Pokémon TCG Live starter deck strategies reavealed featuring Pikachu ex, Charizard ex and more

March 24, 2025

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Embrace the electric power of Pikachu ex, heat up the competition with Charizard ex, and more.

Pokémon Trading Card Game Live offers an exciting new way to experience the thrill of the Pokémon TCG, and players of all skill levels can try out strategies with eight specially designed starter decks. Download the app to start battling, and with the right strategy, you can continue down the path to excellence. Before choosing your favorite and leaping into battle, let’s explore the eight starter decks as well as how to best use each one.

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Charizard ex

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Charizard ex’s Infernal Reign Ability can quickly power up your team with Fire Energy when you play Charizard ex from your hand to evolve a Pokémon.

Be careful, though—this Ability won’t work if you evolve into Charizard ex using the effect of Technical Machine: Evolution.

Pidgeot ex’s Quick Search Ability can find any card in your deck and add it to your hand! Prioritize getting this powerful Pokémon ex into play to help get the rest of your deck online.

A good way to do so is with Arven. This helpful Supporter card can get you Rare Candy to evolve Pidgey straight into Pidgeot ex or Technical Machine: Evolution so your feathery friends can reach their peak after you play Buddy-Buddy Poffin.

Dragapult ex

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Dragapult ex’s Phantom Dive costs Fire Psychic but will do 200 damage and also put six damage counters on your opponent’s Benched Pokémon in any way you like! These damage counters can be used to set up future Knock Outs or chase down damaged Pokémon that retreated to the Bench. You can also use Sparkling Crystal to reduce this attack to a single Energy.

For even more impact, Dusclops’s Cursed Blast Ability lets you place five damage counters on your opponent’s Pokémon. If you have Dusknoir in play, its Cursed Blast Ability lets you place 13 damage counters. Fair warning, though—this Ability comes at the cost of Dusclops and Dusknoir being Knocked Out themselves.

Needing two different types of Energy to make use of Phantom Dive can be difficult. Thankfully, Xatu can help with its Clairvoyant Sense Ability, which allows you to attach a Psychic Energy from your hand to one of your Benched Pokémon and lets you draw two cards!

If you need more cards, Drakloak’s Recon Directive Ability lets you look at the top two cards of your deck, then add one to your hand and put the other on the bottom of your deck.

Gholdengo ex

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Draw cards with Gholdengo ex’s Coin Bonus Ability, then use Make It Rain to dish out tons of damage by discarding Energy cards from your hand.

Use Superior Energy Retrieval to put up to four Basic Energy cards from your discard pile into your hand so you can Make It Rain all over again. Levincia works similarly, letting you grab two Basic Lightning Energy from your discard pile every single turn it’s in play.

Arven is especially good at enabling your game plan. It can grab Buddy-Buddy Poffin to put two Basic Pokémon from your deck onto your Bench, while Technical Machine: Evolution can evolve those Basic Pokémon as an attack effect.

You can get tons of Energy in one go with Item cards: Energy Search Pro lets you find a Basic Energy card of each type, while Earthen Vessel can find two Basic Energy cards in any combination of types.

Greninja ex

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While it’s in the Active Spot, Chien-Pao ex leads the charge with its Shivery Chill Ability, letting you search your deck for two Water Energy cards to add to your hand.

After thinning your deck of these Energy cards, use Dudunsparce’s Run Away Draw Ability to maximize your odds of drawing what you need out of the three cards it gets you.

A good way to get all those Energy into play is with Baxcalibur, whose Super Cold Ability lets you attach any number of Basic Water Energy cards from your hand to your Pokémon.

While Chien-Pao ex is an excellent attacker, Greninja ex brings a ton of flexibility to your game plan. Its Shinobi Blade adds any card from your deck to your hand, while Mirage Barrage hits two of your opponent’s Pokémon for 120 damage.

Hydreigon ex

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Hydreigon ex has two potent attacks: Crashing Headbutt does 200 damage and discards three cards from the opponent’s deck, potentially disrupting their strategies, while Obsidian does 130 to your opponent’s Active Pokémon and two of your opponent’s Benched Pokémon. Be aware that this damage to your opponent’s Benched Pokémon won’t work against Tera Pokémon because of their Tera rule.

Revavroom’s Rumbling Engine Ability can discard Energy from your hand so you can draw until you have six cards. While it may seem strange to discard Energy given the attack costs of Hydreigon ex, there are ways to utilize your discarded Energy.

Glass Trumpet can return two Energy from your discard pile to your Benched Pokémon as long as you have a Tera Pokémon in play—like Hydreigon ex—but they can only be attached to Colorless Pokémon. The perfect Pokémon to attach to is Blissey ex, whose Happy Switch Ability can move an Energy from one of your Pokémon to another, letting you swap the Energy attached from Glass Trumpet to your Hydreigon ex.

Mamoswine ex

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Mamoswine ex does more damage for each Stage 2 Pokémon you have in play with its Rumbling March attack. While getting a bunch of Stage 2 Pokémon into play may seem daunting, Mamoswine ex’s Mammoth Hauler Ability can help, letting you grab any Pokémon in your deck to add to your hand every turn.

And if your opponent has taken more Prize cards than you, consider grabbing Luxray. Its Swelling Flash Ability lets you put it immediately onto your Bench without needing to evolve!

The Dancer Pokémon helps support your Twin Tusks Pokémon in more ways than one! One of the Quaquaval in your deck has the Energy Carnival Ability that accelerates an additional Basic Energy card from your hand to your Pokémon, making it simple to get the two Fighting Energy needed for Mamoswine ex’s attack. Another Quaquaval has the Up-Tempo Ability, which lets you draw cards until you have five in your hand for the price of putting a card in your hand on the bottom of your deck.

While Rare Candy is a useful way to evolve Quaxly into one of these two Stage 2 Pokémon, Grand Tree can also help get them—or Mamoswine ex—into play.

Pikachu ex

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Pikachu ex might only have 200 HP, but it can survive almost any attack with its Resolute Heart Ability, leaving it at 10 remaining HP as long as it had full HP when it was attacked. And since it’s a Tera Pokémon, it also won’t take any damage while it’s on your Bench (but be careful of effects that place damage counters, like Dragapult ex’s Phantom Dive, since those will ignore this effect).

Pikachu ex can also launch a powerful Topaz Bolt attack for 300 damage, but it needs to discard three Energy in the process. If Gravity Mountain is in play, this attack can Knock Out almost anything! You can load more than three Energy onto Pikachu ex to make this discard cost easier to manage, and you can attach Powerglass to recover Energy at the end of your turn.

Blaziken ex’s Seething Spirit Ability can accelerate Energy from your discard pile to any of your Pokémon. If you have multiple Blaziken ex in play, each of them can use this Ability, making it even easier to reuse costly attacks like Topaz Bolt.

Another good target for Seething Spirit is Iono’s Kilowattrel, which can use its Flashing Draw Ability to discard a Lightning Energy from itself to draw until you have six cards in hand.

Raging Bolt ex

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Raging Bolt ex’s Bellowing Thunder attack damage can go sky-high by discarding Basic Energy cards attached to your Pokémon—even your Benched Pokémon! Teal Mask Ogerpon ex’s Teal Dance Ability can help get those Energy into play, attaching a Grass Energy from your hand to Teal Mask Ogerpon ex while drawing you a card.

Professor Sada’s Vitality is the marquee Supporter card for this deck, attaching an Energy card from your discard pile to two of your Raging Bolt ex and drawing three cards! Crispin adds an Energy to your hand while attaching another to one of your Pokémon directly.

Noctowl’s Jewel Seeker Ability lets you find any two Trainer cards from your deck. Do note that this Ability can be used only if you have a Tera Pokémon in play (like Teal Mask Ogerpon ex). As a reminder, a Trainer card can be a Supporter, Item, Pokémon Tool, or Stadium card.

If it’s your first turn, wait! Consider making your first Pokémon a Fan Rotom, as its Fan Call Ability can be used only during your first turn. Fan Call finds three Colorless Pokémon with 100 HP or less (including Evolution Pokémon like Noctowl) and adds them to your hand.

Enjoy battling in Pokémon TCG Live this year, Trainers!

Source: The Pokémon Company International