18 trainers deck

Rules are made to be exploited. This idiom describes best 18 Trainers decks. Hear the story: in the TCG, when you don't open with a Basic Pokémon, you reveal your hand, shuffle it back to your deck and draw the same amount of cards. This is called a mulligan. A big downside is that for each mulligan you take, your opponent can draw an extra card.

But what happens in Pokémon TCG Pocket, where you're guaranteed to open with at least one Basic Pokémon? You build a deck with only two copies of that Basic Pokémon and fill the rest with Trainers. By choosing the best standalone Basic Pokémon ex, such as Pachirisu ex or Articuno ex, the 18 Trainers deck ensures a reliable start and quickly begins racking up damage with a consistent game plan. It also comes down to be a budget deck with just a need for 2 ◊◊◊◊ cards.

18 Trainers Articuno

Check out our Articuno ex deck page for more information on this variant!

18 Trainers Pachirisu

Check out our Pachirisu ex deck page for more information on this variant!

18 Trainers Palkia

Check out our Palkia ex deck page for more information on this variant!

18 Trainers Lapras

18 Trainer with Lapras ex essentially is the same as with Articuno ex. It has the advantage to be even more budget for people who collected 2 Lapras ex in the drop event, and the downside to be a worse Pokémon than Articuno ex as it cannot attack for less than 3 Energy

18 Trainers Zapdos

Zapdos ex generally has a better damage output than Articuno ex, averaging around 100 damage with Thundering Hurricane, though it can swing between high peaks and abysmal lows. Peck is a surprisingly serviceable attack in a metagame with many weaknesses, against all legendary birds and Starmie ex. The main downside compared with the previous variant is the absence of Misty, and the other available options aren’t particularly strong… for now.

Tech cards in 18 Trainers deck

Aerodactyl

Aerodactyl evolves from an Item, Old Amber, which doesn't conflict with the main purpose of the deck. Once evolved, Aerodactyl can use Primal Wingbeat, which has a chance to shuffle the Defending Pokémon into their owner's deck. Given how 18 trainers struggle against established board, this is a good proposition. Unfortunately, this attack is coin-flip based, therefore not very reliable.

Weaknesses

• The deck is as straightforward as it gets, making it difficult to adjust strategies mid-game. It also has to play a bunch of filler cards.
• A strong early game is crucial, as the deck can hardly come back from an established board. Articuno ex can't hit for more than 90 damage and Zapdos ex's Thundering Hurricane is unreliable. Both can be easily one-shot by Mewtwo ex’s Psydrive or Charizard ex’s Crimson Storm, while Venusaur ex can efficiently stall them out.
• 18 Trainers can get easily overwhelmed by aggressive decks, especially on the play. An aggressive deck like Pikachu ex just needs 1 and 2 Pokémon on the bench for two turns to knock them out, while none of them can guarantee a one hit on Pikachu ex.