Welcome to another Pokémon TCG Pocket deck tech! Over the past few techs, we’ve covered decks primarily using the cards of Genetic Apex. This included a Charizard ex deck and a Pikachu ex deck. It also included a couple of Psychic-type decks, one of which uses Mew ex from Mythical Island as new support. Today we’ll begin to delve into some of the most meta-viable PTCGP decks stemming originally from Mythical Island.
Today’s deck tech focuses on another cornerstone card from the deck. It’s also one of the most frustrating cards for opponents to deal with to date. This Grass-type deck focuses on increasing Energy output for a major finisher in its cornerstone card, Celebi ex. Let’s dive right in!
Pokémon TCG Pocket Deck: Energetic Onion
Pokémon: 12
- Exeggcute x2 (Genetic Apex)
- Exeggutor x1 (Mythical Island)
- Exeggutor ex x1
- Celebi ex x2
- Snivy x2
- Servine x2
- Serperior x2
Items: 2
- Poké Ball x2
Supporters: 6
- Professor’s Research x2
- Erika x2
- Leaf x2
A New Pocket Paradigm
This deck’s aim is simple:
- Put as much Energy onto a copy or two of Celebi ex as possible.
- Evolve a copy of Snivy into Serperior as soon as you can.
- Flip coins ad absurdum and deal 50 damage per, towards a winning position.
The “Energetic Onion” deck is currently dominating the Pokémon TCG Pocket metagame. The cards in it aren’t the most ubiquitous, lending themselves to a weaker strategy from the earlier Genetic Apex gameplay. However, cards like Celebi ex are in high demand right now, partly due to the high-powered gameplay they provide. Still, nostalgia and novelty play a factor in this demand as well. People like to play with their favorite Pokémon, and Celebi is a crowd favorite for many.
But for now, let’s discuss the gameplay. I’ve heard many a friend lament over how luck in coin flips has been the barrier to their victory. They blame Celebi ex for this issue when facing the Energetic Onion, a metric that isn’t entirely inaccurate. The deck is extremely linear, lending itself to swift wins and frustrating losses, no matter if you’re on the business end of a Celebi ex or not.
But how does the deck operate? There are more cards in here than Celebi and Serperior, so let’s examine how Energetic Onion functions.
A Tree Stands On Mythical Island
As you can see in the decklist, Energetic Onion also runs a suite of Exeggcute‘s line. Special consideration is given here to splitting the pair of Exeggutor into 1x Exeggutor ex and 1x Exeggutor from Mythical Island. This is for good reason. For one, Exeggutor ex provides a massive Hit Point pool, while also offering a scary attack for just one Grass Energy. Mythical Island‘s Exeggutor provides a strong offense with a lesser (albeit still formidable) HP pool but a lower risk of Prize Points. This split helps the deck cover its bases in a big way, especially if Celebi ex isn’t available yet.
As far as Trainer cards are concerned, we want to run the two most ubiquitous cards in the game: Poké Ball and Professor’s Research. If you’re new to Pokémon TCG Pocket, these cards are must-haves, and fortunately, they’re also quite easy to obtain. If you’re not new, you know exactly how important these cards are for decks today. These provide Basic Pokémon search and card draw, respectively, and as they pose little opportunity cost to use, they’re vital.
The other two Trainer cards in Energetic Onion are, like Professor’s Research, also Supporter cards. Erika provides important healing for your Pokémon, sometimes marking the difference between attacking one more time with Celebi ex or not. In turn, Erika could allow you to win where victory may have been less certain without it. Leaf, the other of your last two Supporter cards, acts as a souped-up X Speed, with the only downside being its use of your Supporter slot per turn. Leaf is more vital to the deck than X Speed, however, in that the Retreat costs of a lot of your Pokémon are at least two Energy and you’ll occasionally need that chance to Retreat at a discount where applicable.
“It’s Just An Onion, Josh. How Much Could It Cost, $10?”
Now we get to the part of the deck tech where we talk costs. Pokémon TCG Pocket has a barrier to acquisition for many cards, in that Pack Points yield very little to getting needed single cards. Meanwhile, your luck could at times be so bad that you don’t get a needed card from a pack until you’ve already spent your Pack Points on a second copy, making the new pull fairly useless to you. This happened to me two days ago, for all it’s worth in hindsight. I spent 500 Pack Points on a second copy of Celebi ex for this article, and later that evening I opened a complimentary Mythical Island pack. However, to my utter dismay, I pulled – you guessed it – Celebi ex.
As such, I might be doing somebody a service by saying to save your Pack Points for cards you aren’t as guaranteed, but don’t be surprised if the game’s random factor trolls you a bit. Anyway, here’s the breakdown for Pack Points and Shop Tickets for Energetic Onion:
- Shop Tickets: 8
- Pack Points (Genetic Apex total): 710
- Charizard subset: 710
- Pack Points (Mythical Island total): 1,720
- Final total Pack Point cost: 2,430
What a doozy of a cost! Let’s break it down further.
Pack Point Breakdown
The Shop Tickets provide both copies of each of Poké Ball and Professor’s Research. Still, you can also do the tutorial battle missions to get one of each, mitigating this already-low cost.
The Pack Points you’re spending on your copies of Exeggcute and Exeggutor ex, as well as two copies of Erika. Exeggutor ex might be a bit annoying to obtain, at a Pack Point cost of 500. However, all of these Genetic Apex cards are in the Charizard subset of the pack.
Mythical Island, when compared with Genetic Apex, is, quite frankly, a rough set to open from. Grass-type Pokémon cards are plentiful in the set (and you definitely need many of them for this deck). However, the chokepoint of getting two Celebi ex makes the full acquisition frustrating for anyone who isn’t paying for a ton of cards with real-world currency. If you’re starting from nothing for Mythical Island and trying to get all of these cards with Pack Points alone, you would be opening a total of 344 packs of this smaller set. Thankfully, it’s not a set divided into subsets like Genetic Apex is, so that eases the search a little more.
The Onion Abides
As mentioned nearer to the start of this article, we’ve seen Celebi ex decks do remarkably well in the Pokémon TCG Pocket metagame. This is apt to change with the next set if the shift from Genetic Apex to Mythical Island indicates anything. However, it could also go much harder with the next set. Will Celebi ex go the way of Mewtwo ex, or will it be as underused as Charizard ex is now? Only time will tell, and by that token, only Celebi knows. For now, though, let’s make the most of this super-strong deck!
Want more Pokémon TCG Pocket content? Check out our deck tech for Mew ex and Mewtwo ex. Or take a look at our guide to all the different currency types in the game.
