While Celebi Ex got the most attention when the (still relatively) new Pokémon TCG Pocket set Mythical Island came out, it has since been cleanly supplanted by the real powerhouse of these packs, the monster that is Gyarados.
Gyarados Ex has a terrifying attack, Rampaging Whirlpool, that deals 140 damage, one-shotting most Pokémon, and leaving anything else in critical condition. You do need four energy to power it up, but Water has a few tricks to help out in that regard.
Once you have a Gyarados ready to go, it’s almost impossible for the opponent to recover: Gyarados’ energy discarding effect sometimes stops them being able to attack at all once their first Pokémon goes down. All that, and we haven’t even mentioned that, with a whopping 180 HP, Gyarados is one of the highest HP Pokémon cards in the game.
While Celebi Ex was our card to watch from the latest set – and we even spent some time theorycrafting decks that could take the Legendary Pokémon down – Gyarados Ex is the card that’s seen best results, to the point where it’s now even rivalling Pikachu and Mewtwo for pole position, and has probably ousted Charizard from third place. A simple glance at the meta shows just how well the sea serpent is performing, while also revealing exactly what Gyarados decks people are playing.
In Week 9 of Ursiiday’s Pocket Weekly tournament, the largest Pokémon Pocket competition running, there were two Gyarados decks in the top six, while another tournament, Pocket Legends League #13, saw one take third place. Though, originally, competitive players experimented with a decklist featuring Articuno – using Vaporean to move your energy around – a much less straightforward build has since taken its place.
The top Gyarados deck of the moment uses Druddigon as a defensive wall. It doesn’t run fire energy to power its attack, instead just having the dragon sit there soaking up attacks and dealing little bits of damage while Gyarados charges up. The deck also uses Greninja, so with the combined power of Water Shuriken and Rough Skin, you have plenty of ways to soften up targets that otherwise would not go down in one hit.
The Pokémon TCG Pocket meta is looking pretty healthy right now, and all in all, Mythical Island seems to have helped rather than hindered. Not only is there a new tier 1 deck in Gyarados, a couple of other promising builds have shown up, from the previously mentioned Celebi decks to a Brock deck running Aerodactyl Ex.
For another fun read, here’s our take on just what makes opening Pokémon Pocket packs so darn compelling. Or if you’re interested in the physical TCG, check out the most expensive Pokémon cards ever sold – our lengthy list has more oddities than you can shake an Oddish at.
Source: Wargamer
