Best Palkia ex Pokémon TCG Pocket deck build list

Out of the new cards introduced in the Space-Time Smackdown expansion set, Palkia ex is one of the most interesting from a competitive angle. With tanky stats, a competitive type in the current meta, and Bench-sniping potential, it’s worth building a deck around if you manage to pull it.

Below, you’ll find the best Palkia ex Pocket deck build list, including how to get every necessary card, the strengths and weaknesses of the deck, and other variants to watch out for.

Best Palkia ex Pocket deck build list

There are a number of ways to build up Palkia ex in Pocket, but we found it worked best alongside Vaporeon, Manaphy, and a singular Articuno ex for easy Energy Token control and immense damage output.

Building this deck may take newer players a little more time, as it features cards from every set and themed booster pack in the game so far.

It’s well worth the effort, though, as this deck has competitive potential and is incredibly fun to play as well. If you’ve got a Pack Points to burn, investing in the Eevee and Vaporeon is worth it as they pop up in other useful decks like Gyarados ex.

Card	Card Name	Card Number	Quantity	Set	Source
	Palkia ex	49/155	Two	Space-Time Smackdown	Obtained via Space-Time Smackdown booster packs or by spending Pack Points.
	Eevee	61/68	Two	Mythical Island	Obtained via Mythical Island booster packs or by spending Pack Points.
	Vaporeon	72/68	Two	Mythical Island	Obtained via Mythical Island booster packs or by spending Pack Points.
	Manaphy	50/155	Two	Space-Time Smackdown	Obtained via Space-Time Smackdown booster packs or by spending Pack Points.
	Articuno ex	84/226	One	Genetic Apex	Obtained via Genetic Apex booster packs or by spending Pack Points.
	Misty	220/226	Two	Genetic Apex	Obtained via Genetic Apex booster packs or by spending Pack Points.
	Professor’s Research	7/P-A	Two	Promo-A	Obtained by spending Shop Tickets.
	Leaf	68/68	Two	Mythical Island	Obtained via Mythical Island booster packs or by spending Pack Points.
	Cyrus	150/155	Two	Space-Time Smackdown	Obtained via Space-Time Smackdown booster packs or by spending Pack Points.
	Poké Ball	5/P-A	Two	Promo-A	Obtained by spending Shop Tickets.
	Rocky Helmet	148/155	One	Space-Time Smackdown	Obtained via Space-Time Smackdown booster packs or by spending Pack Points.

The star of the show here is Palkia ex, but Articuno ex and even Vaporeon can provide meaningful damage if you can’t get the Spatial Pokémon into position early enough. Eevee can be a great quick start if you’re willing to rely on luck to a certain degree.

The aim here is to get Palkia ex in position and Energized as quickly as possible so that it can sweep with Dimensional Storm, using both Manaphy and Vaporeon to manage the Energy Token tax and set it up for the next turn. It’s an expensive attack, but can create a win condition if managed well.

Misty is a luck-dependent card, which may not be every player’s preference—but if your coin flips land, a turn-one Dimensional Storm feels fantastic and can lead to a quick win.

Alongside Misty, the main support in this deck comes from Cyrus, Leaf, and Rocky Helmet, providing disruption, easy movement, and extra damage respectively. Professor’s Research and Poké Ball help with draw power.

If you haven’t got all of the cards listed above or you’re hoping to build a different iteration of the list, there are some viable variants kicking about the community that are worth experimenting with.

We’ve built our Palkia ex deck as a pure Water-type list, but that doesn’t necessarily need to be the case. Other popular variants for a Palkia ex list include:

• Mew ex for its Genome Hacking attack, widening up the range of damage and type options.
• Regice for early-game power and effect mitigation, acting as a decent early-to-mid wall.
• Porygon-Z for its pure chaos and disruptive capabilities with Buggy Beam.
• Pokémon Communication for extra draw and movement.
• Giant Cape for a boost to HP and survivability.

If you end up putting a non-Water Pokémon like Mew ex into your Palkia ex list, make sure to check that the Energy Tokens assigned to the deck are still just Water Energy Tokens. There’s nothing more frustrating than getting three Psychic Tokens in a row while trying to set up this list.

How the Palkia ex deck works

Palkia ex is, unsurprisingly, the main source of damage in our Palkia ex list. Unlike other decks like Scolipede Weezing which have multiple damage sources on offer, the main win condition is getting Palkia ex in position with enough Energy Tokens to strike.

Slash deals a nice sliver of damage for the earliest chunk of the game, but Dimensional Storm is the main selling point of the card, dealing an immense 150 damage to the opponent’s Active and an additional 20 to each of their Benched ‘mons.

The difficulty is getting Palkia ex Energized for each attack, as Dimensional Storm requires a triple Energy discard. This is where Misty, Manaphy, and Vaporeon come in. These cards all focus on Energizing, and having multiple sources of Tokens means you have a back-up if one of them fails to provide enough—looking at you, Misty.

We’ve put a copy of Articuno ex in this list as a back-up to occupy the Active spot while Palkia ex is getting Energized. Similar to Palkia ex, Articuno ex has a heavy-hitting attack that also takes out Benched ‘mons, dealing 80 and 10 damage apiece.

Cyrus and Rocky Helmet help to throw a little chaos into the mix, with Cyrus letting you drag an injured opponent into battle and Rocky Helmet tacking on an extra 20 damage if your Active gets damaged. It’s not the most disruptive deck out there, but it gives you plenty of freedom.

Strengths and weaknesses

In terms of sheer damage output, this deck feels fantastic. Palkia ex can comfortably knock out most of the opponents it’ll come across, and even Vaporeon and Articuno ex can grab a point if you get them into play early enough. Water-type decks are also feeling strong in general with the current meta, with cards like Misty helping them shine. It’s likely we’ll see Palkia ex topping the charts in tournaments shortly, giving Starmie ex and Gyarados ex players a run for their money.

Having strong Water-type Pokémon to hand makes dealing with popular decks like Blaine and Arcanine ex much easier. Adding the weakness bonus onto Dimensional Storm makes Palkia ex feel almost unstoppable.

Despite being predominantly focused around one Pokémon, this list also provides plenty of freedom and utility to players. There’s easy movement in the form of Leaf, disruptive potential with Cyrus and Rocky Helmet, and decent draw from Professor’s Research and Poké Ball.

There are a few issues to consider with this deck, though. The fact that it’s a pure Water-type deck can lead to issues when facing off against decks like Pikachu ex thanks to the type match-up. It’s not an instant loss, but it can be an uphill battle.

Managing Dimensional Storm’s Energy Token tax can take some practice, too. There are plenty of sources of Energy in the list, but this also means that there are plenty of ways for the opponent to disrupt you. Losing both Manaphy, for example, can be a lose condition. Simply getting hold of all the cards in this list can take time, as well. If you’re hunting for a deck to pick up at the start of your Pocket experience, you may find this one a little frustrating to build on account of the card’s rarity levels.

Despite this, Palkia ex is a fantastic deck to play if you have the cards available. It takes some practice to get into the swing of things, but once you’ve nailed it, Dimensional Storm can rip through most opponents with ease.

Make sure to check out the Palkia pack exclusives for Space-Time Smackdown so you know what to watch for when hunting down the cards you need. Alongside this list, there are some exceptional gems to pick up in this booster pack.