Pokémon TCG Competitive Meta Breakdown

N's Zoroark ex demonstrates the unparalleled power of the king of Team Plasma. Before we look at Zoroark, though, first let's look at Zekrom. N's Zekrom from Ascended Heroes has the powerful Rampaging Thunder attack, which deals a formidable 250 damage, but with two downsides.

1. The attack costs four energy, two of which must be lightning and one of which must be fire.
2. When N's Zekrom uses Rampaging Thunder, it can't attack again on its next turn.

These two restrictions would leave N's Zekrom as a fantastic looking, but ultimately impractical card if it wasn't possible to work around them. This is where N's Zoroark comes in.

Zoroark's Night Joker attack costs only two dark energy, half the cost of Rampaging Thunder, and allows it to copy the attack of any N's Pokémon on the bench. So, with N's Zoroark in the Active Spot, and Zekrom on the bench, you'll be able to get out a Rampaging Thunder at half the typical energy cost.

The restriction preventing Rampaging Thunder from being used two turns in a row can also be subverted. Pecharunt ex's Subjugating Chains ability can swap your Active Pokémon onto the bench, without needing to pay its retreat cost. By swapping N's Zoroark with a different copy of itself on the bench, you can use Rampaging Thunder multiple turns in a row, without ever needing to stop to rest.

On top of bringing the thunder, N's Zekrom's Trade ability is also an incredibly useful draw engine. It allows you to discard a card in order to draw two more, permitting you to dig through your deck for just the tools you need to secure a win.

Slowking from the September 2024 set Stellar Crown can seek inspiration from other Pokémon in your deck and borrow their attacks. Unlike N's Zoroark, Slowking doesn't use the attacks of a Pokémon on your bench, instead Slowking discards the top card of your deck and borrows an attack from it.

While it can't copy moves from Pokémon with rule boxes, there are still plenty of powerful techniques out there for Slowking to mimic, including Shrouded Fable Kyurem's Trifrost attack (which deals 110 damage to three separate targets), Destined Rivals Zeraora's Thunder Raid attack (which deals 210 damage to any benched ex Pokémon) and Surging Sparks Annihilape's Destined Fight attack (which knocks out both Slowking and the opponent's active Pokémon).

While many of these attacks require Slowking to discard energy cards, since Slowking's Seek Inspiration only costs two energy to use, it can be charged up again quickly. You can also use cards like Ciphermaniac's Codebreaking and Academy at Night to control what's on top of your deck, so that Slowking is guaranteed to copy a good move. Many builds also run Mega Kangaskhan ex for the card draw that it can provide, as well as its powerful Raid-Fire Combo attack.

The Festival Grounds stadium from Twilight Masquerade is the centerpiece of its very own archetype. By itself, the card seems unassuming enough, it prevents Pokémon with energy cards attached to them from being affected by special conditions. The card isn't played for this effect, however, instead it's used because it enables several Pokémon with the "Festival Lead" ability.

Dipplin from Twilight Masquerade and Seaking from Prismatic Evolution both have Festival Lead, which means that while Festival Grounds is in play, whenever they attack, they attack again immediately. This means that Dipplin will deal 200 damage with its two attacks, while Seaking will deal 120 damage but also draw its controller two cards. Speaking of gaining additional cards, Thwackey from Twilight Masquerade can use Boom Boom Grove to add any card from the deck directly to its controller's hand once per turn, so long as there's a Pokémon with Festival Lead in the active spot.

Until recently, this archetype was weighed down by its low damage potential. Dipplin's 200 damage per turn, although able to spread over multiple targets, didn't quite have the punch to deal with threats like Dragapult ex. That all changed in July of 2026, with the launch of the Pitch Black expansion, which gave the deck access to Gladion's Final Battle.

Gladion provides a massive power up to Pokémon in this deck as it adds 80 damage to their attacks during a turn. Since Pokémon with Festival Lead attacks twice, this bonus is doubled. So Dipplin can take out Dragapult with a tremendous 360 power blow, while Seaking provides card draw and 280 points of damage. You won't want to miss this festival.

Card advantage can win games, and when you're playing an Alakazam deck, you're essentially guaranteed to draw more cards than your opponent. This spoon wielding psychic type debuted in the Mega Evolution expansion and has been pushing players to fill their hands with as many cards as possible ever since.

Alakazam's only attack, "Powerful Hand", deals 20 damage to the opponent's active Pokémon for every card in its controller's hand. Not only that, but when you play Alakazam, you automatically draw three cards thanks to its "Psychic Draw" ability. The strategy here is clear: draw as many cards as possible, to maximise the amount of damage dealt by "Powerful Hand".

Forunately, Alakazam's pre-evolved form Kadabra also draws you two cards when it comes into play, and there are plenty of other Pokémon out there that can draw you masses of cards like Fezandipiti ex and Dudunsparce, the latter of which can also shuffle itself back into the deck to prevent you from decking out.

Alakazam proves that you don't need to be an ex Pokémon to dish out a game ending amount of damage, paticularly when used along Lilie's Clefairy ex, which makes all of your opponent's dragon types (like the infamous Dragapult) weak to psychic type attacks.

Dragapult may be the dominant deck, but the ghostly dragon's reign is far from unopposed. There are a healthy selection of alternative builds from Alakazam to N's Zoroark to give players looking to try an alternative strategy something to consider. With Delta Reign just around the corner, who knows how much the Pokémon meta may get shake up once Rayquaza descends from above into the decks of eager players.

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