrong. You need to take the general idea and mix it up so the will your personal play style instead of you fitting the someone elses deck.
 
swaginator5000 said:
All right so i have a few questions and will thsn follow it up with some explanations. Do you only play thos deck online amd have you tried playing it irl? What is your luck usually like when you play decks irl?

Now for a bit of explaining. The algirithims in the online game are awful. When i play online decks preform nowhere near aswell as i would playing irl its just a fact. Finially if you are playing a carbon copy of a deck that did well at a regional you are doing it wrong. You need to take the general idea and mix it up so the will your personal play style instead of you fitting the someone elses deck.
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This is online only. And as for carbon copy, yeah it's not EXACTLY card for card but it runs pretty much most of the cards, other than some tweaks I find I like. But even so, it draws so terrible online to where I have a lone Darkrai, Elixirs, Exp Share, energies, and that's it. So if I don't draw anything useful, I lose and I usually don't top anything good.

I didn't know about the online game algirithims being awful but I suppose that explains why it can top 8 at major events but draw so poorly online. I wish I could say it was just me playing the deck wrong but nah, i don't even start out with a playable hand a lot of times.
 
StevenM said:
This is online only. And as for carbon copy, yeah it's not EXACTLY card for card but it runs pretty much most of the cards, other than some tweaks I find I like. But even so, it draws so terrible online to where I have a lone Darkrai, Elixirs, Exp Share, energies, and that's it. So if I don't draw anything useful, I lose and I usually don't top anything good.

I didn't know about the online game algirithims being awful but I suppose that explains why it can top 8 at major events but draw so poorly online. I wish I could say it was just me playing the deck wrong but nah, i don't even start out with a playable hand a lot of times.
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Sleeve up a proxied version of the deck and see if you are getting the same results.
 
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swaginator5000 said:
I don't mean to sound rude or try to be offensive but, it sounds to me that you currently have a mentality problem with playing this game. I have met a lot of newer players and older, which includes myself at one point, who think that a great deck will make them a great/good player when in reality it is a good/great player that makes a deck good/great. When you said that it isn't you that is playing the deck wrong is what mostly tells me this and your multiple posts stating your struggles with pretty decent meta decks. I really recommend you sleeve up a proxied version of this deck and take it to league for a week or two to see how it plays in your own hands. Try to find the really good players in your area and watch and learn from them to become a better player so that you can be the good/great player who takes a meta deck or some rogue deck to events and become capable of playing at a winning level. In my first years of playing I thought that good decks could make me great, but in reality it watching and playing against the best players in my area every week at league for 3 years to get to the point where I won events with fun rogue decks, I was making the decks great as I had become a decent player with a different mindset.

Ok, that's the end of my text splurge I hope it makes sense for the most part and you understand the point I am taking, and I'm completely wrong with the stance so be it.
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It doesn't matter your skill level when you draw complete brick hands. That's what you aren't understanding.
 
4 Choice Band and 4 EXP Share is way too much. I'd swap the Bands for FFBs because of the HP buffs and run a 2-2 split or only run EXP Share. I'd then use the extra cards for 4 Trainers Mail. I'd also cut a Lysandre and N for a Lele or Shaymin and a Hex Maniac or Pokémon Ranger. Other than that the deck seems solid, I'd guess it's just small sample size making it seem worse than it is. You could probably also cut 1 Altar. As for what to put in, idk. Maybe put back an EXP Share or N. Also when it comes out I'd swap Lysandre for Guzma, which basically acts as Lysandre plus Escape Rope. It allows you to switch then retreat back in if you have Altar up, which works well in case you have to deal with status conditions or effects Pokemon like Toxapex.

I run a Turbo Dark deck of my own, it's a more traditional pre-GRI deck. It rarely dead draws so if you want to, you could try it and see if it's how you run the deck or the deck itself that is the problem.
 
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Latte1504 said:
Are you drawing Ultra Balls, and how are you using them?
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I just play tested a game where I drew 4 Dark energies, 2 Altars, a Darkrai, and Exp Share... Idk how anyone would win a game starting out like that. And I always make sure to have Darkrai and Yveltal going, with Yveltal as the main attacker to accumulate energies onto the board. But as mentioned, I usually start with poor hands.

I use Volcanion and have close to a 70% win ratio with it in testing online and in person. But I also have a better feel for the deck as i've played over 400 games with the deck because it was the first deck I ever used. I've beaten Mega Ray, Alolan Ninetales/Decidueye, Volcanion mirror matches, Metagross, Tapu/Vikavolt, etc.

Darkrai is a different story for me and maybe it's a mix of not understand the deck and poor draws as mention from someone since i play online. idk, I REALLY want to use Darkrai as a change up kinda deck from Volcanion but it's not impressed me so far.
 
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