The best things come in simple packages, and Pokémon ex dealing 90 with just two Energies is what seems to make a top tiers deck in the early days of Pokémon TCG Pocket. This is exactly what Starmie ex teaches us, with its straightforward yet powerful Hydro Splash, delivering 90 damage with two WW as early as turn 2. This seemingly basic attack is strong enough to one-shot most Basic Pokémon and two-shot all Stage 2 Pokémon except Venusaur ex.
Not only that but Starmie ex has no retreat cost, a rare feature in Pokémon TCG Pocket, allowing it to safely return to the Bench and deny your opponent from taking a Point. It also sports 130 HP, allowing it to survive Pikachu ex’s Circle Circuit at full health, even when boosted by Giovanni.
Finally, as a W Pokémon, a base Starmie ex deck can include two Misty, which has the potential to fully power up Starmie ex or other W Pokémon with a lucky streak of coin flips.
Starmie ex - Articuno ex variant
Rarity requirements
◊◊◊◊ – Starmie ex, Articuno ex
◊◊ – Charmeleon, Sabrina
Booster pack requirements
Starmie ex
Sabrina
Articuno ex
Giovanni
Misty
This deck leverages the power of two of the best W Pokémon, Starmie ex and Articuno ex, and aim for efficiency. Starmie will shine against the faster decks, Articuno against the slower ones: both are generically good whatsoever. With so much free space for deckbuilding, you can include 2 copies of the better Trainers in the game such as Sabrina, Giovanni and Red Card.
Starmie ex - Greninja variant
Rarity requirements
◊◊◊◊ – Starmie ex, Articuno ex
◊◊ – Charmeleon, Sabrina
Booster pack requirements
Starmie ex
Froakie line
Sabrina
Misty
Greninja covers up one of the main weakness of Starmie ex by setting up an additional, non-battle dependent source of damage. This variant behaves better against Pikachu ex by putting Pikachu ex in the range of Starmie powered up by Giovanni, while Greninja only trades for a point. It pressures the opponent’s Bench once online and secure KOs.
Weaknesses
Starmie ex decks suffer from few weak points, the biggest being that as a Stage 1, you can sometimes be unlucky and wait for a bit until you draw either piece of the evolution line. W Pokémon also tend to have difficulty to go over 100 damage, something that most of the competition can do.
