The Poliwrath Deck is a Counterattack focused Deck featuring Poliwrath 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!

Poliwrath Deck Guide

Deck Evaluation

Ace Pokemon						Tier Ranking
Poliwrath Genetic Apex (A1)			Kangaskhan Genetic Apex (A1)
						Energy Type(s)
						F2P Friendly?
						❌
						Deck Difficulty
						★★★
Deck Strengths
Utilizes single point attackers for favorable point trades. Can trade points favorably against ex decks. Water deck that does not need Misty.
Deck Weaknesses
May sometimes lack necessary damage output to take key KOs. Requires lots of skill to pilot successfully. Lack of Potions makes Pokemon easy to 2HKO.

Best Meta Decks Tier List

List of Cards

Poliwrath Deck List
Pokemon Cards
Poliwag ×2				Poliwhirl ×2				Poliwrath ×2				Farfetch'd ×2
Kangaskhan ×1
Trainer Cards
Old Amber ×2				Giovanni ×2				Sabrina ×1				X Speed ×2
Poke Ball ×2				Professor's Research ×2

Deck Building Guide

Packs Required for Poliwrath Deck

Pack	Featured Card

How to Play Poliwrath Deck

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

Poliwrath Deck Core Combos and Interactions

Early Game Tank	Late Game Threat	Description
Kangaskhan	Poliwrath	・Powerful Colorless Basic Pokemon to help you control the early game. ・Poliwag and Poliwhirl's Attacks have Colorless costs. ・Pokemon may end up KOing themselves with Poliwrath's Counterattack Ability.

Best Starting Hand

Best Starting Hand

Bench Poliwag and have it ready to evolve the following turn. Send Kangaskhan into the Active Spot to start dealing damage. Have X Speed ready for when your Pokemon have to retreat. Use Poke Ball and Professor's Research to dig for resources for the following turns.

Other Good Starting Cards

Recommended Starting Hand

Poliwag with Poliwhirl is also great in opening hands. Farfetch'd is an excellent starter who can KO Staryu, Exeggcute and other 50 HP Pokemon with a Giovanni. Use Giovanni to score important KOs or reach HP benchmarks for KOs on future turns.

Best Cards Tier List

Poliwrath Deck Strategies

Poliwrath Deck Strategies
Early Game Kangaskhan Late Game Poliwrath

Strategy 1: Early Game Kangaskhan

Early Game Kangaskhan

Kangaskhan and Farfetch'd are ideal starters for this deck. They can both immediately apply offensive pressure with Kangaskhan having more HP, and Farfetch'd having a lighter Retreat Cost.

Strategy 2: Late Game Poliwrath

Poliwrath can pick off damaged Pokemon late into a game. Its Counterattack Ability can put opposing Pokemon in disadvantageous situations where they can either put themselves in KO range or outright KO themselves.

Game Phases

Early Game

Key Card(s) Required
Step	Description
1	Bench Poliwag and start attacking with Farfetch'd. Try to use Farfetch'd as many times as you can as it will make Kangaskhan and Poliwrath more effective later in the game.
2	Use Professor's Research to dig for more resources to use in the following turns.

Mid-Game

Key Card(s) Required
Step	Description
1	Evolve Poliwag into Poliwhirl.
2	Retreat into Kangaskhan if you need a Pokemon to soak up damage.

Late Game

Key Card(s) Required
1	Send a Fossil into the Active Spot if Poliwrath is not yet ready to attack.
2	Use Giovanni to score decisive KOs.

Poliwrath Deck Best and Worst Matchups

Best Matchups

Deck	Commentary
Mewtwo Decks	Type: ・Mewtwo ex will need to spend lots of resources to KO Poliwrath and put itself into KO range from any of the deck's Pokemon.

Worst Matchups

Deck	Commentary
Pikachu ex Decks	Type: ・Pikachu ex can 2HKO Poliwrath and Kangaskhan, but this can be played around with careful point trading.

Overall Consistency

This deck makes use of single-point Colorless Pokemon to deal meaningful damage to Pokemon, where they can be in KO range for Poliwrath or KO range for damage from Poliwrath's Counterattack Ability.

It also revolves around a Stage 2 Pokemon, which may affect its consistency.

Poliwrath Deck F2P & Substitutes

Poliwrath Deck Card Substitutes

Card	Explanation
Starmie ex	・ Efficient attacker with free Retreat. ・ Also a Water-type, but shares a weakness with Poliwrath.
Misty	・Can be used to quickly power up a Poliwrath when needed, but requires lucky flips.

Pokemon TCG Pocket Meta Guide

Poliwrath Deck Other Viable Options

Card	Possible Cuts
Articuno ex	・A powerful Water Basic Pokemon but necessitates the use of Misty.

F2P Poliwrath Deck List

F2P Poliwrath Deck List
Pokemon Cards
Poliwag x2	Poliwhirl x2	Poliwrath x2	Farfetch'd x2
Kangaskhan x1
Trainer Cards
Giovanni x2	Potion x2	Poke Ball x2	X Speed x2
Sabrina x1

The list can be built on a F2P budget as it doesn't require any difficult to find cards. Poliwrath and Kangaskhan may require some effort but these are not too difficult to find.

Cards like 2 Giovanni are necessary for getting to specific damage benchmarks for the deck.

Pokemon TCG Pocket Beginner's Guide

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
List of Non-ex Decks

Meta Decks

Best Meta Decks
Mewtwo ex	Celebi ex and Serperior	Pikachu ex
Mew ex and Weezing	Vaporeon and Articuno ex	Volcarona and Arcanine ex
Scolipede and Weezing	Starmie ex	Arcanine ex
Blaine	Pikachu ex and Raichu	Gyarados ex and Vaporeon
Pidgeot ex	Venusaur ex	Charizard ex
Aerodactyl ex and Primeape	Exeggutor ex	Articuno ex
Dragonite

Off Meta Decks

Dragonite and Weezing	Lapras ex	Greninja
Mewtwo ex and Weezing	Marowak ex	Primeape
Venusaur and Weezing	Arbok Lock	Zapdos ex
Blastoise ex	Gengar ex	Machamp ex
Wigglytuff ex	Alakazam and Jynx	Melmetal
Koga	Omastar and Articuno ex	Kingler and Articuno ex
Frosmoth	Lapras ex and Butterfree	Poliwrath
Tentacruel and Greninja	Victreebel and Exeggutor ex	Gengar ex and Golbat
Persian and Mawile	Lickitung and Primeape	Exeggutor ex and Alakazam
Frosmoth and Articuno ex	Gyarados	Centiskorch and Moltres ex
Lt. Surge	Grapploct	Cinccino and Weezing
Brock	Kabutops	Aerodactyl and Dragonite
Eeveelutions and Ditto	Lickitung	Articuno
Zapdos	Moltres	Venusaur
Charizard	Blastoise

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