Pokémon Pocket’s A3a Extradimensional Crisis is finally here! This mini-expansion introduces over 100 cards designed to shake up the game and bring a fresh wave of unique Pokémon for you to build around.
There’s a ton of exciting new cards to dive into, and I’ll be sharing a few deck ideas to help you get a jumpstart on the early Pokémon Pocket A3a meta!
Silvally Rampardos
This is a single-point deck, forcing the opponent to knock out 3 of your Pokémon to get the win. Silvally is a Stage 1 Pokémon, capable of dealing 50 damage to the opponent’s Active Pokémon and boosting its attack Power to 100 if you’ve played a Supporter card during this turn.
Rampardos is our Stage 2 Pokémon, so we have Rare Candy in the list to speed up its evolution. Rampardos deals 130 damage with its Head Smash attack, but if it knocks out a Pokémon, it will deal 50 damage to itself. This will put it in a vulnerable spot on the upcoming turn to the opponent’s attack.
Buzzwole ex Celesteela
This deck uses Pheromosa as an early attacker, dealing 20 damage to the opponent’s Active Pokémon and another 20 to the Benched Pokémon. As you’re chopping at the opponent’s HP, you’ll be building up your Buzzwole ex to take over.
Buzzwole ex is our carry, dealing 120 damage to the opponent’s Active Pokémon with its Big Beat attack. However, you can’t activate the attack on the upcoming turn, so we’ll be relying on Celesteela to switch out our Ultra Beast Pokémon without worrying about their retreat costs.
We want the opposing player to get a knockout, getting our Lusamine online to attach 2 Random Energy from our discard Pile to one of our Ultra Beast Pokemon, enabling us to attack with Buzzwole ex on earlier turns.
Buzzwole ex Leafeon ex
This deck is created by none other than Megamogwai himself, using Leafeon ex’s Forest Breath Ramp ability to attach Grass-type Energy on your Tapu Bulu and Buzzwole ex, enabling them to attack on earlier turns.
Tapu Bulu requires 3 Energy to attack, dealing 100 damage with its Stuck-in Tackle attack, and it flips a coin. If it’s tails, Tapu Bulu deals 20 damage to itself, putting it in a more vulnerable spot to the opponent’s attacker.
As for Buzzwole ex, it’s the main damage dealer in this deck, pushing 120 damage to the opponent’s Active Pokémon with Big Beat. However, if you’ve used Big Beat on the previous turn, you can’t reactivate it, forcing you to retreat your Pokémon and have another attacker take its place.
The new Beastite tool synergizes with your Ultra Beast Pokémon, giving Buzzwole ex a +10 damage boost for each point you have gotten, so you can potentially push an additional 20 damage with Buzzwole ex’s attack.
Bastiodon Alolan Dugtrio ex
The Bastiodon Alolan Dugtrio ex deck is heavily reliant on Coin toss to win games. Bastiodon is a Stage 2 Pokémon, so we’re using Rare Candy to speed things up and have it in play as early as possible. Its Headbang attack deals 80 damage, so in most cases, you’ll need two attacks to KO an opponent’s Pokémon. Luckily, Bastiodon can be tough to remove thanks to its Guarded Grill. Whenever your opponent attacks your Bastiodon, it triggers Guarded Grill, letting you flip a Coin. If it’s heads, Bastiodon takes 100 less damage from the opponent’s attack, ensuring it stays in play for longer.
Alolan Diglet can be an early aggressor, tossing a Coin and dealing 40 damage if it’s heads. However, when we evolve it into Alolan Dugtrio ex, the real Coin toss value starts there. You get to flip 3 Coins, and for each heads, Alolan Dugtrio ex deals 60 damage, potentially going for a 180 damage.
Nihilego Celesteela Guzzlord ex
Nihilego plays around the Poison effect, dealing 30 damage with its New Wave attack and poisoning the opponent’s Pokémon. Then its More Poison ability gets to work, dealing an additional 10 damage from being Poisoned, knocking out higher HP Pokémon faster.
Celesteel is in the list for the Ultra Thruster ability, letting you switch your Active Ultra Beast with a Benched One, removing the need to discard Energy and making it harder for the opposing player to get knockouts.
Guzzlord Ex’s Grindcore can slow down the opponent’s pace by discarding an Energy from their Active Pokémon, potentially preventing them from attacking on the upcoming turn and buying yourself more turns. Tyrannical Hole is an expensive attack, 4 Energy to deal 120 damage doesn’t feel worth it in most cases, however, with the help of Lusamine, we can attach 2 random Energy from our discard Pile to your Ultra Beast Pokemon, allowing you to attack with it without waiting the 4 turns to attach Energy.
Tapu Koko ex Luxray
The Tapu Koko ex has a built-in ramp attack, using Plasma Hurricane to deal 20 damage to the opponent’s Active Pokémon, then attack a Lightning Energy to itself. This gets you closer to using Mach Bolt and start going for 90 damage attacks.
We want to attach an Electrical Cord to Tapu Koko, making sure the Energy attached to it aren’t going to waste when it’s knocked out. We can move two Lightning Energy and attach 1 Energy each to two of our Benched Pokémon. This can also be used on Zeroara since it has its own Ramp ability, gaining Lightning Energy passively for us to make use of later in the game.
The new Luxray is a bit more tanky, reducing the damage of the opponent’s attack by 20, keeping it in play for longer as it goes for the 90 damage attacks.
Lycanroc ex Rampardos
The Fighting-type deck Lycanroc ex Rampardos has multiple damage dealers to keep a win condition in play at all times. The Lycanroc deals 50 damage to the opponent’s Active Pokémon, but can go for 100 damage if your opponent’s Pokémon has more HP than yours. As for the Lycanroc ex, it requires more Energy than the rest of your Pokémon to attack, but we’ll mainly be holding it off until the late-game as a potential finisher. Lycanfang requires 3 Energy and will discard a Fighting Energy when activated, dealing 130 damage to the opponent’s Active Pokémon.
Rampardos is a Stage 2 Pokémon, so we’ll rely on Rare Candy to get him in play as early as possible and then go for the Head Smash attack, dealing 130 damage to the opponent’s Active Pokémon. However, if we do get a knock-out with Rampardos, it will deal 50 damage to itself, putting it in a vulnerable spot on the upcoming turn.
Closing Words
Alright, these are early deck ideas for ex Pokémon. They’re bound to evolve as players find the best pairings and builds, and as the meta starts to take shape. We’ll see how these decks stack up against the popular choices like Darkrai ex, Giratina ex, and the Greninja variants.
