Pokémon TCG Pocket: best decks to play right now

At the start of your Pokémon TCG Pocket journey, you will mostly be focused on getting as many decent cards in your collection as possible. Once you’ve finally battled some friends and crafted some cards, you’ll be able to make a great deck.

Unfortunately, even a good deck can’t rival some of the best decks anyone can create in Pokémon TCG Pocket. Players have finally cracked down on the game’s meta, so if you want to compete in the big leagues against others online, you should create some of the best decks listed below.

Mewtwo ex deck

• x2 Mewtwo ex
• x2 Ralts
• x2 Kirlia
• x2 Gardevoir
• x2 Potion
• x2 X Speed
• x2 Poké Ball
• x2 Professor’s Research
• x2 Giovanni
• x1 Red Card
• x1 Sabrina

This Psychic deck becomes unstoppable with this setup if you start the game with the right cards. Your main attackers are your Mewtwo ex cards, but if successful, you should only need to use one to win. Ralts can evolve into Kirlia, which when evolved to Gardevoir has a passive ability to give any Psychic card in the active spot an extra Psychic energy. Since the Mewtwo’s most powerful ability requires four energy but will spend two, you can keep spamming this move each turn even with just one Gardevoir on your bench.

Articuno ex deck

• x2 Articuno ex
• x1 Froakie
• x1 Frogadier
• x1 Greninja
• x2 Potion
• x2 X Speed
• x2 Poké Ball
• x2 Professor’s Research
• x2 Giovanni
• x2 Misty
• x2 Sabrina
• x1 Red Card

All the Articuno ex deck needs are two of its star players to win, alongside Greninja helping from the bench. Although Greninja isn’t crucial for this deck to work, they can deal 20 damage to any of your opponent’s Pokémon from the bench every turn. Otherwise, Articuno ex’s best move only requires three energy and deals 80 damage to the active Pokémon while simultaneously dealing 10 damage to all benched Pokémon. If you pull a Misty card and successfully gain enough energy on an early turn, Articuno ex is a deadly deck to face off against.

Pikachu ex deck

• x2 Pikachu ex
• x2 Zapdos ex
• x2 Helioptile
• x2 Heliolisk
• x2 Potion
• x2 X Speed
• x2 Poké Ball
• x2 Professor’s Research
• x2 Giovanni
• x1 Red Card
• x1 Sabrina

The Pikachu ex deck is versatile since all this card needs is three other Lightning-type Pokémon sitting on the bench to get a full output of 90 damage each turn. While it’s best to have two Zapdos (or Zapdos ex), you can try other Lightning Pokémon if you don’t have Helioptile and Heliolisk. You could swap them with two Voltorbs and Electrodes, which have similar health and damage outputs, Pincurchin can paralyze your enemy, or Eevee to Jolteon can deal up to 160 damage if you’re lucky with coin flips.

Dragonite deck

• x2 Dratini
• x2 Dragonair
• x2 Dragonite
• x2 Koffing
• x2 Weezing
• x2 Potion
• x2 Poké Ball
• x2 Professor’s Research
• x2 Koga
• x1 Sabrina
• x1 X Speed

This is the only non-ex deck on this list, but it’s still just as powerful as the rest. It’s important to ensure you only allow Water and Lightning energy for this deck and not Dark because you won’t be using it for Koffing and Weezing. They’ll act as decoys to tank hits while you start building up to a Dragonite, but can still do damage in the meantime with Weezing’s ability to poison your opponent. Then use Koga to immediately put Weezing into your hand and replace it with your Dragonite. If you don’t have Koffing and Weezing, you can swap them out for any other Pokémon with a good chunk of health to withstand hits.

Venusaur ex deck

• x2 Bulbasaur
• x2 Ivysaur
• x2 Venusaur ex
• x2 Petilil
• x2 Lilligant
• x2 Poké Ball
• x2 Professor’s Research
• x2 Erika
• x1 X Speed
• x1 Red Card
• x1 Sabrina
• x1 Potion

The Venusaur ex deck is the best Grass-type deck that utilizes Lilligant’s ability to grant extra energy to a benched Pokémon anytime they use their main attack. This will help you build up to a Venusaur ex with enough energy early on. You can then swap in the Venusaur ex that can deal 100 damage while healing itself for 30 HP. We also recommend you bring more Erika cards with you than Potions since Erika can heal 50 HP to any Grass-type Pokémon, while a Potion only heals 20.

Starmie ex deck

• x2 Staryu
• x2 Starmie ex
• x2 Froakie
• x2 Frogadier
• x2 Greninja
• x2 Potion
• x2 Poké Ball
• x2 Misty
• x2 Professor’s Research
• x1 Sabrina
• x1 Red Card

Starmie ex is one of the most powerful cards in Pokémon TCG Pocket since it has no retreat cost and only needs two energy to deal 90 damage. Pair this with a Greninja or two on the bench so they can both deal 20 damage each turn to any of your opponent’s Pokémon. You should also bring Misty along for a chance to give yourself a bunch of Water energy if the coin flips go your way. If you don’t have the cards for Greninja, you could replace them with Articuno ex or Lapras ex instead.

Charizard ex deck

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

The Charizard ex deck relies on the Moltres ex’s Inferno Dance ability that can give your benched Charizard cards extra Fire energy depending on your coin flips. It has 140 HP to tank hits until you’ve finally built up to a Charizard ex, and with four energy it can deal a whopping 200 damage (although it consumes two energy). Since this deck is already so powerful, you won’t need a Giovanni with you.

Blastoise ex deck

• x2 Squirtle
• x2 Wartortle
• x2 Blastoise ex
• x2 Lapras ex
• x2 Potion
• x2 Poké Ball
• x2 X Speed
• x2 Misty
• x2 Professor’s Research
• x1 Red Card
• x1 Sabrina

One of the most underrated ex cards is the Blastoise ex. Only needing three energy, its Hydro Bazooka move deals 100 damage on its own, but if your card has two extra Water energy attached, it’ll do 60 more damage. This pairs well with the Lapras ex card since it doesn’t take much energy and can act as a tank while you build up to a Blastoise. If you don’t have a Lapras ex, go for Articuno ex instead. It shouldn’t be difficult to get energy with two Misty cards on hand either.