Pokemon Pocket Tournament Meta Report – January 6

Hello everyone! The Pokemon Pocket community tournaments are thriving, with thousands of players joining from around the world! Participants bring their favorite decks—or the latest meta choices—for a chance to win it all.

We're in the third week of Mythical Island, and each week, we see changes in the meta as players experiment with their deck to figure out the best choices out there. a1a-3-celebi-ex a1a-6-serperior lost a lot of its initial popularity, but players quickly went back to the drawing board and cooked the a1a-3-celebi-ex a1-23-exeggutorex version, which is slowly overtaking the older one.

In this article, I'll break down the two largest tournaments held on January 4-5 (Ursiiday's Pocket Weekly #10 and Pocket Legends League #14), analyzing the meta distribution, the top performers, and the underdogs!

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Deck Distribution

Ursiiday's Pocket Weekly #10 ( Players)

Pocket Legends League #14 ( Players)

a1-129-mewtwoex a1-132-gardevoir is back to dominating the meta representation. a1a-18-gyarados-ex a1-89-greninja rivaled it for a while, but a1-129-mewtwoex a1-132-gardevoir proves its the most consistent choice among players.

a1a-18-gyarados-ex a1-89-greninja sees a drop in popularity but remains in the top 3 most-played decks. The archetype is still a powerful choice in tournaments and is proving it in the top cuts. However, a1-129-mewtwoex a1-132-gardevoir and a1-96-pikachuex a1-106-zebstrika are two decks a1a-18-gyarados-ex a1-89-greninja needs to perform good against to remain one of the top meta decks.

The a1-96-pikachuex a1-106-zebstrika is seeing more play, rivaling a1a-18-gyarados-ex a1-89-greninja for the second most-played deck. There are other versions of a1-96-pikachuex that boost the total number of a1-96-pikachuex decks to make it the second-most played deck. The a1-95-raichu version is usually the second popular a1-96-pikachuex variant. Although it once kept up with the a1-106-zebstrika version, more players are now favoring the a1-106-zebstrika version over it that it's not even close anymore.

a1a-3-celebi-ex a1a-6-serperior had a rough first week, but it's still widely played among players. Last week, players experimented with the a1-23-exeggutorex version, and it saw success. That success translated in this week's stats, as we see the a1-23-exeggutorex version now rivaling the old a1a-3-celebi-ex a1a-6-serperior.

Last week, I talked about a1a-46-aerodactyl-ex a1-142-primeape having the potential to become a meta staple deck, especially since it was having a lot of success in smaller tournaments. Players caught up to its strength, and we saw a rise in its popularity. Different versions of the deck like a1a-46-aerodactyl-ex a1a-32-mew-ex and a1a-46-aerodactyl-ex a1-198-farfetchd.

a1a-45-golem a1a-56-druddigon is dropping in popularity after it underperformed last week.

a1a-55-scolipede a1-177-weezing completely loses its initial popularity, becoming one of the least played off-meta choices.

Three different Fire-type a1-47-moltresex decks are being played in these tournaments, all of which are performing well. a1-36-charizardex a1-41-arcanineex, a1-36-charizardex a1-47-moltresex, and a1-41-arcanineex a1-47-moltresex.

Top 32

• a1-129-mewtwoex a1-132-gardevoir had the most spot in the top 32. Being the most popular deck means we have high expectations for it to perform, and a1-129-mewtwoex a1-132-gardevoir proves it's a consistent deck for these tournaments.
• a1a-18-gyarados-ex a1-89-greninja remains one of the best choices in tournaments, holding the second spot in top 32 representation.
• a1-96-pikachuex a1-106-zebstrika had a good showing in Ursiiday's Pocket tourney, but underperformed in Pocket League Legends.
• a1-23-exeggutorex a1a-3-celebi-ex crushed it this past weekend, proving to be the strongest version of a a1a-3-celebi-ex deck, and we'll likely see it overtake the normal a1a-3-celebi-ex a1a-6-serperior list.
• a1a-46-aerodactyl-ex a1-142-primeape snuck into the top 32, still a great off-meta choice to bring.
• All three versions of the Fire-type a1-47-moltresex decks made it into the top 32.
• Less popular decks like a1-84-articunoex a1-89-greninja and a1a-45-golem a1a-56-druddigon made it through.
• We had less off-meta decks performing this week. Players have mostly solved the meta and are now playing the best choices to increase their odds of winning.

Top 4 Decks

Tournament	First Place	Second Place	Third Place	Fourth Place
Ursiiday's Pocket Weekly #10	Gyarados ex Greninja	Charizard ex Arcanine ex	Gyarados ex Greninja	Mewtwo ex Gardevoir
Pocket Legends League #14	Pikachu ex Zebstrika	Gyarados ex Greninja	Charizard ex Moltres ex	Charizard ex Arcanine ex

• a1-129-mewtwoex a1-132-gardevoir didn't manage to win first place this week. Instead, it finished in 4th place in Ursiiday's Pocket tournament. All of the a1-129-mewtwoex a1-132-gardevoir players were kicked out of the Pocket Legends League before top 4.
• A great week for a1a-18-gyarados-ex a1-89-greninja players! It won 1st and 3rd places in the Ursiiday's Pocket and 2nd place in the Pocket Legends League.
• Although there was only one a1-96-pikachuex a1-106-zebstrika player in Pocket Legends League's top 32, that player kept on winning until they took first place!
• a1-36-charizardex a1-41-arcanineex and a1-36-charizardex a1-47-moltresex made it into the top 4, with one a1-36-charizardex a1-41-arcanineex player finishing 2nd place in Ursiiday's Pocket. The Fire-type a1-47-moltresex decks have managed to perform every weekend.
• Unfortunately, none of the a1-23-exeggutorex a1a-3-celebi-ex made it into top 4.

Ursiiday's Pocket First Place

a1a-18-gyarados-ex a1-89-greninja had an amazing weekend, taking 1st and 2nd in Ursiiday's Pocket tournament.

a1a-18-gyarados-ex is the main damage dealer, using a1-220-misty to ramp extra Water Energy and start attacking on earlier turns. Rampaging Whirlpool deals 140 damage, capable of knocking out most of the popular meta Pokemon. However, for higher health Pokemon, you have a1-89-greninja's Water Shuriken as backup damage to knock them out. a1-129-mewtwoex being a popular Pokemon in the current meta has 150 health, which means you'll rely on a1-89-greninja to knock it out without having to attack twice into it.

Rampaging Whirlpool can discard an Energy from one random Pokemon, and if it hits the opponent's Pokemon, you can slow them down and even prevent them from attacking.

Pocket Legends League First Place

The a1-96-pikachuex a1-106-zebstrika version is running a1a-29-galvantula as an alternative early damage dealer, pushing 70 damage with Electroweb and preventing opponent's Pokemon from retreating. This can be comboed with a1-225-sabrina to pull a less threatening Pokemon to the Active spot and lock it there.

a1-96-pikachuex is the main win condition, capable of going for early 90-damage attacks with Circle Circuit if you have a full bench. All of your Pokemon have low retreat costs, so with promo-2-x-speed, you can easily move your damaged Pokemon to prevent opponents from getting a knockout.

Ursiiday's Pocket Second Place

a1-36-charizardex a1-41-arcanineex version has two attackers to win you games, a1-41-arcanineex plays faster, going for early 120 damage attacks with Inferno Onrush that can get knockouts before your opponent's strategy is online. a1-41-arcanineex will damage himself by 20 each time he attacks, so it can make him vulnerable on the opponent's upcoming turn.

As for a1-36-charizardex, he's the powerhouse in the late-game, going for 200 damage with Crimson Storm, one-shotting any Pokemon in its path. You are forced to discard 2 Energy when activating Crismon Storm, so you'll need to have at least 5 Energy on a1-36-charizardex if you're planning to activate it twice in a row.

Since your Pokemon are hungry for Energy, a1-47-moltresex is perfect when played in the Active spot early into the game, getting to use Inferno Dancer to ramp up and give your Benched Pokemon extra Fire Energy.

Ursiiday's Pocket 4th Place

This deck uses a1-129-mewtwoex as the main win condition, dealing 150 damage with its Psydrive attack. Since you're forced to discard 2 Psychic Energy, you'll rely on a1-132-gardevoir's Psy Shadow ability to give a1-129-mewtwoex an extra Energy to ensure you can attack on the upcoming turn.

a1a-32-mew-ex is in the list to backup a1-129-mewtwoex, giving you another potential attacker, especially if the opponent has a Pokemon in the Active spot worth copying its attack.

Underdog Inclusions

8th Place Ursiiday Pocket Aerodactyl ex Primeape

This deck wants to have a1a-46-aerodactyl-ex in play as early as possible to make use of Primval Law ability, preventing opponents from evolving their Active Pokemon. This can disrupt their game plan, especially if you move a Pokemon they want to evolve to the Active with a1-225-sabrina. They're forced to retreat that Pokemon and use up resources to evolve it. a1a-46-aerodactyl-ex's Land Crush only deals 80 damage, so it can be slow to get a knockout on higher-health Pokemon.

This list runs the new Mythical Island a1a-42-primeape, needing only 1 Fighting Energy to attack with Punch for 50 damage. a1a-47-marshadow is another damage dealer, perfect when one of your Pokemon was knocked out on the previous turn. The Revenge attack goes up to 100 damage, letting you knock out a Pokemon, and getting you closer to winning the game. Ideally, you want to have a1a-47-marshadow in the Active spot after a1a-42-primeape is knocked out.

As for a1-154-hitmonlee, he can target opponent's Benched Pokemon, allowing you to knock out low-health Pokemon and snatch Match Points.

5th Place Pocket Legends League Celebi Ex Exeggutor Ex

a1a-3-celebi-ex a1a-6-serperior decks are still popular in tournaments, but players are divided on whether or not a1-23-exeggutorex is worth adding to the list.

a1-23-exeggutorex is perfect for the early game as you set up your a1a-6-serperior + a1a-3-celebi-ex combo play. a1-23-exeggutorex is tanky and only needs 1 Energy to start attacking with Tropical Swing. Tropical Swing can be a game-winner if you get heads, adding 40 damage to your attack.

As for a1a-3-celebi-ex, it only needs 2 Energy to attack with Powerful Bloom, but your damage is tied to coin flips. You'll flip a coin for each Energy attached to a1a-3-celebi-ex, and every time you get heads, your damage is increased by 50.

This is where a1a-6-serperior's Jungle Totem comes into play, counting each Grass Energy into two. This gives you double the coin flips, increasing the odds of dealing enough damage to get a knockout.

29th Place Pocket Legends League Golem Druddigon

This deck lost a lot of its popularity after underperforming last week, it still remains a decent budget deck to pick up.

Golem Druddigon has no Ex Pokemon, using a1a-56-druddigon as an early tank to take hits and deal 20 damage with its Rough Skin ability. The plan is to stall out the game as you evolve into your Stage 2 a1a-45-golem. From there, a1a-45-golem should carry the game, going for the Guard Press attacks to deal 120 damage and weaken the opponent's upcoming turn, taking 30 less damage when the opponent attacks a1a-45-golem.

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Closing Words

Seems like a1-129-mewtwoex a1-132-gardevoir remains the bet deck in Pokemon Pocket, but the Mythical Island expansion brought multiple new competitive choices for players to pick. A small expansion managed to shake things up, and I'm confident we will see a completely different meta in the upcoming expansion.

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