GLC Dark Deck

Hey everyone, I am back with a new and interesting deck that I built. The reason? The new Silver Tempest Crobat has us drooling over potential 3 prizes in one knockout in GLC and it was only right to maximize that potential! I’ve had a lot of success in a short period of time running this deck online and in person. I came up with the idea to maximize the threats of Guzzlord and Crobat while keeping momentum in our deck and not completely centering it around getting off multiple attacks from them. I call it Dark Turbo because we don’t shuffle our hand into the deck, keep it moving and keep it aggressive on attacks. Now, let’s break down the deck!

The Pokemon

First question everyone asks is, where’s Galarian Weezing? He is not needed, in fact, he slows down the deck. Poison is a complete distraction from this concept, dark poison is its own deck.

Our support pokemon is of course Liepard, a need in any dark deck to try to keep pace and believe it or not, this deck has won without it going into late games. Golbat is the other draw support and I have chosen him with Evolution Incense over Liepard when I had a Crobat attack lined up. Our turn one pokemon that you want out there is of course Hoopa and potentially Spiritomb. Best case scenario since you want to go second and if you’re not able to set up one of your basic attackers, you end up giving up a Moltres or Zorua. Why those two? Because they are not needed early game and you can retrieve them back later when needed. Our other pokemon are too important to be knocked out.

Mid game we want to use Weavile, Spiritomb, Guzzlord, Crobat and possibly Zoroark. These are great attackers, have the ability to take many prizes, really make your opponent think about every move they make. Unless your opponent has many abilities in play though, you have to be aware of the damage output you are doing to maximize the potential of this deck. In other words, we do not care if Crobat or Guzzlord get knocked out in return, if they get 1 knockout it increases our chances of winning games tremendously. Our other attacker in Galarian Moltres can of course be used mid game but I would recommend only using Moltres and Guzzlord once you can officially get a knockout. I put out Guzzlord early before but I was sitting with a Crobat knock out and a teammates in hand so the threat was more important.

Late game is so fun, as you may still have any of those attackers available to you to close out for multiple prizes or you can still hit with a late Hoopa or Spiritomb to donk or if you need a huge attack then this is where Galarian Moltres comes into play. You have multiple ways to get energy back to your hand late to make a huge play.

The Items

One of the things you might notice pretty fast is the ball choices – no timer ball, no ultra ball. Discarding two cards to setup is pretty big and the timer ball doesn’t mean success. Instead, we run Arezu, pokegear, and feather ball for the important Zubat or Crobat. Float Stone, Beast Ring, VS Seeker, Evolution Incense and Evosoda are spoken for in the GLC format. Field blower is important to get rid of any items, especially for damage and any healing stadiums. Professor’s letter is important to setup or get energy later for moltres. Rod is mostly used to get energy for Beast Ring or Moltres. Town Map is very important when you’re taking prizes and to make sure you can keep doing just that. This deck is meant to KO turn after turn and Town Map increases that probability. Dark Claw and Muscle Band are included and very important, I only attach them if I know I will get a KO with it. In other words, do not waste them. My opponent once healed with Crystal Cave, getting his Magearna on the bench from 20HP to be KO’d to

50. I was able to rope, he moved it to the active, hit the Triple Acceleration and Dark Claw for a 3 prize KO! If he did not move the Magearna into the active, I did not have that play nor a KO with Crobat that turn.

The Supporters

No N. No Marnie. No Colress. No Cynthia. Yes, you read that correct, GLC staples maybe aren’t needed. Of course, the setup supporters in Ball Guy, Gloria, Sonia are in the deck. Our turn two we want Arezu, if not our choices are great, we have switch/draw/search options and it will all increase our hand size. Hex Maniac and Avery are very good at disrupting our opponent. Hex you do have to be aware of to be able to take out anything on their bench with Crobat or set up a big KO on a Wailord or Machamp, etc. I was considering Boss’s Orders but we do run Cynthia & Caitlin with Lusamine so the ability to get Guzma back is high. This goes back to playing each turn with max potential to set up the next KO. I did include Mallow & Lana since we do play Tag Call, it is another option on the search, a switch and heal if needed. DO NOT forget piers can search for ANY energy, this is very important when setting up KO’s with Crobat and Guzzlord. Erika’s Hospitality is there incase someone does try to lower your hand, it’s a great option at any point in the game but I do ideally wait until I absolutely have to use it along with Klara. Klara is more important to bring back Galarian Moltres or Hoopa with energy to get a knockout and more important late for a game winning knockout.

Stadiums & Energies

My choices of these two stadiums (Frozen City and Old Cemetery) and just 9 energies may surprise many, but I have not had any issues at all with these choices. The stadiums make your opponent’s think about every move they make due to that extra damage, making those bigger pokemon softer for any attack. If your opponent is running psychic, then you have multiple options to discard Old Cemetery. One of my favorite combos is using the stadium to increase the damage output from Spiritomb, it’s pretty cool! Raihan, Klara, Rod are all ways to get back those basic energies when you need them. Triple Acceleration I recommend for Crobat because your opponent is most likely not going to gust it up knowing it has no energy. Of course you can use the Triple on Zoroark, Liepard and Weavile but I only recommend it if it’s completely necessary for a knockout. Hiding Energy I would recommend for Zoroark for retreating but again, only if completely needed on anyone else.

Matchups

I have been able to compete and beat most types with this deck, my only loss I remember was against metal out of around 20 matches (7 in person). Of course with all the bigger pokemon, damage reduction and heal, it creates a tough matchup. My second time playing against the Klinklang/Heatran Metal version I was able to win despite a fully setup Heatran and Copperjarah taking prizes every turn. I was able to win the prize trade and I feel this deck will continue to beat many decks in that prize trade.

Recap

This is an insanely fun list to play, even in opening hands that did not seem appealing to start, they quickly turned the table and took wins, the comeback potential is great, the plays when ahead are even greater. I took this deck to my locals this past week, and won with a 4-0 record. 3 out of my 4 matchups I hit Crobat for 3 prizes! The one game I did not? I won turn 2 with a Spiritomb on Lugia! I hate seeing people brick opening hands in GLC and I have definitely been working on decks where I hope to not allow that.

If you’re looking for a fun non-poison dark list, this is it. Give it a shot and let me know your feedback! I would not change a card in this list!

Deck List

##Pokémon - 13

• 1 Galarian Moltres EVS 93
• 1 Guzzlord CEC 136
• 1 Hoopa DAA 111
• 1 Purrloin BRS 90
• 1 Sneasel BUS 85
• 1 Spiritomb UNB 112
• 1 Zorua EVS 102
• 1 Zubat SIT 103
• 1 Golbat BST 90
• 1 Liepard BRS 91
• 1 Weavile UPR 74
• 1 Zoroark BKT 91
• 1 Crobat SIT 105

##Trainer Cards - 38

• 1 Lusamine CIN 96
• 1 Escape Rope BST 125
• 1 Cynthia & Caitlin CEC 189
• 1 Pokégear 3.0 SSH 174
• 1 Evolution Incense SSH 163
• 1 Raihan EVS 152
• 1 Feather Ball ASR 141
• 1 Ordinary Rod SSH 171
• 1 Arezu LOR 153
• 1 Dark Claw DEX 92
• 1 Mallow & Lana CEC 198
• 1 Professor's Letter BKT 146
• 1 Piers DAA 165
• 1 Avery CRE 130
• 1 Bird Keeper DAA 159
• 1 Nest Ball SUM 123
• 1 Quick Ball FST 237
• 1 Frozen City PLF 100
• 1 Evosoda XY 116
• 1 Town Map BKT 150
• 1 Teammates PRC 141
• 1 Field Blower GRI 125
• 1 Guzma BUS 115
• 1 Old Cemetery CRE 147
• 1 Klara CRE 145
• 1 Gloria BRS 212
• 1 Level Ball BST 129
• 1 Hex Maniac AOR 75
• 1 Guzma & Hala CEC 193
• 1 Sonia RCL 167
• 1 Hisuian Heavy Ball ASR 146
• 1 Float Stone BKT 137
• 1 Tag Call CEC 206
• 1 Beast Ring FLI 102
• 1 Ball Guy SHF 65
• 1 Muscle Band XY 121
• 1 VS Seeker PHF 109
• 1 Erika's Hospitality HIF 56

##Energy - 9

• 1 Counter Energy CIN 100
• 1 Twin Energy RCL 174
• 4 Darkness Energy SWSHEnergy 16
• 1 Double Colorless Energy EVO 90
• 1 Hiding {D} Energy DAA 175
• 1 Triple Acceleration Energy UNB 190

Total Cards - 60