There’s nothing like taking stock of the fresh meta after a new Pokémon TCG Pocket set comes out, and Shining Revelry definitely seems to be providing a healthy shake up.
We’ve already made our picks for the best Shining Revelry cards, but now a week has gone by and some big tournaments have played out, giving us a chance to see exactly how these cards actually play in practice. And one unexpected deck in particular seems to be coming out on top.
As usual, Ursiiday’s Pocket Weekly was the largest Pokémon Pocket tournament this week, with 967 people taking part on March 29. The results show a healthy mixture of decks, but the standout success story is a psychic type deck featuring Giratina Ex.
It seems we were correct that Giratina Ex was one of the best Pokémon cards from the newest set, but while other players are running it in ‘stall’ decks featuring Druddigon, the winning strategy at the weekend was a deck with a low Pokémon count, featuring a Mewtwo Ex and two Giratina. Yes that’s right, Mewtwo, one of the best cards early on in Pocket’s lifespan, has officially returned.
This simple strategy relies on Poketools, the new Pokémon Center Lady supporter, and potions to keep your Pokémon alive, while building up energy on two powerful Pokémon at once. Dawn can allow you to use Mewtwo’s big 150 damage attack on subsequent turns or simply reach it faster. The deck has surprising flexibility. You can take your time and build both Pokémon as described or, against aggro decks, you can focus all the energy accumulation on Giratina, to retaliate as quickly as possible.
If it was just the one player seeing success with this strategy we might call it a fluke, but not only did this deck take first place, a contestant with an identical list also came 5th.
Other interesting decks from the competition include a Beedrill/Meowscarada list, which came in 7th place in the tournament. While the deck looks dubious at first glance, relying on two three-stage evolutionary lines, a point in its favor is that both Weedle and Sprigatito can thin out your deck, improving your draws later on.
The deck benefits from Erika heals, while Beedrill can be a nightmare for energy hungry Pokémon, and Meowscarada can really punish Exs. Despite it being a heavy investment, several players are trying to find spots for this Pokémon in their lists.
Another strategy designed to punish the current meta has also risen to the top in the past week. This Gallade deck doesn’t feature any new Pokémon cards, but despite the poor type matchup it’s well positioned to hurt Giratina decks, or any energy intensive strategies that need time to build up from the bench.
Hitmonlee leaves your enemies susceptible to Cyrus switch-ins, while Gallade can efficiently dish out crushing amounts of damage to Pokémon with energy on them.
For more Pokémon TCG reads, check out our guide to the most expensive rare Pokémon cards in the world – or check up on the just-released newest Pokémon set.
Source: Wargamer
