Water-type Pokemon in Pokemon TCG Pocket are a force to be reckoned with, largely thanks to the Misty Supporter card that can pile copious amounts of Water Energy onto the ‘mons, with some luck. You’ve also plenty of strong options when it comes to choosing Water-types, and while Gyarados was alright, he had nothing on his counterparts such as Starmie ex and Lapras ex.
Thanks to the Mythical Island miniset and the introduction of a better, stronger Gyarados ex and a rather neat Vaporeon card, however, the Gyarados ex deck has a little more time to shine among a sea of never-ending Water-type and Mewtwo ex decks. Here’s our guide to the best Gyarados ex and Vaporeon deck in Pokemon TCG Pocket.
Pokemon TCG Pocket best Gyarados ex and Vaporeon deck – card list and guide
The best Gyarados ex deck in Pokemon TCG Pocket uses Vaporeon to provide ‘mons with Energy where needed, and doesn’t actually require that you use Gyarados ex at all, given that Vaporeon does allow us to build up a standard Gyarados with some ease. This is provided you have other ex Pokemon to throw into the mixer to help back him up.
That said, those using Gyarados ex will find that the Pokemon has more HP and a higher-damage attack than the standard version of the sea creature, and thus, these decks have a much better chance of winning.
- 2x Magikarp
- 2x Gyarados ex (or 2x Gyarados)
- 2x Eevee
- 2x Vaporeon
- 2x Articuno ex
- 2x Misty
- 2x Sabrina
- 2x Leaf (or 2x X Speed)
- 2x Professor’s Research
- 2x Poke Ball
In this deck, Gyarados ex (or Gyarados) and Articuno ex are your main attackers. Gyarados ex’s attack, Rampaging Whirlpool, dishes out 140 damage while also letting you choose a Pokemon on the field to discard an Energy from.
Your usual Gyarados — from the Genetic Apex set — instead dishes out 100 damage and discards an energy from the opponent’s Active Pokemon, so you can see what makes Gyarados ex the better pick! That said, with Articuno ex — or Lapras ex / Starmie ex as an alternative — to hand, you could still use standard Gyarados cards in this deck and do pretty well with them.
Articuno ex isn’t too difficult to set up, especially where Misty is involved, who allows you to flip a coin and attach an Energy to a chosen Water-type mon for every heads you get (until you land on tails). This might land you with zero Energy, but it can also land you with a ridiculous amount of Energy. Hope for the latter!
You will ideally have Articuno ex start off your match, using its two Energy attack, Ice Wing, which dishes out 40 damage. In the meantime, you’ll begin looking to build Vaporeon and Gyarados ex on your bench. This is where our Poke Ball and Professor’s Research cards are important!
Once you have three Energy attached to Articuno ex, you can begin using the Blizzard attack which does 80 damage to an opponent and 10 damage to all of their Benched Pokemon. Though, if you happen to have Gyarados ex and Vaporeon built — and let’s say your Articuno’s HP is running low — switch in Gyarados using the Leaf Supporter card or some X Speed Item cards.
This is where Vaporeon, who we don’t actually plan on using for attacking whatsoever, comes into play. Their ability, Wash Out, allows you to move Energy from your Benched Water-type Pokemon to your Active Water-type Pokemon. So, rather than worrying about Articuno ex being knocked out before you’ve stacked Energy on any other Pokemon, you can simply transfer all of Articuno’s Energy onto Gyarados.
All being well, all you’ll need to do is pop one more Energy onto Gyarados ex, and you can begin dishing out Rampaging Whirlpool.
As their HP runs low, you can rinse and repeat the process with a third Pokemon, whether that’s Articuno ex again or Gyarados ex. This all, obviously, relies on getting Vaporeon built and them not being brought into play or knocked out. Though, with the Sabrina card allowing players to switch their opponents Active Pokemon, it could very well happen. That’s why we’re opting to bring two Sabrina Supporter cards of our own, as well as two copies of the Vaporeon evolution chain.
It’s also worth noting that you should make sure you are specifically bringing along the Vaporeon featured in the Mythical Island set, as the Genetic Apex version of Vaporeon does not have the Wash Out ability.
For more on Pokemon TCG Pocket, take a look at our list of the best decks to play with right now. On top of that, take a look at how to craft cards if you’re in need of some duplicates for your next deck.