Palkia ex has been making waves in Japan’s Pokemon TCG Pocket tournaments, earning recognition as an SS-tier deck by multiple metagame analysts. A poll among Japanese players even revealed that 12% consider Palkia ex the best deck in the current meta. But its dominance isn’t limited to Japan—Palkia ex has also emerged as a global powerhouse, ranking among the top ten cards in the Space-Time Smackdown set.
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So, what makes Palkia ex so strong? And how does it pair with Vaporeon? This breakdown simplifies Palkia ex’s role in the meta, explores its key synergies, and looks at what the future holds for this formidable duo in Pokemon TCG Pocket.
Step One: Generating Energy
The optimal opening setup places Manaphy in the Active Spot with Palkia ex and Eevee on the Bench. From there, you attach the first Energy to Manaphy and use its attack to generate two Water Energy, one for Palkia ex and one for Vaporeon.
Step Two: Transferring Energy
Once you have three Water Energy in play, switch into Palkia ex. Then, activate Vaporeon’s ability to transfer all the Energy to Palkia ex while pulling an additional Energy from the Energy Zone, bringing the total to four.
Step Three: Dealing Damage
With four Energy attached, Palkia ex is ready to strike. If the opponent retreats, use Cyrus to force them back and secure the KO. If Palkia ex loses all its Energy due to discards, play Misty for a chance to recharge or bring back Manaphy for one last round of Energy generation. Keep in mind that this may sacrifice Manaphy because it is an easy target in the late game.
The Best Deck Shell for Palkia ex & Vaporeon
|
Must-Have Pokemon |
Must-Have Trainers |
|---|---|
|
Eevee |
Misty |
|
Vaporeon |
Cyrus |
|
Palkia ex |
Leaf |
|
Manaphy |
– |
The ideal deck shell for Palkia ex & Vaporeon meta consists of 14 must-have cards (as seen in the table). This means that 70% of the deck is fixed, leaving players with little to no room for creativity.
Here’s why you cannot replace the seven main players of the deck:
- You need Manaphy to generate Energy for Palkia ex.
- You need Eevee for Vaporeon’s evolution.
- You need Vaporeon to transfer Manaphy’s generated Energy to Palkia ex.
- You need Misty to compensate for Palkia ex’s discarded Energy.
- You need Leaf to retreat damaged Palkia ex and switch into the secondary attacker—Vaporeon or your other Palkia ex.
- You need Cyrus to finish off retreated enemies.
As for the Item Cards, you definitely need Pokemon Ball and Professor’s Research. However, if the deck has room for more Trainer Cards, you could also add X Speed or Pokemon Communication.
Palkia ex’s Synergy with Articuno ex
In the early days of the Space-Time Smackdown set release, Palkia ex was frequently paired with another Water-type Bench-damaging Pokemon: Articuno ex. The synergy seemed promising; Articuno ex could act as a backup attacker, dealing 80 base damage and up to 30 Bench damage for three Water Energy. However, the trade-off wasn’t worth it.
Using two deck slots for Articuno ex proved inefficient. Not only did it introduce another ex Pokemon, which gives up two points when knocked out, but it also delivered lower damage output for nearly the same Energy cost.
Players quickly realized that keeping a secondary Palkia ex on the Bench was far more effective than investing in Articuno ex. As a result, they shifted away from this variant, opting instead for the more consistent and streamlined synergy between Palkia ex and Vaporeon.
Removing Articuno ex also improves the odds of drawing key cards with Pokemon Ball, a crucial advantage in Palkia-Vaporeon setups.
Pros and Cons of the Palkia ex & Vaporeon Decks
|
Pros |
Cons |
|---|---|
|
✓ Fast build-up |
✘ Reliance on ex Pokemon |
|
✓ High DMG |
✘ Energy-draining attacks |
|
✓ Minimal Evolution-dependency |
✘ Weak to Bench damage |
Advantages of Palkia-Vaporeon Setups
- You can unleash full power as early as turn four. Palkia’s synergy with Manaphy and Vaporeon accelerates Energy ramp-up, allowing for early attacks.
- Palkia ex’s ultimate attack can deal up to 230 damage. Its Dimensional Storm does 150 base damage (170 against Water-weak opponents) and an additional 20 Bench damage per enemy Pokemon (up to 60 with a full Bench).
- Palkia ex is a Basic Pokemon, and the only evolution required is Vaporeon from Eevee. This minimizes evolution-based RNG and improves deck consistency.
Disadvantages of Palkia-Vaporeon Setups
- Losing Palkia ex early can be disastrous. Since you must place it in the Active Spot quickly, its relatively low HP makes it vulnerable to tech counters like Mew ex. If the opponent targets it early, you could lose two points, and setting up a second Palkia ex will be challenging.
- Palkia ex is not a sustainable attacker. It discards three Water Energy after each ultimate attack, making it difficult to maintain offensive pressure. Without Energy recovery cards like Misty, Palkia ex may only manage one or two attacks per match.
- Palkia ex is Bench-dependent. If your opponent eliminates Vaporeon early, your Energy management will collapse, potentially derailing your entire game plan.
- Tournament Appearance: +6,000
- Meta Share: ~ 5.5%
- Win Rate: ~ 51.5%
Compared to Darkrai ex and Exeggutor ex, the two highest win-rate Pokemon, Palkia ex’s performance remains solid. It has maintained a positive win rate of 51.5% and has proven effective against meta decks from previous expansions. Notably, the Palkia ex & Vaporeon setup holds a 71% win rate against the Mewtwo ex & Gardevoir meta, one of the strongest decks from the A1 and A1a sets.
The Palkia ex & Vaporeon setup (and its future variants) will remain one of the best counters to Fire-type decks in Pokemon TCG Pocket. However, as a standalone lineup, the duo lacks the raw power needed to dominate the meta.
A quick look at its matchups shows that Palkia ex & Vaporeon struggle against top-tier Space-Time Smackdown decks, particularly Darkrai ex & Magnezone. These Water-types are also vulnerable to snipe-heavy lineups like Magnezone & Hitmonlee, which can pick off key Bench pieces.
The ideal environment for Palkia ex & Vaporeon is a Fire-type-dominated meta. If Fire Pokemon surge in popularity, we can expect a rise in Palkia-Vaporeon decks in PvP, as they are the perfect counter. Even in the current state of the game, this setup excels against Infernape ex, Arcanine ex, and Moltres ex—some of the strongest Pokemon in the Fire Archetype.
