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Palkia ex is one of the strongest cards inPokemon TCG Pocket, and can fit into a variety of decks alongside other powerful cards like Vaporeon, Articuno ex, and even Dragonite, which we’ll be looking at today.
Dragonite’s Draco Meteor has the potential to instantly win you the game with the right damage rolls, and getting it up and running is easier than ever thanks to Manaphy. Draco Meteor can also be combined with the devastating effect of Dimensional Slash to blow through your opponent’s team. Below, you’re able to find a sample decklist, some tips for using it, and some match ups to be wary of.
Dragonite and Palkia ex Deck
Manaphy x2
Palkia ex x2
Dratini x2
Dragonair x2
Dragonite x2
Misty x1
Leaf x1
Irida x1
This deck usesWaterandElectricEnergy.
Alternative Cards
There are quite a few variations you can make to this deck. In a lot of cases, having two copies of Palkia ex may be overkill, so you can swap one out for several different cards, likeDawn, a secondMisty, or a secondPokemon Communication.
If you swap out a Palkia ex, you can alsoswap out one Giant Capefor one of the aforementioned cards. Because Draco Meteor and Dimensional Slash can hit Benched cards, youdon’t really need to run Cyrus or Sabrinain this deck.
Deck Strategy
The core of this deck revolves aroundusing Manaphy and Misty to generate Water energy for Palkia ex and Dragonite, attaching an Electric energy from the pool at any point along the way.
Once Dragonite has the required energy, you can immediately swap it in and stand blasting with Draco Meteor. This attack has the potential to instantly knock out the opponent’s Active Pokemon, or any of their Benched Pokemon.
On the other hand, Dimensional Slash deals massive damage to the opponent’s Active Pokemon, and 20 to each of their Benched Pokemon, butrandomly discards three energy from Palkia. This can make it next to impossible to use back-to-back, unless you have a lot of setup time.
Because of this, you’ll want tosave Dimensional Slash for when it will either win you the game, or when its downside can be minimized. If you have Dragonite ready to go, you can safely fire off Dimensional Slash before swapping in Dragonite.
Be sure toutilize Leaf when swapping out Palkia ex for Dragoniteto maintain its energy. If you’re also running Dawn, you’re able to move this energy back to another Palkia or from Dragonite to Palkia ex later.
Your Giant Capes should be used on Dragonite and Palkia ex, but you can alsoput one on Manaphy to let it survive another hit early on if needed. For the most part, Manaphy is just there to generate energy for your Benched Pokemon, so it’s okay if it gets knocked out. If Manaphy is able to generateat least four total Energy, it will have done its job. Any more than that is a bonus.
Deck Matchups And Counters
The main downside to this deck is the RNG that comes with energy generated in the pool each turn. In some cases, you may have Manaphy waiting in the Active spot, but only Electric energy generating each turn. Because of this, this deck has a slow overall set up time, and can buckle against faster-paced decks like Lucario.
Another matchup to be mindful of is against stall decks likeDarkrai and Magnezone, especially if they’re also usingDruddigon. If any Pokemon, Active or Benched, has a Rocky Helmet equipped, Draco Meteor has the potential to return several hits of damage back onto Dragonite.
That said, this deck is mostlyfavorable against stall decks, as Draco Meteor can potentially ignore the opponent’s tank, and Dimensional Slash can one-shot most Pokemon to begin with. Again, just verify you don’t knock out your own Pokemon with damage from Rocky Helmets or Druddigon’s ability.
