List of Staple Cards for Every Deck

Staple Cards are cards that are good in any deck, and can complement any deck with any strategy. Read on to learn all about staple cards and what they do!

List of Staple Trainer Cards

Staple Trainer Cards
Professor's Research	Potion	X Speed	Poke Ball
Red Card	Giovanni	Sabrina

Best Trainer Cards Tier List

Professor's Research

Card	Effect
Professor's Research	・Draw 2 cards.

Powerful Early Game

Decks in Pokemon TCG Pocket only consist of 20 cards, so being able to dig 2 cards deep is a very powerful option. This is a great option for gathering usable resources such as other Trainer Cards like Poke Ball or X Speed.

Using Poke Ball Before Professor's Research

Poke Ball is an option for thinning your deck, making it so you don't draw into Basic Pokemon with Professor's Research. The decision on whether or not to use Poke Ball or Professor's Research first depends on the board state and what you need in that situation.

Potion

Card	Effect
Potion	・Heal 20 damage from 1 of your Pokemon.

Useful for Avoiding Getting KOd

Potion is a useful HP recovery card that can get your Pokemon out of KO range. This disrupts 2HKO damage calculations and can often turn a 2HKO into a 3HKO, allowing your Pokemon to survive for a turn longer.

X Speed

Card	Effect
X Speed	・During this turn, the Retreat Cost of your Active Pokemon is 1 less.

Lessens Retreat Costs

X Speed allows you to conserve valuable Energy for when you need to retreat a damaged Pokemon. This lessens the Retreat Cost by 1, letting you be efficient with your attachments and save at least 1 Energy.

Poke Ball

Card	Explanation
Poke Ball	・Put 1 random Basic Pokemon from your deck into your hand.

An Essential Card That Searches for Basic Pokemon

Poke Ball is a must-have used in most decks that can reliably pull out Basic Pokemon from your deck.

ex Pokemon such as Pikachu ex and Articuno ex are also basic Pokemon, so being able to search for them with a Poke Ball is extremely powerful.

Great for Deck Thinning

In decks that involve multiple lines of evolutions, it is a good way to thin out Basic Pokemon from it. This can increase your chances of drawing into the evolution cards in the deck with cards like Professor's Research.

Best F2P Beginner Decks

Red Card

Card	Effect
Red Card	・Your opponent shuffles their hand into their deck and draws 3 cards.

Use to Limit Opponent's Options

It is recommended to use Red Card when the opponent has 4 or more cards in their hand, reducing their hand size to 3. This severely limits their options, making Red Card a valuable option for disruption.

Useful Against Evolution Decks

Red Card returns an opponent's hand back into their deck, making it useful against Stage 2 decks like Charizard ex or Mewtwo ex decks that run Gardevoir. Red Card becomes an effective tool against Stage 2 decks because can't improve their board states without drawing into their evolution cards.

Best Decks Tier List

Giovanni

Card	Effect
Giovanni	・During this turn, attacks used by your Pokemon do +10 damage to your opponent's Active Pokemon.

Pumps Damage by 10

Giovanni can be splashed into any deck and allow you to score key KOs when they would matter. A 10 HP difference would often matter when calculating damage for OHKOs and 2HKOs.

Important examples of this would be Articuno ex's Ice Wing being able to OHKO a Staryu with Giovanni, or Mewtwo ex's Psychic Sphere being able to KO a Ralts with the extra 10 damage.

Sabrina

Card	Effect
Sabrina	・Switch out your opponent’s Active Pokemon to the Bench. (Your opponent chooses the new Active Pokemon.)

Use Sabrina to Draw Out Benched Pokemon

Sabrina can force an opponent to switch their Pokemon, putting them into disadvantageous positions. This card is especially effective against Stage 2 decks which would often have multiple unevolved Basic Pokemon in their Benches. Use this to pull out weak Benched Pokemon for easy KOs!

Deck Building Guide

List of Staple Pokemon Cards

Staple Pokemon Cards
Farfetch'd	Kangaskhan	Meowth	Weezing

Farfetch'd

Card	Explanation
Farfetch'd	Type: ・Can deal 40 damage for only 1 Energy attachment.

Efficient 1-Energy Attacker

Farfetch'd can quickly and efficiently deal 40 damage with just one Energy attachment. Leek Slap with Giovanni can score key KOs on 50 HP Pokemon, notably Staryu and Exeggcute.

Cheap Retreat Cost

Farfetch'd can quickly get out of the Active Spot at the cost of only 1, or 0 if you use X Speed.

Kangaskhan

Card	Explanation
Kangaskhan	Type: ・Can deal up to 60 damage for only 1 Energy attachment. ・Sufficiently tanky and can take multiple attacks before going down.

Powerful 1-Energy Attacker

Kangaskhan can deal up to 60 damage on two heads flips with Dizzy Punch which is enough to knock out the likes of Ralts and Pikachu.

Hefty Amount of HP

100 HP is not easy to take out, and is 2HKOd by Pokemon like Starmie ex or Articuno ex. Mewtwo ex would need to commit to Psydrive, or Psychic Sphere twice.

Meowth

Card	Explanation
Meowth	Type: ・Can draw you a card, which is very important especially with only 20 cards in a deck.

Draw Cards with Pay Day

Card draw is valuable especially in a 20 card format, allowing you to dig one card deep for resources. This is useful for decks with multiple lines of evolutions, letting you dig for evolution cards for later turns.

Weezing

Card	Explanation
Weezing	Type: ・Can deal damage at no cost thanks to its Gas Leak Ability. ・Sufficiently tanky and can take multiple attacks before going down. ・Can be scooped up with Koga, protecting it from getting KOd and allowing you a free switch.

Poison with Gas Leak

Gas Leak allows you to poison the opponent's Active Pokemon at no cost, dealing incremental damage over time.

Good Amount of HP

Weezing has a solid 110 HP, making it decently tough to KO.

Synergy with Koga

Koga lets you scoop Weezing out of the Active Spot, and allow it to come back on a later turn. Scooping up a Pokemon can remove all damage from it, allow a fresh Pokemon to replace it in the Active Spot, as well as allowing you to replay Koffing and Weezing again later on.

Koga Deck Strategy Guide and Card List

Pokemon TCG Pocket Related Guides

Deck Building Guide

All Deck Tier Lists

All Tier Lists
Best Cards Tier List	Best Meta Deck Tier List
Best Rental Deck Tier List	Best F2P Beginner Decks

Deck Articles

Deck Articles
How Rental Decks Work	Staple Cards for Decks
Aggro Decks Explained	Deck Matchup Statistics
Best 18 Trainers Decks	Best Misty Decks
Best Erika Decks	10 Match Tests vs Pikachu ex Deck - Statistics

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 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
Alakazam and Jynx Deck	Zapdos ex Deck	Greninja Deck
Primeape Deck	Grapploct Deck	Cinccino and Weezing
Raichu and Pikachu ex Deck	Mewtwo ex and Weezing	Greninja and Weezing Deck
Venusaur ex and Weezing	Lapras ex Deck	Brock Deck
Dragonite and Weezing	Kabutops	Aerodactyl and Dragonite
Omastar and Articuno ex	Eeveelutions and Ditto	Kingler and Articuno ex
Lickitung	Articuno	Zapdos
Moltres	Venusaur	Charizard
Blastoise	Lapras ex and Butterfree	Poliwrath
Tentacruel and Greninja

Rental Decks

All Rental Decks
Venusaur ex Rental Deck	Charizard ex Rental Deck	Blastoise ex Rental Deck
Pikachu ex Rental Deck	Mewtwo ex Rental Deck	Machamp ex Rental Deck
Nidoking and Nidoqueen Rental Deck	Kanto Fossils Rental Deck	Koga Rental Deck
Brock Rental Deck	Blaine Rental Deck	Lt. Surge Rental Deck

Starter Decks

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