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With so many different cards to choose from,Pokemon TCG Pocket’s metagame is constantly shifting, with new decks appearing all the time. While most decks center around one or two powerful ex cards, there are quite a few decks that don’t, like the Arbok and Pidgeot deck that we’ll take a look at today.
This deck uses the special effects from Arbok and Pidgeot to gain complete control over the enemy’s Pokemon, forcing them to retreat or stay in battle. This gives you flexibility on which enemy Pokemon to target, allowing you to negate their strategy. Below, we’ll go over every card in this deck and how to play it.
Arbok And Pidgeot Decklist
The two stars of this deck are Arbok and Pidgeot, with the remainder of the deck being to support their playstyle.Sabrinacan be used if you don’t get Pidgeot fast enough, while XSpeeds are used to facilitate quickly swapping between Arbok and Pidgeotto implement the deck’s main strategy ofkeeping the enemy where you want them.
Ekans x2
Arbok x2
Pidgey x2
Pidgotto x2
Pidgeot x2
Potion x2
Sabrina x2
Professor’s Research x2
Because this deck uses no ex cards, it’sfairly easy to build. Plus, you can get Ekans and Arbok from any Genetic Apex deck, making it easy to get them while you pull for the Pidgeot line from Mewtwo packs. Sabrina only comes from Charizard packs, but you can pick her up from thePack Point Exchangefor just 70 Points.
Deck Strategy
The main strategy of this deck is to combineArbok’s CornerwithPidgeot’s Drive Off ability.Arbok’s Corner attack deals 60 damage and makes the opponentunable to retreat, while Pidgeot’sDrive Off forces the enemy to switch out.
Using both of these abilities, you may very effectivelycontrol which of the enemy’s Pokemon stays in battle, allowing you topick off weaker Pokemonand gain easy points. However, keep in mind that both Arbok and Pidgeot have fairlylow-damage attacks, so this deck’s overall damage output is rather low.
Your main strategy is to take down basic Pokemon, as higher-health ex Pokemon just have too much health to deal with.
The best starting hand includesEkans, Pidgey, a Professor’s Research, and ideally an Arbok. This will let you start with Ekans, attack, then evolve into Arbok and attack on the next turn, while also setting up a Pidgey to evolve later.
Pidgey is very weak before it evolves, so it’s better toset it up from the benchrather than the active position. Of course, this isn’t always possible, so make strategic use of Potions, X Speeds, and Sabrina to keep your weak Pidgey alive long enough to evolve.
Deck Matchups
While the goal of this deck is the same no matter what your opponent is playing, there are some favorable and unfavorable matchups to be aware of. Thanks to Arbok’s Dark-typing, this deck is fairlystrong against the popularMewtwo ex decks, and Arbok’s Corner can take out Mewtwo ex in just two hits.
This works especially well if you canforce Mewtwo out earlywhen it’s still gaining energy, allowing you to take it down before your team is in real danger.
On the other side of the coin, this deckstruggles against decks likePikachu exorStarmie ex. These cards have very low energy requirements for high damage, meaning they can oftenoutpace you and sweep your weak Basic Pokemonbefore you get a chance to get properly set up.
In these cases, you’ll need to be extra careful about how you use Corner, Drive Off, and Sabrina. If you’re lucky, you canforce unfavorable trades for the opponentthrough these abilities, and hopefully squeeze out a win.
