Images courtesy of The Pokémon Company
Welcome to our final Pokémon TCG Pocket deck tech of the Mythical Island metagame! With Space-Time Smackdown just on the horizon, Fighting-type Pokémon are at the forefront of the discussions lately. There’s confirmation of a nasty-strong Lucario card and rumors of a Gallade ex that counters some of the meta monsters of the last set. As such, our trip to Sinnoh looks to be very Fighting-heavy.
But since Space-Time Smackdown isn’t out yet, let’s focus on the present and the strongest Fighting-type cards we currently have! This deck, dubbed “Primordium,” features Aerodactyl ex as a major deterrent for opponents to face off against.
Pokémon TCG Pocket Deck: Primordium
Pokémon: 9
- Mankey (Mythical Island) x2
- Primeape (Mythical Island) x2
- Hitmonlee x1
- Aerodactyl ex x2
- Marshadow x2
Items: 7
- Old Amber x2
- Poké Ball x2
- X Speed x2
- Pokémon Flute x1
Supporters: 4
- Professor’s Research x2
- Sabrina x1
- Giovanni x1
The Primeval Decree
Primordium seeks to act as a counter to as many decks in the meta as possible. The overall game plan is to lead with Mankey (or Hitmonlee in case the opponent is broadcasting Water-types). Mankey may have a chance of failing to hit with its Focus Fist attack, but its evolution, Primeape, holds no such reservation.
Hitmonlee is strictly a situational counter to decks built around Gyarados ex. The “kicking fiend” can hit a Benched Pokémon for 30 damage, which just so happens to be the pre-evolution Magikarp‘s Hit Points. In case you want to be extra cheeky about this, the deck also has a single copy of Pokémon Flute to bring Magikarp back, just so Hitmonlee can do it all over again. Sabrina is also in this deck in case Hitmonlee needs to hit a little closer than it normally wants to.
The Heavier Hitters
You’ll never be able to lead with Aerodactyl ex, and drawing into Old Amber never feels easy. However, when you get those two cards together, you’ll stifle all evolution from your opponent’s Active Spot. With the Pokémon ex dealing a base of 80 damage per attack, most Basic Pokémon won’t even be around long enough to evolve. However, if they do survive, Aerodactyl ex’s Primal Law ability will keep them from evolving.
If an opposing Pokémon manages to Knock Out one of your own, Marshadow is a major avenger for such fallen monsters. Its Revenge attack deals 100 damage instead of its base of 40 if one of your own Pokémon was Knocked Out on the previous turn. It’s always hard to attack an opponent with a Benched Marshadow, so you’re also threatening a game of attrition with it.
Support Pieces
This deck runs the usual ubiquitous staples of Professor’s Research and Poké Ball, as well as a pair of X Speed copies and one Giovanni. If you’ve been reading our previous Pokémon TCG Pocket deck techs, you’ll know that Professor’s Research and Poké Ball are effectively needed in most, if not all, viable decks. We run X Speed over Leaf because all of the Pokémon in this deck have a Retreat Cost of only one Energy, making the Supporter Leaf unnecessary, perhaps even harmful. Giovanni is in this deck to scratch those particularly hard-to-reach Hit Point places.
Thankfully, this deck is remarkably user-friendly as long as you know your metagame and have a good idea of how best to respond to it. There’s no special trick beyond “hit hard, hit well.”
With that, let’s look at how much is needed to get this deck going most efficiently!
Primordium Deck Costs
This Pokémon TCG Pocket deck has a pretty easy cost compared to most decks that use at least one Pokémon ex. It’s more prevalent perhaps even because of its lower cost. With that, let’s look at the costs for Primordium!
- Shop Tickets: 12
- Pack Points: 1,825
- Genetic Apex: 245
- Charizard: 70
- Mewtwo: 175
- Mythical Island: 1,580
- Genetic Apex: 245
At under 2,000 Pack Points, Primordium is a pretty inexpensive deck to get online and running. The brunt of your Pack Points are going to come out of Aerodactyl ex, understandably, but after that, it’s pretty smooth sailing. Of course, it’s less than ideal that the brunt of this deck comes from Mythical Island due to the set size and configuration. If you want cards for powerhouse decks such as Celebi ex or Gyarados ex, this might be fine. If you’re only looking to make this deck, other builds might be more optimal to make.
This Primordial Soup Is Tasty
With that, we conclude our deck tech on Primordium, the Aerodactyl ex-centered deck for Pokémon TCG Pocket. If you liked this deck tech, consider checking out these techs centered around Pikachu ex, Charizard ex, Mewtwo ex, or any of the others peppered around links in this one! And, if you are looking for an overall strategy guide, feel free to consider our guide on how to build and battle in Pocket.
