The Pinsir Starter Deck is a High Damage Deck featuring Pinsir from the Genetic Apex Set in Pokemon Trading Card Game Pocket (PTCG Pocket). Read on for the complete list of cards in this deck, basic information on the deck, how to play the deck, and optimal matchups for it!

Pinsir Starter Deck Guide

Deck Evaluation

Ace Pokemon						Tier Ranking
Pinsir Genetic Apex (A1)			Parasect Genetic Apex (A1)
						Energy Type(s)
						F2P Friendly?
						✔️
						Deck Difficulty
						★
Deck Strengths
Pinsir is a Basic Pokemon that does not need evolving. Parasect is an effective attacker that can do a solid 80 damage.
Deck Weaknesses
Weak to Fire-type decks. A good starter deck but will fall behind more focused decks. Needs additional cards to improve the deck's performance.

Best Meta Decks Tier List

List of Cards

Pinsir Starter Deck List
Pokemon Cards
Paras ×2				Parasect ×1				Exeggcute ×2				Scyther ×1
Pinsir ×1				Cottonee ×2				Whimsicott ×1				Pidgey ×1
Rattata ×2				Raticate ×1				Jigglypuff ×1				Farfetch'd ×1
Trainer Cards
Poke Ball ×2				Professor's Research ×2
Best Replacements
To Remove								To Add
Jigglypuff x1				Pidgey x1				Exeggutor ex x1				Exeggutor x1

Deck Building Guide

How to Play Pinsir Starter Deck

How to Play Pinsir Starter Deck
Core Combos and Interactions Starting Hand Deck Strategies Game Phases

Pinsir Starter Deck Core Combos and Interactions

Combo Card 1	Combo Card 2	Description
Pinsir	Parasect	・Pinsir can deal twice the damage with Double Horn if you land on Heads twice during the coin toss. ・Parasect can deal the same damage without the risk of a coin toss. It can deal double the damage with Tropical Swing if the coin toss landed on heads.

Alternative Combo for Custom Deck

Combo Card 1	Combo Card 2	Description
Exeggutor	Exeggutor ex	・Exeggutor can function like Pinsir and it does not have a risk of doing no damage at all. It can deal a maximum amount of 60 damage ・Exeggutor ex is a stronger version of Exeggutor, and can deal up to 80 damage in one turn.

Best Starting Hand

Best Starting Hand

The best starting hand is to have Pinsir and Paras drawn as early as possible, so you can set up your board for the end game quickly.

Other Good Starting Cards

Recommended Starting Hand

If in case you have drawn a bad hand but at least have many drawing cards such as Professor's Research or Poke Ball in your hand, this can still be an advantage.

Use your Poke Ball trainer card first to hopefully draw a Pinsir or a Paras, then with the other Trainer card, you should eventually draw another Pokemon you can use.

Pinsir Starter Deck Strategies

Pinsir Starter Deck Strategies
Pinsir Offense Exeggutor ex to the Rescue

Strategy 1: Pinsir Offense

Pinsir Offense

The strategy is basically to have Pinsir tank the damage until Parasect can be summoned and brought to the Active zone.

Use a Poke ball Trainer card to search for either Paras or Pinsir, then have Professor's Research land you a Parasect.

Strategy 2: Exeggutor ex to the Rescue

This alternative strategy basically uses the same strategy as the first but having either Exeggutor or Exeggutor ex take Parasect's place.

Once Exeggutor ex is out and ready to play, switch your Pinsir and have Exeggutor ex be your active Pokemon. Exeggutor ex does not have a chance to land a 0 damage attack and is much safer to use than Pinsir.

Game Phases

Early Game

Key Card(s) Required
Step	Description
1	First things first is to set up a board with either a Pinsir or an Paras in your hand. Prioritize placing Pinsir as your active Pokemon, but if Pinsir is not in your starting hand, you can use Paras or another Pokemon as substitute.
2	Use trainer cards to eventually draw the essential cards you need for this combo.

Mid-Game

Key Card(s) Required
Step	Description
1	While your Pinsir tanks the attacks and deals damage to enemies, you must evolve your Paras to become Parasect in the bench area, giving it energy as well for use when you switch it to the active zone.
2	Use you Pinsir's energy to retreat and switch it with Parasect, which should have been fed at least one energy in the bench area before the switch.

Late Game

Key Card(s) Required
1	With Paras' power, you can have the enemy taken down eventually.

Pinsir Starter Deck Best and Worst Matchups

Best Matchups

Deck	Commentary
Articuno ex Decks	Type: ・Pinsir and Exeggutor ex are both strong against Water types, making them gain additional 20 attack points during battle

Worst Matchups

Deck	Commentary
Charizard ex Decks	Type: ・Charizard and other Fire Type Pokemon are strong against Grass type and this deck will be in a disadvantage during matchup. ・Charizard ex has a lot of HP and cannot be taken down in one turn by either Pinsir or Exeggutor ex

Overall Consistency

This deck is the best deck among the three starter decks available in the game, since it has Pinsir in its main deck list, which can deal severe damage and only needs 1 energy to attack.

However, the other cards in this deck are not really useful and may need to be tweaked on to actually be of any use, such as adding Exeggutor ex in the roster.

Best Pokemon Substitutes

Exeggutor and Exeggutor ex

Including Exeggutor or Exeggutor ex is essential for making this deck competitive. To do this, you’ll need to manually add them to your starterdeck, as it’s not included in the Pinsir Starter Deck.

Fortunately, you can get Exeggutor ex for free if you chose the Charizard Pack at the start, and Exeggutor is a common draw from the Charizard pack as well.

Pokemon TCG Pocket Meta Guide

Pokemon TCG Pocket Related Guides

Best Meta Decks Tier List

Meta Decks

S Tier Decks
Arceus ex
A+ Tier Decks
Carnivine	Rampardos	Crobat
Magnezone and Skarmory	Exeggutor ex	Heatran
Charizard ex	Palkia ex	Darkrai ex
Weavile ex	Yanmega ex	Origin Forme Palkia
A Tier Decks
Leafeon ex	Garchomp ex	Probopass ex
Infernape ex	Pachirisu ex	Gyarados ex and Greninja
Pikachu ex	Dialga ex	Articuno ex
Gallade ex	Abomasnow	Celebi ex
B Tier Decks
Glaceon ex	Bronzong	Tyranitar
Staraptor	Donphan	Starmie ex and Articuno ex
Mewtwo ex and Gardevoir	Golem	Pidgeot ex
Scolipede and Weezing	Garchomp	Porygon-Z
Arcanine ex	Dialga ex and Bastiodon	-
C Tier Decks
・Houndoom Deck ・Snorlax Deck ・Lucario Deck ・Pikachu ex and Raichu Deck ・Venusaur ex Deck ・Volkner Deck ・Togekiss Deck ・Aerodactyl ex Deck ・Alakazam and Jynx Deck ・Dragonite Deck ・Machamp ex Deck ・Blastoise ex Deck ・Marowak ex Deck ・Torterra Deck ・Empoleon Deck ・Mismagius ex Deck ・Volcarona and Arcanine ex Deck ・Wigglytuff ex Deck ・Gengar ex Deck

Off Meta Decks

(A2)
・Dialga ex and Lickilicky ex Deck ・Lake Trio Deck ・Rhyperior Deck ・Togekiss Deck
(A1)	(A1a)
・Arbok Lock Deck ・Brock Deck ・Cinccino Deck ・Frosmoth Deck ・Kingler and Articuno ex Deck ・Lt. Surge Deck ・Melmetal Deck ・Mewtwo ex and Weezing Deck ・Primeape Deck ・Venusaur ex and Weezing Deck ・Victreebel and Exeggutor ex Deck	・Gyarados ex and Vaporeon Deck ・Mew ex and Weezing Deck ・Vaporeon and Articuno ex Deck

Deck-Building Guides and Articles

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Deck Building Guide	Best Cards Tier List
Best Rental Deck Tier List	Best F2P Beginner Decks
Deck Articles
How Rental Decks Work	Staple Cards for Decks
Aggro Decks Explained	Deck Matchup Statistics
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Best Erika Decks	10 Match Tests vs Pikachu ex Deck - Statistics
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