Pokémon TCG Pocket: Dragonite Deck Guide

Dragon types were widely regarded as one of the best types at least until Fairy type came along. Without a Fairy type in Pokémon Trading Card Game Pocket and no weaknesses to speak of, Dragon types should be back on top, right? Well, not really, but that doesn’t mean Dragon types are slouches, either.

There’s currently only one Dragon type line in Pokémon TCG Pocket and that’s the Dragonite line. They don’t even have a specific energy type. There’s no specific EX card for Dragonite, either, meaning this deck is a bit easier to build than most.

In this guide we’ll go over the cards you’ll need to stall long enough to set Dragonite off, as well as that types of decks you’ll struggle going up against.

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

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

Despite not being an EX card, Dragonite is a powerful card – if you can set it off. This deck currently sits at C Tier in our rankings, slipping down a tier from its previous position.

It features Weezing and the Koga Trainer card to stall out the game ready for the big hit. Mewtwo booster packs are your go-to for many of these cards, though you’ll want to pull a Mew EX from Mythical Island to have a backup plan against Charizard EX and Mewtwo EX.

Alongside those cards, you'll need these to flesh out your 20 piece non-EX deck and make the most out of Dragonite. The deck also uses two energy types — Water and Electric.

• 2x Dratini
• 2x Dragonair
• 2x Dragonite
• 2x Koffing
• 2x Weezing
• 1x Mew EX
• 2x Koga
• 1x Leaf
• 2x Poké Ball
• 2x Professor’s Research
• 2x Koga

With this deck, you want to be building up to your Dragonite and setting off a Draco Meteor, which does 50 damage spread randomly across your opponent’s board. If they only have one Pokémon in play, it will deal 200 direct damage. As you can probably tell, it's very good at sniping weaker Pokémon sitting on your opponent’s bench.

As you can imagine, being a Stage 2 Pokémon (meaning it needs to evolve twice) that requires 4 energy to set off an attack – 1 Water, 1 Lightning, and 2 colourless – you need to buy yourself some time. This is where Koffing, Weezing, and Koga come in, as Weezing can set off its Gas Leak ability which will poison your opponent’s active Pokémon for no cost. That’s right – you don’t need any Darkness energy here as you won’t be giving Weezing any.

Koga is great here because he will pull a Muk or Weezing line back into your hand, fully healing it and allowing you to replay them. If you have a Koffing already on your bench, you can pull your Weezing back, put the Koffing into play, evolve it, and have another defensive wall to protect your Dragonite.

As for Mythical Island cards, Mew EX’s Genome Hacking gives you a backup win condition if you can’t piece together the Dragonite line in time. This is especially great against Charizard EX and Mewtwo EX.

Dragonite Best And Worst Matchups

Dragonite is capable of taking down any deck in the meta but does better against slower decks like Venusaur EX and Charizard EX. They require just as much setup to get there and often cannot get past the wall of Weezings even when they do reach their win condition.

While Dragon types themselves don’t have a weakness, Dragonite does in the form of Pikachu EX which is a top meta deck. Furthermore, Weezing is weak to Marowak EX decks, so the wall is less effective there. These two bad matchups keep Dragonite from being a show-stealer.

Dragonite Budget Options

Dragonite itself is a 3 diamond rarity card, so it’s not too hard to obtain, and as a result there aren't a lot of budget replacements. Weezing is the same rarity; however, you may find yourself struggling to find a second of either of these cards or even the Trainer Koga card.

If that’s the case, consider slotting in something like Meowth which can draw extra cards, making it more likely you’ll find your Dragonite pieces quicker, or regular Articuno alongside Misty, which can also stall out the game.

That’s all you need to know to make the most out of Dragonite’s powerful Draco Meteor attack; if you’re lucky, this deck will carry you to plenty of wins. For more high tier decks, have a look at our Tier List for more suggestions, and tell us how successful you are with Dragonite!