The best decks to use in ‘Pokémon TCG Pocket’

Pokémon TCG Pocket launched at the end of October and racked up 10million downloads in its first week.

The game is aimed at introducing “casual” players to the Pokémon Trading Card Game. Fans can open digital booster packs, collect the cards inside and build 20-card decks for battling. A number of fans have already worked out the most powerful combinations of cards and below, you’ll find several of the best decks in Pokémon TCG Pocket, based on the current Genetic Apex set of cards available.

• READ MORE: The rarest cards to collect in ‘Pokémon TCG Pocket’

This guide will cover several decks that you want to start building right now to be able to have the upper hand on your opponents and where you can find the rarer cards from the booster packs.

‘Pokémon TCG Pocket’ Best Decks

The best decks in Pokémon TCG Pocket are:

• Pikachu EX Deck – Pikachu, Voltorb, Electrode, Zapdos, X Speed
• Mewtwo EX & Gardevoir Deck – Mewtwo, Ralts, Kirila, Gardevoir, Sabrina
• Dragonite & Articuno EX Deck – Dratini, Dragonair, Dragonite, Articuno, Misty
• Moltres EX & Charizard EX Deck – Charmander, Charmeleon, Charizard, Moltres, Professor’s Research
• Starmie EX & Articuno EX Deck – Staryu, Starmie, Articuno, Misty
• Exeggutor EX Deck – Exeggcute, Exeggutor, Paras, Parasect, Erika

Pikachu EX Deck

The Pikachu EX Deck contains:

• Pikachu EX x2
• Zapdos EX x2
• Voltorb x2
• Electrode x2
• X Speed x2
• Professor’s Research x2
• Poké Ball x2
• Potion x2
• Sabrina
• Lt. Surge
• Giovanni

This deck focuses on using Pikachu EX to deal damage with Circle Circuit. This allows you to stack your bench with base-level Pokémon that can then buff the attack. Similarly, Zapdos EX can let you pull off some immense damage thanks to Thundering Hurricane.

Potion, Pokéballs, Lt. Surge and Professor’s Research will also help you stack your party and pull your in-play cards’ energy to your active slot if you have to make a quick adjustment or allow you to pull as many cards as possible. Voltorb and Electrode are our choices for extra Pokémon, as they can do a lot of damage. However, you can swap them out for Pikachu and Raichu’s regular forms to make up the numbers of Electric Pokémon to supercharge your attacking power.

 

Mewtwo EX & Gardevoir Deck

The Mewtwo EX and Gardevoir deck contains:

• Mewtwo EX x2
• Ralts x2
• Kirlia x2
• Gardevoir x2
• Mr. Mime x1
• Professor’s Research x2
• Poké Ball x2
• X Speed x2
• Potion x2
• Giovanni x2
• Sabrina x1

When paired together, Mewtwo EX and Gardevoir form a deck that can’t be beat right now. The strategy is to play Mewtwo in the active slot after you have built up enough energy and then use Gardevoir’s Psy Shadow ability to refill Mewtwo’s energy for Psydrive each round, pulling an extra energy alongside the one you are automatically given every round.

This allows you to consistently use Psydrive and deal 150 damage every turn, making you practically unstoppable, especially if you have two Mewtwo EXs and some Potions. If you can get two Gardevoirs in your active play slots, then you can double your energy gain – this pairs exceptionally well with another Mewtwo EX to have two of each card.

Sabrina will allow you to pull your opponent’s Pokémon out if it poses too much of a threat, while X Speed allows you to do the same with yours. On top of that, Giovanni can tip you over the edge on damage for those pesky EX cards that have 160 health.

Dragonite & Articuno Deck

The Dragonite and Articuno Deck contains:

• Dratini x2
• Dragonair x2
• Dragonite x2
• Articuno x2
• Poké Ball x2
• Professor’s Research x2
• Misty x2
• Sabrina
• Potion x2
• X Speed x2
• Helix Fossil

Dragonite is one of the deadliest cards in the game right now. With its Draco Meteor attack, it deals 50 damage four times to your opponent’s active Pokémon and its bench. However, the catch is you will need to run both Water and Electric Energy. However, Articuno helps with this, allowing you to bide for time and paralyse your opponent, allowing you to play more turns and get more energy.

This deck can absolutely dominate even the best of players and with the addition of Potions alongside Professor Research, you can heal both Dragonite and Articuno while pulling more cards from your deck. Misty is also vital for this deck, allowing you to stack several energies onto Dragonite or Articuno to get an early headstart.

If you don’t want to use Helix Fossil as a blocker, you can also add another Sabrina card or use someone like Giovanni if needed.

Moltres EX and Charizard EX Deck

The Moltres EX and Charizard EX Deck contains:

• Moltres EX x2
• Charmander x2
• Charmeleon x2
• Charizard EX x2
• Eevee
• Flareon
• Poké Ball x2
• Professor’s Research x2
• Potion x2
• X Speed x2
• Red Card
• Sabrina

Now we start getting to the less effective but easier to obtain decks. For this one, you will need both a Charizard and Moltres EX.

This entire deck is about using Moltres as a blocker while you build up energy for your Charizard EXs or other Fire Pokémon. Its Inferno Dance attack allows you to flip three coins and pull a fire energy for each heads you get. You can then attach it to your benched Pokémon in any way. This allows you to stack energy incredibly fast and if you can keep Moltres alive with Potions, then you can have several cards at full energy. If you don’t have enough Charizards, then we suggest running with Flareon, Arcanine, Arcanine EX, or Centiskorch.

You can then switch out Moltres with X Speed and quick start attacking with your most powerful Charizard attacks.

Starmie EX and Articuno EX Deck

The Starmie EX and Articuno EX deck includes:

• Staryu x2
• Starmie EX x2
• Articuno EX x2
• Bruxish x2
• Poké Ball x2
• Professor’s Research x2
• Potion x2
• Misty x2
• X Speed X2
• Giovanni
• Sabrina

Next up is an underrated but strong deck. The combination of Starmie EX and Articuno EX is a dangerous one, specifically because Articuno can be used to attack benched Pokémon, while Starmie is a high-damage, high-health EX that doesn’t require any elaborate energy combinations or work to build up its energy stock.

It is quite simple so it doesn’t offer a lot of flexibility and if your opponent has a counter, then you are stuffed.

Exeggutor EX Deck

The Exeggutor EX Deck contains:

• Exeggcute x2
• Exeggutor EX x2
• Paras x2
• Parasect x2
• Tauros
• Poké Ball x2
• Professor’s Research x2
• Potion x2
• Erika x2
• Sabrina x2
• X Speed

The Exeggutor EX Deck is an easy deck to build, especially if you chose the Charizard pack at the beginning of the game, as it is a guaranteed pull. But to make the most out of this deck and keep your Pokémon alive, you will need some rare Trainer cards, specifically Erika.

The goal here is to use your Exeggutor EX to try and deal as much damage as possible. And if that fails, then you can use your other grass Pokémon like Paras and Parasect who have high-damage attacks but do require a lot of energy. If you don’t have Erika, then Giovanni is your next best shot on top of Sabrina.

For even more Pokémon TCG Pocket news, be sure to check out our reroll guide and information on trading.

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