Your Cup Of Tea? — The Potential of Mad Party

When it comes to the top decks of Darkness Ablaze, one could easily come to the conclusion that we are heading into a three-deck metagame. Given the utter difficulty of beating [card name=”Zacian V” set=”Sword and Shield” no=”138″ c=”name”][/card] / [card name=”Arceus and Dialga and Palkia-GX” set=”Cosmic Eclipse” no=”156″ c=”name”][/card], Centiskorch VMAX, and Eternatus VMAX, there isn’t nearly as much room for non-meta decks to thrive. Those decks dominate in many factors that are necessary for a Pokemon deck to be successful — speed, damage output, tankiness, and consistency.

While a centralized meta can be a good thing for any player hoping to play a counter-meta or more creative deck (fewer good decks means fewer decks that you have to find a way to beat), if those top-tier decks are too good, finding an effective counter to them can be downright impossible. So far, that appears to be the case in the initial Darkness Ablaze standard format — there aren’t many decks that can find any advantage to exploit. 

Traditionally, whenever a format is dominated by multi-Prize attackers (as this one is), an excellent place to look for off-meta decks is in the realm of single-Prize attackers. Even if the single-Prize deck isn’t quite as fast, or doesn’t hit quite as hard as their multi-Prize counterparts, it can still win by taking advantage of the advantageous Prize trade.

In the pre-rotation format, decks such as [card name=”Spiritomb” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”112″ c=”name”][/card] and [card name=”Blacephalon” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”32″ c=”name”][/card] have taken great advantage of the single-Prize attribute, and have been strong enough to be top-tier decks themselves. Arceus & Dialga & Palkia-GX’s Altered Creation GX has been extremely problematic for single-Prize decks, but nonetheless, the strategy is still a reliable one against the VMAX decks and other decks in the format. With the release of Darkness Ablaze, there will be one more strong single-Prize deck in the format, one which utilizes a tried and true strategy from the past. That deck is Mad Party, and like the Night March strategy that it copies, this deck is one to watch out for.

While Mad Party may not yet have the format-defining impact of its predecessor, it is nonetheless a deck with plenty of potential. The strategy is the exact same quick, single-Prize attacking strategy as it was for Night March, only with four additional Pokemon available for discard. The format might not be the same, and the support system behind the Mad Party Pokemon might be quite a bit different than the one that Night March had at its disposal, but it isn’t hard to see how this deck could become a top-tier option. After all, when Phantom Forces came out in 2014, Night March wasn’t a top deck either — but that changed fairly quickly! So, if you’re nostalgic for the good old days of Night March, aren’t thrilled about the prospect of shelling out cash for a VMAX deck, or simply want to play something a bit different, then this is an archetype I highly recommend. 

Standard Decklist

If you are unfamiliar with this style of deck, the game plan is to get as many Pokemon with the Mad Party attack in the discard pile as quickly as possible, so that you can get off cheap attacks with single-Prize pokemon, and eventually overwhelm your opponent.

The more that you can draw through, the more Pokemon you can get in the discard pile, and the more Pokemon that you have in the discard pile, the greater your damage output will be. This deck aims to draw plenty of cards quickly for that reason. Like other single-Prize decks, Mad Party takes great advantage of a favorable Prize trade, so even though you’ll easily be losing a Pokemon every turn to knockout, you can still win by KOing your opponent’s GXs and V Pokemon every turn. Against VMAXs, a 2HKO strategy is typically the go-to, whereas, against everything else, Mad Party has OHKO potential. Since Mad Party only gives up one Prize per turn, it can afford to play a slightly longer game than other GX, V, or VMAX decks, and so 2HKOs can be a viable strategy.

Here is my Mad Party decklist:

[premium]

[decklist name=”Mad Party” amt=”60″ caption=”” cname=”Bunnelby” set=”Darkness Ablaze” no=”150″][pokemon amt=”24″]4x Bunnelby (DAA #150)4x [card name=”Sinistea” set=”Sword and Shield” no=”89″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]4x Polteageist (DAA #83)4x Dedenne (DAA #78)4x Galarian Mr. Mime (DAA #35)2x [card name=”Dedenne-GX” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”57″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]1x Crobat V (DAA #104)1x [card name=”Galarian Meowth” set=”Rebel Clash” no=”126″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card][/pokemon][trainers amt=”28″]4x [card name=”Professor’s Research” set=”Sword and Shield” no=”178″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]2x [card name=”Roxie” set=”Cosmic Eclipse” no=”205″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]2x [card name=”Milo” set=”Rebel Clash” no=”161″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]2x [card name=”Boss’s Orders” set=”Rebel Clash” no=”154″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]1x [card name=”Cynthia and Caitlin” set=”Cosmic Eclipse” no=”189″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Guzma and Hala” set=”Cosmic Eclipse” no=”193″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Giovanni’s Exile” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”174″ c=”deck2″ divide=”yes” amt=”1″][/card]4x [card name=”Quick Ball” set=”Sword and Shield” no=”179″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]4x [card name=”Evolution Incense” set=”Sword and Shield” no=”163″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]2x Familiar Bell (DAA #161)1x [card name=”Reset Stamp” set=”Unified Minds” no=”206″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Tool Scrapper” set=”Rebel Clash” no=”168″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”U-Turn Board” set=”Unified Minds” no=”211″ c=”deck2″ divide=”yes” amt=”1″][/card]2x [card name=”Chaotic Swell” set=”Cosmic Eclipse” no=”187″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card][/trainers][energy amt=”8″]4x [card name=”Twin Energy” set=”Rebel Clash” no=”174″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]4x [card name=”Triple Acceleration Energy” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”190″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card][/energy][/decklist] 

Deck Explanation

Pokemon

[cardimg name=”Galarian Meowth” set=”Rebel Clash” no=”126″ align=”right” c=”none”][/cardimg]

Most decks don’t play quite this many Pokemon, but in Mad Party, doing so is a necessity. You don’t want to play any less than the maximum 16 Mad Party Pokemon, so that your damage output can be as high as possible. Given that we don’t have any great Pokemon recovery (such as [card name=”Rescue Stretcher” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”130″ c=”name”][/card]), we need to have more than Bunnelby as an attacker, hence the inclusion of four Sinistea. Polteageist is not only an excellent attacker, but it’s also a great consistency engine, not to mention yet another way to discard Mad Party Pokemon. Like in Expanded Night March, this deck loves to go fast, hence the copies of [card name=”Dedenne-GX” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”57″ c=”name”][/card] and Crobat V. The more cards that you can draw early, the more Mad Party Pokemon that you’ll be able to discard.

You do have to be somewhat careful in that regard in certain matchups so that the extra Prizes given up by those Pokemon don’t come back to bite you, but so long as you’re ahead, you’ll be fine, and it’s much easier to get ahead when you have that additional consistency! Finally, I’ve included a copy of [card name=”Galarian Meowth” set=”Rebel Clash” no=”126″ c=”name”][/card], to make discarding Mad Party Pokemon even easier. The trick here is that Galarian Meowth’s Evolution Roar allows you to discard cards even if you don’t successfully find (or in this case, don’t play) a [card name=”Galarian Perrserker” set=”Sword and Shield” no=”128″ c=”name”][/card]. In this deck, being able to discard cards from your hand at will has a number of advantages. Not only does it allow you to discard additional Mad Party Pokemon whenever you need to, but it also helps you to reduce your hand size, so that you can draw more cards with Crobat V’s Night Asset. You could also opt to use [card name=”Duskull” set=”Cosmic Eclipse” no=”83″ c=”name”][/card] in this spot, which allows you to discard three cards instead of two, but I’ve found that in practice, the discarding of the third card has a tendency to be more of a detriment than an advantage.

Supporters

This deck is able to play a decent number of draw Supporters, and the ones in this list have an added benefit of helping you to discard Mad Party Pokemon. [card name=”Professor’s Research” set=”Sword and Shield” no=”178″ c=”name”][/card] is a strong inclusion in a deck like this one; not only is it the best draw Supporter in the game, but you can make use of the discard effect as a positive, not solely as a negative. [card name=”Milo” set=”Rebel Clash” no=”161″ c=”name”][/card] and [card name=”Roxie” set=”Cosmic Eclipse” no=”205″ c=”name”][/card] are both strong in different situations; Roxie is best when you have two Mad Party Pokemon to discard, whereas Milo gives the deck another option in the early-game, when you might not have Pokemon already in-hand to discard. Milo can also be strong late-game once you have Polteageist in play, as you can use it to discard otherwise useless cards, and thus increase your odds of drawing into a playable hand following a [card name=”Reset Stamp” set=”Unified Minds” no=”206″ c=”name”][/card]. [card name=”Cynthia and Caitlin” set=”Cosmic Eclipse” no=”189″ c=”name”][/card] allows you to recover [card name=”Boss’s Orders” set=”Rebel Clash” no=”154″ c=”name”][/card], and has a similar effect with regards to Reset Stamp mitigation. [card name=”Guzma and Hala” set=”Cosmic Eclipse” no=”193″ c=”name”][/card] is great when you need to find an Energy to attack with, or you need [card name=”Chaotic Swell” set=”Cosmic Eclipse” no=”187″ c=”name”][/card] or [card name=”U-Turn Board” set=”Unified Minds” no=”211″ c=”name”][/card].

Pokemon Search: Quick Ball, Evolution Incense, and Familiar Bell

The main purpose of the ten Pokemon-searching Items isn’t necessarily to set up a board, but rather, to find Mad Party Pokemon to then discard with Dedechange or the Supporters. You will want to focus on getting Sinistea into play early so that you can then set up Polteageist to discard more Mad party Pokemon (and have another attacker), but once that’s done, these Items will mostly be used to help increase the deck’s damage output. [card name=”Quick Ball” set=”Sword and Shield” no=”179″ c=”name”][/card] is a must-include, as it finds your attackers and Dedenne-GX / Crobat V, and [card name=”Evolution Incense” set=”Sword and Shield” no=”163″ c=”name”][/card] is great for finding Polteageist and Galarian Mr. Rime. For the third Pokemon-searching Item, I’ve chosen to include Familiar Bell instead of [card name=”Pokémon Communication” set=”Team Up” no=”152″ c=”name”][/card] or [card name=”Great Ball” set=”Sword and Shield” no=”164″ c=”name”][/card], as it’s the most reliable of the three. Since your Pokemon will naturally find their way into the discard pile quickly, Familiar Bell makes it easy to search out whichever one you might need, once you get past a turn or two. It isn’t great at searching out Dedenne-GX or Crobat V, and can’t find Galarian Meowth, but you’ll mostly use it for either finding a Bunnelby to attack with or a Mad Party Pokemon to discard.

Giovanni’s Exile

I’ve included Giovanni’s Exile in this list to give the deck a way to remove from play any Dedenne-GX or Crobat V. Since this deck typically wins based on an advantageous Prize trade, those GX / V Pokemon can end up being detrimental in the late-game. With [card name=”Bellelba and Brycen-Man” set=”Cosmic Eclipse” no=”186″ c=”name”][/card] banned, this is the most effective way to get those cards off of your Bench in Standard, and thanks to Polteageist, you won’t always need to use your Supporter for turn to draw. If needed, Giovanni’s Exile also lets you drop some Mad Party Pokemon off of your Bench — great for a surprise extra burst of damage in the late-game. 

Stadium Choice: Chaotic Swell

This deck needs a counter-stadium, lest it get walled completely by cards such as [card name=”Wondrous Labyrinth Prism Star” set=”Team Up” no=”158″ c=”name”][/card] or [card name=”Blizzard Town” set=”Unified Minds” no=”187″ c=”name”][/card], or slowed down by [card name=”Power Plant” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”183″ c=”name”][/card]. While you could opt to include a Stadium that allows you to discard cards from your hand such as [card name=”Viridian Forest” set=”Team Up” no=”156″ c=”name”][/card] or [card name=”Giant Hearth” set=”Unified Minds” no=”197″ c=”name”][/card], all of those Stadiums provide a clear benefit to your opponent, and none to you outside of the discard effect. Chaotic Swell also allows you to play it from your hand early on to counter those disruptive Stadiums, so that you won’t be in trouble if you have an early hand with the Stadium, but also a Professor’s Research that you need to play. 

Energy: Four Twin Energy, Four Triple Acceleration Energy

[card name=”Twin Energy” set=”Rebel Clash” no=”174″ c=”name”][/card] is great in this deck since it provides all of the attack requirements for both Bunnelby and Polteageist; realistically, were Twin Energy not in format, Mad Party likely wouldn’t be a viable deck. Unfortunately, there isn’t any easy way to recover Twin Energy, and four aren’t quite enough to last through an entire game, especially if you are forced to discard one early via either Dedechange or Professor’s Research. So, the deck needs to have some other option to attack. For this, I’ve included [card name=”Triple Acceleration Energy” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”190″ c=”name”][/card]. While it can’t be used on Bunnelby, it does provide roughly the same utility as Twin Energy when attacking with Polteageist. Since you can pretty much assume that any of your Pokemon are going to be easily Knocked Out, the discard effect of Triple Acceleration Energy ends up being not all that detrimental. You do have to be somewhat careful still — I typically try to exclusively use my Twin Energy on Bunnelby, so that I maximize the number of Energy I have to attack with — but I’ve found this solution to be better than trying to attach two Energy over two turns (you simply don’t have the time to do so), or including other Trainers such as Turbo Patch or [card name=”Mina” set=”Lost Thunder” no=”211″ c=”name”][/card], which impacts the deck’s consistency and speed. 

Matchups

Zacian V / Arceus and Dialga and Palkia-GX

I’ll get this one out of the way early — this matchup is a brutal one. It isn’t all that easy to get fourteen Mad Party Pokemon in the discard as early as turn two (not to mention the difficulty of having enough to attack with from that point), and Altered Creation GX effectively erases any advantage Mad party might have as a single-Prize attacking deck. To win, you’ll need to be able to do what any other deck needs to do against [card name=”Arceus and Dialga and Palkia-GX” set=”Cosmic Eclipse” no=”156″ c=”name”][/card] to win, and that is to win in four turns. You can force your opponent to take three knockouts, instead of two, either by only benching one of [card name=”Dedenne-GX” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”57″ c=”name”][/card] or Crobat V, or by using Giovanni’s Exile to take them off of the board. If you can get enough Mad Party Pokemon into the discard pile quickly, that does potentially allow for some room to win, so long as you can take the first few Prizes. 

Eternatus VMAX

[cardimg name=”Hoopa” set=”Unified Minds” no=”140″ align=”right” c=”none”][/cardimg]

This matchup can go well, or poorly, mostly depending on how your opponent plays it. Eternatus VMAX decks tend to bench plenty of nice targets in Crobat V, which can allow Mad Party to easily go ahead on Prizes, especially if the Mad Party player is able to go second and take the first knockout. If the Eternatus VMAX player opts not to play down Crobat V, however, things become much tougher. [card name=”Hoopa” set=”Unified Minds” no=”140″ c=”name”][/card] easily OHKOs any Mad Party Pokemon, and it is trivially easy for Eternatus VMAX to take knockouts as well. Eternatus VMAX can be 2HKOd for a one-Prize advantage to the Mad party player, though only if the Mad Party player can rid their Bench of any multi-Prize targets. Overall, this matchup is pretty close if both players can draw well.

Welder VMAX Decks (Centiskorch VMAX and Charizard VMAX)

There isn’t much in terms of game-plan that differentiates these matchups from the Eternatus VMAX matchup (or most other VMAX matchups); Mad Party will try to take advantage of the favorable Prize exchange, while the Fire player will try to attack with the Pokemon that give up the fewest number of Prizes. This matchup is a bit more favorable than the Eternatus VMAX matchup though, since the Fire player doesn’t have a cheap attacker like Hoopa to use, and they are a bit more reliant on their Dedenne-GX and Crobat V, since their decks rely on [card name=”Welder” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”189″ c=”name”][/card]. Once they get that early Welder, however, they don’t need anything more to keep taking knockouts. The [card name=”Galarian Zigzagoon” set=”Sword and Shield” no=”117″ c=”name”][/card] in the Charizard VMAX deck can become a bit annoying, since four uses of Headbutt Tantrum KOs a Bunnelby; always try to attack with the damaged ones if possible for that reason.

Other Matchups

Vikavolt V

As it turns out, an attack that both locks you from using Items and OHKOs your main attacker tends to be extremely difficult to defeat. That is what Mad Party is facing when it comes to Vikavolt V, and why Mad Party has a tendency to lose this matchup. Add in annoying Tool cards such as [card name=”Giant Bomb” set=”Unified Minds” no=”196″ c=”name”][/card] or Cape of Toughness, and the matchup becomes almost impossible. The goal here for Mad Party is to have as explosive a turn one as possible, preferably culminating with a big KO. Mad Party admittedly isn’t quite as weak to Item lock as it might appear — the heavier Draw Supporter count and added consistency from Polteageist helps considerably in this regard — but the deck still will struggle if the Item-lock comes into play early enough.

Spread Attackers (Salamence V, Dragapult VMAX, Inteleon VMAX)

I’ve included these decks here not because they will necessarily be popular, but to point out that Mad Party loses badly to any kind of spread strategy. Since the deck has such low HP, it doesn’t take much for a spread-playing opponent to take multiple multi-Prize knockouts at once; in some scenarios, this can be enough to wipe every attacker that Mad Party has off the board. You can opt to include [card name=”Mew” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”76″ c=”name”][/card] for these matchups, but the Mew can easily be brought up with [card name=”Boss’s Orders” set=”Rebel Clash” no=”154″ c=”name”][/card], and the weakness to those decks is so great that the spread deck will win regardless once they get rid of the Mew. Again, I don’t think these strategies will be particularly common, but it is a weakness worth noting for the future.

Other Single-Prize Decks (Mirror Match, Blacephalon, Spiritomb)

Against other single-Prize attacking decks, the first attack becomes absolutely critical – you certainly want to prioritize going second for that reason. The damage output needed in these matchups isn’t all that much (for either player), so neither player will necessarily have to bench [card name=”Dedenne-GX” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”57″ c=”name”][/card], Crobat V, or any other multi-Prize target. If you do, be sure to use [card name=”Giovanni’s Exile” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”174″ c=”name”][/card] as fast as possible, and if they do, be sure to target it with [card name=”Boss’s Orders” set=”Rebel Clash” no=”154″ c=”name”][/card] to push your lead. Late Reset Stamp can be useful in these matchups, particularly in the mirror match where you might be able to get them to miss a turn of attacks due to a lack of Energy. In general, though, these games will go to whoever can take the first Prize.

Potential Inclusions

While I think Mad Party is a strong enough deck to become a potential competitor, there is no doubt that it could use some improvement, and likely needs it in order to become a defining deck like its predecessor. There are several cards that, were they to come out in a future set, would clearly benefit this deck, as they did Night March in the past. We don’t have them yet, nor are there any reports of these arriving in our November set yet, but they are certainly worth looking out for in the future. 

The obvious card that is missing is [card name=”Battle Compressor” set=”Phantom Forces” no=”92″ c=”name”][/card], but more specifically, this deck could make great use of any similar Item that could assist in the discarding of Pokemon from the deck. Right now, the deck relies more on Supporters to get those Pokemon in the discard pile, which naturally limits the deck’s speed. [card name=”Quick Ball” set=”Sword and Shield” no=”179″ c=”name”][/card], Polteageist, and Dedenne-GX obviously help as well, but each of these options does require you to already have a Pokemon in your hand to discard. With Battle Compressor, you don’t need nearly as much Pokemon search, and you’ll be able to discard Pokemon much faster and much more consistently.

The second card that would be quite useful in this deck is a reprint of [card name=”Special Charge” set=”Steam Siege” no=”105″ c=”name”][/card]. Since there is no easy way in Standard to recover Special Energy into the deck, this means that more of the deck’s slots need to be dedicated to additional Energy, as opposed to simply playing four [card name=”Twin Energy” set=”Rebel Clash” no=”174″ c=”name”][/card], multiple Special Charge, and then more consistency Items. The lack of Energy recovery can also make things awkward with Dedenne-GX and [card name=”Professor’s Research” set=”Sword and Shield” no=”178″ c=”name”][/card], since there are plenty of scenarios with this deck where you’ll have to discard Twin Energy early with those cards, and thus you can run out of reliable ways to attack with Bunnelby. [card name=”Oranguru” set=”Ultra Prism” no=”114″ c=”name”][/card] is also gone, preventing that as a recovery method. The danger of discarding Energy also prevents the deck from playing [card name=”Clay” set=”Cosmic Eclipse” no=”188″ c=”name”][/card], which would otherwise be a natural fit in this deck.

Additionally, we are missing quite a few consistency items that would improve the deck’s speed and natural consistency. If you look back at earlier lists of Night March, most play multiple copies of [card name=”Acro Bike” set=”Celestial Storm” no=”123″ c=”name”][/card] and [card name=”Trainers’ Mail” set=”Roaring Skies” no=”92″ c=”name”][/card], not to mention Ace Specs and [card name=”VS Seeker” set=”Phantom Forces” no=”109″ c=”name”][/card]. All of these helped the deck to be able to draw through the deck faster, and to give the Night March player what they needed, when they needed it. Thanks to all of the powerful Items that were in the format in the XY era, Night March decks were able to focus on Items, rather than Supporters, and could thus be more explosive. Right now, Mad Party is certainly more Supporter-heavy, and the reliance on them will slow it down somewhat in comparison. If we were to get any of those Items in the future, Mad Party would greatly benefit.

Pre-Rotation Additions

For anyone playing in any pre-rotation Ultra Prism–Darkness Ablaze tournaments, Mad Party can be a solid option for your deck choice. The pre-rotation format is a bit more diverse than the post-rotation format, and most of that additional diversity comes from other Basic attacking decks — which represent good matchups for Mad Party. What’s more, Mad party does benefit from a few cards that are rotating, most notably Acro Bike, as well as [card name=”Mysterious Treasure” set=”Forbidden Light” no=”113″ c=”name”][/card]. Here is the pre-rotation list that I’ve been using:

[decklist name=”Mad Party” amt=”60″ caption=”” cname=”Bunnelby” set=”Darkness Ablaze” no=”150″][pokemon amt=”24″]4x Bunnelby (DAA #150)4x [card name=”Sinistea” set=”Sword and Shield” no=”89″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]4x Polteageist (DAA #83)4x Dedenne (DAA #78)4x Galarian Mr. Mime (DAA #35)2x [card name=”Dedenne-GX” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”57″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]1x Crobat V (DAA #104)1x [card name=”Galarian Meowth” set=”Rebel Clash” no=”126″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card][/pokemon][trainers amt=”28″]4x [card name=”Professor’s Research” set=”Sword and Shield” no=”178″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]2x [card name=”Roxie” set=”Cosmic Eclipse” no=”205″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]2x [card name=”Boss’s Orders” set=”Rebel Clash” no=”154″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]1x [card name=”Milo” set=”Rebel Clash” no=”161″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]1x [card name=”Cynthia and Caitlin” set=”Cosmic Eclipse” no=”189″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Guzma and Hala” set=”Cosmic Eclipse” no=”193″ c=”deck2″ divide=”yes” amt=”1″][/card]4x [card name=”Quick Ball” set=”Sword and Shield” no=”179″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]3x [card name=”Acro Bike” set=”Celestial Storm” no=”123″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]2x [card name=”Mysterious Treasure” set=”Forbidden Light” no=”113″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]2x Familiar Bell (DAA #161)1x [card name=”Reset Stamp” set=”Unified Minds” no=”206″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Tool Scrapper” set=”Rebel Clash” no=”168″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Lure Ball” set=”Celestial Storm” no=”138″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″]1x [card name=”U-Turn Board” set=”Unified Minds” no=”211″ c=”deck2″ divide=”yes” amt=”1″][/card]2x [card name=”Chaotic Swell” set=”Cosmic Eclipse” no=”187″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card][/trainers][energy amt=”8″]4x [card name=”Twin Energy” set=”Rebel Clash” no=”174″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]4x [card name=”Triple Acceleration Energy” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”190″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card][/energy][/decklist] 

[cardimg name=”Lure Ball” set=”Celestial Storm” no=”138″ align=”right” c=”none”][/cardimg]

The biggest difference here is the addition of three Acro Bike. Acro Bike is an easy inclusion in this deck. Not only does it allow you to dig through your deck even faster — an excellent boost given this deck’s strategy of quick attacks — but the discard effect can also consistently benefit you, as over a quarter of your deck’s cards are Mad Party Pokemon. In a vacuum, this means that you’ll be able to discard a Mad party Pokemon with Acro Bike a bit over half of the time (though in practice, that percentage varies based on remaining deck size and number of Mad party Pokemon remaining in the deck).

Mysterious Treasure is one card I’m not entirely sold on yet; while the discard effect is nice, only being able to search out Sinistea and Polteageist can feel somewhat limiting. Even so, that is as many as [card name=”Evolution Incense” set=”Sword and Shield” no=”163″ c=”name”][/card], but with the advantage of the discarding effect, not to mention that Sinistea is generally a better target than Galarian Mr. Rime. Finally, the one copy of [card name=”Lure Ball” set=”Celestial Storm” no=”138″ c=”name”][/card] is a nice way to recover Polteageist if needed. It also has a more niche use in that it can give you an out to grab a Pokemon if you need it for [card name=”Roxie” set=”Cosmic Eclipse” no=”205″ c=”name”][/card] or Tea Break.

Expanded Mad Party

Given the uncertainty of what might be contained in future Expanded bans, I’ve found it tough to focus too closely on the format. In any case, Mad Party is certainly going to be a strong option for any Expanded event. The deck is effectively Night March, but with four extra Night March Pokemon that you can discard! What’s more, this style of deck can take full advantage of the assortment of [card name=”Shaymin-EX” set=”Roaring Skies” no=”77″ c=”name”][/card], [card name=”Dedenne-GX” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”57″ c=”name”][/card], and Crobat V, not to mention the absurdity that can result if [card name=”Scoop Up Net” set=”Rebel Clash” no=”165″ c=”name”][/card] stays unbanned.

A turn-one knockout against a Tag Team wouldn’t be farfetched in Expanded, and any deck that can do that consistently (with a single-Prize attacker, at that) is likely to have success. Mad Party does have one disadvantage compared to Night March in that it can’t utilize [card name=”Electropower” set=”Lost Thunder” no=”172″ c=”name”][/card], as well as that the number of actual attackers in the deck is four less (only Bunnelby, compared to [card name=”Joltik” set=”Phantom Forces” no=”26″ c=”name”][/card] and [card name=”Lampent” set=”Phantom Forces” no=”42″ c=”name”][/card]). Still, the damage output is more consistent with Mad Party, which may ultimately make it the stronger option. Changing a deck from Night March to Mad Party is fairly easy. Replace the Night March Pokemon with Mad Party Pokemon, and take out any Electropower or [card name=”Dimension Valley” set=”Phantom Forces” no=”93″ c=”name”][/card] for the four additional Pokemon. New additions to the deck can also include [card name=”Twin Energy” set=”Rebel Clash” no=”174″ c=”name”][/card] (for effectively more [card name=”Double Colorless” set=”Sun and Moon” no=”136″ c=”name”][/card]) and Crobat V (which can replace one Shaymin-EX). Since Scoop Up Net won’t be banned initially, you can also opt to simply play a bunch of those and Shaymin-EX, to draw through your deck absurdly fast. Here’s a sample list with the Scoop Up Net + Shaymin-EX combo included; if either piece ends up being banned, you can replace them with Dedenne-GX, Crobat V, and other consistency cards.

[decklist name=”Expanded Mad Party” amt=”60″ caption=”” cname=”Bunnelby” set=”Darkness Ablaze” no=”150″][pokemon amt=”19″]4x Bunnelby (DAA #150)4x Polteageist (DAA #83)4x Dedenne (DAA #78)4x Galarian Mr. Mime (DAA #35)2x [card name=”Shaymin-EX” set=”Roaring Skies” no=”77″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]1x [card name=”Marshadow-GX” set=”Burning Shadows” no=”80″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card][/pokemon][trainers amt=”36″]2x [card name=”Professor’s Research” set=”Sword and Shield” no=”178″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]1x [card name=”N” set=”Fates Collide” no=”105″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Teammates” set=”Primal Clash” no=”141″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Guzma” set=”Burning Shadows” no=”115″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Boss’s Orders” set=”Rebel Clash” no=”154″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Pokémon Ranger” set=”Steam Siege” no=”104″ c=”deck2″ divide=”yes” amt=”1″][/card]4x [card name=”Battle Compressor” set=”Phantom Forces” no=”92″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]4x [card name=”VS Seeker” set=”Phantom Forces” no=”109″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]4x [card name=”Quick Ball” set=”Sword and Shield” no=”179″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]3x [card name=”Trainers’ Mail” set=”Roaring Skies” no=”92″ c=”deck2″ amt=”3″][/card]3x [card name=”Scoop Up Net” set=”Rebel Clash” no=”165″ c=”deck2″ amt=”3″][/card]2x [card name=”Ultra Ball” set=”Sun and Moon” no=”135″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]2x [card name=”Rescue Stretcher” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”130″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]1x [card name=”Field Blower” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”125″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Target Whistle” set=”Phantom Forces” no=”106″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Muscle Band” set=”XY” no=”121″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Dowsing Machine” set=”Plasma Storm” no=”128″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Great Catcher” set=”Cosmic Eclipse” no=”192″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Special Charge” set=”Steam Siege” no=”105″ c=”deck2″ divide=”yes” amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Parallel City” set=”BREAKthrough” no=”145″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card][/trainers][energy amt=”5″]4x [card name=”Double Colorless” set=”Sun and Moon” no=”136″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]1x [card name=”Twin Energy” set=”Rebel Clash” no=”174″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card][/energy][/decklist] 

With that, we’ve come to the end of this article! All in all, Mad Party is a deck with plenty of potential, regardless of which format you choose to play. While it might not yet be a top-tier deck, it is one that is worth considering, both now and in the future. As always, if you have any questions, don’t hesitate to ask, either below in a comment, via a message, or ask all of our great writers in our PTCG Subscriber’s Hideout! Once again, best of luck in your games, and stay safe!

Thanks for reading!

–Zak

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