Standard Deck Tech: Noivern ex

With the Scarlet & Violet: Paldea Evolved cards, we have one of the few varieties of Dragon type cards with Noivern ex, which is the only one playable in the set. Let's see what is possible to build with it!

Decklist

Noivern ex: The Deck's Main Attacker

This Pokémon only has two advantages in this case: being a "locker" (locking down your opponent's resource uses); and also not suffering against basic Pokémon attacks. For instance, against Radiant Pokémon, such as Radiant Charizard CRZ 20 and Radiant Greninja ASR 46, a few of the most common attackers, they won't deal damage to you, just like the legendaries which represent the Treasures of Ruin, such as Wo-Chien, Chi-Yu, Chien-Pao and Ting-Lu, not to mention the legendaries Koraidon ex sv1 125 and Miraidon ex sv1 81.

And, being a Dragon type, it doesn't have Fairy type weaknesses nor weaknesses to its own type, which is one less thing to be concerned about, not to mention it has zero retreat cost, which is very welcomed.

Recursive Pokémon

- Spiritomb sv2 89 has its ability, Fettered in Missfortune, which removes from all basic type V Pokémon in play (yours and your opponents) their abilities.

This is a way to harm opponents which use these abilities, such as Lumineon V BRS 156 - not to mention Genesect V FST 185, this way being able to sabotage Mew VMAX LOR TG30 decks a lot.

- Bidoof CRZ 111 has Carefree Countenance, which prevents you from receiving damage to the bench through "sniper" tactic attacks, from cards such as Kyogre CRZ 36, which is quite useful, so we can gain time and evolve it to Bibarel.

- Bibarel BRS 121 comes in with its ability, Industrious Incisors, which allows you, per turn, to draw until you have five cards in hand.

The good thing about this Pokémon in play is that, with the use of Iono sv2 185 at certain times, you won't suffer with the lack of cards, as Bibarel will give you draw power with its ability, and sabotage only the opponent, in case they draw too many Prize Cards.

Trainer Cards

Supporter

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

Boss's Orders (Ghetsis) sv2 172 is useful to pull a specific Pokémon from the opponent's bench to deal the damage to victory, speeding up the drawing of Prize Cards.

An interesting idea is to use the card to pull an opponent's basic Pokémon which has a high retreat cost, and play the first attack, Covert Flight, which prevents the opponent from attacking you in the next turn.

- Iono sv2 185 is extremely powerful: you and your opponent shuffle your hands and place them at the bottom of your decks. After that, you'll draw the top cards in your decks equal to the number of Prize Cards you have in play, in that case, in each player's game.

Example: if your opponent has 2 Prize Cards, and you have 4 Prize Cards, and you use this card as an effect, you both shuffle your hands to the bottom of your decks, and, in that, the opponent will draw only 2 cards and you will draw 4 cards.

- Judge sv1 176 is also useful to both players. You will both shuffle your hands back into the deck and draw 4 new cards.

These two cards will be your deck's biggest strengths and qualities to sabotage the opponent, and take advantage of Bibarel's use again in your favor to draw cards.

This card is for those cases in which you face Lugia-VStar decks which use this turbocharging strategy, when they pull special energies from their deck instead of her hand.

That's also valid for Urshifu-VMax -Single Strike- decks, which also count on Houndoom as a charging accelerator.

It can be useful, since, as Noivern ex depends only on two energies to attack, and the deck counts with 4 copies of Luminous Energy sv2 191, it is good to recover one copy of this card.

We also have many stadiums, also 4 copies of Path to the Peak CRE 148, which is of vital importance to the deck, so we can lock down an opponent who uses and abuses Rule Box abilities.

Items

- Pal Pad sv1 182 is an item to recycle two Supporter cards from the discard pile to your deck.

It's ideal to recycle Grant ASR 144, in this case, any time you can, but you're also welcome to reflect on bringing Iono sv2 185 or Boss's Orders (Ghetsis) sv2 172.

- Escape Rope BST 125: your opponent will choose a benched Pokémon which will be promoted to the active position, and, next, you'll do the same with your Pokémon. The opponent starts first to do this swap (and if they don't have any Pokémon on their bench, they won't need to).

- Ultra Ball sv1 196 is useful to look for any Pokémon, evolution or basic, common or ultra rare, as long as you fulfill the requirement of discarding two cards in hand to play it.

- Nest Ball sv1 181 is useful to look for a basic Pokémon in your deck and place it directly on the bench.

- Battle VIP Pass FST 225 is useful only to be used on your first turn in the game: look for two basic Pokémon in your deck and then place them directly on the bench.

- Fog Crystal CRE 140 is useful to look in your deck for a basic Psychic Pokémon or a basic Psychic energy in your deck, reveal it, and then place it in your hand.

Basically, it helps you not only find Spiritomb sv2 89, but also any other basic Psychic energy.

- Energy Recycler BST 124 is essential, as the deck counts on only 8 basic energies: 4 Psychic and 4 Dark.

- Super Rod sv2 188, as a reprint from the Black/White era, comes in as another recycling option, as it recycles 3 cards, them being basic energies and Pokémon, back into the deck.

Fan of Waves is useful to remove a special energy from one of the opponent's Pokémon and return it to the deck.

It is a tool for control, not only counting on Noivern ex's second attack to lock them down, but also on the synergy with Giacomo sv2 182, which already discards all special energies.

Estadium

Path to the Peak CRE 148 is useful to lock down Rule Box Pokémon which use abilities (valid for both players).

It is ideal to combo and sabotage metagame decks, such as:

- Lugia-VStar decks, as a recursive Pokémon to help attackers such as Urshifu-VMax (both in the Single Strike and Rapid Strike styles).

- Gardevoir ex decks.

- Mew-VMax decks.

- Arceus-VStar decks with Duraludon-VMax.

- Inteleon-VMax -Rapid Strike- decks.

- Ting-Lu ex decks.

- Miraidon ex decks with Regieleki-VMax.

- Grass type decks which use Forretress ex as a recursive Pokémon.

- Lock down on opponent decks which really depend on Lumineon-V to look for resources.

Special Energy

It serves as a "versatile energy". However, it has a condition which, if the Pokémon which is attached to has another energy with it, this energy in question, Luminous, gets the traits of a colorless energy.

Advantages

As said before, it is a Control deck, in a certain way, preventing your opponent from placing special energies and stadiums in play, this way, matching the Path to the Peak CRE 148 stadium.

Disadvantages

- United Wings decks.

- Decks which have ultra rare attackers, Rule Box decks which don't have abilities, and the ones which have abilities and are "baby" Pokémon.

- Decks which have 4 copies of Temple of Sinnoh ASR 155, to lock down the Luminous Energy sv2 191 in your deck.

- Low damage dealt by Noivern ex, as it only deals 140 damage, and it always needs to, at least, deal 2 to 3 attacks to knock something out.

It is a deck for beginners or for those who want to invest on an ultra rare Pokémon which is cheap. It is not a strong deck competitively when it comes to brute damage, but it is strong as a casual deck, which has great strategies to "lock down" your opponent, preventing them from using stadiums and special energies.

See you next time!