For the last couple of weeks, the Pokémon Pocket meta has felt pretty fixed, with five or six decks that consistently outperform the rest vying for top spot.
But – despite no new cards being added to the game – things finally seem to be changing once more, as decks featuring the Pokémon card Magnezone from Space-Time Smackdown are suddenly reaching the top of tournaments.
Right now, it appears there are two main variants of the Magnezone deck, which can be identified by the other Pokémon line they use to apply pressure while Magneton powers up. One uses Skarmory and Pokémon Tools, playing super aggressively and chipping away early at whatever your opponent has in the active zone. The other uses Meowscarada, the newest Pokémon set’s bulky bane of Pokémon ex.
These decks are seeing a huge amount of success right now, as illustrated by the latest Ursiiday Pocket Weekly tournament, which took place on April 12. While it may not pull in the numbers it used to, this is still the most popular competitive Pokémon Pocket tournament there is, so it remains a great yardstick for measuring the meta. And in that 700-person tournament, there were eight Magnezone decks in the top 20, compared to five Gyarados decks, and four decks featuring Darkrai and Giratina.
Why is Magnezone suddenly performing so well? My theory is that the dominance of slow decks that take time to build up are pivotal to its success.
Take Giratina/Darkrai. This incredibly powerful deck is strong, but slow: building up energy on two powerful Pokémon, while still dealing a little damage with Darkrai, until it reaches an unbeatable position. Having a Magneton on the bench building up energy allows you – to an extent – to keep up with your opponent, and remain on an equal footing, with multiple attackers available to you.
I should also mention that Skarmory/Magnezone is close to a hard counter for the popular Gyarados deck, absolutely shutting down Manaphy.
For more Pokémon TCG news, check out our guides to the best Pokémon cards and the rarest Pokémon cards. Or come join in the conversation on our Discord.
Source: Wargamer
