Pokemon TCG Pocket best decks tier list, including Mythical Island boosters (Dec 2024)

Pokemon TCG Pocket's first booster set, Mythical Island, adds a whopping 86 cards to the card game and, with it, a shake-up to the existing meta. Decks hinging on monsters like Mewtwo and Starmie EX are still powerful in this new landscape, but the expansion also gives players more options for dealing with those paradigms. Beyond formidable counters, players are also concocting a number of entirely new decks that you might want to prepare for, if not steal outright. Here’s what you need to know.

Celebi enters the ring as a serious contender for a top deck, whereas Pikachu’s reign of terror comes to a close. The update introduces a number of cards seemingly targeted at the Electric-type Pokemon, like Pidgeot EX, which deals more damage for every benched Pokemon in your opponent’s deck. While the flying-type Pokemon is weak to electric attacks, Pidgeot’s ability can theoretically kill Pikachu in a single turn. The humble Tauros, meanwhile, deals a measly 40 damage–unless your opponent’s active Pokemon is an EX card, in which case it does 80 more damage. Most EX Pokemon can survive Tauros’ attack, barely–with the exception of Pikachu. For this reason, we’re pulling the fan favorite deck out of the list of best cards.

Best Pokemon TCG Pocket decks and full tier list

Our tier list for all the best cards in Pokemon TCG Pocket is as follows in November 2024:

• S-tier decks
  • Mewtwo ex (Psychic): This deck focuses on Mewtwo ex up front and having Gardevoir on the bench, using the latter to rapidly power up the former to do massive damage.
  • Starmie ex / Articuno ex (Water): A diverse deck that combines speed and power through a mix of rare cards, using Misty to (sometimes) provide energy to the team.
• A-tier decks
  • Pikachu ex (Electric): A high-speed deck designed to do rapid damage before the opponent can set up their own play.
  • Charizard ex (Fire): A heavy-hitting deck that uses Moltres ex to fuel a benched Charizard ex with its Inferno Dance, before swapping them around to do some major damage.
  • Venusaur ex (Grass): A deck that uses healing powers to sustain itself, but struggles in the early game.
• B-tier decks
  • Marowak ex (Fighting): A cheap, quick fighting deck that risks a lot on coin flips.
  • Poison/Koga (Dark): Arbok and Weezing control and poison the opponent while Koga allows you to return Weezing to your hand. Lacks raw power, though a good budget deck with a strong early game.

We'll go into these decks further on, and there's plenty of the Pokemon TCG Pocket best cards that aren't necessarily represented in the decks above, but keep in mind that the meta and the best decks in Pocket aren't so unstoppable that you'll always be guaranteed a 100% win rate. Type disadvantage, a bad opening hand, clever plays by your opponent - all these things can bring even the most powerful deck down, and metas being what they are, we'll likely see some counter-decks for these two popping up soon, especially as more cards are added.

Now, admittedly these decks all tend to include some of the rarest cards in Pokemon TCG Pocket, and that's something to keep in mind - you won't be able to build these straight off the bat unless you're willing to sync a lot of money into gold, or just are very lucky in your pack draws.

Best Celebi EX deck

The Mythical Island booster for Pokemon TCG added Celebi ex and and a new contender for the top deck:

• Celebi ex x2
• Snivy x2
• Servine x2
• Serperior x2
• Meowth x2
• Dhelmise x2
• Professor’s Research x2
• Sabrina x2
• Poké Ball x2
• X Speed x2

This Celebi ex deck prioritizes the mythical psychic and grass Pokemon with a fearsome ability to land exponential damage. On a baseline level, Celebi’s attack is worth 50 hit points. But for every energy attached to it, Celebi gets a coin toss. Every head you land adds an additional 50 points of damage. Most Pokemon have less than 80 HP, which means that lucky players can kill an EX Pokemon in one go.

To maximize Celebi’s effectiveness, you’ll want to pair it with Serperior, another new card. Serperior’s Jungle Totem ability makes every grass-type energy count as two, which means that a Celebi with a mere 2-3 energy will get many chances at a favorable coin toss.

Serperior is a third stage evolution, however, meaning it will take some setting up before you can unleash its fury. In the meantime, you can pull cards with Professor’s Research if not establish some low-cost attackers in the early game, such as Meowth. Dhelmise also makes great usage of Serperior’s energy boosting with a 20 HP ability that can add 70 additional HP when the card accrues at least 3 energy.

• Pros
  • Potential for huge damage output
  • Multiple attack options
  • Plenty of grass-type alternate card options, such as Exeggutor and Lilligant
• Cons
  • Takes a lot of set-up
  • Acquiring Celebi, a rare card, is difficult
  • Can be countered with easier-to-obtain fire decks

Best Mewtwo ex deck

The Mewtwo ex deck is one of the best decks in the meta right now, and is composed of the following:

• Mewtwo ex x2
• Ralts x2
• Kirlia x2
• Gardevoir x2
• Potion x2
• X Speed x2
• Poke Ball x2
• Red Card x1
• Professor's Research x2
• Mythical Slab x1
• Giovanni x2

Getting Mewtwo EX onto the battlefield has never been easier thanks to the new Mythical Slab card, which allows you to cycle through your monsters more effectively. Mythical Slab takes the top card of your deck; if it’s a psychic Pokemon, it goes into your hand. Anything else gets pulled to the bottom of your deck.

Once you’ve got Mewtwo on the active slot, you can rely on Gardevoir's "Psy Shadow" Ability to give it free energy every turn. Set it up right, and you can use Mewtwo's Psydrive attack to do 150 damage every turn, at no cost to yourself.

Before, setting up two Ralts evolutions was a risky proposition. Now, though, you’ve got multiple options for getting the card you need beyond Mythical Slab, like Professor’s Research and Pokeball.

We've also got a dedicated guide to looking at all versions of the Pokemon TCG Pocket Mewtwo ex deck.

• Pros
  • Massive, continuous damage when set up
  • Gardevoir and Mewtwo have decent HP
  • An arguably OP deck is now even stronger
• Cons
  • Your best bet for Mythical Slab is Wonder Pick
  • If you lose Mewtwo, it's all over
  • The new booster set introduces more counters

Pikachu ex deck

With new Mythical Island decks seemling targeting Pikachu, the ex deck has lost it's edge a little. It's still one of the best decks in play right now, with a strong early game, it just lost its unchallenged dominance. You can make it from the following cards:

• Pikachu ex x2
• Zapdos ex x2
• Voltorb x2
• Electrode x2
• Poke Ball x2
• Potion x2
• Red Card x1
• X Speed x2
• Sabrina x2
• Giovanni x1
• Professor's Research x2

This is a massively aggressive "glass cannon" deck, based around getting powerful Pokemon on the field and doing high damage ASAP. Pikachu ex and Zapdos ex cards both can do major damage in their first few turns on the field, and it means you can secure a victory as early as turn six, if you're lucky.

However, if you haven't won by that point and give your opponent time to set up, things will get harder. Both are comparatively low health for "ex" cards, and obviously if one gets taken out, you lose two points instead of one. Not only that, but there's some luck involved here: Pikachu deals damage that scales to the number of Pokemon you have benched, and Zapdos' big attack is based on a series of coin flips, so you might end up doing nothing. With new options like Pidgeot EX and even Tauros now posing a viable threat, it's all a much riskier play now.

If you want more info on building and playing this, as well as some alternative builds, here's our full guide to the perfect Pokemon TCG Pocket Pikachu ex deck.

• Pros
  • Fast set-up and high damage, great early game
  • Not complex or dependent on evolution
  • Good against water decks, late-game decks, and the legendary birds, all of which are common
• Cons
  • Best attacks are somewhat circumstantial and not always relaiable
  • Low health pools
  • Expensive, high budget deck

Starmie ex / Articuno ex deck

Just below the top two decks, the Starmie ex deck is about getting powerful water Pokemon on the field and doing damage ASAP. Here's the most widely-used and effective version:

• Staryu x2
• Starmie ex x2
• Articuno ex x2
• Poke Ball x2
• Potion x2
• X Speed x1
• Red Card x1
• Misty x2
• Giovanni x2
• Sabrina x1
• Vaporeon x1
• Professor's Research x2

This mix of Starmie and Articuno ex can potentially win you the game on turn one, if you're lucky with your draws. Getting Articuno and a good result with Misty means you can cast Blizzard for 80 damage the moment the game starts, potentially wiping the foe's board and securing the earliest of early victories. Admittedly Misty is based on chance, so there's no guarantees, but when it works, it's devastating.

The new Vaporeon variant also beefs up Misty in the rare cases that you land more coin tosses than you need. Wash Out allows you to move water energy from your benched Pokemon to your Active Pokemon as many times as you like during your turn. You can use X speed to swap out a monster stacked with energy which needs healing and replace it with something that could attack immediately once you move some energy around.

• Pros
  • Low/no retreat costs
  • Powerful early game
  • Misty/Articuno is a potential turn-one win
• Cons
  • Lacks really powerful "finisher" attacks
  • Weak to the very common Electric deck builds
  • Playing two EX cards might help your opponent end a match quicker

Charizard ex deck

The Charizard ex deck is a fire-type deck that has Moltres power up the star of the show, which stays on the bench until it's ready to tear through opponents. To build your own Charizard ex deck, you'll need:

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

Charizard ex has the most powerful attack in the game right now, its Crimson Storm capable of doing 200 damage to the enemy's active Pokemon. Unfortunately, it discards two energy cards in being used, so the goal here is to keep Charizard benched while Moltres is active and fuels it up with repeated uses of Inferno Dance. Once Charizard has at least 5 energy, you can swap their places and tear through the opponent's team.

The downside is similar to Mewtwo's: the lengthy setup. You need to find Charmander in the deck and then evolve it twice, something that can take a lot of time if you're unlucky in your card draws. Use Sabrina, your Potions and Red Cards to buy yourself time until you're ready to retaliate - and if your opponent brings in Starmie ex, you might as well give up there and then. With the Pokemon TCG Pocket Mass Fire Outbreak event having arrived, we expect to see more Fire decks coming into circulation, many of which will be building towards this kind of structure.

If you want a more detailed idea about how this deck works, or alternatives for builds, we've got a dedicated page on the Pokemon TCG Pocket Charizard ex deck here.

• Pros
  • Unrivalled attack power
  • Inferno Dance is a swift energy-creation method
  • Charmander/Charmeleon are both powerful in their own right
• Cons
  • Shaky early game
  • Somewhat chance-dependent (Inferno Dance and drawing the right cards)
  • Crimson Storm discards precious energy cards in being used

Venusaur ex deck

Venusaur ex and grass decks are the only options in Pokemon TCG Pocket for healing and recovery on a major level. If that appeals to you, here's the build:

• Bulbasaur x2
• Ivysaur x2
• Venusaur ex x2
• Petilil x2
• Lilligant x2
• Poke Ball x2
• Potion x1
• X Speed x2
• Erika x2
• Professor's Research x2
• Sabrina x1

You can shuffle around the exact numbers of items to taste, but ultimately the goal here is to get Lilligant active on the field so it can then provide energy to the Bulbasaur on the bench. You play defensively, healing and controlling, all the while evolving Bulbasaur to the Venusaur ex. Once you're done, swap them around and bring in the big grass frog.

Venusaur ex's Giant Bloom does 100 damage while healing it for 30 every turn - not to mention the fact that it's pretty tanky at 190 HP. Unless your opponent is running a Charizard deck as shown above, it should be impossible to one-shot your team mascot. If you want some alternate variants for the deck, try bringing in Exeggutor ex early on, or having Caterpie to more quickly draw Pokemon cards.

• Pros
  • Venusaur is a sturdy tank
  • Erika is a powerful healing card
  • Lilligant is a good energy provider
• Cons
  • Lacks major firepower
  • Dependent on good draws
  • Fire decks are common right now

Marowak ex deck

A good budget and beginner deck for Pokemon TCG Pocket, this fighting-type Marowak ex deck is simple in concept and execution.

• Cubone x2
• Marowak ex x2
• Diglett x2
• Dugtrio x2
• Poke Ball x2
• Potion x2
• X Speed x2
• Sabrina x2
• Giovanni x2
• Professor's Research x2

There's been a few variants of this deck floating around, using regular Marowaks, Kabutops, Primeape and Hitmonlee (among others), but this is our preferred build. Both Dugtrio and Marowak ex have strong early game performances, but are also pretty reliant on chance, with a lot of coin flips. Marowak ex does 80 damage for each head in two coin flips (meaning somewhere between 0 and 160), while Dugtrio has a 50% chance to become invulnerable to all damage and effects for a turn, every turn. I've won games on the strength of that latter ability alone. Not to mention that with so many people running Pikachu ex and electric type decks, this serves as a good counter.

It's not perfect though. Marowak ex's reliance on chance means that you can get ruined by some bad coin flips, and the deck lacks heavy, dependable firepower. The key here is to do heavy damage in the early game, and hope your opponent can't recover.

• Pros
  • Strong early game
  • Good counter against the common electric decks
  • When coin flips go your way, you're unstoppable!
• Cons
  • Weak late game
  • Lacks massive damage options
  • When coin flips don't go your way, you're in trouble...

Koga deck

This dark-type poison deck budget friendly, yet demands a veteran's experience, all about control and careful manipulation of the battlefield, poisoning the opponent and whittling them down instead of utilizing single-hit super-attacks. Here's the most commonly used deck build in the meta right now:

• Koffing x2
• Weezing x2
• Ekans x2
• Arbok x2
• Poke Ball x2
• Potion x2
• X Speed x2
• Koga x2
• Sabrina x2
• Professor's Research x2

This one is a little tricky to learn and get the hang of, but there's a lot of potential, especially to counter the common Mewtwo psychic deck that's dominating the meta. You bring out Koffing and Weezing for a strong, cheap early game tank that poisons the enemy, then use Koga to pull them back to your hand for free when you're ready (healing them in the process). With the enemy poisoned, you bring in Arbok, forcing them to stay on the battlefield as the active Pokemon, as Arbok's "Corner" attack disables the ability to retreat.

It's very based on control, and if the opponent does manage to bring their wounded Pokemon back to the bench, you use Sabrina to get them back out. It's a deck that's good at disrupting strategies, though it lacks heavy damage and usually falters in the late game. We've also seen some people doing a variant where they take out Koga, Weezing and Koffing and swap them with Pidgey, Pidgeotto and Pidgeot, controlling the field with the latter's ability and locking Pokemon into place with Arbok.

• Pros
  • Budget friendly, no ex cards requires
  • Powerful early game
  • Counters the psychic Mewtwo meta
• Cons
  • No heavy firepower
  • Struggles against tanky cards
  • Weak late game

Of course, if you're focused more on form over function, find out how the Pokemon TCG Pocket flair system works and how to add cosmetics to your cards here!

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