The Best Water Decks In Pokemon TCG Pocket

In Pokemon TCG Pocket, Water decks often rule the roost. Early on, this was aided in large part by Misty; as other types have caught up more, Misty remains a powerful asset. The addition of Irida, who provides healing across multiple Pokemon so long as they have Water Energy attached, has only bolstered the situation. Not to mention the wide array of viable Water Pokemon themselves, of course.

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We’ve isolated our two favourite Water decks in Pokemon TCG Pocket’s present meta. These can, and will, shift over time. But as of Shining Revelry’s earliest days, they’re still impressing the heck out of us. Hopefully, they’ll impress the heck out of you, too!

Deck #1: Palkia ex/Origin Forme Palkia

Exeggutor ex / Arceus ex
Palkia ex x2	Origin Forme Palkia x2	Manaphy x2	Misty x2
Irida x2	Leaf x2	Professor’s Research x2	Cyrus x1
Sabrina x1	Poke Ball x2	Giant Cape x2

Analysis

Palkia ex was one of Space-Time Smackdown’s all-star cards. Its four-Energy main attack has a steep cost, amplified by the fact that you’ll lose two Energy when using it. But 150 damage plus 20 damage to each of your opponent’s Benched Pokemon is a powerful mix.

Many Palkia ex decks contain Manaphy in order to double up on Misty‘s already-significant potential Water Energy gains. (And the nice thing about Manaphy is that it’s not up to chance; you’re guaranteed to add one Water Energy to up to two Benched Pokemon each turn.)

The Origin Forme Palkia deck is no exception; in fact, other than the pairs of Palkia ex and Origin Forme Palkia, a pair of Manaphy are all it takes to complete the six-pack of Pokemon cards here. With 14 Trainer cards, there’s plenty of functionality to be found throughout your match.

The basic early-game play here is similar to so many other Water Decks these days, including the several other Palkia ex variants.

If at all possible, you want to start off with Manaphy to get a couple of Ocean’s Blessing moves in, building Energy for your Palkia ex and/or Origin Forme Palkia.

Different situations inevitably call for different approaches, but by and large, you should aim to have Origin Forme Palkia on the field as your early-to-mid-game attacker, with Palkia ex taking care of the back end for brutally powerful late-game attacks.

Alternative Cards

Getting the two Palkia ex can be a time-consuming procedure – certainly for all of us free-to-play players! – but bear in mind, without Palkia ex, this deck rather falls apart. Therefore, the Palkia ex/Origin Forme Palkia deck is not necessarily budget-friendly.

So, what sorts of alternative cards are there, here? Again, you really need those Palkia ex, but beyond that, things are quite malleable. For instance, you could swap out the Origin Forme Palkias in favor of two Staryu and two Starmie for swifter guaranteed damage.

You might also risk some real danger for more guaranteed hits of Dimensional Storm from your Palkia ex by removing Origin Forme Palkia for two Rocky Helmets, or another Sabrina and/or Cyrus, and so forth.

This means even fewer Pokemon, and if you have to start with a Palkia ex, you can always use Slash for one Water Energy and 30 damage. Those Rocky Helmets, should you swing for them, will potentially keep your opponent from whittling away Palkia ex’s HP in the early game.

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Deck #2: 18 Trainers Articuno

18 Trainers Articuno
Articuno ex x2	Irida x2	Mars x1	Pokemon Center Lady x2
Potion x2	Leaf x2	Professor’s Research x2	Cyrus x1
Sabrina x2	Poke Ball x2	Giant Cape x2

Analysis

A reasonably inexpensive and tremendously focused classic, the 18 Trainers Articuno variant builds upon the 18 Trainers archetype’s steadily increasing viability as Pokemon TCG Pocket continues to add more and more worthwhile Supporter cards with each expansion.

18 Trainers decks are all about constant versatility. You have so many Trainer cards at your disposal that there’s virtually never going to be a turn that doesn’t offer you something here.

Of course, the flip side to this equation is that you only have two Pokemon in the deck. You have got to make them count. Articuno ex, which nets your opponent two points on KO, but is very powerful in its own right, is a great choice here.

Here’s the drill: You’re guaranteed to start with Articuno ex, and you should refrain from placing a second Articuno ex on the Bench if you have that as well, as opponents are likely to Sabrina you into swapping if you’re building Water Energy on your Active Pokemon.

For two Water Energy, Articuno ex deals 40 damage. That’s not a terrific cost ratio in and of itself, but for just one more Energy, Blizzard deals 80 damage to your opponent’s Active Pokemon, and 10 damage to each of your opponent’s Benched Pokemon.

Sure, this means Articuno ex is no heavy hitter. But it’s swift as heck once it’s online, and with an 18 Trainers deck, you have so many ways to keep things going. Misty for potential speed gains, Leaf to move between your Articuno ex as needed, Irida and Pokemon Center Lady for heals.

Don’t discount the usefulness of Mars, who is a tournament mainstay but rather infrequently sees usage in more common matches by comparison. The ability to reduce your opponent’s large hand in the late-game by a substantial amount can seriously hamper them.

Alternative Cards

18 Trainers decks are, by their very nature, remarkably adaptable. There are very few cards here that you absolutely must have; we’d consider Articuno ex itself (duh), Irida, Sabrina, Mars, and the Giant Capes to be the only ones that must stay. (And even then, some of this is debatable.)

You might opt to include X Speeds rather than Leafs for a nearly-as-effective retreat strategy that doesn’t eat up Supporter Card usage on a given turn. You could also add Blue, who reduces incoming damage by 10.

Really, the sky’s the limit with 18 Trainers Articuno decks. It’s also not particularly costly to acquire the necessary cards, and almost everything can be crafted on the cheap.

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