Out of all of the Electrical-types in existence, it’s arduous to disclaim that Pikachu is without doubt one of the most iconic Pokémon—and because of Surging Sparks, it’s about to see a spike in recognition. Stellar Tera-type Pikachu ex is a formidable card and price taking part in in case you’re a fan of inventive Pokémon TCG decks.
Right here, we’ve listed the perfect Surging Sparks Pikachu ex Pokémon TCG deck builds, together with each the usual listing that you simply’ll discover in Pokemon TCG Reside and our spin on the deck. This deck does take some follow, however when you’ve bought the core mechanics down, it’s extremely enjoyable.
Customary Pikachu ex Pokémon TCG deck
There’s a premade Pikachu ex Pokémon TCG deck accessible in Pokémon TCG Reside for gamers to take a look at of their library. It’s a basic Reside deck with staples like Mew ex and Lumineon V, and it’s enjoyable to take into on-line matches.
Pokémon
This deck revolves round Pikachu ex, using its Resolute Coronary heart skill to tank heavy-hitting assaults and Topaz Bolt to Knock Out most opponents. With 200 HP and the same old Stellar Tera-type Bench immunity, Pikachu ex could be tough to take out.
The Quaquaval line is in place to utilize two completely different skills. The Surging Sparks Quaquaval can draw 5 playing cards, whereas the Scarlet & Violet Quaquaval can transfer Vitality round simply. They each have entry to comparatively low cost assaults that hit arduous, too.
Galvantula is an attention-grabbing ‘mon, providing the Stunning Internet assault, which hops up from 50 harm to 130 harm if the Pokémon has Lightning Vitality connected, and the Compound Eyes skill, which whacks an additional 50 harm on prime of this if the opponent’s Lively has a capability.
Trainers
It is a Coach-heavy deck with loads of instruments to get Pikachu ex onto the battlefield. With out the precise assist, Pikachu ex could be swapped out and sniped by a number of common decks, so it’s essential to maintain most of those Trainers in place in case you’re making any listing modifications.
Extremely Ball and Nest Ball can help you choose up desired Pokémon rapidly, whereas Earthen Vessel and Crispin assist with Energizing key gamers. Powerglass is one other Vitality-centric choose right here, bringing Vitality out of the Discard Pile constantly to make up for Pikachu ex having a steep Vitality tax.
Professor’s Analysis, Carmine, and Iono can help you reset if you find yourself with an unfortunate hand, and Boss’s Orders helps provide some management over the opponent.
Vitality
As there are a number of sorts of Pokémon on this deck, the required variety of Vitality is pretty excessive. In comparison with different decks like Gardevoir ex, it might sound somewhat excessive, however having all 4 varieties of Vitality is important to make Pikachu ex shine.
In fact, you may alter the portions of every Vitality sort considerably if you end up working into the identical varieties time and again. Experimentation is essential to find a Pokémon TCG deck that works for you.
The way it works
The star of this deck is Pikachu ex. The Resolute Coronary heart skill acts as a cheat-death mechanic, permitting the zappy mouse to tank a One Hit Knock Out and arrange for Topaz Bolt, its star transfer.
Throughout our testing, we observed that this deck (and our iteration) is considerably liable to mulligans. It’s not often a game-changer in case your opponent will get one or two additional playing cards, however in case you’re not eager on this being an element, experiment with the portions of the Pokémon and Vitality on this listing to decrease the possibilities of not drawing a Fundamental.
The problem right here is getting sufficient Vitality to arrange for Topaz Bolt after which getting mentioned Vitality again out of the Discard Pile, because the assault requires a triple Vitality discard. There are many Coach playing cards like Earthen Vessel and Powerglass on this listing to assist with Energizing Pikachu ex.
Joltik is an unassuming hero, with Jolting Cost standing out as probably the most spectacular Fundamental ‘mon instruments within the Stellar Crown card listing. Jolting Cost means that you can seek for as much as two Grass and two Lightning Vitality playing cards, connect them nonetheless you want, after which shuffle your deck.
Moreover, the Quaquaval line helps with draw energy and Vitality, because the Surging Sparks iteration of Quaquaval provides a quintuple draw, and the Scarlet & Violet iteration permits for Vitality motion throughout your flip. Each additionally act as secondary attackers, in a position to deal 120 and 140 harm, respectively.
In contrast to many of the premade decks in Pokémon TCG Reside, it is a pretty Vitality-centric listing, with 4 various kinds of Vitality on provide. Lighting, Grass, and Metal are for Pikachu ex and supporting acts like Joltik, whereas the Water Vitality is to assist Quaquaval ship an assault if wanted.
Greatest Pikachu ex Pokémon TCG deck
The Pokémon TCG Reside Pikachu ex listing is enjoyable to play, however we’ve put collectively an inventory that units up faster and has a extra constant harm output.
It nonetheless options helpful critters like Joltik and loads of Coach playing cards, however different win circumstances can be found by way of a sure speedy hen and a change in draw mechanics.
Pokémon
Pokémon TCG Reside‘s finest Pikachu ex deck listing closely options geese, however we determined to run with pigeons for our listing as an alternative. Pidgeot ex is arguably probably the most invaluable Pokémon within the sport proper now, with unparalleled utility and a comparatively low cost assault that squishes Stadiums, too.
Manaphy and Jirachi are important picks for the present meta to maintain your Bench protected. As Pikachu ex doesn’t have extraordinarily excessive HP when in comparison with different Stellar Tera-type critters within the sport, it is a must-have primarily based on our testing.
One other common model of a Pikachu ex deck listing that’s floating across the group proper now options Magnemite and Magneton—particularly, the Surging Sparks Magneton with the Overvolt Discharge skill. In case you’re not a fan of the Pidget ex playstyle, strive subbing it out for this line as an alternative.
If you wish to liberate some area for different playing cards, there’s room to play with card portions right here, so do ensure that to experiment and check out a couple of completely different iterations of the listing to search out one which fits your private playstyle wants.
You possibly can even drop Pidgeotto solely and depend on Uncommon Candies to get Pidgeot ex in play in case you favor, releasing up three additional slots for extra Joltiks or Trainers. It’s somewhat riskier, however in case you bumped up the amount of Arvens within the listing, it could guarantee easy accessibility to the Uncommon Candies.
Trainers
An important addition we’ve made by way of Trainers is the Glowing Crystal ACE SPEC card. This card lowers the price of a Pokémon’s transfer Vitality prices by one, and importantly, it may be any Vitality sort.
One tough ingredient it’s good to think about when taking part in Pikachu ex is the number of Energies that it wants to make use of Topaz Bolt. Having to search out sufficient Lightning, Grass, and Steel Energies could be arduous, and preserving them out of the Discard Pile could be even more durable.
Joltik helps with Lightning and Grass draw, and Crispin can arrange two Energies at a time, however getting three in a single go—which is usually vital, relying on in case you’re taking part in an opponent who can arrange in a single flip—could be arduous. Glowing Crystal fills within the gaps.
We’ve additionally targeted on Crispin over Earthen Vessel to keep away from having to drop pointless playing cards and to assist arrange faster, too. Pikachu ex can play extremely rapidly in principle, and the Crispin Supporter card lends itself naturally to a quick playstyle.
Vitality
There are fewer Energies to choose up with our Pikachu ex Pokémon TCG deck listing, because of the variations in Pokémon and featured Trainers. In case you favor having over 10 Energies to play with, you might lose a Rescue Board, Pidgeotto, or Uncommon Sweet to make room.
The way it works
As a substitute of counting on the Quaquaval line just like the Pokémon TCG Reside deck, our model of the perfect Pikachu ex deck listing focuses on the Pidgeot ex line for additional draw energy, Stadium management, and secondary harm. It’s extra dependable, and Pidgeot ex has no Retreat Price, which is an added bonus.
Alongside the addition of the indignant pigeons, we included a duplicate of Manaphy and Jirachi for Bench safety. There are many Bench sniping ‘mons within the present Pokémon TCG meta and these two critters add additional safety in your Joltiks, Pidgeys, and Pikachu ex playing cards when establishing.
We took out Mew ex and Lumineon V, as these playing cards felt too area of interest to be efficient within the listing. Mew ex does provide some worth with its Restart skill, however the draw energy could be lined with different choices like Nemona or Pidgeot ex’s Fast Search skill as an alternative.
By way of Vitality draw and Supporters, we opted to incorporate the utmost variety of Crispins, loads of Extremely Balls and Nest Balls, and Uncommon Candies to rapidly get Pidgeot ex on the sector for the Fast Search skill.
With the elimination of the Quaquaval line, the Water Vitality felt redundant, so we reduce these. Manaphy may benefit from them, however its most important perform on this listing is to guard the Bench and the Rain Splash assault, which offers 20 harm, isn’t definitely worth the area within the deck.
The principle purpose right here is to nonetheless get Pikachu ex into place as rapidly as potential, with at the very least two Pidgeot ex sat on the Bench for straightforward search, draw, and secondary harm. Jirachi and Manaphy defend the Bench, whereas Joltik helps to Energize Pikachu and act as a sacrifice if wanted.
By way of matchups, this deck performs nicely in opposition to present favorites like Greninja ex, Chien Pao ex, and Mewtwo ex. It will probably stand as much as decks like Misplaced Zone Field in case you draw nicely however struggles into matchups like Charizard-Pidgeot or Gholdengo ex, relying on how your opponent attracts.
Pidgeot ex can take out Stadiums, making this deck a good matchup for the favored Terapagos ex deck that’s been doing the rounds since Stellar Crown‘s launch. Pikachu ex isn’t the tankiest Stellar Tera-type by any means, but it surely’s extremely helpful in case you pair it with the precise assist.
Pikachu ex is a enjoyable deck with a cheat-death mechanic that’s price attempting in the present day. If you wish to take our deck listing for a spin, you may copy and paste our listing instantly into Pokémon TCG Reside‘s deck creator to construct it in your individual library.
