Dark Advocates
This concept here (about the Devil's Advocate) begins a series of decks with the title "Dark" to them. Two of these decks have already been showcased—Dark Skies & Dark Dreams—and each of is variant of one another that utilizes the "Dark Engine"; a very simple, yet very proficient deck engine I came up consisting of 4 [Dark Wing] Yveltal, 4 Ultra Ball, 4 Dark Patch, 3 Professor's Letter, 4 Cheren, 2 Professor Juniper, 4 Steven, and 13 Basic Dark energy.
[Dark Wing] Yveltal is a very effective Swarmer, that only needs some simple conditions fulfilled to begin doubling up its advantage potential. This deck engine sought to bridge off that potential with a very concentrated straight draw/tactical retrieval combo, which brought all its needs together very quickly, and accelerated energy at a pace nearly no other deck could keep up with.
The original formula was immensely successful, including {Dark Cloak} Darkrai to enable free retreat, Dark Claw to boost measures of damage—and tech additions from [Junk Hunt] Sableye (for its synergy with Dark Patch)—or {Sealing Scream} Spiritomb to shut down all Ace Spec potential.
Each variant sought to centerpiece a different Dark-type Pokémon EX as its vessel for the effect of [Dark Wing] Yveltal—to unlock its alpha potential with the Dark Engine. These final edits of the deck seek to diversify upon that potential some, including more customly arranged Supporter spreads, and additions of other technical cards in hopes of furthering the deck's overall potential and adding flare to the deck's given theme.
As a special bonus, here's a brand new addition to the series, Dark Wits, that I just whipped up last minute especially for this presentation. This deck doesn't seek to centerpiece any Dark-type Basic Pokémon at all, but instead revolves around {Propagation} Exeggscute, and a diverse array of Stage 1 Pokémon—including the illustrious Umbreon-GX. And ss another special bonus, here's a neat brush up of the Dark Dreams deck.
Dark Space
A deck about Angles and Demons. It seeks to utilize Judge in the Supporter spread for its synergy with [Disaster Wing]—in hopes of bringing out the most potential for that attack—by shuffling the opponent's hand back into their deck, and hoping to increasing the concentration of Trainer cards in it. Judge also makes good disruption embodying the lesser end of M Absol's damage, which is further backed up by a heavy presence of Professor Kukui, and could see even further support by opting out the Stadium select for 3 copies of Dimension Valley.
Dark Stars
The deck that started it all. Inspired and determined to unlock the alpha potential of M Tyrannitar, I developed the Dark engine to effectively be able to swing out M Tyrannitar out by turn three. It was immensely successful and consistent. The theme for this deck revolves around the Black Star Dragonballs, and the dark energy that accumulated within them, due to Goku and the Z Fighters seeking to take advantage of their power to be as careless and negligent as they'd like.
Dark Streets
A deck about a crooked female cop, who has been abusing her authority to take advantage of unsuspecting victims, while her liaison in the FBI that she's connected with uses their technology to hide what's recorded on the video feed like nothing ever happened.
Dark Waters
A deck about the dark life or cutthroat pirates and life on the high seas. After jumping aboard your ship, and taking everything precious from your cargo (especially your most beautiful women), the Captain makes you walk the plank in shark infested waters to send you down to Davy Jones' locker. This final edit of the deck diversifies quit a bit from the original formula, and includes a heavy presence of energy disruption Supporters to double up on the potential of Sharpedo's [Jagged Fang] attack.
DEBO
This is a deck I had designed bottom-up, putting the functionality first, and wrapping the flavor and theme around it later. This deck was designed to boast some alpha potential in the 2016 Season. I had come up with the concept towards the late end of the season, and didn't get to put it to much use. The strategy here involves utilizing the natural power of Yveltal and Yveltal-EX, alongside the immense advantage that Shadow Circle provides, with a very creative addition of Furious Fists Slaking to provide offensive diversity and tactical prowess.
You see, Yveltal provides the raw power as the terrifying powerful Slugger/Swarmer combo. No explanation needed here. This is potential they've legendarily dominated with since their release. Meanwhile, Slaking builds up from the bench to back them up with the immense tactical potential of its [Amnesia] attack. This attack straight up shuts down Mega Pokémon (as they only have a single attack) and can heavily disrupt other Pokémon from being able to successfully advance in their offensive (thus effectively biding time while getting the jump on the damage stack).
This deck further included a tech on Malamar-EX for the powerful synergy between its {Hyper Hypnosis} Ability and Yveltal's crushing damage. It also included a very recently released card at the time, Umbreon-EX, with the intention of putting the crushing edge of its [Endgame] attack behind Yveltal-EX—as a quicker backup to Slaking—and where it's undoubtedly the scariest.
This final edit of the deck replaces 2 Muscle Band for 2 Fighting Fury Belt, as the HP boost for Yveltal and other EX plays a crucial role in the damage stack, and how it can help to extend the effects of their attacks for an even greater benefit. This final edit of the deck also switches up the Supporter array just slightly to replace Professor Birch's Observations for 3 Professor Kukui.
As though it really needs to be explained, Professor Kukui and Yveltal-EX are a powerplay all their own. Not so much for [Evil Ball], but for [Y Cyclone], which can be boosted past the 130 damage threshold with Professor Kukui, enabling One-Hit KO's against other Yveltals, while doubling as energy acceleration for this deck's Pokémon, and a damage guard against other Yveltal-EX.
Desert Strike
Here's a cool deck of mine that sought to combine the team of [Spinning Turn] Donphan with [Venoshock] Whirlpede. The concepts and artwork of these cards boast a lot of synergy and flavor together, so I thought it would make a really awesome concept to put the two cards together. Going along with the natural strategy involving Donphan's [Spinning Turn] attack, I added Gengar-EX to this deck for the additional synergy it could provide, given how [Dark Corridor] can be used in the same way as [Spinning Turn] (and with the same resources—such as Robo Substitute).
The strategy for this deck is majorly a stick and move Poison strategy, involving attacks that retreat to the bench, ducking behind a Robo Substitute or another card while the opponent's HP is heavily worn down by Virbank City Gym. Hypnotoxic Laser is included to support Donphan's lead and its inability to invoke the Poisoned Special Condition for itself. Venipede also makes a really tactical Pokémon to duck behind for [Spinning Turn], as the opponent won't be able to attack it without invoking the Special Condition against their Active Pokémon.
M Gengar as been added here for lulz, alongside a tech on [Damage Change] Mewtwo, who effectively provides an powerful extension to duck behind in place of Venipede or Robo Substitute. As this deck should be able to make heavy use of Teammates, it's included here in high volume in hopes to tap into that potential. Teammates makes an amazing ticket to instantly pair up M Gengar and Gengar Spirit Link—as well as Mewtwo-EX and Fighting Fury Belt—or pretty much any other crucial resources this deck might need right away.
The remainder of this deck's Supporter array focuses on providing consistent flow of the cards, that bridges off the high consistency of this deck and its contents. The theme for this deck is based on the Gulf War, and the Electronic Arts Helicopter shoot 'em up game respectively created about it.
Dignified Fighter
Here's another cool deck of mine that began my experiments with the Wally/Evosoda Stage 2 leap. This technique enables a Stage 2 deck to jump straight to its highest evolution in a single turn like Rare Candy. However, since it bridges off the natural evolution process, it's more self-reliant, and resistant to preventive effects such as Item lock.
This is about the very original version of the deck too, whose concept was to centerpiece the mighty {Dignified Fighter} Empoleon, and unlock some alpha potential for its Ability. I had originally thought to combine this effect with Seismitoad-EX, but then got the idea that [Outrage] Kyurem would be a far better choice, given its greater stand-alone potential as a powerful Slugger card.
The strategy here involves leading a powerful Slugger, and then building up Empoleon from the bench to increase the power of their attacks. [Rage] and [Outrage] are both powerful attacks by themselves, but they can have a hard time beating the damage stack 1 for 1. {Dignified Fighter} however helps to provide the critical damage boost needed, to effectively enable those attacks to do just that, and produce a Knock Out a turn ahead of the opponent.
Tauros-GX is a new addition to the deck, included for the Type-diversity, and general potential of the GX brand. This deck further techs just a single {Safeguard} Suicune for the potential disruptive power—and a copy of Ancient Trait Articuno for its immense potential with the power boost here.
The Pokémon here can actually be further diversified from the current version by replacing the non-EX Kyurem with more Type-diverse [Outrage] Dragons (such as Reshiram and Zekrom). More adaptations would have to be made though to accommodate this though, since this deck will then want to replace Dive Ball with another Ball card for best results.
A number of quirks surrounding this deck involve the presence of Evosoda over Dive Ball, which effectively does nothing, as Dive Ball can be used to the same effect with Wally (and potentially greater effect as a direct retrieval for Piplups). Another quirk is the addition of just 2 Wally—which might be fair to go to 3 with. However, my primary concern over this was that Wally isn't explicitly needed that much here considering a number of factors, so more just might end up going to waste.
Consistency makes up a good amount of resourcing in this deck—where between N, the consistency factor, and direct retrieval—Wally doesn't have any place. A play on also Wally locks up your Supporter play for the turn, while a play on Dive Ball/Evosoda enables a double play with N, effectively helping to thin the deck, and concentrate the potency of your next draw.
This deck doesn't really need to put a strong emphasis getting to Empoleon anyways, as Kyurem is a very powerful Slugger that doesn't even really need to rely on the power of {Dignified Fighter} so explicitly. It's really just a nice bonus, so considering these factors, I arranged the Supporter array here to lean in the favor of the general card advantage, over the technical support of the Wally jump.
Dogs of War
Nam was crazy son. This was a deck I had originally thought to craft for the Standard Format in the 2015 Season, featuring M Houndoom-EX as the centerpiece powerhouse, then utilizing Shaymin-EX for the card acceleration, and diversifying its potential through [Mind Jack] Zoroark. This version of the deck now finds its place in the Expanded format, and is accompanied by a number of adaptations to suite the format change.
The strategy here leads with [Sol Generator] Solrock to gather Burning Energy for M Houndoom, thus enabling M Houndoom to swing out and consistently deal its maximum amount of damage with [Inferno Fang]. Hoopa-EX is provided for the quick resourcing of Houndoom and M Houndoom explicitly, then backed up with a moderate presence of Ninja Boy, to enable a powerplay that enables Hoopa-EX to be turned into a more adaptable resource (such as Zorua or Snorlax-GX).
Illumise is a really creative addition to this deck, and Ms. Me Love You Longtime was included here for the Type diversity she provides (specifically against many Water Pokémon)—accompanying her disruptive potential to Confuse powerful Pokémon—and either stall for time while an offensive is prepared, or directly enable another Pokémon to swing in right away with a greater chance of landing a flawless Knock Out.
The 2-2 Zoroark line has been retained from the original version for the Type-diversity it adds in addition to the overall Expanded format potential it carries (as many Expanded decks fill their Benches up) I then teched the [Foul Play] Zoroark just for the offensive diversity, since [Mind Jack] can also come up very short handed when the opponent's bench is empty.
The Supporter array combines a mix of cards that aim to support this deck from as many different angles as possible. As [Sol Generator] leads, the last thing this deck wants to do is discard precious Special Energy to make a draw, which is why N makes up the bulk of the draw here, Steven then takes its place as the primary backup, and Professor Sycamore has been reduces to a single tech. Professor Kukui makes a nice addition to this deck with its potential to support the One-Hit KO potential of M Houndoom, providing a successful extension to the power of Muscle Band, while further compensating for the exchange of power made for the utility of Houdoom Spirit Link.
Two copies of Blacksmith then hope to provide some general potential as a backup to M Houdoom and the energy dependency of its attacks. However, as they are the only Fire-type Pokémon in this deck, I would question how useful they really are. Possibly this deck only needs to tech a single a Blacksmith, and could afford to replace the other copy for another Professor Sycamore, another Professor Kukui, another wheel Supporter to help reinforce the flow of the cards, or another technical Supporter such as Lysandre to add an additional powerplay to this deck's potenital.
Drag Queen
Here's the original pallet swap I made from the Dante's Inferno deck. This is a [Burning Roar] Entei deck with a deck structure that's been specially arranged to make the most out of this high risks/high profits attack. One major problem about this deck style, is that it heavily relies on starting with Entei, and at a full playset, that only generates a mediocre 47% chance. However, due to the nature of the starting Pokémon element in this game, in which the game can't proceed with one, by narrowing the Basic Pokémon base as strongly as possible, it helps to dramatically improve the success of starting with Entei (as Entei's consistency places it well within 3 out 4 odds—like a double coin flip).
This deck structure might be running a little hot, with an addition Basic or two than the best odds, but each card aims to be significant to the theme and overall potential of the deck. Hoopa-EX is included as a tech for the immense advantage its Ability plays in here. It's an instant 3 for 1, and helps the significantly thin the deck to improve the probable success of [Burning Roar]'s effect.
This deck also runs a really neat combo between Malamar-EX and Flareon-EX that can be put together instantly through Hoopa. The powerplay involves attaching a Fire energy to Malamar (triggering its {Hyper Hypnosis} Ability to put the opponent's Active Pokémon to sleep), then using Flareon's {Flare Fire} Ability to move the energy over to Flareon and empower its more reliable [Blaze Ball] attack. The disruption Malamar can help to bide time for Entei and [Burning Roar], which was the entire concept behind its place here.
Yveltal-EX was then later added for the sheer power of it, and Tauros-GX now finds a spot here as a last minute addition over Lugia-EX for the diversity it provides. Although Snorlax-GX seems like it could have been a great option, it was ruled out here as this deck doesn't run any Double Colorless Energy, and Snorlax could face a difficult startup when it can't get the [Burning Roar] boost. Tauros on the other hand is very adaptable, and in a high risks/high profits deck flooded with energy, that kind of startup potential is crucial.
This deck also features a 2-2 Pyroar line with a split between {Intimidating Mane} and {Flare Command} Pyroar. This was originally just {Flare Command} Pyroar for consistency of its Lysandre-like Ability, but was later split between {Intimidating Mane} Pyroar to provide an additional (and more definite) answer to Jolteon-EX.
The Supporter array attempts to diversify as best possible in support of [Burning Roar]. N takes the lead here, as a bulk draw is pretty significant in hopes of getting to Pokémon for [Burning Roar]. Maintenance is a classic staple to this deck to shuffle energy from the hand back into the deck to prime the potential of [Burning Roar] as best possible. It also works wonders with Professor Juniper, as Maintenance can help to preserve precious cards from being discarded by her effect. Steven then takes a place here in significant volume, as getting to those few and far between Dark energy can be critically important.
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