The competitive scene for any card game always has a pattern of evolution. It doesn't take decks, like Suicune ex, to emerge as front-runners and define a format with their power and consistency. Once this meta is established, however, players start to look for unique ways to beat it. That's exactly what's happening now with Skarmory ex, which is starting to see compelling tournament play on Pokemon Pocket.
Tournament Performance
Decks featuring Skarmory ex have only started surfacing in tournaments roughly a week ago, so there’s only a small sample size at the moment to look at. From what we’ve found, Skarmory ex decks have been enjoying one of the highest win rates for the week, winning slightly more than half of their average matches.
Some of the deck's more notable performances were in smaller tournaments like the Cantelli Cup and Pocket Lagoon Cup, where players managed to rank 2nd and 9th out of a tournament population of 56 and 86, respectively. For bigger tournaments, one Skarmory ex deck managed to take 28th place out of a tournament population of 258 players.
Delving into the tournament data a little more, we’ve found that these Skarmory ex decks have managed to take victories from current meta decks like Suicune ex (with Greninja) or Giratina ex (with Darkrai ex) more than half of the time when they were matched up.
Pokemon Roster
After looking over the Skarmory ex decks, we can see the deck list following a similar pattern to that of decks using Guzzlord ex, by using a very small roster of three Basic-Stage Pokemon featuring Skarmory ex and Magearna. Taking advantage of Pokemon Pocket’s design, players will more than likely open up with Skarmory ex as their main source of damage, while Magearna comes in as the obligatory answer to the Lightning-type Oricorio.
For their overall capabilities, both Pokemon feature a 2 energy activation with pretty respectable damage output. With both speed and a small bench accounted for, this Pokemon roster can definitely play well into Suicune ex decks by limiting Suicune ex’s damage potential while threatening the legendary beast with a 2-turn knockout if there’s no intervention.
Tools to Consider
Health Preservation
Skarmory ex decks have some pretty distinct Trainer cards they can leverage. Adaman and Jasmine are positioned as very powerful health preservation tools. Paired with Skarmory ex’s ‘Steel Wing’, you can potentially preserve 40 to 70 health during active trading or in preparation for a lethal blow like Charizard ex’s ‘Steam Artillery’.
Most deck lists, as far as we’ve seen, always run two copies of Jasmine. Adaman, meanwhile, seems to be a tech choice and is mostly found at one copy at best.
Extra Armor
Rocky Helmet and Steel Apron seem to be the currently favored tools for Skarmory ex decks. Both tool cards can help the deck, but players seem to be relying on only one of them at a time. We have yet to see a deck list run both cards together.
Rocky Helmet provides passive damage, ensuring even if Skarmory ex is taken out, the partner Pokemon tagging-in will have an easier time cinching out the follow-up knockout. Steel Apron, on the other hand, follows the health preservation plan laid out by the previous trainer cards. Depending on the match-up, an attrition fight could potentially buy Skarmory ex one more turn for a match-winning knockout.
The Usual Staples
Assuming that every Pokemon Pocket deck has two slots permanently reserved for Professor’s Research, and the above cards as part of the recipe, it appears that a Skarmory ex deck has a fair amount of open deck slots to work with, roughly ten open slots. This leaves a lot of room for players to creatively mix and match the usual staple tools they believe will work best for them.
Disruption tools like Red Card, Mars, and Silver help counter any of the draw engine powerhouses like Suicune ex or Sylveon ex. Field manipulation tools like Repel or X Speed can guarantee you some flexibility on the board while preserving the Supporter slot for the turn. You even have damage boosters like Red or Giovanni that can help bridge lethal thresholds a lot easier, especially if the opponent is running a Giant Cape and you can’t find your lone copy of Guzma anywhere.