Starmie ex / Articuno ex

There’s one deck that’s received more prominence than any other, and that’s Lapras and Starmie. Star of the game’s first big event, it’s the deck absolutely everyone’s been battling in order to win those Lapras ex cards to start building their own. Don’t use it. There’s a better variant.

That’s not least because the Lapras version is also the deck absolutely everyone’s learned how to beat. The real star here is Starmie, teamed up with Articuno ex and the mercurial Misty, for a risky deck that dishes big damage

Advantages

Low-cost, powerful attacks

Very quick to set up

Devastating to Fire decks like Charizard

Disadvantages

Misty is unreliable for energy

Weak to Electric decks

Needs a fast setup to work

Cards

There’s less room for improvisation here, given that there’s really no better back-up choice than Psyduck and Golduck, and the deck absolutely depends on both Misty and the cards to pull Pokémon from your deck. Articuno ex is your best second-runner to Starmie, too, as alternatives like Blastoise would require a three-step evolution and take over the deck.

Staryu x2

Starmie ex x2

Articuno ex x2

Psyduck x2

Golduck x2

Potion x2

Red Card x2

Poké Ball x2

Professor’s Research x2

Misty x2

How to play the deck

The key here is speed. This is all about getting Starmie ex in play before your opponent has had a chance to get their deck rolling. The brutal Mewtwo/Gardevoir deck is tough to beat, but a lot easier if you’re already taking chunks out of your opponent while Mewtwo is still tying his shoes.

The ideal situation is getting Staryu in the Active Spot before the game even starts, then evolving as quickly as possible, which is why you need two of each to improve the odds of this working. If Staryu is AWOL, putting Psyduck in is an excellent delay, as while its one-energy hit only does a paltry 10 damage, it also prevents the other player from using any Supporter cards on their next turn, and that means they can’t use Professor’s Research to dig out cards they need from their deck. It also blocks all the specialist supporters, like Blaine, Koga, Lt. Surge, and Brock from helping get Pokémon ready, and indeed the infuriating Sabrine from making you swap out your active Pokémon.

Once you’ve got Starmie ex evolved, you’re flying. You can now do 90 damage a turn, for just two energy. That’s not the 200 a Charizard ex can deliver (although it’d be 110 against Charizard thanks to its weakness!), but the idea here is to be dishing out those 90s to Charmander and Charmeleon before the ‘Zard has ever evolved. Also, Starmie ex has no retreat cost, so you can pull it when it’s getting weak, preventing the opponent taking those two points, and you don’t need to waste space in your deck with X Speeds. (Other setups for this deck keep the X Speed cards in, but we’ve subbed them for hand-wrecking Red Cards, because it’s such an excellent dick move to annoy your opponent.)

Articuno ex is there to sub in, in case Starmie is a no-show or is weakening. It’s a poorer option—doing 80 damage for three energy, with the bonus of a further 10 to opposing benched Pokémon—but it’s a Basic card, requiring no evolution, and its 140 HP will hold off enemies for a while. It’s really for Articuno that you want Misty in your deck, as should the coin-flips fall your way, you could get it loaded with energy to fight on turn 2.

Hopefully, when the cards fall your way, this means you can demolish your opponent long before they’re ready to fight back.