Pokemon TCG Pocket's Triumphant Light Expansion Just Gave Water Decks Another Powerful Card, and Everyone's a Little Over It

The Pokemon TCG Pocket meta has been dominated by a few powerful decks since launch, notably those centered around Misty and water-type Pokemon. The inherent randomness of Misty's ability – flipping coins to determine energy attachment – makes losing to it feel particularly frustrating. While one might expect counters to emerge, recent expansions have only strengthened Misty decks.

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Misty's Supporter card allows the player to choose a water-type Pokemon and flip coins, attaching a water energy for each heads. This can lead to wildly varying outcomes, from a complete waste of resources to an overwhelming early game advantage. This unpredictable nature, combined with the potential for swift victories, is a major source of player frustration.

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Subsequent expansions exacerbated the problem. Mythical Island introduced Vaporeon, enabling energy manipulation, and Space-Time Smackdown added Manaphy, further boosting energy supply. Powerful water-type Pokemon like Palkia ex and Gyarados ex capitalized on this abundance of energy.

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Triumphant Light introduced Irida, another Supporter card that heals 40 damage from water-type Pokemon. This significantly increases the resilience of already powerful water decks, as they can easily spread energy thanks to Misty, Manaphy, and Vaporeon. Previously, grass-type decks were the dominant healers.

Some TCG experts theorize that DeNA introduced Irida to counter Misty's dominance, forcing players to make difficult deck-building choices. With only 20 cards allowed, including Irida necessitates removing other cards. However, many players have successfully incorporated both Irida and Misty into their decks.

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An upcoming in-game event rewards players for winning consecutive matches. The difficulty of achieving a five-match win streak is significantly increased by the prevalence of powerful, luck-based water decks capable of quick victories, especially those utilizing Irida for recovery. As a result, expect a continued dominance of water decks in the upcoming event and beyond. Indeed, adopting a water deck may be a strategic necessity for competitive play.