When Arceus Ex released in the Pokémon Pocket set Radiant Light, we were particularly interested in the collection of link Pokémon that came with it. But ultimately, the meta that formed left all of these in the dust. Instead, the best Arceus Ex deck paired the god of pocket monsters with Dialga Ex, to boost the normal-type’s energy as fast as possible.
But now a ‘proper’ Arceus deck, making use of these link Pokémon, is starting to become a real meta contender – taking 5th place in a 1,353 person tournament last Saturday, March 15. The deck, piloted by player Onyx G, has an intriguing grab-bag of Pokémon that’s well worth examining more closely.
First up, an unsurprising addition, is Sky Form Shaymin. This mainstay of Arceus Ex decks sits on the bench to power up your big boy and helps you retreat your Pokémon more easily, allowing for a more flexible strategy.
Carnivine is this deck’s main attacker besides Arceus. With its Power Link active, you can deal 50 damage a turn for only one energy – allowing you to quickly rush down any deck that needs time to set up.
But this deck also runs two forms of Rotom. The Speed Link Rotom is easy to explain. It has the power to target the bench, which is very powerful if you plan to execute a game-ending Cyrus switch in. Retreating for free into a powered-up Arceus Ex is also a very strong move.
The electric Rotom is a more surprising pick. It deals 50 damage when the opponent has a Pokémon Tool attached, which seems to just make it a slightly less reliable Carnivine. It could just be in the mix to give a third early attacker for redundancy, but my best guess is it’s there to punish all the two-Pokémon Water decks that have been cropping up lately.
Against an Articuno with a hat or a cape, Rotom can deal 70 damage a turn for just one energy. Even if it doesn’t survive the crackback, that early pressure is still likely to win you the game.
As for the rest of the contest, Arceus/Dialga and Lucario/Rampardos decks dominated the field. But there was one other notable result. First place in this competition was won by a Darkrai/Weavile deck, which only ran six Pokémon cards in total (two Sneasels, two Weaviles, two Darkrai).
That’s surprising to me, since the pure Darkness Darkrai deck never seemed to take off before. Perhaps the relative shortage of grass types have made it more viable. The abundance of fighting types may also have made Magnezone/Darkrai decks less appealing.
For more Pokémon TCG stories follow our guide to the most expensive and rare Pokémon cards. And check out this list of the best Pokémon cards ever made.
Source: Wargamer
