A new dominant deck has emerged in released Mythical Island, its first-ever expansion that adds over 60 new cards (not including alternate art cards) to use in decks. While 60 cards isn't enough to create a ton of new deck archetypes, the set did create a new deck that has dominated in early competitive play. The new deck featuring Celebi and Serperior is the first Grass-type deck to emerge as a potentially meta-defining deck.

Not only is the new Celebi ex deck incredibly powerful, it sets a new bar for dealing out damage thanks to a couple of key synergies. If players are able to set the deck up right and get the right coin flips, Celebi ex can easily one-shot every single Pokémon in the game, including cards it would otherwise be at a disadvantage against. This new deck sets the new standard within Pokémon TCG Pocket, with the meta already shifting to find ways to counter this impressive deck.

Why Celebi and Serperior Break The Game

Celebi Ex Can Deal Maximum Damage To Opponents

Celebi ex appears to be an energy-dependent and swingy card. The card's "Powerful Bloom" attack allows a player to flip a coin for every Energy attached to the Pokémon and deal out 50 damage per head to an opponent's Active Pokémon. Under normal circumstances, players would have to attach 4 energy to Celebi to deal an average of 100 damage, which feels like too high of an energy cost compared to Mewtwo ex's Psybolt or Charizard ex's Crimson Storm. However, when paired with Serperior, Celebi becomes an absolute terror.

Serperior's "Jungle Totem" causes all Grass Energy attached to a Grass-type Pokémon to count as two energy. This is a powerful energy accelerator on par with Gardevoir, but is even more useful as Celebi ex (and other prominent Grass-type Pokémon) doesn't have an energy discard requirement. With Serperior on the bench, Celebi ex with four energy attached averages 200 damage per turn. What's more, Celebi ex can deal up to 400 damage per turn if a player pulls off a statistically improbable series of coin flips.

Celebi Ex Is Top New Deck in Pokémon TCG Pocket

Celebi Ex Is Already Winning Tournaments

Players quickly caught onto the possibilities of Celebi ex and Serperior and have immediately started to build variant decks designed to maximize the card's potential. The deck emerged victorious in two large events this week, despite having a weakness to Fire-type decks like Charizard ex.

Similar to Charizard ex decks, Celebi ex takes a while to set up, as Celebi requires a stockpile of energy to be a one-hit KO machine and Serperior is a Stage 2 Pokémon. Both winning decks turned to a unique and previously neglected Pokémon to help provide an early defense - Exeggutor ex.

With 160 HP, Exeggutor ex can withstand several early attacks from opponent Pokémon, while only needing one energy to use its "Tropical Swing" attack. While Exeggutor ex still has a weakness against Fire-type attacks, the Erika trainer card can heal 50 damage from a Grass-type Pokémon.

Especially in early rounds, Erika helps keep Exeggutor ex in play long enough for decks to get Serperior evolved and ready to assist, as well as pushing more energy onto Celebi ex. If Exeggutor ex can stay in play for just a few rounds, a player should be able to set up Celebi ex to come and finish off an opponent.

Pokémon TCG Pocket's Powercreep Has Officially Begun

The Game Already Has A Gamebreaking Combination

Already, Pokémon TCG Pocket Reddit pages and X s are showing off the Celebi ex/Serperior combo dealing ridiculous amounts of damage to opponents. Thanks to the new combination, players have also discovered that Pokémon TCG Pocket has a top damage limit (via X), as the game only tracks up to 990 damage per turn.

It's clear that this deck will be prominent within the game for a long time, to the point that the entire game may have to shift to find counters for the new deck. On the plus side, Celebi ex/Serperior is powerful but not absolutely unbeatable. Cards like Sabrina can disrupt a player's set up, forcing them to switch in a pre-evolved Serperior or Celebi too early.

There's also plenty of strong Fire-type Pokémon that can knock out Celebi ex in one turn, including Arcanine ex. Mythical Island also added Volcarona, a Fire-type Pokémon that can deal 80 damage to any one of an opponent's Pokémon at the cost of discarding two energy. Players can use Volcarona to snipe Snivy or Servine, disrupting the deck entirely.

It's clear that Celebi ex represents the first true powercreep for Pokémon TCG Pocket.

Still, even if there are some effective counters, it's clear that this deck can smash its way to victory in a lot of situations. A Basic Pokémon that can max out damage is impressive in any circumstances, even if it needs a Pokémon to maximize its damage output.

This new card combination has us wondering where Pokémon TCG Pocket will go next. Does the game continue to introduce extremely powerful Pokémon combinations to keep players opening packs? Or will it find other ways to shift the meta? Either way, it's clear that Celebi ex represents the first true powercreep for Pokémon TCG Pocket.

Source: X