Hello, and welcome to this premiere guide to Pokémon TCG Pocket decks! Today we’ll begin our series strong by introducing you to one of the most serious competitors in the metagame. This deck proved itself time and time again in the past Solo event against Lapras EX. It also has a remarkable showing in the current Versus event. We’re talking about Pikachu EX, one of the “Big 3” strongest decks in the PTCGP meta at this time. Without further ado, let’s get on with it!
The Most Meta Decklist For Pokémon TCG Pocket
Pikachu EX is a remarkably versatile Pokémon card. All it requires is that it’s played with other Lightning Pokémon on its bench, and it can do anywhere between 90 and 120* damage per attack! The deck has its variations, but one seems to stand out among the rest: The Zapdos EX Variant.
Pikachu EX Meta Decklist
Pokémon: 8
2x Pikachu EX
2x Zapdos EX
2x Blitzle
2x ZebstrikaItem: 6
2x Poké Ball
2x Potion
2x X SpeedTrainer: 6
2x Giovanni
2x Professor’s Research
2x Sabrina
The deck has two heavy hitters: Pikachu EX and Zapdos EX – alongside Zebstrika, a “sniper” choice. Pikachu EX is the foundation for the deck; it wants you to give it two Lightning Energy and then go to town while your bench is full. Zapdos EX is there as a high-HP threat, while Zebstrika can get points off of fainting benched opposing Pokémon. These roles are simple and intuitive – that’s what makes Pikachu EX a threat.
The Item and Trainer slots are generally the parts of the deck that are most varied for these lists within Pokémon TCG Pocket. Poké Ball and Professor’s Research are both two-of staples each because they can provide important card advantage where applicable. But the other cards are a bit of a toss-up in the meta. There’s absolutely some level of debate on how many copies of Sabrina or Giovanni a player wants, versus something like Red Card, which notably has no copies in this list.
This deck has consistently done well in events and currently seems like the fastest way to rack up wins in the current Versus event.
* With Giovanni active and against a Pokémon with a type weakness to Lightning, Pikachu EX can do up to 30 more damage than its base with a full bench.
Cost To Obtain The Meta Pikachu EX Deck
Assuming you’ve opened none of the cards in the deck as of yet, it would cost you the following currency to obtain the cards for this deck:
- 16 Shop Tickets
- 2,630 Pack Points
The above doesn’t account for higher-quality cosmetic alternatives. The Shop Tickets are to account for the pairs of each Item and the pair of copies of Professor’s Research you’d need for the deck. You can obtain these through completing missions, and by getting thanked for battles and wonder picks. This will largely be the easiest part of this deck’s acquisition.
As for the other parts of the deck, here’s a breakdown:
- Pikachu EX and Zapdos EX both cost 500 Pack Points per card. This comes to 2,000 Pack Points total.
- Electrode, Zebstrika, Giovanni, and Sabrina all cost 70 Pack Points per card. This comes to 560 Pack Points.
- Blitzle costs 35 Pack Points per card to acquire. This comes to 70 Pack Points total to obtain.
Because the cards you need most, Pikachu EX and Zapdos EX, both come in the Pikachu subset of Genetic Apex, that is the pack you’ll want to open the most frequently to obtain these cards. Giovanni and Sabrina come from the Mewtwo and Charizard subsets, respectively, so you may want to save your Pack Points to obtain those. Alternatively, although highly suboptimal, you can strive to Wonder Pick the cards to get them that way.
More Budget-Friendly Pikachu EX Build
As I personally don’t have both of my copies of Zapdos EX yet, I’ve opted for a slightly more budget-friendly build for my Pikachu EX deck in Pokémon TCG Pocket. You can view my list here and below. I’ve eschewed both copies of Zapdos EX and both copies of Giovanni to add two copies of Voltorb and two copies of Electrode.
I chose to add Electrode to this list because of its zero-Energy retreat cost, making it a strong choice to resist opposing Sabrina plays in case I don’t have an X Speed handy (you’ll notice that every Pokémon in the deck has a retreat cost of one Energy otherwise). With Electrode in mind, there’s almost certainly no stopping the ‘Chu!
This option is also far more easy on one’s budget, bringing the total Pack Point cost down by 710 points, from 2,630 down to 1,840. It’s economical and extremely powerful, to boot!
A Shocking Deck
Pokémon TCG Pocket has been rocked by Pikachu EX, plain and simple. Other content creators have discussed the power and the controversy of the deck at length by now. However, so far it hasn’t done badly for any player using it. The one downside I can see, ultimately, stems from poor sportsmanship. Players don’t seem to want to “Thank” Pikachu EX players as often, leading to fewer Shop Tickets for the latter set of players. This can’t be helped – it’s often well within human nature to be competitive, and salt flows freely, especially online.
Be that as it may, Pikachu EX is a really good deck for those hoping to start using the Pokémon TCG Pocket app. I hope that people have a blast playing it in games to come!
New to Pokémon TCG Pocket? Check out our guide on how to battle and build decks here.
