Supreme Victors gave us two fascinating Grass Pokémon – Parasect
Let’s take a look at the synergy between these three Pokémon. First of all there is Parasect SV. Evolving from Paras, this Pokémon is the enabler. His 1C Energy attack, “Nutritional Support”, quickly powers up his second attack by allowing you to search your deck for two G Energy and attach them to Parasect. His second attack, “Hibernation Spore” is thus available on the turn after he evolves (assuming you drop an energy on the turn you evolve him). In addition to doing a modest 40 damage, “Hibernation Spore” puts the Defender into a Sleep that requires the opponent to roll two heads to wake up.
“Hibernation Spore” opens the door to Darkrai G. His Poké-Body “Eerie Aura” causes one damage counter to be placed on a Pokémon that remains Asleep between turns. As Darkrai is a Basic Pokémon SP, it is pretty easy to get three Darkrais on the Bench using SP Radar, Pokémon Contest Hall, Rosanne’s Research and/or Bebe’s Search.
Three Darkrais on the Bench amounts to 30 damage between every turn. With the 40 damage from “Hibernation Spore”, plus 30 damage at the end of your turn, then another 30 damage at the end of your opponent’s turn, 100 damage is being inflicted as the result of one attack. Unless the opponent can evolve, play a Switch or Warp Point, or roll two heads, the damage will add up very quickly.
Even if the opponent does wake up, Parasect will still be fully powered and able to put the Defender right back to Sleep with “Hibernation Spore” again.
Where does Venusaur SV fit in?
Venusaur SV is the tank and closer. As a Stage two Pokémon, he may take a little longer to get into action. Once in play, however, he has some powerful attacks. First of all, Venusaur has a 1G Energy attack, “Desperate Pollen”, that causes 30 damage. Not so great. However, if Venusaur has 8 or more damage counters on him, the Defender is also Burned, Confused and Poisoned! Venusaur’s second attack takes advantage of his first attack, and of Parasect’s “Hibernation Spore”. With 2C2G Energy, “Special Reaction” does 40 damage plus 40 more for each Special Condition that the Defender is affected by.
So, if the Defender is Asleep from “Hibernation Spore”, bringing up Venusaur will cause 80 damage, plus whatever damage your Benched Darkrais are inflicting between turns. If the Defender is Burned, Confused and Poisoned as a result of “Desperate Pollen”, a whopping 160 damage will result.
Four Energy for an attack is pretty expensive, not to mention time consuming. That’s where Parasect comes in. “Nutritional Support” lets you search your deck for two G Energy and attach them to any Pokémon in play. So here’s the ideal scenario. T1, Start with Paras SV active and as many Benched Darkrais as you can put into play, drop an Energy and use “Spore” to put the Defender to Sleep.
T2, Evolve to Parasect and use “Nutritional Support” to power him up. Search out and add Darkrais to the Bench. Begin the Bulbasaur/Ivysaur/Venusaur Evolution asap. T3, Use “Hibernation Spore” to put the Defender to Sleep and begin the real damage. T4, Assuming the defender is still Asleep, use “Nutritional Support” to power up the Bulbasaur/Ivysaur/Venusaur Evolution Line. T5 or later, bring up Venusaur to close the game.
If you don’t get a Paras start, hopefully you will have a Bulbasaur. The Secret Wonders Bulbasaur has a no Energy attack called “Shake Vine” that puts the Defender to Sleep. Teching in Luxray GL and LV.X with some SP Energy would also be helpful. Another possible tech/support Pokémon would be Skuntank G. Venusaur SV cannot be poisoned due to his Poké-Body “Green Aroma” – in fact, no Grass Pokémon can be affected by any Special Conditions.
Poisoning the defender with Skuntank G’s “Poison Structure” Poké-Power will automatically add 40 damage to Venusaur’s “Special Reaction” attack. Assuming you don’t Rare Candy into Venusaur. Ivysaur SV will also put the Defender to Sleep when played to evolve. In addition, his “Cut” attack does 50 damage for 1G2C Energy. If you find yourself falling behind, one G Energy and an Upper Energy will power up Ivysaur, or Venusaur with a Memory Berry, pretty quickly.
I think there is a lot of synergy between these Pokémon. Is it enough to become the basis a competitive deck, or will it just be too slow and complicated? What are your thoughts?
80 HP for Parasect is a little low. Given that you need him out for 2 turns to pull off “Hibernation Spore” really exposes his low HP for a KO. Maybe a Shaymin landform Lv.X would help in this deck; helping Parasect stay alive and furthering Venusaur’s tanking ability.
Never liked grass pokemon, but I do like the fact that the Darkrai’s stack. 4 in play would be kinda ridiculous with a parasect active. ;p
I’m really liking this idea. Like Joe said, Parasect doesn’t have a lot of HP, so the ideal start really could be wrecked by a quick Infernape 4 or a couple of Honchkrow G snipes
Why not use Sceptile GE and a heavy line of Venusaur? Ivysaur puts them to sleep and can’t be blocked by Unown G, and Sceptile doubles the energy. You could still use the Darkrai G idea, too.
Ever since I saw this article in the Drafts section I was excited at how it would look like. I personally think Venusaur is overkill, and a deck focused solely on Parasect + Darkrai G has to be really good. I would run 4 BTS, 4 Rare Candy and a 4-4 Parasect line to pull off that C attack consistently on turn 1, with I guess Pokedex Handy’s and Great Balls to make sure Darkrai’s see play very early.
IMO this looks like a very viable strategy, imagine the following scenario: On turn 2 you were able to power up a Parasect, you do 40 + sleep and assume 3 Darkrai’s in play, that’s 70 damage on average, but at the end of the opponent’s turn, that’s 100 damage total, and this gives you the option to make sure things die on your opponen’t turn, making them have to sacrifice something as well in the process, giving you more time to further power up parasects. Things dieing on your opponent’s turn is always amazing, as it usually nets you 2 prizes. Add in a couple Crobat G’s to make sure stuff that is left with 10 or 20 HP dies during your turn before you attack, and you have a very viable deck right there. Heck I’d even consider running 4 Energy Pickup just to make sure you are able to have Parasect’s powered up at all times. Very neat combo here!
Why not use Sceptile GE and a heavy line of Venusaur? Ivysaur puts them to sleep and can’t be blocked by Unown G, and Sceptile doubles the energy. You could still use the Darkrai G idea, too.
sounds cool, but I agree that parasect’s hp is just too low. In your analysis you are expecting it to live four turns, with only 80 hp do you really expect that to be the case?
sounds cool, but I agree that parasect’s hp is just too low. In your analysis you are expecting it to live four turns, with only 80 hp do you really expect that to be the case?
I never like to be a downer to a fun idea, but I do not believe this deck could become competitive in this format :(. I used to looove special conditions, but after unknown G came along, their practicality has shot downward.
A single unknown G on the active pokemon ruins the entire deck. Your attacking options dwindle entirely when all you can do vs. Unknown G is parasect’s 3 for 40 attack, venasaur’s 1 for 30 attack, or Venasaur’s whopping 4 for 40 attack which will never get any bonuses because you’ll never have inflicted special conditions. Ouch =/.
The other problem becomes the setup. Relying on parasect to survive for 4 turns is a disaster. You can always poketurn/switch/warp point/evolve/level up/ flip two heads in your 25% chance of waking up in order to prevent your active from remaining in useless sleep. With flygon lock around, many decks have already increased their warp point and unknown G counts, and that will hurt this deck a lot. Parasect’s 80 HP is very very low for a stage 2, and his attack relies on the darkrai G’s out on the field as well. The ideal setup here is a venasaur, 3 darkrai G, and parasect. But with the field too tight, it’s tough to get any draw past your single uxie/claydol. Without consistent draw it will be really hard to get multiple evolution lines out on the field.
There’s more to nitpick, and I could go into specific matchups, but I’m really not a total hater of this concept. You could definitely take something like this to your local league and have a lot of fun with it, but it just won’t win you any tournaments.
I never like to be a downer to a fun idea, but I do not believe this deck could become competitive in this format :(. I used to looove special conditions, but after unknown G came along, their practicality has shot downward.
A single unknown G on the active pokemon ruins the entire deck. Your attacking options dwindle entirely when all you can do vs. Unknown G is parasect’s 3 for 40 attack, venasaur’s 1 for 30 attack, or Venasaur’s whopping 4 for 40 attack which will never get any bonuses because you’ll never have inflicted special conditions. Ouch =/.
The other problem becomes the setup. Relying on parasect to survive for 4 turns is a disaster. You can always poketurn/switch/warp point/evolve/level up/ flip two heads in your 25% chance of waking up in order to prevent your active from remaining in useless sleep. With flygon lock around, many decks have already increased their warp point and unknown G counts, and that will hurt this deck a lot. Parasect’s 80 HP is very very low for a stage 2, and his attack relies on the darkrai G’s out on the field as well. The ideal setup here is a venasaur, 3 darkrai G, and parasect. But with the field too tight, it’s tough to get any draw past your single uxie/claydol. Without consistent draw it will be really hard to get multiple evolution lines out on the field.
There’s more to nitpick, and I could go into specific matchups, but I’m really not a total hater of this concept. You could definitely take something like this to your local league and have a lot of fun with it, but it just won’t win you any tournaments.
Thanks everyone, for the positive feedback and the constructive criticism. Having people with a wide field of experience go over an idea is really the only way to try and see all of the angles.
Yes, Parasect is very vulnerable. I’ve been experimenting with a 3-3 line, but I think I might bump it up to 4-4. He can get KO’d quickly, but is also easy to set up again. I really only expect to live two turns with 80hp, then I expect them to be Asleep and unable to Attack. The biggest problem, other than if they have Switches or Warp Points, is if they roll two heads just before their turn. In that scenario, they have probably already hit Parasect for some damage when he is setting up, and will now strike again for a probable KO. If they roll the double heads after their turn it doesn’t matter too much because you just do “Hibernation Spore” again.
Skuntank really helps out if you can BTS or otherwise Evolve to Venusaur. Then you can do “Poison Structure” while Parasect is active and it won’t affect him.
I have been pretty consistent in getting 2-3 Darkrai on the Bench, and even though it takes up a fair bit of space, it is workable.
In addition to BTS and Rare Candy, as Pablo suggested, 4 Upper Energy is a big help for Venusaur if you get behind in prizes. Switches and Warp Points are also essential.
I have actually been teching in Blaziken FB and Crobat G, not Luxray GL.
As J-Wittz pointed out, another big problem for this combo is Unown G. I’m open to ideas on the best way to deal with that. Unown G is a problem for lots of other decks and they seem to work around it.
One note J-Wittz: this was probably just a typo, but Parasect is a Stage 1 – still, your point is valid – he does have pretty low HP.
Unown G is a very cruel card in the format because there is absolutely no counter other than hippowdon level X (when will we get windstorm back? D: ). The only way I can think of that prevents it is power locking =/.
And yeah, I meant stage-1 :P. Ever since 1998 I’ve been confused as to why the “2nd card” is the “1st stage”, but I got over it pretty quickly ^_^
No problems J-Wittz, I do the same thing myself all the time.
You can use Warp Point to force a Guarded Active onto the Bench can’t you? Of course, if your opponent has a Guarded Pokemon on the Bench they will just choose that one to bring up. Still, it means they will have to be running two Unown Gs and have them both out, and on Pokemon that are main attackers or have high HP. Don’t people often use them on their Claydols?
It comes back to the surprise factor. Will they know your deck and what it is trying to do? The best players probably will, but many players won’t.
Unown G is a very cruel card in the format because there is absolutely no counter other than hippowdon level X (when will we get windstorm back? D: ). The only way I can think of that prevents it is power locking =/.
And yeah, I meant stage-1 :P. Ever since 1998 I’ve been confused as to why the “2nd card” is the “1st stage”, but I got over it pretty quickly ^_^
Thanks everyone, for the positive feedback and the constructive criticism. Having people with a wide field of experience go over an idea is really the only way to try and see all of the angles.
Yes, Parasect is very vulnerable. I’ve been experimenting with a 3-3 line, but I think I might bump it up to 4-4. He can get KO’d quickly, but is also easy to set up again. I really only expect to live two turns with 80hp, then I expect them to be Asleep and unable to Attack. The biggest problem, other than if they have Switches or Warp Points, is if they roll two heads just before their turn. In that scenario, they have probably already hit Parasect for some damage when he is setting up, and will now strike again for a probable KO. If they roll the double heads after their turn it doesn’t matter too much because you just do “Hibernation Spore” again.
Skuntank really helps out if you can BTS or otherwise Evolve to Venusaur. Then you can do “Poison Structure” while Parasect is active and it won’t affect him.
I have been pretty consistent in getting 2-3 Darkrai on the Bench, and even though it takes up a fair bit of space, it is workable.
In addition to BTS and Rare Candy, as Pablo suggested, 4 Upper Energy is a big help for Venusaur if you get behind in prizes. Switches and Warp Points are also essential.
I have actually been teching in Blaziken FB and Crobat G, not Luxray GL.
As J-Wittz pointed out, another big problem for this combo is Unown G. I’m open to ideas on the best way to deal with that. Unown G is a problem for lots of other decks and they seem to work around it.
One note J-Wittz: this was probably just a typo, but Parasect is a Stage 1 – still, your point is valid – he does have pretty low HP.
Unown G is a very cruel card in the format because there is absolutely no counter other than hippowdon level X (when will we get windstorm back? D: ). The only way I can think of that prevents it is power locking =/.
And yeah, I meant stage-1 :P. Ever since 1998 I’ve been confused as to why the “2nd card” is the “1st stage”, but I got over it pretty quickly ^_^
No problems J-Wittz, I do the same thing myself all the time.
You can use Warp Point to force a Guarded Active onto the Bench can’t you? Of course, if your opponent has a Guarded Pokemon on the Bench they will just choose that one to bring up. Still, it means they will have to be running two Unown Gs and have them both out, and on Pokemon that are main attackers or have high HP. Don’t people often use them on their Claydols?
It comes back to the surprise factor. Will they know your deck and what it is trying to do? The best players probably will, but many players won’t.
80 HP for Parasect is a little low. Given that you need him out for 2 turns to pull off “Hibernation Spore” really exposes his low HP for a KO. Maybe a Shaymin landform Lv.X would help in this deck; helping Parasect stay alive and furthering Venusaur’s tanking ability.
Never liked grass pokemon, but I do like the fact that the Darkrai’s stack. 4 in play would be kinda ridiculous with a parasect active. ;p
I’m really liking this idea. Like Joe said, Parasect doesn’t have a lot of HP, so the ideal start really could be wrecked by a quick Infernape 4 or a couple of Honchkrow G snipes
Ever since I saw this article in the Drafts section I was excited at how it would look like. I personally think Venusaur is overkill, and a deck focused solely on Parasect + Darkrai G has to be really good. I would run 4 BTS, 4 Rare Candy and a 4-4 Parasect line to pull off that C attack consistently on turn 1, with I guess Pokedex Handy’s and Great Balls to make sure Darkrai’s see play very early.
IMO this looks like a very viable strategy, imagine the following scenario: On turn 2 you were able to power up a Parasect, you do 40 + sleep and assume 3 Darkrai’s in play, that’s 70 damage on average, but at the end of the opponent’s turn, that’s 100 damage total, and this gives you the option to make sure things die on your opponen’t turn, making them have to sacrifice something as well in the process, giving you more time to further power up parasects. Things dieing on your opponent’s turn is always amazing, as it usually nets you 2 prizes. Add in a couple Crobat G’s to make sure stuff that is left with 10 or 20 HP dies during your turn before you attack, and you have a very viable deck right there. Heck I’d even consider running 4 Energy Pickup just to make sure you are able to have Parasect’s powered up at all times. Very neat combo here!
Ref: Unown G –
I’m also hoping that there is a change in the ruling that allows an attack like “Luring Flame” to work, even if the Defender had Unown G attached. I’ve read rumblings that there may be a change because the target of the attack is the Pokemon on the Bench, not the Guarded Pokemon. That would give a couple of options, like Blaziken FB and Zangoose PL.
Still, that has not happened yet and there’s no way of knowing if it actually will happen. I’m keeping my fingers crossed!
Ref: Unown G –
I’m also hoping that there is a change in the ruling that allows an attack like “Luring Flame” to work, even if the Defender had Unown G attached. I’ve read rumblings that there may be a change because the target of the attack is the Pokemon on the Bench, not the Guarded Pokemon. That would give a couple of options, like Blaziken FB and Zangoose PL.
Still, that has not happened yet and there’s no way of knowing if it actually will happen. I’m keeping my fingers crossed!
This might sound silly, but here’s a constructive theory! What about the use of Palkia X’s Restructure and switches/warp points? That way you could keep picking off non-unown-G’d bench pokemon until they only have G’d Pokemon left. It’s sloppy, I know, but it seemed to help flygon with its decking strategy when unknown G prevented traphinch’s “inviting trap”.
This might sound silly, but here’s a constructive theory! What about the use of Palkia X’s Restructure and switches/warp points? That way you could keep picking off non-unown-G’d bench pokemon until they only have G’d Pokemon left. It’s sloppy, I know, but it seemed to help flygon with its decking strategy when unknown G prevented traphinch’s “inviting trap”.
This might sound silly, but here’s a constructive theory! What about the use of Palkia X’s Restructure and switches/warp points? That way you could keep picking off non-unown-G’d bench pokemon until they only have G’d Pokemon left. It’s sloppy, I know, but it seemed to help flygon with its decking strategy when unknown G prevented traphinch’s “inviting trap”.
I’m sorry but I really don’t think this deck could get far in any competitive tournament. To have 4 Darkrai G’s on your bench with a 2 cost energy retreat and an impossible way to attack (3 energies, 1 having to be dark) the deck kind of fails. Luxray GL Lv. X/Blaziken FB/Any pokemon who can drag out can just pull out one of those or an uncompleted Venasour. Venasaur has a 4 Energy retreat cost, so if he is down and not powered up you’re in the worst scenario possible.
This deck is pretty idealistic and you’d have to have an amazing start or a whole bunch of luck for the game to turn your way. Parasect’s HP is just way to low to be the main attacker and Venasaur as tank, and if your opponent evolves/wakes up between turns then you’re in a seriously bad place. Especially if you don’t have another Paras/Parasect or Venasaur benched.
I’m sorry but I really don’t think this deck could get far in any competitive tournament. To have 4 Darkrai G’s on your bench with a 2 cost energy retreat and an impossible way to attack (3 energies, 1 having to be dark) the deck kind of fails. Luxray GL Lv. X/Blaziken FB/Any pokemon who can drag out can just pull out one of those or an uncompleted Venasour. Venasaur has a 4 Energy retreat cost, so if he is down and not powered up you’re in the worst scenario possible.
This deck is pretty idealistic and you’d have to have an amazing start or a whole bunch of luck for the game to turn your way. Parasect’s HP is just way to low to be the main attacker and Venasaur as tank, and if your opponent evolves/wakes up between turns then you’re in a seriously bad place. Especially if you don’t have another Paras/Parasect or Venasaur benched.
Woodstock,
You may very well be right about how well (or not so well) this deck would do competitively. There are a couple of points I will add in it’s defence though, related to issues you have raised.
The deck list I am running uses a few SP Energy for the techs, so you could power up Darkrai without using Darkness Energy. As it also runs Upper Energy, if you are down a prize, those two cards will power up Darkrai pretty fast, or the Upper could be used for retreat cost. Also, running Moonlight Stadium (to use with Skuntank) would give Darkrai free retreat.
More importantly though, because of the high retreat costs, Switches and Warp Points are a must.
Lastly, 3 Drakrais is the most I would ever put into play – which I’ll agree is still a lot.
Thanks for posting, I appreciate the input.
Woodstock,
You may very well be right about how well (or not so well) this deck would do competitively. There are a couple of points I will add in it’s defence though, related to issues you have raised.
The deck list I am running uses a few SP Energy for the techs, so you could power up Darkrai without using Darkness Energy. As it also runs Upper Energy, if you are down a prize, those two cards will power up Darkrai pretty fast, or the Upper could be used for retreat cost. Also, running Moonlight Stadium (to use with Skuntank) would give Darkrai free retreat.
More importantly though, because of the high retreat costs, Switches and Warp Points are a must.
Lastly, 3 Drakrais is the most I would ever put into play – which I’ll agree is still a lot.
Thanks for posting, I appreciate the input.
I’m sorry but I really don’t think this deck could get far in any competitive tournament. To have 4 Darkrai G’s on your bench with a 2 cost energy retreat and an impossible way to attack (3 energies, 1 having to be dark) the deck kind of fails. Luxray GL Lv. X/Blaziken FB/Any pokemon who can drag out can just pull out one of those or an uncompleted Venasour. Venasaur has a 4 Energy retreat cost, so if he is down and not powered up you’re in the worst scenario possible.
This deck is pretty idealistic and you’d have to have an amazing start or a whole bunch of luck for the game to turn your way. Parasect’s HP is just way to low to be the main attacker and Venasaur as tank, and if your opponent evolves/wakes up between turns then you’re in a seriously bad place. Especially if you don’t have another Paras/Parasect or Venasaur benched.
Woodstock,
You may very well be right about how well (or not so well) this deck would do competitively. There are a couple of points I will add in it’s defence though, related to issues you have raised.
The deck list I am running uses a few SP Energy for the techs, so you could power up Darkrai without using Darkness Energy. As it also runs Upper Energy, if you are down a prize, those two cards will power up Darkrai pretty fast, or the Upper could be used for retreat cost. Also, running Moonlight Stadium (to use with Skuntank) would give Darkrai free retreat.
More importantly though, because of the high retreat costs, Switches and Warp Points are a must.
Lastly, 3 Drakrais is the most I would ever put into play – which I’ll agree is still a lot.
Thanks for posting, I appreciate the input.
If I would play this, I would go straight Parasect, with Darkrais, Uxie’s and the Lv. X, and Moonlight Stadium. I’d even consider running a 1/1 Shaymin to boost the HP, or Bronzong to use Flint’s and power up quicker, (assuming you don’t want to waste a KO using Parasect’s first attack). The combo’s nice, but it’s simply too much to try to get out in the quick metagame right now. Also, as mentioned, Unown G.
Once you get a list finalized, I would really like to see it so you can start improving on a list and just not a theory
If I would play this, I would go straight Parasect, with Darkrais, Uxie’s and the Lv. X, and Moonlight Stadium. I’d even consider running a 1/1 Shaymin to boost the HP, or Bronzong to use Flint’s and power up quicker, (assuming you don’t want to waste a KO using Parasect’s first attack). The combo’s nice, but it’s simply too much to try to get out in the quick metagame right now. Also, as mentioned, Unown G.
If I would play this, I would go straight Parasect, with Darkrais, Uxie’s and the Lv. X, and Moonlight Stadium. I’d even consider running a 1/1 Shaymin to boost the HP, or Bronzong to use Flint’s and power up quicker, (assuming you don’t want to waste a KO using Parasect’s first attack). The combo’s nice, but it’s simply too much to try to get out in the quick metagame right now. Also, as mentioned, Unown G.
Once you get a list finalized, I would really like to see it so you can start improving on a list and just not a theory
Once you get a list finalized, I would really like to see it so you can start improving on a list and just not a theory
Hey Pokepockets,
Here is a list that’s close to what I have been testing at our local League. It is by no means definitive. No one at my league has Claydols or Uxies (including me) so at that level I don’t usually plan for them. I guess it would be open to your preference whether you put in 1-1 Claydol or 2 Uxie. If you thought you needed 2-2 Claydol then it would probably be best to drop to 3-3 Parasect. Of course, Benching an Uxie or Claydol would mean you would need to limit the Darkrais to 2 if you wanted a spot for Skuntank. Skuntank really helps out by getting a Special Condition on non SPs so “Special Reaction” will do at least 80. And of course, even before that, if they are Asleep and Poisoned, that’s a lot of damage adding up. As there is not a lot of leftover Bench space, BTS really helps with the rapid replacement of KO’d Parasects and Venusaur. I’m sure there are lots of other directions you could take this idea. including those who suggest dropping Venusaur altogether.
Pokemon – 23
2 Bulbasaur SW
2 Iysaur SV
2 Venusaur SV
4 Paras SV
4 Parasect SV
3 Darkrai G RR
1 Blaziken FB
2 Skuntank G PL
1 Crobat G PL
2 Uxie LA
T/S/S – 23
2 Poke-Turn
2 Switch
2 Warp Point
1 Luxury Ball
3 Cynthia’s Feelings
2 Roseanne’s Research
2 Bebe’s Search
2 Underground Expedition
2 Lucian’s Assignment
1 Aaron’s Collection
2 Broken Time Space
1 Moonlight Stadium
1 Miasma Valley
Energy – 14
7 Grass
4 Upper
3 SP
If anyone has a different idea for how to build a list for this Combo, I’d certainly be interested in seeing it.
Hey Pokepockets,
Here is a list that’s close to what I have been testing at our local League. It is by no means definitive. No one at my league has Claydols or Uxies (including me) so at that level I don’t usually plan for them. I guess it would be open to your preference whether you put in 1-1 Claydol or 2 Uxie. If you thought you needed 2-2 Claydol then it would probably be best to drop to 3-3 Parasect. Of course, Benching an Uxie or Claydol would mean you would need to limit the Darkrais to 2 if you wanted a spot for Skuntank. Skuntank really helps out by getting a Special Condition on non SPs so “Special Reaction” will do at least 80. And of course, even before that, if they are Asleep and Poisoned, that’s a lot of damage adding up. As there is not a lot of leftover Bench space, BTS really helps with the rapid replacement of KO’d Parasects and Venusaur. I’m sure there are lots of other directions you could take this idea. including those who suggest dropping Venusaur altogether.
Pokemon – 23
2 Bulbasaur SW
2 Iysaur SV
2 Venusaur SV
4 Paras SV
4 Parasect SV
3 Darkrai G RR
1 Blaziken FB
2 Skuntank G PL
1 Crobat G PL
2 Uxie LA
T/S/S – 23
2 Poke-Turn
2 Switch
2 Warp Point
1 Luxury Ball
3 Cynthia’s Feelings
2 Roseanne’s Research
2 Bebe’s Search
2 Underground Expedition
2 Lucian’s Assignment
1 Aaron’s Collection
2 Broken Time Space
1 Moonlight Stadium
1 Miasma Valley
Energy – 14
7 Grass
4 Upper
3 SP
If anyone has a different idea for how to build a list for this Combo, I’d certainly be interested in seeing it.
Hey Pokepockets,
Here is a list that’s close to what I have been testing at our local League. It is by no means definitive. No one at my league has Claydols or Uxies (including me) so at that level I don’t usually plan for them. I guess it would be open to your preference whether you put in 1-1 Claydol or 2 Uxie. If you thought you needed 2-2 Claydol then it would probably be best to drop to 3-3 Parasect. Of course, Benching an Uxie or Claydol would mean you would need to limit the Darkrais to 2 if you wanted a spot for Skuntank. Skuntank really helps out by getting a Special Condition on non SPs so “Special Reaction” will do at least 80. And of course, even before that, if they are Asleep and Poisoned, that’s a lot of damage adding up. As there is not a lot of leftover Bench space, BTS really helps with the rapid replacement of KO’d Parasects and Venusaur. I’m sure there are lots of other directions you could take this idea. including those who suggest dropping Venusaur altogether.
Pokemon – 23
2 Bulbasaur SW
2 Iysaur SV
2 Venusaur SV
4 Paras SV
4 Parasect SV
3 Darkrai G RR
1 Blaziken FB
2 Skuntank G PL
1 Crobat G PL
2 Uxie LA
T/S/S – 23
2 Poke-Turn
2 Switch
2 Warp Point
1 Luxury Ball
3 Cynthia’s Feelings
2 Roseanne’s Research
2 Bebe’s Search
2 Underground Expedition
2 Lucian’s Assignment
1 Aaron’s Collection
2 Broken Time Space
1 Moonlight Stadium
1 Miasma Valley
Energy – 14
7 Grass
4 Upper
3 SP
If anyone has a different idea for how to build a list for this Combo, I’d certainly be interested in seeing it.
Parasect=not worth it. Just go with Sceptile and maybe a 1-1 Wigglytuff GE.
Sorry if this was mentioned already, but what about Darkrai LV.X GE with Darkrai G and maybe Weavile SW to power Darkrai up? It’s a somewhat similar strategy.
Parasect=not worth it. Just go with Sceptile and maybe a 1-1 Wigglytuff GE.
Parasect=not worth it. Just go with Sceptile and maybe a 1-1 Wigglytuff GE.
Sorry if this was mentioned already, but what about Darkrai LV.X GE with Darkrai G and maybe Weavile SW to power Darkrai up? It’s a somewhat similar strategy.
Sorry if this was mentioned already, but what about Darkrai LV.X GE with Darkrai G and maybe Weavile SW to power Darkrai up? It’s a somewhat similar strategy.
Ehh seems like too much to get going in all honesty Adam.
Ehh seems like too much to get going in all honesty Adam.
Ehh seems like too much to get going in all honesty Adam.
Why not just use Darkrai Lv.X GE with Darkrai G instead? Endless Darkness seems like the better attack, especially if they flip 2 tails and get automatically knocked out.
Why not just use Darkrai Lv.X GE with Darkrai G instead? Endless Darkness seems like the better attack, especially if they flip 2 tails and get automatically knocked out.
Why not just use Darkrai Lv.X GE with Darkrai G instead? Endless Darkness seems like the better attack, especially if they flip 2 tails and get automatically knocked out.
Hi Matt,
The simple reason is I don’t have any of the other Darkrais or the Lv. X. In addition, I don’t really want to invest any money in them because they will probably be rotated out next year.
Also, while I’m sure you can build a good deck around them, overall I don’t think it would end up being a better deck. One reason is that they are both (Darkrai and Parasect) fairly low HP Pokemon, so you need a lot of them in the deck. You can run a 4-4 Parasect, but with Darkrai, because of the Lv. X, you would need to run 2-2 or 3-1. If you ran 3-1 you would need to add Trainers or Supporters to recover the knocked out Lv. X. There’s also the need to Level up, which is slightly more difficult than evolving.
It’s not that I think this deck is better than your suggestion. I just think they are two different ways to achieve the same concept.
Darkrai Lv.X comes in a tin or buy it by itself on ebay for $6. Not too hard to get. You have plenty of options on Darkrai regulars. You could take the Darkrai that has the Poke-Power that instantly sleeps the defending when you lay it on the bench.
Sure, they will be rotated out, but do you not invest any money in Claydol/Uxie? Those cards will be rotated out too. The season just started, and you have Cities-Worlds to play with them still.
Darkrai and Parasect are similar HP pokemon but Darkrai can level up and have 100HP. You can even run Snowpoint Temple and have Darkrai with 120HP. Parasect is stuck at 80HP unless you play Shaymin Lv.X with it.
Leveling up is slightly more difficult than evolving, true.
The reason I suggested Darkrai Lv.X is because someone at my local league has built Darkrai lv.X / Weavile SW / Darkrai G, and it murdered my Gengar deck. With the appropriate number of darks on Darkrai, you can hit gengar for 70 + 30 weakness = 100 dmg, not a KO, but they are asleep and most likely won’t wake up, and will take 10-20 damage inbetween turns for the KO, even with Nidoqueen in play. This means that Fainting Spell doesn’t active and that you can’t Cynthia’s Feelings on your next turn for 8. Against Machamp, sure it doesn’t do as well.
I don’t see this idea doing that well either, but I felt Darkrai lv.X / Darkrai G had more synergy than Parasect / Darkrai G. The previous has 2 basics, with the same energy costs. The latter has 2 different stages (possibly 3 if you add venusaur) with different energy costs. I would not run Venusaur in the deck as then you’d have to run Rare Candy, and that could take up precious space.
Not trying to bash the idea, just stating my opinion of it.
Not to worry, I encourage all opinions. Maybe I’ll try making up a Darkrai deck like you have suggested using Lackey, just to test out. I am quite limited in the budget I have to spend on cards and I’d rather be collecting from the newer sets in order to get cards that will be tournament legal for a longer period of time.
I’m planning to try this deck at our Battle Roads next weekend and I’ll see how it does. Our BR is pretty small though, usually only 15-20 people (that’s all divisions).
Hi Matt,
The simple reason is I don’t have any of the other Darkrais or the Lv. X. In addition, I don’t really want to invest any money in them because they will probably be rotated out next year.
Also, while I’m sure you can build a good deck around them, overall I don’t think it would end up being a better deck. One reason is that they are both (Darkrai and Parasect) fairly low HP Pokemon, so you need a lot of them in the deck. You can run a 4-4 Parasect, but with Darkrai, because of the Lv. X, you would need to run 2-2 or 3-1. If you ran 3-1 you would need to add Trainers or Supporters to recover the knocked out Lv. X. There’s also the need to Level up, which is slightly more difficult than evolving.
It’s not that I think this deck is better than your suggestion. I just think they are two different ways to achieve the same concept.
Hi Matt,
The simple reason is I don’t have any of the other Darkrais or the Lv. X. In addition, I don’t really want to invest any money in them because they will probably be rotated out next year.
Also, while I’m sure you can build a good deck around them, overall I don’t think it would end up being a better deck. One reason is that they are both (Darkrai and Parasect) fairly low HP Pokemon, so you need a lot of them in the deck. You can run a 4-4 Parasect, but with Darkrai, because of the Lv. X, you would need to run 2-2 or 3-1. If you ran 3-1 you would need to add Trainers or Supporters to recover the knocked out Lv. X. There’s also the need to Level up, which is slightly more difficult than evolving.
It’s not that I think this deck is better than your suggestion. I just think they are two different ways to achieve the same concept.
Darkrai Lv.X comes in a tin or buy it by itself on ebay for $6. Not too hard to get. You have plenty of options on Darkrai regulars. You could take the Darkrai that has the Poke-Power that instantly sleeps the defending when you lay it on the bench.
Sure, they will be rotated out, but do you not invest any money in Claydol/Uxie? Those cards will be rotated out too. The season just started, and you have Cities-Worlds to play with them still.
Darkrai and Parasect are similar HP pokemon but Darkrai can level up and have 100HP. You can even run Snowpoint Temple and have Darkrai with 120HP. Parasect is stuck at 80HP unless you play Shaymin Lv.X with it.
Leveling up is slightly more difficult than evolving, true.
The reason I suggested Darkrai Lv.X is because someone at my local league has built Darkrai lv.X / Weavile SW / Darkrai G, and it murdered my Gengar deck. With the appropriate number of darks on Darkrai, you can hit gengar for 70 + 30 weakness = 100 dmg, not a KO, but they are asleep and most likely won’t wake up, and will take 10-20 damage inbetween turns for the KO, even with Nidoqueen in play. This means that Fainting Spell doesn’t active and that you can’t Cynthia’s Feelings on your next turn for 8. Against Machamp, sure it doesn’t do as well.
I don’t see this idea doing that well either, but I felt Darkrai lv.X / Darkrai G had more synergy than Parasect / Darkrai G. The previous has 2 basics, with the same energy costs. The latter has 2 different stages (possibly 3 if you add venusaur) with different energy costs. I would not run Venusaur in the deck as then you’d have to run Rare Candy, and that could take up precious space.
Not trying to bash the idea, just stating my opinion of it.
Not to worry, I encourage all opinions. Maybe I’ll try making up a Darkrai deck like you have suggested using Lackey, just to test out. I am quite limited in the budget I have to spend on cards and I’d rather be collecting from the newer sets in order to get cards that will be tournament legal for a longer period of time.
I’m planning to try this deck at our Battle Roads next weekend and I’ll see how it does. Our BR is pretty small though, usually only 15-20 people (that’s all divisions).
Here’s a bit of an update on this deck idea. I’ve been playing around with it at the League and at one Battle Roads. I can’t say it’s been overly successful, although I really like the intricacies of playing this deck.
As many people predicted, it’s hard to get it working with Venusaur in there. One option would be to drop the Ivysaurs for Rare Candies and maybe bump it up to a 3-0-3 or 3-1-3. I don’t own any Rare Candies so I have not gone that route. Instead I’ve dropped the Venusaur line altogether and have been experimenting with a bit of an SP Toolbox to complement the Darkrais and Parasects. Drifblim FB with Damage Porter and Lucian’s Assignment, has been successful a number of times. It was really sweet to get a OHKO on a benched 50hp Pokemon (can’t remember which one) that had a +10 weakness to Psychic.
I know many experts have commented that they don’t think Ambipom G’s “Tail Code” will work in disrupting the opponent’s Energy, but I am going to give it a try at League, as a part of this deck.
Here’s a bit of an update on this deck idea. I’ve been playing around with it at the League and at one Battle Roads. I can’t say it’s been overly successful, although I really like the intricacies of playing this deck.
As many people predicted, it’s hard to get it working with Venusaur in there. One option would be to drop the Ivysaurs for Rare Candies and maybe bump it up to a 3-0-3 or 3-1-3. I don’t own any Rare Candies so I have not gone that route. Instead I’ve dropped the Venusaur line altogether and have been experimenting with a bit of an SP Toolbox to complement the Darkrais and Parasects. Drifblim FB with Damage Porter and Lucian’s Assignment, has been successful a number of times. It was really sweet to get a OHKO on a benched 50hp Pokemon (can’t remember which one) that had a +10 weakness to Psychic.
I know many experts have commented that they don’t think Ambipom G’s “Tail Code” will work in disrupting the opponent’s Energy, but I am going to give it a try at League, as a part of this deck.
Seems like a good idea to me. Just like everyone said though the HP on Parasect SV is a turn off. I’ll tell my friend about this combo though. He runs grass decks and this combo may be able to help him out.
Seems like a good idea to me. Just like everyone said though the HP on Parasect SV is a turn off. I’ll tell my friend about this combo though. He runs grass decks and this combo may be able to help him out.
Thanks RandomGuy,
I have been playing and tweaking this deck for a while now. I found that because of Parasect’s low hp you can’t just rely on it. Here is my latest build:
4 Parasect SV
4 Paras SV
4 Darkrai G RR
2 Ambipom G RR
2 Drifblim FB SV
2 Shuppet PL
2 Chimecho SV
1 Mankey SV
1 Uxie LA
4 Lucian’s Assignment
4 Roseanne’s Research
3 Bebe’s Search
1 Cynthia’s Feelings
1 Aaron’s Collection
3 Switch
3 Warp Point
1 Dusk Ball
2 TGI-G-107 Technical Machine (Damage Porter)
8 Grass Energy
3 Psychic Energy
1 Darkness Energy
2 Fighting Energy
2 Rainbow Energy
The Shuppets are so I can have something on the Bench early that I can then clear into my hand when I need the Bench space for Darkrais. Chimecho is a healer that can also snipe the Bench. Mankey is a tech for the Darkrai Lv.Xs that are common at my league. Drifblim is a late game tank that can use damage porter to do some serious damage (up to 110hp). The Ambipoms can also use Damage Porter and are disruptive to the opponent’s Energy. Depending on your starting hand and early set up, the Parasects either become the main attackers, or are used to power up the Bench sitters so you can hit hard in the mid to late game. People playing against this deck are often surprised by the number of times you can come back from apparent defeat by switching Pokemon, or Energy to bring up a new, fully powered attacker. I’ve actually had a game that finished with me having 4 Darkrai’s on the Bench and two Parasect’s powered up – one active and one on the Bench. It was a beautiful sight!
Thanks RandomGuy,
I have been playing and tweaking this deck for a while now. I found that because of Parasect’s low hp you can’t just rely on it. Here is my latest build:
4 Parasect SV
4 Paras SV
4 Darkrai G RR
2 Ambipom G RR
2 Drifblim FB SV
2 Shuppet PL
2 Chimecho SV
1 Mankey SV
1 Uxie LA
4 Lucian’s Assignment
4 Roseanne’s Research
3 Bebe’s Search
1 Cynthia’s Feelings
1 Aaron’s Collection
3 Switch
3 Warp Point
1 Dusk Ball
2 TGI-G-107 Technical Machine (Damage Porter)
8 Grass Energy
3 Psychic Energy
1 Darkness Energy
2 Fighting Energy
2 Rainbow Energy
The Shuppets are so I can have something on the Bench early that I can then clear into my hand when I need the Bench space for Darkrais. Chimecho is a healer that can also snipe the Bench. Mankey is a tech for the Darkrai Lv.Xs that are common at my league. Drifblim is a late game tank that can use damage porter to do some serious damage (up to 110hp). The Ambipoms can also use Damage Porter and are disruptive to the opponent’s Energy. Depending on your starting hand and early set up, the Parasects either become the main attackers, or are used to power up the Bench sitters so you can hit hard in the mid to late game. People playing against this deck are often surprised by the number of times you can come back from apparent defeat by switching Pokemon, or Energy to bring up a new, fully powered attacker. I’ve actually had a game that finished with me having 4 Darkrai’s on the Bench and two Parasect’s powered up – one active and one on the Bench. It was a beautiful sight!
I used to run parasect because i always thought that move was awesome, very rarely are your opponents able to roll two heads to wake up :]
I used to run parasect because i always thought that move was awesome, very rarely are your opponents able to roll two heads to wake up :]
I used to run parasect because i always thought that move was awesome, very rarely are your opponents able to roll two heads to wake up :]
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