Searching Standard: Wigglytuff 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 Wigglytuff ex MEW 40, who has the potential to have 450 HP. Let's get started by taking a look at the deck list.

Wigglytuff ex MEW 40 starts with a base HP of 250. Due to its Expanding Body Ability, it will gain +100 HP if any Special Energy is attached to it. That brings its total HP to 350, which can be further increased with the help of an ACE SPEC card, as you'll see soon. Ultimately, you'll want to attach a Double Turbo Energy BRS 151 and a copy of Therapeutic Energy PAL 193 to Wigglytuff ex MEW 40 to attack with its Friend Tackle attack easily. This attack will often be able to deal 160 damage each turn, due to the number of Supporter cards in this deck. You can fully power up this attack in a single turn with the help of Wigglytuff PAL 84's Balloon Therapy Ability.

Helping you find a Supporter each turn, you have Gallade ASR 62's Buddy Catch Ability. Doing this can allow Wigglytuff ex MEW 40's Friend Tackle attack to deal max damage. You'll also have access to Kirlia SIT 68's Refinement Ability, giving this deck some much needed card drawing ability.

Another way to draw some extra cards is by attacking with Cleffa OBF 80's Grasping Draw attack, which requires zero Energy to use. The final two Pokemon in this deck (Manaphy BRS 41 and Jirachi PAR 126) are included for their helpful Abilities which will help keep your Benched Pokemon safe from damage and damage counters (with Wave Veil and Stellar Veil respectively).

By attaching Hero's Cape TEF 152 to Wigglytuff ex MEW 40, you can increase its HP to a maximum of 450 HP. This will make Wigglytuff ex MEW 40 very difficult to Knock Out. In addition, Wigglytuff ex MEW 40 is a Colorless Pokemon, which makes playing Cheren's Care BRS 134 a way of fully healing it. You can also use Professor Turo's Scenario PAR 171 for the same effect, but you'll have to discard all attached cards when doing so, so you'll only want to do this if you're desperate. Professor Turo's Scenario PAR 171 can be played on any Pokemon, though, making it a great way to save any of your Pokemon from a certain Knock Out.

Helping you find the Pokemon you need is this next batch of cards. Buddy-Buddy Poffin TEF 144 and Nest Ball SVI 181 can both be used to help find Basic pokemon you need. Similarly, Artazon PAL 171 helps you find Basic Pokemon, but it will also help your opponent find their Basic Pokemon as well, so you might not always want to play it. Finally, you can use Ultra Ball SVI 196 to find any Pokemon you need, but it requires you to discard two cards in order to play it.

To maximize the effectiveness of your attacks, you can use both Boss’s Orders PAL 172 and Counter Catcher PAR 160 to choose which of your opponent's Pokemon to attack. Doing this will often allow you to take multiple Prize cards when you Knock Out your chosen Pokemon.

By playing Arven OBF 186, you'll be able to search your deck for any Item card and any Pokemon Tool card to put into your hand. There are numerous Items you might choose to find, depending on whether you need to get certain Pokemon into your hand, but Pokemon Tools are a bit more limited. Hero's Cape TEF 152 will often be your first choice, but both Technical Machine: Devolution PAR 177 and Technical Machine: Evolution PAR 178 can also be good choices. Technical Machine: Devolution PAR 177 is great against certain decks, while Technical Machine: Evolution PAR 178 is generally just beneficial for you. Depending on your needs, either of these TM's can be a great choice.

Iono PAF 80 acts as both a way for you to draw new cards and as a way to potentially slow down your opponent's momentum. Playing Cyllene ASR 138 gives you a chance to put one or two specific cards of your choice from your discard pile onto the top of your deck. With a little luck, you'll be able to reuse some key pieces of this deck that have been discarded.

The last Trainer cards in this deck all allow you to shuffle cards from your discard pile back into your deck. Miriam SVI 179 shuffles back up to 5 Pokemon into your deck, pluse you get to draw 3 cards if you shuffle anything back. Pal Pad SVI 182 shuffles back a pair of Supporter cards. Finally, Super Rod PAL 188 can be used to return Pokemon and Basic Energy cards to your deck. All of these allow you to use cards multiple times, freeing up space in the deck for other card options.

Wrapping Up

While you would expect Wigglytuff ex MEW 40 to be at home in a control deck, this is a more aggressive deck. This shows that you can't always judge a book by its cover. This deck is very resilient, and it has multiple ways of denying your opponent the opportunity to take their Prize cards. If this sounds fun to you, give this deck a try.

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