Entering the Unknown


Unown VSTAR

What’s poppin’ Po Town readers? Have you been exploring the new Pokemon TCG decks available in our Scarlet and Violet E-block on format? I’m sure you might’ve seen the updated version of Lugia VSTAR / Archeops deck that runs Single Strike Pokemon or Gardevoir ex [Scarlet and Violet] / Zacian V [Celebrations] decks that are seeing success, but what about the decks that aren’t necessarily talked about enough? Pokemon TCG sets are massive now, and there are so many areas to explore, so I’m gonna help you out by showcasing some awesome decks that you might not have played against before. Some of these are competitive, and some might need a little bit more luck, but they are all fun choices to play on the Pokemon TCG ladder. If you need to pick up any Pokemon TCG codes to build any of the decks in this article, be sure to use code zlesage5 at the PoTown store to save 5%! That being said, let’s jump into the first deck!

Oinkologne ex Deck 


Oinkologne ex

Here we have everyone’s favorite pig Pokemon from Paldea, Oinkologne-ex [Scarlet and Violet], which is a card that definitely escaped me when I first looked over the set for the best cards. Now that I’ve seen a few lists, I’m inclined to believe this combo has a chance in our current metagame. The goal of this deck is to attack with Maddening Scent to soften up your opponent’s Pokemon. It doesn’t do too much damage, but you have some pseudo-healing cards on your side. After taking some damage, you can use either Cheren’s Care [Brilliant Stars] to lift up Oinkologne ex into another one or you can use Cheryl [Battle Styles] to heal all of your Evolved Pokemon. Both Full Face Guard [Evolving Skies] and V Guard Energy [Silver Tempest] can reduce damage from your opponent’s Pokemon and allow Oinkologne ex to tank a few hits. Path to the Peak [Chilling Reign] can be used to slow down your opponent’s setup by stopping their Abilities and potentially slowing down their damage output to! Pair that with Judge [Scarlet and Violet] to disrupt them and Bibarel [Brilliant Stars] so you don’t get disrupted for an annoying deck to deal with! This is a type of deck that can definitely put your opponent in a difficult to deal with position, and that will likely lead to your win rate climbing out of a pure surprise factor! And when in doubt, you can always use Heavy Stomp to KO your opponent’s Active Pokemon after a few Maddening Scent attacks. Let’s check out Proto1551’s winning list from the Hoarder’s Casual online PTCG event here:

Pokémon (16)

Trainers (36)

Energy (8)

4 Lechonk SVI 1564 Colress's Experiment LOR 1554 Double Turbo Energy BRS 151
3 Oinkologne ex SVI 1584 Judge SVI 1764 V Guard Energy SIT 169
2 Bidoof CRZ 1114 Cheren's Care BRS 134
2 Bibarel BRS 1212 Boss's Orders BRS 132
2 Klefki SVI 9611 Cheryl BST 123
1 Skwovet SVI 1514 Pokégear 3.0 SVI 186
1 Dunsparce FST 2074 Ultra Ball SVI 196
1 Drapion V LOR 1184 Level Ball BST 129

2 Switch SVI 194

3 Full Face Guard EVS 148

4 Path to the Peak CRE 148

Oinkologne ex Deck

Origin Forme Dialga VSTAR Deck


Origin Forme Dialga VSTAR

When I first heard of Origin Forme Dialga VSTAR [Astral Radiance] being paired with Magnezone [Astral Radiance], I thought it was a meme, but the deck actually works! Well, kinda! The goal of this deck is to use Miraidon ex [Scarlet and Violet] to get a couple of Magnemite [Scarlet and Violet] on the Bench to eventually Evolve into Magnezone. At the same time, you need to get out an Origin Forme Dialga V so you are ready to attack the following turn. You’ll then use Adaman [Astral Radiance] to discard a few Metal Energy from your hand, grab the missing combo pieces, and have this deck ready to go! After setting everything up, you want to use Magnezone’s Giga Magnet Ability to accelerate Metal Energy to Origin Forme Dialga VSTAR and start swinging. Sometimes it's better to swing for a huge Metal Blast attack, and other times it's better to get an extra turn from Star Chronos attack, but they are both incredibly powerful. Considering the deck is more than 33% Energy, there aren’t too many spaces dedicated to tech cards, and the deck stays relatively simple to play. When this deck sets up, it packs a dangerous punch that is unmatched by most decks in the format, but the keyword is when. With all of the cards needed to pull off the impressive combo, this deck can sometimes fall a little short compared to other decks in the format. If you’re feeling a little lucky, this deck seems like it might be the best choice for you! Let’s check out Shyxa’s runner-up list from the Hoarder’s Casual online PTCG event here:

Pokémon (17)

Trainers (22)

Energy (21)

3 Origin Forme Dialga V ASR 1132 Irida ASR 14721 Metal Energy 8
3 Origin Forme Dialga VSTAR ASR 1142 Adaman ASR 135
3 Magnezone ASR 1072 Boss's Orders BRS 132
3 Magnemite SVI 631 Serena SIT 164
1 Miraidon ex SVI 814 Nest Ball SVI 181
1 Manaphy BRS 413 Rare Candy SVI 191
1 Radiant Greninja ASR 463 Ultra Ball SVI 196
1 Rotom V CRZ 452 Battle VIP Pass FST 225
1 Lumineon V BRS 401 Hisuian Heavy Ball ASR 146

1 Energy Recycler BST 124

1 Beach Court SVI 167

Origin Forme Dialga VSTAR Deck

Darkrai VSTAR Deck


Darkrai VSTAR

Darkrai VSTAR [Astral Radiance] is one of the cards that has always made me wonder why it hasn’t seen the level of success I expected it to see, but that seems to be changing in our current format! You want to hit strong with Dark Pulse by having a bunch of Darkness Energy in play to score some massive OHKOs. It also helps that both Gardevoir ex and Mew VMAX are weak against it, so doing double damage seems like a great way to steal some games! How are you gonna attach all of those Energy? Well, Dark Path [Astral Radiance] allows us to attach Darkness Energy from our Discard Pile to our Benched Darkness Pokemon, and we can easily get cards into our Discard Pile with Professor’s Research [Scarlet and Violet], Trekking Shoes [Crown Zenith], and Ultra Ball [Scarlet and Violet]. We can even reuse Dark Patch with Darkrai VSTAR’s Star Abyss VSTAR Ability and flood our board with even more Energy. Galarian Molres V [Chilling Reign] functions as another way to attach extra Darkness Energy, but it can also hold its own as a backup attacker. Similarly, Galarian Moltres [Evolving Skies] can attach extra Darkness Energy and is a powerful late-game single Prize Card attacker that can deal with powerful opposing Pokemon. The deck might be a bit basic, but it is incredibly fun to get a bunch of Energy on the board and swing for a lot of damage! Let’s check out ONelixx’s winning list from the Hoarder’s Casual online PTCG event here:

Pokémon (13)

Trainers (33)

Energy (14)

4 Darkrai V ASR 984 Professor's Research SVI 18914 Darkness Energy 7
3 Darkrai VSTAR ASR 992 Judge SVI 176
2 Galarian Moltres V CRE 972 Boss's Orders BRS 132
2 Galarian Moltres EVS 932 Boss's Orders BRS 132
1 Lumineon V BRS 401 Serena SIT 164
1 Radiant Greninja ASR 461 Klara CRE 145

4 Trekking Shoes CRZ 145

4 Dark Patch ASR 139

4 Nest Ball SVI 181

4 Ultra Ball SVI 196

3 Escape Rope BST 125

2 Choice Belt BRS 135

2 PokéStop PGO 68

Darkrai VSTAR Deck

Snorlax Control Deck


Snorlax

Upon first glance, you might think that I’m sharing a meme list since this deck has no big attackers and only plays one Energy, but I promise you this deck is cool! The main strategy is to use Snorlax [Pokemon Go] to Block-stall your opponent’s Pokemon that can’t attack. Some popular Pokemon that don’t attack in many decks are Radiant Tsareena [Silver Tempest], Pumkaboo [Evolving Skies], Radiant Greninja [Astral Radiance], and Lumineon V [Brilliant Stars]. Since many decks don’t run Switch [Scarlet and Violet] or any other way out of the Active Spot, Snorlax can eventually deck out your opponent. If Snorlax doesn’t work, you can try to wall off their attacks with either Duraludon VMAX [Crown Zenith] or Miltank [Astral Radiance], depending if they play Special Energy or Pokemon V, respectively. Manaphy can grab some of the aforementioned non-attacking Pokemon from your opponent’s hand and put them into play to get Snorlax locked later on in the game. Miss Fortune Sisters [Astral Radiance] helps expedite the deck out win condition, Cyllene [Astral Radiance] and Team Yell’s Cheer [Brilliant Stars] allow you to avoid decking out, and you have a bunch of other disruptive cards in the deck to really shake the game up! The games might take long, but they certainly can be one-sided, and that might mean you are stealing games from your opponent. I played against a similar deck at the recent European International Championships in London, United Kingdom, and my Lugia VSTAR deck had no way to win! Let’s check out Facufacio’s runner-up list from the Hoarder’s Casual online PTCG event here:

Pokémon (11)

Trainers (48)

Energy (1)

4 Snorlax PGO 554 Miss Fortune Sisters LOR 1641 Water Energy 3
2 Klefki SVI 964 Arven SVI 166
1 Duraludon VMAX CRZ 1043 Boss's Orders BRS 132
1 Miltank ASR 1262 Cyllene ASR 138
1 Radiant Eternatus CRZ 1052 Penny SVI 183
1 Manaphy PR-SW 2751 Irida ASR 147
1 Rotom V CRZ 451 Peonia CRE 149

1 Team Yell's Cheer BRS 149

4 Pokégear 3.0 SVI 186

4 Pokémon Catcher SVI 187

4 Nest Ball SVI 181

3 Cross Switcher FST 230

2 Switch Cart ASR 154

2 Battle VIP Pass FST 225

2 Pal Pad SVI 182

1 Ultra Ball SVI 196

1 Hisuian Heavy Ball ASR 146

1 Echoing Horn CRE 136

1 Energy Search SVI 172

2 Pot Helmet BRS 146

1 Forest Seal Stone SIT 156

2 PokéStop PGO 68

Snorlax Control Deck

Time to Test


With all of these decks being on the “rogue” side of the game, you might be able to catch your opponent off guard, and take some unexpected wins! When was the last time they faced Oinkologne ex? Do they even know Manaphy exists? I’m sure you get my point… While the above decks might be competitive in some scenarios, they also come with flaws too. Perhaps they take a poor matchup versus Mew VMAX [Fusion Strike] or one of the other top decks, but they are super fun to try out something new. As I continue to explore our new E block-on format, I’ll be sure to share my findings with our community! And again, if you need any Pokemon TCG codes, be sure to use code zlesage5 right here at the PoTown store! Now it's time to test!

About the Writer


Zach Lesage is a contributing writer for PoTownStore.com. As a Toronto local, he has been playing the Pokemon Trading Card Game since 2005 and creates Pokemon content as his full time career. With multiple prestigious accomplishments in the game, such as 2020 Players Cup 2 Champion and 2020 Oceania International Championships Finalist, he has proven his success in the game. Outside of the game, he travels the world, enjoys the culture of designer streetwear, and is a professionally trained chef. You can catch him at most Pokemon events and follow him on Twitter @ZachLesagePTCG.