THE POKEMON COMPANYEven though the current meta in Pokemon TCG Pocket is ruled by Legendaries Arceus, Dialga, and Palkia, a brave player used an old Darkness-type deck with an iconic Mythical to win a massive tournament.
Since the release of the Triumphant Light set, decks featuring the Gen 4 Legendaries have been ruling the Pokemon TCG Pocket meta.
The Arceus ex & Dialga ex deck is currently the most played, while the Palkia ex & Starmie ex combo has been declared the top Water-type deck and an ideal one for those looking to get consecutive wins.
But despite all that, a player decided to take an alternative route by signing up for a massive tournament with a Darkness-type deck from the previous expansion, Space-Time Smackdown.
Darkrai ex’s power is undeniable
A user from the Pokemon TCG Pocket Reddit channel shared a picture of the deck used by the player who won a 1300+ player tournament during the weekend.
The image shows a basic Darkness-type deck focused on a couple of Darkrai ex and Weavile ex, along with trainer cards including Supporters, Items, and Tools.
For those who don’t remember, this particular Darkness deck was every player’s nightmare when the Space-Time Smackdown set was released, and although it then suffered variations – like adding Druddigon to stall the match – it remained a solid choice for most players.
However, once the Triumphant Light expansion was added to the game, players switched to Arceus ex and to exploiting Link Abilities – which grant specific Pokemon extra damage if the God Pokemon is in play.
Currently, the Arceus ex & Dialga ex deck is the most played, but that is precisely what makes it a bad idea to use it in a tournament. Most players will copy the same strategy or, on the contrary, will know exactly how to counter it.
What this player did was very clever, as he used a deck that no one expected. Moreover, the Darkness-type deck is also only weak against Grass, and right now not many are using Grass-type cards, so their chances of winning naturally increased.
Users from the channel praised this player’s strategy, with one writing, “Solid meta call is solid. The lack of grass proves that.”, while another joked “It only won because no one expected THE SPANISH INQUISTION. Which actually is very funny, love that it happened.”
Next to the deck’s picture, an image with all the matches and decks this player went up against can be seen, and not even the Lucario and Rampardos deck – which has been climbing positions thanks to Lucario’s ‘Fighting Coach’ ability – could take the old reliable Dark Mythical.
Due to everyone focusing on the Gen 4 Legendaries, the Darkrai ex deck will stay strong until a new Grass-type deck comes along, like what happened when the almighty Celebi ex & Serperior duo debuted in the game.
