Giratina ex is joining forces with Darkrai ex in Pokemon Pocket’s Shining Revelry expansion! This deck runs the Darkness Energy to power up Darkrai ex, while Giratina ex can attach Psychic Energy to itself, slowly getting closer to attacking in the late game.
This is one of the newest decks in A2b meta, which has high expectations among players to become a staple in competitive tournaments.
Giratina ex Darkrai ex Decklist
How to Play
Early Tank
Druddigon is the early tank, taking hits as we attach Energy to Darkrai ex and Giratina ex. Its 100 HP + Rough Skin can dish damage back at the opponent’s attack, and by attaching Rocky Helmet to it, you’re now dealing 40 damage whenever your opponent attacks Druddigon. You aren’t trying to knock out a Pokemon with Druddigon, but damage it enough so that Darkrai ex can finish off with its Nightmare Aura ability.
Darkrai ex Passive Damage
We want to have Darkrai ex in play as early as possible to start attaching Energy to it and activating its Nightmare Aura ability. Whenever you attach Darkness Energy to Darkrai ex, its ability will deal 20 damage to the opponent’s Active Pokemon, making it easier to knock out.
Once you have 3 Energy on Darkrai ex, it can start attacking with Dark Prism, dealing 80 damage to the opponent’s Active Pokemon. We don’t want the opposing player to easily knock out Darkrai ex, so we’ll retreat it for Giratina ex to carry from there.
Giratina ex Carry
Since we don’t have Psychic Energy in this deck, we’re relying on Giratina ex‘s Broken-Space Below to attach Energy to itself. However, activating this ability will end your turn, so you can’t attack with Darkrai ex‘s Dark Prism, but you can still activate Nightmare Aura. Make sure to make all your plays before activating Broken-Space Below.
Giratina ex‘s Chaotic Impact requires 3 Psychic Energy and 1 Colorless Energy, so you can still use 1 Darkness Energy on Giratina ex to activate its attack a turn earlier. Chaotic Impact deals 130 damage to the opponent’s Active Pokemon, but will self-damage Giratina ex in the process. You’ll rely on this attack in the late game to knock out high HP Pokemon, combining it with Nightmare Aura and Red to deal up to 170 damage in one turn.
Draw Cards
Poke Ball can draw Giratina ex or Darkrai ex to make sure you can activate their abilities as early as possible.
Professor’s Research is a Supporter card to draw 2 cards. Since it’s a Supporter card, you want to play it early into the game since you’ll want to play your other Supporters in the late game.
Tools
Giant Cape gives +20 HP to your Pokemon, which can be attached to Darkrai ex or Giratina ex, making it harder for the opponent to knock them out.
Rocky Helmet adds to the passive damage you’re dealing, pushing 20 damage to the opponent’s attacker, making it even harder for them to attack if they’re not one-shotting your Pokemon.
Battle Cards
Red adds to the damage of your attacks, boosting them by 20 damage if you’re targeting an ex Pokemon. Darkari ex‘s Dark Prism becomes a 100 damage attack, whereas Giratina ex‘s Chaotic Impact becomes a 150 damage attack.
Sabrina forces opponents to switch out their Active Pokemon with one of their Benched Pokemon. This can allow you to knock out a more valuable Pokemon or slow opponent’s strategy and force them to retreat and discard Energy to get their plan back on track.
Since we’re dealing a lot of damage to the opponent’s Pokemon, Cyrus is great in this list, giving us the ability to pull a damaged Pokemon on the Bench to the Active spot and attack it directly.
All of our Pokemon have a retreat cost of 2 Energy, so including Leaf makes sense. It allows us to easily retreat Druddigon when it’s damaged or switch out Giratina ex if we don’t want it in the Active spot early on.
Team Rocket Grunt can slow down the opponent’s Active Pokemon. You’ll flip a coin until you get tails, and for each Heads, you’ll discard a random Energy from the opponent’s Active Pokemon. Getting two heads and discarding 2 Energy can slow your opponent a turn, buying you more time to win the game.
Other Cards to Include
- Iono is a draw Supporter card, which we’ll activate after we’ve played everything need from our hand and trying to look for better cards. Iono also forces opponent to shuffle their hand as well, which can mess up their hand.
- Shaymin‘s Fragrant Flower Garden ability heals all your Pokemon for 10 damage, potentially keeping them out of range from an attack.
