The Terastal phenomenon is taking over the Pokémon universe, with Pokémon capable of appearing as unexpected types. This extends to the Pokémon TCG world, where awesome Pokémon ex from the Scarlet & Violet—Paradox Rift expansion are lining up for battle.

We’ve enlisted three top players to get a closer look at three of these incredible Pokémon—the Water-type Garchomp ex, the Fighting-type Toxtricity ex, and the Lightning-type Mewtwo ex. Read on to find out how these powerful Pokémon can move beyond your collection and into your next powerful deck.

Garchomp ex is a Pokémon with many powerful characteristics. Its 320 HP may not be the highest we've seen on a Stage 2 Pokémon ex, but that’s more than enough to withstand most attacks. It may not do as much damage as, say, Charizard ex, but it does 160 damage for only one Energy, and it can attach Fighting Energy to its allies—significant because the Fighting type has always had limited forms of Energy acceleration. Garchomp ex also has a Retreat Cost of 0, so you can easily pivot into a different attacker. Finally, Water is probably the best type for a Stage 2 Pokémon, because a player can use Irida to search for Rare Candy and Garchomp ex, making it easier to get the powerful Pokémon into play.

Its main drawback, though, is its limited damage output. Garchomp ex is never going to one-hit KO a Pokémon ex or Pokémon V, unless it hits for Weakness. Thankfully, it doesn't have to be played by itself! Garchomp ex can accelerate up to three Energy from the discard pile, so it can easily be played with any attacker that can use Fighting Energy. Fighting-type Pokémon also make good partners for Garchomp ex because they cover its Weakness: Garchomp ex is weak to Lightning-type Pokémon, but those Pokémon are usually weak to Fighting.

So, which Pokémon should be played alongside Garchomp ex? There are various options: Lucario from the Sword & Shield—Brilliant Stars expansion can use Fighting Energy to do huge damage, although it will then be left with no Energy in play. Glimmora ex provides disruption with its Dust Field Ability, but its damage output isn't very high either. The one I chose for this deck is Terrakion from Sword & Shield—Silver Tempest. The damage from Cavern Tackle is not very high, but alongside Garchomp ex's Hydro Lander, that's 280 damage total, enough to deal with most Pokémon in the format. Cavern Tackle's effect also protects Terrakion from damage for one turn, which can force the opponent to find a card such as Boss's Orders or Escape Rope to get around it. Its downside is that it can only be used every other turn, but that's very manageable—after using Cavern Tackle, you can simply retreat Terrakion for Garchomp ex, and use Hydro Lander to attach the discarded Energy back to Terrakion!

One question remains: How to get Energy to the discard pile in the first place? Again, there are multiple options, but my pick here is Kirlia, which acts as a draw engine for the deck. Each turn, Kirlia lets you draw multiple cards and discard a Fighting Energy or another card that you don't need (like Battle VIP Pass after the first turn). Kirlia can also evolve into Gallade, which can search for any Supporter once per turn. This gives you access to situational cards like Boss's Orders or even Cheryl, which can heal a damaged Garchomp ex.

As mentioned above, Irida is a good Supporter for the deck, especially early on where it can find Garchomp ex and Rare Candy (or some other Item card, like Earthen Vessel to get Basic Energy). However, later in the game, Irida may not be as good, especially as the deck doesn't play that many Water-type Pokémon. Iono, on the other hand, is always useful—it's a good draw Supporter in the early game, and it provides disruption in the later game, making it harder for the opponent to get a KO after Terrakion uses Cavern Tackle. We can amp up the disruption factor with Path to the Peak, which doesn't affect any of our Pokémon, but can severely disrupt decks that rely on Abilities, like Gardevoir ex.

With all of that in mind, here's where I ended up:

As you can see, beyond the cards already mentioned, I mostly focused on consistency, with cards such as Battle VIP Pass, Level Ball, and Ultra Ball, which can all search for the Pokémon we need. Note that I chose to include Gabite from Sword & Shield—Brilliant Stars, which can't attack in this deck, over the Fighting-type Gabite from Scarlet & Violet—Paradox Rift. This is because it has 90 HP, so it can be searched out with Level Ball!

There are a few techs that I haven't mentioned yet, though, so let me explain their role.

First, Manaphy is a classic addition to any deck with low-HP Pokémon. It protects our Pokémon from being damaged on the Bench, and is absolutely necessary if we don't want our Ralts, Gible, and Kirlia to be Knocked Out by a Radiant Greninja's Moonlight Shuriken. Also, Manaphy is a Water-type Pokémon, so even in matchups where it's not needed, we can still get it with Irida at some point, and then discard it to use Kirlia's Refinement Ability or to pay Ultra Ball's cost.

Jirachi is not as universally good, but it's a good partner to Manaphy. It protects our Benched Pokémon from damage counters placed by Basic Pokémon, notably Sableye's Lost Mine, Cresselia's Moonglow Reverse, and Medicham V's Yoga Loop. These attacks are all dangerous for low-HP Pokémon. Also, by having both Manaphy and Jirachi in play, our Benched Pokémon are basically impossible to damage (with rare exceptions, like Iron Valiant ex's Tachyon Bits Ability), so we don't have to worry. Even if a Kirlia becomes Active and we need several turns to find a way to retreat it, the opponent won't be able to take Prize cards around it. This reduces the need for switching cards.

I did choose to include one copy of Switch in the list, though, because there are situations where we want our Pokémon to get out of the Active Spot without having to attach Energy cards over multiple turns. For example, if we happen to start the game with Terrakion, we need a way to switch it out so that we can attack with Garchomp ex and attach Energy to Terrakion.

Of course, there are other ways to build around Garchomp ex. Radiant Greninja adds draw power to the deck but has bad synergy with Path to the Peak. Super Rod could recover discarded Pokémon and Energy cards, and Pal Pad could do the same for Supporters. Feel free to mess around with this deck list!

Xander says: Since Hydro Lander only takes a single Energy, Terrakion is the perfect partner to make use of its additional Energy attachment effect. With Manaphy and Jirachi, unless the opponent can find a Boss’s Orders or Escape Rope, you’ve essentially bought yourself a free turn!

Despite playing Path to the Peak, I’d still include Radiant Greninja. Stage 2 decks typically struggle with consistency, so the extra boost from Concealed Cards can make a big difference, especially before establishing multiple Kirlia.

Robin says: Garchomp ex is super interesting in that despite being clearly quite powerful, there's no obvious way to build a deck around it. Maybe it's still waiting on the perfect partner to be released in a future expansion, but until then, I like Stéphane's choice of Terrakion! Instead of trying to offset Garchomp's low damage output with some heavy-hitting Pokémon, this deck embraces its slower nature and wants to make it as difficult as possible for the opponent to take prizes. The combination of Gallade and Cheryl is great, and I'd maybe try to lean even heavier into that healing strategy.

Type-shifted Tera Pokémon have made their full debut in the Pokémon TCG with the release of Scarlet & Violet—Paradox Rift. Besides the benefit of being invulnerable to attacks while on the Bench, Tera Pokémon can add type diversity to a monotype deck. One such Pokémon is Toxtricity ex, which makes use of Lightning Energy despite its Fighting Tera Type.

One immediate pairing with Toxtricity ex would be Miraidon ex. With Miraidon ex’s Tandem Unit Ability, you can search for Toxel, which is still a Lightning type. Using cards such as Flaaffy from Sword & Shield—Evolving Skies and Electric Generator, you can power up your attackers and make use of Toxtricity ex’s Gaia Punk attack to dish out major damage.

However, I've chosen to go with a different route. I love Fusion Strike Pokémon, and it just so happens that there is a Fusion Strike Toxel! I've chosen to pair Toxtricity ex with the Fusion Strike engine, namely Genesect V and a plethora of Item cards, allowing me to draw cards with the Fusion Strike System Ability. Even though Toxtricity ex isn't a Fusion Strike Pokémon itself, we can still make use of Fusion Strike System to draw up to five cards after evolving into Toxtricity ex.

Our Pokémon line looks similar to a traditional Mew VMAX / Genesect V lineup, except with Toxtricity ex instead. I chose to include a 1-1 Mew VMAX line since it can still be a useful attacker, especially since it doesn't need to discard Energy to do significant damage. Mew V also has a free Retreat Cost, which can always be useful. Finally, Raikou V is another strong Lightning-type attacker worth including. Though it isn't a Fusion Strike Pokémon, you may find value in attacking with Lightning Rondo on your first turn of the game when going second.

The key aspect of any Fusion Strike deck is its Item-heavy engine. Because we want to maximize the number of cards drawn with the Fusion Strike System Ability, playable Item cards are the way to go. To that end, Battle VIP Pass, Ultra Ball, and Nest Ball can fill our Bench initially. From there, Energy Sticker and Electric Generator can accelerate Energy to load up your attackers. Keep in mind that Electric Generator only attaches to Benched Lightning-type Pokémon, meaning that you can't select Toxtricity ex with its effect! On the other hand, Energy Sticker can attach to any Benched Pokémon.

The remaining Items help with maneuverability and redundancy. Super Rod can recycle Energy cards for Electric Generator, or Toxtricity ex if one copy is stuck in the Prize cards. Switch can move a trapped Genesect V or Toxtricity ex and serves as a pivot after playing Electric Generator. And Lost Vacuum can not only deal with Path to the Peak, it can also reduce hand size for Fusion Strike System.

The deck includes a handful of powerful Supporter cards. Iono provides a strong draw and can disrupt your opponent simultaneously. Even if you are only drawing a few cards, you can replenish your hand with Fusion Strike System. Boss’s Orders is simply a great card for most decks and must be included. The final Supporter card is Grant, which has two important capabilities: First, Grant increases the maximum damage output of Toxtricity ex by 30, meaning we can reach 300 damage with Gaia Punk. Second, we can use Grant’s effect to discard unwanted cards in our hand, such as additional Lightning Energy or Battle VIP Pass. Then, we can draw more cards with Fusion Strike System.

The final components are the Stadium and Tool cards. Practice Studio bumps Toxtricity ex’s max damage up to 280, which can Knock Out almost all Pokémon VSTAR. Our other Stadium, Town Store, is a solid card overall—it can find Forest Seal Stone or Defiance Band to suit your needs at any given moment. In the worst case, it can thin a card from your deck to improve your odds of drawing what you need from the next Fusion Strike System.

Toxtricity ex Strategy

At the start of the game, you want to concentrate on filling your board with Fusion Strike Pokémon so that you can extract more value from Fusion Strike System. Because the deck plays few Supporter cards, Genesect V is your main source of draw power. I like to have at least two Genesect V in play, but ideally three. The other spots can be reserved for Mew V, Toxel, or Raikou V, depending on which you plan on attacking with. It would be a waste to use Toxtricity ex’s big attack, Gaia Punk, discarding three Energy, only to Knock Out a low-HP Pokémon.

I like to lead with Raikou V or Mew VMAX so that I can retain Energy on the board. These attackers also take less Energy to attack than Toxtricity ex, which may be necessary if you cannot find Energy with Electric Generator. From there, Toxtricity ex can likely Knock Out the opponent's return attacker with a single attack. Using Energy Sticker and Electric Generator, you should be able to muster up another attacker on the following turn to maintain your momentum.

Other options to include in the deck list are Power Tablet, Professor Turo’s Scenario, and Judge. A single Power Tablet can bump Mew VMAX’s damage output to 240 with Techno Blast, which can Knock Out all relevant Basic Pokémon ex. This could be worth a single slot while maintaining a focus on Toxtricity ex. Next, Professor Turo’s Scenario can pick up a damaged Pokémon after its Energy has been discarded to Gaia Punk. Lastly, Judge may hurt the opponent more than Iono, specifically before they've taken any Prize cards.

I hope you give this deck a try, or that it inspires you to try out some other new cards with, perhaps, wacky partners! I enjoyed coming up with this list and finding a unique pairing of Toxtricity ex with the Fusion Strike package.

Stéphane says: I'm impressed, but not surprised, that Xander managed to turn a Toxtricity ex deck into a Fusion Strike deck! I really like how he approached his deckbuilding process. While I'm not a big fan of Energy Sticker, I can see how it can work in a Fusion Strike deck in combination with Genesect V's Ability. I also think the addition of Grant in this deck is genius.

This deck is proof that having many Pokémon of a single Evolution chain in the same format can encourage creative deckbuilding. I wonder, though, if it's possible to push this line of thinking even further by including Toxtricity from Scarlet & Violet—Obsidian Flames, rather than Raikou V. This Pokémon's Loud Mix attack does damage depending on the number of Pokémon types on your Bench: with a Toxel, Mew V, and Genesect V on the Bench, it does 140 damage for two Energy, which can Knock Out Pokémon that are weak to Lightning, like Lugia VSTAR, as well as most Pokémon without a Rule Box!

Robin says: Even as a fellow Fusion Strike fan, I would have never predicted this combination! I love when players think outside of the box and come up with unconventional deck ideas. Genesect V is one of my all-time favorite cards to play with due to how much control over your own deck it provides, so it's cool to see it being used in different ways than what we're used to. It's hard to argue against the classic Mew VMAX deck being the stronger option, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't have some fun with alternative uses of its engine!

Whenever a Pokémon has unlimited damage potential, it’s usually worth taking a look at, and Mewtwo ex is no exception. Its Photon Kinesis attack requires a lot of Energy in play but can become incredibly strong.

Of course, the most important question when trying to build a deck around Mewtwo ex is how to get all that Energy into play, as attaching only 1 per turn would be far too slow. Thankfully, it’s not a difficult question to answer, because Scarlet & Violet—Paradox Rift comes with the perfect partner for Mewtwo ex: Xatu. There are some other options, like building the deck around Clefairy for example, but Xatu has a lot going for it.

Its Clairvoyant Sense Ability allows us to attach an additional Psychic Energy, and then draw 2 cards. Not only does this make Mewtwo ex’s attack stronger, but it also provides the deck with a draw engine—usually the next big question in line after settling on a general strategy. It won’t be uncommon to have three Xatu in play at some point in the game, allowing for a total of four Energy attachments per turn and a lot of cards drawn!

However, even with support from Xatu, it will take a few turns for Mewtwo ex to reach the numbers it needs. Many other decks will be faster, so we need a way to slow down the opponent as well as have options for getting back into the game after falling behind. One key card that covers both of those points is Path to the Peak. Neither Mewtwo ex nor Xatu is affected by it, which makes this popular Stadium card a perfect fit for this deck.

Another important card to talk about is Mew ex, which helps the deck in multiple different ways. First of all, it has free retreat, which is important to offset the downside of Xatu’s Ability attaching Energy cards only to Benched Pokémon. Second, its Restart Ability, even though it will often be blocked by Path to the Peak, gives the deck some additional draw and stability in the early game. And lastly, its Genome Hacking attack is useful in a variety of situations and something the opponent will always need to worry about. A frequent play is using a Boss’s Orders or Counter Catcher on an opponent’s Radiant Greninja, then copying its Moonlight Shuriken attack to take out two low-HP Pokémon at once.

The last Pokémon I added to the deck is Mimikyu. Even though almost all decks have some kind of answer to its Safeguard Ability, dealing with it does still make the game more complicated for them. I like putting Mimikyu into the Active Spot at the beginning of the game while building up Energy in play. Especially when paired with Path to the Peak and Iono for some extra disruption, it can be surprisingly effective in preventing the opponent from taking a Prize card for a turn.

We have a lot of additional draw thanks to our Pokémon’s Abilities, but the deck still needs a reasonable amount of Supporter cards like Iono and Professor’s Research for the initial setup. Iono is particularly important because it doubles as a strong hand control card in the late game, which, as mentioned before, is needed due to our rather slow strategy. I’ve also added one Avery, which in addition to being another draw card, provides a different form of disruption that is quite strong against some of the currently popular decks.

In the Item line-up, we have the usual Battle VIP Pass and Ultra Ball for searching our Pokémon. We also have access to Fog Crystal, which is incredible in this deck due to the flexibility of being able to search for either additional Basic Pokémon or for a Psychic Energy to use with Xatu.

The last decision point that’s related to the deck's consistency and general strategy is the number of Energy and recovery cards to include. We need to find a lot of Energy cards early to get value out of Xatu immediately, but later on in the game, cards like Energy Retrieval or Super Rod that reuse Energy become more valuable. I’ve settled on 12 Basic Energy and one of each recovery card, but reasonable minds can differ about this balance.

Now that all the essentials are taken care of, it’s time to add some more tricks and power to the deck! Bravery Charm is an easy inclusion, giving Mewtwo ex some much-needed extra HP. It’s also great on Mew ex, and it can even be situationally useful when attached to Natu. Counter Catcher is strong in any deck that expects to fall behind in the Prize race initially and is especially powerful when combined with Iono or Avery.

Lastly, there are two Reversal Energy in the deck list. It doesn’t work on Mewtwo ex directly, but when attached to Xatu while behind on Prizes, it counts as 3 Psychic Energy, adding 90 damage to Photon Kinesis for just a single attachment! This makes it possible to take big Knock Outs much faster than your opponent will expect, and is yet another reason why I really like Xatu as the partner of choice for Mewtwo ex.

I think this deck is really interesting to play with. It tries to make the game awkward for the opponent while building up to big consecutive Knock Outs toward the end of the game, which results in some tough decisions for both players. For example, sometimes it makes sense to skip out on a possible Knock Out, and instead use Mewtwo ex’s Transfer Charge for a stronger board position and a more impactful attack on the turn after. I’ve been positively surprised with how much of a fight Mewtwo ex can put up against even some of the strongest decks in the format, so give it a try if you like its type of gameplay!

Stéphane says: I agree with Robin that Xatu is the best partner for Mewtwo ex, and I think the way he built his deck around these two Pokémon is simple and effective. That said, I think I would make a few changes to the list. First, Manaphy seems very important in a deck with low-HP Basic Pokémon—we don't want our Natu to be Knocked Out by a Radiant Greninja before they can evolve! Second, speaking of Radiant Greninja, I think it could be a decent addition to the deck. Even if we don't especially want to discard Energy, more draw power is still appreciated, especially on the first turn. Alternatively, given that Battle VIP Pass is in the deck, including a Mew could help find this key Item card on the first turn of the game. Thanks to Fog Crystal, finding Mew is easy!

Xander says: Mewtwo ex and Xatu is a strong yet simple pairing that can take a lot of decks by surprise. On top of that, Bravery Charm brings Mewtwo ex’s HP up to 280, which matches most Pokémon VSTAR. I really like Robin’s inclusion of Reversal Energy, which can boost the damage of Photon Kinesis by 90 in a pinch. By sacrificing a single Prize card early, you can respond with a big Knock Out on the opponent’s main attacker.

For more Pokémon TCG strategy and analysis, visit Pokemon.com/Strategy.