Pikachu ex is one of the most popular decks in Pokémon TCG Pocket, and it is both great for beginners and arguably one of the best options in the early format—which feels like a match made in heaven.
Pokémon’s main mascot is a pretty popular first deck for many players as the cards are somewhat easy to find without breaking the bank, even if it has some glaring RNG weaknesses against some of the other top deck contenders.
Your main damage dealer is Pikachu ex, which can deal a solid 90 damage for two Electric Energy so long as you have three Pokémon on your bench. But the deck is more than that, as it relies on background setup with Zapdos ex as a great support Pokémon for certain matchups, as well as a few other tricks up its sleeve.
The best Pikachu ex Pokémon TCG Pocket decklist
Now I know what you are thinking. Magneton over a single Electrode or a second Raichu? Let me explain.
Explaining the picks
While having double Raichu or a singular Electrode might work best for most decks, and they might even be better than my own, Magneton’s ability to sit in the backline and add additional Electric Energy onto it works as an excellent way to slowly build up enough Energy. This means that if you do need to switch in the Raichu for that 140 Damage, you have a Magneton that can constantly stack energy to reduce the number of turns required.
Outside of that, the deck is pretty standard and runs the usual two Pikachu ex and two Zapdos ex as the heavy hitters you need. Making sure your backline is stacked to get Pikachu’s modest 90 damage out while also keeping the Pikachu ex healed up due to its low 120 damage output should secure a victory pretty quickly before anyone else has time to set up.
Sabrina is also a great tool for bringing in a Pokémon in the backline, like a Gardevoir or other pesky pocket monsters that would otherwise require something like a Zebstrika to deal damage to.
How the deck works
As mentioned before, Pikachu ex is going to be your main damage dealer, as it’s so easy to get two Electric Energy on it, while other ex Pokémon require four or more Energy while also forcing players to remove Energy to use those attacks.
With Pikachu, though, so long as you can keep your backline, you can deal a solid 90 damage per turn and take out some Pokémon before they have any chance of setting up for a quick victory. But it comes with its risks due to Pikachu ex’s low health bar.
That’s where Zapdos ex comes in, with its three Electric Energy attack Thundering Hurricane, you have to pray to the RNG gods you can successfully flip a coin on Heads as many times as possible. You flip four coins, with each head doing 50 damage for potentially 200 damage, which is more than enough to beat any Pokémon in the game so far.
Equally, Raichu is a great backup, as you can deal 140 damage for three Energy as long as you discard all Energy from the Pokémon. If you set up the Raichu in the backline and X Speed or retreat it in, you can take down some heavy hitters in a single turn. Couple that with Magneton ex, which, thanks to its ability, can add an extra Electric Energy to it per turn; it cuts the time between Energy buildup, which you can then use a Lt. Surge to take the energy from that Magneton onto the Raichu for potentially two successive turns of 140 damage.
There are many options, but that doesn’t mean it’s perfect.
Pikachu ex Pokémon TCG Pocket deck weaknesses
Pikachu ex is a glass cannon. Its 120 HP is nothing amazing, and in the mirror match, another player can cycle in their own Raichu to kill your Pikachu ex for a quick and easy two points.
Zapdos ex is also completely RNG, and most of the time, you could deal 50 or damage and waste a turn. It’s really random, and sometimes you can have a match where it pops off and other times where it falters.
The deck is also not great against bulky HP Pokémon like Mewtwo ex, Charizard ex, and Venasaur ex, all decks currently at the top of the best decks list. As Zapdos is the only card capable of one-hit KO’ing, and it relies on coin flips to work, it makes the deck pretty unreliable.
You can also easily draw into dead cards when you need one the most. If you can’t end a game in the first few turns, chances are you can’t win at all. It’s all about destroying decks early, as other decks that have time to set up squash you easily.
