After the release of Cosmic Eclipse, plenty of players were unsure on how the metagame would settle. The community talked highly of Arceus & Dialga & Palkia-GX [Unified Minds 156], that Pidgeotto [Team Up 123] would be broken with Bellelba & Brycen-Man [Cosmic Eclipse 186], and we all thought that Malamar [Forbidden Light 51] was a dead deck. Well, after the results of São Paulo, Daytona Beach, and San Diego, we learned a thing or two about Standard. This article will showcase the top five decks in Standard, a brief strategy for each deck, and my personal deck list for each deck. If you don’t own all of the cards for each of these decks on PTCGO, feel free to use code zlesage5 to save 5% on your order. Trust me, you will need these cards! That being said let’s jump into these decks.

5. Pidgeotto Control

This Pokemon TCG deck thrives on stopping your opponent from doing much in general. You might wondering “How?” and I’m here to tell ya. You have a bunch of strong control cards such as Power Plant, Bellelba & Brycen-Man, Jesse & James [Hidden Fates], and more! You can use these Pokemon cards each turn and you can sometimes double up with Lt. Surge’s Strategy to devastate your opponents plan. You can recycle these cards back with Oranguru [Ultra Prism] and draw back into them with Pidgeotto [Team Up]. You can complete this strategy each turn by selecting the cards that will best handle your opponent’s board and gathering them back each turn as well. Once you get your opponent to a position when they draw & pass immediately after, you can abuse Bellelba & Brycen-Man to discard the top three cards of their Pokemon TCG deck each turn. You don’t draw Prize Cards with this deck, but you can definitely deck your opponent out. If you want to wipe that smile off your opponents face, I highly recommend playing this control deck!
Pokemon - 19
  • 4 Oranguru UPR 114
  • 4 Pidgeotto TEU 123
  • 3 Pidgey TEU 122
  • 1 Pidgey TEU 121
  • 2 Articuno-GX CES 31
  • 3 Jirachi PR-SM 161
  • 1 Ditto Prism Star LOT 154
  • 1 Girafarig LOT 94
Trainer Cards - 37
  • 2 Power Plant UNB 183
  • 4 Professor Elm's Lecture LOT 188
  • 2 Bellelba & Brycen-Man CEC 186
  • 2 Lt. Surge's Strategy HIF 60
  • 2 Tate & Liza CES 148
  • 1 Jesse & James HIF 58
  • 1 Faba LOT 173
  • 1 Mars UPR 128
  • 4 Crushing Hammer SUM 115
  • 4 Pokégear 3.0 UNB 182
  • 4 Acro Bike CES 123
  • 3 Custom Catcher LOT 171
  • 2 Chip-Chip Ice Axe UNB 165
  • 2 Reset Stamp UNM 206
  • 2 Pal Pad UPR 132
  • 1 Escape Board UPR 122
Energy - 4
  • 3 Water Energy
  • 1 Recycle Energy UNM 212

4. Reshiram & Charizard-GX Toolbox

If you like it hot, sometimes you need to dive right into the fire. Umm, well, this is a Fire-type Pokemon TCG deck so I guess my awful pun works. Moving on... this is one of those Welder [Unbroken Bonds] decks that thrives off attaching Energy! You have a full suite of cards to help you acquire Energy such as Giant Hearth, Fiery Flint [Dragon Majesty], and Fire Crystal to name a few. Welder is the perfect partner to all of these strong attackers because you can attack in a pinch with Mega Lopunny & Jigglypuff-GX [Cosmic Eclipse] or move all of your Energy to the Active with Heatran-GX [Unified Minds] in a pinch. Mix that up with Ninetales being able to bring up Pokémon whenever you want and you have a great deck on your hands! My favorite part about the deck is that it is super consistent with Jirachi and Dedenne-GX so you rarely ever have poor draws with this deck!
Pokemon - 17
  • 4 Jirachi PR-SM 161
  • 3 Dedenne-GX UNB 57
  • 2 Ninetales TEU 16
  • 2 Vulpix TEU 15
  • 1 Mega Lopunny & Jigglypuff-GX CEC 226
  • 1 Reshiram & Charizard-GX PR-SM 201
  • 1 Victini Prism Star DRM 7
  • 1 Turtonator DRM 50
  • 1 Heatran-GX UNM 25
  • 1 Absol TEU 88
Trainer Cards - 26
  • 2 Giant Hearth UNM 197
  • 1 Heat Factory Prism Star LOT 178
  • 4 Welder UNB 189
  • 1 Cynthia & Caitlin CEC 189
  • 4 Pokémon Communication TEU 152
  • 4 Cherish Ball UNM 191
  • 4 Switch CES 147
  • 2 Escape Board UPR 122
  • 2 Fiery Flint DRM 60
  • 1 Fire Crystal UNB 173
  • 1 Pal Pad UPR 132
Energy - 17
  • 17 Fire Energy

3. Malamar / Giratina

If you have noticed a trend so far, you will notice that most top decks run off a Jirachi [Team Up] engine and they usually have an additional strategy going for them. Malamar [Forbidden Light] isn’t different because it is the only single Prize Card attacking deck on this list and it brings Energy acceleration with it too! The goal of this deck is to setup plenty of Inkay on your first turn, Evolve them into Malamar, and start swinging int your opponent’s Pokémon. It is a fairly easy strategy to do, but the deck has some technical plays that can make it a tough deck to pilot at times. You need to carefully choose your secondary attackers, decide when to utilize them, and this deck does have a decent bit of spread damage. Between Spell Tag and using Distortion Door with Giratina [Lost Thunder], this deck does have quite a bit of micro-decisions. That being said, it is a super powerful deck when it gets setup and it has a lot of answers to the top decks being played right now.
Pokemon - 20
Trainer Cards - 32
  • 2 Viridian Forest TEU 156
  • 4 Cynthia UPR 119
  • 4 Lillie UPR 125
  • 1 Faba LOT 173
  • 4 Mysterious Treasure FLI 113
  • 4 Acro Bike CES 123
  • 3 Pokémon Communication TEU 152
  • 3 Spell Tag LOT 190
  • 2 Escape Board UPR 122
  • 2 Great Catcher CEC 192
  • 2 Switch CES 147
  • 1 Lana's Fishing Rod CEC 195
Energy - 8
  • 7 Psychic Energy
  • 1 Fighting Energy

2. Arceus & Dialga & Palkia-GX / Keldeo-GX

Have you ever wanted to draw extra Prize Cards? Well? Arceus & Dialga & Palkia-GX [Cosmic Eclipse] can totally allow you to do that and more. Between drawing extra Prize Cards, doing extra damage, and accelerating Energy, this deck has a strong foundation of a Pokemon TCG deck and it has a bunch of support Pokémon to make it better. Keldeo-GX [Unified Minds] is great at stopping GX Pokémon, Mimikyu [Team Up] can hurt Pokémon with a Fairy-type Weakness, and more! This deck is well nestled inside a consistent Jirachi shell and it even makes use of an underrated Support card, Rosa. When your Pokémon get Knocked Out, you can always jump back into a game by utilizing Rosa to grab whatever you need. Overall, this deck is leading the way in terms of the power creep and I really enjoy this deck. If you are looking to play a super powerful deck, this one is my top choice!
Pokemon - 13
  • 4 Jirachi PR-SM 161
  • 2 Arceus & Dialga & Palkia-GX CEC 221
  • 2 Keldeo-GX UNM 47
  • 1 Cryogonal UNM 46
  • 1 Girafarig LOT 94
  • 1 Mimikyu TEU 112
  • 1 Drampa CEC 159
  • 1 Absol TEU 88
Trainer Cards - 34
  • 4 Cynthia UPR 119
  • 2 Mallow & Lana CEC 198
  • 2 Cynthia & Caitlin CEC 189
  • 2 Mallow & Lana CEC 198
  • 2 Rosa CEC 204
  • 1 Guzma & Hala CEC 193
  • 4 Custom Catcher LOT 171
  • 3 Pokémon Communication TEU 152
  • 3 Tag Call CEC 206
  • 3 Switch CES 147
  • 2 Escape Board UPR 122
  • 2 Reset Stamp UNM 206
  • 1 Great Catcher CEC 192
  • 1 Counter Gain LOT 170
  • 1 Cherish Ball UNM 191
Energy - 13
  • 6 Water Energy
  • 5 Metal Energy
  • 2 Rainbow Energy CES 151

Mewtwo & Mew-GX Toolbox

And here we are, the best Pokemon TCG deck in our Standard format. Before anyone decides to comment a bout counters not this deck, I want to clarify something about this deck. It is the best deck, but it also has plenty of viable counters. Decks that didn’t make this list, such as Gardevoir & Sylveon-GX [Unbroken Bonds], can totally take wins off of Mewtwo & Mew-GX. The reason why this is the best deck is because it is the most versatile deck in the format. Perfection being able to copy any GX Pokemon makes it one of the most powerful Pokémon that have ever been printed. Wanna snipe? Use Naganadel-GX. Wanna accelerate Energy? Use Solgaleo-GX. Wanna search for some cards? Use Charizard & Braixen-GX! This deck has all of that and it runs off a consistent Welder / Jirachi engine! I highly recommend giving this Pokemon TCG deck a whirl if you want to test your skills as a Pokémon player.
Pokemon - 21
  • 4 Jirachi PR-SM 161
  • 3 Mewtwo & Mew-GX PR-SM 191
  • 3 Dedenne-GX UNB 57
  • 1 Mega Lopunny & Jigglypuff-GX CEC 226
  • 1 Reshiram & Charizard-GX PR-SM 201
  • 1 Charizard & Braixen-GX CEC 22
  • 1 Espeon & Deoxys-GX UNM 72
  • 1 Naganadel-GX UNM 160
  • 1 Charizard-GX PR-SM 21
  • 1 Solgaleo-GX PR-SM 104
  • 1 Marshadow UNB 81
  • 1 Turtonator DRM 50
  • 1 Latios-GX UNM 78
  • 1 Mewtwo PR-SM 214
Trainer Cards - 27
  • 3 Giant Hearth UNM 197
  • 4 Welder UNB 189
  • 1 Mallow & Lana CEC 198
  • 1 Guzma & Hala CEC 193
  • 1 Faba LOT 173
  • 4 Cherish Ball UNM 191
  • 2 Mysterious Treasure FLI 113
  • 2 Great Catcher CEC 192
  • 2 Escape Board UPR 122
  • 2 Reset Stamp UNM 206
  • 2 Tag Call CEC 206
  • 2 Switch CES 147
  • 1 Stealthy Hood UNB 186
Energy - 12
  • 8 Fire Energy
  • 3 Rainbow Energy CES 151
  • 1 Weakness Guard Energy UNM 213
Even though I have said it a few times in this article, I will put it here one last time in case you missed it. All of the cards in this article, in various art styles, are available on PTCGO. If you don’t already own them, you can pick up code cards from here, on PTCGOstore.com, to handpick the sets you want to open. Sometimes cards are available in special promo boxes and you will be able to handpick the cards you want to acquire. Don’t forget that my promo code for this site, zlesage5, is valid on all orders! Anyways, I hope this article has enlightened you on the top decks in our Standard format and that you are ready to tackle your next event. Whether you are playing at a League Cup or a Regional Championship somewhere around the globe, these decks are the absolute best of the best. And again, if you are missing any cards in your PTCGO collection, use code zlesage5 to save 5% off your order! Thanks so much and Happy Holidays!


About the Writer

Zach LesageZach Lesage
Zach Lesage is a contributing writer for PTCGOstore.com. As a Toronto local, he has been playing the Pokemon TCG since 2005 and currently plays the game as his full time profession. With multiple Champion titles to his name, such as 2019 Collinsville Regionals and 2019 Mexico City Special Event, he certainly has a passion for success. Outside of the game, he travels the world and enjoys high fashion - particular Off-White. You can find him at most big events, and can follow him on Twitter @zlesagepokemon.