All 22 of these decks are built for a format in which a
Decks
Everything Else
- Fun Match-Ups
- Why Play Base to Neo?
- Tips for Playing Base to Neo
- Understanding Metal Energy’s Self-Damage Rule
- Obtaining Neo Cards
- End of Wizards’ Standard Format
Blaine’s Charizard/Parasect 
💰 Expensive to Build
| Pokémon (17) | Trainers (30) | Energy (13) |
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4x 4x 2x 2x ERRATARoaring Flames should discard Fire Energy cards, not Fighting. It also should only discard extra Fire Energy not used to pay for the attack cost. (Extra damage is calculated this way.)
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This deck’s strategy is to run the opponent out of Energy cards entirely. 4/4 Energy Removal & Super Energy Removal team up with Blaine’s Charmander’s Kindle to remove as much Energy as possible, while Pokémon Tower prevents Recycle Energy from returning from the discard pile. Parasect serves as a way to block attacks like Rocket’s Zapdos’s Plasma and Pokémon Powers like Typhlosion’s Fire Recharge from recovering these lost Energy cards.
Tip: Don’t evolve Blaine’s Charmander just because you can. Many times, you’re better off keeping Charmander in play for its Kindle attack.
Brock’s Ninetales/Steelix 
🌠 Iconic Deck 🤡 Fun to Play
| Pokémon (17) | Trainers (33) | Energy (10) |
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Attach Brock’s Protection to Brock’s Vulpix/Ninetales, then Shapeshift into a Steelix that is immune to Energy Removal & Super Energy Removal. From that point on, plenty of healing cards ensure Steelix stays in play and attacking.
Tip: If your opponent plays Magby, you’ll need a way to knock it out after its Sputter forces you to discard Steelix from Brock’s Ninetales. Prepare Scyther to Slash the turn following a Sputter.
Brock’s Ninetales/Tyranitar 
| Pokémon (18) | Trainers (29) | Energy (13) |
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By first placing Brock’s Protection on Brock’s Ninetales, you can ensure the Tyranitar you’ll Shapeshift into is immune to Super Energy Removal, allowing you unleash Tyranitar’s impressive Trample attack. Electrode’s Buzzap helps you power up additional Tyranitars, but you’ll need to be careful not to bench too many Pokémon, as Trample can hit your own Bench too. To help mitigate the damage Tyranitar will deal to your own Bench, you’ll max out on Gold Berry and also play a Scoop Up to avoid an unnecessary Cleffa KO.
Brock’s Sandslash/Clefable 
| Pokémon (20) | Trainers (28) | Energy (12) |
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4x 3x 3x 3x ERRATAMetronome must still do anything required to use the attack, such as discarding Energy cards.
Click to view Errata Page3x ERRATAMetronome must still do anything required to use the attack, such as discarding Energy cards.
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Brock’s Sandslash might not look like much, but when equipped with Brock’s Protection, it can be a pain for your opponent to deal with. Clefable serves as a perfect partner to deal with Sneasel, while Dodrio’s Retreat Aid allows you to easily retreat Clefable when facing Baby Pokémon.
Dark Crobat/Sneasel 
🏆 Top Deck 💰 Expensive to Build
| Pokémon (20) | Trainers (28) | Energy (12) |
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Though Slowking prevented it from seeing success in 2002, the popularity of Baby Pokémon in the Base–Neo format make this deck a monster. Dark Golbat & Dark Crobat’s Pokémon Powers allow you to easily knock out Baby Pokémon without even needing to attack. By taking out your opponent’s Cleffa, they’ll lose their ability to Eeeeeeek, leaving them vulnerable to Lass. From there, Sneasel proceeds unchecked, delivering massive Beat Up attacks. Hyper Devolution Spray allows you to re-use Dark Crobat’s Surprise Bite, giving you additional easy prizes against any other Baby Pokémon your opponent puts down.
Tip: Despite the way it is worded, Metal Energy does not block the damage from Dark Golbat nor Dark Crobat’s Pokémon Powers. Use these Powers to weaken high HP Pokémon (like Steelix) so that Sneasel’s Beat Up has a chance at a one-hit KO!
Dragonplume 
🤡 Fun to Play
| Pokémon (22) | Trainers (25) | Energy (13) |
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Dragonplume aims to take full advantage of Dark Gloom’s Pollen Stench. While this Power is generally risky to use, Dragonite’s Step In allows you to sub out your Confused Pokémon after flipping Tails. But the strongest aspect of this deck isn’t just that you can get out of Confusion, but rather use it to your advantage. By promoting Dark Vileplume and then using Pollen Stench, you give yourself an opportunity to confuse Dark Vileplume, disabling its Hay Fever Pokémon Power. This allows you a one-sided turn of powerful Trainers (like Super Energy Removal and Gold Berry) that ends with a Step In and Slam attack, reactivating Hay Fever in the process.
Kingdra 
🏆 Top Deck
| Pokémon (19) | Trainers (30) | Energy (11) |
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Kingdra’s Genetic Memory allows you to repeatedly attack with Seadra’s Mud Splash attack, gradually overwhelming the opponent. Boasting 90 HP and the ability to attack for a single Energy, Kingdra makes a great combo with Pokémon Center, with Focus Band providing opportunities to heal 80 damage.
Light Dragonite
| Pokémon (17) | Trainers (30) | Energy (13) |
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Given how many decks rely on Darkness Energy & Metal Energy, Light Dragonite’s Miraculous Wind creates a lot of favorable match-ups in the Base–Neo format.
Tip: Attach Metal Energy to Light Dragonite, as it will not reduce the damage it does. (However, it won’t reduce damage Light Dragonite takes, either.)
Light Golduck 
| Pokémon (18) | Trainers (29) | Energy (13) |
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Special Energy is ubiquitous in the Base–Neo format, so Light Golduck’s Core Blast can do some major damage. Noctowl’s Glaring Gaze and No Removal Gym will work together to protect your Light Golduck from Super Energy Removal, allowing you to repeat this deadly attack.
Metal Chansey 
🌠 Iconic Deck
| Pokémon (12) | Trainers (34) | Energy (14) |
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Developed by Alex Brosseau, who would use the deck to win the 15+ event at the 2002 World Championships, this deck aims to reduce and heal Chansey’s Double-edge self-damage, allowing you to deliver repeating Double-edge attacks. As if a 120 HP Pokémon protected with Metal Energy wasn’t hard enough to deal with, the deck fits a 3/3 Energy Removal/Super Energy Removal line.
Tip: Lead with Scyther’s Slash to try to KO baby Pokémon, preserving Chansey for your opponent’s stronger Pokémon.
Metal Mewtwo 
🏆 Top Deck
| Pokémon (15) | Trainers (31) | Energy (14) |
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If you thought playing against Lickitung was agonizing, try playing against a skilled player’s Metal Mewtwo deck. The general strategy of the deck is to eventually use Mewtwo’s Energy Absorption to maintain several Metal Energy on Mewtwo, making it difficult to knock out. While your opponent struggles to attack against your Baby Pokémon and Mewtwo, you’ll hit them with repeating Energy Removal and Super Energy Removals. Pokémon Tower keeps Recycle Energy from returning to their hand, ensuring no Energy is safe. When your opponent eventually starts to pass, unable to attack through their Energy drought, that’s when you retreat to Aipom and use Pilfer, attempting to recover what will usually be Energy Removal or Super Energy Removal. Games will drag as you slowly deplete your opponent’s Energy to zero, while your ability to shuffle Aipom back into the deck ensures it is your opponent who will deck out first.
Paint Lock 
| Pokémon (27) | Trainers (21) | Energy (12) |
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This deck aims to land a game-winning Mean Look by using Dark Vileplume to block your opponent’s only ways of escaping. Smeargle allows you to Paint your opponent’s Pokémon into Psychic-type, creating Mean Look targets, while Erika’s Victreebel ensures they can’t hide safely on the Bench. If nothing stands out as an easy target, though, you can always go for a Mean Look on Cleffa. (Just remember, you’ll have to flip any time you use Feint Attack with Cleffa active, regardless of what Pokémon you’re aiming to hit.)
Tip: One way a desperate opponent can remove their Mean Looked Cleffa is by attaching a Darkness Energy to it, using the Energy damage to knock it out. Paint a Cleffa Darkness type to prevent it from taking this damage, ensuring a Mean Look will permanently trap it.
Rain Dance 
| Pokémon (13) | Trainers (33) | Energy (14) |
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A straight-forward deck, Pokémon Breeder allows you to attack with Blastoise as early as the second turn. Rain Dance not only allows you to quickly power Blastoise, but also provides extra Energy for Super Energy Removal and Super Potion.
Rocket’s Zapdos/Muk 
🌠 Iconic Deck
| Pokémon (14) | Trainers (32) | Energy (14) |
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Abusing the self-damage technicality on Metal Energy, Rocket’s Zapdos’s Electroburn becomes even stronger in Base–Neo. Not needing Recycle Energy, the deck can run Pokémon Tower & 4-4 Energy Removal/Super Energy Removal to deplete the opponent’s Energy cards.
Tip: Avoid opening with Rocket’s Zapdos whenever possible. Plasma’s 20 damage is just short of a knockout on Baby Pokémon and will not put enough pressure against Cleffa early in the game, leaving you susceptible to the Lass + Eeeeeeek combo.
Sneasel/Aerodactyl 
🤑 Cheap to Build
| Pokémon (13) | Trainers (35) | Energy (12) |
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With an Aerodactyl out as quickly as Turn 1 thanks to Fossil Egg, any deck relying on Evolved Pokémon can quickly crumble to Sneasel’s Beat Up.
Tip: If your opponent plays Igglybuff, you’ll need multiple Aerodactyl to prevent them from evolving Pokémon. In order to do this, you’ll need to play Fossil Egg to get your second Aerodactyl out, as Mysterious Fossil cannot evolve once Aerodactyl is in play.
Sneasel/Noctowl 
🤑 Cheap to Build
| Pokémon (16) | Trainers (32) | Energy (12) |
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Noctowl’s Glaring Gaze helps protect Sneasel from Energy Removal & Super Energy Removal. The combination of Glaring Gaze plus Chaos Gym also create opportunities for strong Mean Look attacks.
Tip: Be cautious when playing against a deck with Pichu. You may sometimes need to hold off on evolving a Hoothoot to avoid giving your opponent too many targets for its Zzzap attack.
Sneasel/Porygon2 
| Pokémon (16) | Trainers (32) | Energy (12) |
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Being limited to four Darkness and Rainbow Energies in your deck, Sneasel has always been vulnerable to Super Energy Removal. With Porygon2’s Energy Conversion, you can convert Basic Energy cards to Darkness type, ensuring you have enough Darkness Energy to survive Super Energy Removal and keep the Beat Up attacks coming. As an added bonus, Dark Porygon2 fits nicely in the deck, allowing you to easily maintain useful Stadium Cards in play, like Ecogym or Chaos Gym.
Snichu 
🌠 Iconic Deck
| Pokémon (13) | Trainers (34) | Energy (12) |
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With 14 free-retreating Pokémon, this deck not only easily retreats to Cleffa for a crucial Turn 1 Eeeeeeek, but also benefits from being able to play Double Gust, which functions like a Gust of Wind and Switch in one. Chaos Gym helps protect Sneasel from Energy Removal & Super Energy Removal and Energy Charge recovers lost Darkness Energy.
Tip: Try to fill your Bench and get some Pokémon Tools down before dropping Chaos Gym. (You don’t want it to hinder you more than your oppponent!)
Steelix/Noctowl
| Pokémon (16) | Trainers (33) | Energy (11) |
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Steelix’s worst enemies are Energy Removal & Super Energy Removal and Ecogym by itself isn’t always enough to protect your precious Metal Energy cards. Combine Ecogym with Noctowl’s Glaring Gaze, though, and your opponent will struggle to break through the wall that is a 110 HP Steelix with plenty of Gold Berries.
Tip: Both Gold Berry and Metal Energy can also be used to defend your Noctowl from Pichu’s Zzzap.
Typhlosion 
🤡 Fun to Play 💰 Expensive to Build
| Pokémon (19) | Trainers (29) | Energy (12) |
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While the main idea is to attack with Typhlosion’s Heat Tackle, the inclusion of Blaine’s Charmander and one Moltres gives this deck the option to shift gears into a stall deck that can run the opponent out of Energy.
Venusaur 
🤡 Fun to Play
| Pokémon (18) | Trainers (30) | Energy (12) |
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The classic Pokémon Center & Energy Trans combo continues to work in the Base to Neo format, mostly thanks to Solarbeam’s ability to score a one-hit KO on Sneasel. Energy Stadium offers the deck a new weapon against Super Energy Removal, while Dodrio allows you to easily fall back to Cleffa and Eeeeeeek when you find yourself in a pinch.
Wigglytuff/Muk 
🤑 Cheap to Build
| Pokémon (16) | Trainers (32) | Energy (12) |
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Baby Pokémon are perfect for filling your Bench to boost Wigglytuff’s Do the Wave damage, as their free retreat make them poor Gust of Wind targets for your opponent. Another thing Wigglytuff gains from the Neo sets is Recycle Energy, which reduces its vulnerability to Super Energy Removal.
Tip: Don’t wait to play Balloon Berry on a benched Muk. That way, if your opponent uses Gust of Wind, followed by Lass, Muk will not be stranded Active.
Fun Match-Ups
Here’s some match-ups you can play with a friend if you’re looking for decks that are close to even against each other and that are likely to produce fun and interactive games.
- Sneasel/Noctowl vs Kingdra
- Sneasel/Noctowl vs Rain Dance
- Sneasel/Noctowl vs Venusaur
- Snichu vs Rain Dance
- Snichu vs Steelix/Noctowl
- Snichu vs Venusaur
- Sneasel/Porygon2 vs Rain Dance
- Sneasel/Porygon2 vs Steelix/Noctowl
- Sneasel/Porygon2 vs Venusaur
- Kingdra vs Rain Dance
- Kingdra vs Venusaur
Why Play Base–Neo?
While the formats that preceded the Neo sets feature many of the same Pokémon and decks, the Neo expansions enabled a variety of new decks and strategies. Several of these included Evolved Pokémon, which were overshadowed in most of the earliest formats. Thanks to Cleffa, the Base–Neo format restored the skill-based element of preserving cards for the right turn, creating a format with not only variety, but one that rewarded skillful and resourceful play as well.
That said, the Base–Neo format is far from perfect. Players with a weak opening hand can succumb quickly to a Turn 1 Lass & Eeeeeeek and even the games that do develop into drawn-out battles of wits tend to exchange a huge amount of coin flips that can feel repetitive. Nonetheless, the Neo sets created the second true era of the TCG and are an enjoyable part of Pokémon TCG history to revisit.
Tips for Playing Base–Neo
Now that you’ve seen the deck lists, here’s some tips for playing the Base–Neo format:
- When your opening hand contains one Baby Pokémon and one regular Basic, start with the Baby Pokémon and consider holding the other Basic in your hand, especially if it has a retreat cost. Though a 30 HP Baby Pokémon has a chance at being knocked out, players will generally go for an Eeeeeeek Turn 1. Forcing them to need a coin flip to successfully Eeeeeeek can slow them down. Benching the second Pokémon gives your opponent a Gust of Wind target can give them a free Eeeeeeek while also slowing you down.
- Use Rainbow Energy to boost a Pokémon equipped with Gold Berry from 30 damage to 40, which will activate Gold Berry at the end of the turn.
- Don’t rush into going for early KOs. Instead, take your time setting up with Cleffa’s Eeeeeeek and even when you have an attack that can KO your opponent’s Cleffa, consider Eeeeeeeking again. The idea is to hold off on attacking until you’ve built a board that can withstand your opponent’s Trainers, like Super Energy Removal & Lass.
- In the first turns of the game, try to play Lass before benching Pokémon with a retreat cost, especially those with 2 or 3 retreat costs. This will protect these Pokémon from becoming Gust of Wind targets for your opponent.
- If you plan to Eeeeeeek away a Recycle Energy and haven’t yet attached an Energy card, attach it to a Benched Pokémon with a one Retreat Cost. Since retreating is unlimited in the Base to Neo format, you can always retreat multiple times to restore the Recycle Energy to your hand.
Understanding Metal Energy’s Self-Damage Rule
Metal Energy is perhaps the trickiest card of the Wizards era because of how it functions with self-damage. Once you understand how it works, though, you’ll also understand why it was so powerful.
First, start with the simple part: the Pokémon Metal Energy is attached to takes 10 less damage from attacks. So if we have a Metal Energy attached to a Steelix, a Venusaur, a Squirtle, any Pokémon at all, that Pokémon is taking 10 less damage when it’s attacked.
Next, let’s look at Metal Energy’s drawback: if the Pokémon it’s attached to is not a Metal-type Pokémon, the damage that Pokémon deals is reduced by 10. As an example, if we attached a Metal Energy to a
Continuing further, if you read Metal Energy carefully, you’ll notice this damage reduction for non-Metal type Pokémon doesn’t apply only to damage done to the Defending Pokémon, but rather any Pokémon at all. So if we attached a Metal Energy to a Fossil
Still following? It’s about to get a little trickier. Since Metal Energy reduces the damage non-Metal type Pokémon deal to any other Pokémon, this includes damage that Pokémon deals to itself as well. Take Base Set Chansey as an example, which has a Double-edge attack that deals 80 damage to the Defending Pokémon and 80 damage to itself. Since Chansey is not a Metal-type Pokémon, if we attached a Metal Energy to it, its Double-edge damage would be reduced to 70, both to the Defending Pokémon and to itself. But wait! Don’t forget that Metal Energy always reduces damage that Pokémon takes as well. This means Double-edge’s self-damage is reduced by another 10! The end result is an attack that deals 70 damage to the Defending Pokémon and 60 damage to Chansey. Confused? Perhaps a simpler way of explaining it is that when a non-Metal type Pokémon has Metal Energy attached, both the damage it does and the damage it takes are each reduced by 10. Self-damage qualifies as both of these. This technicality, as odd as it seems, is the proper way to play the card and was confirmed by official rules sources in Japan. Metal Energy would also “stack,” meaning a Chansey with two Metal Energy attached would Double-edge for 60 to the Defending Pokémon and 40 to itself.
Obtaining Neo Cards
When it comes to building decks, the Base–Neo format is more costly than the earliest formats. That’s because the Neo expansions were not printed in as high of a quantity as the previous sets, creating a limited amount of rare and holographic cards. (Before its
The End of Wizards’ Standard Format
The Neo expansions marked the effective end of Wizards of the Coast’s Standard format (Base Set-On) and all the powerful Trainer cards that dominated the game for years. Though Standard remained popular at local tournaments and leagues, all major events would switch the Modified format, which rotated out Pokémon’s first three sets to create a slower, more Evolution-based game.