Table of Contents
Blastoise 
🏆 Top Deck 🌠 Iconic Deck 🤡 Fun to Play
| Pokémon (14) | Trainers (33) | Energy (13) |
|
3x 3x 3x 2x 1x 1x 1x |
1x 4x 3x 3x 2x 1x 4x 4x 3x 2x 2x 2x 1x 1x |
10x 3x |
Your ideal first turn will will be benching a Squirtle and then using Tropical Beach, hoping to secure a hand that can produce a Blastoise on the following turn. From there, Blastoise’s Deluge can fuel Keldeo-EX’s Secret Sword, which will deal enough damage KO all but the highest-HP Pokémon. For those, you’ll use Black Kyurem-EX’s Black Ballista. With eight Item cards requiring you to discard two cards, you’ll find Exeggcute’s Propagation very helpful.
Darkrai-EX 
🏆 Top Deck 🌠 Iconic Deck
| Pokémon (10) | Trainers (40) | Energy (10) |
|
4x 3x 1x 1x 1x |
1x 3x 4x 4x 4x 4x 4x 4x 3x 2x 2x 2x 1x 1x 1x |
10x |
Ultra Ball and Professor Juniper allow you to discard Darkness Energy so that you can power up Darkrai-EX with Dark Patch. You’ll want to end your first turn with a Junk Hunt that can produce an attacking Darkrai-EX on Turn 2, which often involves an Energy Switch borrowing an Energy from a free-retreating Sableye. From there, your goal is to end every subsequent turn with a Night Spear attack, carefully choosing where to place 30 damage on your opponent’s Bench. With Dark Claw and the Virbank City Gym/Hypnotoxic Laser duo, all of the damage will eventually overwhelm your opponent’s board.
Empoleon 
🌠 Iconic Deck
| Pokémon (18) | Trainers (35) | Energy (7) |
|
4x 2x 4x 2x 1x 1x 1x 1x 1x 1x |
1x 3x 4x 4x 2x 4x 4x 2x 2x 1x 1x 1x 1x 1x 1x 1x 1x 1x |
7x |
Thanks to Exeggcute’s Propagation, you can repeatedly use Empoleon’s Diving Draw without ever needing to sacrifice a valuable card. Each Diving Draw will help you improve your board, eventually giving you more Empoleons than your opponent can handle.
Flareon/Cofagrigus 
🤡 Fun to Play
| Pokémon (27) | Trainers (29) | Energy (4) |
|
4x 4x 4x 4x 4x 4x 2x 1x |
1x 4x 4x 4x 4x 4x 3x 2x 1x 1x 1x |
4x |
With 4 Ultra Ball and 4 Professor Juniper, as well as 1 Computer Search, you’ve got nine Trainers that can fuel Flareon’s Vengeance attack. Cofagrigus’s Six Feet Under weakens your opponent’s Pokémon while further boosting your Vengeance damage, simultaneously making N more effective as well. When you draw well, you’ll not only be able to knock out Pokémon-EX on the second turn of the game, but also hit your opponent with a nasty N, leaving them in a tough spot against your hard-hitting Flareon.
Tip: Transform your Ditto into Yamask so that when you use Cofagrigus’s Six Feet Under, you discard one additional Pokémon.
Flygon 
| Pokémon (21) | Trainers (35) | Energy (4) |
|
4x 1x 4x 3x 2x 2x 1x 1x 1x 1x 1x |
1x 4x 4x 4x 2x 2x 4x 3x 3x 3x 2x 1x 1x 1x |
4x |
After attacking with Accelgor’s Deck & Cover, you’ll promote Flygon, using its Sand Slammer Ability to spread damage across your opponent’s board. As you repeat this attack, the damage will build, allowing you to eventually use Dusknoir’s Sinister Hand to pile the damage on to your opponent’s best Pokémon for knockouts.
Garchomp 
| Pokémon (19) | Trainers (29) | Energy (12) |
|
4x 3x 4x 4x 4x |
1x 2x 4x 3x 3x 2x 4x 2x 2x 2x 2x 1x 1x |
7x 2x 3x |
Level Ball gives you easy access to Gible and Swablu. From there, all you’ll need is a single Gabite for things to fall into place. Dragon Call allows you to easily evolve your Swablu to Altaria, pumping up Garchomp’s attacks. With multiple Altaria on your Bench, Garchomp’s Dragonblade can one-hit KO even the highest HP Pokemon-EX.
Tip: Dragon Call for a second Gabite, giving yourself multiple Dragon Calls on the following turn.
Gothitelle/Accelgor 
🏆 Top Deck 🌠 Iconic Deck
| Pokémon (21) | Trainers (35) | Energy (4) |
|
4x 1x 4x 3x 2x 2x 1x 1x 1x 1x 1x |
1x 4x 4x 3x 3x 2x 4x 4x 3x 2x 2x 1x 1x 1x |
4x |
Your opponent’s best ways of breaking free from Paralysis are usually Item Cards. That’s why Gothitelle makes the perfect partner for Accelgor. After using Accelgor’s Deck & Cover, you’ll promote Gothitelle, locking the Paralyzed Pokémon in place. Mew-EX allows you to use Deck & Cover without shuffling away Accelgor, making it easier to repeat this attack. If things go perfectly, you may even be able to create the perfect lock, using Dusknoir’s Sinnister Hand to permanently trap your opponent’s Active Pokémon.
Tip: If you encounter Keldeo-EX, you’ll need to use Pokémon Catcher to bring it active so that it can be Paralyzed by Deck & Cover. Otherwise, your opponent can simply use Rush In to break out of Paralysis.
Klinklang 
🤹♂️ Difficult to Play
| Pokémon (17) | Trainers (31) | Energy (12) |
|
4x 2x 2x 2x 2x 1x 1x 1x 1x 1x |
1x 3x 4x 4x 2x 2x 4x 3x 2x 2x 2x 1x 1x |
8x 4x |
Klinklang’s Plasma Steel protects your Metal-type Pokémon from Pokémon-EX, forcing your opponent to attack with regular Pokémon, which generally deal less damage. You can then take advantage of your opponent’s low-damage output by evolving to Black & White Klinklang, using its Shift Gears Ability to preserve your Energy cards when healing with Max Potion. Pokémon Catcher allows you to target your opponent’s regular Pokémon, helping you rid their board of Pokémon that can damage yours!
Tip: Avoid benching too many non-Metal-type Pokémon, which aren’t protected by Klinklang’s Plasma Steel.
Landorus-EX/Mewtwo-EX 
🐣 Suitable for Beginners
| Pokémon (12) | Trainers (36) | Energy (12) |
|
4x 2x 1x 2x 2x 1x |
1x 3x 4x 4x 4x 4x 4x 4x 3x 2x 1x 1x 1x |
8x 4x |
Simple and straight-forward, this deck aims to apply quick pressure by leading with Landorus-EX’s Hammerhead. To deal with your opponent’s strongest Pokémon, you can power up either Landorus’s Land’s Judgment or Mewtwo-EX’s X-Ball. Pokémon Catcher & Hypnotoxic Laser help you score fast knockouts, while Giant Cape & Max Potion (as well as Garbodor’s Garbotoxin) make drawing prizes difficult for your opponent.
Lugia-EX 
| Pokémon (10) | Trainers (38) | Energy (12) |
|
4x 3x 2x 1x |
1x 2x 4x 3x 2x 1x 1x 4x 4x 4x 3x 2x 2x 2x 1x 1x 1x |
1x 4x 4x 3x |
This turbo variant of the Plasma deck is focused entirely on Lugia-EX’s Plasma Gale attack. Thundurus EX’s Raiden Knuckle and Colress Machine help you power up Lugia-EX, while the damage from Raiden Knuckle and Frozen City help ensure its Plasma Gale attack lands a KO. When you target Pokémon-EX, you can win the game with as little as two knockouts!
Plasma 
🌠 Iconic Deck
| Pokémon (12) | Trainers (35) | Energy (13) |
|
4x 3x 2x 1x 1x 1x |
1x 2x 4x 4x 3x 1x 4x 4x 3x 3x 3x 1x 1x 1x |
2x 2x 4x 4x 1x |
The Plasma deck has two solid options for a Turn-1 attack. The first is Thundurus-EX’s Raiden Knuckle, which can help power up Kyurem’s Blizzard Burn. The second is Kyurem’s Frost Spear, which will require assistance in the form of Colress Machine. Both of these attacks can put heavy pressure on your opponent on the first turn, especially in a deck that maxes out on both Hypnotoxic Laser and Pokémon Catcher. When your big attacks start coming, it doesn’t take long for decks to crumble.
Rayquaza-EX/Eelektrik 
🏆 Top Deck 🌠 Iconic Deck
| Pokémon (15) | Trainers (31) | Energy (14) |
|
4x 4x 3x 2x 1x 1x |
1x 3x 4x 3x 2x 2x 4x 3x 3x 3x 1x 1x 1x |
10x 4x |
Using Eelektrik’s Dynamotor Ability, you can power up huge Dragon Burst attacks from Rayquaza-EX. Keldeo-EX’s Rush In allows you to bring Rayquaza-EX to the Bench to be recharged, allowing you to keep the attacks coming. A heavy supply of Ultra Ball & Level Ball ensures you can get the multiple Eelektrik you’ll need and also helps you easily replace them when your opponent targets their low HP.
Tip: Use Raikou-EX’s Volt Bolt to knock out a benched Garbodor, restoring access to your Abilities.
Round 
🐣 Suitable for Beginners
| Pokémon (14) | Trainers (39) | Energy (7) |
|
4x 2x 4x 4x |
1x 4x 4x 4x 3x 2x 4x 4x 3x 3x 3x 2x 2x |
3x 4x |
It couldn’t be simpler: fill your Bench with Meloetta-EX, Palpitoad and Seismitoad, then deliver huge Round attacks from Seismitoad.
Sableye/Garbodor 
🏆 Top Deck
| Pokémon (9) | Trainers (45) | Energy (6) |
|
4x 3x 2x |
1x 4x 4x 4x 4x 4x 3x 3x 3x 2x 2x 2x 2x 1x 1x 1x 1x 1x 1x 1x |
6x |
Using Sableye’s Junk Hunt to recover Crushing Hammer and Enhanced Hammer, your eventual goal is to deplete your opponent’s Energy Cards, then win by decking them out. To make things even harder on your opponent, you can use Junk Hunt to continuously restore Life Dew to your hand, denying your opponent multiple prize cards over the course of the game. The best counters to this strategy are Abilities that can flood the board with Energy, like Eelektrik’s Dynamotor, making Garbodor the perfect partner to keep on your Bench.
Stoutland 
| Pokémon (14) | Trainers (39) | Energy (7) |
|
4x 1x 4x 2x 1x 1x 1x |
1x 3x 2x 4x 3x 2x 2x 4x 3x 3x 3x 2x 1x 1x 1x 1x 1x 1x 1x |
2x 1x 4x |
Tropical Beach and Rare Candy give you the best chance at a Turn 2 Stoutland, whose Sentinel Ability will leave your opponent struggling to set up. Palkia-EX’s Strafe allows you to end each turn with Stoutland Active, while keeping your Energy safe on the Bench. The only thing you’ll need to worry about is Pokémon Catcher, but if you can hit your opponent with a Ghetsis before they have a chance to play it, they’ll struggle to re-draw it without the use of Supporter cards.
Tip: Take out your own Tropical Beach with Aspertia City Gym once you’ve gotten your opponent in a bad spot.
Tool Drop 
| Pokémon (12) | Trainers (38) | Energy (10) |
|
4x 4x 1x 1x 1x 1x |
1x 4x 4x 2x 1x 4x 4x 4x 4x 3x 3x 2x 2x |
10x |
Sigilyph’s Toolbox Ability allows you to flood your board with Pokémon Tools, boosting Trubbish’s Tool Drop attack. Reaching huge amounts of damage, Tool Drop will be the only attack you’ll need to mow through your opponent’s Pokémon. Exp. Share ensures you can keep up as your 70-HP Trubbishes are defeated, while Masquerain’s Tool Reversal allows you to always have the right Pokémon Tool for the right moment.
Victini-EX/Terrakion-EX 
| Pokémon (15) | Trainers (29) | Energy (16) |
|
3x 3x 2x 2x 2x 2x 1x |
1x 4x 4x 2x 2x 4x 4x 4x 2x 1x 1x |
9x 7x |
Victini-EX’s Turbo Energize allows you to prepare a Terrakion-EX on the first turn, while an abundance of Energy help you build additional attackers with Terrakion’s Pump-up Smash. With Drifblim & Enhanced Hammer for Plasma decks and Pokémon that can hit the Weaknesses of both Darkrai-EX and Genesect-EX, this deck has answers for just about everything.
Virizion-EX/Genesect-EX 
🌠 Iconic Deck
| Pokémon (10) | Trainers (36) | Energy (14) |
|
4x 3x 1x 1x 1x |
1x 3x 4x 4x 3x 2x 1x 4x 3x 2x 2x 2x 1x 1x 1x 1x 1x |
10x 4x |
With 4 Virizion-EX and 3 Skyarrow Bridge it’s difficult to miss a Turn-2 Emerald Slash, which you’ll use to power up Genesect-EX. Energy Switch ups your odds of pulling off this key Turn-2 attack, while also allowing you to put leftover Grass Energy from Virizion-EX on to Genesect-EX. By accumulating Energy in play, you’ll give yourself the ability to equip G-Booster and one-hit KO your opponent’s Pokémon-EX. Shadow Triad and Town Map ensure you can find G-Booster when it’s needed most.
Weavile 
🤡 Fun to Play
| Pokémon (20) | Trainers (30) | Energy (10) |
|
3x 1x 4x 4x 4x 2x 1x 1x |
1x 4x 4x 1x 4x 3x 3x 3x 2x 1x 1x 1x 1x 1x |
10x |
Four copies of Exeggcute serve as the perfect ammunition for Weavile’s Villify attack, with their Propagation Ability allowing you to discard them turn after turn. Not only that, but your Ultra Balls and Dowsing Machine become easy to play, as you can always retrieve Exeggcute from the discard pile to pay the discard requirement.
Zebstrika 
| Pokémon (12) | Trainers (34) | Energy (14) |
|
4x 4x 1x 2x 1x |
1x 3x 4x 4x 1x 1x 4x 4x 2x 2x 1x 1x 1x 1x 1x 1x 1x 1x |
10x 4x |
Zebstrika’s Disconnect can put your opponent in a tough spot, especially if it beats a key Item card like Rare Candy. Under Disconnect, Garbodor’s Garbotoxin becomes even stronger, as your opponent is left unable to play Tool Scrapper to re-activate their Abilities. With help from Hypnotoxic Laser and a variety of Pokémon Tools, all you’ll need to do to win is repeat Zebstrika’s Disconnect attack until you’ve drawn six prizes.
Tip: Since Zebstrika is an Evolved Pokémon, Prism Energy is not discarded when it uses its Lightning Crash attack.
Black & White Rules
- Setting Up: Set up, then flip a coin. The winner plays first. No restrictions are placed on this player during their first turn. (Restrictions resumed beginning at XY.)
- Burn: Flip a coin in-between turns for Burned Pokémon. If tails, place two damage counters on that Pokémon. Burn stays on the Pokémon until it evolves, devolves, or is benched. (Rules for burn changed at Sun & Moon.)
Everything else in Black & White uses the same rules as modern Pokémon formats. You’ll notice some differences in cards, like the fact that Dragon-type Pokémon are weak to their own type (instead of Fairy, which did not yet exist), but everything else will function the same.
Following Black & White: XY
Beginning at XY, the Pokémon TCG gained some extremely powerful cards, some so strong they resulted in The Pokémon Company International issuing their first competitive card ban. Reminiscent of the infamous Base–Gym format of 2000, the XY sets eventually produced a format full of overpowered combos, where players could draw through their deck to establish a commanding advantage on their first turn.
HeartGold SoulSilver | Black & White | XY