How To Play The Giratina And Darkrai ex Deck In Pokemon TCG Pocket

After Palkia ex and Dialga ex dominated Pokemon TCG Pocket for most of Triumphant Light, their wayward sibling Giratina ex finally gets to shine. Shining Revelry introduced a version that makes a perfect partner with everyone’s favorite Dark-type Pokemon, Darkrai ex, which is back and better than ever.

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Darkrai ex took the game by storm paired with Magnezone, because Magneton was able to generate its own Energy, setting up two big attackers at once. Giratina does the same thing, but bigger, faster, and more reliably. Take a deep breath: it’s time to learn why you should be afraid of the dark.

Sample Decklist

Giratina ex Darkrai ex
Druddigon (A1a) x2	Giratina ex (A2b) x2	Darkrai ex (A2) x2	Shaymin (A2) x1
Professor’s Research x2	Red x2	Leaf x1	Sabrina x1
Mars x1	Cyrus x1	Poke Ball x2	Giant Cape x2
Rocky Helmet x1

Variants of this archetype sometimes swap out Mars for an extra Leaf or Iono, and it isn’t uncommon to see them without Shaymin. Removing Shaymin makes the deck a little more consistent at getting your first Druddigon in place, but loses you access to consistent retreat cost reduction.

If you decide to remove Shaymin, we recommend using the free slot for a second Leaf, to be able to retreat any of your Basic Pokemon for free. For this deck, make sure you turn off Psychic Energy. Giratina can make its own, and you don’t want to interfere with Darkrai ex’s Energy stockpile.

Giratina ex Darkrai ex Deck Strategy

The Giratina ex Darkrai ex combo plays slow, so it may not be satisfying for aggressive players who want to hit hard and fast right out of the gate. But the payoff is that you get not one, but two strong attackers ready at the same time, so you can quickly pivot between the two.

Turn one you want to set Druddigon as your Active Pokemon, and attach a Rocky Helmet if you’ve got one handy. This will discourage your opponent from attacking until they can OHKO Druddigon, and buy you some time to set up. There’s no reason to attach any Energy to it unless you’ve already got one on Giratina ex and don’t have a Darkrai ex.

With Druggigon blocking your opponent’s attacks, you want to get Darkrai ex and Giratina ex on your Bench ASAP and start attaching Darkness Energy to Darkrai ex. Each time you do, you’ll deal 20 damage to your opponent’s Active Pokemon. Over time, this chip damage can KO a Pokemon, or set you up for an important Cyrus play later.

Meanwhile, Giratina ex sits on your Bench and stockpiles Psychic Energy via Broken-Space Bellow. Just make sure that you attach your Energy to Darkrai ex first, because as soon as you use Broken-Space Bellow your turn ends.

After about three turns, you have options. Your opponent’s Pokemon should have taken some damage via Darkrai ex’s Nightmare Aura and Druddigon’s Rough Skin, and Darkrai ex or Giratina ex should have enough Energy to attack. If it’s safe to switch one in for a KO, go for it!

If you manage to get some chip damage on your opponent’s ace Pokemon, like an Arceus ex, before they can retreat it to safety, hold on to Cyrus to bring it forward when you can score a KO. This can be a huge setback, especially if they’ve already heavily invested Energy in that Pokemon.

Giratina ex Darkrai ex Matchups

Rampardos Lucario

Rampardos / Lucario decks struggle against Darkrai ex and Giratina ex. Sudowoodo, often the choice for the first Active Pokemon, doesn’t get a damage bonus against Druddigon, and can KO itself before it can make much of a dent. Plus KOs from Rough Skin and Nightmare Aura damage don’t activate Marshadow’s Revenge buff.

While Rampardos can get an OHKO on any of your Pokemon while your opponent controls a Lucario, that takes several turns to set up, and you could easily score a revenge KO. Plus, short of Rampardos, Darkrai ex can take out anything in the deck with a combination Nightmare Aura and Dark Prism.

Gyarados ex

Gyarados ex beats Darkrai ex / Giratina ex pretty handily: Manaphy can set up the attackers without triggering Rough Skin and doesn’t much care if you KO it after it’s had two or three turns to throw Energy on Gyarados ex. Then, Gyarados ex can OHKO all of your Pokemon (with Red) while you can’t hit the 180 HP bracket to do the same.

This is a good place to use Sabrina early and try to KO Magikarp the turn it comes into play. Shutting one down can force your opponent to look for a spare, but if you manage to KO both of them, your opponent will be dead in the water.

Clodsire ex

Clodsire ex can be a bit of a pain, but you should be able to play around with it. Clodsire ex’s game plan is to Poison your Active Pokemon, then Venoshock for the KO, and repeat.

While Clodsire ex can be set up in just a couple of turns, the 160 HP it boasts isn’t much of an issue for this deck. Venoshock will still trigger Rough Skin, putting Clodsire ex in easy KO range for Giratina ex. You’ll be playing on easy mode if you can get both Druddigons in play, to give yourself more time to set up Giratina ex, or soften Clodsire ex enough to KO it with Dark Prism.

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