If you’re looking to try out a new deck with fun cards from the recently released Pokémon TCG: Sun & Moon—Ultra Prism expansion, look no further than this deck built around Dusk Mane Necrozma-GX. It has almost anything you could ask for—massive attacks, an impressive Legendary Pokémon, and the ability to get lots of Energy on the board quickly.
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Dusk Mane Necrozma-GX
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11Metal Energy
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4Cynthia
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3N
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2Guzma
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2Skyla
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1Brigette
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1Lillie
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1Professor Sycamore
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3Mt. Coronet
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4Rare Candy
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4Ultra Ball
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2Field Blower
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2Nest Ball
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2Professor's Letter
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1Choice Band
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1Energy Retrieval
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1Float Stone
Deck Strategy
This deck is more about power than nuance, so its goal is on the simpler side. Try to get a Magnezone on the Bench as quickly as possible. Then, using its Magnetic Circuit Ability, load up Dusk Mane Necrozma-GX with Metal Energy and fire away with the incredibly powerful—but costly—Meteor Tempest attack. No deck will stand up to repeated assaults of more than 200 damage for long, so you just need to keep the attacks coming.
You’ll need to discard three Energy from Dusk Mane Necrozma-GX each time you use Meteor Tempest, so this deck includes plenty of ways to maintain the flow of Metal Energy. The new Mt. Coronet Stadium card is a perfect fit for this deck because it allows you to retrieve two Metal Energy from your discard pile each turn. Professor’s Letter can snag more Energy from your deck, and you can use Energy Retrieval to put discarded Energy back into your hand when Mt. Coronet isn’t enough.
Like any strong deck, this one has some alternate tactics for when things go wrong. If you aren’t able to get Magnezone out easily—or if an effect like Garbodor’s Garbotoxin is preventing you from using its Ability—you can use Solgaleo Prism Star’s Radiant Star attack as an alternate means of powering up your Pokémon. And don’t forget about Dusk Mane Necrozma-GX’s Sun’s Eclipse-GX attack—it can only use this mighty attack when you’re behind on Prize cards, but 250 damage will Knock Out just about anything (and you won’t have to discard any Energy, either).
Gameplay Tips
You’ll want to start out your matches in a similar manner to most other decks that rely on Evolution. Your ideal first turn involves using the Supporter card Brigette to get your key Pokémon onto the Bench, but Nest Ball can help get a Magnemite out quickly, too. Remember that if you start with an Ultra Ball, you can use it to find Tapu Lele-GX, and then use that Pokémon’s Wonder Tag Ability to find Brigette.
This deck doesn’t include any Magneton, so you’ll need to start hunting for both a Magnezone and a Rare Candy on your second turn. Skyla is a huge help in keeping your deck rolling—this Supporter lets you find Ultra Ball or Rare Candy to help Magnemite evolve, Field Blower to turn off Garbotoxin by discarding Garbodor’s Pokémon Tool, or Professor’s Letter or Mt. Coronet to track down Energy.
Mew isn’t a core part of this deck’s strategy, but like Skyla, it can help in many situations. It doesn’t have a Retreat Cost, which is welcome since the deck runs only one Float Stone. It can copy Dusk Mane Necrozma-GX’s potent attacks to Knock Out most Pokémon-EX and Pokémon-GX, and it will only give up one Prize card if it’s Knocked Out in return. Even its Encounter attack can find you a key Pokémon like Magnezone or Tapu Lele-GX in a jam.
It’s important to plan ahead with this deck. It doesn’t provide many options for easily retreating, and it has few attacks that deal damage in the range between “barely Knock Out a lower-HP Basic Pokémon” and “make even Wailord-EX tremble.” With this deck’s expensive Energy costs, it’s important to land most of your attacks on high-value Pokémon-GX and Pokémon-EX—so make good use of your boy Guzma.
The deck’s lone Oranguru is crucial near the end of the match to mitigate the potential for disaster brought by an opponent’s N. It may seem strange to include a Pokémon in your deck to combat just one card, but an N that reduces your hand to one or two cards can be devastating. You don’t need to get Oranguru down in the first few turns, but don’t wait too long if it looks like you’ll take an early lead.
Other Options
It’s tough to cut the plentiful cards befitting this strategy down into a 60-card deck. Here are a few others you could include in your own version.
The Pokémon TCG isn’t usually the sort of game with cards that let you take an extra turn, so it’s hard not to be tempted by Dialga-GX and its Timeless-GX attack. However, your star Pokémon’s GX attack isn’t too shabby itself, and committing so much Energy to Dialga-GX puts you in an odd spot. If you try out Dialga-GX, make sure you keep Mew. If Mew copies Timeless-GX, it can follow up by copying Dusk Mane Necrozma-GX’s Meteor Tempest attack instead of Dialga-GX’s underwhelming Shred.
You could consider adding one or two copies of Magneton for comfort. But there’s little threat of being locked out of Item cards in the Standard format, so it’s probably best to stick with the speed of Rare Candy. In a world where the most recent International Champion dropped Kirlia from a deck featuring Gardevoir-GX, it’s hard to justify Magneton.
Cyrus Prism Star seems to fit perfectly into a deck that
runs so many Metal types, but it’s tough to make the most of a 
card that is
also your Supporter card for the turn. Octillery’s Abyssal Hand nets
you more cards than Oranguru’s Instruct, but as Octillery is a Stage 1 Pokémon,
it’s hard to justify adding even more cards to this deck. A potential free
retreat for the XY—BREAKthrough
Magnemite is enticing, but its Weakness to Fighting-type Pokémon means
it falls to a single Jet Punch from the popular Buzzwole-GX.
Whichever cards you include in your version of this deck, we’re sure you’ll enjoy Dusk Mane Necrozma-GX’s incredible power. Don’t forget to check back at Pokemon.com/Strategy for more Pokémon TCG and video game strategy!
