Best Decks: Shining Revelry (A2b) Meta Tier List

Best Pokémon TCG Pocket decks in the Shining Revelry (A2b) metagame! Click on the deck names to view the deck, as well as the latest explanation and report on how the decks were placed here.

Tier	Deck
Tier 1	⚫ Giratina ex Darkai ex [Guide]🆕 🔵 Gyarados ex Manaphy [Guide] 🔼
Tier 2	⚪️ Dialga ex Arceus ex [Guide] 🔽 🟤 Gallade ex Hitmonlee [Guide] 🔼 🔵 Articuno ex 🟤 Rampardos Lucario 🔼 [Guide] ⚫ Darkrai ex Weavile ex
Tier 3	🔴 Charizard ex Moltres ex 🟣 Giratina ex Mewtwo ex 🔵 Palkia ex 🔼 [Guide] ⚫🟡 Darkrai ex Megnezone ⚫ Paldean Clodsire ex 🆕 🔵 Wugtrio ex Manaphy 🆕 🟣🟡 Giratina ex Magnezone [Guide] 🆕 🟢 Leafeon ex Celebi ex [Guide] 🔽 ⚫🔵 Darkrai ex Greninja ⚪️⚫ Arceus ex Darkrai ex Crobat 🟡 Pachirisu ex 🔴 Infernape ex Arceus ex Heatran

Tier Explanation

To create this Meta Tier list, I used data from tournaments and my expertise and opinions of respected players. This tier list will hold meta-staple decks that you'll likely encounter in tournament play and will be updated as the meta changes up.

The decklists shared here have found success in tournament events but can be tweaked depending on meta shifts or players' preferences.

Tier 1

Giratina Ex Darkrai ex

Since a2b-35-giratina-ex can ramp Psychic Energy through its Broken-Space Bellow ability, we can run Darkness Energy in this list, using it to activate a2-110-darkrai-ex's Nightmare Aura ability. Nightmare Aura activates when you attach Darkness Energy to Darkai ex, dealing 20 damage to the opponent's Active Pokemon.

a2b-35-giratina-ex's Chaotic Impact deals 130 damage to the opponent's Active Pokemon but will also damage a2b-35-giratina-ex for 20 damage.

Gyarados ex

The Water deck uses a1a-18-gyarados-ex as its main damage dealer, but its attacks are a bit costly, so we're using a1-220-misty to speed up our attacks.

a1a-18-gyarados-ex deals 140 damage and discards 1 Energy from a random Pokemon in play. If it hits one of the opponent's Pokemon, we can slow the opponent's strategy and even prevent them from attacking.

a2-50-manaphy is great for the early game, ramping Water Energy and getting your Gyarados ready to take over. Since we're attaching Water Energy, a2a-72-irida can heal our damaged Pokemon, keeping them in play for an extra turn.

Tier 2

Dialga ex Arceus ex

Unlike other a2a-71-arceus-ex, the a2-119-dialga-ex a2a-71-arceus-ex doesn't use the Link ability. Instead, it makes use of a2a-71-arceus-ex as an attacker, dealing up to 130 damage if you have a full bench.

Early into the game, a2-119-dialga-ex can attach two Metalic Energy to one of your Benched Pokemon with its Metallic Turbo attack. You're getting Energy on a2a-71-arceus-ex to use as an attacker late in the game.

Another attacker we can use in this deck is a1a-32-mew-ex, copying the opponent's attack with Genome Hacking, perfect if your opponent's Pokemon has a high-damage attack to copy.

Gallade ex Hitmonlee

a1-154-hitmonlee and a1a-47-marshadow are the early attackers in this list, dealing damage and going for knock outs as you evolve a2-68-ralts and a2-69-kirlia to a2-95-gallade-ex into play as quickly as possible.

a2-95-gallade-ex's Energized Blade deals 70 damage to the opponent's Active Pokemon, but will deal an extra 20 damage for each energy attached to the opponent's Pokemon. So depending on what you're attacking, you can deal additional damage and knock out a Pokemon with one attack.

Articuno ex

a1-84-articuno-ex is the sole carry in this deck, attacking for 80 damage with Blizzard and dealing 10 damage to all of the opponent's Benched Pokemon. a1-220-misty is great to potentially ramp up, attacking a turn earlier, and it could single-handedly win us games.

The list has multiple defensive cards like a2a-72-irida, a2-147-giant-cape, and promo-1-potion to keep a1-84-articuno-ex in play for as long as possible.

Giratina ex Magnezone

a2b-35-giratina-ex and a1-98-magneton have their built-in ramp abilities, allowing you to attack with them on earlier turns.

a2-53-magnezone is a Lightning-type Stage 2 Pokemon that needs 1 Lightning Energy and 2 Colorless Energy to attack with Thunder Blast. To get the Lightning Energy, we'll use a1-98-magneton's Volt Charge to attach a Lightning Energy to itself, ramping up Energy without having to attach to it, allowing us to attach our Energy mainly on a2-110-darkrai-ex.

a2-53-magnezone's Thunder Blast deals 110 damage but forces you to discard 1 Lightning Energy, so ideally, you want to activate Volt Charge at least twice to ensure you can attack twice with Thunder Blast.

a2b-35-giratina-ex's Chaotic Impact deals 130 damage to the opponent's Active Pokemon but will also damage a2b-35-giratina-ex for 20 damage.

Rampardos Lucario

This fighting-type deck uses a2-92-lucario's Fighting Coach to boost the damage of your Fighting-type Pokemon, dealing an extra 20 damage with each attack.

This makes it easier for you to knock out your opponent's Pokemon, with a2-92-lucario, a2a-36-sudowoodo, and a1a-47-marshadow.

a2-89-rampardos is the late-game Stage 2 Pokemon to carry the game, dealing 130 damage with Head Smash, and becoming 150 damage with Fighting Coach ability. If a2-89-rampardos knocks out a Pokemon, it will deal 50 damage to itself, putting it in a vulnerable spot to the opponent's upcoming turn.

Darkrai ex Weavile ex

This deck can play aggressively, using a2-99-weavile-ex as an early damage deal with Scratching Nails. However, your opponent's Active Pokemon has to be damaged for Scratching Nail to push 70 damage per attack. This is where a2-110-darkrai-ex's Nightmare Aura ability comes to use, allowing you to deal 20 damage to the opponent's Active Pokemon without passing the turn, and then following it up with a2-99-weavile-ex's attack.

Tier 3

Charizard ex Moltres ex

This deck uses a1-47-moltres-ex's Inferno Dance to give your Benched Pokemon Fire Energy. There is a randomness to it, having to flip 3 coins, and for each head, you can attach a Fire Energy to a benched Pokemon.

Since the main carry in this deck is a1-36-charizard-ex, we want to focus on attaching Energy to him, even as we are evolving it from a1-33-charmander and a1-34-charmeleon. a1-36-charizard-ex's Slash deals 60 damage, can dish out a bit of damage, but the main goal is to attack with a1-36-charizard-ex's second attack. Crimson Storm pushing a whopping 200 damage on the opponent's Pokemon, knocking out anything in its path. However, with great strength comes a downside, forcing you to discard two Fire Energy, so you can't reactivate it on the upcoming turn. We want to try to have 5 Energy on a1-36-charizard-ex so we get to activate Crimson Storm twice in a row.

Giratina ex Mewtwo

Since a2b-35-giratina-ex can self-ramp with its Broken-Space Bellow ability, we can attach Energy onto a1-129-mewtwo-ex. Both Pokemon will act as your attackers. a2b-35-giratina-ex can go for earlier attacks to potentially get knockouts before you transition to the a1-129-mewtwo-ex win condition.

Darkrai ex Magnezone

The a2-53-magnezone a2-110-darkrai-ex deck has three ways of dealing damage to the opponent's Active Pokemon. Early in the game, we'll have a1-203-kangaskhan to tank hits and even go for attacks with its Dizzy Punch attack, potentially dealing 60 damage to the opponent's Active Pokemon.

a2-110-darkrai-ex's Nightmare Aura deals 20 damage to the opponent's Active Pokemon whenever you attach a Darkness Energy to it, so when building the deck, it's important we only choose Darkness Energy. This acts as passive damage, backing up Rough Skin or any of your other attacks. a2-110-darkrai-ex can later attack with Dark Prism, dealing 80 damage to the opponent's Active Pokemon.

As for a2-53-magnezone, it's a Lightning-type Stage 2 Pokemon that needs 1 Lightning Energy and 2 Colorless Energy to attack with Thunder Blast. To get the Lightning Energy, we'll use a1-98-magneton's Volt Charge to attach a Lightning Energy to itself, ramping up Energy without having to attach to it, allowing us to attach our Energy mainly on a2-110-darkrai-ex.

a2-53-magnezone's Thunder Blast deals 110 damage but forces you to discard 1 Lightning Energy, so ideally, you want to activate Volt Charge at least twice to ensure you can attack twice with Thunder Blast.

Palkia ex

There are multiple a2-49-palkia-ex versions being played in tournaments, but this one is currently the community's favorite. This list relies on a2-49-palkia-ex as the sole carry in this deck, and with a1-220-misty, you can go for attacks on earlier turns. Dimensional Storm is a 150 damage attack, so you'll likely knock out a Pokemon, especially with the extra damage from a2-148-rocky-helmet. On top of that, you can deal 20 damage to each of the opponent's Benched Pokemon, which makes it easier for you to knock out late in the game, especially by pulling the Pokemon you want to the Active spot through Cyrus.

Paldean Clodsire ex

a2b-51-grafaiai a2b-48-paldean-clodsire-ex work well with each other to deal additional damage to the opponent's Active Pokemon. a2b-48-paldean-clodsire-ex deals 60 damage with Venoshock, but becomes a 120 damage attack if your opponent's Active Pokemon is damaged.

To poison an opponent's Pokemon, we'll use a2b-51-grafaiai Poison Coating to flip a coin, and if we get heads, we can poison their active Pokemon, allowing a2b-48-paldean-clodsire-ex to for the heavy hit.

Wugtrio ex Manaphy

a2b-19-wugtrio-ex Pop Out Throughout chooses an opponent's Pokemon randomly 3 times and deals 50 damage each time. You're dealing 150 damage in total, but since it's random, you might not always hit the correct target.

Leafeon ex Celebi ex

a2a-10-leafeon-ex can solo carry, ramping Grass Energy with its Forest Breath to attack a turn earlier. Solar Beam deals 70 damage to the opponent's Active Pokemon, so you're going for early 70 damage attacks to put pressure on the opponent.

a2a-10-leafeon-ex has to be in the Active spot to activate Forest Breath, so if you already have the 3 Energy to attack, you can ramp Grass Energy to a1a-3-celebi-ex. The more Energy you have on a1a-3-celebi-ex, the more damage you threaten and can knock out higher health Pokemon.

Darkrai ex Greninja

This deck uses multiple methods to deal chip-in damage, early into the game, we want to have a1a-56-druddigon in the Active spot, capable of dealing 20 damage back to the opponent's attacker with its Rough Skin ability.

Since a2-110-darkrai-ex's Nightmare Aura requires you to attach Darkness Energy to a2-110-darkrai-ex to activate it, this deck only runs Darkness Energy, which means a2-110-darkrai-ex is our only attacker. Getting to deal 20 damage with Nightmare Aura once every turn and on top of that a2-110-darkrai-ex's Dark Prism will put us on 100 damage a turn.

a1-89-greninja is a Stage 2 Pokemon, so it will take longer to get into play. a1-89-greninja's Water Shuriken deals 20 damage to one of the opponent's Pokemon, which means we can target their Bench. This will help get a knock out alongside a2-110-darkrai-ex attack, but it also means we can damage a Benched Pokemon and play a2-150-cyrus to force it to the Active spot for a2-110-darkrai-ex to knock out.

Arceus ex Darkrai ex Crobat

This deck uses passive damage from a2a-50-crobat and a2-110-darkrai-ex to chip at the opponent's Active Pokemon, which could knock out a Pokemon or put it low enough for your attacker to deal with.

a2a-71-arceus-ex is in the list to activate a2a-50-crobat's Cunning Link to deal 30 damage. With a2-110-darkrai-ex's Nightmare Aura, you're dealing 20 damage every time you attach a Darkness Energy on a2-110-darkrai-ex, combined with Cunning Link, you're pushing 50 passive damage a turn.

We can use either a2-110-darkrai-ex or a2a-50-crobat to attack the opponent's Active Pokemon, but we'll rarely use a2a-71-arceus-ex as an attacker since our Darkness Energy is going to a2-110-darkrai-ex.

Infernape ex Arceus ex Heatran

This deck uses a2a-13-heatran as an early attacker, attacking with Ragin' Mad Strike to deal 40 damage to the opponent's Active Pokemon. However, if a2a-13-heatran is damaged, you'll deal 80 damage instead.

Arceus ex activates Speed Link, letting us retreat Heatran without discarding any Energy. We're saving a2a-13-heatran from the opponent's attacker and then we can use a2-154-dawn to move a Fire Energy to a2-29-infernape-ex to go for a Flare Blitz attack.

Pachirisu ex

This deck uses a2-61-pachirisu-ex as its only Pokemon, so it has a consistent strategy, relying on a2-61-pachirisu-ex's aggression. For only 2 Lightning Energy, you can start attacking with a2-61-pachirisu-ex's Sparking Gadget, dealing 40 damage with its attack.

If you attach a tool to a2-61-pachirisu-ex, Sparking Gadget becomes an 80-damage attack, making it easier for you to KO your opponent's Active Pokemon.