Standard Deck Tech: Duraludon VMax + Umbreon VMax - Columbus International

With the last International that took place at the end of June, based in Columbus, United States, in the grand final against champion Cyrus Davis, we had another example of a Duraludon VMax deck that has now become more essential than ever, in the current format where there is a predominance of special energies in many decks.

The deck also features Umbreon VMax, an excellent "counter" against the psychic archetype, handling Mew VMax and new psychics to come in the future. For very little, Ian Robb almost became champion.

Decklist

Arceus VStar: hybrid between attack and power up support

This is an attacker/support that, in addition to being able to quickly accelerate your V-type Pokémon, also has the *VStar to search for specific cards in the deck, helping to find the one you need at the right time.

With it powering up your Benched Pokémon V, your priority is making sure that Duraludon V is assembled, as it's a headache for opponents that rely on special powers.

Duraludon VMax: “anti-meta” for opponents with special energies

It's the perfect counter against the Lugia VSTAR SIT 139 deck, as with their VStar ability to pull two Archeops SIT 147, these Pokémon power up special energy for their decks. And in the Paldea Evolved set, we had updates of many special energies, such as the Wyrdeer V ASR 134 decks, which was even mentioned in this article about new decks with Paldea Evolved.

In the current Metagame, the Mew VMAX FST 114 using the energies Fusion Strike Energy FST 244 can be a problem for our Duraludon VMax, because the description of the special energy's effect can overwhelm the ability.

And the single prize Pokémon, which are very common to use Reversal Energy sv2 192, can also get in the way because they have "immunity" against our effect.

On the other hand, with Double Turbo Energy BRS 151 as the ”Colorless Energy” alternative for the current meta, many decks like United Wings use it, and Duraludon VMax is immune to damage from Pokémon with that energy.

Umbreon V and VMax: “anti-meta” to the Psychic archetype

Umbreon V

The first attack is excellent for those of the psychic archetype who have free retrat cost, such as Mew VMAX LOR TG30, who will be trapped and cannot retreat.

And the second attack is a consequence: if Umbreon takes any damage, its attack will increase, and dealing 160 damage (with the effect of the sum of base damage and the bonus activated by the effect), and applying the weakness with 320 damage, it can easily KO Pokémon like Gardevoir ex sv1 86, Mew VMAX LOR TG30 itself, and even MewtwoVUnion.

Umbreon VMax

Its ability is like a Boss's Orders (Ghetsis) sv2 172 built into the Pokémon, which is very convenient for a few precise moves to knock out a specific Pokémon, without having to spend this card as the ''Supporter'' of the turn; making room to spend another card for something more important.

And of course, being the Dark type, its damage is doubled against the Psychic archetype.

Recursive Pokémon

- Spiritomb sv2 89 has Fettered in Missfortune, which makes all basic V-type Pokémon in play (both yours and your opponent's) have no Abilities; thus being a way to harm the opponent who uses these skills, such as Lumineon V.

- Radiant Alakazam SIT 59 has Painful Spoons, which means that during your turn, you can transfer 2 damage counters between your opponent's Pokémon in any way you want.

- Lumineon V BRS 156 has theLuminous Sign, which means that if you play it from your hand to the Bench, you search the deck for a Supporter card, reveal it, and put it into your hand.

Trainer Cards

Supporters

- Professor's Research (Professor Sada) sv1 189 serves as “draw power”: discard your hand and draw 7 cards.

- Adventurer's Discovery FST 224 is used to search for up to 3 Pokémon V in your deck, reveal them, and thus put them in your hand - an excellent filtering way to search for Duraludon-V and Umbreon -V when starting the game or even their evolutions during the game.

- Raihan EVS 152 can only be played if your Pokémon was Knocked Out in the previous turn. With that, you attach a basic energy from the discard pile to one of your Pokémon and still search your deck for a card you want and put it in your hand.

It serves to speed up Duraludon VMax, for example, since its energy cost is somewhat tricky.

Boss's Orders (Ghetsis) sv2 172 serves to pull a specific Pokémon from the opponent's Bench to deal damage for victory, speeding up the drawing of prize cards.

- Iono sv2 185 is extremely powerful, as it fuses the effects of its predecessors N FCO 105 and Marnie SSH 169 together: you and your opponent shuffle your hands and place them on the bottom of the deck. After that, you will draw cards from the top of the deck equivalent to the amount of prize cards you have in play, in this case, from each player.

- Judge sv1 176 is effective at controlling the opponent's hand, but you also shuffle your hand: both players shuffle their hands back into the deck and draw 4 new cards in the process.

Items

- Choice Belt sv2 176 grants a 30-point damage boost against the opponent's V-type Pokémon, whether they are V, VStar, VMax, and VUnion.

- Escape Rope BST 125 serves a “similar”effect to Guzma BUS 115: your opponent will choose a Benched Pokémon that will be promoted to Active Position, and then you will do the same with your Pokémon. The opponent will start making that switch first (and if they don't have any Benched Pokémon to make the switch, they don't need to make the switch).

- Ultra Ball sv1 196 serves to search for any Pokémon, whether evolution or basic, and can be common or ultra-rare Pokémon, as long as you meet the requirement of discarding two cards from your hand to be able to play it.

- Nest Ball sv1 181 is used to search for a basic Pokémon from the deck and put it directly on the Bench.

Stadiums

- Path to the Peak CRE 148 locks all abilities of Pokémon that have the “Rule Box”, both yours and the opponent's Pokémon.

This is good after using the VStar power of Arceus VStar, which is the biggest advantage of your deck, giving you the freedom to set up to deal damage with it and power up your Pokémon V.

But since it's only a copy, think wisely when using it, as it can undermine your advantage with Duraludon VMax with its ability to immunity to damage from Pokémon with special Energy, which is the essence of the deck.

- Lost City LOR 161 fits both players. If the Pokémon is knocked out, either yours or the opponent's, instead of being discarded normally to the "discard pile", it will go to the "Lost Zone", and cannot be recycled under any circumstances.

This works to take away some essential Pokémon from the opponent, be it some attackers with full setup, and what's more, against psychic archetypes, sending a Mew VMax with two Fusion Strike energies to the Lost Zone is priceless or even taking a Genesect V of the move.

Special Energy

- Double Turbo Energy BRS 151 serves only for Arceus VStar to accelerate its attack Trinity Nova as a tribute of two colorless energies that can be paid in the three energies of the cost of the attack. However, this energy takes 20 damage from you if equipped, that is, dealing 180 damage rather than 200.

Advantages

- Urshifu VMax decks (both Single and Rapid Strike), as they rely on special energies.

- Decks that use Lugia VStar and Archeops with the power-up combo of special energies.

- United Wings deck with special energy, using Double Turbo Energy BRS 151.

- Decks that are of the Psychic archetype suffer from the double weakness that Umbreon can apply.

Disadvantages

- Mew VMAX FST 114 in a situation that doesn't use special energy as an attack cost (although Fusion Strike energy can override Duraludon VMax's ability).

- Urshifu VMax decks (both Single and Rapid Strike) that build quickly and destroy Arceus VStar and Umbreon VMax due to their weakness to Fighting type.

- Decks that have damage immunity from Pokémon V like Mimikyu sv2 97 and Miltank ASR 126.

It's a consistent and efficient deck that will still perpetuate a lot in the next scenarios, since the tendency is for psychic Pokémon to shine, mainly with the special Kanto set, which will grace us with Alakazam ex with many possibilities, and Umbreon VMax will be a perfect counter against it.

In addition, the dominance of special energies will still be very strong, and Lugia VStar is still in frequent use, which gives Duraludon VMax the advantage against Pokémon that need these energies.