Images courtesy of The Pokémon Company
Welcome to another entry in our Pokémon TCG Pocket deck tech series! Today’s tech features a repeat offender of sorts in Darkrai ex, but doesn’t focus on Darkrai as the main offensive front. Instead, this deck focuses heavily on utilizing Weavile ex to its fullest extent. This deck is a Tier 2 deck, but, as with most decks, there’s a place for lower tiers in the metagame. This is “Abyssal Claw,” a deck that will slice, dice, and do your PTCGP daily missions in no time flat!
Pokémon TCG Pocket Deck: Abyssal Claw
Pokémon: 8
- Sneasel x2
- Weavile ex x2
- Spiritomb x2
- Darkrai ex x2
Items: 4
- Pokémon Communication x1
- Poké Ball x2
- X Speed x1
Supporters: 6
- Cyrus x2
- Professor’s Research x2
- Dawn x2
Pokémon Tools: 2
- Rocky Helmet x2
The Essence Of The Abyss
With this Pokémon TCG Pocket deck, the plan is fairly straightforward. Abyssal Claw aims to damage as many opposing Pokémon as possible, as soon as possible. The more Benched Pokémon you damage, the better control you have over what you defeat and when. To this end, here are our primary sources of damage:
- Spiritomb, a one-stage Basic Pokémon, is the ideal opening Active Zone option if you wish to apply a spread of damage early. You’ll always want this in the early game. Because Spiritomb’s Swirling Disaster attack only costs one Energy to use, this puts you in a position to control the game almost immediately.
- Darkrai ex is a consistent source of 20-damage potshots in the mid-to-late game. By attaching Darkness Energy from your Energy Zone to Darkrai ex, the Pokémon-ex immediately deals said damage to the opposing Active Pokémon. You don’t want to prioritize this damage unless it: a) secures victory, b) you can move that Energy, or c) there’s nothing better to attach Energy to.
- Rocky Helmet is a fantastic Pokémon Tool to attach to any Active Pokémon you have. Because it gives your Active Pokémon the equivalent of Druddigon‘s Rough Skin Ability, your opponent will generally think a little more before attacking it.
- Finally, your lynchpin is Weavile ex. More often than not, Weavile ex will be your main source of brute force damage unto opposing Active Pokémon and will most likely clinch the game for you. Weavile ex can deal 30 damage on its own in a fairly immediate sense with its Scratching Nails attack. However, if your opponent’s Active Pokémon is damaged at all, that 30 goes up to a respectable 70.
Trainers Worthy of the Darkness
In addition to cards like Professor’s Research and Poké Ball, there are a few Trainer card options that need a small amount of explanation. Firstly, we’re opting to utilize a pair of copies of Cyrus in the deck. We explained in our previous deck tech that a good way to go is a singleton copy for each of Cyrus and Sabrina. In this case, it isn’t so! In this deck, we are laser-focused on damaging every opposing Pokémon with almost reckless abandon. Therefore, having two copies of Cyrus gives us even better control of what is in the Active Zone and what isn’t.
Next, this deck runs two copies of Dawn, which is a very interesting card for its application in Abyssal Claw. Generally, your Darkrai ex is usually going to be on your Bench while other Pokémon take the Active Spot. As such, you’ll occasionally run into the situation where you need Energy on an Active Pokémon but want to also trigger Darkrai ex’s Nightmare Aura Ability. That extra 20 damage can mean the difference between winning and losing. This is especially true when your other Pokémon attacks only cost one Energy. Therefore, using Dawn after using Nightmare Aura to transfer that new Darkness Energy from Darkrai ex to your Active Pokémon can sometimes assure your victory.
Sometimes you need a different Pokémon in your hand than what is currently there. For this reason, we’re including a single copy of Pokémon Communication. It’s not a two-of meta staple like Poké Ball or Professor’s Research, but it can often come in handy, especially when you need something specific but haven’t drawn it yet.
Embracing the Void (Abyssal Claw In-Game Deck Cost)
Here is the full breakdown of costs in the in-game currency for the Abyssal Claw deck listed above.
- Shop Tickets: 10
- Pack Points: 2,800
- Space-Time Smackdown: 2,800
- Dialga: 1,210
- Palkia: 1,490
- Space-Time Smackdown: 2,800
Looking at this breakdown, you’ll notice that the 2,800 Pack Point cost for this deck falls solely upon Space-Time Smackdown to grant you the cards you need. Sure, Promo-A cards like Professor’s Research or X Speed can set you back a couple of Shop Tickets. However, if you’ve been playing for a while, you need only concern yourself with getting cards from the current newest set out there, and nothing more.
The Dialga subset of cards is going to net you Darkrai ex as well as a few Trainer cards. For the moment, however, we recommend starting with Dialga, because Weavile ex is available in a Darkness Mass Breakout event via Wonder Picks. This makes Weavile ex much easier to obtain, at least for the moment. Once that event ends, you’ll want to pivot immediately to Palkia, where you can get everything else, sans Promo-A cards.
Don’t Be Afraid of the Darkness
This deck folds pretty quickly to Grass-type decks within the Pokémon TCG Pocket metagame. With all of the Pokémon in this deck having a weakness to the type, decks running Celebi ex or even Exeggutor ex do a serious number on it. This is the main reason why Abyssal Claw is only Tier 2. Don’t let this deter you, though; the deck is a powerhouse and one worth keeping watch of!
If you like this deck tech and the ideas behind it, consider checking out any of our other guides on Pokémon TCG Pocket decks. For example, Spatial Splash, our previous deck tech on Palkia ex. Or, check out the one before it, a dark-horse entry based around Cresselia ex and Mismagius ex!
