Hey there! MegaMogwai recently shared his new Poliwrath Exeggutor deck, an off-meta Pokémon combination that’s rarely seen in Pokémon Pocket. Since I haven’t covered Poliwrath before, I decided to play several games with the deck to better understand and explain how it works.
This is a dual Energy deck, Water and Grass. Since Poliwrath only needs 1 Water Energy and 2 Colorless Energy, we won’t struggle much with the randomness of the Energy we get. This list runs multiple Pokemon that pose an attacking threat, however, it doesn’t have any Ex Pokemon. This means opponents will have to knock out 3 of your Pokemon to win the game.
This deck uses a dual Energy strategy, combining Water and Grass types. Poliwrath’s needs just 1 Water Energy and 2 Colorless—so we won’t have much trouble with the randomness of the Energy zone. The deck includes multiple Pokémon that can serve as offensive threats, but notably, it doesn’t feature any Ex Pokémon. This forces opponents to knock out three of your Pokémon to secure a win, giving you an edge in durability.
Poliwrath Decklist
Pokémon: 11
2 Exeggcute A1 21
2 Exeggutor A1 22
2 Poliwag A1 59
2 Poliwhirl A1 60
2 Poliwrath A1 61
1 Farfetch'd A1 198
Trainer: 9
2 Professor's Research P-A 7
2 Giovanni A1 223
1 Sabrina A1 225
2 Poké Ball P-A 5
2 X Speed P-A 2How to Play Poliwrath
Early Turns
The Poliwrath deck needs a tank early into the game to take a couple of hits as we evolve our Pokemon and work on getting Poliwrath in play. Exeggutor is a Stage 1 Pokemon, so we have to evolve it from Exeggucte. Once in play, Exeggutor goes for the Stomp attacks, dealing 30 damage and flipping a coin. If the coin you flipped is heads, Exeggutor deals an extra 30 damage. The 130 HP on Exeggutor makes him tough to knock out in the early game and will buy us enough time for the Poliwrath win condition.
Since we’re playing a dual Energy get, there are situations where you won’t get a Grass-type Energy in the early game and will have to rely on Exeggutor on just tanking hits.
You likely won’t retreat Exeggutor in most of your games since 3 Energy to retreat can be costly. However, since it’s not an Ex-type Pokemon, it’ll only give 1 Match Point to the opponent.
The list has 1 copy of Farfetch’d, another early attacker who can push 40 damage. Leak Slap needs one Colorless Energy to activate, so it won’t matter if you give it Grass or Water type Energy. Farfetch’d is also easy to retreat, preventing opponents from knocking it out easily.
Poliwrath Win Condition
Since Poliwrath is a Stage 2 Pokemon, we need to have Poliwag on the bench as early as possible. If it ends up the first Pokemon we play, we can retreat it to safety with X-Speed and work on evolving it.
However, having Poliwhirl in the Active spot isn’t the worst outcome. It’s a 90 HP Pokemon that deals 40 damage with Knuckle Punch. Needing two Colorless Energy to activate, the type of Energy we attach won’t matter here. Still, it’s important for us not to sacrifice Poliwhirl since having Poliwrath join the battle is a must to win games.
Poliwrath is a 150 HP Pokemon with a Counterattack ability allowing you to damage the opponent’s Active Pokemon whenever Poliwrath takes damage. For the Counterattack ability to activate, Poliwrath has to be in the Active spot when it’s damaged. The 20 damage from Counterattack will make it easier to knock out Pokemon with your attacks.
Poliwrath‘s Mega Punch needs 2 colorless Energy and 1 Water Energy, so technically, you’ll need only 1 Water-type Energy and the other two can be either Grass or Water. Mega Punch deals 80 damage, and combined with Counterattack, you’ll knock out a 100 HP Pokemon. The more attacks Poliwrath can take and stick in play, the more value you’ll gain from Counterattack.
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.
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, helping you find Poliwag or Exeggute to start evolving.