How to beat the ◊◊◊ low rarity Solo challenges?

The Solo Battles come with multiple levels of difficulty. Besides the rewards for winning against the CPU decks for the first time, there are additional challenges to complete to earn extra rewards (Shop Tickets), called Battle Tasks. One of this battle task is to win a battle using a deck where all the Pokémon cards are of ◊, ◊◊ and/or ◊◊◊ rarity in Expert mode. This effectively means that you cannot play any Pokémon ex nor any Pokémon with a fancy artwork: only regular Pokémon and regular Trainers with a regular artwork!

In this guide, we'll suggest decks you can build to beat this challenge, we'll suggest decks and strategies to help you overcome these challenges, along with alternatives if you're missing some cards, even on a budget.

Reminder: you only need to win once to complete the challenge, and you don't need to complete multiple challenges in a single battle. Do not handicap yourself by trying to complete the weakness challenge alongside the rarity challenge. Instead, use different decks better suited for each mission. Some luck in the cards you draw is also necessary for certain challenges, so don’t get discouraged and keep trying!

Use Rental Decks

Before we suggest some decks for you to face the challenge, first consider using Rental Decks. Rental Decks are obtained by collecting specific cards from booster packs. They're limited to 10 use per deck, but you'll only need one successful use to complete this challenge.

Among these Rental decks, some are fit for completing the Battle Task as they don't include any Pokémon ex.

Rental decks without a card above :

• Blaine deck : collect a Blaine card (Charizard pack)
• Lt. Surge deck : collect a Lt. Surge card (Pikachu pack)
• Brock deck : collect a Brock card (Pikachu pack)
• Koga deck : collect a Koga card (Mewtwo pack)
• Nidoqueen & Nidoking : collect 1 Nidoqueen and 1 Nidoking card (Pikachu pack)
• Kanto Fossils : collect one of each Fossil and one of each of their Evolution (all Genetic Apex packs)
• Volkner deck : collect a Volkner card (Dialga pack)
• Cynthia deck : collect a Cynthia card (Palkia pack)
• Team Galactic Grunt deck : collect a Team Galactic Grunt card (Dialga pack).
• Barry deck : collect a Barry card (Arceus pack).
• Acerola deck collect a Acerola card (Lunala pack).
• Sophocles deck collect a Sophocles card (Solgaleo pack).
• Lana deck collect a Lana card (Solgaleo pack).
• Kiawe deck collect a Kiawe card (Lunala pack).
• Mallow pack collect a Mallow card (Solgaleo pack).

Which Trainer to play?

As we go through the decks, you might find that you're missing some of the Trainers listed. Don’t worry! None of the Trainers are critical for the deck's effectiveness, so feel free to substitute with whatever you have in your collection. To make deck building easier, here’s a short tier list of Trainers, focusing on those that can be used in every deck:

S Tier- Professor's Research, Poké Ball

Anything that lets you draw cards is top tier, making your deck smaller and giving you all the tools to your hand. 2 copies of each is mandatory for almost every deck. You can also get them from the shop so no excuse!

A+ Tier- Sabrina, Cyrus

Being able to swap your opponent's Active Pokémon will get you the victory many times as the computer tends to retreat a lot. Sabrina is more flexible as it can also be used defensively, while Cyrus lets you do the finishing blow on damaged Pokémon.

A Tier- X Speed, Potion, Pokémon Tools

Most Pokémon have at least 1 (colorless energy) retreat cost, so X Speed will come handy many times.

Potion improves the Pokémon survivability in battle; so does Giant Cape. Rocky Helmet, another tool, is used to chip damage from the opponent's Pokémon attacks

B+ tier- Pokémon Communication, Leaf

Pokémon Communication comes handy when your whole strategy depends on a single Pokémon, or you decide to bring some Stage 2 Pokémon, speeding up your evolutions.

If you find yourself with many Pokémon in your deck with more than 1 retreat cost, Leaf is very important to retreat to the right Pokémon without sacrificing on Energy.

B tier- Giovanni, Blue, Dawn, Specific type Trainers

These are all serviceable cards, not bad by any means! They are in this tier because they are more situational than the ones in previous tiers and it will depend on what Pokémon we are adding to the deck and what Trainers you have available in the upper tiers.

Which Pokémon to play?

Let's kick in with universally good Pokémon that you can play in pretty much every deck:

Colorless Pokémon

Colorless Pokémon can fit into any deck since they aren’t type-bound. While they won’t have a type advantage, some are quite good regardless. Here are some relevant Pokémon:

• Farfetch’d: Good early-game damage dealer. Cons: 60 HP, falls off as the game progresses.
• Kangaskhan: Good damage-dealing tank. Cons: High retreat cost falls off as turns go by.
• Tauros (Mythical Island): High damage against Pokémon ex. Cons: Requires 3 energies.
• Pidgeot: Low energy cost + useful Ability. Cons: Stage 2.

Other Versatile picks

Here are some other Pokémon that, while not colorless, can still be useful regardless of the deck type:

• Magneton (Genetic Apex) + Magnezone (Space-Time Smackdown): thanks to Magneton's Volt Charge ability to produce its own Energy, Magnezone is self-sufficient and can be played in any deck. If you don't run any other stage 2 evolution line and you don't fight against a deck, we recommend to include these with the appropriate Magnemite!

• Greninja: Its Water Shuriken ability that deals damage to any of your opponent’s Pokémon can be useful, especially when paired with Cyrus. However, being a Stage 2 Pokémon with only 20 damage per turn makes it quite circumstantial and better left for decks.
• Druddigon: Can be used as a wall thanks to its Rough Skin ability. However, since your opponent will likely have stronger Pokémon, stalling isn’t always the best strategy. It also often requires to run it with Leaf for a more manageable retreat. Still, Druddigon can be useful in certain scenarios.
• Shaymin (Land and Sky Form): Both Shaymin provide valuable support to every deck, while one lets you heal 10 damage each turn, the other one reduces the retreat cost of all your Pokémon by

Deck suggestions per type

There are dozens of Expert Solo Battles with this Battle Task. Going through each one would be redundant, so instead, we’ll focus on the most straightforward technique: using a deck with the weak type of the Solo Battle deck to deal significant damage from turn 2. Sometimes, you might even get lucky and only need to defeat the active Pokémon if the AI doesn’t draw any other Basic Pokémon.

While we suggest decklists, we also provide alternative card options so you can replace cards and evolution lines you don’t have with ones you do. Don't go out of your way to craft these cards just to beat this challenge! If you don’t have enough cards for this type, you can bring a different type of deck—just avoid one that’s weak against the deck you’re facing.

We're not covering the type as the current deck weak to Metal is the Glaceon deck with the Battle task "Win with no trainer card in your deck".

Grass type deck

We will be taking advantage of Erika´s healing, 50 HP to a Pokémon. This gives us more time to find the evolution cards we need while not giving any point to the opponent.

Thanks to Serperior, we can also use Pokémon that require many energies more consistently (such as Exeggutor from Mythical Island).

Grass has a lot of cards, so we have a couple of options to build a deck. Let’s list the most relevant cards in this type: Venusaur - Butterfree - Beedrill - Victreebel - Exeggutor (GA and MI) - Serperior - Roserade - Vespiqueen - Shaymin

Check out these archetypes: they're built around Pokémon that fit the constraints:

Fire type deck

If you have the Blaine card, it's very easy to build the budget Blaine deck, which doesn't contain any card over the ◊◊◊ rarity. The deck is very straightforward: attack with Pokémon and power them up with Blaine when it can secure a knockout. Ninetales is the most powerful card in the lineup—the sooner you can use its Flamethrower attack, the quicker the match will end. While coinflip dependent, Rapidash from Mythical Island also dishes out a lot of damage.

Water type deck

If you got any Misty Supporter Card, get it in the deck ASAP: with a lucky coinflip, you win these battles in a blink of an eye thanks to those extra energies.

Irida provides 40 HP healing to all your Pokémon holding a Energy: another supporter that gives a huge boon to decks

Water being one of the most common type in Pokémon, it has a couple of nice Pokémon fit for the task that didn't get enough love in competition: Tentacruel - Dewong - Cloyster - Golduck - Articuno - Dreadnaw - Floatzel - Frost Rotom - Origin Form Palkia...

Check your collection, you must have gotten some of these low rarity cards. They all deal considerable damage for their energy requirements, my favorites being Tentacruel (bulky and it applies poison) and Dewong (90 damage for a no EX-card is amazing). From this, you can easily build an efficient makeshift deck:

I would say a Water deck is one of the easiest as there are too many choices and even if you don’t have the strongest cards, Misty can put you on your way to victory very fast with some extra energies.

Lightning type deck

Lightning or Electric (as in the videogames) is the only type (with Water, thank you a2A) with 2 Supporter Trainers available to use, Lt Surge and Volkner, both of them having seen tournaments representation! Volkner´s rental deck is probably the best rental deck of all so feel confident to use it for these missions.

The tactic with Volkner is simple, start with Electabuzz and fill it with energies, evolve to Electivire and sweep. In the meanwhile, evolve Shinx until Luxray and by retreating Electivire (or if it is knocked out) get energies faster to Luxray to get an easy knockout on the opponent´s active or benched Pokémon.

Aside from the Pokémon that benefit from these 2 Supporters, there are many useful Pokémon: Electrode (from both sets) - Heliolisk - Galvantula - Rotom - Zebstrika... and of course Magnezone (see above). A sample deck without Volkner or Lt Surge (for these, you can use their rental decks or deck lists) could look like this:

Psychic type deck

Mythical Slab is essential for -only decks, as it can provide a free draw to accelerate your setup, a big boost in this kind of decks–especially if they run evolved Pokémon.

Gardevoir can be used offensively or as a support with its “Psy Shadow” ability, giving extra energies to your active Pokémon. Keep in mind that it is a Stage 2 card, so it will take some time until it is ready and is better played as the only evolution line. It pairs very well with energy-hungry Basic Pokémon.

Psychic has many options to build around, with the latest inclusion of Togekiss and the Lake Trio providing more alternatives.

These are some examples of Pokémon you can build a deck around: Alakazam - Mewtwo - Florges - Togekiss - Lake Trio - Giratina: While it won´t be our main damage dealer usually, it is a handy tank/support with its Levitate Ability, coupled with Dawn.

For the sake of old times, let´s make a sample deck focusing on the Gen 1 powerhouse, Alakazam:

Start with Sigilyph or Giratina as your active Pokémon, while you add energies and evolve Abra. Once Alakazam has enough energies, sweep with it. Siglyph gives you drawing power while dealing 30 damage (thanks to weakness), so you will be applying pressure from the early game.

Fighting Type deck

Fighting decks are one of the best to get the job done due to its strong pressure straight from turn 1. We can use cards seen in the competitive Fighting Toolbox deck like Hitmonlee, Hitmonchan and Marshadow. Another great addition to this type is Lucario, giving 20 extra damage to all Pokémon's attacks: if you have a copy or two of it, add it immediately to your deck!

A good example deck to win in the first couple of turns is:

“Punch first. Ask questions while punching” the strategy is simple, start dishing out good damage from turn one and you will easily clear the challenge.

Other honorable mentions among Pokémon are: Golem and Onix in combination with Brock - Primeape (Mythical Island) - Sandslash - Regirock - Rampardos

Check out these archetypes:

Darkness type deck

While STS brought a lot of type Pokémon, the go-to deck here didn´t change, the one that even works in tournaments, without further ado: Weezing Scolipede!

The strategy is simple: tank with Weezing and poison the enemy, retreat or return it to your hand with Koga and deal 120 damage with Scolipede's Venoshock. It also trains you to manage your damage output properly and assess how much damage you can take on Weezing before returning it with Koga.

Other Type Pokémon to build around are Arbok - Muk - Drapion - Croagunk and Skuntank, with Team Galactic Grunt.