[Update 24 Oct 2024] This card is now arguably the single most dominant force in the metagame. It’s now been seen in decks such as the Palkia VSTAR/Dusknoir, Roaring Moon ex, Gholdengo ex, and Raging Bolt ex decks, among others. Dusknoir is now arguably at the point at which every player must either have a viable counter for it or play it themselves.

[Update 22 Oct 2024] This card has now emerged as the main supporting piece in a new Dragapult ex deck variant. In that variant, Dusknoir mainly functions as a setup card that puts the deck’s titular card from Mask of Change [SV6] in position to take one or more (often multi-Prize) KO’s.

While the Dusknoir card from Night Wanderer [SV6a] made its first significant appearance in the Pokémon TCG metagame as a supporting piece of the Charizard ex deck, the Ghost-type Pokémon didn’t emerge as one of a deck’s main Pokémon until the emergence of the Terapagos ex/Dusknoir deck which has now ascended to the status of a meta staple.

About Dusknoir (Night Wanderer [SV6a] 070/064)

Dusknoir’s standout feature is unquestionably Cursed Blast, its Ability. Cursed Blast is one of the most powerful Abilities in the history of the Pokémon TCG. It allows the player to sacrifice Dusknoir, dealing 130 damage to any of the opponent’s Pokémon while doing so. Notably, this is an Ability, not an attack; this means that it’s sometimes possible for the player to sacrifice Dusknoir to pick up two KO’s on the same turn or combine it with a more powerful Pokémon’s attack to take out an opposing Pokémon-ex; this also creates a two-for-one Prize trade scenario as Dusknoir isn’t a Pokémon-ex.

In the early game, Dusknoir is primarily used to disrupt the opponent’s setup by landing KO’s on vulnerable Pokémon which the opponent is in the process of gradually building up. Later on in the game, Dusknoir is just the tool to either finish off the opponent or get a comeback started by not only landing a big KO, but also potentially allowing the player to bring out the Briar card from Stellar Miracle [SV7] which can only be used when the opponent has two or fewer Prize cards remaining.

This card’s Art Rare (AR) version features a Full Art illustration that completes a storyline from the Full Art illustrations of the cards of its pre-evolutions Duskull and Dusclops’ AR card versions. When paired with this card, the three illustrations show Duskull evolving into Dusclops and then Dusknoir as its approaches a certain house. On top of that, all three illustrations use dimmed tones and dark colors; combined with the Pokémon being Ghost-type, this adds a suitably eerie feel to the imagery.

Release Details

The English version of this card is card 070/064 in Shrouded Fable [SFA].

The sale price of a Dusknoir (Night Wanderer [SV6a] 070/064) card is 2,680 JPY (~US$18).

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