Melmetal Deck Strategy Guide and Card List

The Melmetal Deck is a Defensive Steel-types Deck featuring Melmetal and Mawile 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!

Melmetal Deck Guide

Deck Evaluation

Ace Pokemon						Tier Ranking
Melmetal Genetic Apex (A1)			Mawile Genetic Apex (A1)
						Energy Type(s)
						F2P Friendly?
						✔️
						Deck Difficulty
						★★★
Deck Strengths
Meltan can accelerate Energy onto itself with Amass. Melmetal can deal a solid 120 damage with Heavy Impact. Has Mawile, a disruptive, single-point backup attacker.
Deck Weaknesses
Weak to Fire-type decks. Meltan is easy to KO. Melmetal is difficult to set up on the Bench.

Best Meta Decks Tier List

List of Cards

Melmetal Deck List
Pokemon Cards
Mawile ×2				Meltan ×2				Melmetal ×2
Trainer Cards
Giovanni ×2				Sabrina ×2				Potion ×2				X Speed ×2
Poke Ball ×2				Red Card ×2				Professor's Research ×2

Deck Building Guide

How to Play Melmetal Deck

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

Melmetal Deck Core Combos and Interactions

Primary Attacker	Secondary Attacker	Description
Melmetal	Mawile	・Melmetal is the deck's main attacker, which requires 4 Energy, but can deal a whopping 120 damage. ・Melmetal's Hard Coat Ability can mitigate 20 damage, making Melmetal harder to KO. ・Mawile can be disruptive when necessary, as well as being an efficient one-Energy attacker.

Best Starting Hand

Best Starting Hand

Meltan is a solid starter, being able to ramp Energy onto itself. However, it has a low 60 HP which makes it easy to KO. You would need to use Amass twice to get Melmetal ready to attack, so consider using it only once, and retreating to the Bench for manual attachments.

Use Potion to keep Meltan healthy, X Speed to mitigate its retreat cost, Poke Ball to find Mawile, and Professor's Research to dig for these cards.

Other Good Starting Cards

Recommended Starting Hand

Mawile can start some matches while Meltan sits on the Bench while you manually attach Energy to it. Use Sabrina to annoy your opponents and attempt to discard Energies with Crunch.
Best Cards Tier List

Melmetal Deck Strategies

Melmetal Deck Strategies
Tanky Melmetal Mawile Disruption

Strategy 1: Tanky Melmetal

Tanky Melmetal

The deck's primary objective is to set up Melmetal and get it to attack, while making it difficult to KO. Use Professor's Research to dig for cards like Potion for healing, and Red Card for disruption.

Strategy 2: Mawile Disruption

The deck can pivot to a disruptive Mawile gameplan, which is able to discard Energy from the opponent's Active Pokemon on a lucky heads flip. This can give us the chance to delay our opponents for a turn, and allow us to set up another attacker for later.

Game Phases

Early Game

Key Card(s) Required
Step	Description
1	Start with either Mawile or Meltan, attach an Energy and swing.
2	Use Professor's Research to dig for more options like a Supporter for the following turn.

Mid-Game

Key Card(s) Required
Step	Description
1	Evolve Meltan into Melmetal when it has four Energy attached.
2	Use Potion to keep Melmetal healthy, and use Red Card to disrupt your opponent's gameplan. Consider using Red Card when the opponent has plenty of cards in-hand to limit their options.

Late Game

Key Card(s) Required
1	Continue attacking with Melmetal until you take all 3 points.
2	Use Giovanni for extra damage, or Sabrina to gust out a vulnerable Pokemon from the opponent's side of the field.

Melmetal Deck Best and Worst Matchups

Best Matchups

Deck	Commentary
Dragonite Decks	Type: ・Melmetal's Hard Coat Ability reduces Draco Meteor's damage to 30 for each heads from 50.

Worst Matchups

Deck	Commentary
Fire Decks	Type: ・Melmetal is at a type disadvantage against Fire decks

Overall Consistency

Melmetal decks can be very consistent but difficult to pilot because of how long it takes to get Melmetal ready. Using Meltan to ramp or Mawile to disrupt also takes up careful skill and point management.

Melmetal Deck F2P & Substitutes

Melmetal Deck Card Substitutes

Card	Explanation
Hand Scope	・ Allows you to check the cards in your opponents hand. Works in tandem with Red Card.

Pokemon TCG Pocket Meta Guide

Melmetal Deck Other Viable Options

Card	Possible Cuts
Bisharp	・ Bisharp is a quick and efficient secondary attacker that can consistently deal 70 for only two Energy.

F2P Melmetal Deck List

F2P Melmetal Deck List
Pokemon Cards
Mawile x2	Meltan x2	Melmetal x2
Trainer Cards
Giovanni x2	Sabrina x2	Potion x2	X Speed x2
Poke Ball x2	Red Card x2	Professor's Research x2

Melmetal can be easily built on a F2P budget, with only Melmetal being a holo rare.

Pokemon TCG Pocket Beginner's Guide

Pokemon TCG Pocket Related Guides

Deck Building Guide

All Deck Tier Lists

Rental Deck Articles

Meta Decks

Best Meta Decks
Starmie ex Deck	Mewtwo ex Deck
Dragonite Deck	Articuno ex Deck
Arbok Lock Deck	Venusaur ex Deck
Blaine Deck	Pikachu ex Deck
Marowak ex Deck	Charizard ex Deck
Machamp ex Deck	Blastoise ex Deck
Frosmoth and Articuno ex Deck	Exeggutor ex Deck
Centiskorch and Moltres ex Deck	Arcanine ex Deck
Gengar ex Deck	Gyarados Deck
Wigglytuff ex Deck	Melmetal Deck
Lt. Surge Deck	-

Starter Decks

All Starter Decks
Pinsir Starter Deck	Rapidash Starter Deck	Sandslash Starter Deck

Rental Decks

All Rental Decks
Nidoking and Nidoqueen Rental Deck	Kanto Fossils Rental Deck
Koga Rental Deck	Brock Rental Deck