The new meta that came with Extradimensional Crisis is quite different from anythingPokemon TCG Pockethad seen before, with several decks adopting one or more Ultra Beast cards alongside Lusamine for quick and reliable Energy generation. Not all meta decks inPokemon TCG Pocketare new spins on existing concepts, and while this can be true with Solgaleo Ex adapting thanks to Shiinotic or Darkrai Ex and Giratina Ex now using Nihilego and poisons, there are entirely new decks made mostly of Extradimensional Crisis cards, like Buzzwole Ex. In a race to adapt to the meta and also have decks to beat it, a past card has yet again surfaced as one of the best in the game.
It’s not uncommon for past glories to become meta picks again inPokemon TCG Pocket, such asRampardos becoming one of the best cardsat the start of Extradimensional Crisis, even though its combo with Silvally fell off pretty hard recently. This may have contributed to another Space-Time Smackdown card to rise to the top once again, though, and that is the tried and true Magnezone.
Space-Time Smackdown was released four expansions ago, and since then, Magnezone has been one of the best Lightning cards in the game and even dominated the meta for a while.
How Pokemon TCG Pocket’s Magnezone Became Meta Again
The days of Darkrai Ex and Magnezone decks may be over, but Magnezone remains a powerful and consistent win condition in the game thanks to its pre-evolution. In fact, Magneton is an incredibly strong card fromPokemon TCG Pocket’s Genetic Apex booster packs, specifically the Pikachu pack, as it has the Volt Charge ability to generate Lightning Energy passively once per turn from anywhere on the field. This means that, between the Energy one can assign each turn and extra Energy from Volt Charge, Magneton will likely have a lot of Energy attached very soon, ready for Magnezone to attack with Thunder Blast.
With Rampardos being much less common overall in meta decks, Magnezone has more ways to shine now, especially if paired with a new card - Shiinotic.Pokemon TCG Pocket’s Shiinotic is great in meta decksbecause not only is it fairly bulky for a Stage 1 critter, but more importantly, it thins the deck with its Illuminate ability, fetching a Pokemon card from the deck to the hand. Since Magnezone doesn’t really want to skip its Stage 1 Magneton with Rare Candy, Shiinotic makes the deck more consistent overall.
This combo got third place in a recent tournament, with the list including one copy of Oricorio, two of Morelull and Shiinotic, and two of every Pokemon in theMagnezone line. The deck can accelerate Energy quickly and become quite strong overall, even if Shiinotic is in the active spot and doesn’t end up attacking. Just one or two uses of the Illuminate ability make the deck all the more reliable, especially with the usual two copies of both Poke Ball and Professor’s Research to further help draw all the key pieces for the combo.
Why Pokemon TCG Pocket’s Magnezone Keeps Being Meta
As much as Magnezone’s overall usage rate dwindled with Celestial Guardians, only to drop even further with the launch of Extradimensional Crisis, its return to the meta is further proof that it remains one of the best Lightning cards in the entire game.Pokemon TCG Pocket’s Tapu Koko Exand Zeraora did make some appearances in the meta after Extradimensional Crisis came out, but they are far from the best Lightning cards overall. Until a better one is released, Magnezone will likely stay in the meta in one way or another, thanks to Magneton from Genetic Apex, and that is probably a good thing for deckbuilding.
