Standard Deck Tech: Spiritomb + Ditto, the Wildcard Pokémon

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.

Faced with new cards from the new expansion Lost Origin, this section is the second of two parts to feature a dark/ghost-type Pokémon that is present in the collection: Spiritomb, but now alongside a Pokémon from the Pokémon GO set, which was mentioned in June in the article about most valuable cards of expansion.

If you want to check the first part about Spiritomb + Galarian Moltres, click here !

In this article, we will talk about this deck that has Ditto's cooperation with Spiritomb.

Deck Analysis

To recap, Spiritomb LOR 117 has its Chain of Spirits attack, for two dark energies, that hits 10 + 60 for each Spiritomb in the discard pile, chaining up to 190 max damage considering 3 Spiritomb in the discard.

If knocked out, it activates his Cursed Message ability, where if that knockout happens to it, you search your deck for a card, and put it in your hand.

The power-up process is delicate as it requires two pure dark-type energies, even though it's a majority deck for "Single Prize" cards.

So Raihan EVS 152 for power-up and Dark Patch ASR 139 if any Spiritomb is in the bench to be promoted as active if it is the main attacker. Raihan EVS 152 is essential for Ditto as Dark Patch ASR 139 does not work for it.

And this is where we come to the deck's "ace" as a damage complement, and can even rival as a main attacker. Ditto PGO 53, which fits greatly in this deck precisely because of the Sudden Transformation ability, where it can copy basic Pokémon attacks except for Pokémon GX, V or any other that has Rule Box.

Let's go to the damage calculations: If with Spiritomb as one as active and three in discard, that would be 10 + (60 x 3) damage it would deal, giving a total of 190. But now with Ditto, you get a damage virtual to more than 60, that is: 10 + (60 x 4) = 250 damage for only two energies, knocking out all Pokémon V of the current format, which usually has a maximum of 230 HP in some exceptions, but being at a normal average of 220 HP!

And there's more: if Ditto equipped with the Choice Belt BRS 135, gaining 30 more damage against all Pokémon that have the V nomenclature, it reaches 280 damage just for two energies, destroying powerful VStar Pokémon of format like Arceus-VStar, Origin Forme Dialga-Palkia, Origin Forme Palkia-VStar, Giratina-VStar for practical examples here.

Recursive Pokémon

1) Manaphy BRS 41 is your "Bench Protector" thanks to its Wave Velt ability, which inhibits direct damage to your Benched Pokémon from opponents' Pokémon that "Spread Sniper" with direct damage, preserving your Cinccino SSH 147 for deck draws and the hand discard system, making the combo of discarding Spiritomb and guaranteeing the damage to another.

2) Radiant Greninja ASR 46, which with its Concealed Cards ability, you discard an energy card from your hand to draw two cards; fundamental as a complement to Cinccino SSH 147 and discarding dark energies to activate Dark Patch ASR 139 for some Spiritomb on the bench.

3) Cinccino SSH 147 with the ability Make Do, you discard a card from your hand and draw two cards, accelerating the "Draw Power" of your game with Spiritomb's discard system.

Trainer Cards

- Raihan EVS 152 can only be played if your active Pokémon was Knocked Out in the previous turn. You attach an energy from the discard pile to one of your Pokémon in any way you want, and you still search your deck for a card you want, putting it in your hand and shuffling the deck.

He is vitally important in powering up Ditto, so keep that in mind when playing this card for him.

- Boss's Orders BRS 132 is used to pull a Pokémon from the opponent's Bench and do that specific knockout Pokémon with Spiritomb or Ditto itself, to catch small Pokémon V like Crobat V, Eldegoss V or even a Mew V with double weakness.

- Rescue Carrier EVS 154 is used to rescue two Pokémon that have 90 HP or less from the discard pile and put them in your hand.

In this, it is essential to rescue at least ONE Spiritomb LOR 117 and ALL Ditto PGO 53 (because there are only two copies) so that you can use the Raihan EVS 152 combo and guarantee Ditto's power-up plus energy for the turn, so it'll attack as soon as it's played

- Air Balloon SSH 156 works if the Pokémon is equipped with this tool, its retreat cost is reduced by two colorless energies. Ideal for the mobility of your Cinccino SSH 147.

- Dark Patch ASR 139 is for recycling a Dark Energy from the discard pile to a Dark-type Pokémon on your Bench, ideal for Spiritomb LOR 117 as a reserve attacker in case any Ditto is knocked out.

- Choice Belt BRS 135 is to close damage to Spiritomb LOR 117 with its 190 maximum damage that can be 30 more with this tool, reaching 220 damage.

And especially for Ditto PGO 53 with its 250 damage, reaching 280 with extreme ease, beating the main VStar of the current format.

The Choice Belt grants 30 more damage against Pokémon V of the format (either VMax, VStar, VUnion). With this, Spiritomb can KO virtually all basic Pokémon Vs.

- Pal Pad SSH 172 is precisely to recycle Trainer Supporter cards back to the deck, maintaining consistency with Raihan EVS 152, as it will guarantee the energy of the discard pile turn to Ditto and still look for another card that is crucial to the play, be it an Energy Search or another Raihan to set up a second Ditto as an attacker, or even search for a Rescue Carrier to return Ditto to the discard pile.

- Hisuian Heavy Ball ASR 146 tries to search your prize cards for a basic Pokémon that is there. Our priority is to try to get Ditto PGO 53 out of there, as it must be in the deck or in hand to be able to draw it as quickly as possible.

- Can be used by both you and your opponent. Its effect is that each player discards the top 3 cards of the deck and if they are of the Trainer Item type, you put them in your hand, and whatever is not, they will be discarded.

So, the purpose of looking for these Item cards is just to hope to get Pal Pad, Choice Belt, any Pokéball (Hisuian Heavy Ball, Quick Ball and Level Ball) and Rescue Carrier, for example.

Advantages

This deck can respond well to Mew VMax by Spiritomb, due to its dark type weakness, which is wonderful, as it is one of the strongest decks in the format and only has “Single Prize” cards. .

Our second favorite attacker, Ditto, being able to attack from 250 to 280 damage, managing to knock out any VStar card of the current format, which is praise and always welcome.

Disadvantages

As in the analysis of the other article, the same concept is repeated here: it's a deck that's a bit slow to assemble the energy setup because it asks for two dark energies to perform the attack, so you usually put some Pokémon as "glass cannon" like Cinccino SSH 147 at the front, but of course, guaranteeing Air Balloon SSH 156 on them to promote Spiritomb LOR 117 to attack.

With that, it is always ideal to use the Rescue Carrier EVS 154 to rescue at least one Spiritomb so as not to break the deck's functioning, and with the Ditto PGO 53 itself that only has two copies in the deck.

And this gets worse with Ditto PGO 53 because it's not the dark type and can't use the Dark Patch, so its power up guarantee depends on having a Raihan and the energy of that turn to be able to deal damage with both dark energies to perform the combo.

The "Spread Snipers" with damage counters (indirect damage) like Sableye from the new Lost Origin set, Mewtwo VUnion, Mimikyu VMax are "counters" of this deck for slowly undermining and ignoring Manaphy, although Mewtwo VUnion and Mimikyu VMax can be KO'd by Spiritomb because of their weakness to dark type, which balances out the disadvantage in this case.

Pokémon that inhibit damage from basics like Flying Pikachu VMax in Arceus VStar decks can often end the game as well.

As much as it is a cheap deck (except for Ditto which is one of the most expensive cards in the deck), it is quite complex to assemble its engine and manage resources at the right time.

I don't recommend it for beginners, only for those who have already mastered the Pokémon TCG for some time or who like decks with a good resource management.