Kingdra ex: Deckbuilding with Night Wanderer

Night Wanderer, the Japanese set, is out! It has been available since July 7th, 2024 in Japan, and will be available from August 2nd, 2024 onward for the rest of the world in the Shrouded Fable set, the third special set in this block.

This will be an interesting card for the Water archetype and will make a lot of difference; it will somewhat "special summon" your Pokémon, similar to what Lugia VSTAR SIT 139's VSTAR ability does for the colorless archetype.

I'm talking about Kingdra ex sv6a 12, and its attack, King's Orders.

Decklist

Kingdra ex: Understanding the Mechanic

This Kingdra's greatest strength is getting your Water Pokémon from your discard pile and putting them on the bench with its first attack, King's Orders. Notice that its description doesn't state that they have to be basic Pokémon, which means you can, yes, pick out stage 1 and stage 2 Pokémon and put them on the bench automatically!

If you need to use it as an attacker, you can use Baxcalibur PR-SV 19's ability, Super Cold, to set up Kingdra ex sv6a 12's second attack, Hydro Pump, which deals 50 + 50 damage for each Basic Water Energy sv2 279 attached to it. So, with just 7 Water energies, you'll deal 350 damage plus 50 base damage, which is 400 damage!

Kingdra:The "Baby" Alternative Attacker

This is a sniper attacker because of its first attack. This Pokémon looks at the top 6 cards in your deck and deals 60 damage for each energy you find there to any enemy Pokémon in play. Then, you'll discard these energies in the process, and shuffle the other cards into your deck.

As you filter these energies like so, it will be easier to get them back from the discard pile with Superior Energy Retrieval sv2 189.

"Sniper" Attackers Favored by Kingdra ex

► For a strategy focused on sniper damage, we'll start with Wellspring Mask Ogerpon ex TWM 64's second attack, which deals 100 damage to the enemy's active Pokémon, and 120 damage to one enemy Pokémon on your opponent's bench. Then, you'll return all energies attached to Wellspring Mask Ogerpon back into your deck. This will help you set up Kingdra ex sv6a 12 on later turns, or just let you preserve these energies for something else in the future.

► With these counters in play, we'll finish the game with Greninja ex PR-SV 54's second attack, which deals 120 + 120 damage if your opponent's active Pokémon has any damage counters.

Recursive Pokémon

► To attach the Water energies in our hand on our Water Pokémon, we'll use Baxcalibur PR-SV 19 and its ability, Super Cold.

► Radiant Greninja ASR 46 is useful in two ways: it is a recursive Pokémon because of its ability, Concealed Cards, which will draw us cards, and also an attacker because of Moonlight Shuriken, its second attack that deals sniper damage.

►We'll use Lumineon V PR-SW SWSH250's ability, Luminous Sign, to find the perfect Supporter for our turn. In addition, as it is a Pokémon V, we can use Forest Seal Stone SIT 156 for a specific set up. Its attack, Aqua Return, is perfect to deal damage to the boar. It also protects itself.

Trainer Cards

Supporter to Filter Items and Pokémon

This card is perfect for your opening setup with Buddy-Buddy Poffin TEF 144; you'll get two Horsea LOR 35 and a Water Pokémon. That's how you'll filter your deck.

Supporter to "Catch" Enemy Pokémon

Items to Get Pokémon

The most important card you'll need to look for is Buddy-Buddy Poffin TEF 144. It replaced Battle VIP Pass FST 225, which rotated earlier in April.

It will get you two basic Pokémon of up to 70 HP and let you put them on your bench. So, it is perfect to set up, as fast as possible, your Horsea LOR 35 so you can evolve them into Kingdra sv4 32.

Item to Filter Basic Energies

Item to Recycle Energies

This is an important resource to get your Basic Water Energy sv2 279 back.

And, of course, you'll benefit more from its main effect, which discards two cards in your hand. Ideally, you'll discard two evolution Pokémon to set up Kingdra ex sv6a 12's combo!

Tool

This belt will give you the last bit of damage you need if you don't have enough energies to knock out Pokémon ex with Kingdra ex sv6a 12.

Stadium

Favorable

- Against Fire Pokémon, like Gouging Fire ex TEF 38, Delphox V LOR 27, Chi-Yu ex sv2 40, and Charizard ex sv3pt5 6.

- Against Lost Box decks.

- Against Gardevoir ex sv4pt5 29.

- Against Lugia VSTAR SIT 139.

- Against any predictable deck that needs to use lots of stage 2 Pokémon, like Charizard ex sv4pt5 54 and Dragapult ex TWM 130.

Unfavorable

- Against Future Box decks with Miraidon PR-SV 92, Iron Thorns ex TWM 77, and Iron Hands ex sv4 70.

- Against Roaring Moon ex PR-SV 67 decks.

- Against Raging Bolt ex TEF 123 decks.

This deck hasn't stood out so far, but it will probably bring a lot of value for the Water archetype.

See you next time!