Searching Standard: Brambleghast Coin Flip

Hello and welcome to another episode of Searching Standard, where each and every week I look for new, innovative decks for you to play in Standard. This week, I'm looking at a deck that was recently featured on the YouTube channel of Tricky Gym. It features Brambleghast TEF 21, who can become quite beefy as the game progresses, but is very high-risk when it comes to attacking. Let's get started by taking a look at the deck list.

Brambleghast TEF 21 is the main attacker for this deck. Its Powerful Needles attack will deal 80 damage for each heads you flip on a coin, and the number of coins you'll flip is equal to the number of Energy attached to Brambleghast TEF 21. As you'll see, you will often be flipping anywhere from 5-7 coins whenever you attack. Brambleghast TEF 21 also has the Resilient Soul Ability, which increases the amount of HP it has for each Prize card your opponent has taken. By combining that Ability with Hero's Cape TEF 152, you'll be able to bring Brambleghast TEF 21's HP to a maximum of 450 HP.

As a means of accelerating the amount of Energy you have attached to Brambleghast TEF 21, you can use the Exploding Energy Ability of Forretress ex PAL 5. This does a couple of things for you. First, you'll be able to find five Grass Energy cards from your deck that you can attach to your Pokemon in any way you'd like. Doing this will cause Forretress ex PAL 5 to be Knocked Out, which will cause your opponent to take two of their Prize cards. That makes Brambleghast TEF 21's HP increase, plus you can attach a lot of Energy to it resulting in more potential damage.

As a means of drawing additional cards, this deck relies on Dudunsparce TEF 129's Run Away Draw Ability. This will allow you to draw three cards and shuffle Dudunsparce TEF 129 and all attached cards back into your deck. This can allow you to move up a fully powered Brambleghast TEF 21 from your Bench to your Active Spot if Dudunsparce TEF 129 somehow gets moved there.

Since you're likely to be behind on Prize cards, playing both Iono PAL 185 and Roxanne ASR 150 will be beneficial for you. Iono PAL 185 can allow you to draw more cards into your hand than your opponent, reducing their options for meaningful plays. Roxanne ASR 150 can only be played if your opponent has three or fewer Prize cards remaining, but the amount of disruption she can cause your opponent can be game changing. You'll end up with six cards, while they only have two. That can help you turn a game around quickly.

To make your attacks meaningful, you have a couple of ways to choose which of your opponent's Pokemon to attack. Since you're likely to be behind on taking Prize cards, Counter Catcher PAR 160 and Boss’s Orders PAL 172 will effectively do the same thing the majority of the time.

To help you find the Pokemon you need, this deck has a variety of cards to help with this. While Artazon PAF 76 allows both players to find Basic Pokemon to put onto their Bench, it can be used repeatedly over a few turns to make sure you're running at full capacity. Buddy-Buddy Poffin TEF 144 can also be used to find a pair of Basic Pokemon with 70 HP or less, which happens to be all of the Basic Pokemon in this deck. Finally, Ultra Ball SVI 196 is a great way to find the Evolutions you need, but in a pinch, you can also use it to find a Basic Pokemon if you need to.

One final way of finding Pokemon you need from within your deck is by playing Capturing Aroma SIT 153. What you get is determined by the results of a coin flip, so this Item fits in very nicely in this deck. There is also a full playset of Pokégear 3.0 SVI 186 in this deck that can help you find the Supporter cards you need to succeed from this deck.

Speaking of Supporters, Professor's Research PAF 87 is the final Supporter in this deck. As I'm sure you're aware, drawing more cards helps you find what you need more quickly. The only drawback to Professor's Research PAF 87 is that you need to discard your current hand when you play it, in order to draw a new hand of seven cards. Finally, there is a copy of Super Rod PAL 188 in this deck that can be used to help you reuse some Pokemon or Energy that has made its way to your discard pile. Use this to return some Grass Energy or a Brambleghast TEF 21 and Bramblin TEF 20 that was previously Knocked Out.

Wrapping Up

For some people, this deck will have no appeal to them. They don't like the unpredictability that flipping can bring. However, if you're not one of those people, you should give this deck a try. There will be times when you flip seven coins, needing three of them to be heads, but only two are. There will be other times when every coin you flip ends up as heads. If that randomness doesn't bother you, give this deck a try, because it can be a lot of fun to play.

What do you think of this deck? Do you have any suggestions for improvements? Let me know by leaving a comment below. And be sure to join me here again next week as I continue my search for innovative decks in the Pokemon TCG. I'll see you then!

- Mike Likes