The Theme format in Pokemon TCG Online has been getting no new decks with new expansions, and it seems like we have a permanent meta. The format continues to be an excellent way for new players to enjoy an even playing field in the game, as 500 Tokens (Coins) can get you the best and the worst deck, depending on which you pick.
Since it can be so hard to pick from the available options, here are five of the best Theme Decks in Pokemon TCG Online below.
5. Charizard Theme Deck
The Charizard Theme Deck lacks creativity in its name but offers some pretty interesting dynamics within the deck. Leon, the main Supporter in this deck, lets you do +30 damage for one turn. Charizard does a whopping 100 damage with +50 for each Leon card in your discard pile.
Of course, with the Theme format being a little less crazy than Standard and Expanded, the deck doesn’t allow you to go ham with this damage boost, but it’s still a pretty dangerous combination. The deck is consistent and even the Yanmega, a secondary attacker, can be quite annoying with his 130 damage and bench-switching gimmick.
This is the only Theme Deck in the game that you can easily modify to make a viable Standard deck, which makes it a great purchase for beginners trying to make their own budget deck. If you want to dive straight into deckbuilding and start playing Standard, I’d go for this one over Relentless Flame, the #2 deck on this list. If you get the Charizard Theme Deck twice, you will have most of the important cards that you need in order to make the move up to Standard.
However, if you are new I strongly recommend against jumping into Standard like this, as it is much better to use a broken deck like Relentless Flame or Soaring Storm and have a higher win % for those tournament and Ladder rewards. Those rewards will help you make a much better deck than Charizard Leon, and a much better version of Charizard Leon too.
4. Storm Caller
This deck came out over a year before the rest of the decks on this list, and it isn’t used as often, but it is fantastic and does not have a counter on this list. I didn’t even know it existed until I lost to it a couple of times using the top two decks on this list.
Storm Caller actually uses the Pokemon TCG Lost Zone mechanic, and it uses it to rack up damage. Raikou does an easy 120 damage if you have any Electric Energy cards in the Lost Zone, and Ampharos can let you put your Energy in the Lost Zone while also paralyzing the opponent.
Storm Caller can get pretty annoying for your opponent pretty fast, and its only issue is that it’s not as consistent as Soaring Storm or Relentless Flame. It can absolutely beat them every now and then, and a good early game can improve your odds, but it falls short due to not having a Type-advantage or a quick setup.
3. Unseen Depths
Unseen Depths is great on its own, and you can probably see why. Even on this list, it is surrounded by Fire decks that are powerless in front of your Golducks and Empoleons.
As a standalone, Unseen Depths has a lot going on; its only issue is that it lacks synergy. Empoleon is great, but there’s not much helping it evolve. Kyogre is great, but comes with a high Energy cost. Golduck and Aipom are the only reliable attackers and it helps to get them set up quickly. Empoleon’s Recall attack is also great for fetching useful attacks from its previous evolutions, but unfortunately, you won’t be pulling the evolution off in about half of your matches. When you do, this deck is S-Tier and can compete with the next two on this list easily.
Be sure to check out our Unseen Depths Deck Guide for a better understanding of how you can make the most out of this powerful Water deck.
2. Relentless Flame
This deck would be at #1 if it weren’t a Fire-type deck, as this creates for it a direct counter in Unseen Depths – which does not really have a direct counter in the current meta. Relentless Flame features two fan-favorite Gen 1 Stage 2 evolution lines – Charizard and Nidoqueen – and manages to be great because of Charizard’s ability to accelerate energy, and Nidoqueen’s ability to fetch any Pokemon of choice. Your goal with this deck is to get either of them out as soon as possible.
The third attacker, Rapidash, is decent and relies on a bit of luck to give itself immunity every time it attacks. There are always matches where it just keeps going with the lucky coin flips till your opponent quits, but even without those, Rapidash is a good attacker.
Relentless Flame shines when you’re able to pull off at least one evolution early game; if that evolution is Charizard, you’re pretty much going to win the game. The deck struggles hard against water decks though, and you might as well forfeit if you go up against one. Other than that, Relentless Flame makes the Theme deck Ladder a cakewalk, because not many people are actually using water decks on the Ladder compared to tournaments.
Here’s our Relentless Flame Deck Guide for a more detailed look at how you can pull off easy wins with this deck.
1. Soaring Storm
The moment you buy this deck, the game should drop a notification saying “Welcome to Easy Mode”.
Soaring Storm and Relentless Flame would be tied in the first place if we consider them to be standalone decks, but in the Theme Deck format, the former takes the win. None of the other decks have a Type-advantage against Soaring Storm, but that’s not even the best part.
Soaring Storm also doesn’t have a Type-advantage against any of the other decks and it still manages to outshine every other deck in the format. It’s that broken. It has great starters like Alolan Grimer, quick attackers like Tornadus and Thundurus, late-game attackers like Lanturn and Dragonite, and a crazy card-draw Pokemon like Pidgey. This deck is as good as Theme decks have ever gotten, and it manages to be exceptionally good in spite of having a variety of Pokemon and a Stage 2 evolution line. Even the Trainer cards in this deck complement these cards very well.
If your opponent isn’t running a Water-type deck, I would say Relentless Flame is just as good as Soaring Storm, but you know you’re going to be running into at least one Unseen Depths in a Theme tournament. Here’s a tournament finale featuring a close match between the top two decks.
Here’s our Soaring Storm Deck Guide for a more detailed look into how the deck works and how you can make the most of everything it has to offer.
Endnote
It’s pretty safe to say that these will forever be the best Theme decks in Pokemon TCG Online. While the format won’t be getting updated in the future, Theme decks provide a great way to grind packs in tournaments. It is the most F2P-friendly format in the game and will always be the best way for a beginner to get started with Pokemon TCG Online.
The only other decks that are really even viable in the Theme format are the Rillaboom Deck and Laser Focus, which are frankly very close to the Charizard Theme Deck and would tie at number 6 if we tried to keep this list going.
For Standard and Expanded deck guides and lists, check out our Ultimate Pokemon TCG Online guide and resource list.
