Pokémon TCG Pocket has taken the world by storm, becoming one of the most popular mobile games in the market. With an ample repertoire of cards available, one can feel lost on their way to craft the best decks available. Therefore we’ve decided to guide you on your journey through the meta by giving you tips on how to build the best Pokémon TCG Pocket decks of January 2025.
Enter the Mewtwo EX deck!
Mewtwo EX has been an absolute threat to the meta-game since the inception of Pokémon TCG Pocket. You can only find him on Genetic Apex booster packs that use Mewtwo’s art and its not available in any other pack. This 150 HP Pokémon can pack nasty amounts of damage right on the first turns of the game due to it’s ability to be easily deployed as long as its in your hand. You may want to open up with it to intimidate your opponent into a potential surrender, since once Mewtwo is on the board nothing can really stop it. At two energies, it already deals 50 damage without issue, a feat compared to other cards available in the game.
The truly scary part is that this isn’t the only thing he can do, at four energy cards, it can essentially wipe out any other Pokémon in one shot. This comes handy when your opponent is also running a Mewtwo EX deck, since the damage caused by Psydrive is exactly 150, equal to Mewtwo’s HP.
However, one might be intimidated by its high upkeep, since Psydrive also makes you discard two psychic energies from Mewtwo if it is used. But that becomes irrelevant as long as you run as small engine to properly supply those much needed energies to it. And the key to that engine is Gardevoir.
Gardevoir is the reason that the Mewtwo EX deck is one of the best decks available in this format. Thanks to the Psy Shadow ability, you can easily pump more Psychic energy into back into Mewtwo EX whenever you use Psydrive to obliterate any card your opponent decides to move forward. Another cool thing to do with Psy Shadow is try to speed up your ability to build Mewtwo EX from the ground up, turning it into an unstoppable Psydrive machine. You can find Gardevoir in the same booster pack that Mewtwo EX resides.
The only problem with Gardevoir is the fact that you have to evolve from the very weak Ralts card, and being a stage 2 card you still have to deal with Kirlia too, making the process rather slow. But you cannot avoid running Gardevoir in your deck, since you will lose the ability to power up Mewtwo EX in any efficient or meaningful way. This can lead to your opponent having the chance of knocking you ace out of the game, preparing you for an inevitable loss.
Thankfully, Mewtwo EX is quite the bulky monster, having 150 HP allows him to sit in the active spot for quite a long while, allowing you to eventually reach that much needed Gardevoir evolution to speed up the game in your favor. You do have to be wary, despite Mewtwo being quite bulky, if you don’t take good care of him, it can get knocked out by the other meta choice that will get presented next.
The underdog, Pikachu EX Deck!
Another popular and quite effective choice is the Pikachu EX deck, this deck specializes in quick yet deadly bursts of attacks that can grind most decks to a halt. At 2 energies, Pikachu EX is able to potentially dish out 90 damage, provided your bench is full of electric type Pokémon, which you will play plenty of. Pikachu EX can be found in the Genetic Apex Pikachu pack. Despite this, the deck struggles in the HP department, its a true glass cannon, many of your cards exist solely for the purpose of being placed on the bench rather than having a proper active role in the battlefield.
This is, however, offset by the fact that setting up Pikachu EX just takes 2 turns, provided you have it in your hand at the start of the game, rivaling in speed compared to the slow yet powerful Mewtwo EX who needs some time to setup. Couple this with the fact that electric Pokémon are easy to get from just any pack and you have an affordable option compared to the Mewtwo EX deck. Not to mention that, unlike the Mewtwo EX deck, which can do 50 damage with 2 energy, Pikachu EX can knock out Mewtwo EX in 2 hits.
There’s plenty of ways to build it which will be touched upon on further posts, but a card you really need in every build to capitalize on the idea of speed is X Speed.
Using EX Pokémon is a risky but needed strategy to remain competitive, each time one of them is knocked out, the player who did will earn two points, which puts them in a massive lead. Other EX cards suffer from having a hefty retreat cost, however, Pikachu EX is blessed with having one of the lowest retreat costs in the game. If you see that it’s about to get knocked out, it would be smart to just be able to retreat it for free, a thing you can do if you have this nice tech card in your Pikachu EX deck.
These are the best Pokémon TCG Pocket decks of January 2025
Whether you pick the lightning fast Pikachu EX deck or the raging psychic behemoth Mewtwo EX deck, what matters the most is to have fun while trying different decks. The card repertoire has a plethora of options that are still undiscovered, and you can be one of the first ones on unearthing an unexpected strategy that might take the meta by storm. We at Infinite Start would love to help you in your Pokémon TCG Pocket journey, by giving you the most up to date tips and tactics to become the Pokémon master.
