Darkrai ex and Giratina ex (TCG Pocket)

DarkTina
Darkrai ex and Giratina ex Types used (generates ) Major cards Darkrai ex and Giratina ex Era 2025-present

Darkrai ex and Giratina ex, colloquially referred to as DarkTina, is a Pokémon Trading Card Game Pocket deck archetype played starting from the release of Shining Revelry in 2025, becoming a popular deck both in and after the format. This deck focuses on using the high HP pools of the titular Pokémon with Darkrai ex's Nightmare Aura Ability to rack up passive damage before using Giratina ex as a finisher.

Strategy

In essence, this deck is a successor to DarkZone with a similar game plan of running only Energy to put on Darkrai ex each turn to trigger Nightmare Aura for chip damage, while its partner charges up Energy on the Bench to prepare a devastating attack. While Broken-Space Bellow ends the turn when used, the deck relies on Nightmare Aura for damage anyway in the early game, so this is not a hindrance.

The deck forgoes early tanks in favor of using the two Pokémon ex's high HP pools with Rocky Helmet to chip away at opponents and counter early aggression. Once Giratina ex is ready, Chaotic Impact and Nightmare Aura deal 150 damage a turn, enough to knock out most Pokémon.

The compact core of the deck also gives it plenty of room to run various Trainer cards, making it highly customizable in terms of support cards.

Weaknesses

Because the only two Pokémon usually played in the deck require significant amounts of Energy to start attacking, the deck is naturally passive in the early game. Strong Pokémon whose attacks have low energy costs can take advantage of the deck's passivity to outpace the deck's attrition with fast, high-damage attacks.

Since most variations of the deck consist only of Pokémon ex, it cannot do much against Oricorio's Safeguard Ability, which completely protects it against direct damage from Pokémon attacks. While Darkrai's Nightmare Aura can damage Oricorio, it does not prove effective as the opponent can heal the damage easily.

Key cards

• Darkrai ex - The deck's primary early-game damage dealer, Darkrai ex uses all of the deck's Energy drops to chip away at enemies.
• Giratina ex - The other half of the deck's name, Giratina ex can generate its own Energy to avoid competing with Darkrai ex for Energy while hitting hard once it is ramped up.
• Rocky Helmet - Allows your Active Pokémon to punish early attacks with extra chip damage.

Typical decklist

The deck list below is meant to represent an average build of the archetype, not specifically constructed for any given metagame. The number of Trainer cards is highly variable, depending on each play style.

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Quantity	Card	Type	Rarity
2×	Darkrai ex
2×	Giratina ex
2×	Potion	Item	—
2×	Poké Ball	Item	—
1×	Red Card	Item	—
1×	Giant Cape	Tool
2×	Rocky Helmet	Tool
1×	Sabrina	Supp
1×	Leaf	Supp
1×	Cyrus	Supp
1×	Mars	Supp
1×	Pokémon Center Lady	Supp
1×	Red	Supp
2×	Professor's Research [Professor Oak]	Supp	—
Energy used:

Possible tech cards

• Dawn - Allows the deck to play more aggressively by shifting Energy from Giratina ex to Darkrai ex, or vice versa if Giratina ex is in the Active Spot and charged with Energy.
• Nihilego and Poison Barb - Some builds run a single copy of Nihilego paired with Poison Barb to increase the deck's early-game damage, quickly wearing down early Basic Pokémon. Nihilego can also easily knock out Oricorio when paired with Nightmare Aura damage.
• Guzma - Pressures the opponent by removing Pokémon Tools. Usually played in more aggressive Dawn or Nihilego variants.
• Umbreon - Umbreon in the Active Spot allows Darkrai ex and Giratina ex to charge on the Bench while it stops any Basic Pokemon cards.

This article is part of both Project Sidegames and Project TCG, Bulbapedia projects that, together, aim to write comprehensive articles on video games about the TCG.