Pokémon Trading Card Game Pocket battles are already being dominated by two decks in particular: the usual suspects of Charizard and Mewtwo.
The streamlined mobile version of the beloved TCG arrived in late October and its meta already appears formed, with most players bringing a Charizard ex or Mewtwo ex deck into the more competitive battle mode.
While the Pokémon TCG usually comes down to more than just raw power, both of these decks are admittedly about hitting hard. Charizard ex has a 200 damage attack, for example, which is enough to knock out any other Pokémon in the game, and Mewtwo has an also very strong 150 damage attack.
There is a downside to these, of course, as they each cost four energy and lose two energy per attack. This means, in theory, it takes two turns before the attack can be used again, but both of these decks also have reliable energy generation that allows players to speed that process up.
Charizard ex is a fire card, so this deck can also bring in Moltres ex. For just one energy, Moltres ex lets the player flip three coins and add a fire energy to a bench Pokémon for every heads, and its 140 hit points as a basic Pokémon allows it to stick around for a long time while charging up a Charmander, Charmeleon, and eventually Charizard on the bench.
This means that, by the time the opposing player forces Moltres ex out of the active Pokémon slot, there is often a Charizard ready to go with upwards of six energy attached, allowing it to essentially wipe out whatever is put across from it.
Mewtwo works in a similar way, though as a basic Pokémon itself, players will often put it directly into the active Pokémon slot. It also has a two energy, 50 damage attack and 150 hit points to keep it around and doing damage, meaning players have enough time to set up a Gardevoir on the bench.
This Stage 2 Pokémon takes some time to set up, with Ralts and Kirlia coming before it, but once it's on the bench, players can use its Psy Shadow ability to add one energy to the active Pokémon. This again counters the discard two energy cost of Mewtwo's 150 damage attack, as the standard energy joins the Gardevoir energy each turn to add two at a time.
It's rare to see a deck that isn't one of these two in the more competitive battle mode, though one led by Pikachu ex and another led by Starmie ex appear to be just a tier below these two. Both present quick ex Pokémon with high damage, low cost attacks, meaning if players can deploy them quick enough it's hard for opponents to build a strong board.
Pokémon TCG Pocket arrived in October on iOS and Android as a digital version of the beloved trading card game. It lets players open packs, collect cards, build decks, and battle others, a simple formula that has already proved popular given it made $12 million in just four days.
It's also hitting fast and hard with events, and players can perhaps test out these two heavy hitting decks in its latest. The Lapras ex Drop Event adds a new category in the Solo Battle menu that lets players take on four increasingly difficult Lapras decks with a chance of winning a special booster pack after each, which can include the brand new Lapras ex.
Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelance reporter. He'll talk about The Witcher all day.
