Clefairy Doll's Dark Muk

~ Doll's House ~

Clefairy Doll's Dark Muk
November 29, 2000

Name: Zach Locke

mIRC nickname:

Email Address: Rainmaster44@aol.com

Skill Level: Advanced

Speed Metagame: Fast

Stradegy: Get Dark Muk by 2nd turn and sludge punch(I think that's the name),
deny their active to retreat with it's Pokemon Power and Energy Removals. And
hopefully get a few prizes with Chansey. RSA their hand(lock) so they can't
get anything to save them from Dark Muk/Chansey(hopefully)

Deck Name: Dark Muk Lock

I know that you are one of the best Pokemon players, and have alot of
experience with Dark Muk decks. I don't know if this is to be Considered an
Archetype. I don't see it being played alot. Please bring it up to your
level. =)

Pokemon:

4 Grimer(fossil)
3 Dark Muk
2 Scyther
2 Ditto
2 Chansey

Trainers:

3 Misty's Wrath
4 Oak
4 Pluspower
4 ER
3 Computer Search
3 Item Finder
3 RSA
2 GOW
2 Switch
2 NGR
2 Narrow Gym

Energy:

11 Grass Energy
4 DCE
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This deck does pretty good. It's main problem is MP Mewtwo. It's a big
disadvantage if I go 2nd playing a Sponge. Decking is sometimes a problem,
maybe I have too much drawing power? Well those are the only problems I've
had with this deck.

Please tune it up for me! It would be greatly appreciated. =)

Heya Zach...

Hmm.. another Dark Muk fix? Ya know, since I get asked by others on an almost daily basis to divulge my actual Dark Muk deck listing, I'm finally going to do it. Ready?

I created my first version of Dark Muk on Apprentice before the Team Rocket expansion was even released. I knew as soon as I read the spoiler on Dk Muk that it would be my card. The weekend of the actual release had me sitting down and brainstorming an actual deck. I immediately began play-testing with it and taking it to tournaments.

But here's the deal. This deck is for the Advanced/Expert player, someone who has been playing DCI sanctioned type tournaments on a regular basis (no, I do NOT mean Pokemon League). This deck operates constantly on the edge. The margin for error is very slight, and will take a lot of practice and patience to learn how to play this particular version. If you can master the deck and Grass is an amenable color for you (I am not kidding here.... certain colors seem to favor some people, and totally crap out on other people), then you can do very well with it. This deck has won me an STS Qualifier, plus tournaments at Rama Llama, Grand Slam and other Texas and California high level competitions.

I will go through each selection and explain why I chose each individual card and how it is best used.

Deck Strategy:

The main strategy of this deck is built around 3 factors.

1) Dark Muk's Pokemon Power, Sticky Goo:

Pokemon Power: Sticky Goo As long as Dark Muk is your Active Pokemon, your opponent pays CC more to retreat his or her Active Pokemon. This power stops working while Dark Muk is Asleep, Confused, or Paralyzed.

2) Dark Muk's attack, Sludge Punch:

Sludge Punch (20) The Defending Pokemon is now Poisoned.

3) Energy Removal and Super Energy Removal

Basically, this is how it works in theory:

a) You bring up Dark Muk. Your opponent's active is now pretty much trapped by Dark Muk's Pokemon Power, Sticky Goo.
b) You Energy Removal your opponent's active... now he's really trapped by Sticky Goo.
c) Attack your opponent's active with Dark Muk, which auto-poisons him. He now has 30 damage.
d) On his turn, your opponent has an energyless Pokemon (thanks to Energy Removal). In most cases, it will be a 70 HP Pokemon or less. If he does NOT retreat, he will take 10 more damage due to poison at the end of his turn. That means that on your next turn, this Pokemon will die when you hit him for 20 more plus Poison. He cannot retreat or attack without committing energy to his doomed active, which leaves him with a bench also with no energy. So your opponent's choices are these: Commit energy to an active that will surely die next turn... or try to power-up a monster on the bench in hopes of attacking Dark Muk. Very few people will commit the energy to the active that is doomed unless they have the trainers to get around Dk Muk (see "Threats" below), which is often fruitless waste of Trainers as it only buys them a turn or two while your maneuver Dk Muk back into the attack position. So they will most likely attempt to get some energy onto one of their benched monsters.
e) On the turn that you will KO your opponent's active, you Energy Removal any threats on their bench. This forces your opponent into promoting a naked Pokemon to the active position, basically again hopeless and helpless, forcing them back into the dilemma detailed in d).
f) And so the nasty cycle continues!

Threats:

Movie Promo Mewtwo - UGH! I hate this card, but it is beatable with this deck. Chansey will be your first defense/offense against it, and Scyther to a lesser extent. Keep your Grimers and all Muks off the board until the threat is neutralized. If you already have Dk Muk on the board, there is a long way around to kill him. Try to have 3 Grass energy on your Dk Muk. Gust up the Mewtwo. Energy Removal it at LEAST down to one E... down to nothing is better. Pray your opponent doesn't have double ER/SER.

Raindance and Dark Vileplume - See Muk!

Ditto - Ditto can be a real pain in the butt for Dark Muk. Try gusting him up naked from the bench, and hopefully your opponent doesn't have a DCE in their hand. If they do, you may end up with M.A.D. (mutually assured destruction) at the worst case. Defenses include using ER to try to disable Ditto if he springs a DCE on you... another is to retreat your Dk. Muk for 4(!) E... I RARELY choose that option. I sometimes will Scoop my Dark Muk if I see that Ditto's death is eminent and I can find no other way to save my Dark Muk. And sometimes I'll let him die if I have another Dk Muk ready to rumble or a Scyther powered up on my bench . Another possibility, ESPECIALLY if your opponent has multiple dittos on the bench, is to bring Fossil Muk into play. Now your opponent has multiple worthless balls of goo taking up space on his bench. These are especially helpful when you need just one more kill to end the game and you can Gust one out *evil laugh*.

Energy Removal - If I see that my opponent is running ER, I will often keep 3 energy on my Dark Muks if at all possible. Then if I get Removed, I can recover in enough time to attack next turn. The only way they have around that is to use SER and ER on the same turn.

Minor Threats:
Gust of Wind - After you trap your opponent, he may try to Gust up another Pokemon from your bench to free up his active. This basically just sets you back a turn. Methodically re-set up your Dark Muk and go after them again.

Switch or Scoop Up - Again, a band-aid for your opponent. Set up Muk again.

Pokémon:

3 Grimer - Fossil Grimer is used for it's ability to hold off other Pokemon to a certain point. The Minimize attack should always be considered when facing a Pokemon that can do a max of 20 damage with no status effects. I'll consider Nasty Goo against a defender with status effects or with no ability to attack next turn.

3 Dark Muk - The Mainstay of the deck, of course. Basically, he better not show his face until there are no Psychic Pokemon on your opponents table, unless you can drop, energize, gust and kill before a threat will materialize. A naked M2 Promo is a prime example. Even then, I'll prefer 3 Grass Energy on my Dark Muk because a SER will be death to Dark Muk at that point. If there are no Psychic threats, Dk. Muk will usually be your Pokemon of choice.

1 Muk Fossil - Fossil Muk is a perfect add to this deck! Just a single one... sort of an insurance policy. If you see a Squirtle, Oddish or any other basic associated with a devastating Pokemon Power family, you will rip your deck to get a Grimer on the board and Fossil Muk in your hand. Muk goes down next turn, hopefully before your opponent has a chance to play his PP. He is also tech in some cases against Ditto, Mr. Mime, Dodrio and quite a few others. But you have to use him carefully. Remember, he also shuts down Dark Muk's Pokemon Power, Stick Goo, a mainstay of your strategy. I will only use Fossil Muk if the Pokemon Power of my opponent will be more harmful to me than Dark Muk's will be to them. ALWAYS use Muk against Raindance, Dark Vileplume and Venusaur. Against other Pokemon Power dependant decks, you'll have to assess the threat and make a decision. Part of being an expert at running this deck is knowing if, when and how to use Muk.

3 Scyther - Scyther is just too good to not include in a Grass deck with DCEs and Plus Powers. First turn kills, plus a great zero retreat place holder, AND a resistance to Fighting, especially Hitmonchan.   If your Dark Muk or Chansey are doing their jobs, he'll probably just bench sit for you and come up between actives, but he also can go into attack mode if you need him to. At the STS qualifier, in the finals against a Wigglytuff deck, Scyther and ER went all the way for me! Amazing...

3 Chansey - Chansey's main job is to kill major threats to you, Promo Mewtwo being the prime example. I'll also use him in the end game to get a final kill by blowing him up if I have to.

Trainers:

4 Professor Oak - Because there are 4 Oaks, most would assume that this would be a fast deck.... it's NOT... if you play this deck turbo, you will most likely deck yourself. I almost always hold off on Oaking until it is absolutely necessary. But when I need him, he's usually there since I'm running 4. This is another reason this deck is for advanced players... you MUST have a keen sense of when to Oak and when to hold off. This is something that is developed by a LOT of playtesting and a deep knowledge of the game.

3 Bill - ah, Bill.... he used to be such a mainstay, but his status has definitely fallen with the release of newer expansions. Honestly, this card is probably the most expendable of any here. If I need to add something, a Bill or two may be what I will drop. Erika is a possible replacement, but I really don't like the idea of giving my opponent card advantage also. Erika is better in faster decks, which this is not.

4 Energy Removal - If Dark Muk is the mainstay of this deck, this and SER are the 2nd most important cards. Use ER to remove energy from any benched threats just before your opponent will have to promote a new active.

3 Super Energy Removal - See Energy Removal... SER is great against Wigglytuff!

2 Gust of Wind - Used mostly to grab a huge threat on the bench and kill it before it has the chance to kill you. It also is an excellent game closer, getting you that last prize as you gust up an easy kill to finish off your opponent.

3 Computer Search - Gets you the cards you need when you need them. I also use this conservatively, like my Oaks. Save them until you really must use them.

4 Item Finder - THIS card is probably the most versatile in the deck! Since I use a huge amount of trainers, Item Finder has the ability to become any trainer in my discard pile. I seem to use it for ER the most, and often for Oak and Gust.

2 Nightly Garbage Run - NGR is just a must in almost any deck today. I will use it to get whatever I need back, often Grass Energy, and sometimes the most useful Pokemon against whatever deck I am facing.

2 Narrow Gym - Narrow Gym is basically the "Get Rid of Another Gym" Gym. Obviously, No Removal Gym would wreck this deck, so Narrow Gym is there to bump it. You should hold Narrow Gym until you see another Gym played by your opponent that will hurt you, unless your opponent is playing Wigglytuff and you need to narrow his bench. There is also a little trick I sometimes play with Narrow Gym. If I have a heavily damaged Pokemon on my bench, I can fill my bench with 5 monsters, then play Narrow Gym and return my damaged Pokemon and all cards attached to my hand. Doesn't happen often, but it's great when it does. BTW, I rarely play with a full bench.

1 Energy Retrieval - Now I'm into my 4 random trainers... each a single, but each with a purpose. This is one of the reasons I consider this deck to be "on the edge". If you are not a superb player, you should almost never play just one of a card. It will be difficult or impossible to see them when you need them. Advanced players will know when it's time to be desperate enough to go after these singles, and hopefully have the know-how to get them into play. If you do not know or learn how and when to use these 4 cards, they will be practically useless space-stealers in your deck. Energy Retrieval isn't so pivotal, in that sense. But it's here because my energy count is so tight.

1 Plus Power - As a single, it is a "Desperate times call for desperate measures" card. I'll go after it if I am in a MUST kill situation. Also, if I can manage a turn 2 kill on a lone Pokemon, I'll go after it.

1 Scoop Up - Mostly for Chansey... other typical Scoop Up situations. I have wavered between Scoop and Switch... and at the moment am going with Scoop. Switch has it's advantages, too, though.

1 Potion - yes, a weird card! I catch it for including Potion in my deck, but I tell you... in a Dark Muk deck, Potion is TECH! Dark Muk's biggest drawback is his 60HP. Potion can keep you alive just that much longer as you eliminate a threat, allowing you to trap and poison another Pokemon before you die. I used to have 3 in the deck, which was wonderful! But I really needed the room for the Narrow Gyms =( I could boot Bill for them, but I need the Bills for RSA and Trap recovery. *shrug*

Energy:

12 Grass Energy - I have run this deck with as little as 10 Grass, and often with 11. It's just too tight for my taste. 12 is the minimum that I like for Dark Muk. Otherwise, I kept finding myself with great Pokemon out and having to Oak or Comp Search just to get a freaking Grass Energy! Very inefficient!

4 Double Colorless Energy - Of course of great use for Scyther and Chansey. In emergencies, I can use one to retreat a Dark Muk and save the Grass Energy on him.

Clefairy Doll's Dark Muk Deck Listing:

Pokémon - #
3 Grimer
3 Dark Muk
1 Muk Fossil
3 Scyther
3 Chansey

Trainers - #
4 Professor Oak
3 Bill
4 Energy Removal
3 Super Energy Removal
2 Gust of Wind
3 Computer Search
4 Item Finder
2 Nightly Garbage Run
2 Narrow Gym
1 Energy Retrieval
1 Plus Power
1 Scoop Up
1 Potion

Energy - #
12 Grass Energy
4 Double Colorless Energy

And there you have it! If you decide to run this deck, it may take quite a while to learn the intricacies of it. But if Grass favors you as a player, and you take the time to play-test it thoroughly, you really could take this deck to the highest level of competition. And btw, people... this is the last Dk Muk fix that I'm going to do. So if you want me to even look at your submission, don't send a Dark Muk focused deck!!!!

Best of Luck!

~ Doll

~ A Bit of Clefairy Doll Wisdom:

It's as BAD as you think, and they ARE out to get you.