The 4 Best Decks To Dominate In Pokémon TCG Pocket

Image: The Pokémon Company / Kotaku

As Pokémon TCG Pocket completes its second week since launch, players have found the game’s grooves and solid patterns have begun to develop. Core to these are four specific decks that are dominating in online battles, forming a meta that looks unlikely to shift until January’s delivery of a whole new set of cards. We’ve put together our best versions of all four decks.

There’s always a chance that The Pokémon Company might see fit to add some surprise drops to the set, in an attempt to bring in some more balance, or could even tweak the game in response to people’s disappointment with how much it sucks to go first. But beyond that, right now, we’re seeing four particular decks getting the most play and the most success.

It’s fair to say that Mewtwo’s is the deck that’s causing most consternation, given that it really does feel a little too over-powered, although others would argue Charizard’s build is the most dangerous. But all four of these builds are winners, and all capable of taking on each other. So, read on for the strengths, weaknesses, and best ways to play each of these four decks.

Image: The Pokémon Company / Kotaku

Every online card game sees a deck develop that has everyone just want to quit. For Pokémon TCG Pocket, it’s Mewtwo/Gardevoir. And I love playing it.

There are so few drawbacks, too. Occasionally you’ll get plain unlucky, and the game will just refuse to give you a Ralts or a Mewtwo, which leaves you with a pile of mediocre cards that’ll fall to any other solid deck. But that happens far less often than you’d think.

It’s outrageously easy to win with this, to the degree where you start wondering if The Pokémon Company is going to be forced to issue a nerf. If they did, it would make sense to prevent it from attacking two turns in a row. But please don’t, because it’s too fun right now.

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The essential cards for this deck are two of Ralts, Kirlia, and Gardevoir, and at least one Mewtwo ex. (I’ve not been fortunate enough to pull a second of those, so back it up with a standard Mewtwo that lacks the two-energy 50 damage attack, and does a lower 120 main attack, with matching lower HP.) Then, you’re going to want two Poké Balls, two Professor’s Research, and at least one X Speed. After that, you can experiment.

How to play the deck

The trick here is that Mewtwo ex has a devastating 150 attack, which the game attempts to temper by having you require four energy to use it and discard two of them every time you do. Except, along comes Gardevoir, evolved from Ralts and Kirlia, with the Ability to add an energy to your Active Pokémon every turn. That means, along with the energy you get per turn anyway, you can replenish back up to four every single turn. It’s unrelenting.

The two key things are to get Mewtwo in the Active Spot and Gardevoir evolved. So, you want Ralts on deck ASAP, and then put Jynx or Clefairy into play from the start. They can absorb early attacks while you prime Mewtwo with energy and get Ralts into Kirlia, then Kirlia into Gardevoir. When the cards fall right, this can happen in just two turns. Otherwise, hold your nerve, let your starting card take a dive if you need to, and then put Mewtwo in when you’re ready.

The Professor’s Research and Poké Ball cards should help you get any missing Pokémon out of the deck, and it’s worth having those X Speeds so you can pull out Jynx or Clefairy for free when you’re ready to move in Mewtwo—otherwise you’ll end up an energy behind, spent on the retreat cost. Then, blast, replenish, blast, replenish, and your opponent is likely going to be dependent upon unlikely coin flips to outdo it.

If anything, the main failing with this deck is that when people see you setting it up, they concede before you even get going. They lack spirit. Although, it’s hard to blame them, given there’s very little that can stand up to it.

I think, eventually, people are going to start countering with decks featuring Aerodactyl, given every attack has a 50 percent chance of the opponent having to shuffle their Active Pokémon into their deck. That’d be a devastating blow against Mewtwo, so shhhh, don’t tell anyone else.

Image: The Pokémon Company / Kotaku

Depending on your vantage point, there are those who would argue it’s Charizard that may have a slight edge on every other deck out there at the moment. While it takes some time to get online, and once again relies on coin-flip energy accrual, the ex variant of Charizard guarantees a one-hit kill on everything, and can start attacking as early as three energy. It’s also just a lot of fun for any old Pokéheads out there for whom a holographic Charizard was the de facto all-star of the trading card game’s early years.

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There are two options for the Charizard ex deck. One is to focus just on Charizard and Moltres and fill up on items to insulate you in the early game. The other is to swap in Ponyta and Rapidash for Red Cards and Sabrina to give you more flexibility and early game options.

How to play the deck

The number one goal is to get Moltres ex out as soon as possible, with a Charmander on the bench, and start loading the latter up with fire energy. From there, all you need is to evolve it to Charizard in a timely manner and start unloading Crimson Storm attacks for 200 damage each.

If you don’t luck out with the coin tosses, or it’s taking longer than desired to get Charizard up and running, your best bet is buying time with item cards and making sure Charizard has at least five energy before bringing him out to fight. That way, he can use back-to-back Crimson Storms. And at 180 HP, it’s very likely he’ll be able to at least get both off before getting killed.

Red Cards and Sabrinas, meanwhile, should help you disrupt your opponent’s flow to buy you time to bring Charizard online and prevent them getting a Starmie ex, Mewtoo ex, or Pikachu ex into position and loaded up with energy first. An extra 10 damage from Giovanni will be useless in most cases, which is why that card isn’t in the deck.

Image: The Pokémon Company / Kotaku

There’s one deck that’s received more prominence than any other, and that’s Lapras and Starmie. Star of the game’s first big event, it’s the deck absolutely everyone’s been battling in order to win those Lapras ex cards to start building their own. Don’t use it. There’s a better variant.

That’s not least because the Lapras version is also the deck absolutely everyone’s learned how to beat. The real star here is Starmie, teamed up with Articuno ex and the mercurial Misty, for a risky deck that dishes big damage

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There’s less room for improvisation here, given that there’s really no better back-up choice than Psyduck and Golduck, and the deck absolutely depends on both Misty and the cards to pull Pokémon from your deck. Articuno ex is your best second-runner to Starmie, too, as alternatives like Blastoise would require a three-step evolution and take over the deck.

How to play the deck

The key here is speed. This is all about getting Starmie ex in play before your opponent has had a chance to get their deck rolling. The brutal Mewtwo/Gardevoir deck is tough to beat, but a lot easier if you’re already taking chunks out of your opponent while Mewtwo is still tying his shoes.

The ideal situation is getting Staryu in the Active Spot before the game even starts, then evolving as quickly as possible, which is why you need two of each to improve the odds of this working. If Staryu is AWOL, putting Psyduck in is an excellent delay, as while its one-energy hit only does a paltry 10 damage, it also prevents the other player from using any Supporter cards on their next turn, and that means they can’t use Professor’s Research to dig out cards they need from their deck. It also blocks all the specialist supporters, like Blaine, Koga, Lt. Surge, and Brock from helping get Pokémon ready, and indeed the infuriating Sabrine from making you swap out your active Pokémon.

Once you’ve got Starmie ex evolved, you’re flying. You can now do 90 damage a turn, for just two energy. That’s not the 200 a Charizard ex can deliver (although it’d be 110 against Charizard thanks to its weakness!), but the idea here is to be dishing out those 90s to Charmander and Charmeleon before the ‘Zard has ever evolved. Also, Starmie ex has no retreat cost, so you can pull it when it’s getting weak, preventing the opponent taking those two points, and you don’t need to waste space in your deck with X Speeds. (Other setups for this deck keep the X Speed cards in, but we’ve subbed them for hand-wrecking Red Cards, because it’s such an excellent dick move to annoy your opponent.)

Articuno ex is there to sub in, in case Starmie is a no-show or is weakening. It’s a poorer option—doing 80 damage for three energy, with the bonus of a further 10 to opposing benched Pokémon—but it’s a Basic card, requiring no evolution, and its 140 HP will hold off enemies for a while. It’s really for Articuno that you want Misty in your deck, as should the coin-flips fall your way, you could get it loaded with energy to fight on turn 2.

Hopefully, when the cards fall your way, this means you can demolish your opponent long before they’re ready to fight back.

Image: The Pokémon Company / Kotaku

Pikachu ex is another straightforward deck to play, but unlike Charizard ex it goes a lot faster. While Zapdos ex can’t quickly fill up the energy reserves of your bench, you don’t need it too, since most cards in this deck only require two electric energy to be off to the races. The goal is to move fast and break things with Voltorb and Electrode before later retreating at no cost, thanks to the latter’s built-in speed X perk.

Pikachu ex and Zapdos ex then provide the heavy hits, with advantages against other legendary birds and water decks. And because of the low retreat costs, you should be able to rotate your bench aggressively and snag kills without losing anyone in return. And unless you’re getting lucky with Zapdos’ Thundering Hurricane coin flips, you’ll need to be retreating since most attacks in this deck aren’t hitting for over 100 damage.

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While Pikachu ex and Zapdos ex take time and luck to acquire, even newer players will quickly be swimming in Voltorb and Electrode. There’s also a lot of versatility outside of the two stars, with options for variants that mix in Raichu, Zebstrika, and Magneton. Lt. Surge is a must for Raichu and Magneton builds, since he makes it easy to quickly reroute energy from retreating Pokémon to those on the bench taking their place.

How to play the deck

The name of the game with Pikachu ex is speed. You want to hit the ground running, filling up your bench with electric Pokémon—though always saving an open spot for Pikachu ex if it hasn’t already been deployed. Voltorb is a great starting Pokémon because its Electrode evolution does a guaranteed 70 damage for just two energy, and it can retreat at no cost anytime, leaving room to bring Pikachu ex or Zapdos ex out and start wreaking havoc.

A mix of Giovanni and Potion can help you get a pick off early without giving any ground, while Red Card and Sabrina hopefully scramble your opponent before they can get a Mewtoo, Charizard, or other heavy-hitters that will kill your Pikachu ex or Zapdos ex in one hit.

If your opponent is able to establish that foothold, this deck will struggle to wrest back control of the board. That’s why it’s all about dictating the pace of the match early, and finishing things before one of those decks can come online.

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