Pokémon TCG Pocket: Blastoise EX Deck Guide

To no one’s surprise the original Starting Pokémon trio all come together to make some powerful decks in Pokémon Trading Card Game Pocket in their EX forms. So, where does everybody’s favorite blue turtle Blastoise stand?

While Charizard EX is the best of them, Blastoise EX has improved dramatically since TCG Pocket's launch and has overtaken Venusaur EX in the meta. So, if you pulled Blastoise EX or you’re a big fan of Squirtle, we’ve put together a competitive deck that, with a little bit of luck, can stand up against the best decks in the meta.

Below, we've covered the best cards for the deck, some budget options, and the deck's strengths and weaknesses so you can plan ahead as best as possible.

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

Pokémon Trading Card Game Pocket - Best Blastoise EX Deck (Mythical Island)

With the Mythical Island set's release, Blastoise EX has gone from a C Tier deck to one at the top of the meta and one of the very best B Tier decks. This is because Vaporeon makes it a much more flexible deck to maneuver the meta alongside Leaf, a Supporter card that can help you retreat from sticky situations.

If you want to build the best deck possible for Blastoise EX, then these are the best 20 cards to grab. This deck relies heavily on Misty, with a little help from Articuno EX, and uses Water energy. Pikachu booster packs will get you most of the way but you'll want Mewtwo boosters for the Articuno and Vaporeon from Mythical Island packs.

• 2x Squirtle
• 2x Wartortle
• 2x Blastoise EX
• 2x Eevee (Mythical Island)
• 2x Vaporeon (Mythical Island)
• 1x Articuno EX
• 2x Poké Ball
• 2x Professor’s Research
• 2x Misty
• 2x Leaf
• 1x Sabrina

The aim is to build up either Blastoise EX with the help of Misty, which requires you to flip heads to place Water energy onto either card. If that fails, you can spread your Water energy out onto Vaporeon and Articuno EX before retreating out when you have a Blastoise EX ready, using Vaporeon’s Wash Out ability to transfer the Water Energy from your Benched Pokémon to Blastoise. If you don’t have Blastoise ready, Articuno EX isn’t a bad target, either.

If Blastoise EX has 5 Water energy on him, Hydro Bazooka will do a total of 160 damage. This will one shot pretty much every Pokémon you’ll go up against, including Charizard EX due to its Water weakness.

Articuno EX can win on its own if you hit one or two extra Water energy with Misty. Furthermore, it can give you time to power-up your Blastoise while whittling down your opponent’s bench with Blizzard, which does 10 damage to your opponent’s benched Pokémon on top of 80 damage to their active Pokémon.

Vapoeron also has 120 HP so don’t be afraid to use the Eeveelution as a shield while you bring Blastoise EX online. If you manage to use Leaf to switch Vaporeon out and keep its Wash Out ability active, few decks can stand up against this.

Blastoise EX Best And Worst Matchups

Obviously, Blastoise EX has one of the best matchups against Charizard EX. Both have similar game plans by cheating out energy early for high-powered attacks; however, Articuno EX puts far more pressure on them than Moltres EX.

Mewtwo EX can sometimes struggle against Blastoise EX too, as it needs time to set up for the win. Blastoise can act quickly with the help of Misty, however.

On the other hand, Pikachu EX absolutely wrecks Blastoise EX even with the Mythical Island inclusions. If you don't get that extra energy from Misty or can’t find your Wartortle, Pikachu EX & Zapdos EX will tear through this deck before you can even sniff at 5 energy for Blastoise.

Blastoise EX Budget Options

Fortunately, there’s quite a lot of budget options for this list if you don't have two Articuno EX or lack a second Blastoise EX.

First and foremost, Lapras EX from the Lapras EX Drop Event (if you got one) is a great choice to stall for time as its Bubble Drain attack heals itself. In fact, many players might choose Lapras EX over Articuno EX for this fact alone.

You can also slot in Staryu and Starmie EX as a more aggressive and alternate win condition.

Regular Blastoise isn’t so strong but in a pinch, it can replace a missing Blastoise EX as you already have the Squirtle line in the deck. Otherwise, look at other options like Snom and Frostmoth that can put your opponent’s active Pokémon to sleep.

With that, you should be able to hose down your opponents and pick up some much-needed experience to open more Pokémon TCG Pocket packs.

Good luck with your Blastoise EX deck in Pokémon TCG! Have a look at our Tier List if you're struggling, and let us know if you think Blastoise is better than we do!