Celestial Guardians is finally here! And while it’s still early, some strong new cards and decks are already starting to stand out. These might not be the best decks just yet — the meta’s still settling — but we’re focusing on standout cards that are definitely worth building around.

To kick things off, here are the top new cards to watch so you’ll know which packs are worth prioritizing.
These are my picks for the strongest cards from each pack — and if a card evolves, assume you’ll want the full line too.

Solgaleo Exclusive Cards

• A3-122
• A3-020
• A3-033
• A3-066
• A3-049
• A3-058
• A3-015
• A3-147
• A3-155

Lunala Exclusive Cards

• A3-087
• A3-012
• A3-010
• A3-146
• A3-149
• A3-151

Solgaleo-Lunala Non-Exclusive Cards

• A3-085
• A3-086
• A3-144
• A3-075
• A3-084
• A3-130

The main card you should aim for in Celestial Guardians is without a doubt A3-144. It supercharges Stage 2 decks by a huge margin — letting them hit the board faster, which is a massive boost, especially for Pokémon with powerful Abilities or low Energy attacks. It’s the best card in the set right now, and thankfully, it’s available in both packs, so you don’t need to worry about missing out.

Next up: A3-085 and A3-086. Both are essential since they evolve into A3-122 and A3-087, and yep — they’re also available in both packs.

From the exclusives alone, it’s clear that the A3-122 pack has more powerful options.

• A3-122 is easily shaping up to be one of the best cards in the set.
• A3-066 is another big standout — it completely shuts down EX Pokémon, which could cause a massive meta shift. If your deck is all EX and you face this bird, you’re basically donezo.
• A3-058 is also looking spicy — it's Colorless, so it fits into any deck, and it pairs nicely with the new A3-057.

These three alone make the A3-122 pack the clear pick if you're going for power.

For the A3-087 pack, the standout is A3-146. It’s probably the best card in that set — a one-off, non-committal Poison tool that can be very strong in both aggro and stall strategies. It lets you reach KO thresholds that even Rocky Helmet can’t. You can even just Wonder Pick it if you just want to focus on the A3-122 pack.

Decks for the New Cards

Solgaleo ex Skarmory

This is shaping up to be one of the best archetypes in the new expansion. It might still be early to say for sure, and there’s definitely room for optimization — but from my own testing, it’s already incredibly strong and fast.

The idea is to start with A2-111, attach a Tool, and deal 50 damage right away, giving the deck early aggression. At the same time, you’re setting up A3-085 into A3-122 with the help of A3-144 to hit for 120 damage with just 2 Energy.
If you go second and open with A3-085, you can even evolve immediately and attack on your first turn — the tempo swing is huge.

Retreating isn’t a problem, either. Thanks to A3-122’s Ability, Rising Road, you can evolve A3-085, and retreat A2-111 for free, and pivot into A3-122 without losing momentum in case it doesn't have energy.

Some choices are still flexible, since the set just launched:

• No A3-146 yet? A 2–2 split of Rocky Helmet and Giant Cape still gets the job done.
• I considered running A3-086 to reduce dependence on A3-144 — and it adds more targets for Pokémon Communication, which is a bonus. But you can definitely run without it too.
• A2b-069 is tricky. Since the deck relies on finding both A3-144 and A3-122 early, I’m currently not including it — the disruption doesn’t outweigh the risk of bricking.
• 2 A1-225 is optional but I find it really good. The deck’s speed lets you pick off early threats before they evolve, so you want those fast KOs.

This should give you a solid idea of how the deck works — tweak and experiment from there!

Oricorio Magnezone

Next up is what I think will be one of the meta-defining cards of the set: A3-066. Shutting down EX Pokémon in a format where Basic EXs dominate is a huge deal — and this card could be the start of a major shift. What we have here is an early take on what could become a top-tier deck.

You’ll want to start with either A1-198 or A3-066 to begin dealing damage right away. I’ve included 1 PROMO-002 just in case you open with A2-051 or need to switch between A3-066 and A1-198.

A2-051 can evolve into A1-098, which charges itself, and later into A2-053 to keep the pressure going — once you’ve built up enough Energy, it can swing hard and fast.

You can add a secondary attacker like A2b-022 if you feel the deck lacks raw firepower, but personally, I think managing Energy becomes tricky at that point — especially with A3-066 already needing 2 Energy to attack.

• A2b-069 helps you fix your hand and find your core setup.
• A2-155 is great for disrupting decks that rely on A3-144 with a lot of them running around.

Banette Mewtwo ex

And now we’ve got one of the hot commodities running around right now — A3-075.

If you haven’t seen what this card does yet: it completely locks your opponent’s Active Pokémon from having any Energy attached. That’s incredibly powerful, especially against Pokémon with high retreat costs. Unless they have A1a-068 ready, they’re stuck — and that can totally shut down their tempo.

This list is actually inspired by a deck I saw in tournament play (shoutout to that!), and while it’s still a work in progress, it’s looking really strong already.

You ideally want to open with A3-074, evolve into A3-075, and lock down your opponent’s Active Pokémon immediately.
We’re also running A2b-072 to make the lock even nastier, stripping Energy and leaving them stranded.

The new A3-084 fits in super well here — since A3-075 pushes your opponent to charge Energy on the Bench, A3-084 gets stronger and punishes that setup. It’s also a great Basic to open with if you want to pressure their Bench early.

A1-129 is your main attacker to deal actual damage, since A3-075 doesn’t hit very hard.
A2-022 gives the deck sustain, helping A3-075 stay on the board longer and playing around A2-150 disruption.

We're running 2 A1a-068 to help retreat A1-129 or A2-022 if needed and pivot back into A3-075.

1 A2-146 to dig for your key cards, especially A3-075.

A2-155 for the usual disruption value in a A3-144 meta.

Still early days for this archetype, but it’s definitely worth keeping an eye on. The experimentation I can see going here is to have A1-089 as a damage dealer instead of A1-129, but that probably requires too many additional cards.

Meowscarada Tsareena

And yes, A2b-007 is still here, this time paired with a fresh win condition — the new A3-020.

A3-020 brings some decent damage output for just 1 Energy. It’s not gamebreaking, and you’re usually only hitting for 1 or 2 hits, but since we’re already running A3-144, it fits nicely with A2b-007. Plus, being Grass-type, it stays energy-efficient — no need to worry about other types like you would in A2-053 decks, which don't rely on A3-144 because A1-098 is a key piece.

You ideally want to start with A2b-005, search for A2b-007, and evolve using A3-144 to hit for 130 damage against EX Pokémon super early.
Starting with A3-018 into A3-020 is also great, especially if you hit the right coin flips.

We're also running the new A3-147, which pushes A2b-007 and A3-020 into unreachable damage thresholds, letting them survive attacks that would usually KO them.

A2-146 helps mainly with finding your A3-020 line, making the setup smoother.

The reason we’re running 2 A2b-072 is simple — there are a few big EX threats (like A2b-010 or A3-122) that you just can’t one-shot even with A2b-071.
A2b-072 gives you a way to win those matchups where no other card can. It’s one of the few outs that actually swing tempo back in your favor.

Charizard ex Incineroar ex

Thanks to the new best card, A3-144, A3-033 fits in very well. This archetype runs way smoother without feeling clunky. We're still running the A2b-010 line, with 1 Charmeleon added in just to keep things consistent in case A3-144 is rare. And 1 A3-033 line, skipping its Stage 1 entirely since A3-144 covers that as well.

If you start with Charmander, the plan is to evolve straight into A2b-010 and use Stoke to ramp up your Energy, setting up for Steam Artillery to deal 150 damage.

If you start with A3-030, you can evolve into A3-033, which hits for 30 + Burn with Fire Fang — all for just 1 Energy. Its second attack, Scar-Charged Smash, deals 140 damage if the opponent already has damage, making it a strong follow-up play.

We’re also running PROMO-002 to give some flexibility if you need to swap between win conditions or push for tempo.

The new A3-155 works really well in this deck too — it’s especially useful with these high-HP threats, keeping them alive longer. This is huge for A2b-010, since it needs a turn to use Stoke before going all-in. Still experimental, but it’s a strong direction for A2b-010.

Decidueye ex Lurantis

And finally, one of the decks with strong potential is A3-012. Its ability to hit 100 damage to any damaged Pokémon, including those on the Bench, gives it a ton of flexibility and control.

We're pairing it with A3-015, which spreads 20 damage to all opposing Pokémon, setting up targets across the board. This makes A3-012 incredibly dangerous — especially against decks that rely on Energy buildup — since it can strike wherever it hurts the most.

You can start with A3-010 to ping something you want A3-012 to target later, or lead with A3-014 into A3-015 to get the full spread across the board. Once A3-012 comes in, it can clean up with precision.
Thanks to A3-144, the deck is also fast, getting A3-012 out early to take over board control.

We’re also running A3-147 again to boost HP — making A3-012 harder to knock out — along with A1-219 and A3-155 for healing. One A1-219 gives you flexibility to heal any Pokémon, not just A3-012 with A3-155.

• A3-146 helps ensure the Active Pokémon takes damage, enabling A3-012’s snipe.
• But if you don’t have it yet, you can run another A2b-072 instead.

A2b-072, just like in the A2b-007–A3-020 list, gives you an out against high-HP threats like A2b-010 that are hard to one-shot.
It’s not as essential here, since A3-012 can snipe around them, but it’s still great to have as a catch-all disruption.

This one might fly under the radar at first, but don’t sleep on it — it’s got the tools to dismantle setups before they even get going.

Final Thoughts

Celestial Guardians has brought in some of the most impactful cards we've seen so far — from game-changers like A3-144 and A3-066, to powerful new archetypes built around A3-122, A3-012, and A2b-010. While the meta is still young, it's already clear which cards and combos are worth watching. Whether you're locking opponents down with A3-075, sniping from anywhere with A3-012, or swarming the board with Grass pressure from A2b-007 and A3-020, there’s a deck here for every kind of player. Don’t be afraid to experiment — some of the strongest builds in this expansion are still evolving from Rare Candy. ba dum tss.