Searching Standard: Crustle

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 LittleDarkFury. It features Crustle DRI 12, a Pokemon that can serve as a brick wall if your opponent is relying on attacks from Pokemon ex. Let's get started by taking a look at the deck list.

Crustle Deck
LittleDarkFury
Pokemon
  1 Budew 4
  3 Crustle 12
  2 Dwebble 11
  1 Ethan's Sudowoodo 93
  3 Munkidori 95
  3 Okidogi 111
Trainers
  2 Artazon 76
  3 Arven 186
  2 Boss’s Orders 172
  1 Bravery Charm 173
  2 Colress's Tenacity 57
  3 Crispin 105
  1 Earthen Vessel 163
  1 Hassel 151
  3 IonL 185
  2 Luxurious Cape 166
  4 Nest Ball 84
  1 Night Stretcher 61
  3 Pokégear 3.0 186
  1 Professor's Research 155
  1 Super Rod 188
  1 Switch 194
  1 Town Store 196
  1 Ultra Ball 196
Energy
  3 Basic Darkness Energy
  4 Basic Fighting Energy
  2 Basic Grass Energy
  1 Legacy Energy 167
  4 Luminous Energy 191

With Crustle DRI 12's Mysterious Rock Inn Ability, you'll be able to prevent all damage done to it by the attacks of your opponent's Pokemon ex. That can be incredibly useful against many decks in our current Standard environment. As far as attacking goes, Crustle DRI 12 has the Superb Scissors attack which will always deal a minimum of 120 damage, as it isn't affected by any effects on your opponent's Active Pokemon. Remember though that Weakness isn't affected, so Crustle DRI 12 will still deal 240 damage against a Pokemon with a Weakness to Grass Type Pokemon.

Okidogi TWM 111 acts as a great backup attacker for this deck. By attaching a Fighting Energy and a Legacy Energy TWM 167 or a Luminous Energy PAL 191, you can satisfy the requirements for its Good Punch attack as well as its Adrena-Power Ability. So Okidogi TWM 111 will have 230 HP and deal 170 damage when it attacks. That's a pretty good deal, if you ask me.

As an early attacker, Budew PRE 4 can stymie your opponent by restricting them from playing any Item cards from their hand, provided you attack them with its Itchy Pollen attack. There's also a copy of Ethan's Sudowoodo DRI 93 included in this deck that can help against an opponent with a devastating attack. You might just be able to use that attack for yourself if you win the coin flip when you use the Try to Imitate attack. Finally there's a trio of Munkidori TWM 95 that can help heal your team by using its Adrena-Brain Ability in the event that your opponent is able to deal any damage when they attack.

Either Luxurious Cape PAR 166 or Bravery Charm PAL 173 can be attached to increase Crustle DRI 12's HP. Luxurious Cape PAR 166 provides a bonus of +100 HP, while Bravery Charm PAL 173 only provides +50 HP. So, why not play only Luxurious Cape PAR 166 instead of including Bravery Charm PAL 173? Because when the Pokemon that has a Luxurious Cape PAR 166 attached is Knocked Out, your opponent gets to draw an extra Prize card, which they don't get to do if Bravery Charm PAL 173 is attached instead.

In order to find the Pokemon you need, this deck utilizes some of Standard's most played Trainer cards. Both Artazon PAF 76 and Nest Ball PAF 84 help you find the Basic Pokemon you need, while Ultra Ball SVI 196 can be used to find any Pokemon from within your deck.

This deck plays some of the best Supporter cards. Arven OBF 186 offers some of the best deck-searching power of any card in Standard. Play him to find a Pokemon Tool and an Item card. Hassel TWM 151 might only be able to be played if you just suffered a Knock Out, but his card-finding ability can help get you right back into the game. Then you have a pair of Boss’s Orders PAL 172, which allow you to attack a different Pokemon that your opponent currently has in their Active Spot. You'll usually want to move an opposing Pokemon ex to the Active Spot whenever possible.

Colress's Tenacity SFA 57 is another great Supporter. You'll be able to search your deck for a Stadium card and an Energy card when you play him. Speaking of Energy cards, both Crispin PRE 105 and Earthen Vessel PAR 163 can be played to help you find the Energy you need, but unlike Colress's Tenacity SFA 57, these cards can only search for Basic Energy.

Playing Professor's Research JTG 155 results in you discarding your current hand and drawing 7 new cards. Make sure you've played anything important prior to playing Professor's Research JTG 155. The same is true for Iono PAL 185, however instead of discarding your current hand, Iono PAL 185 puts your hand on the bottom of your deck. In addition to allowing you to draw new cards, Iono PAL 185 also resets your opponent's hand, potentially slowing them down in the process. Now that you've seen all of the great Supporter cards in this deck, we can take a look at Pokégear 3.0 SVI 186, which allows you to put 1 Supporter into your hand from the top 7 cards of your deck. You'll likely have multiple Supporters to choose from, so choose wisely.

Being able to recur cards from your discard pile is important, as it allows you the possibility of using them again. Both Night Stretcher SFA 61 Super Rod PAL 188 let you return Pokemon or Basic Energy. The key difference is that Night Stretcher SFA 61 only returns 1 card and it goes directly into your hand, while Super Rod PAL 188 can return up to 3 cards, and those cards get shuffled back into your deck. The final Trainer card in the deck is Switch SVI 194, which is important to have in case your opponent swaps out your powered up Active Pokemon with a Pokemon from your Bench.

Wrapping Up

If your idea of fun is being able to attack your opponent with impunity, you should consider giving this deck a try. With so many Pokemon ex's seeing play, you're likely to benefit from Crustle DRI 12's Mysterious Rock Inn Ability more often than not.

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