Dark Times Ahead — A Discussion on Dark Box
[cardimg name=”Weavile-GX” set=”Unified Minds” no=”132″ align=”right” c=”none”][/cardimg]
Most of the best post-rotation decks right now are familiar sights: [card name=”Malamar” set=”Forbidden Light” no=”51″ c=”name”][/card], [card name=”Pikachu and Zekrom-GX” set=”Team Up” no=”33″ c=”name”][/card], [card name=”Reshiram and Charizard-GX” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”20″ c=”name”][/card]… These decks are all just new versions of previously successful archetypes. But among players’ lists of top decks, you will often find one newcomer, a deck often referred to as Dark Box. Whatever its name, it relies on [card name=”Weavile-GX” set=”Unified Minds” no=”132″ c=”name”][/card] to move around Energy between various Pokemon.
Everything I’ve seen of the deck, both my own testing and others’, suggests that Dark Box is a real contender for Worlds. It has the appeal of being a new archetype — something that players may want to try out, rather than play more of the decks they might be tired of; but it backs up this hype with results, at least in testing.
In all honestly, calling Dark Box new is inaccurate: the cards are new, but Weavile-GX is but the modern incarnation of [card name=”Aromatisse” set=”XY” no=”93″ c=”name”][/card], which itself was the successor to [card name=”Hydreigon” set=”Dragons Exalted” no=”97″ c=”name”][/card], who was no more than a Dark-type reprint of [card name=”Klinklang” set=”Black and White” no=”76″ c=”name”][/card]. Aromatisse and Hydreigon both spawned popular archetypes, while Klinklang won US Nationals in 2012. This is a good sign that Weavile-GX will also have a role to play in the metagame, but there are two key differences between Weavile-GX and its predecessors: First, Weavile-GX can only move basic Dark Energy, whereas the previously mentioned cards could move any Energy of the required type. This meant that they could use multi-type Energy such as [card name=”Rainbow Energy” set=”Celestial Storm” no=”151″ c=”name”][/card], [card name=”Prism Energy” set=”Next Destinies” no=”93″ c=”name”][/card] and so on, which let them use a variety of attackers. Second, all of Weavile-GX’s predecessors were Standard-legal at the same time as [card name=”Max Potion” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”128″ c=”name”][/card], which made for an effective combo: move Energy off a damaged Pokemon, heal it to full, and put Energy back on it. Unfortunately for Weavile-GX, Max Potion rotates out of Standard and won’t be available.
These are definitely factors that need to be taken into account, but, on the other hand, Weavile-GX has access to some very strong Pokemon that only require Darkness Energy. Formats in the early season tend to be the most limited, since the pool of available cards is at its smallest, but Dark Box actually has a surprising amount of viable options, both among Pokemon and Trainers. Lists vary quite a bit between players, more so than for any other current archetype. This is why this article will feature my own vision of the deck, including options, strengths and weaknesses.
1. The List
Let us start with the list:
[decklist name=”Dark Box W19″ amt=”60″ caption=”” cname=”Darkrai Prism Star” set=”Ultra Prism” no=”77″][pokemon amt=”18″]2x [card name=”Weavile-GX” set=”Unified Minds” no=”132″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]2x [card name=”Sneasel” set=”Ultra Prism” no=”73″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]3x [card name=”Naganadel” set=”Lost Thunder” no=”108″ c=”deck2″ amt=”3″][/card]3x [card name=”Poipole” set=”Lost Thunder” no=”107″ c=”deck2″ amt=”3″][/card]1x [card name=”Ditto Prism Star” set=”Lost Thunder” no=”154″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]2x [card name=”Umbreon and Darkrai-GX” set=”Unified Minds” no=”125″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]1x [card name=”Mega Sableye and Tyranitar-GX” set=”Unified Minds” no=”126″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Greninja and Zoroark-GX” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”107″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Darkrai Prism Star” set=”Ultra Prism” no=”77″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]2x [card name=”Dedenne-GX” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”57″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card][/pokemon][trainers amt=”30″]4x [card name=”Lillie” set=”Sun and Moon” no=”122″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]4x [card name=”Cynthia” set=”Ultra Prism” no=”119″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]2x [card name=”Nanu” set=”Team Up” no=”150″ c=”deck2″ divide=”yes” amt=”2″][/card]4x [card name=”Super Scoop Up” set=”Celestial Storm” no=”146″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]4x [card name=”Acro Bike” set=”Celestial Storm” no=”123″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]3x [card name=”Mysterious Treasure” set=”Forbidden Light” no=”113″ c=”deck2″ amt=”3″][/card]3x [card name=”Pokémon Communication” set=”Team Up” no=”152″ c=”deck2″ amt=”3″][/card]3x [card name=”Cherish Ball” set=”Unified Minds” no=”191″ c=”deck2″ divide=”yes” amt=”3″][/card]2x [card name=”Viridian Forest” set=”Team Up” no=”156″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]1x [card name=”Black Market Prism Star” set=”Team Up” no=”134″ c=”deck2″ divide=”yes” amt=”1″][/card][/trainers][energy amt=”12″]12x [card name=”Darkness Energy” set=”Diamond and Pearl” no=”129″ c=”deck2″ amt=”12″][/card][/energy][/decklist]
As you can see, this list is pretty classic. I want to discuss the choices in the list, and some possible alternatives.
2-2 Weavile-GX
This is the minimum. Many lists are including a third [card name=”Sneasel” set=”Ultra Prism” no=”73″ c=”name”][/card], however I haven’t felt the need for it so far. The lack of Gust effects in the format means that Bench sitters like Weavile-GX are in a better spot than they used to be: you often only need to set up one in a game.
3-3 Naganadel
[cardimg name=”Naganadel” set=”Lost Thunder” no=”108″ align=”right” c=”none”][/cardimg]
There is a debate between [card name=”Sharpedo” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”111″ c=”name”][/card] and [card name=”Naganadel” set=”Lost Thunder” no=”108″ c=”name”][/card] as Energy accelerators. Sharpedo’s acceleration is more explosive, but Naganadel will be more effective over the course of a whole game. Since it’s also more convenient to retreat and can be searched with [card name=”Mysterious Treasure” set=”Forbidden Light” no=”113″ c=”name”][/card] (letting us use our [card name=”Pokémon Communication” set=”Team Up” no=”152″ c=”name”][/card] to find other Pokemon), I believe that Naganadel is the strongest option. Naganadel’s typing also makes it an adequate attacker against some Fighting-type attackers that could see play.
Two Darkrai & Umbreon-GX
This is the main attacker of the deck, but you still don’t need more than two copies. If both are Knocked Out, you’ve lost the game anyway, and you have other attackers to use. Plus, even if one copy is prized, you can get it back with [card name=”Nanu” set=”Team Up” no=”150″ c=”name”][/card].
One Mega Sableye & Tyranitar-GX
Greedy Crush is a formidable attack that provides a lot of value, especially against Pokemon-GX that it can OHKO, such as [card name=”Blacephalon-GX” set=”Lost Thunder” no=”52″ c=”name”][/card]. [card name=”Mega Sableye and Tyranitar-GX” set=”Unified Minds” no=”126″ c=”name”][/card] requires a lot of Energy, but it can close out a game when you’ve accumulated enough Energy in play.
As for Gigafall GX, you can use it against [card name=”Shedinja” set=”Lost Thunder” no=”95″ c=”name”][/card] decks to win the game by milling them, since they can only function with a small deck.
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One Greninja & Zoroark-GX
I only included this Tag Team because I’m addicted to cards that have [card name=”Zoroark-GX” set=”Shining Legends” no=”53″ c=”name”][/card] in their name. Joking aside, [card name=”Greninja and Zoroark-GX” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”107″ c=”name”][/card] is a logical attacker in a deck that wants to accumulate Energy in play. Its main strength is that it only requires two Energy to attack. Therefore, it’s easy to keep it powered up so that even if the opponent manages to KO Weavile-GX, you can still deal a lot of damage.
Two Dedenne-GX
Maybe one copy is enough, but I like the extra one since this deck plays multiple [card name=”Cherish Ball” set=”Unified Minds” no=”191″ c=”name”][/card]. It adds some consistency to the deck. It should be noted that a turn one Dedechange helps to get Sneasel in play.
Although [card name=”Dedenne-GX” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”57″ c=”name”][/card] uses a spot on the Bench, you can use Nanu to replace it with a more useful Pokemon.
Four Lillie, Four Cynthia, Zero Hapu
For a while, many lists were running [card name=”Hapu” set=”Unified Minds” no=”200″ c=”name”][/card], but after playing a lot of games with it, I don’t think it warrants a spot in the deck. There’s almost never a time when you want to play Hapu over [card name=”Cynthia” set=”Ultra Prism” no=”119″ c=”name”][/card]: sure, you could happen to discard Dark Energy and get the cards you need in your hand, but, often, getting two cards is not enough, especially in the early game when you have a lot of Pokemon to set up. Late game, Hapu works better but I’d still prefer to play Cynthia in most cases rather than risk discarding some good cards. If you wanted to play additional draw Supporters, I think [card name=”Erika’s Hospitality” set=”Team Up” no=”140″ c=”name”][/card] or [card name=”Tate and Liza” set=”Celestial Storm” no=”148″ c=”name”][/card] would be preferable to Hapu.
Two Nanu
[card name=”Nanu” set=”Team Up” no=”150″ c=”name”][/card] provides us with a form of Pokemon recovery — something that is sorely lacking in the format — as well as a way to get rid of a Benched Dedenne-GX.
One Nanu wasn’t effective since it was hard to find when you needed it; adding the second copy fixed this issue.
I’ve also toyed with a heavier Nanu engine, playing three or four copies of it and Dedenne-GX. The idea is that you’d use Cherish Ball for Dedenne-GX to draw cards, then Nanu to replace Dedenne-GX with the attacker you need. The results weren’t convincing: I needed a way to get Dark-type Pokemon in the discard in the first place, and discarding Naganadel and Weavile-GX was an issue (one that might be solved by [card name=”Lure Ball” set=”Celestial Storm” no=”138″ c=”name”][/card], maybe?). If I find time, I might give it another shot, but it might have been too optimistic of me.
Four Super Scoop Up
[cardimg name=”Super Scoop Up” set=”Celestial Storm” no=”146″ align=”right” c=”none”][/cardimg]
This is the card that replaces Max Potion. It has the same general utility: you heal one of your Pokemon after moving all of its Energy elsewhere. Unfortunately, it requires a coin flip, and you can’t put the same attacker back Active without paying some Retreat Cost. On the bright side, Super Scoop Up, unlike Max Potion, gets rid of Special Conditions. This is particularly useful in the PikaRom matchup to heal after [card name=”Raichu and Alolan Raichu-GX” set=”Unified Minds” no=”54″ c=”name”][/card]’s Tandem Shock.
Three Mysterious Treasure, Three Pokemon Communication, Three Cherish Ball
As always, I’m a big proponent of not playing more Pokemon Communication than your Pokemon count can support — even if Pokemon Communication is extremely important in order to search for Sneasel or [card name=”Ditto Prism Star” set=”Lost Thunder” no=”154″ c=”name”][/card] on the first turn of the game.
Mysterious Treasure only hits the Naganadel line but it’s still very useful.
Cherish Ball gets your attackers, Weavile-GX, and Dedenne-GX.
I like this balance between these cards.
Four Acro Bike
This is definitively the most suspect part of the list. I play [card name=”Acro Bike” set=”Celestial Storm” no=”123″ c=”name”][/card] because it basically makes your deck smaller, which helps you hit Sneasel on turn one, Weavile-GX on turn two, Super Scoop Up and Nanu at the right time, and so on, all while putting Energy in the discard.
The big question is: is it the best use of space, or could we play other cards instead? Right now, I believe that the Acro Bikes give me the consistency boost that allows the deck to function properly. That doesn’t mean that the card feels good to play. I’m pretty sure an ideal list would have better cards to run (more discussion on this below) but cool techs don’t mean anything if you can’t set up in the first place.
Two Viridian Forest, One Black Market Prism Star
Some lists are cutting [card name=”Black Market Prism Star” set=”Team Up” no=”134″ c=”name”][/card] and I want to address this. I understand that Black Market Prism Star is a reactive Stadium, that many decks are running three Stadiums or more, and that, because of that, there’s a good chance that Black Market Prism Star gets removed before it can have any effect. That said, I think that you have to weigh the potential benefits: even if Black Market Prism Star doesn’t work all the time, when it does, it can completely shift the tide of the game. Forcing your opponent to take even one extra KO can make a huge difference in a game! The alternative would be playing a third [card name=”Viridian Forest” set=”Team Up” no=”156″ c=”name”][/card]. Sure, Viridian Forest has an immediate effect, and it’s a strong card to run, but there are also times where it just doesn’t matter. Plus, it often helps the opponent as well. All this is to say that I think Black Market Prism Star is worth running.
As a side note, don’t bother with [card name=”Dark City” set=”Unified Minds” no=”193″ c=”name”][/card]. It has its uses, but they’re situational. Retreating for free doesn’t matter if you can just get more Energy in play to manually retreat your Pokemon instead, which Viridian Forest helps to do.
2. Options
Let’s also talk about some cards that didn’t make the list:
Mewtwo & Mew-GX + Dragonite-GX
[card name=”Mewtwo and Mew-GX” set=”Unified Minds” no=”71″ c=”name”][/card] is a popular addition to the deck. It can copy other attacks, even if, say, your Mega Sableye & Tyranitar-GX is in the discard due to Acro Bike or Dedechange. It can be searched by Mysterious Treasure. It doesn’t have a Fighting Weakness. You can run a [card name=”Dragonite-GX” set=”Unified Minds” no=”152″ c=”name”][/card] to be discarded in order to hit for 270 damage whenever you need to.
This is all good, but, in my opinion, the list above doesn’t need Mewtwo & Mew-GX, since we have Nanu to get back our Pokemon from the discard.
I can certainly see the card’s potential, though, and if you’re not running Nanu, you should consider running it. It acts as an indirect form of Pokemon retrieval by letting you use discarded Pokemon’s attacks which, as I discussed last week, is rare, and therefore valued, in the format.
Custom Catcher
[cardimg name=”Custom Catcher” set=”Lost Thunder” no=”171″ align=”right” c=”none”][/cardimg]
Some lists are running [card name=”Custom Catcher” set=”Lost Thunder” no=”171″ c=”name”][/card] in order to have a Gust effect in the deck. This would be great if it was reliable, but you can’t reliably pull off the double Custom Catcher since there’s no way to draw additional cards to your hand. Hapu would help here, but I don’t think it’s worth running Hapu just to play Custom Catcher, especially since you’re likely to discard some Custom Catcher in the early game when you’re searching for your Pokemon to set up.
Mew
I believe [card name=”Mew” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”76″ c=”name”][/card] should always be considered as an option in this format, especially with Pikachu & Zekrom-GX being considered one of the strongest decks. Since Dark Box already plays Mysterious Treasure, Mew would easily fit in the deck.
The argument for not running it is that PikaRom players will often want to use Lightning Ride GX, rather than Tag Bolt GX, as their GX attack. Unlike Tag Bolt, Lightning Ride can reliably OHKO one of your big attackers and get rid of your Energy at the same time.
Pokemon Fan Club
Peter Kica recently shared a Dark Box list that included an unusual Supporter line: this list had no Lillie but four [card name=”Pokémon Fan Club” set=”Ultra Prism” no=”133″ c=”name”][/card] alongside draw Supporters like Cynthia, [card name=”Copycat” set=”Celestial Storm” no=”127″ c=”name”][/card], and Erika’s Hospitality.
As a principle, I don’t like Pokemon Fan Club. It’s a suboptimal card that we only run when we don’t have better options (I miss [card name=”Brigette” set=”BREAKthrough” no=”134″ c=”name”][/card]). However, in Dark Box it can help find Sneasel, and if we need to draw cards it’s always possible to grab Dedenne-GX as well.
I haven’t found time to test Pokemon Fan Club but, in my opinion, if there’s another direction in which to take the deck, it’s this one. By letting us find Sneasel easily, Pokemon Fan Club allows us to get rid of the consistency clutch that’s currently in the deck, Acro Bike. This means that we can run better cards instead. One simple example would be Switch, to have a safer answer to paralysis.
3. Strengths and Weaknesses
What I like about Dark Box is that it has some strong options against Pokemon-GX, which make up the majority of the metagame — I’ve discussed the reasons for this at length in my previous article. Dark Moon GX can OHKO even the tankiest of Tag Teams, and Greedy Crush is an amazing option to take your last three Prizes off a two-Prize GX. It doesn’t necessarily auto-win GX matchups, but it has good odds against them. Disappointingly enough, in my experience, who goes first matters a lot in some of Dark Box’s matchups, with Blacephalon-GX being the most egregious example.
So, what scares Dark Box? A few things. Fighting-type Pokemon, for one. The list above folds to a good Fighting-type attacker such as [card name=”Breloom” set=”Unified Minds” no=”108″ c=”name”][/card]. Thankfully, these are rare.
[cardimg name=”Power Plant” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”183″ align=”left” c=”none”][/cardimg]
Another answer is [card name=”Power Plant” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”183″ c=”name”][/card]. By shutting down [card name=”Weavile-GX” set=”Unified Minds” no=”132″ c=”name”][/card]’s Ability, Power Plant ruins the engine that makes Dark Box run. No Shadow Connection means no Super Scoop Up plays, for instance. Not many decks run Power Plant — [card name=”Reshiram and Charizard-GX” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”20″ c=”name”][/card] is the main one — but it’s an issue. If you know your opponent is running Power Plant, try to keep your Stadiums to counter theirs.
In addition to Power Plant, ReshiZard also runs Custom Catcher, which can be used to KO Weavile-GX. This means that you must have another [card name=”Sneasel” set=”Ultra Prism” no=”73″ c=”name”][/card] on the Bench to deter them, but the issue with that is that it takes up a precious Bench space. Thanks to Nanu, my list is more resilient to this kind of play than most: you can always Nanu to get a Sneasel back in play and evolve it into Weavile-GX in the same turn, and even if you have to use a turn without Weavile-GX and your Energy are scattered on your field, you can use Greninja & Zoroark-GX to deal good damage. Still, ReshiZard is not the matchup you most want to see. If it’s seeing hype, you might want to look for a better play.
As an aside, I believe that Power Plant is undervalued right now. In addition to Dark Box, [card name=”Pikachu and Zekrom-GX” set=”Team Up” no=”33″ c=”name”][/card] also counts on its Abilities a lot, and it typically plays few Stadiums of its own. Even other decks such as [card name=”Malamar” set=”Forbidden Light” no=”51″ c=”name”][/card] sometimes need to Dedechange away their hand, and Power Plant can prevent that. I’m not sure what kind of deck would best be suited to using Power Plant, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see it pop up in some surprise deck at Worlds. I feel like Japanese players have always valued the card higher than we do, so maybe they’ll give it more consideration.
Finally, I want to mention that if this deck is viable in Standard, it will be very interesting to see what becomes of Dark variants in Expanded, where [card name=”Dark Patch” set=”Dark Explorers” no=”93″ c=”name”][/card] and [card name=”Max Elixir” set=”BREAKpoint” no=”102″ c=”name”][/card] can be used to get Energy in play even faster. With Worlds coming up fast, it’s not really the time to discuss Expanded, but if you’re a fan of the format, consider Turbo Dark including the new attackers. You could even use Weavile-GX to power up [card name=”Guzzlord-GX” set=”Crimson Invasion” no=”63″ c=”name”][/card], whose Glutton GX attacker is a more situational, but potentially more powerful, Greedy Crush GX.
4. Some Other Ideas
I want to leave you with my most recent thoughts on the format. First, as I’ve discussed, most attackers in the format are Pokemon-GX. This makes [card name=”Keldeo-GX” set=”Unified Minds” no=”47″ c=”name”][/card] an interesting prospect. A pure Keldeo-GX deck could be an audacious play: hope to hit the GX decks, most of which won’t have a good answer to one Keldeo-GX, let alone four, but fold to the decks that can KO Keldeo-GX, such as Malamar / [card name=”Giratina” set=”Lost Thunder” no=”97″ c=”name”][/card]. As much as I believe in taking risks for Worlds, Quad Keldeo is a bit too random, pairings-wise, for me. I wouldn’t be surprised, statistically speaking, to hear that someone made it through Day 1 with such a deck, though.
One card in particular that Keldeo-GX synergizes with is [card name=”Beheeyem” set=”Unified Minds” no=”91″ c=”name”][/card]. See, as a Stage 1 Pokemon with a unique effect and a reliance on Triple Acceleration Energy, I find Beheeyem infinitely more interesting than most decks in the format. (Yes, I loved playing [card name=”Seismitoad-EX” set=”Furious Fists” no=”20″ c=”name”][/card] and [card name=”Accelgor” set=”Dark Explorers” no=”11″ c=”name”][/card]. Sue me.) Beheeyem’s Item lock is particularly interesting in the Worlds format because the main Gust effect, Custom Catcher, is an Item, so Beheeyem prevents that option. In other words, if you use Mysterious Noise and bring up Keldeo-GX, it can act as a true wall against all the GX decks of the format. [card name=”Silvally-GX” set=”Ultra Prism” no=”116″ c=”name”][/card] can be used to let Keldeo-GX retreat afterwards, and also act as a finisher in the end game with Rebel GX. (I think this concept gets better with the recently announced Silvally-GX from Dream League, but I’m getting ahead of myself.)
For now, this is only a concept, and I think I’m not the first to have toyed with it, but I plan on exploring it further soon. Unified Minds is now available on TCGO, which means it will now be easier to test these ideas!
Worlds is getting closer and everyone is intensifying their testing. This is an exciting time for the game! If you, too, are going to try to play more games in that format, I wish you the best of luck in figuring it out. See you next week!
Stéphane
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