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With the release of Shining Revelry, the first of the Paldean Pokemon were introduced inPokemon TCG Pocket, and the Magician Pokemon, Meowscarada, is among them. But while powerful ex Pokemon tend to take the spotlight, Meowscarada shows that single-prize Pokemon can still be the cat’s meow.
Meowscarada isn’t the most powerful Pokemon card, by any stretch, but it does have a special niche: Meowscarada is a perfect counter for the Giratina ex / Darkrai ex deck that immediately dominated the competitive meta, allowing this cool cat to shine, as long as she has a good partner.
Sprigatito (A2b) x2
Floragato (A2b) x2
Meowscarada (A2b) x2
Magnemite (A2) x2
Magneton (A1) x2
Magnezone (A2) x2
Sabrina x1
Cyrus x1
Red x1
Poke Ball x2
Giant Cape x1
Turn off Lightning Energyin the deck builder. This deck should only have Grass Energy in the Energy Zone.
This deck uses the Magnemite from Space-Time Smackdown, which can attack with Ram with any kind of Energy. While you won’t use this attack often, it’s nice to put some damage on a Pokemon to Cyrus out later, or to donk a Gyarados deck that only has one Magikarp out at the end of their first turn.
The deck also uses the Genetic Apex Magneton, which isyour only source of Lightning Energy, and the Space-Time Smackdown Magnezone, which uses that Energy to attack. Using a different Magnezone or Magneton will render this deck inoperable.
Some decks drop the second copy of Meowscarada, since you’ll rarely have the chance to evolve both of your Sprigatitos. While this gives you room for an additional Trainer card for support, it can also make it more difficult to find your primary attacker, sowe don’t recommend this cut.
Meowscarada / Magnezone Deck Strategy
The Meowscarada / Magnezone deck does one of the things you never want to do in Pokemon TCG Pocket: it includes two copies of each card in two full three-stage evolution families. In most decks, this makes it extremely difficult to get the cards you need and to set up, butSprigatito’s Cry For Help makes it all work.
The Cry For Help attackadds a random Grass-type Pokemon from your deck to your hand, making it easier to draw the Grass-type Pokemon you need and thinning your deck to make it easier to find the rest of your Pokemon. However, it uses up your attack for the turn.
In most games, you’ll want tostart with a Sprigatito as your Active Pokemon to use Cry For Help, pulling as many Grass-type cards as possible into your hand. Meanwhile, you want a Magnemite and your second Sprigatito on your Bench, setting up. The Active Sprigatito is usually a sacrificial Pokemon that won’t get to evolve.
On your Bench,evolve Magnemite to Magneton as soon as possibleand start using Volt Charge to attach Lightning Energy. Don’t evolve to Magnezone until you’re ready to attack. Attach at least one Grass Energy to your Benched Sprigatito, after which you can attach two to Magneton.
If you have enough Pokemon to evolve your Benched Sprigatito to Meowscarada and Magnemite to Magnezone, plus an extra Floragato, you’re all ready set up enough that you canevolve your Active Sprigatito and deal some chip damage with Slash. Otherwise, keep using Cry For Help to thin your deck so you may finish setting up.
If your opponent pulls out an ex Pokemon, advance Meowscaradato take advantage of Fighting Claws, which deals 130 damage to ex Pokemon. Red can pump that up to 150 once, which is enough to OHKO Giratina ex or Darkrai ex wearing a Giant Cape. Otherwise, or if they attempt to hide behind a Druddigon, evolve Magneton into Magnezone and use Thunder Blast for 110.
Thunder Blast discards a Lightning Energy, but only needs one or two Colorless Energy, so you cankeep using Thunder Blast as long as you keep attaching more Grass Energy. Try to have at least two Lightning Energy on Magneton before you advance it.
This deck is light on Trainers, since it has so many Pokemon already.Sabrina and Cyrus can help you secure key KOsafter your opponent retreats their Pokemon, and Sabrina can interfere with setup by forcing those Pokemon forward before they’re ready.
Red is a key card that can boost Meowscarada and Magnezone’s attacks against ex Pokemonto KO Pokemon your opponent thinks are safe.
Watch for the right opportunity, and pull off a sneak attack worthy of Meowscarada’s stage presence.
A singleGiant Cape helps with Gyarados exmatchups, where the deck otherwise struggles. The 20 HP boost from Giant Cape puts both Meowscarada and Magnezone outside Rampaging Whirlpool’s KO range, allowing you to squeeze out an extra attack.
Meowscarada / Magnezone Matchups
Giratina ex / Darkrai ex
Meowscarada is all you need to deal withGiratina ex / Darkrai ex decks, and Magnemite is just a bonus. Thanks to Darkrai ex’s Grass-type weakness, Fighting Claws can OHKO it, while it needs two Dark Prism attacks to deal with the tricky cat. Giratina ex’s Chaotic Impact deals damage to itself and puts it in range of a Fighting Claws KO, as well.
At higher ranks, some decks drop Druddigon as a setup tank. While this makes those decks a little more aggressive, it also makes them more vulnerable to Fighting Claws.
As you approach Master Ball rank, it may be worth dropping the Magnezone line in favor of Beedrill ex or Exeggutor lines and more utility Trainer cards.
Gyarados ex / Manaphy
While Magnemite can sometimes squeeze out a donk win before your opponent gets set up, overallthe Meowscarada deck struggles against Gyarados ex. Manaphy’s Oceanic Gift allows it to set up two Gyarados ex at the same time, and that sweeper has enough HP to tank your best shot and enough damage in Rampaging Whirlpool to OHKO anything you put out.
Your best shot is to hit the Magikarps before they can set up properly, orforce your opponent’s Gyarados ex out before it can get enough Energyto attack. These decks don’t usually include Leaf or X Speed to help retreat, so once it’s out, it’s open to attacks. Just be aware that Irida will keep healing it.
Charizard ex / Moltres ex
TheCharizard ex / Moltres ex archetypeis still going strong, and received a slight buff in Shining Revelry with a new Charmander and Charmeleon, which have better damage progression than the Genetic Apex versions. And while it’s considereda top anti-meta pick and has type advantage, it struggles against Meowscarada.
Charizard ex is usually ready to go when it has five Fire Energy, allowing it to use Crimson Storm twice. But since Meowscarada / Magnezone only uses single-Prize Pokemon, it needs an extra attack. Meanwhile,two hits from almost anything allow you to KO Charizard ex, and Moltres ex folds to Magnezone or Meowscarada with Red.
