Pikachu is Everywhere!

What’s poppin’ Po Town readers? It’s ya boy Zach Lesage (@ZachLesagePTCG) and I’m here to celebrate an iconic character, Pikachu! Pikachu has been there from the very beginning - cartoons, video games, lunch boxes, and it’s here 25 years later with many versions to play with! If you’ve recently jumped into the game with the nostalgia-fueled release of Celebrationsor you’re a huge fan of this red-cheeked mascot, this article will bring the thunder! I’ve been inspired by the classic remakes of Flying Pikachu, Surfing Pikachu, and the fan-favorite Pikachu V-Union (Sword and Shield Promo). This article will share my lists for each of these decks, share their strategy, and have some fun with these decks! These decks might not be as impactful as Dragapult VMAX (Rebel Clash) or Single Strike Urshifu VMAX (Battle Styles), but they each seem decently viable! If you’re missing any of the cards to build these pokemon decks online, you should totally pick up some PTCGL codes to try them out! Po Town has a large selection of PTCGO codes and you can get them emailed to you very quickly! That being said, let’s learn more about Pikachu!

Many players have grabbed a copy of Pikachu V-Union by buying Celebrations products at the store so I hope that many players will have the chance to experiment with this underrated card! Pikachu V-Union is a V-Union which means the goal is going to be getting those pieces in the discard pile! I’ve decided that Professor Burnet (Sword and Shield Promo) is the best way in Standard to fetch these cards out of the deck and it has decent synergy with Flaaffy (Evolving Skies) to grab Lightning Energy! Pikachu V-Union is interesting because Disconnect is a powerful Item-lock attack that has seen success in many decks of the past! On top of that, Electro Ball Together is extremely cost-effective by doing 250 damage for three Energy to clean off most Pokémon after a Disconnect. Considering there is a large opportunity to have a V-Union piece in your Prize Cards, Pikachu VMAX (Vivid Voltage) fits in this deck as an alternative strategy to have an attacker if needed! The basic strategy is to get out up to three Flaaffy, attempt to set up Pikachu V-Union if possible, and use Pikachu as a backup sweeper. Let’s look at this list!

I have to say it, this card brings me back to playing Pokémon as a little kid! Seeing the iconic Flying Pikachu grow into a Flying Pikachu VMAX (Celebrations) soaring above an airplane has me feeling mesmerized! Enough about my childhood, I’m sure y’all wanna read about why this deck is actually good! Well, this deck looks shockingly similar to the above Pikachu V-Union deck because it requires Lightning Energy to attack! With the available support we have in the game for Lightning-type decks, it makes Flaaffy a remarkable choice! You can easily power up Energy with Dynamotor to fuel up Flying Pikachu VMAX. Flying Pikachu V (Celebrations) is great because it does have a free Retreat, but the VMAX is where it’s at. Hitting for 160 damage is great because most VMAX has 320 HP so it can 2HKO most popular Pokémon! It has a side bonus of preventing all of your opponent’s Basic Pokémon from doing damage during their next turn! That can stop a lot of different Pokémon from hitting back and makes this Pokémon totally unique! It also has a spicy tech of Cheryl (Battle Styles) to heal your Flying Pikachu VMAX, heal, Dynamotor to power up another one, Retreat into that one, and proceed! The basic strategy is to set up a few Flaaffy, get Flying Pikachu VMAX set up, and attack over and over again! Let’s check this list out!

Surfs up! Surfing Pikachu VMAX (Celebrations) is here and I arguably think it’s the best Pikachu-themed deck we have here. You can read that as I actually think this deck is competitively viable right now! This is because you don’t need Flaaffy, you can actually play Melony (Chilling Reign) to accelerate Energy! Why’s that? Surfing Pikachu VMAX uses Water Energy of course! This opens up plenty of opportunities to use techs such as Suicune V (Evolving Skies) to diversify your attackers, utilize the popular Inteleon (Sword and Shield) engine to search things out, and become a pseudo-spread deck. Hitting for 160 damage and 30 to each of your opponent's Benched Pokémon is huge, especially when most decks have 60 HP Sobble (Chilling Reign) everywhere! Using Inteleon’sQuick Shooting Ability can certainly add layers of strategy to this deck and Frosslass (Chilling Reign) is a great way to accelerate extra Energy! The goal of this deck is to get Surfing Pikachu VMAX set up and target your Quick Shooting damage counters to score multi Prize Card turns. Let’s see what’s going on with my list:

Well, that’s certainly a lot of Pikachu action for one article! Sometimes I like taking a step back from focusing on the absolute best decks in the format and seeing what each of the relevant cards can do! While I don’t see Pikachu V-Union winning the next Late Night Series event, I can see Surfing Pikachu VMAX being viable! I’ve learned a lot from creating these decks and I hope you have a lot of fun playing them! Remember, you can pick up some PTCGO codes from Po Town to finish off any of these pokemon online decks so feel free to check out the PTCGL codes selection! I wish you the best and hope your testing goes well!

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. As Zach Lesage PTCG, he creates YouTube content, streams on Twitch, and provides hot takes on his Twitter. With multiple prestigious accomplishments in the game, such as the 2020 Players Cup 2 Champion and the 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.