Hide ‘n’ Sneak is the Strongest Pitch Black Deck
A new single prize deck is joining the game in Pokémon Pitch Black and it will soon be devastating tournaments around the country. Called Hide ‘n’ Sneak, this powerful ghostly deck punches well above its weight as a single prize deck. Below, we’ll be looking at how to use this deck to dominate the playing field.
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Pokémon: 24
4 Shuppet M5 31
3 Banette M5 32
4 Dhelmise M5 37
3 Dunsparce JTG 120
2 Dudunsparce TEF 129
2 Poltchageist M5 5
1 Sinistcha M5 6
2 Lillie's Clefairy ex ASC 76
1 Patrat CRI 70
1 Flutter Mane PRE 43
1 Bloodmoon Ursaluna ex TWM 141
Trainer: 29
4 Lillie's Determination ASC 192
3 Gwynn M5 78
3 Boss's Orders ASC 183
1 Kieran PRE 113
4 Poké Pad POR 81
4 Ultra Ball ASC 213
2 Buddy-Buddy Poffin ASC 184
2 Night Stretcher ASC 196
2 Pokégear 3.0 BLK 84
1 Air Balloon ASC 181
3 Prism Tower CRI 80
Energy: 7
4 Telepathic Psychic Energy POR 88
2 Psychic Energy MEE 5
1 Legacy Energy TWM 167
Hide ‘n’ Sneak quick start guide
Pay careful attention to your board set up early on, balancing it between the Poltchageist you’ll need to evolve later, Dunsparce (your primary draw engine), and your toolbox attackers as needed.
When possible, start with Flutter Mane in the active spot to shut down your opponent, and keep Patrat around to prevent your deck shutting down before it has had a chance to ramp up.
Prioritize cycling through your cards via a mix of Gwyn, Prism Tower and more, aiming to hit four Hide ‘n’ Sneak Pokémon in the discard as early as possible.
Start Swinging with Dhelmise’s powerhouse Vengeful Anchor attack.
Clean up the board with Sinistcha powerful damage spread attack once you have six Hide ‘n’ Sneak in the discard.
Leverage toolbox attackers like Bloodmoon Ursaluna ex, and Lillie’s Clefairy ex to take critical knockouts and close out the game.
Hide ‘n’ Sneak is a defensive shell of a deck
If you are wondering what makes this spooky single prize deck so strong, look no further than the Hide ‘n’ Sneak ability from which this deck derives its name.
For some time, the Pokémon TCG meta has been defined by cards and abilities that enable players to strategically move damage around the board, sometimes unlocking multiple knockouts in a single turn.
As commonplace as these abilities are, they’re still hard to stop. Cards like Munkidori and Dragapult ex are able to exploit a loophole in most cards that defend against damage by allowing players to “place” damage counters.
However, Hide ‘n’ Sneak completely shuts this loophole down. By stopping the effects of attacks, your opponent can’t simply spread damage around via Phantom Dive or Munkidori.
Munkidori
SV06: Twilight Masquerade • Rare
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Dhelmise is your core attacker
Toolbox decks work particularly well when you have single prize Pokémon. Arguably your toughest and most versatile attacker is Dhelmise.
Dhelmise is at its strongest when you’ve managed to mill enough Hide ‘n’ Sneak Pokémon. Suddenly Vengeful Anchor becomes a deadly 170 damage attack for just one Psychic Energy.
Gwyn works well here. By letting you choose which cards you discard and letting you draw additional cards for each one drawn, you can see more cards and fuel your discard pile with the Hide ‘n’ Sneak Pokémon you’ll need to do a lot of damage and enable a very favorable prize trade.
Gwyn is a great supporter for your deck, but Prism Tower is another very smart addition to the deck strategy.
Prism Tower - 080/086
ME04: Chaos Rising • Uncommon
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While discarding two cards from the hand just to draw one card won’t be viable for many of the decks you are facing, given you want a ton of Hide ‘n’ Sneak Pokémon in your discard anyway, it’s absolutely not an issue for you to activate. In fact, you’ll probably find it often ends up being a one-way ability despite it being a Stadium card open to all.
Spread damage with Sinistcha
While Hide ‘n’ Sneak doesn’t have a main attacker to spread damage around the way some top tier decks do, it does have the powerful Sinistcha to help you spread damage around your opponent’s board. This can extend the power of your Dhelmise’s Vengeful Anchor while also making bigger Pokémon easier to take out with your smaller attacks, and smaller Pokémon a cinch to take out with a few shots.
Of course, to take advantage of this attack you will need to first fill your discard with six Hide ‘n’ Sneak Pokémon which is a relatively tall order. Manage to do that though and you’ll be in a strong place to crush your opponent’s defenses and even take multiple prize cards in a single turn.
Toolbox attackers add versatility to your offensive strategy
One of the nicest things about any toolbox deck is that it gives you many different ways to deal with your opponent’s strategy, rather than relying on one all-in approach to gameplay.
Hide ‘n’ Sneak balances the strong Damage Spread/Heavy Swings that are dependent on having a specific number of Hide ‘n’ Sneak Pokémon in your deck with the all-out aggression of strong basic Pokémon attackers like Lillie’s Clefairy ex and Bloodmoon Ursaluna ex.
Lillie's Clefairy ex - 056/159
SV09: Journey Together • Double Rare
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Lillie’s Clefairy ex is a natural fit in this deck as you’re running Psychic Energy anyways. The strong counter to the current boogeyman of the Pokémon TCG Standard format, Dragapult ex, is clearly the reason to run this card in your deck. Even apart from that strategic edge into a deck you’re absolutely going to run into a lot, Full Moon Rondo is a strong attack on its own.
Meanwhile, Bloodmoon Ursaluna ex still works as well in today’s format as it did when the card came out way back in Twilight Masquerade, letting you turn the tables on your opponent even as you’re on your last legs.
Bloodmoon Ursaluna ex - 141/167
SV06: Twilight Masquerade • Double Rare
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With the right amount of defensive protection built-in, offensive strategies that enable a favorable prize-trade, and the versatility of powerful secondary attackers, Hide ‘n’ Sneak has a high likelihood of dismantling the current Pokémon TCG meta.
