The latest big Pokémon Pocket tournament proves you don’t need Ex cards to see success. While first place in Ursiiday’s 1,651 person tournament on February 15 went to the classic Charizard Ex deck, which hasn’t changed much since launch, the second place trophy was seized by a new build.
This Lightning/Metal deck combines the efforts of some of the best single-point Pokémon cards to come out of Space-Time Smackdown, which saw it claim 13 wins and only three losses on Saturday.
The deck runs Magnezone, one of the surprise stars of the newest Pokémon set. This brilliant Space-Time Smackdown card is a heavy-hitter that can power itself up. You just need to stall for a turn or two while Magneton provides Lightning energy, then Magnezone can deliver 110 damage attacks, only rewarding the opponent with a single point when they do finally take it down.
Magnezone takes a while to warm up, however, and leading with this Pokémon is not a recipe for success. So this strategy runs Skarmory, which can efficiently peck away for 50 damage a turn using only one energy, as long as you can equip it with a Poketool. While Metal doesn’t have beneficial type matchups, this choice allows you to apply early offensive pressure, and there’s a good chance you’ll either take out a weaker Pokémon, or soften up an Ex so it can be KOd by Magnezone.
With Magnezone providing most of its own energy and Skarmory only using one, this deck, which only runs Metal energy, has plenty to spare. It runs Heatran to make good use of each turn’s energy. This is another Pokémon that can deal a lot of damage and has high HP for a non-Ex, and in this case, Heatran is also a basic Pokémon, so it doesn’t take up much space in the deck.
Despite not featuring any flashy Ex cards, Skarmory/Magnezone has been greatly successful, as the recent tournament win shows. It seems to offer a level of consistency that is just a step above the competition. Annoyingly, I can’t play it yet, as I’m still yet to find a single Rocky Helmet! It just goes to show, however, that sometimes ditching Ex cards can be a recipe for fun and also success.
For more interesting Pokémon TCG Pocket decks, check out this strategy that can technically win without ever clicking ‘attack’, or find out why Celebi Ex is on the rise again. And to find out about the physical card game, we recommend our guides to rare Pokémon cards and all Pokémon sets in order.
Source: Wargamer
