Hi there. In this Pokemon TCG post I cover the Zapdos ex Battle deck to be released in March 2024. I write this on January 2024 in the Paradox Rift era. I plan to make a post about the upcoming Ninetales deck soon. Expect quite of bit of Pokemon TCG posts from me. I have been very motivated as of late and there has been a lot of recent news.
News Source from Pokebeach with Screenshot and pictures (from Bulbapedia) below.
Decklist
This 60 card deck includes 15 Pokemon (10 Basics), 13 Basic Lightning Energy and 32 Trainer cards. I provide clickable links.
Pokemon (15)
Trainers (32)
- x3 Professor's Research (Professor Sada)
- x3 Ryme
- x3 Youngster
- x2 Jacq
- x2 Rika
- x1 Boss's Orders (Ghetsis)
- x4 Nest Ball
- x3 Electric Generator
- x3 Ultra Ball
- x2 Earthen Vessel
- x1 Super Rod
- x1 Switch
- x4 Bravery Charm
Energy (13)
Goal Of Deck
Given that the deck gives 3 copies of Hawlucha and 2 copies of Zapdos Ex you would mainly attack with Zapdos Ex and bench Hawlucha from the hand to the bench to set up damage counters on the opponent's benched Pokemon. Once there are damage counters on the opponent's benched Pokemon Zapdos Ex can attack both the opponent's active Pokemon and do damage to 1 of the opponent's damaged benched Pokemon.
Miraidon ex is there as an additional attacker. It's ability helps with searching the deck for up to 2 Basic Lightning/Electric Pokemon and putting them to your Bench.
Pawmi, Pawmo and Pawmot are there as extra attackers. Pawmot with its Electrogenesis ability acclerates energy into it and its attack is big at 230 damage.
Pros & Cons Of Deck
The Pokemon in the deck are okay attackers. You do need a bit of energy to use the attacks from Zapdos Ex, Miraidon ex and Pawmot. There is no Flaaffy to help with energy acceleration which is a major drawback for this deck.
The trainer cards are either hit or miss here. There are some I like a lot, some that are okay and some that are not good.
Good Cards
Miraidon ex is a very good card that is pretty much a staple of any Electric deck right now. It can be hard to find of these at a local card store.
Professor's Research (Professor Sada) is always nice to have as drawing 7 cards is very good.
Boss's Orders (Ghetsis) is a staple card in any deck. A second one would be nice though.
Four copies of Nest Ball and three copies of Ultra Ball are really nice. These two ball cards are staple cards. Nest Ball can be hard to find and can be pricey. In the Toronto area, Nest Ball go for at least for 1 dollar CAD or maybe more.
I like Bravery Charm as a tool card. Four is a bit too much here as there are not many basics. Two would have been okay here.
One Switch and one Super Rod are good. A second Switch would have been better.
Earthen Vessel from the recent Paradox Rift expansion is a very good card. It is a new staple card pretty much. This card is better than Energy Search as Earthen Vessel can search for two basic Energy Cards. This card can be hard to find and is priced at a least 1 CAD in my area at least.
Not So Good Cards
Other than the Miraidon ex I do not like the Pokemon attackers in this deck. The main attacker Zapdos Ex does not do that much damage and you need Hawlucha to set it up.
Pawmi, Pawmo and Pawmot are okay but using Raikou V, Raichu V and Iron Hands ex is much better. Plus it takes less deck space.
The Supporters of Ryme, Youngster, Jacq and Rika are not great. Jacq is not needed as there is Ultra Ball. Replace one Jacq and add one Ultra Ball. Youngster, Ryme and Rika are not great as you have [Professor's Research (Professor Sada)] and the ever popular Iono.
Buy It?
In general I would say this is not a good buy at 20 USD or 24 CAD. If this is on sale for like 15 CAD it could be of consideration. Zapdos Ex is featured but is not a great attacker and Miraidon ex is more useful.
The good trainer cards mentioned in the previous section are good. Two copies of Earthen Vessel is a nice surprise.
If there was at least 1 copy of Iono then this would be might be of consideration. One copy of Iono costs at least 4 CAD and is somewhat to find as it is highly popular and playable.
Instead of this deck consider the Miraidon ex Battle Deck instead. It is one level higher at Level 3 and $10 more expensive. There are more playable and competitive cards in there so you can better value. The main selling cards there are Miraidon ex, Boss's Orders (Ghetsis), Bibarel and the expensive Forest Seal Stone (15 to 20 CAD).
