An unusual Pokémon TCG Pocket deck featuring Wigglytuff ex has come second in a competitive tournament for the game. The deck took the silver medal in the SpX League Mini last week, with an unusual strategy relying on sleep and eggs.
Pokémon Pocket has such a small card pool that it’s fair to say the meta has basically three top decks, each one based around one of the three best ex cards in the game: Pikachu, Charizard, and Mewtwo. These have been firm favorites ever since Pokémon TCG Pocket came out, and they crowd the top spots in every tournament held so far. As a result of this repetitiveness, we’re always on the lookout for alternate builds that show a glimmer of promise.
The SpX League Mini Cup Wigglytuff deck, which user aaaxpq piloted on December 3, is one such promising deck. It relies on a tag team duo of high HP Pokémon cards, with one card able to apply early pressure, and the other devastating with status moves.
Exeggutor ex is the first of these Pokémon, and ideally the one you want to lead with in this deck. It can dish out good damage right from the start of the game and give you plenty of time to build up your Wigglytuff.
The unevolved form Exeggcute hits for 20 out the gate, and you then have the choice of Exeggutor, which deals 30-60 damage with just one energy using its Stomp attack, or Exeggutor ex, which deals 40-80. The best part is you only ever need to commit one energy to this line, which is handy since your other Pokémon is very energy-intensive. It can sit there being a tanky wall, until Wigglytuff ex wakes up from its nap.
Speaking of that pink jellybaby, let’s talk about the other part of the deck. Wigglytuff ex’s 80 damage, three energy attack may sound subpar, but it consistently puts the opponent’s Pokémon to sleep, meaning they have a 50% chance of skipping their next turn. The player can still use energy, items, and load up the bench, but their Pokémon can’t attack or retreat. This can be game ending, especially if you’re able to trap an injured monster and stop it escaping to the bench.
While aaaxpq’s Wigglytuff/Exeggcutor deck performed admirably, only losing out to one of the Pikachu players, it’s worth noting that this was a smaller tournament than those we’ve covered in the past, with only 203 players in total. This result should therefore be treated with a little bit of caution; we’re not about to draw any hard conclusions from the upset.
For more intriguing Pokémon TCG Pocket decks, here’s a Greninja deck that’s seen some triumph in tournaments (and which I’ve since started using myself).
You might also enjoy our guides to the most expensive Pokémon cards in the paper game, and the newest Pokémon sets.
Source: Wargamer
