Darkrai EX Takes over Pokemon TCG Pocket, Reigning as the Undisputed Top Tier Deck

Darkrai EX has emerged as the undisputed top deck in Pokémon TCG Pocket, solidifying its place as the strongest competitive option in the current Space-Time Smackdown Expansion. With no other decks reaching the same level of dominance, Darkrai EX remains the only top-tier deck in the metagame, setting the pace for high-level play in the latest expansion.

In a recent tournament, Darkrai EX was utilized by seven of the top eight teams, with six of them opting for Magneton x Darkrai EX. Though the stats are a little skewed at the moment due to players experiencing a learning curve when fighting against the new meta deck, Darkrai EX combined with Magneton holds undeniable power. 

Solo Dark Energy works best in the deck – running both Lightning and Dark Energy is superfluous. Magneton stacks lightning energy passively anyhow, making the use of lightning energy redundant and counterintuitive to the deck’s base strategy.  

The deck starts relatively slow, as most top-tier decks in Pocket TCG do. The basic strategy is to evolve Magnemite into Magneton and stack lightning energy by using Magneton’s passive. 

Attaching energy onto Darkrai EX triggers its ability to deal damage to key targets on the enemy’s bench or active Pokemon. It becomes far easier to take control of the game thereafter because of Cyrus who switches “1 of your opponent’s Benched Pokémon that has damage on it to the Active Spot.”

This completely counters slow scaling decks, such as Mewtwo EX and Garados EX, by forcing out lower evolution Pokemon to the forefront, preventing the problematic evolutions from wreaking havoc later on. 

The priority regarding energy placement should typically go to Darkrai EX – at least until it reaches three energy. Pivoting into Magnezone allows immense damage and flexibility, thanks to the passive energy amassing from its preevolution alongside the release of trainer card, Dawn. 

Dawn allows players to move energy from a benched Pokemon onto an active Pokemon.

For a detailed deck list, check out PokemonMeta, where they showcase exact deck recipes for tournament-winning decks.