The Water Articuno ex is making a comeback in Pokemon Pocket’s A2a Triumphant Light. Unlike most decks, Articuno ex relies on itself as the sole carry, not having any other Pokemon paired with it. This means we’re always playing Articuno ex in the Active spot at the start of the game, and the list is built around that one Pokemon, trying to get the most out of its attacks.
Articuno ex Decklist
How to Play
Articuno ex
Articuno ex is a 140 HP Water type Pokemon, so we usually thrive against Fire-type decks but struggle against the Lightning-type decks. Articuno ex has two attacks, Ice Wing and Blizzard.
Ice Wing activates for 2 Energy, dealing 40 damage to the opponent’s Active Pokemon. It’s not a lot of damage, but it’s good for the early game to put a Pokemon low enough for your upcoming Blizzard attack.
Blizzard requires 3 Energy to activate, dealing 80 damage to the opponent’s Active Pokemon and 10 damage to each of their Benched Pokemon. So if they have a low HP Pokemon on their Bench, you could knock it out. The 10 damage synergizes with Cyrus, allowing you to pull the damaged Pokemon to the Active spot and deal the direct 80 damage to it.
Ramp Misty
Misty is how we speed up our attacks, flipping a Coin until we get tails. For each heads we get, we’ll attach a Water Energy to Articuno ex. So we have a 50% change of getting 1 Water Energy, and 25% of getting 2 Water Energy.
We’re almost always happy with at least 1 Water Energy, but hitting 2 Water Energy will likely win us the game on the spot, going for immediate Blizzard attack to start winning the game.
Draw Cards
Poke Ball can draw a second Articuno ex, making sure we have our second Pokemon on the Bench in case the first Articuno ex is knocked out.
Professor’s Research is a Supporter card to draw 2 cards. Since it’s a Supporter card, you want to play it early into the game since you’ll want to play your other Supporters in the late game.
Tools
Giant Cape gives +20 HP to your Pokemon, which turns Articuno ex into a 160 HP, making it harder for the opponent to knock it out.
Rocky Helmet isn’t half bad if attached on Articuno ex, dealing 20 damage to the opponent’s attacker. If they have a high HP Pokemon, you can drop them low enough for Blizzard to finish the job.
Battle Cards
Potion heals one of your Pokemon for 20 damage, helping you keep it out of range from the opponent’s upcoming attack.
Irida heals a Pokemon for 40 damage only if that Pokemon has a Water type Energy to it. So we’ll obviously have Water Energy on Articuno ex, making use of the 40 damage healing to keep our Pokemon from getting knocked out.
Sabrina forces opponents to switch out their Active Pokemon with one of their Benched Pokemon. This can allow you to knock out a more valuable Pokemon or slow opponent’s strategy and force them to retreat and discard Energy to get their plan back on track.
Since we’re dealing 10 damage to the opponent’s Benched Pokemon, Cyrus is great in this list, giving us the ability to pull a damaged Pokemon on the Bench to the Active spot and attack it directly.
Giovanni increases our attack by 10 damage, so with Articuno ex, you can deal 90 damage. This can help one-shot a Pokemon, ensuring your opponent doesn’t get another turn to attack with it.
Pros & Cons
- A consistent game plan, using Articuno ex + Misty to go for the Blizzard attacks.
- Thanks to Blizzard, you’ll almost always find use for Cyrus, moving a key Pokemon to the Active spot and knocking it out.
- Relying on Misty means you might have turns where you don’t get any Water Energy, which will slow down your attack turn.
