Pokémon TCG Pocket: How to build a winning deck without spending any money

All you need to know about building a deck in Pokémon TCG Pocket.

Pokémon TCG Pocket / The Pokémon Company

Pokémon TCG Pocket has only just come out and people are already building outstanding decks that can be difficult to beat. However, with how many cards people can get for free it’s easy to build a deck that will be able to take on the opposition. If you’re struggling to win matches online, here’s everything you need to know about building a deck in Pokémon TCG Pocket.

Pokémon TCG Pocket: focusing on types

Unlike the normal Pokémon TCG there are no energy cards, and instead, an energy will appear in the energy zone every turn. The energy that appears in the energy zone depends on the types of cards that you have in your deck, so you’ll want to make sure each deck focuses on one specific type. Without spending money you likely won’t have enough cards of one type to fill out a whole deck, but you can complete it with Colorless cards which can use any energy type.

If you’re a beginner, Fighting-type decks are a great way to start as they hit two types (Darkness and Colorless) for their weaknesses. You can grab a basic Fighting-type Starter Deck by choosing the Mewtwo booster pack at the start, but you can try out the Grass- or Fire-type decks by reading our Starter Deck guide.

Pokémon TCG Pocket: card balancing

The most common mistake people make when building a deck is that they stuff it with Pokémon, but this makes for a weaker deck overall. You can only use two cards of each type, but you’ll still want to focus on a few strong Pokémon, so you aren’t left with weak Pokémon in your hand. There are some very strong supporter cards in Genetic Apex like Sabrina who allows you to switch out your opponent’s powerful active Pokémon, or Giovanni who can boost your damage by 10 which sometimes is just enough for the knockout.

Item cards are particularly strong as you can use as many as you like per turn. X Speed will let you switch out a Pokémon with one less energy, and Red Card can help to seriously disrupt their hand. You can filter through item cards quickly to reach the cards so a deck composed of around 12 Pokémon and eight supporters or items is ideal.

Pokémon TCG Pocket: learning your Pokémon’s roles

There are three types of Pokémon that you need in your deck: bulky stallers, fast attackers and set up sweepers. You often want to put a bulky single-stage evolution in the active spot with a very low retreat cost to start a match, so you can set up your sweeper who needs more energy on the bench. The important thing is that they have at least 70HP (though preferably more) and only have one retreat cost.

These are cards like:

• Scyther
• Heatmor
• Moltres
• Articuno
• Pyukumuku
• Bruxish
• Electabuzz
• Zapdos
• Pincurchin
• Mr. Mime
• Jynx
• Hitmonlee
• Hitmonchan
• Mawile
• Ditto

If you don’t have these in your hand, that’s where your fast attackers come in handy. These are cards that need less than two energy to attack, and have a retreat cost of one or two. You will usually prefer a bit more time to set these up in the back but they can be used up front if needed. If you have both the base card and the evolution in your hand to start with, these can be even better than your staller cards.

Here are some examples of fast attackers:

• Venonat/Venomoth
• Cottonee/Whimsicott
• Petilil/Lilligant
• Vulpix/Ninetales
• Ponyta/Rapidash
• Salandit/Salazzle
• Psyduck/Golduck
• Tentacool/Tentacruel
• Goldeen/Seaking
• Staryu/Starmie
• Snom/Frosmoth
• Voltorb/Electrode
• Eevee/Jolteon
• Blitzle/Zebstrika
• Helioptile/Heliolisk
• Clefairy/Clefable
• Woobat/Swoobat
• Diglett/Dugtrio
• Mankey/Primeape
• Cubone/Marowak
• Mienfoo/Mienshao
• Zubat/Golbat
• Pawniard/Bisharp
• Rattata/Raticate
• Spearow/Fearow
• Meowth/Persian
• Doduo/Dodrio

The final group of Pokémon you will need are your set up sweepers. These are Pokémon with high energy costs, high damage costs, and high retreat costs. The EX Pokémon fall into this category, but also many of the other three line evolutions or strong single stages do too. These are the cards you can bring in after your first card is knocked out to sweep from behind. Often regular cards are better than EX’s in this position as they don’t leave you vulnerable to the opponent taking two points for a knockout.

Here are some examples of set-up sweepers:

• Bulbasaur/Ivysaur/Venusaur EX
• Bellsprout/Weepinbell/Victreebel
• Exeggcute/Exeggcutor EX
• Charmander/Charmeleon/Charizard EX
• Growlithe/Arcanine EX
• Moltres EX
• Squirtle/Wartortle/Blastoise EX
• Poliwag/Poliwhirl/Poliwrath
• Staryu/Starmie EX
• Magikarp/Gyarados
• Articuno EX
• Froakie/Frogadier/Greninja
• Pikachu EX
• Zapdos EX
• Abra/Kadabra/Alakazam
• Gastly/Haunter/Gengar
• Mewtwo EX
• Golett/Golurk
• Machop/Machoke/Machamp EX
• Geodude/Graveler/Golem
• Cubone/Marowak EX
• Clobbopus/Grapploct
• Nidoran F/Nidorina/Nidoqueen
• Meltan/Melmetal
• Dratini/Dragonair/Dragonite
• Jigglypuff/Wigglytuff EX
• Snorlax

Pokémon TCG Pocket: using Abilities

Some Pokémon have abilities and these are particularly strong. You can use each Ability once per turn, on top of your usual attacks, and many can be used from the bench. Cards like Butterfree, Magneton, Gardevoir, Hypno, Pidgeot, and Porygon can all be used from the bench to help out. However, as benches are limited, you’ll likely only have space for one type of these supporters per deck.