It’s time for another Pokémon TCG Pocket deck tech! This time we’re covering one of the most daunting decks emerging from Mythical Island. Assisted by chip damage and stall tactics, this deck is probably the closest thing PTCGP has to a dedicated Control archetype deck so far. It’s called “Big Fish,” and this meta-driven Gyarados ex deck is making a huge splash right now.
Are you ready? Let’s go!
Table of Contents
TogglePokémon TCG Pocket Deck: Big Fish
Pokémon: 12
Items: 2
- Poké Ball x2
Supporters: 6
- Leaf x2
- Professor’s Research x2
- Misty x2
Fortune Favors the Patient
The way this deck works is a bit trickier than the previous deck techs we’ve covered on Card Gamer. The main idea is this: you want to evolve your lowly Magikarp as quickly as possible and get at least 4-5 Water Energy on Gyarados ex. If Magikarp is your Active Pokémon at the start of the game, force a Retreat with it by using its Leap Out attack when you have anything else on your Bench.
The Pokémon that support this first goal are the ones that matter more in the early-game and mid-game span. These are Druddigon, often lauded as the “best Pokémon in Mythical Island,” and the Froakie line. The weird part about this set of cards is that you don’t attach any Energy to them! If you’ve somehow scuffed your plays and need to start attacking, the best chance you have is to attach Water Energy to Greninja. However, if you’ve gotten to this point you may have already lost the match.
Don’t Fret, Get Them Wet!
There’s always a chance that the above scenario could rear its ugly head at you. But, if you have the ideal setup, Druddigon is your ideal Active Pokémon until you have Gyarados ex out, while Greninja is on your Bench. What these cards have in common is the doling out of 20 chip damage apiece per round. Druddigon’s ability, Rough Skin, deals 20 damage to the opposing Active Pokémon if it hits Druddigon with an attack. Greninja’s Ability, Water Shuriken, “snipes” opposing Pokémon from anywhere for 20 damage apiece per turn on your turns. The end result is that your opponent’s Pokémon are far too worn out to take down your Gyarados ex, allowing it to sweep the board for the win.
Of course, the various Trainer cards of this deck can propel “Big Fish” to victory, and shouldn’t be disregarded. We have the ubiquitousness of Poké Ball and Professor’s Research, as usual, to accelerate into needed cards for the game plan. These cards are so widely used that they’ve become staples in practically every deck. But beyond those, we’re running a pair of copies each of Misty and Leaf. Leaf’s usage is relatively easy to qualify, as it allows you to Retreat any surviving Druddigon you have in the Active slot for the Gyarados ex on your Bench. Misty is even easier to justify, as it has a non-zero chance of accelerating Energy on your Magikarp or Gyarados ex. This can on occasion even allow Gyarados ex to be fully ready to attack.
Fishing Supply Costs in Pokémon TCG Pocket
With this, it’s time to look at how much these cards cost in in-game currency to purchase. You can, and should, usually prioritize buying packs in Pokémon TCG Pocket, but if one card is eluding you enough (like a second Gyarados ex is doing to me), you should be informed as to how many Pack Points you need to spend on your decks:
- Shop Tickets: 8
- Pack Points: 2,070
- Genetic Apex: 720
- Charizard: 580
- Pikachu: 140
- Mythical Island: 1,350
- Genetic Apex: 720
As Shop Tickets are relatively plentiful, it’s easy to get ahold of these for the sake of acquiring your copies of Poké Ball and Professor’s Research. It’s also important to note that both can be acquired in Solo Battle tutorials, meaning the Shop Ticket cost is effectively halved.
Genetic Apex is vital for players seeking copies of Misty (Pikachu subset) or the Froakie line (Charizard subset). However, a recent Solo Battle promo event allowed any players to snag copies of Greninja with greater ease. If that included you, that makes your job 300 Pack Points easier.
The main choke point for this deck is in Mythical Island; namely, the pair of Gyarados ex you’ll need. At 500 Pack Points apiece and a low pull rate (as with all Pokémon ex cards), they raise the cost of this deck by 1,000. However, the other cards are fairly easy to pull from Mythical Island packs.
Go Fish
As the next set draws ever nearer, we wonder how much longer this deck will terrorize the Pokémon TCG Pocket metagame. Decks like Charizard ex and Pikachu ex have largely left the spotlight because of what Mythical Island provided. As such, uncertainty is drawn towards decks like this one and Celebi ex, the two heavy hitters of the current meta. What will the next set bring to the table? We’ll have to wait and see.
Want more Pokémon TCG Pocket content? Check out our “Energetic Onion” deck tech for Celebi ex. Or take a look at our guide to all the different currency types in the game.
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