Your opponents are going to have a tempestuous time against Palkia ex, the mighty -type Legendary Pokémon making its debut in Pokémon TCG Pocket’s Space-Time Smackdown expansion. Its Dimensional Storm attack deals a massive 150 damage to the opponent’s Active Pokémon (enough to wash away most Pokémon currently in the game), and to add more injury to injury, it also does 20 damage to your opponent’s Benched Pokémon. This deck list and strategy will provide guidance on how to harness the Spatial Pokémon’s titanic power!

Dimensional Storm not only needs three and a Energy to use, it also requires you to discard three Energy from Palkia ex each time you attack with it, making this attack difficult to use on consecutive turns. For a whopping 150 damage to your opponent’s Active Pokémon and 20 damage to each of their Benched Pokémon, though, Dimensional Storm could be well worth the cost. Setting up for this attack requires your whole deck to be rowing in the same direction to make it work—every card you include should be in service of setting up Palkia ex with plenty of Energy. Unlike other decks we’ve covered—such as Palkia ex’s Legendary partner, Dialga ex—you shouldn’t plan on much offensive help if the Spatial Pokémon can’t come through on its own.

Game plan: During the early game, you’ll want Manaphy to lead the action with its Energy acceleration. Its Oceanic Gift attack can attach Energy from your Energy Zone to two of your Benched Pokémon. With only 50 HP, consider equipping Manaphy with a Giant Cape to boost its otherwise paltry HP. If you’re having trouble setting up Manaphy to get the most out of Oceanic Gift, Misty is another option for getting more Energy into play—if your coin flips go right! If you don’t manage to draw Manaphy at all during the start of the game, Palkia ex is a perfectly reasonable second option as an early-game attacker; it has high HP and deals a not-too-shabby 30 damage with its Slash attack, which costs only one Energy.

Once you have plenty of Energy sloshing around your side of the board, Palkia ex is ready to surge ahead. While Vaporeon is on the Bench, you can use its Wash Out Ability to move Energy from your Benched Pokémon to Palkia ex. Remember to move only as much Energy to Palkia ex as needed—if you move all of your onto Palkia ex and it gets Knocked Out, all of that Energy is going down with the ship. The Wash Out strategy works wonders with two Palkia ex in play. If one sustains too much damage, you can switch it out for its backup and then use Vaporeon’s Ability to move all that Energy to the new attacker!

Good luck navigating the Dimensional Storm, Trainers!