Pokemon TCG Pocket best Celebi ex deck - card list and guide
Here’s how to make the most of the time-travel Pokemon, Celebi ex, in your Pokemon TCG Pocket decks.
The Mythical Island mini-set in Pokemon TCG Pocket looks to be slightly shaking up the meta with some of its unsuspectingly powerful cards. The highlight of the set, Celebi ex, doesn’t look like much at first. Their attack, Powerful Bloom, is similar to that of Zapdos ex’s Thundering Hurricane, and requires a lot of Energy to be reliable.
Fortunately, however, Mythical Island also introduces Serperior. This Pokemon can make a single Grass-type Energy count as two, which is certainly one way of piling Energy onto Celebi ex and making them a reliable attacker! Here’s the best Celebi ex deck in Pokemon TCG Pocket.
Pokemon TCG Pocket best Celebi ex deck - card list and guide
The best Celebi ex deck in Pokemon TCG Pocket massively relies on Serperior to be super effective. Otherwise, setting up Celebi ex — and our other accompanying Grass-type, Dhelmise — can take a while, and your opponent may already be quite ahead of you by that point.
That said, if you’re familiar with the Lilligant and Venusaur ex deck and happen to have plenty of fun with it, you will no doubt have plenty of fun using Celebi ex, even if things don’t go to plan.
- 2x Celebi ex
- 2x Serperior
- 2x Servine
- 2x Snivy
- 2x Dhelmise
- 2x Professor’s Research
- 2x Erika
- 2x Poke Ball
- 2x Sabrina
- 2x X Speed
Our core Pokemon for this deck is Celebi ex, who’s Powerful Bloom attack will flip a coin for each Energy attached to it, doing 50 damage for each head. They only require two Energy for the attack, but you’ll want to stack more Energy than that on them to really make the most of the attack, and this is where Serperior comes in clutch.
Serperior’s Ability, Jungle Totem, allows for every Grass-type Energy attached to your Pokemon to count as two Grass-type Energy. This means that if you have Serperior on your bench, and then attach two Grass-type Energy to Celebi ex, they will technically then have for Grass-type Energy. Suddenly, Celebi ex is capable of dishing out 200 damage (with some coin-flip luck) using only two attached Energy rather than four. Neat.
You can swap the Serperior evolution chain for the Petilil and Lilligant evolution chain in the meantime, if you are still in the process of collecting the cards you need. While Lilligant doesn’t have Serperior’s exceptional Jungle Totem ability, they do allow us to attach additional Energy to Celebi ex using Leaf Supply, which simultaneously damages the opponent for 50HP. This does mean they have to be in the Active Spot, however, unlike Serperior.
The final Pokemon for this deck is Dhelmise. The sea creeper’s attack, Energy Whip, does a measly 20 damage, but if you’re able to attach four Energy to it, it will do 90 damage instead. This, at first glance, doesn’t seem worth it, but if you have Serperior to hand, Dhelmise only needs two Grass-type Energy to dish out 90 damage. At that point, they’re basically Starmie ex with slightly less HP, and great to have in the Active Spot while you continue to set up Celebi ex.
If you aren’t running Serperior, however, and have opted for Lilligant in the meantime, I recommend not bringing Dhelmise along as it’s unlikely you’ll be able to reasonably build both them and Celebi ex. Instead, you could try Pinsir as filler, who requires two Energy for their Double Horn attack. This attack flips two coins and deals 50 damage for each head.
There is also Normal-type, Kangaskhan, who’s attack — Dizzy Punch — performs similarly. The attack has you toss two coins and deal 30 damage for each head, but he fortunately does require just one Energy. He has a three Energy Retreat Cost to bear in mind though.
If you find yourself unable to consistently get all the cards needed to evolve Serperior early on in your game, it might also be worth considering Chatot. Their attack, Mimic, unfortunately doesn’t dish out any damage, but it does allow you to shuffle your hand into your deck and draw a card for each card in your opponent’s hand. You can rinse and repeat this for a couple turns to get the cards you need before eventually retreating the ‘mon or letting them get knocked out.
If you don’t yet have Chatot, Meowth’s Payday move allows you to draw one additional card per turn. It’s not quite as effective as Chatot, and that’s plain to see, but they can be worth experimenting with while you wait for more Pack Hourglasses!
You could also forgo a third Pokemon altogether, bringing along just Serperior (or Lilligant) and Celebi ex, padding the rest of your deck out with useful Trainer cards. You do, ideally, want a third Pokemon however so you aren’t putting Celebi or Serperior at risk from damage at the very beginning of the game. You could consider Fossil Cards as placeholders, if worst comes to worst.
As for our Trainer Cards, we’re going for the usual cards you’d use with any Grass-type deck. We’re bringing along Erika, who heals Grass-type Pokemon for 50 HP, as well as Sabrina, to swap out the opponent’s Active Pokemon.
On top of that, Professor’s Research and Poke Balls are always a given in most decks, allowing you to draw more cards and basic Pokemon. We’ll need this if we’re hoping to retrieve the Serperior evolution chain as soon as possible.
Last, but not least, we’re bringing along some X Speeds in case we need our Active Pokemon to quickly retreat to safety. That said, you can consider swapping your X Speed’s for Mythical Island Supporter Card, Leaf, which reduces the Retreat Cost of your Active Pokemon by two for that turn. The only downfall of this is that if you use Leaf, you won’t be able to use Sabrina, Erika, or any other Supporter Cards that turn.
For more on Pokemon TCG Pocket, take a look at our list of the best decks to play with right now. On top of that, take a look at how to craft cards if you’re in need of some duplicates for your next deck.