For either avid fans of the Pokemon Trading Card Game series, or ones just joining in with the release of Pokemon TCG Pocket, one of the best ways to familiarize yourself with the game’s mechanics and cards is through rental decks. These decks only require players to acquire their staple card through packs, and when unlocked, they can be used to grind through battles even against some of the toughest opposition.
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Now, like all cards or decks in trading card games, some are better than others. It might be hard to tell thanks to the balance of the game differing from a traditional Pokemon game, but each rental deck ranks at a certain level when compared to the rest of them.
Pokemon Pocket – Rental Deck Tier List
Rental decks are temporary decks that players acquire when they get a specific card through a pack, which extends from EX cards to Supporter cards. Either way, the rental deck includes cards that a player doesn’t own, but they can use it to compete in solo battles for ten uses. There are a total of twelve rental decks in Pokemon TCG Pocket.
Current and potential future rental decks can be tracked in the Deck Missions tab, and accessing the decks is as easy as pressing the Decks button on the Battle screen, and then tapping the Rental Decks tab in the Decks Menu to see what you’ve collected so far.
Now, all Rental Decks are good options for players who aren’t used to building decks themselves, but some are purely stronger than others due to the strength of the cards within. Here are how the tiers work in this Rental Deck tier list to tell the difference and maybe see which decks you should try and use first.
|
Tier |
Explanation |
|---|---|
|
S |
The best of the best rental decks available, and good decks to duplicate if you have the cards. |
|
A |
Good rental decks, usually highlighted by great cards, and a great base to customize around for later. |
|
B |
Decent rental decks, are good to test out unique cards and learn how the game is played. |
|
C |
Poor rental decks, not likely to win games but might have some fun cards to see in action. |
There aren’t any horrible rental decks, but if you want the best taste of what will come, the S-tier and A-tier decks are your best bet.
S Tier Rental Decks
|
Tier |
Deck |
Reason |
|---|---|---|
|
S |
Mewtwo EX |
Mewtwo EX alone is a card that can carry battles if you get them early on, and the damage from the rest of the deck is no slouch either. |
|
Pikachu EX |
The Pikachu EX deck is strong due to cheap Energy costs and good damage attacks. |
Effectively, if you can pack either of the main cards for these rental decks, you’re in for a treat. If you get ten battles from either of these decks, playing it wrong with the strength of cards within will be hard.
Mewtwo is more of a pure damage dealer, with the goal of the deck to stay alive with strong cards like Gengar or Slowbro so that your Mewtwo can stack energy and hit hard. The gameplay for this might require some more thought than other decks because Mewtwo is the closer and should be built up as your other cards take most of the damage.
The Pikachu deck relies on outpacing the opponent thanks to cheap cards that can hit hard with few energy cards, to defeat them before they can even set up their strongest Pokemon. Some of the key Pokemon for the Pikachu EX deck include Electrode, Zebstrika, and Heliolisk, and the way to play is fast and aggressive.
A Tier Rental Decks
|
Tier |
Deck |
Reason |
|---|---|---|
|
A |
Blastoise EX |
This deck has one of the game’s strongest Water EX cards while remaining flexible. The key to playing this deck right is around the Supporter card Misty, which can move extra energy cards to a Water-type you have out. So, stack them on a benched Blastoise and watch him wreck opponents in no time. |
|
Charizard EX |
Charizard has always been a staple card for Pokemon TCG, and the EX deck is a great option if you pack him. The high damage output from Charizard mixed with other great secondary options like Salazzle and Rapidash allows for an aggressive playstyle to work wonders against weaker decks. |
|
|
Venusaur EX |
Where Blastoise EX is one of the strongest Water EX cards, Venusaur matches that for Grass-type Pokemon. Just like the Charizard deck above, the Venusaur EX deck allows for a heavy-hitting grass type to blitz through foes, and thanks to Vensaur’s key attack, also heals and keeps it alive longer. |
|
|
Blaine |
The combination of Blaine and specific Fire Pokemon allows for a lot of damage, as long as you calculate your damage correctly. |
|
|
Kanto Fossils |
The mechanic for Fossil Pokemon in Pocket allows for a unique way to quickly add strong Pokemon to the board. Both Aerodactyl and Kabutops can do high damage for a single evolution card, and other colourless options like Kangaskhan and Tauros can hold their own. |
These decks are still strong, but won’t lead you to as many easy wins as the S-tier rental decks will. Thankfully, with a nice variety of EX cards and strong Supporter cards, each of these rental decks can find their use either online or against Solo opponents.
Where this tier stands out is our first non-EX rental decks, with Blaine notably the first Supporter rental deck of the list. The highlight card alone doesn’t determine the strength of the rental deck, as the Blaine deck revolves around dealing more damage with cards like Ninetales, Rapidash, or Magmar. To play the deck as intended, just get one of those three Pokemon prepared on the bench, and when you swap them in, you hit hard with the Blaine card to assist.
B Tier Rental Decks
|
Tier |
Deck |
Reason |
|---|---|---|
|
B |
Brock |
Very handy for Onix or Golem, but still a notch below other rentals. Brock entirely relies on getting Onix or Golem out, and they both need a lot of energy to work, and a weakness to a common type like Grass makes it only more challenging. |
|
Koga |
In a similar vein to Brock, this deck functions entirely around Muk and Weezing but doesn’t offer anything great outside that. The sole good damage dealer for this composition is Muk, while Koga only gets those cards to your hand to set up quicker. Pace is what determines a win or loss with this deck; either you get Muk or Weezing out fast, or you don’t and a loss is expected. |
|
|
Lt. Surge |
The Energy movement from Benched Pokemon to a key Raichu, Electrode, or Electabuzz can change the flow of a game in one go but takes a lot of setups to accomplish. Plus, for the key damage dealer in Raichu, their Thunderbolt discards all their energy, which can be a hassle without the Lt. Surge card in your hand. |
|
|
Machamp EX |
While pretty matchup-specific, Machamp EX can punch through opponents quickly. A lot of decks have colourless cards in them, which makes a Fighting type useful, but the other Pokemon in the deck don’t match up well and offer a lot of damage output, instead relying on getting that benched Machamp EX on the board and energy boosted. |
In this B tier, we have a lot of Supporter rental decks, mainly because they require some setup to get value whereas EX decks are a lot more flexible and easy to use.
C Tier Rental Decks
|
Tier |
Deck |
Reason |
|---|---|---|
|
C |
Wigglytuff EX |
The only Colorless EX rental deck doesn’t offer the same benefits from weaknesses as the above decks. The additions of good Lightning-type Pokemon like Pikachu and Jolteon allow for some flexibility, but if you don’t evolve and get Wigglytuff EX ready, it is tough to win with this deck. |
|
Nidoqueen and Nidoking |
These two strong final evolution cards allow for a good rental deck without relying on EX cards, but instead offer a very specific setup for a win condition. Having a fully evolved Nidoqueen and Nidoking available takes time or luck, where your opponents usually can complete their win condition instead, usually with a strong EX card. |
The Wigglytuff EX rental deck isn’t available like all the other rental decks; it is only available if the player completes the Battle Guide.
These are the worst rental decks to use, and while not useless, most of them either don’t have strong enough cards to compete with other decks or require too much setup to get value.
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