Pokémon TCG Pocket: Articuno EX Deck Guide

Articuno EX is arguably the most potent of the Legendary birds in Pokémon Trading Card Game Pocket, which is a departure from the mainline games as the Ice type is generally worse than the Electric and Fire types of the other birds.

While Articuno EX does feature prominently in other decks, it’s also part of a deck entirely on its own with the 18 other cards being Trainers and Items.

If you're looking to try out this unique deck, we've put together this guide to help you build the Best Articuno EX deck. You can also check out tips on how to build a budget version, as well as any potential bad match-ups you might face.

Note: This guide has been updated to reflect the new cards introduced with the Mythical Island mini-expansion.

Pokémon Trading Card Game Pocket - Best Articuno EX Deck

Articuno EX is one of the cheesiest decks in the game that fell from A Tier status to C Tier as Pikachu EX gained even more popularity; however, it has received some help with the Mythical Island expansion. Two EX cards alongside a suite of items and trainers — specifically Misty — make up this cheap, if risky, deck.

As Articuno is your only real attacker, this deck only uses Water energy. You'll need to open the Mewtwo Booster packs to get two Articuno and 2 Giovanni, while Sabrina can be found in Charizard packs, and Misty in Pikachu.

• 2x Articuno EX
• 2x Potion
• 2x Poké Ball
• 2x Pokémon Flute
• 2x Professor’s Research
• 2x Misty
• 2x Giovanni
• 2x Sabrina
• 2x Blue
• 2x Leaf

To win with this unusual Articuno EX list you’ll want to have Misty in your opening hand. Misty allows you to flip a coin and add Water energy to Articuno EX until you land on tails. If you get a tails right away, you get no bonus energy. However, this can have you win the game on the first turn if you hit heads three times and can set off a Blizzard, an attack that does 80 damage and 10 damage to all your opponent’s benched Pokémon.

Getting that lucky is rare but even getting 1 Water energy off Misty will enable you to Blizzard sooner rather than later, overwhelming opponents as you’ll likely soften up their benched Pokémon to die in one hit to Articuno EX as well.

Because you only have Articuno EX in your deck, you will always draw one on the first turn, and can use Poké Balls to draw the other and the Leaf Trainer to swap between them to keep both alive for longer if need be. Furthermore, this deck dodges the drawback of playing EX cards as they award two points on defeat, but as you don’t have any non-EX cards, your opponent will have to take out both Articuno EX.

This deck also includes the Pokémon Flute card from the Mythical Island set. Using it will allow you to bring some of your opponent’s knocked out Basic Pokémon back on to their bench, allowing you to whittle them down once again with Blizzard.

If you don't get Misty, you’re likely going to lose and it’s probably right to concede if your opponent has built up a Pikachu EX or similar. In this way, this deck is a lot like a Marowak EX deck – powerful with the potential to win in all matchups but inconsistent.

Articuno EX Best and Worst Matchups

The best matchups for this deck are slow decks that take a while to wind up, like Charizard EX and Venusaur EX, as you can almost always guarantee getting a few Blizzard attacks off.

Fortunately, Articuno EX doesn't have any terrible matchups; even against Pikachu EX which it has a weakness to, because you can get lucky with Misty and manage to flip heads once or twice, so Pikachu EX cannot one-hit Articuno EX.

Budget Articuno EX Options

Unfortunately, if you don't have two Articuno EX or two Misty we cannot recommend budget options for this list. One Articuno EX just doesn’t cut it against decks that use Mewtwo EX and Pikachu EX as you want that extra firepower if one Articuno EX is knocked out.

That said, regular Articuno may work as a replacement as its Ice Beam can paralyze opposing Pokémon as you search for your single Articuno EX and Misty Trainer cards.

That’s all you need to know to freeze your opponents out in Pokémon TCG Pocket – if you manage to flip heads with Misty, that is. For more of the best Pokémon TCG decks, head to our Tier List.