“Strong Pokemon. Weak Pokemon. That is only the selfish perception of people. Truly skilled trainers should try to win with their favorites.” Karen of the Elite Four had the right idea, but in Pokemon TCG Pocket, a lot of people’s favorite Pokemon are also really strong.
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Pokemon Pocket: How To Build A Deck
Follow these steps to get you started on building a viable deck for competitive play against others.
Charizard has been one of the faces of Pokemon ever since the first games were released, playing second fiddle only to Pikachu in recognizability and product placement. It’s been a big player in the Scarlet & Violet generation of the Pokemon TCG, and it brings that power to Pokemon TCG Pocket, too!
Sample Charizard ex Decklist
Decks in Pokemon TCG Pocket are much smaller and therefore simpler than in the Pokemon Trading Card Game, and the game also forces a Basic Pokemon into your first hand, so there’s little need to hunt for them. This, plus the low card pool, means that most decks run a similar set of Trainer cards and rely on a small selection of Pokemon cards to execute their strategy.
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Charizard ex / Moltres ex |
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Charmander x2 |
Charmeleon x2 |
Charizard ex x2 |
Moltres ex x2 |
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Professor’s Research x2 |
Giovanni x2 |
Sabrina x2 |
Poke Ball x2 |
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X-Speed x2 |
Potion x2 |
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While you can get both of the Charmanders you need by choosing the Charizard pack during the tutorial, both Charizard ex and Moltres ex are extremely rare, even with three prints each in Genetic Apex. This deck can still work with one Moltres ex, and you can swap out both copies of Charizard ex for the regular Charizard to build a budget version. Just don’t add any more Basic Pokemon, or you’ll struggle to set up with Moltres ex.
Keep an eye on Wonder Pick for opportunities to pick up the extra cards you need.
Charizard ex Strategy
The Charizard ex / Moltres ex archetype focuses on one strategy: power up Charizard as fast as possible, then start stacking up Prize Points before your opponent can react.
While Water-type decks have the advantage of the Misty supporter card to get a lot of Energy into play early, Charizard ex needs Moltres ex to get enough Energy to pay for the expensive Crimson Storm attack. Therefore, it’s vital that you have Moltres ex in your starting hand in order to start setting up.
Always set Moltres ex as your Active Pokemon if you have it in your starting hand, and set a Charmander on the Bench. On your first turn, use Poke Ball to thin the deck and dig out your Charmander or Moltres ex, if needed, then use Professor’s Research to dig for your Charmeleon and Charizard ex. If you’re going second, attach an Energy to Moltres ex and use Inferno Dance to put some energy on Charmander.
Don’t worry if you’re going first: Moltres ex is difficult to KO on the first turn, so you’ll still have time to start building Energy on Charmander.
Evolve Charmander to Charmeleon and then to Charizard ex as quickly as possible, using Inferno Dance to build up more Energy. Once you reach five Energy on Charizard ex, retreat Moltres ex and use Crimson Storm to score a Knock Out.
Since Crimson Storm requires you to discard Energy from Charizard ex, use Slash and Giovanni to conserve Energy if your opponent’s Active Pokemon is low on HP.
Use Potions as necessary to keep Moltres ex alive until you can switch in Charizard ex, and use Giovanni and Sabrina to chip off that last 10 HP or force your opponent to swap in a vulnerable Pokemon, as necessary.
Charizard ex Deck Matchups
Charizard ex has a very favorable matchup against the Venusaur ex archetype. Thanks to Moltres ex’s Inferno Dance, Charizard ex can set up much faster than Venusaur ex, allowing you to move into your endgame strategy before your opponent can finish setting up.
Additionally, all Pokemon typically found in a Venusaur ex deck have a weakness to fire-type Pokemon, so you’ll be able to attack for significantly more damage. Just try not to be frustrated by the high level of healing you’ll see on the other side of the table.
The Charizard ex deck doesn’t suffer from being weak to a single type, but Moltres ex has a weakness to Electric-type Pokemon. Pikachu ex can power up quickly and can tear through Moltres ex before you get a chance to power up Charizard if your draws and coin flips aren’t in your favor.
Starmie ex is another major threat since it does enough damage to two-shot Moltres ex with only one turn of setup and do the same to Charizard ex thanks to the big lizard’s water-type weakness. This can mean a loss before you can even finish setting up, all while your opponent is using Misty to prep an even more dangerous Articuno ex.
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