Searching Standard: Venusaur EX

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 Venusaur ex MEW 3 as one of the main attackers, and benefits from the Status Effects it can deal to your opponent's Pokemon. Let's get started by taking a look at the deck list.

Venusaur ex MEW 3 is a terrific finisher for this deck. By attacking with its Dangerous Toxwhip attack, you'll deal 150 damage to your opponent's Active Pokemon, plus that Pokemon will become Confused and Poisoned. Venusaur ex MEW 3 also is quite tanky, having 340 HP. You can also use its Tranquil Flower Ability to heal 60 damage from one of your Pokemon while Venusaur ex MEW 3 is in your Active Spot. Whether you heal damage from Venusaur ex MEW 3 itself or another member of your team, your opponent has to work a little harder to ensure a Knock Out.

In the early stages of the game, you can utilize Venomoth MEW 49 as an attacker. By attacking with its Perplexing Powder attack, you'll only deal 30 damage to your opponent's Active Pokemon, but you'll benefit in a couple of other ways. First, this attack also makes your opponent's Active Pokemon Confused. In addition to this effect, your opponent will be unable to play any Item cards from their hand during their next turn. Since Items are a huge help in finding Pokemon or Energy you might need, not being able to play any Items for a few turns can set your opponent back considerably.

Since Venusaur ex MEW 3's Dangerous Toxwhip attack poisons your opponent's Active Pokemon, you can capitalize on this if you have Radiant Hisuian Sneasler LOR 123 in play. That's because its Poison Peak Ability places an additional 2 damage counters on your opponent's Poisoned Pokemon during the Pokemon Checkup phase. That extra damage allows you to Knock Out opposing Pokemon more quickly, giving you the advantage.

The final few Pokemon are all included for their useful Abilities. Bibarel BRS 121's Industrious Incisors Ability is a great way to refill your hand after playing a bunch of cards. Unlike playing a Supporter for drawing extra cards, this Ability can be used turn after turn. Manaphy BRS 41's Wave Veil Ability protects your Benched Pokemon from taking any damage when your opponent's Active Pokemon attacks.

Since Grass Type decks don't have much in the way of Energy acceleration, this deck makes use of what it has. By playing Earthen Vessel PAR 163, you can get two Grass Energy from your deck to put into your hand. Then, you can play Gardenia's Vigor ASR 143 to attach up to two Grass Energy from your hand to one of your Benched Pokemon. While this isn't great acceleration, it's better than nothing.

Each of these Items can be used to help you find the Pokemon you need. Nest Ball SVI 181 helps you find any Basic Pokemon. Level Ball BST 129 can find any Pokemon with 90 HP or less, which includes most of the Basic Pokemon in this deck plus Venomoth MEW 49. Ultra Ball SVI 196 can find any Pokemon you need, regardless of its HP amount or Stage.

Speaking of helping you find the Pokemon you need, there are also a couple of copies of Artazon PAF 76, which allows each player to search their deck for a Basic Pokemon without a Rule Box to put onto their Bench. There's also a playset of Rare Candy PAF 89 included in this deck, which will help you Evolve directly from Bulbasaur PGO to Venusaur ex MEW 3 with ease.

Boss’s Orders PAL 172 allows you to choose one of your opponent's Benched Pokemon to move to their Active Spot, giving you the ability to attack whichever of their Pokemon you would like. There's also a pair of Switch SVI 194 included, for those times your opponent plays Boss’s Orders PAL 172 against you and you need to move a powered up attacker back to your Active Spot.

This final batch of Trainer cards are typically found in most Standard decks. Both Iono PAF 80 and Professor's Research PAF 87 offer you the means of drawing new cards. Professor's Research PAF 87 has you discard your current hand before drawing seven new cards, while Iono PAF 80 forces each player to shuffle their current hand and place it on the bottom of their deck, then draw a new hand based on the number of Prize cards they have remaining. This can potentially slow down an opponent who has gotten off to a fast start, giving you time to catch up. Finally, there's a copy of Super Rod PAL 188, which offers you the chance to reuse Pokemon or Basic Energy that have gone to your discard pile.

Wrapping Up

If you're a fan of afflicting Status Effects onto your opponent's Pokemon, or if you just like big, tanky Pokemon, you might want to give this deck a try. While it's not a super quick deck to set up, once things are in place, it can be tough to finish off.

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