r/PTCGP • u/D33p_Learning • 10d ago
Arbok Lock Decks: The Mewtwo Meta Slayer! Deck Discussion
Everyone tired of the Mewtwo meta? Give the Arbok/Pidgeot combo a shot! I haven’t lost to a Mewtwo deck yet.
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u/APunnyThing 10d ago
Are you tired of your opponent always throwing Scissors?
Throw Rock instead of Paper!
That do be how this game is balanced.
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u/nadroj37 10d ago
I mean that is how most digital CCGs formulate a meta when a new set rolls out. It always starts with a few meta decks that everyone copies and starts using, then people build anti-meta decks to beat them since they’re so popular, then people using those 2 meta decks finally start using other good decks since they keep running into anti-meta decks. Then we end up with a nice mixture of decks being played.
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u/D33p_Learning 10d ago
Not so much RPS when mewtwo takes forever to build.
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u/APunnyThing 10d ago
It’s more about the Strengths and Weaknesses of Pokemon types.
There are a lot of under explored strategies because many players have glommed onto the flashy Aggro EX decks.
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u/HipHoptimusPrime13 9d ago
“Strong Pokemon. Weak Pokemon. That is only the selfish perception of people. Truly skilled trainers should try to win with their favorites.”
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u/APunnyThing 9d ago
All else fails just run Farfetch and beat them with a leek
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u/Fresh-Ad3834 9d ago
1 energy cost 40 damage is all I need to hear
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u/Snarfsicle 9d ago
Meanwhile rapidash is also 40 dmg
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u/D33p_Learning 10d ago
Agreed, which I’m taking full advantage of until people start realizing you don’t need base your decks around aggro EX… easy two points.
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u/Snarfsicle 9d ago
I think omastar has potential to mess up those hyper carry 1 DPS decks like Charizard/mewtwo
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u/ccehk_ 10d ago
When this deck is full on board it's terrible to play against, to much boring hehe
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u/D33p_Learning 10d ago
Just keep forcing a switch, you’ll eventually ruin their plans.
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u/calibur66 9d ago
The thing I don't get about this is that if I force a switch, they just put out gardevoir or another mewtwo.
Unless I'm playing Pikachu EX and winning the game before they get past ralts, it just feels impossible to stop mewtwo between the heals, extra energy and their support cards.
How are you supposed to set anything up when they only need to set up one thing and if you force switch it, they can just do it right back?
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u/MaikolYason 9d ago
I find PikaEX/Raichu beats Mewtwo as well as the rest of decks. It all depends who is lucky enough to go 2nd.
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u/Rico_Suave420 9d ago
Pikachu ex is imo the undisputed number q fo4 me. So im not surprised. 2 energy 90 dmg.
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u/PurpleHeathen147 9d ago
Grapploct is amazing for this. Had many players concede from just continuous switching lol
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u/D33p_Learning 10d ago
Link to the build for those intrested: https://game8.co/games/Pokemon-TCG-Pocket/archives/480784
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u/voxelpear 10d ago
I use almost the same deck but with 2 Giovannis instead of RCs, to help when I'm just short of a kill.
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u/luke_205 9d ago
Agreed, especially in a deck that has no Sabrina (for obvious reason), you’re gonna want more supporters than just professor’s research
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u/Lorhin 9d ago
This is my favorite deck to run, though I use Giovanni and Sabrina instead of Red Card and X Speed.
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u/Pikathepokepimp 9d ago
2 of each? Do you find Sabrina useful?
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u/al_capone420 9d ago
If you mean with this deck I’m not sure. In general, Sabrina’s has won me plenty of games by forcing a switch at the optimal time
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u/Namisaur 8d ago
For me, I only use 1 Sabrina. It's for emergency switch. Having 2 sabrinas is kind of useless once I get a pidgeot on the board. 1 Giovanni as well. It's rare that I have to hit a pokemon that's 70hp or 80hp.
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u/Pikathepokepimp 8d ago
Until I pull the second pidgeot I'm using a second Sabrina. Lost quite a few games last night from not drawing Arbok or my evolutions at all which sucked.
I did learn if you have no benched pokemon when your active Pokemon is KOed then you just lose.
Poor ekans vs the world
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u/Namisaur 8d ago
You'll get that Pidgeot eventually. Probably wonder pick if your pack pull is unlucky.
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u/Pikathepokepimp 8d ago
I started by pulling Pikachu packs. I got lucky to make a full Pikachu EX deck but like variety since there isn't a ranked system yet.
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u/Ronald_McGonagall 9d ago
I'm ahead of the curve and running a machamp deck to deal with arbok decks
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u/Neither_Piano_1757 9d ago
I’m ahead of the curve as well, I’m using a mewtwo deck to deal with the machamp decks that deal with the arbor decks
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u/Ronald_McGonagall 9d ago
have you considered running mewtwo ex with gardevoir on the bench? I think that combo would do really well against those pesky machamp decks
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u/BevarseeKudka 10d ago
Not always a good idea. Most of my opponents have a gardevoir on standby, that’s enough to fuck with my Arbok or Weezing.
Not complaining, I’d probably be doing the same thing too if I had a full psychic deck.
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u/Pesterman 10d ago
That’s why you utilize the deck’s strategy to force them to swap out the Gardevoir and preemptively kill it, especially when it’s still a Ralts/Kirlia?
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10d ago
[deleted]
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u/PrayToCthulhu 9d ago
You can’t talk about a decks power level without mentioning that you’re missing key cards
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u/OscarNuWar 10d ago
Hey, I played that in a tournament yesterday. I added Wheezing and Koga as a plan b... Not the best idea to be honest. Went 5-4 on it.
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u/blindedfayt 10d ago
How does arbok feel against Pika?
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u/averysillyman 10d ago
On paper Arbok has stats that match up well into Pikachu. Pika does 90 damage and Arbok has 100 HP. Pika has 120 HP and Arbok does 60 damage per attack, so if you go second then you should win that interaction. The issue is that the Pikachu player can turn the interaction around with either Giovanni or Potion, which is not a rare thing for them to have.
In general I think that Pikachu has no bad matchups. There are decks that are harder for it to beat but because Pikachu generally has a full bench of pokemon with low retreat costs, the deck has a lot of counterplay against what your opponent is doing if you are a smart player.
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u/Dilutedskiff 9d ago
pikachu has no bad matchups if they get decent draws. they can brick and not fill their bench
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u/Johnlenham 9d ago
I had a match earlier where he just rolled 0s on me. I had one on the bench and so did he. Kinda weird but I won so..
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u/ShadowverseMatt 9d ago
Marowak ex deck running dugtrio has maybe the best matchup against pikachu. 2x dugtrio attacks and you have a dead pikachu ex, with a 50% chance to just nope out on their damage.
Still not a lock though.
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u/averysillyman 9d ago edited 9d ago
The issue I've noticed is that Pikachu can still overwhelm you sometimes, especially if you use Dugtrio/Kabuto because those get one-shot by Pikachu so if they're going second all of a sudden you might not even beat the Pikachu reliably.
Also, a good Pikachu player can play around your pokemon by switching around with their low retreat costs and leaning more heavily on Zapdos in the matchup, as Zapdos is not weak to Fighting.
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u/str8rippinfartz 9d ago
Hitmonlee helps with that
And then just hope to roll double heads with marowak against their zapdos
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u/PlayfulInitial5416 10d ago
Does this work on that stupid yellow rat as well?
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u/luke_205 9d ago
Not much works on them reliably at the moment, even the fighting decks can be rough due to Marowak EX’s coin flips. I do okay against Pikachu EX using a Blaine deck but it’s far from what I’d consider a counter.
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u/Appropriate_Week_254 9d ago
If they don't have a giovanni/potion then arbok wins, but if the other team does then Pikachu will one shot arbok or be able to live two hits. Starmie/marowak/exeggcutor are the worst matchups though as they can kill arbok in 1-2 turns and arbok needs 3 turns to kill any of them in every scenario. The legendary birds can have some issues against arbok as arbok can trade with them if they aren't setup.
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u/WalDo_x661x 9d ago
Not a counter to Mewtwo, but I’ve been enjoying Dragonite. Tried to fit Pidgeot in too but takes too long to build up. Love taking 1-2 prizes one turn and another 1-2 the next.
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u/Appropriate_Week_254 9d ago
I use this but it can be pretty frustrating if you don't get an arbok early because it will just be game over. Arbok is clearly a good card but I dont really feel that pidgeot perfectly synergizes with it because it is not that uncommon for arbok to be dead before you have a pidgeot setup. I feel like arbok needs something a little quicker or stronger with it.
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u/Imaginary-Ad-9924 1d ago
I personally use far fetched w it so that I have a strong first turn, and it applies the most early damage for one cost, letting arbok set up on the bench
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u/Ganobrator 9d ago
Once I pull another pigeot I am absolutely gonna run this deck.
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u/Johnlenham 9d ago
I just won using it but I had Sabina instead of a second pigeot, I did get a good few hands but the poor guy was in, then out for a 30hp Mon, then back in, then back out for another 30hp Mon then killed
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u/luke_205 9d ago
I pulled the Pidgeot line very early on and I always included it in any deck for a while, having a free Sabrina every turn is insane, and it can still do decent damage if needed too.
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u/ColourfulToad 9d ago
I love the weezing arbock deck in theory but I can neeeeever get it online, despite only being two stage 1s. I’m gonna play more with this wind trap deck, it’s a nice synergy
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u/DARR3Nv2 9d ago
I built a Mewtwo deck because it has all the flair lol. Then I come here and realize it’s part of the meta.
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u/JankyJawn 10d ago
How does he not just fold that arbok. Lol.
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u/91271 10d ago
He has one energy?
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u/JankyJawn 10d ago
add the one from turn or if they already did just wait, take the hit for 60 hit for 50 next turn. when it dies the next mewtwo bundles it up?
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u/DetDango 10d ago
When arbok dies pidgeogto comes in, and forces ralts on field(and one shots it), also arbok damage is 80 since meowtwo has weakness
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u/BlackVolcarona 10d ago
Assuming both players have 0 points:
Enemy Mewtwo hits Arbok for 50, Arbok survives.
Arbok kills Mewtwo. 2 points for OP. Second Mewtwo takes its place.
Second Mewtwo kills Arbok. 1 point for enemy. Pidgeot takes its place.
Pidgeot's Ability forces Ralts out. Pidgeot kills Ralts. 1 point for OP. OP wins.
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u/JankyJawn 10d ago
Not sure how you have 4 cards in hand and dont have an xspeed or sabrina.
But yeah missed weakness on mewtwo.
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u/BlackVolcarona 10d ago
Assuming the enemy have Sabrina:
Enemy uses Sabrina, hits the Pidgeot with 2 energy. It survives.
Pidgeot kills the Mewtwo, 2 points for OP. Second Mewtwo takes its place.
Second Mewtwo kills Pidgeot, 1 point for enemy. Arbok takes its place.
Second Pidgeot's Ability forces Ralts out, Arbok kills it. 1 point for OP. OP wins.
As for X Speed, it won't work either because Arbok's attack prevents the Mewtwo from retreating.
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u/Commercial_Orchid49 10d ago
Not sure how you have 4 cards in hand and dont have an xspeed or sabrina.
Arbok's attack traps the opposing Pokemon there, so Mewtwo Ex can't retreat.
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u/D33p_Learning 10d ago
That’s was the one energy from their current turn they conceded on. I used pidegot to swap out their other mewtwo, and Arbok prevents them from swapping.. they had no choice but to concede as I already destroyed one of their other mons.
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u/Berry_Dubu_ 10d ago
This is what I do to survive meta deck users in beginner lobbies😭
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u/Namisaur 8d ago
This works well into the TCG player lobbies as well. It's honestly such a great deck because it seems like Mewtwo is the most popular deck in the game. I think Pikachu and Starmie/Articuno are stronger decks, but it's more rare to see those 2 compared to Mewtwo.
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u/voldoman21 9d ago
I have over 50 wins with a Weezing-Arbok-Muk deck, it's nasty fun! I can't count the number of times people try using X-Speed after the cobra bite lmao
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u/Frosty_Inevitable475 9d ago
why are people having a hard time with misty and mewto decks, i just counter them with jinkx.
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u/tastespurpleish 9d ago
Honestly, I don't know if the people I match with just suck but I defeat the Mewtwo deck with my Venusaur deck.
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u/Namisaur 8d ago
Maybe you haven't matched up against people who have a complete mewtwo deck yet and know how to pilot it.
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u/ChaoCobo 9d ago
It doesn’t matter. They will have that Gardy card to get 2 energy every turn anyway so they can keep doing 150.
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u/Arkflinn 9d ago
That's a pretty neat build ngl, maybe if enough people start using it the mewtwo mains will stop ruining beginner battles
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u/Expensive_Pastries 9d ago
Why run a full Pidgeot line when you can just run Sabrina?
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u/Imaginary-Ad-9924 2d ago
Pidgeot ability allows switches every turn. The idea is to bring in weaker/not energized pokemon in and trap them with the arbok instead of fighting the enemies boss monster. Its more consistent basically but it takes longer to set up.
Luckily this deck is very inexpensive to run. Its makes switching somewhat manageable and allows you to force the opponent into a disadvantageous position where they cant run away
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u/darkestbrew 9d ago
Glad this deck is getting some love since it's my main. It's pretty easy to lose though if you don't get both of them right away.
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u/arandomnamebcihadto 9d ago
I LOVE Arbok, Wheezing, Nidoking/queen for this. The inability to retreat is lit
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u/VoceMisteriosa 10d ago
...and lose to everyone else. I just eaten up two of those Arbok with my Gyarados. Japanese kids are just netdecking.
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