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 Jellicent ex WHT 45, who makes it impossible for your opponent to play Item cards or Pokemon Tool cards. Let's get started by taking a look at the deck list.
Jellicent ex
LittleDarkFury
Pokemon
1 Bloodmoon Ursaluna ex 141
1 Budew 4
1 Espathra ex 6
1 Flittle 80
2 Frillish 44
2 Froslass 53
2 Jellicent ex 45
3 Munkidori 95
2 Snorunt 51
Trainers
2 Air Balloon 79
1 Artazon 171
4 Arven 166
2 Buddy-Buddy Poffin 101
3 Counter Catcher 160
2 Counter Gain 169
1 Earthen Vessel 163
1 Hilda 84
4 Iono 80
3 Nest Ball 84
2 Night Stretcher 61
1 Pokégear 3.0 84
4 Professor's Research 155
1 Secret Box 163
1 Super Rod PAL 188
1 Technical Machine: Devolution 177
1 Technical Machine: Evolution 178
1 Tool Scrapper 85
1 Ultra Ball 91
Energy
4 Basic Darkness Energy
4 Basic Psychic Energy
1 Ignition Energy 86
While you have Jellicent ex WHT 45 as your Active Pokemon, your opponent won't be able to play any Item cards or Pokemon Tool cards from their hand due to Jellicent ex WHT 45's Oceanic Curse Ability. This can remarkably slow down some decks, and it can stop others in their tracks entirely by making it impossible for their Pokemon to evolve. You can then use Jellicent ex WHT 45's Power Press attack to begin whittling down their HP.
You can further annoy your opponent by making Espathra ex PAF 6 your Active Pokemon. With its Dazzling Gaze Ability, the attacks used by your opponent's Active pokemon will require one additional Energy to use. This can further slow down your opponent, making it easier for you to get in some extra damage.
To further harass your opponent, Froslass TWM 53's Freezing Shroud Ability will put 1 damage counter on each non-Froslass Pokemon that has an Ability during each Pokemon Checkup. While this might place some damage on your own Pokemon, you can always use Munkidori TWM 95's Adrena-Brain Ability to move that damage to your opponent's team.
Both Budew PRE 4 and Flittle PAR 80 make great early game attackers. Budew PRE 4 has the Itchy Pollen attack which can be used without having any Energy attached. This attack will prevent your opponent from being able to play any Item cards from their hand during their next turn. Flittle PAR 80's Psychic attack deals extra damage for each Energy attached to your opponent's Active Pokemon. Bloodmoon Ursaluna ex TWM 141 is the Pokemon you'll want if you fall behind on taking Prize cards, as its Blood Moon attack will have its Energy requirement reduced by its Seasoned Skill Ability.
The ACE SPEC for this deck, Secret Box TWM 163, helps you find an Item, a Pokemon Tool, and a Stadium card to put into your hand. It's a very powerful way to search for exactly what you need. Hilda WHT 84 and Arven SVI 166 are also great Supporters that help you search your deck for specific card types. Just remember, you're limited to playing only one Supporter card per turn.
This batch of Trainer cards all help you find the Basic Pokemon you need. Artazon PAL 171 can find any Basic Pokemon without a Rule Box, and it can be used turn after turn. Buddy-Buddy Poffin PRE 101 can find you a pair of Basic Pokemon, as long as their HP is 70 HP or less. Finally, Nest Ball PAF 84 can find any Basic Pokemon from your deck to be put onto your Bench.
Ultra Ball PAF 91 is another way to search your deck for any Pokemon you need. You'll often want to use it to search for an Evolution Pokemon, but it can be used to find a Basic Pokemon if you have no other options. Continuing the theme of Trainer cards that allow you to search for specific things, we have Earthen Vessel PAR 163 and Pokégear 3.0 BLK 84. Earthen Vessel PAR 163 helps you find Basic Energy you are in need of, while Pokégear 3.0 BLK 84 helps you find a Supporter (provided that the Supporter is in the top 7 cards of your deck).
For decks that rely on Rare Candy to evolve, there is a copy of Technical Machine: Devolution PAR 177. Even though the main plan for this deck is to prevent your opponent from being able to play Item cards from their hands, there will likely be times when you're simply not able to do this. Technical Machine: Devolution PAR 177 helps with this. There's also a copy of Technical Machine: Evolution PAR 178 in this deck, which can help you find an evolution (2 of them, actually) and evolve right away. There's also a single copy of Tool Scrapper WHT 85, which can help you negate any benefit a particular Pokemon Tool might provide your opponent.
A pair of Air Balloon BLK 79's are included to help provide a little mobility, allowing the Pokemon that it is attached to to retreat for 2 less Energy (hopefully free). Both Counter Gain SSP 169 and Counter Catcher PAR 160 directly help you battle your opponent's Active pokemon more effectively. Counter Gain SSP 169 makes attacking easier as long as you've taken less Prize cards than your opponent. Counter Catcher PAR 160 lets you choose which of your opponent's Benched Pokemon to move to their Active Spot. You might want to consider choosing a Pokemon that will provide you with multiple Prize cards when it is Knocked out.
No card in Standard draws as many cards unconditionally than Professor's Research JTG 155. Keep in mind that you need to discard all of the cards in your hand when you play it before drawing a new hand of cards. It's also possible to draw a fair amount of new cards when you play Iono PAF 80, but her real strength is that she resets your opponent's hand, which might make them lose momentum.
The final pair of Trainer cards in this deck are cards that allow you to recur cards from your discard pile. Their main difference (other than the number of cards they can get back) is that Night Stretcher SFA 61 puts the card chosen back into your hand, while Super Rod PAL 188 shuffles the cards back into your deck.
Wrapping Up
Sometimes the best offense is a good defense. That's what this deck brings. By preventing your opponent from playing Item cards and Pokemon Tools, you make it more difficult for your opponent to follow their plan to victory. By disrupting their plans, you open the door to take control of the game for yourself and can often outspeed your opponent who has been stymied.
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
