Smash the Pokemon Raid Format With Tinkaton ex!
The Pokemon Raid format is an asymmetrical, cooperative game where a team of players work together to defeat a powerful Raid Boss, represented by an oversized Pokemon card or a V-UNION. While the basic rules apply, there are a number of differences, such as players taking turns simultaneously, the group getting a collective number of Supporter cards that can be played each turn, and players taking their own prize cards as their Pokemon are knocked out. For more information, see the Pokemon TCG Alterative Play Handbook on the Pokemon website.
While this deck wasn’t intended to be a Raid-focused deck, it happens to do everything that is useful in the format. This is because Tinkaton ex wants to draw as many cards as possible, and in doing so, is able to help everyone at the table draw cards. Tinkaton ex has two attacks, but we’re only concerned about the Big Hammer attack. For 2 Colorless energy, Tinkaton ex deals 30 damage for every card in your hand. I will note that Pulverizing Press is a fine attack, allowing Tinkaton ex to knock out Mimikyu.
The other Pokemon in the deck help fill your hand to maximize damage. Xatu helps speed up energy attachment while drawing cards. This isn’t as powerful in this format as 1v1, but it is helpful. Likewise, the deck runs Gather Materials Tinkaton to draw more cards. The deck uses a single Mew ex as defense against Iono. It can also act as a secondary attacker if needed. Finally, the deck runs Mimikyu, although the Safeguard ability doesn’t work in raid format. If anything, it’s an easy thing to switch to active when the Raid Boss plays Boss’s Orders.
The deck shines with the Trainer cards. Obviously, utility cards like Nest Ball, Ultra Ball, and Rare Candy show up. The deck also runs 1 Lost Vacuum, which is even more powerful in this format since it effectively counts as a Full Contribution outside of the turn sequence. Supporters are mostly utility as well. Miriam and Roxanne cycle cards into the deck in case you get too greedy with drawing. The real star is an unlikely pair of cards no competitive deck would dream of using: Nemona and Nemona’s Backpack. Nemona is the standard “Draw 3” Supporter that has no other effects. It becomes much more useful with Nemona’s Backpack, which lets you return 2 Nemona cards from the discard pile to your hand. Playing 2 Nemona followed by Nemona’s Backpack gives you a net gain of 8 cards for the effective cost of 1.
As mentioned before, this deck wants to be greedy with drawing cards. Every time I have played this in Raids, Tinkaton ex easily reaches almost 700 damage, which means in a 4-player raid, the Boss loses 17 cards, not counting anything from other players. This can make quick work of even the toughest Boss. If needed, you can easily play support, using Xatu and Tinkaton to draw cards while using your Supporters to help out your allies. This deals less damage overall, but makes everyone perform better overall. Given the casual nature of the format, that should be your goal.
This is a deck that can end raids quickly, or help everyone at the table at no real cost to yourself. Many times, you’ll play both roles in a game. As long as you keep an eye on your resources, you should have no issues. This is also playable as a mostly casual Standard deck as well. It will never take over the meta, but it is a fun deck that can hit truly impressive amounts of damage. The full desk is listed in the image below.
