Pokémon TCG Pocket meta and best decks for January 2024

The Pokémon TCG Pocket meta has become clear, now that the mobile card game has officially drained the battery life of every smartphone this side of Kanto.

Released in late October 2024, Pokémon TCG Pocket is primarily a card-collecting game, though there is a competitive element — a streamlined iteration on the classic Pokémon trading card game. There’s incentive to play battles, too, as winning earns you XP, which helps you level up, which helps you open more booster packs, which helps you build better decks to win more battles. Ah, the great mobile game feedback loop.

What follows is a summary of the Pokémon TCG Pocket meta as of January 2024, including the best decks and the best cards. We’ll update this guide as the Pokémon TCG Pocket meta meaningfully shifts.

What is the Pokémon TCG Pocket meta right now?

All cards in Pokémon TCG Pocket come from either the three Genetic Apex expansion booster packs (headlined by Mewtwo ex, Pikachu ex, and Charizard ex) or the single Mythical Island pack (headlined by Mew ex). For the most part, the three Genetic Apex headline cards have defined the meta, though a couple of other Legendaries have proven dominant.

Decks in Pokémon TCG Pocket comprise 20 cards each. Though you can mix and match card and energy types when building a deck, the viable decks du jour are designed around one element. Since most attacks are powered by a specific elemental type, you don’t want to leave the element you draw each turn up to a coin flip. Pokémon TCG Pocket has enough coin flips already.

Furthermore, the best decks are for the most part built around one or two specific cards, with the rest of the deck padded out by trainer cards (items or supporters) and basic Pokémon of the same elemental type. As of January 2024, those top decks are:

In other words, smash that “concede” button if you see any of the above cards on your opponent’s side — and we get into more detail about why these decks are so successful below.

Pokémon TCG Pocket best decks

Knowing the best cards of the moment is one thing, but getting those cards is another matter. Right now, the Pokémon TCG Pocket meta is defined by ex cards — high-power cards that are also extremely rare.

You can get these from booster packs (you can see your chances of specific cards by clicking the “offering rates” button on the lower-left corner), but if you’re struggling, know you can get specific cards by exchanging pack points, a currency you’ll earn by opening booster packs.

Ex cards start at 500 pack points, though, and currently, you only get five pack points for every booster pack you open. So even if you’re willing to spend IRL money on Poké Gold to open a bunch of packs, you’ll still have to sit through a lot of mindless clicking before you can afford the exact ex card of your choice.

In other words, until trading is introduced in January 2025, the best way to get any of the following cards is… luck.

Here are the best decks in Pokémon TCG Pocket, with the key cards for each deck highlighted in bold.

Following the release of the Mythical Island expansion pack, Celebi ex has run the table. Celebi ex’s attack, Powerful Bloom, costs two energy. For every energy attached to Celebi ex, you flip coin — and for every heads you get, you deal 50 damage. Stack enough energy on Celebi ex and you won’t even need luck on your side to take out literally any Pokémon in the game with a single hit.

There are two cards that help you power up Celebi ex. Lilligant’s (which evolves from Petilil) Leaf Supply attack allows you to attach a bonus grass-type energy to any Pokémon on your bench. Serperior (the third-stage evolution of Snivy) has a passive ability, Jungle Totem, that causes any grass-type energy attached to a grass-type Pokémon to count twice. With both of those cards in play, you can power up your Celebi ex into a monster that can predictably deal 250 damage (or more) per turn.

You’ll also want to have an Erika or two in this deck. Erika, a supporter card, heals 50 HP for any grass-type Pokémon — way more than the 20 HP you’d get from a Potion card. Given Celebi ex’s glass cannon nature, keeping its health full is key.

Charizard ex and Moltres ex deck

With how powerful the Celebi ex deck is right now, fire-type decks — a natural counter — are everywhere. And the Charizard ex deck remains TCG Pocket’s strongest fire-type deck.

The Charizard ex deck is contingent on using one Pokémon to generate energy for another. The key here is to open with Moltres ex. With its Inferno Dance attack, you flip three coins, and for every heads you get, you can apply one bonus fire energy to a Pokémon on your bench. You can load up a Charmander or Charmeleon with with up to three energy per turn.

When your Charmeleon is ready to evolve into Charizard ex, it’ll hopefully have enough energy to use Charizard ex’s Crimson Storm attack, which costs four energy and deals 200 damage, but also discards two energy per use. Pull off this combo correctly, and your Charizard ex card should have enough energy to persistently use Crimson Storm. Charizard ex also has 180 HP — enough to survive a hit from some of the most powerful attacks, like Mewtwo ex’s Psydrive.

Articuno ex and Lapras ex deck

Galaxy brain here, but if you want to counter the Celebi ex, run a water-type deck. The Articuno ex deck has proven tough to beat, particularly when it includes a card like Lapras ex.

Lapras ex was introduced via Pokémon TCG Pocket’s first battle event, and goes hand-in-hand with Articuno ex. Both cards are basic-stage, so you can play them immediately, and both cards have powerful attacks. Articuno ex’s Blizzard attack deals 80 damage to your opponent’s active Pokémon and 10 damage to any cards on their bench, so you can conceivably knock out any weakened Pokémon on your opponent’s back row. Lapras ex’s attack, Bubble Drain, deals 80 damage to your opponent but heals 20 HP to itself.

Both cards are powerful in a vacuum, but to make the most of this deck, you’ll want to use a Misty trainer card. When you play Misty, you flip a coin repeatedly until you get tails. For however many heads you get, you can attach that amount of water energy to one of your Pokémon. If luck is on your side, you can fully power up Lapras ex or Articuno ex in one turn.

Starmie ex, with its 90-damage attack and free retreat, is a solid card to run in this deck. But the secret weapon is the Mythical Island version of Vaporeon (which evolves from Eevee). Its Wash Out ability allows you to move water-type energy from your benched Pokémon to your active Pokémon.

Electric-type decks are the strongest counters to Articuno ex decks. Right now, the best one is still headlined by Pikachu ex, who might as well be Ash Ketchum’s uncannily super-powered Pikachu.

Pikachu ex isn’t part of an evolution chain, so if you draw it, you’re instantly ready to play it. Its attack, Circle Circuit, also only costs two electric energy and deals 30 damage for every electric-type Pokémon on your bench. Stack all three slots on your bench with electric-type Pokémon, and you’re dealing 90 damage per turn.

Electric-type cards in general tend to have lower retreat costs (Electrode has a free retreat, for instance), allowing you to easily swap out cards as needed, keeping your bench — and Pikachu ex’s attack power — at full capacity. This deck also works well with Zapdos ex or Jolteon as backup attackers; both have attacks that can deal up to 200 or 160 damage respectively.

Mewtwo ex and Gardevoir deck

Mewtwo ex dominated the Pokémon TCG Pocket meta at launch — thanks to its Psydrive attack, which deals 150 damage — and continues to be an imposing and widely used deck. Few Pokémon have 150 HP to survive such a hit, but the attack costs Mewtwo ex four energy to use and further discards two psychic-type energy with each use.

The trick here is to lean on Gardevoir. Gardevoir’s ability, Psy Shadow, allows you to add an extra energy to whatever Pokémon you have in the active spot — and you can use it even with Gardevoir on your bench. This combo allows you to recoup the two energy you burn with each use of Psydrive (one from your turn naturally and one Gardevoir’s ability), essentially guaranteeing 150-damage attacks with no drawbacks.

Best cards to include in any meta deck

Finally, every meta-viable deck right now features at least one copy of each of the following trainer cards:

Professor’s Research lets you draw two cards, capitalizing on the universal card game theory that suggests, the more cards you draw, the better your chances of victory. Red Card is the opposite: It shuffles your opponent’s hand back into their deck, and then they draw three cards. (It’s best deployed to mess with your opponent after they play a Professor’s Research or Poké Ball card, both of which add cards to their hand.)

Meanwhile, Sabrina forces your opponent to swap out their active Pokémon — great for getting out of a pinch. At launch, the X Speed card (which reduces your retreat cost by one energy) was essential for any deck, allowing you to pull a card with low HP back to your bench in a pinch. Leaf, introduced with the Mythical Island expansion, is basically a better version of that card: It reduces the retreat cost of your active Pokémon by two for the duration of your turn.