Standard Deck Tech: Aerodactyl VStar - Flexibility in Damage and Strategy!

Hello everybody. I'm Rodrigo, and I'm here to bring you more ideas and deck possibilities for the Standard format in the Pokémon TCG.

With the hype of the expansion of Lost Origin, let's discuss another ultra-rare card that has a lot of damage potential and has synergy with the Lost Zone: Aerodactyl-VStar.

Deck Analysis

Aerodactyl VSTAR LOR 93 is in the deck because of its Ancient Star attack, for a colorless energy, it inhibits any effects of Pokémon V abilities in play, except for Aerodactyl, until it leaves the match.

Practically two of the main decks of the format use V abilities: Arceus VSTAR BRS 123 with the Starbirth and Genesect V FST 185 with Fusion Strike System that is present in the Mew VMAX FST 114 decks; generally inhibiting the best cards in the current Metagame.

And its attack is also good, Lost Dive, for one fighting energy and two colorless, does 240 damage, which is high, but discards the top three cards of the deck to the Lost Zone, as a setback.

But in the face of this setback, there is a combo that can be used for the other attackers in the deck:

Cramorant LOR 50 serves as an alternative resource to compensate as a "Single Prize" attacker, preventing Aerodactyl VStar from consuming the deck by sending cards to the Lost Zone, as Cramorant's ability, Lost Provision, causes this Pokémon to ignore its attack's energy costs if there are 4 or more cards in the Lost Zone, which is precisely the mechanic for it to use its Spit Innocently attack, dealing 110 damage and being unaffected by weakness.

And to deal damage “Spread”, also from “Single Prize”, we have Sableye LOR 70 with his second attack, Lost Mine, which for a psychic energy, can only attack if the tribute is paid with 10 cards in the Lost Zone, and if fulfilled, it puts 12 damage counters on the opponent's Pokémon in any way you want.

As the second ultra-rare attacker in the deck, we have Drapion V LOR 118 with the ability Wild Style, which reduces the cost of colorless energy from its attacks by the amount of the Single Strike, Rapid Strike type and Fusion Strike Pokémon in the opponent's play, causing its Dynamic Tail attack to deal 190 damage and choosing an opponent's Benched Pokémon to take 60 damage (being a "Spread Sniper" - complementing Sableye LOR 70).

He was practically born to counter Mew VMAX FST 114 for two reasons: 1) because of the dark type weakness; 2) this deck usually has around three Genesect V FST 185 and one Mew V FST 113 on the bench, that is, there are 4 Pokémon on the bench.

Recursive Pokémon

1) Radiant Greninja ASR 46, which with its Concealed Cards ability, you discard an energy card from your hand to draw two cards.

2) Comfey LOR 79 with its Flower Selecting ability, where if it is your active Pokémon, you look at the top two cards of your deck: one goes to your hand and the other goes to the Lost Zone.

3) Galarian Zigzagoon SSH 117 has the ability Headbutt Tantrum, which is to choose an opponent's Pokémon and place a damage counter, usually used to close up any remaining damage that is missing to KO a Pokémon during the "Spread".

Trainer Cards

- Colress's Experiment LOR 155 is the heart of the gear to send things to the Lost Zone, which will be very frequent on decks that will take this approach.

- Grant ASR 144 is used to increase the damage of your Fighting Pokémon for that turn by 30. This card is specially dedicated to Aerodactyl-VStar.

- Fantina LOR 157 You can only play it if you pay the tribute of having at least 10 cards in the Lost Zone. If fulfilled, during your opponent's next turn when they attack you, your Pokémon V will take 120 less damage from those attacks.

It is to protect Aerodactyl-VStar so that it lasts longer in the game.

- Mirage Gate LOR 163 is excellent for power-up, as it can take two different basic energies and put them into your Pokémon. But for that, you need to have at least 7 cards in the Lost Zone.

- Lost Vacuum LOR 162 is a card that has the same effects as Field Blower GRI 125 but with Lost Zone costs, that is, the cards chosen to be discarded in the game, whether stadium or tool, go to the Lost Zone.

- Scoop Up Net RCL 165 is to catch back a Pokémon from the game to the hand that is not GX or V. It serves to collect Galarian Zigzagoon SSH 117 and create the loop with its ability to cause this “Spread” with 10 damage.

- Choice Belt BRS 135 is for closing damage, granting 30 more damage against Pokémon V (either VMax, VStar, VUnion).

- Training Court RCL 169 allows you and your opponent, between turns, can take a basic energy from the discard pile and put it in your hands.

Advantages

This deck easily has answers for many cards in the current Metagame: against Mew VMax (mostly); against Arceus VStar and Blissey V due to the type weakness; and by the raw damage it deals with Aerodactyl VStar, managing to take 90% of all VStar Pokémon in the current format with Choice Belt

And not to mention there's the "Spread" part with Sableye that can close off remaining damage if it can't KO a Pokémon VMax with direct damage, slowly undermining them with damage counters.

Disadvantages

There are hardly any grotesque disadvantages against the deck, making it very consistent and responsive to many what-if scenarios in the game. But there are some games where more aggressive Pokémon can outdamage Aerodactyl VStar, such as Mew-VMax itself that can hit 300 damage upwards.

Another case that can be a bad game is Origin Forme Palkia-VStar, which hits 60 + 20 for each Pokémon on the field (yours and your opponent's), and since this deck fills up a lot of Benched Pokémon, Palkia can attack for 260 damage to knock out Aerodactyl-VStar.

Greninja VUnion matches can be complicated by dealing 100 "Spread Sniper" damage to all of your Benched Pokémon.

“Single Prize” decks like Lunatone + Solrock that have high damage in a few turns may respond well against this deck.

It's a strong and aggressive deck and excellent to build for anyone who wants to go head-to-head against Mew, in addition to having a great ability to deal with numerous situations, and different means to deal damage, while being extremely enjoyable and satisfying to play.

That's all for today!