The Marowak ex deck is gaining more attention after its strong performance in a community tournament, where it defeated some of the most popular decks in the Pokémon Pocket meta.
Decklist
How to Play
Since Dugtrio is worth 1 Point and Marowak ex is worth 2 Points, you should prioritize playing two Dugtrio first. Once they get knocked out, you can drop Marowak ex to take control of the game.
Cubone doesn’t deal any damage, so he can’t weaken an opponent’s Pokemon for Marowak ex to finish off. We want to evolve him quickly into Marowak ex and get access to Bonemerang. With just 2 Fighting Energy, Marowak ex can deal significant damage with its attack, but Bonemerang involves an element of luck. You’ll flip 2 coins, and for each heads, Bonemerang deals 80 damage, giving you three possible outcomes: 0, 80, or 160 damage.
While 80 damage isn’t too bad, hitting 160 damage on a high-health Pokémon can be a game changer. This amount of damage can knock out most of your opponent’s Pokémon, completely shutting down their strategy and potentially winning you the game on the spot. However, hitting that 0 damage can put you behind and possibly lose you the game, so the luck factor plays a huge role in this deck.
Diglett starts with 20 damage using Mud-Slap for 1 Fighting Energy. Once evolved into Dugtrio, you won’t need to attach another Energy; the 1 Fighting Energy is enough to activate Dig, dealing 40 damage to your opponent’s Pokémon.
Hitting heads with Dig gives you more time to deal damage and set up Marowak ex without worrying about Dugtrio getting knocked out.
Draw Value
Play Professor’s Research, a Supporter card that allows you to draw two cards, early in the game when you don’t need to play other Supporter cards like Sabrina or Giovanni.
Pokeball draws you a Basic Pokemon, so either Cubone or Digglet.
Battle Cards
Giovanni gives an extra 10 damage to your attack, perfect if you’re missing 10 damage to knock out a Pokemon.
Sabrina forces the opponent to switch one of their Benched Pokemon to the Active spot. This can be annoying when played at the right time, especially if the opponent can’t easily switch back the Pokemon they want to the Active spot or have a valuable Pokemon on the Bench.
Both Giovanni and Sabrina are Supporter cards so you can play only one of them a turn.
X Speed makes it easier to retreat a Pokemon, dropping the Retreat cost for the Active Pokemon by 1.
Potion heals your Pokemon for 20 damage, potentially preventing your opponent from knocking out your Pokemon on their upcoming turn.
Other Cards to Include
Sandshrew and Sandslash is another approach if you don’t want to play Diglet and Dugtrio. Sandshrew needs 1 Fighting Energy to attack with Scratch, but the 10 damage doesn’t pose much of a threat. However, when evolved to Sandslash, it can activate Slash for 2 Fighting Energy, dealing 70 damage to the opponent’s Pokemon.
