One Of The New Best Decks- Eternatus VMAX!

With the release of the newest Sword & Shield set, Darkness Ablaze, we get one of the new best VMAXs and one of the new best decks in our standard format! Eternatus VMAX! Eternatus VMAX has a very powerful attack and a great new ability allowing you to have up to 8 bench Dark-type Pokémon! This, combined with the new Crobat V, makes this deck very strong and aggressive! Let's look at a sample list of Eternatus VMAX and what the deck is all about! 

The List: 

Pokémon: 18 
- 4 Eternatus V (DAB)
- 3 Eternatus VMAX (DAB)
- 4 Galarian Zigzagoon (DAB)
- 4 Crobat V (DAB)
- 2 Hoopa (DAB)
-1 Hoopa (UNM) 

Trainers: 31 
- 1 Dangerous Drill (TEU)
- 3 Great Ball (SWSH)
- 3 Pokémon Communication (TEU)
- 4 Quick Ball (SWSH)
- 1 Reset Stamp (UNM)
- 4 Scoop Up Net (RCL)
- 3 Switch (SWSH)
- 1 Black Market * (TEU)
- 3 Boss's Order (RCL)
- 4 Marnie (SWSH)
- 2 Professor's Research (SWSH)
- 1 Piers (DAB)
- 1 Air Balloon (SWSH)

Energy: 11 
- 2 Capture Energy 
- 3 Hiding Dark Energy (DAB)
- 6 Basic Darkness 

So this is a pretty basic model of what Eternatus VMAX post-rotation decks will be looking like. With this Eternatus list, we are utilizing the strategy of using Quad Galarian Zigzagoon. With Eternatus's ability, if you only have Dark Pokémon in play, you can bench up to 8 Dark Pokémon in total. Then Eternatus's attack for 1 dark and a Colorless energy does 30x30 for each darkness Pokémon you have in play, so with a field of 9 darkness Pokémon that is doing 270 damage! Combine this with Galarian Zigzagoon to add 10 more damage with Scoop Up Net, and you are doing upwards of 300 damage! But while the Zigzagoons are good, the Crobat Vs are also important with their ability, when you play Crobat from your hand onto your bench you may draw cards until you have 6 in hand, only using this ability once a turn! This allows you to draw more cards to dig for important resources, while also fueling up Eternatus's attack! Now we have the last Dark-type in the deck, the Hoopas! The first Hoopa from Unified Minds does 10 + 20 damage for each ability your opponent has in play. This can be good to finish off something or to soften up your opponent's Pokémon! It can also hit hard in the Eternatus mirror match! The other 2 Hoopas are from Darkness Ablaze and have the attack Assault Gate doing 1 dark energy for 90 damage & states that if this Pokémon wasn't moved from your Bench to the Active Spot this turn, this attack does nothing. So it can be another nice damage softener or can be used to finish an attacker off! 

Going into the Trainers & Energy now, not much is going to stand out other than a few cards. Having the 4 Scoop Up Net is essential for the Galarian Zigzagoons so that you can reach OHKO numbers with Eternatus VMAX! I am playing a Dangerous Drill, which makes it, so you have to discard a dark Pokémon from your hand, and you can discard a Tool, Special Energy, or Stadium from your opponent. This can be helpful against stuff like Giant Charm & other special dark energy! This deck does play quite a few Pokémon search cards, but they are there to help with the aspect of taking KOs with Eternatus! Having the 1 of Black Market can be clutch, so your opponent does not take a prize on Hoopa or possibly only 2 for KOing Eternatus VMAX! The supporters are straight forward since we do play Crobat Vs, we can cool down on playing a-lot of Draw supporters, other than Piers! Piers states that you can search your deck for 1 Dark Pokémon and 1 energy card, meaning you can get an Eternatus VMAX and an energy like Capture Energy! Speaking of the Energy, we do have 3 different energy types, 6 basic energy, 2 capture energy, and 3 special darkness energy! The capture energy allows us to get an extra basic in play since Eternatus has 1 colorless in its attack cost. Then with the 3 Special darkness energy they give your dark Pokémon, it is attached to a free retreat cost, obviously very helpful at getting out of tight spots! That is the list and a pretty good baseline for what to work with; however, there are plenty of other cards you can play such as Weavile GX, Spiritomb, Nanu, Power Plant, Absol, Hydreigon, and Mallow & Lana to name a few! If you want to play this deck Pre-Rotation, cards like Yveltal GX & Weavile with Evil Admonition are also great cards! 

It is no doubt Eternatus VMAX will shake up our standard format come the new format, & we will see its impact on the game!  

Post by: Littledarkfury