When it comes to getting started in the Pokemon Trading Card Game (or TCG), there’s almost no better way to get involved than with a Theme Deck.
You can pick a deck with a featured Pokemon that takes your fancy – whether you like the creature, its type or its abilities, there’s no right or wrong way – shuffle the cards and off you go.
Theme Decks are also great for seasoned players to perhaps try out types or combos outside of their preferred areas of expertise.
I’ve certainly been partial to Psychic decks ever since I started playing Pokemon back in the early 00s – but more recently, I’ve discovered that Fighting type decks tend to fit well with how I play.
Which was thanks to me trying out a new, pre-constructed deck that I then went on to make my own modifications to!
Here’s our personal favourites which are widely available this year.
1. Lucario ex Battle Deck
Released alongside the Ampharos ex Battle Deck, if you’re a beginner I wouldn’t suggest pairing them off against each other, considering that Lucario ex’s Fighting type does double damage to Ampharos – making them somewhat unevenly matched.
So, with this deck being based around Lucario ex – what does it offer?
To get the Stage 1 Lucario ex into play, you’ll need to first have Riolu either in your Active Spot or your Bench.
As long as your opponent isn’t playing with an insanely powerful or convoluted deck that can hit hard on the first turn, your Riolu should be able to hold on until you can get Lucario into play – it has a reasonable 70 HP, which can withstand many early game attacks, along with a Punch (costing 1 Fighting Energy to use) that deals 10 HP of damage.
If you’re still holding on with your Riolu for at least another turn, the aptly named Reckless Charge is a decent attack – dishing out 50 HP of damage, but be warned: it also inflicts 20 HP of damage to Riolu itself!
With only one Lucario ex in the deck, you will likely be relying on cards such as Ultra Ball, Jacq or even, if desperate, less targeted cards such as Nemona and Youngster to find it.
Obviously, you’ll be stuck if it’s in your Prize Cards – but, thankfully, this deck does have a good amount of backup, with Colorless Lechonk (and its Stage 1 form, Oinkologne), Squawkabilly and Cyclizar.
That’s without even mentioning the Fighting type Pokemon that are included: Mankey (plus Primeape and Annihilape, its evolved forms), Meditite (which can evolve into Medicham) and the best ‘reserve’ card in my opinion, Koraidon.
All in all, this is a great deck that can deal serious damage – though a few of its cards have a tendency to damage themselves!
2. Ampharos ex Battle Deck
Though based around Ampharos ex, it can be quite challenging to get that particular Pokemon into play at the right time – given that it’s a Stage 2.
You’ll need to have evolved your Mareep into Flaafy, which you can then evolve into Ampharos ex.
It is worth it though, with Ampharos ex having one attack that can deal a minimum of 140 damage or as much as 240 if you’re willing to discard two energy cards. Be sure to read our energy cards explained article should you want more insight.
As with many pre-constructed decks, it only has a single Ampharos ex card – meaning you’re seriously at the whim of luck and hoping that it’s not in your Prize Cards, considering the deck is built primarily to get that card into play!
So, what options do you have if you don’t have access to your Ampharos ex?
Well, there’s several ways of drawing extra cards – check out Nemona and Youngster, for example – or finding specific Pokemon, with cards such as Jacq or Ultra Ball.
All is not lost if that still doesn’t help, because there’s plenty of reinforcements!
Wattrel, which evolves into the excellent Kilowattrel, is a good option – with three of each, these should be easier to get into play than the deck’s showcase card.
Colorless Starly evolves into Staravia and then the excellent Staraptor, which is a great Stage 2 Pokemon; there’s only one of these in the deck, however, so again you may be relying on the luck of the draw a bit here.
Lightning type Rotom and Colorless Flamigo are also good for stalling your opponent, though my pick for the best non-Ampharos ex related Pokemon is Miraidon.
Though there’s only one of these too, Miraidon is a Basic Pokemon with two attacks; the most powerful of which also damages a Pokemon on your opponent’s Bench!
3. Lycanroc V Battle Deck
Admittedly, I have a real soft spot for Fighting type decks – so it’s perhaps for that reason that this Lycanroc V deck makes the cut!
Though it’s not a slouch, it’s one of those decks that doesn’t have any Colorless Pokemon (though in fairness, that applies to many decks on this list!).
So if you do come up against a Grass or Psychic deck, or even worse, a deck that combines both, you might be in trouble – given that the Fighting type Pokemon in the Lycanroc V deck have weakness to either one of those types.
The Lycanroc V this deck is built around has a great, 200 HP attack – though it can’t attack on the turn following its use.
With a retreat cost of one Colorless Energy, however, it’s reasonably straightforward to retreat it and switch it out on turns where you can’t use Lycanroc V to attack!
Diglett and its evolved Stage 1 Pokemon form, Dugtrio, are good to stall the enemy as you build up your Lycanroc V and, perhaps, your Galarian Sirfetch’d too – the latter of which is one that needs to retreat and return to the Active Spot before it can use its 180 HP attack again.
Sudowoodo is a good HP sponge, given that it’s a Basic with 100 HP – and its Flail attack becomes more effective the more this Pokemon is damaged; at the cost of only one Colorless Energy too!
Onix and its Stage 1, Steelix, provide some great options if you can’t access or lose your Lycanroc V – with Steelix also becoming more effective the more it’s damaged; as well as having a powerful 180 HP attack that deals 30 HP to each of your own Benched Pokemon.
Trainer card-wise, there’s lots of card draw and healing; the latter of course being quite important, given the risk of hurting your own Pokemon if you want to access the strongest attacks in this deck!
4. Deoxys V Battle Deck
Another deck I have a real soft spot for – given that I own it, though have admittedly made quite a few modifications to it with other cards – the Deoxys V Battle Deck is a superb Psychic type deck that’s not a bad choice for beginners.
Deoxys V itself is a great card that punishes your opponent for building up their energy – its Psychic Edge attack (costing one Psychic Energy, one Colorless Energy) does 30 HP damage, plus an extra 30 for each energy card attached to their Active Pokemon!
It also has another attack, costing just one more energy, that deals 140 HP of damage with no other effects.
Cresselia is a Psychic Pokemon that allows you to fully power up a stronger Pokemon if you manage to play it on the first turn (giving you the chance to grab three Psychic Energy cards from your deck and attach them all to one of your Pokemon).
The other Pokemon are all great for support – and are all Psychic type too, giving this deck quite a bit of cohesion, with the only issue being that you’ll be in trouble if you come up against Dark or Steel type Pokemon.
5. Chien-Pao ex Battle Deck
Naturally, the strong point of this deck is Chien-Pao ex – it’s an absolutely phenomenal card in my opinion.
It has an ability that allows you to keep searching your deck for Water Energy cards (up to 2 per turn, if Chien-Pao ex is in the Active Spot) and an attack that takes advantage of lots of Water being discarded, from any of your Pokemon.
That attack deals 60 HP of damage for each Water Energy card you discard from your Pokemon, so you can adjust its power to whichever Pokemon you’re facing.
Need to take out an annoying Tera Charizard ex? Well, Chien-Pao is going to come in very useful!
Stage 2 Baxcalibur allows you to attach a Water Energy card from your hand to any of your Pokemon as many times as you like during your turn – further enabling that Chien-Pao to deal some serious damage!
Unfortunately, in my opinion there’s a downside to this pre-constructed deck – perhaps in an effort to simplify the deck for newcomers.
That comes in the form of an oversight with this deck not having Rare Candy cards included, which will slow your Baxcalibur evolution down.
Nemona and Youngster mitigate this with drawing cards, as does Jacq with his ability to bring Evolution Pokemon out of your deck – but it still feels like there’s something missing without the Rare Candy; you’ll still need the maximum number of turns to get your Baxcalibur into play.
6. Tinkaton ex Battle Deck
Released alongside the Chien-Pao ex deck, Tinkaton ex suffers from the same problem: a lack of Rare Candy Trainer cards.
It’s even more of an issue here, as the deck’s main card – Tinkaton ex, naturally – is a Stage 2.
There’s only one of them here, too – so if it’s stuck under your Prize Cards, you’ll have to rely on the rest of your deck to carry you through.
Tinkaton ex is a great card though – with two attacks, one of which costs two Colorless Energy and the other one Psychic, two Colorless Energy.
The cheaper attack can be devastating too – allowing you to deal 30 HP of damage per card in your hand. Time it right and it’s an absolute game changer!
The other attack is Pulverizing Press, which does a flat 140 HP of damage that ignores other effects on the opposing Pokemon.
Most of the other Pokemon are pretty good too, though several rely on evolving to become truly effective.
In terms of Trainer cards, there’s plenty of card drawing and a decent amount of Pokeballs too – so in theory, you should be able to get hold of the Pokemon you need at any given time.
7. Zeraora V Battle Deck
Released alongside the Deoxys V deck, the Zeraora V Battle Deck is a great Lightning type deck for beginners.
The centerpiece card – Zeraora V itself – is a real no-nonsense, straightforward Pokemon with two attacks.
Claw Slash costs one Lightning Energy and One Colorless Energy for 50 HP damage.
Then there’s Thunderous Bolt, which costs two Lightning Energy and One Colorless; this deals 190 HP damage, but stops Zeraora V from attacking on its next turn.
Outside of that, there’s other excellent Lightning type Pokemon too.
The Shinx/Luxio/Luxray evolution is featured and – if you can make it as far as Stage 2’s Luxray – can be pretty powerful.
Yamper/Boltund and Helioptile/Heliolisk both have great Stage 1 evolutions as well.
However, in my opinion, the Basic Thundurus is probably the best backup card in the deck – allowing you to deal damage as well as attach Lightning Energy to a Benched Pokemon, in one single attack!
There’s a good spread of Trainer cards, but once more I’ll take the opportunity to complain about the lack of Rare Candy.
It only affects Luxray, so it’s less of an issue here than in, say, the Tinkaton ex deck – but still, it’s definitely something to bear in mind if you have this deck and want to modify it yourself!
8. Greninja ex Battle Deck
Greninja ex is brilliant – there’s no denying it – but this deck could definitely do with a bit of tinkering to make it better.
First things first though.
Greninja ex has two attacks that work beautifully together, to take down just about any threat.
With Stealthy Shuriken – costing just a single Colorless Energy – you can choose to direct 40 HP of damage at any of your opponent’s Pokemon.
Torrential Slash deals 120 HP of damage or 240 HP damage if the Active opposing Pokemon has any damage already – and it only costs two Water Energy too!
I know I probably sound like a broken record, but with just one Greninja ex present and no Rare Candy, it’s perhaps hampered a little bit given that this is a Stage 2 Pokemon.
Froakie/Frogadier aren’t fantastic backup either, though Frogadier’s attack having the added option of being able to swap it to the Bench is pretty cool.
Quaquaval giving you the ability to attach a Basic Energy card from your hand to one of your Pokemon each turn is great, but again we’re talking about a Stage 2 Pokemon – you’ve got to evolve it from Quaxly, then Quaxwell first.
Wiglett and Wugtrio – the latter preventing your opponent from retreating with its attack – provide reasonable support.
Delibird’s card draw-based attack makes it useful in a pinch, but it’s Lapras who provides the most solid backup for a Basic Pokemon – with an attack that does 10 HP damage to each of your opponent’s Pokemon and another that deals 100 HP of damage.
Trainer card-wise, there’s lots of Pokemon searching with a couple of Pokeball variants, Jacq and Clavell – alongside a few other basic utilities for healing and energy retrieval.
9. Quaquaval ex Deluxe Battle Deck
Released at the same time as the Meowscarada ex Deluxe Battle Deck, this Quaquaval ex deck is the better option of the two, given that you don’t need to do any tinkering to make its cards effective.
It’s got some great Trainer cards – with Rare Candy to get your Stage 2 Quaquaval ex evolved faster, alongside card draw and Pokeballs to get at what you need – and its mostly Water type Pokemon feel like a very cohesive unit of cards that’ll help you stay in the battle.
Though there’s only one, the Radiant Greninja – only a single Radiant Pokemon card is allowed in each deck – can also accelerate card draw if you find yourself stuck, with its attack damaging two of your opponent’s Pokemon simultaneously!
This isn’t the best deck out there, but it’s an excellent next step for any player who already knows the basics of the Pokemon Trading Card Game.
10. Meowscarada ex Deluxe Battle Deck
The newer format Deluxe Battle Decks are slightly more advanced than prior pre-constructed decks; for example, the Stage 2 Meowscarada ex card that this deck is built around takes a little work to get into play (being Stage 2 and all!).
It’s got a great ability though, allowing you to add 30 HP of damage to one of your opponent’s Benched Pokemon, once per turn.
Oh, and it also has an attack that does either 120 HP damage – or 220 HP of damage if the Meowscarada ex has any damage counters on it!
This deck also has a Radiant Alakazam, which allows you to shift damage counters between your opponent’s Pokemon once per turn.
Attack-wise, the Radiant Alakazam dishes out damage per card in your opponent’s hand too, which can be brutally effective!
Oddly, the Meowscarada ex deck doesn’t come with any Psychic Energy, however – making the Radiant Alakazam’s attack somewhat redundant unless you’re prepared to make a few tweaks.
With plenty of Pokemon searching and card draw Trainer cards, you shouldn’t have difficulty getting what you need into play – it’s just a shame that one of the deck’s showcase cards is hampered by the lack of Psychic energy.
