Pokémon Pocket: Best Decks with Mythical Island (January 2025)

The Mythical Island meta is settling down, and Pokémon Pocket tournaments are getting more popular by the hour.

Today, we'll explore a few lists that won big tournaments with cash prizes. By reviewing these lists, we'll try to understand the meta a bit better, and check out what the best players are playing.

512 players attended this tournament, hosted by Pocket Ace, which is incredible. The most popular cards in this event were Druddigon, which was played in 40% of all decks, and Pikachu ex, which was played in 20% of all decks.

1st Place - ArcaninosShiny - France - Pikachu ex

ArcaninosShiny, from France, brought a classic version of the Pikachu ex archetype with Zebstrika's evolution line. This list focuses on knocking out benched enemy Pokémon.

The greatest problem Pikachu ex decks are trying to fix right now is that, in some matchups, 90 damage isn't enough to knock out enemy Pokémon. This means your opponent will have time to retreat their active Pokémon or heal it. The solution this player found was playing Zebstrika, which helps you knock out these damaged benched Pokémon, which would, in other circumstances, simply slip away from Pikachu ex.

This deck also plays the new Dedenne, which is great, as it often Paralyzes the opponent's active Pokémon early on. It will buy you a lot of time.

2nd Place - Duo - Japan - Gyarados ex

Now, the strongest and most popular list with Gyarados ex also includes Greninja as a support Pokémon, and Druddigon as a frontline Pokémon. Before, we used to play Articuno ex and Starmie ex, which are still quite popular in the ranked queue.

This list is very similar to Pikachu ex lists, and also knocks out benched enemy Pokémon efficiently. The problem was that your Pokémon were weak against Electric Pokémon, and Pikachu ex is still one of the most popular lists in the entire game.

Druddigon partially resolved this issue because it is a Dragon Pokémon.

This list does rely quite heavily on an extremely unbalanced type of RNG in this game, which is Misty. Depending on how many heads you get when you toss coins with this card, you can win the game on the spot, which makes this list extremely frustrating when you're against it.

292 players attended this tournament, hosted by BuraKaii. The most popular cards in this event were Mewtwo ex, which was played in 24% of all decks, and Druddigon, played in 20% of all decks registered.

1st Place - Tander1 - Bolivia - Marshadow + Greninja

This incredible list by Tander1, from Bolivia, was quite a surprise, as it was a great version of the "Revenge Farfetch'd" archetype. This archetype is incredibly popular in the NOEX format, by the way.

The idea behind this archetype is to put Farfetch'd in play early on, deal as much damage as you can with it, and then, as soon as your opponent knocks it out, put Marshadow up front. After that, you'll be able to deal 100 damage to your opponent's active Pokémon.

However, Tander1's version, besides playing Farfetch'd, also plays Tauros, the best anti-meta Pokémon to beat decks with Pokémon ex, like Pikachu ex.

It also plays Hitmonlee, which is a "sniper" Pokémon (a Pokémon that deals damage to Pokémon on the enemy bench). This Pokémon is once again popular because sniper Pokémon are becoming stronger in this meta. You'll also find two copies of Greninja's evolution line in this deck, so it leans even more on sniper Pokémon.

And, lastly, this list includes Mew ex as a tank Pokémon. Depending on the matchup, you can use it as your "carry" if you manage to copy the enemy Pokémon's ability after you attach 3 energies to it.

2nd Place - Yanu - Hong Kong - Gyarados ex

Yanu, from Hong Kong, brought the most accepted and popular version of the Gyarados ex archetype, which is identical to the Gyarados ex list we saw just now.

23 players attended this tournament, hosted by just_samuele. The most popular card in this event was Celebi ex, which was played in 33% of all decks, followed by Exeggutor ex and Mewtwo ex, which were both played in 26% of all decks.

1st Place - Kaoxt - USA - Celebi ex

Kaoxt's Celebi ex list is a bit different from what we're used to seeing on the ranked queue. It doesn't play Serperior's evolution line, which doubles any Grass energies you attach. Instead, it leans on simplicity and plays very few Pokémon, which makes the entire deck more consistent.

In turn, Exeggutor was, for a long time, a powerful meta deck. It has now returned to the spotlight in this Celebi ex list as a secondary carry because it is the "cheapest" Grass Pokémon with a decent amount of HP. Its potential in the early game is huge, as it can deal 80 damage to the enemy Pokémon, and this, alongside support cards to heal it, make Exeggutor extremely resistant, besides quite fast.

As for Celebi ex, it is this deck's main "carry", and, usually, you'll invest all your energies into it. It can snowball pretty hard, but you'll have to be a bit lucky with your coin tosses to deal damage. In some matches, you might get unlucky and not deal as much damage as you wished.

Because you'll have to rely on coin tosses when you play this deck, you might be frustrated when you miss. Nonetheless, it is very powerful, and is incredibly well-positioned in the meta.

2nd Place - LukasPrince93 - Italy - Gyarados ex

LukasPrince93, from Italy, played the most popular and accepted version of the Gyarados ex archetype, which is identical to the Gyarados ex list we saw just now.

If you read this far, thank you! I hope you had fun, and enjoyed reading this article.

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See you next time!