Hammertime! (Darkrai/Sableye/Hammers)

[Haxorus3465]

Hey there, PC!!

You guessed it– I gave up on ZekEels. I loved that deck... but now it's time for the Dark Cloak to rise upon the Pokémon Community! :)

Let's get straight to the list–

Pokémon: 12

3 Darkrai-EX
2 Tornadus-EX
3 Sableye
2 Smeargle
2 Shaymin

Trainers (29) Supporters (9) Total: 38

3 Crushing Hammer
3 Enhanced Hammer/Lost Remover
4 Dark Patch
2 Eviolite
3 Junk Arm
3 Max Potion
3 Catcher
3 Random Reciever
2 Super Scoop Up
3 Ultra Ball

4 N
2 Juniper
3 PONT

Energy: 9
1 Special Darkness
8 Darkness


Strategy

Work with getting cheap KO's with Night Spear, Power Blast, and Pokemon Catcher against things like eels, Smeargle, and low-HP Pokemon. It's even possible to 2HKO a Zekrom. To keep the opponent from attacking, Junk Hunt, Junk Arm, and Hammer away at the opponent's energy. When the opponent DOES hit your Darkrai, free retreat to a second Darkrai (Dark Cloak), Bench Shaymin and move all energy to your next Darkrai, then Max Potion to remove all damage off of your damaged Darkrai. When facing Zeels, Catcher up an Eel, OHKO it and do 30 to Zekrom, then next turn KO Zekrom.

Tornadus isn't actually a part of this deck. I usually only use it against the Terrakion/Landorus/Groudon Matchup. Smeargle is used to check the opponent's hand and use any necessary suppoerters, such as N.



I want to add in a few switch (for smeargle). Any ideas on what to remove?


I use 3 Enhanced Hammer because in the Senior Division, people will be more likely to use Special Energy.


4 N because I love disrupting the opponent's hand! :)

Any other suggestions?

 

[FurretFTW!!1!]

Since this isn't a fast version of Darkrai, I recommend that you add more energy in the deck. It seems that you'll miss out on a lot of energy attachments with so few Energy and no Smeargle-based support engine to start the game off with a fast Darkrai for you.

The only cards I would realistically take out of here while keeping the theme proper would be an Enhanced Hammer and a Smeargle. All three Enhanced Hammer are rarely going to be necessary for your games versus any Special Energy-based decks because you can just recycle a single one and you'll be fine. They'll never attack and probably deck out, and you can rest easy versus that auto-win matchup. The extra Smeargle is also a good card, but it isn't necessary as it isn't focused on in your set up. For those two cards, I would add two Darkness Energy. Test games will be necessary to determine the proper split of energy between Special Darkness and Basic Darkness with such a low count of energy overall.

Another suggestion I would recommend is playing four Crushing Hammer and only one Enhanced Hammer. As devastating as Enhanced Hammer is versus decks with Special, the Crushing Hammer serves a similar purpose when you play multiples in a turn and is more useful versus many other decks you may see. A first turn heads on a Crushing Hammer versus a Darkrai deck puts you in an amazing position, for example.

The supporter line could also be modified, as I would personally prefer four Professor Juniper for speed and a way to discard energy. Figure out what works best with test games. N is also a curious card, as in theory it should be good versus a lot of decks. I don't know how important it is for this deck to have a full hand. I could see games where you have multiple Darkrai charged up and a late game N settles games, especially with your Max Potion and Shaymin. It's also great versus decks with teched-in Terrakion, as after they take a cheap prize, you can retaliate with your own N to disrupt their hand and potentially lock them out of the rest of the game. Try to figure out the best distribution of your supporters through test games.

Try to stuff as many energy into this deck as possible. It seems to be a little shaky considering the amount of energy it plays.

 

[Haxorus3465]

Thanks, Furret. Should I put in Special energy or normal energy?

 

[FurretFTW!!1!]

I'd suggest considering how specific match-ups go and whether you need to two-hit KO 130 HP Pokemon or not. I would recommend these Energy distributions depending on how much room you have:

-11 Energy ("Be careful" amount)-
9 Basic Dark (Reasonable consistency for Dark Patch acceleration)
2 Special Dark (Gives you two cards that help in 2HKOing Terrakion, Eviolited Zekrom [Bolt Strike does 20 to self, Catcher Eelektrik and hit Zekrom for 10, and if it uses Bolt Strike again, then you can KO if you have a Special Darkness Energy, as 50+80=130], and other 130 HP Pokemon)
OR
11 Basic Dark (For maximum consistency)

-12 Energy (Very safe amount)-
9 Basic Dark (Greater consistency if you play ten)
2 Special Dark (Greater aggressiveness if you play three)
1 of either energy (Up to preference whether you turn this energy into a Special Dark or a Basic Dark Energy)

-13 Energy (Preferred amount)-
10 Basic Dark (Great consistency)
3 Special Dark (Great aggressiveness)

Dark Claw is something you'd want to play if you can fit it in. It's a strong card that can be used to counter the effects of Eviolite and lets you always KO an EX Pokemon in two hits ignoring recovery. It has other benefits beyond this, but it's a great card to add to your deck if you can find the room. If you can only fit in twelve energy and not the Dark Claw, you may want to consider playing the more aggressive three special Darkness Energy as you'll be conserving them with Shaymin in an ideal game.

I made a list for Darkrai that is more focused on the Shaymin aspect of the deck with all of the benefits of a speedy Smeargle engine. You might want to try it out if you have time.

Pokemon: 9
3 Darkrai EX
1 (Try to make this two) Tornadus EX
3 Smeargle
2 Shaymin

Trainers: 39
4 Professor Juniper
4 Professor Oak's New Theory
1 N
2 Eviolite
3 Random Receiver
3 (One can be removed in favor of another more important card) Ultra Ball
3 Dual Ball
4 (One can be removed if you are able to achieve a second-turn Darkrai often with this deck) Dark Patch
3 Pokemon Catcher
3 Max Potion
2 Super Scoop Up
4 (One can be removed in favor of another card, but it's extremely important to have a high number) Junk Arm
3 Switch

Energy: 12
9 Basic Dark Energy
3 (One can be removed in favor of another card) Special Dark Energy

NOTE: Don't replace both an Ultra Ball and a Junk Arm with other cards, as you need the discard effect of those cards in your set up

It's a very compact list, but, as you're presumably going to be competing in the World Championships with a version of this deck, it's geared towards what people would be willing to play at such a high-stakes tournament. Any Zekrom deck teching in Terrakion will struggle if they don't play PlusPower. Opposing Darkrai decks will have a tough time taking prizes against this version of the deck, and Darkrai with Terrakion will struggle fitting many PlusPower in their lists, which means your Eviolited Darkrai will be that much safer. Klinklang decks will be setting up knockouts against your deck with a combination of heavy snipers--like Kyogre EX and Darkrai EX--and Groudon EX, so playing smartly with Tornadus EX and Darkrai EX in order to put lots of pressure on both attackers is the best way to play the match-up (Don't fall for a Tromp, and run them out of Pokemon Catcher if they play any; leaving damaged but energyless Darkrai on your bench is fine if you force them to play Pokemon Catcher and is a good way to scout for the Pokemon Catcher in match play). Feature Terrakion decks with other fighting types, I'm expecting, will be rare, but having two Tornadus in that match-up seems game-winning.

In theory, I'm struggling to see anything the healing variant of this deck has over a Hammering Sableye version in comparative match-ups, but the best way to see how the deck performs is to play it. I hope you find this version to be everything you're looking for~