Deck Tier List (Genetic Apex)

Pokemon Trading Card Game Pocket combines the beloved collecting appeal of the physical trading card game, as well as simplifying elements such as deck building and gameplay to suit a more fast-paced, beginner-friendly mobile game. With the first card set, Genetic Apex has a numerous amount of cards possible for building many different decks, knowing which cards to pair together and build around

can be tricky to work out.

There are a number of key Pokemon with cards that have proven themselves to be the best picks from Genetic Apex, making them popular decks for many players to obtain and try out. However, it can also be quite difficult to figure out where each deck build stands in the meta, and what separates it from other decks of higher or lower utility. To help point players in the right direction, a complete tier list has been structured in the guide below, outlining the best Pokemon Trading Card Game Pocket decks (as of Genetic Apex) and where they sit compared to one another.

Pokemon Trading Card Game Pocket Deck Tier List

In Pokemon TCG Pocket, ex cards are the most popular to build around as the powerhouse of your deck, including extra basic Pokemon, Item cards, and Supporter cards to help get your core cards set up and run a decent strategy. The tier list below illustrates which decks are currently performing at the best, as of the Genetic Apex set, as well as any extra points indicating suitable variations of the deck for different purposes and how this may slightly alter the best strategic approach and playstyle.

Where appropriate, links have also been included to complete build guides for these decks to help you prepare them in full.

S-Tier Decks

The strongest overall deck builds

Pikachu ex

• Pikachu ex‘s biggest advantage is the fact that it is a basic Pokemon, so can be played immediately, and has an attack that can deal up to 90 damage per turn with only 2 Energies. This is through the Circle Circuit move, which deals 30x damage per the number of Electric Pokemon on the bench. For this reason, the strategy involves filling your bench with Electric Pokemon, and then rotating Pikachu in to dish out that consistent damage.
  • The addition of Zapdos ex and/or Raichu can add some extra power picks to this deck build – Raichu is a good option for evolving a non-ex Pikachu to perform extra damage, and Zapdos ex also has the bonus of being a basic Pokemon and being able to go right into play, as well as a powerhouse attack that can deal 50x damage per successful coin flip (up to a total of 4 coins / 200 damage) at the cost of attaching only 3 Energies.

Mewtwo ex

• Mewtwo ex is an absolute powerhouse card to build around, hitting heavy damage with 50 damage per turn with 2 Energies, and 150 damage when 4 Energies are equipped. While the latter move will also discard 2 Energies when used, it is great for wiping out powerful foes and is even capable of taking down many ex cards in a single hit, stopping your opponent from setting up completely. The biggest benefit to this is that Mewtwo ex is very quick and easy to set up due to being a basic Pokemon, and can even be sought out through the addition of cards such as Poke Ball.
  • The addition of Giovanni in this deck increases Psychic Spear from 50 damage to 60, which can be used to wipe out many basic Pokemon in a single turn.
  • Gardevoir plays into this deck exceptionally well, as the ability Psy Shadow enables you to take one extra Energy from the Energy Zone and attach it to your Active Pokemon per turn. This essentially replenishes Mewtwo ex’s hefty 150 damage Psydrive attack each turn, meaning Mewtwo can continue to dish this out, taking out most Pokemon in one turn and every Pokemon in the game within two turns.

A-Tier Decks

Competitive deck builds

Charizard ex

• Charizard ex is a great card for building a Fire Type deck around, with the capability to one-shot most Pokemon in the current game. The Crimson Storm attack requires players to discard 2x Fire Energies in exchange for dealing 200 damage in a single turn, which is already powerful but can take a few turns to set up. However, the time to get Charizard into play and dish out these attacks can be amplified in consistency thanks to the abilities and assistance of other cards.
  • Moltres ex has Inferno Dance, which enables you to put Moltres ex into play as a basic Pokemon, then use the ability to supply extra Fire Energies to Charizard on your bench each turn through coin flips. Moltres is more than capable of this due to its high HP, enabling it to tank multiple hits from most basic Pokemon. Once Charizard is stocked up, you can swap it in and start cleaning up your foes.

Venusaur ex

• Venusaur ex makes the perfect starting point for a tanky Grass Type deck build, due to the ability to self-sustain whilst battling as your Active Pokemon. This is thanks to Venusaur’s Giant Bloom attack, which deals 100 damage per turn when equipped with 4 Energies, and also heals 30 damage from Venusaur with each use.
  • You can further boost Venusaur’s healing capability and keep this Pokemon in the fight longer with additional Item and Support cards, such as Erika and Potion. With all of these healing possibilities paired with Venusaur ex’s naturally high HP, this becomes potentially the best card for absorbing incoming damage and surviving the round to dish it back out against the opponent.

Articuno ex

• Articuno ex is a deck that makes an exploit out of Pokemon TCG Pocket’s rule set, with the best deck built around this ex card focused on adding an additional 18 Trainer/Item cards, forcing Articuno ex to remain your only two basic Pokemon. With this setup, players can use Misty to quickly attach extra energy to Articuno ex, which enables it to get set up at a very quick pace to deal 80 damage per turn to an active Pokemon plus 10 damage to every Pokemon on the opponent’s bench once per turn with only three Energies needing to be equipped.
  • Popular choices for Item/Trainer/Support cards in this structure include the essential pick of Misty for getting those Energies equipped, as well as cards to draw from your deck, filling in gaps – Professor Oak’s Research and Poke Ball are solid choices here.

Dragonite ex

• Dragonite ex is a solid battler that pairs nicely with the addition of suitable basic Pokemon to take the lead whilst it gets set up. Kangaskhan is a suitable candidate for this purpose, dealing some very solid damage with Dizzy Punch, which only requires one Energy to be attached, but relies on a coin flip, dishing out 30 damage each time one of the two flips is successful.
  • Once Dragonite ex manages to get on the field, Draco Meteor has huge potential to deal damage to not only the opponent’s Active Pokemon, but multiple Pokemon in a turn, as it targets a random Pokemon four times, dealing 50 damage each time. Essentially, the less Pokemon your opponent has on the bench, the more effective this attack will become.

Starmie ex

• Starmie ex is a solid card on its own but becomes a strong functioning deck when paired with the assistance of Articuno ex, who can run as your first Active Pokemon until you get Starmie ex set up through evolution. Both Articuno and Starmie have offensive strength and utility, with Starmie having a free retreat cost, enabling you to pivot your strategy with Articuno and vice-versa.
  • Starmie is capable of dealing 90 damage per turn with Hydro Splash, which only requires 2 Energies to be equipped. Articuno’s Blizzard required 3 Energies to be attached but deals 80 damage plus 10 damage to every benched Pokemon your opponent has in play. With the addition of cards such as Misty, players can stock up this energy whilst Starmie remains in play, then make use of the free retreat to swap Articuno in for extra damage without needing to waste retreat Energies or wait for Starmie to faint and give your opponent a point.

B-Tier Decks

Strong, but often outplayed by A/S-Tier decks

Marowak ex

• Marowak ex is fairly solid when it comes to deck builds, and is one of the better Ground Type decks available as of Genetic Apex due to being quite efficient in terms of Energy. However, while Marowak is certainly strong, it relies a little too heavily on a string of good luck, setting it apart from more consistent S-Tier and A-Tier decks. Marowak’s Bonemerang can deal up to a whopping 180 damage per turn with successful coin flips at just 2 Energy equipped, but this is also a double-edged sword with the possibility to deal zero damage per turn, too.
  • Other than Marowak, a popular secondary Pokemon for this deck is Kabuto/Kabutops. Kabutops can take some time to successfully set up, which can cost matches if you are unable to get it going. However, its Leech Life move only costs a single Energy, and dishes out 50 damage per turn, whilst also healing 50 damage to Kabutops on each attack. This healing can be increased for more self-sustain by using other cards to boost Kabutops’ attack power each turn.

Lapras ex

• Lapras ex is another card that balances some decent HP with healing capabilities, making it a decent ace for a Water Type deck when you don’t have access to some of its more powerful competitors, such as Articuno and Starmie. Lapras ex’s Bubble Drain required 3 Energy to be attached but enables players to deal 80 damage per turn, as well as healing 20 damage from Lapras with each use. Much like the Articuno and Starmie deck structures, Lapras follows this same format, including double copies of Lapras ex for your basic Pokemon, and the rest of the deck being compiled of Support/Trainer/Item cards, such as Misty and Poke Ball.

Blaine

• A deck built around Blaine and Fire Type Pokemon has proven to be quick and effective in offensive strategy, as well as cost-friendly for most players due to having fewer rare cards than many other decks featured on this tier list. Blaine’s ability improves the damage of Ninetails, Rapidash, and Magmar, so these evolution lines make up the majority of this deck, with the inclusion of a couple of other cards to help you get the cards needed into your hand for play, such as Poke Ball, Professor Oak’s Research.
  • Ninetail’s Flamethrower is a 3-cost Energy move that deals 90 damage per turn, at the cost of discarding 2 Fire Energy on use. Rapidash’s Fire Mane is a 1-cost Energy move dealing 40 damage per turn, making them the best cards to use out of those eligible to use with the Blaine card.
  • These damages can be further boosted with Giovanni’s Power to deal 100 and 50 damage in a turn, and players can later switch out some of the more situational Trainer/Item/Supporter cards for more powerhouse picks such as Moltres, which will also help set up Energies to fuel Ninetails’ Flamethrower.

Zapdos ex

• Zapdos ex is another decent choice for an Electric Type Deck when players are unable to commit to building a Pikachu ex deck. Zapdos has the strength of being able to attack with just one Energy for 20 damage per turn with Peck, as well as Thundering Hurricane, which requires 4 Energies to be attached and deals 50 damage per successful coin flip, for a maximum of four coin flips or 200 damage.
  • The Zapdos ex structure works the same as Articuno ex and Lapras ex, where the deck structure is composed mostly of Trainer/Item/Support cards, as well as one or two basic Pokemon selections.

C-Tier Decks

Capable decks with some key strengths, but also significant weaknesses

Greninja

• Greninja has the ability to deal 20 damage to one of your opponent’s Pokemon each turn, and has additional solid damage with Mist Slash, costing 2 Energy for 60 damage per turn. Greninja pairs exceptionally well with Articuno ex too, due to Articuno’s ability to also deal damage to benched Pokemon, as well as the ability to be played right away as a basic Pokemon.
• • As with many other Water Type decks, Misty is a standard addition as it can supply extra Energy to your Pokemon, Potion can help keep them in play for longer, and Professor Oak’s Research can help you to pull extra cards, potentially giving you the cards you need to evolve Greninja and get it in play.

Koga

• The Koga deck revolves around the rotation of Weezing and Muk cards. Weezing can poison the opponent’s Pokemon through the Gas Leak ability. Koga can then be played to return Weezing to your hand, enabling you to put Muk into play and utilize the Venoshock attack, which deals 120 damage instead of 70 when targeting poisoned enemies. This is enough to oneshot several ex cards, including the likes of Pikachu ex and Mewtwo ex.

Blastoise ex

• Blastoise ex is a solid Water Type deck that scales in power as the match goes on. For 2 Energy, Blastoise can attack with Surf to deal 40 damage, Hydro Bazooka can deal 100 base damage while 3 Energy are equipped, or 160 damage when equipped with five Energy. Aside from Blastoise’s potential, both Squirtle and Wartortle are capable of dishing out decent and consistent attacks as you evolve them to get Blastoise into play.
  • Misty provides benefits to Blastoise ex by applying extra Energies, enabling it to scale the Hydro Bazooka attack more quickly.

Gengar ex

• Gengar ex has some utility through the Shadowy Spellbind ability, which restricts your opponent from playing Supporter cards. This makes a decent strategy to build around, as Gengar may cause a hiccup to the strategies of other decks – with cards such as Misty, Giovanni, Sabrina, Blaine, and more being affected. Gengar ex also has 170 hp which makes it quite capable of tanking a couple of hits, and Spooky Shot deals a solid 100 damage per turn, but requires quite a bit of setup with needing Gastly and Haunter as pre-evolutions, and three Energy attached to get Spooky Shot running.
  • Some popular copies of this deck also include a regular Gengar as well as Gengar ex to help get things going, as it comes paired with Bother, dealing 50 damage and restricting the use of enemy Supporters while only needing 1 Energy attached.

Arbok / Pidgeot

• Most decks feature one ‘ace’ Pokemon with the assistance of one or two other key picks, but in this build, both Arbok and Pidgeot are as important as one another, creating synergy through their abilities. Pidgeot’s Drive Off can force the opponent to switch their active Pokemon with a benched Pokemon, whilst Arbok’s Corner attack both deals 60 damage and locks the defending Pokemon into play, meaning they can’t be swapped out or retreated.
  • With cards such as Sabrina and X Speed, you can start with Pidgeot in play, forcing your opponent’s best Pokemon off the Active spot and putting a weaker one into its place. Players can then use one of these cards to help switch Pidgeot out for Arbok and then get the Corner attack going to force the opponent’s weaker Pokemon to stay, giving you the opportunity to take it down for an easy point.

Alakazam

• Alakazam is a decent key Pokemon to build a Psychic deck around, but lacks competitive power in comparison to Mewtwo ex decks, making it a more secondary choice (yet, but budget-friendly due to the cards included). The deck is quite reliant on getting Abra in your starting hand, so it’s a bit of a gamble at times, but once Alakazam is in play it is a solid Pokemon that can deal decent damage, with Psychic requiring 3 Energies to be attached and dealing 60 damage per turn, plus an extra 30 more damage per Energy attached to the opponent’s Active Pokemon. This is enough to take down many powerhouse ex competitors and decks that rely on high Energy use.
  • Jynx is the best secondary Pokemon to include alongside the Alakazam line, as Jynx is a basic Pokemon that can go into play first while you get Abra/Kadabra/Alakazam set up on your bench. Jynx is also capable of the Psychic attack with 2 Energy attached for 30 damage, plus the bonus 30 damage per Energy on your opponent’s Active Pokemon.