For either avid fans of the Pokemon Trading Card Game series, or ones just joining in with the release ofPokemon TCG Pocket, one of the best ways to familiarize yourself with the game’s mechanics and cards is through rental decks. These decks only require players to acquire their staple card through packs, and when unlocked, they can be used to grind through battles even against some of the toughest opposition.
Now, like all cards or decks in trading card games, some are better than others. It might be hard to tell thanks to the balance of the game differing from a traditional Pokemon game, but each rental deck ranks at a certain level when compared to the rest of them.
Pokemon Pocket - Rental Deck Tier List
Rental decksaretemporary decksthat players acquirewhen they get a specific cardthrough a pack, which extends from EX cards to Supporter cards. Either way, the rental deckincludes cards that a player doesn’t own, but they canuse it to compete in solo battlesfor ten uses. There are a total oftwelve rental decksin Pokemon TCG Pocket.
Current and potential future rental deckscan be tracked in the Deck Missions tab, and accessing the decks is as easy aspressing the Decks button on the Battle screen, and then tapping theRental Decks tabin the Decks Menu to see what you’ve collected so far.
Now,all Rental Decks are good options for players who aren’t used to building decksthemselves, butsome are purely stronger than othersdue to the strength of the cards within. Here are how the tiers work in this Rental Deck tier list to tell the difference and maybe see which decks you should try and use first.
Explanation
S
The best of the best rental decks available, and good decks to duplicate if you have the cards.
A
Good rental decks, usually highlighted by great cards, and a great base to customize around for later.
B
Decent rental decks, are good to test out unique cards and learn how the game is played.
C
Poor rental decks, not likely to win games but might have some fun cards to see in action.
Therearen’tany horrible rental decks, but if you want the best taste of what will come, the S-tier and A-tier decks are your best bet.
Mewtwo EX
Mewtwo EX alone is a card that can carrybattles if you get them early on, and the damage from the rest of the deck is no slouch either.
Pikachu EX
The Pikachu EX deck is strong due tocheap Energy costsand good damage attacks.
Effectively,if you can pack either of the main cardsfor these rental decks, you’re in for a treat. If you get ten battles from either of these decks, playing it wrong with the strength of cards within will be hard.
Mewtwo is more of a pure damage dealer,with the goal of the deck to stay alive with strong cards like Gengar or Slowbro so that your Mewtwo can stack energy and hit hard. The gameplay for this might require some more thought than other decks because Mewtwo is the closer and should be built up as your other cards take most of the damage.
The Pikachu deck relies on outpacing the opponentthanks to cheap cards that can hit hard with few energy cards, to defeat them before they can even set up their strongest Pokemon. Some of the key Pokemon for the Pikachu EX deck include Electrode, Zebstrika, and Heliolisk, and the way to play is fast and aggressive.
Blastoise EX
This deck hasone of thegame’s strongest Water EX cardswhile remaining flexible. The key to playing this deck right is around the Supporter card Misty, which can move extra energy cards to a Water-type you have out. So, stack them on a benched Blastoise and watch him wreck opponents in no time.
Charizard EX
Charizard has always beena staple cardfor Pokemon TCG, and the EX deck is a great option if you pack him. The high damage output from Charizard mixed with other great secondary options like Salazzle and Rapidash allows for an aggressive playstyle to work wonders against weaker decks.
Venusaur EX
Where Blastoise EX is one of the strongest Water EX cards, Venusaur matches that forGrass-type Pokemon. Just like the Charizard deck above, the Venusaur EX deck allows for a heavy-hitting grass type to blitz through foes, and thanks to Vensaur’s key attack, also heals and keeps it alive longer.
Blaine
Thecombination of Blaine and specific Fire Pokemonallows for a lot of damage, as long as you calculate your damage correctly.
Kanto Fossils
The mechanic for Fossil Pokemon in Pocket allows for aunique way toquickly add strong Pokemon to the board. Both Aerodactyl and Kabutops can do high damage for a single evolution card, and other colourless options like Kangaskhan and Tauros can hold their own.
These decks are still strong, but won’t lead you to as many easy wins as the S-tier rental decks will. Thankfully, witha nice variety of EX cards and strong Supporter cards, each of these rental decks can find their use either online or against Solo opponents.
Where this tier stands out is our first non-EX rental decks, withBlaine notably the first Supporter rental deck of the list. The highlight card alone doesn’t determine the strength of the rental deck, as the Blaine deck revolves around dealing more damage with cards like Ninetales, Rapidash, or Magmar. To play the deck as intended, just get one of those three Pokemon prepared on the bench, and when you swap them in, you hit hard with the Blaine card to assist.
Brock
Very handy for Onix or Golem, but stilla notch below other rentals.Brock entirely relies on getting Onix or Golem out, and they both need a lot of energy to work, and a weakness to a common type like Grass makes it only more challenging.
Koga
In a similar vein to Brock, this deckfunctions entirely around Muk and Weezingbut doesn’t offer anything great outside that. The sole good damage dealer for this composition is Muk, while Koga only gets those cards to your hand to set up quicker. Pace is what determines a win or loss with this deck; either you get Muk or Weezing out fast, or you don’t and a loss is expected.
Lt. Surge
TheEnergy movement from Benched Pokemon to a key Raichu, Electrode, or Electabuzzcan change the flow of a game in one go but takes a lot of setups to accomplish. Plus, for the key damage dealer in Raichu, their Thunderbolt discards all their energy, which can be a hassle without the Lt. Surge card in your hand.
Machamp EX
While pretty matchup-specific,Machamp EX can punch through opponents quickly. A lot of decks have colourless cards in them, which makes a Fighting type useful, but the other Pokemon in the deck don’t match up well and offer a lot of damage output, instead relying on getting that benched Machamp EX on the board and energy boosted.
In this B tier, we havea lot of Supporter rental decks, mainly because they require some setup to get value whereas EX decks are a lot more flexible and easy to use.
Wigglytuff EX
The only Colorless EX rental deckdoesn’t offer the same benefits from weaknesses as the above decks. The additions of good Lightning-type Pokemon like Pikachu and Jolteon allow for some flexibility, but if you don’t evolve and get Wigglytuff EX ready, it is tough to win with this deck.
Nidoqueen and Nidoking
Thesetwo strong final evolution cardsallow for a good rental deckwithout relying on EX cards,but instead offer a very specific setup for a win condition. Havinga fully evolved Nidoqueen and Nidoking available takes time or luck, whereyour opponents usually can complete their win condition instead, usually with a strong EX card.
The Wigglytuff EX rental deck isn’t available like all the other rental decks; it is only available if the player completes the Battle Guide.
These are the worst rental decks to use, and while not useless, most of them eitherdon’t have strong enough cards to compete with other decksor require too much setup to get value.
