Images courtesy of The Pokémon Company
Welcome to the first Pokémon TCG Pocket deck tech since Space-Time Smackdown‘s release! Almost immediately with the release of Smackdown, a serious meta-defining deck emerged. The deck contains one-half of the major deck components that people assumed were going to see play. However, it was the other half that astounded us by somehow being more pivotal to the deck. If you’re savvy to the PTCGP metagame, you’ll know right away. This is the Darkrai ex deck that uses the Magnezone line to obliterate opponents!
Pokémon TCG Pocket Deck: Thunderclap
Pokémon: 10
- Kangaskhan x1
- Darkrai ex x2
- Druddigon x1
- Magnemite (Space-Time Smackdown) x2
- Magneton (Genetic Apex) x2
- Magnezone x2
Items: 2
- Poké Ball x2
Supporters: 7
- Professor’s Research x2
- Cyrus x2
- Leaf x2
- Dawn x1
Pokémon Tools: 1
- Giant Cape x1
The True Shocker
Below is the game plan for this deck, but first, a surprise for anyone who hasn’t already caught onto the concept. Interestingly, this deck does not run any Lightning Energy in the Energy Zone! The only Energy it runs is Darkness. This is done solely intending to load up Darkrai ex for chip damage upon the opposing Pokémon.
As often as you can when piloting this deck, you’ll want to keep Darkrai ex and your Magnemite line Benched in the back line until your Active wall, Druddigon or Kangaskhan, is Knocked Out. By that point, you’ll ideally have evolved Magnemite into Magneton and loaded it up with at least three Lightning Energy.
Where do you get the Lightning Energy from? Magneton has an ability called Volt Charge that generates it unto itself. Thus, when your stall Pokémon is KOed, bring Magneton out with a bunch of Energy on it, and evolve it to take over the game.
If Magnezone goes down, which will take a lot of work on the opponent’s part, your Darkrai has so much Darkness Energy on it now that it can sweep the rest of your opponent’s weary creatures.
Trainer Cards Bring the Thunder
Of course, our Pokémon are keen to get weary as well. As such, cards like Giant Cape and Leaf will assist us in either shoring up Hit Points or Retreating when things get tough.
However, with the advent of Cyrus, one of the most impactful cards to come out of Space-Time Smackdown, the ability to pivot freely with your Pokémon is stymied immensely. But then again, so is that of your opponent. We want to use this to our advantage too, be it for an impactful attack against an opposing Pokémon ex or a readily available potshot against a severely damaged Pokémon.
No matter who you’re currently squaring off against, Cyrus is an immensely powerful card and will win you games here.
Thunderclap Deck Costs on Pokémon TCG Pocket
Thunderclap is a moderately inexpensive deck to get going on Pokémon TCG Pocket. As always, because we’re running a few promotional cards, the Shop Ticket prices are included in this analysis of currency costs. However, you can halve that cost if you’re diligent and do your battle tutorial missions.
Here are the costs for this Pokémon TCG Pocket deck:
- Shop Tickets: 8
- Pack Points: 2,310
- Genetic Apex: 450
- Charizard: 150
- Pikachu: 300
- Mythical Island: 210
- Space-Time Smackdown: 1,650
- Dialga: 1,140
- Palkia: 140
- Pack Agnostic: 370
- Genetic Apex: 450
The breakdown equating to a deck of this cost boils down to all of Genetic Apex‘s cards as well as Space-Time Smackdown‘s two Magnezone each being rare cards. As a common, Magnemite is (unfortunately) the only card in this deck that costs 35 Pack Points. Darkrai ex is a necessity for the deck and will set you back 1,000 Pack Points for its inclusion, but you won’t regret having them in the days to come. Thankfully, the Magnemite line in Space-Time Smackdown isn’t exclusive to either the Dialga or Palkia packs. Because of this, you can feel free to grab those in either pack of the set. Finally, Druddigon and Leaf, staples that they are, are the only cards you need from Mythical Island.
You’ve Got a Big Storm Coming
This deck has done exceptionally well in Pokémon TCG Pocket tournaments as of late, with one event boasting six of its Top 8 competitors piloting a variation on this build! It’ll surely be interesting to see how the next meta deck matches up with this one.
Have you had any luck with piloting Thunderclap? If you like this deck tech and the ideas behind it, consider checking out any of our other guides on Pokémon TCG Pocket decks. For example, our previous deck tech, based around Aerodactyl ex!
