There are over 220 cards to collect in Pokémon TCG Pocket’s first major expansion, Genetic Apex, and the strength of those cards varies drastically. While some are powerful tools which can win games all on their own, such as the wide array of EX Pokemon, others are much weaker and don’t offer a lot of strategic value in a battle. With so many cards to choose from it can be tricky to figure out what to go for, especially when TCG Pocket breaks that pool down even further into three-pack types: if you don’t know what to go for, you can end up wasting pack credits or Pack Hourglasses on cards you don’t want or cannot use.
Fortunately, each of Genetic Apex’s three-pack types contains some incredibly strong cards which, when put in the right deck, can transform the way that you play the game. We’re here today to show off some of the best cards from each pack type and explain why they are useful and what kind of strategies and synergises you can employ with them.
Here are the best cards you can obtain from all three packs in Pokemon TCG Pocket’s Genetic Apex expansion.
If you’d like to read some more Pokemon TCG Pocket content, you can find our Pikachu EX deck guide here on KeenGamer.
Pokemon TCG Pocket
Packs in Pokémon TCG Pocket Explained
Before we go any further, let’s quickly go over how packs and expansions work in Pokémon TCG Pocket so you can understand what to hunt for. Genetic Apex is the first expansion in TCG Pocket and it has a total of 226 unique cards to collect. There are three pack types for Genetic Apex, each of which features a different popular Kanto Pokemon: there’s a Charizard pack, a Pikachu pack, and a Mewtwo pack.
The important thing to know is that these packs have their own pool of Genetic Apex cards which you can only obtain from that pack type. The overall pool of 226 cards is split between the three packs, meaning that there are roughly 75 different cards in each pack type, with some cards, such as Basic Pokemon, being available across pack types. You can see which cards are available from each pack by clicking on packs and then going to the Offering Rates tab, which will show all of the cards available from that pack.
The best way to visualise this is with the headlining Pokemon of each pack. For example, the Charizard pack has a chance to give you Charmander, Charmeleon, and Charizard EX but those cards cannot normally drop from the Pikachu or Mewtwo packs: similarly, the Pikachu packs can exclusively get you Pikachu EX and Raichu, just as the Mewtwo pack can get you Mewtwo EX.
The benefit of this system is that it allows you to spend your pack credits on packs with the cards you actually want, limiting that 226-card pool significantly. If I want to pull the Gardevoir line so that I can build up my Mewtwo EX deck, I know to just pull on the Mewtwo packs as they are the only ones which contain the cards I want. As such, before you start opening a ton of packs, find a deck or play style you want to use and see which cards fit so that you can focus your pulls.
Genetic Apex Packs
Best Cards from Genetic Apex Charizard Packs
Moltres EX
The first card we’ll be discussing from Genetic Apex is Moltres EX, one of the three Kanto Legendary birds and an excellent supporting Pokemon in Pokemon TCG Pocket. Moltres has 140 HP with a two Energy Retreat cost and two attacks to choose from. The first, Inferno Dance, costs one Energy and will have you flip three coins: you take an amount of Fire Energy equal to the number of heads you get and attach them to your Benched Pokemon in any way you like. Meanwhile, Heat Blast is a 70-damage move for three Energy.
While Moltres’ damage potential is pretty lacklustre – especially for an EX Pokemon – its support potential is where it shines. If you get lucky and manage to land three, or even just two, heads from Inferno Dance, you’re looking at upwards of three Energy a turn, all from a single Energy cost attack. This means you can begin using Inferno Dance from your very first move (if you go second), giving you a massive headstart on your opponent.
Where this move shines is when it is paired with some of the Fire type’s heavier hitters. Charizard EX, for example, can hit for 200 damage with Crimson Storm but that attack costs four Energy to use: with a lucky Moltres turn, though, Charizard can instantly have three Energy before it even evolves. Having Moltres in your deck gives you a tanky Basic Pokemon that can survive attacks from most other Pokemon while providing a ton of support to your Bench. If you’re planning on running a Fire deck, make sure you also have Moltres EX.
Moltres EX, Easy Fire Energy
Gengar and Gengar EX
Another strong Pokemon available from the Genetic Apex Charizard packs is Gengar and, whether you want to use its base or EX form, you’ll have a really strong and disruptive Psychic type at your disposal. Both Gengar cards do roughly the same thing, only with a different level of investment and strength.
Ordinary Gengar is a Stage 2 Pokemon with 130 HP, making it one of the tankiest non-EX Pokemon in the game. It only has one attack, Bother, but it’s extremely potent. For only a single Energy, Gengar can deal 50 damage to the opponent and prevent them from playing Supporter cards from their hand during their next turn. As we will discuss in detail in this guide, Supporter cards are the backbone of most decks in TCG Pocket and being able to shut down their use against you with a single Energy is incredible.
Gengar EX does something similar. Also a Stage 2 Pokemon, Gengar EX has 170 HP, making it considerably tankier than its already bulky regular counterpart. It has a 100 damage three Energy move, Spooky Shot, as well as a special Ability. Shadowy Spellbind prevents your opponent from using Supporter cards while Gengar is in the active slot. In essence, it’s a permanent Bother. The main downside, of course, is that Gengar EX needs three Energies to do anything aside from triggering its ability, whereas regular Gengar can do the same thing with only one Energy and still deal considerable damage.
Of course, there are ways around Gengar EX’s Energy problem – namely Gardevoir EX – and, if you’re able to do so, it becomes the core of a great Psychic deck many players won’t be expecting. On the other, regular Gengar is already really strong and can play a similar role, only with less risk involved. Either way, both Gengar and Gengar EX are phenomenal cards that you should keep an eye on as the Pokemon TCG Pocket meta evolves as their usefulness will only increase as new, stronger Supporters join the game.
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- Gengar, Cheap Disruptor
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- Gengar EX, Expensive Disruptor
Sabrina
Supporter cards are a massive part of being a successful player in Pokemon TCG Pocket and, fortunately, the Charizard pack from Genetic Apex has, arguably, the best Supporter in the entire game: Sabrina. If you’ve played the traditional Pokemon TCG, you can think of Sabrina as a nerfed version of Boss’ Orders. When played, Sabrina forces your opponent to switch out their Active Pokemon for one on their Bench, although they get to choose what Pokemon comes up to the Active.
Sabrina is a great disruption tool: no matter if your opponent is setting up from the Bench or the Active, Sabrina can quickly complicate things. If your opponent is trying to set up a Benched by sneakily attaching a lot of Energy to it (Mewtwo EX, etc.), Sabrina can force them into the active before they’re ready. Meanwhile, if you’re worried about the Pokemon in the Active, Sabrina can force them back to the Bench, meaning that your opponent will need to waste a turn (as well as an Energy) retreating the new Active Pokemon to get back to where they were.
Additionally, Sabrina is also excellent at winning games quickly and efficiently. If you can get off a Sabrina in the early game, you can easily knock out plenty of low-health Basic or Stage 1 Pokemon before they have a chance to become a massive threat. This is why Sabrina is a top-tier card in the Pikachu EX deck, which specialises in assassinating Basic or Stage 1 Pokemon in the early game.
Sabrina Supporter
Erika
While not as universally powerful as Sabrina, the Charizard packs also have a chance to drop Erika, another Supporter who works absurdly well in Grass-focused decks. Erika’s effect is simple and easy to understand: when played, Erika will heal 50 HP to any of your Grass-type Pokemon.
If you want to make a stall-deck in Pokemon TCG Pocket, Grass is the type you’ll want to focus on. While they tend to have lower damage compared to other types, they make for it with higher overall base HP as well as a ton of healing. Most Grass types have some kind of healing baked into their attacks which, when paired with Potions, allow them to survive and outlast decks with higher damage output.
Erika just makes this goal easier to attain. Most Grass-type heals range from 10 HP to 30 HP so Erika’s 50 HP heal is really strong: it means you can shrug off a Mewtwo EX’s Psystrike like nothing happened. If you pair Erika with the right Grass types and stock your deck with Potions, there’s very little you cannot survive against. Erika may be limited to a single type, unlike Sabrina or Giovanni, but she is great in that scenario.
Erika Supporter
Best Cards from Genetic Apex Pikachu Packs
Pikachu EX
What better way to start the Pikachu pack discussion than with Pikachu EX itself? Like a lot of the cards from Pikachu’s Genetic Apex pack pool, many may dismiss Pikachu EX because of a few glaring weaknesses. For one, it is the weakest EX Pokemon defensively with only 120 HP and, at full power, its only attack, Circle Circuit, can hit for a maximum of 90 damage, a far cry from the 150 or 200 damage powerhouses deployed by other EX Pokemon.
Where Pikachu EX and Circle Circuit shine, though, is in the early game where everyone is setting up. Circle Circuit only costs two Energy to use and, to get it to 90 damage, you just need to have three Lightning Pokemon on the Bench. Between Prof. Oak and Pokeballs, that is incredibly easy to attain, even in the opening moments of a match. If you manage to get everything set up, you’ll have a 90 damage attack on your second or third turn.
Most Basic or Stage 1 Pokemon will not be able to survive a full Bench Circle Circuit and that is where Pikachu EX can dominate a match, taking down threats before they emerge: it doesn’t matter if your opponent gets lucky with their Moltres EX and stacks energy on their Charmander if you can just knock out the Charmander or Charmeleon before it becomes a Charizard. Pikachu EX excels in sniping threats and wiping the board early and, while it will struggle against other EXs and Stage 2 Pokemon, it is incredibly strong in the right hands.
Once again, if you’d like to learn more about the specifics behind Pikachu EX, as well as how to make a Pikachu EX deck in Pokemon TCG Pocket, you can find our guide on that here on KeenGamer.
Pikachu EX, Quick and Cheap KOs
Butterfree
Butterfree is up next and it is an interesting Pokemon. At first glance, Butterfree seems like quite the middle-of-the-road card: it has 120 HP, giving it a decent degree of bulk, but its only attack, Gust, costs three Energy for a measly 60 damage. The real value of this card, though, is for stall Grass decks thanks to Butterfree’s Powder Heal Ability which lets you heal 20 damage from each of your Pokemon once per turn.
As we discussed with Erika, healing is a massive part of the Grass-type playstyle: Grass cannot compete with most types on an offensive level so it hopes to outlast them with a ton of bulk and healing. Well, Butterfree gives you a way to heal 20 damage off of every Pokemon on your side of the field once per turn for free: it’s essentially a free Potion, every turn, for all of your Pokemon. To put it into perspective, Butterfree paired with a Potion and Erika can heal 90 damage in one turn, which can completely change the course of a match.
While it may take a while to get to Butterfree from Caterpie, the rewards are well worth the effort. Between Powder Heal, Potions, healing attacks, and Erika, Grass can become nigh-unstoppable, healing from anything and everything, especially if you pair it with Grass’ best attackers like Venasaur EX and Exeggutor EX.
Butterfree, Free Team Heals
Hypno
Like Butterfree, Hypno is a Pokemon which, at face value, shouldn’t be that interesting. It has 100 HP, giving it a decent amount of bulk for a Stage 1, but its only attack, Psypunch, is pathetically weak, dealing 50 damage for a whopping three Energy. That’s, of course, without discussing Hypno’s Ability, Sleep Pendulum, which lets you flip a coin once per turn and, if it lands on heads, your opponent’s Active Pokemon is put to Sleep.
As we saw with Butterfree, Abilities are relatively rare in Pokemon TCG Pocket and Hypno has one of the best. Sleep is a debilitating condition if you get unlucky, locking you out of all actions until you manage to land a heads, and Hypno can inflict it, at will, once per turn, without needing to use an attack.
You don’t even need to have Hypno in the active slot to use Sleep Pendulum, it just needs to be on the Bench. This opens up Hypno’s values dramatically as it doesn’t need any Energy to put in work: this means you can safely put Hypno in very Energy-heavy decks like Mewtwo EX or even non-Psychic decks like Wigglytuff EX. Hypno won’t be scoring any KOs or dealing big damage but it doesn’t need to as because the ability to induce your opponent with a status condition for free is insanely strong, even if it is down to luck.
Hypno, Sleep Master
Misty
While the Pikachu packs can drop three potential Supporters – Misty, Lt, Surge, and Brock – only one of them is worth discussing and that’s Misty. Like Erika, Misty is a Water-focused Supporter with a very high-risk, high-reward effect which, if you get lucky, can be ludicrously rewarding. When Misty is played, you choose one of your Water Pokemon and flip a coin until you get tails: for every head you get, the chosen Pokemon receives one Water Energy.
A lot of this card’s value is locked behind luck. If you get tails right out of the gate, Misty is useless and you’ve just wasted your Supporter for the turn. However, the potential afforded by this card is so stupidly strong that all Water decks need to have it at their disposal: if you get lucky, your Water types at looking at three, four, five, or even six Energy. And that’s without attacking! In many ways, you can think of Misty as a stronger, but far more risky, version of Moltres EX’s Inferno Dance.
Water as a type sits in the middle of Grass’ defensive bulk and Fire’s offensive power, boasting decent HP and solid damage. However, many of Water’s strongest Pokemon, such as Gyarados, Lapras, and Blastoise EX, have attacks which get much stronger depending on if they have a certain amount of Energy: usually, the Energy required to amp these attacks is far too costly but, with Misty, you have a chance, letting you take advantage of incredibly strong attacks while remaining bulky and defensive. If you want to play that sort of risk-reward deck, Misty is the card to chase.
Misty Supporter
Best Cards from Genetic Apex Mewtwo Packs
Mewtwo EX
Mewtwo EX is in contention for one of the strongest EX Pokemon in the base version of Pokemon TCG Pokemon. It has good defensive bulk with 150 HP as well as two solid options for attacking moves. Psychic Sphere is a 50 damage move for two Energy, whereas Psydrive deals 150 damage for four Energy, at the cost of having to discard two Psychic Energy from Mewtwo.
Psychic types in TCG Pocket tend to be strong, slow attackers capable of dealing very high damage at the cost of needing a lot of Energy to run. Mewtwo EX is the embodiment of that and, if there wasn’t an easy way to give it Energy, it would be strong, no doubt, but not as strong as it currently is. Fortunately, it has Gardevoir and its Psy Shadow ability to back it up, letting Mewtwo EX reliably get enough Energy to deliver back-to-back Psydrives. There isn’t much in the game which can survive 150 damage and Gardevoir just lets Mewtwo EX ignore the main downside of that attack.
There’s a reason this combo rules the current meta and it is because there isn’t much you can do against it; if you banish Mewtwo EX with Sabrina, it can still come back and get two Energy per round with Gardevoir: if you want to KO it, you need an equally strong, equally Energy-reliant attacker like Charizard EX, who Mewtwo can deal with pretty handily as a Basic Pokemon; if you want to chip Mewtwo EX, it will knock out most Basic, Stage 1, and Stage 2 Pokemon before you get the final blow off. Mewtwo EX paired with Gardevoir is almost untouchable, which is why it is such a desirable card.
Mewtwo EX, Excellent Attacker
Gardevoir
While Mewtwo EX is certainly one of the strongest EX Pokemon in all of Pokemon TCG Pocket, the only reason it can really excel is thanks to Gardevoir. This Stage 2 Pokemon is easily in contention for one of the best Pokemon in the entire game thanks to its supportive abilities. It has 110 HP and, similar to Butterfree and Hypno, lacks offensive power, something it more than makes up for with the Psy Shadow ability. Once during your turn, you may take a Psychic Energy from your Energy Zone and attach it to the active Psychic Pokemon.
In essence, this gives you the ability to attach two Psychic Energy per turn for free, as Gardevoir can activate Psy Shadow from the Bench. For most Psychic-type Pokemon this is a grand boon: Psychic decks are usually quite slow on account of how much Energy most of their heavy hitters need and, with Gardevoir, you can just side-step that.
Mewtwo EX is the most obvious beneficiary of Gardevoir as Psy Shadow allows it to use the devastating Psydrive much earlier: this combo is so good that both Mewtwo EX and Gardevoir are featured in, arguably, the strongest meta deck in Pokemon TCG Pocket. But, thanks to Psy Shadow’s strength, Gardevoir isn’t limited to just Mewtwo EX. You can run Gardevoir with Alazakam, Gengar EX, Golurk, or basically any offensive-facing Psychic type. If you want to make a Psychic deck, it would be foolish to forego Gardevoir.
Gardevoir, Energy Generator
Articuno EX
Aside from potent Psychic types, the Genetic Apex Mewtwo packs also have the chance to drop Articuno EX, another Kanto Legendary bird and an exceptionally strong Pokemon for Water-type teams. Like Moltres EX, Articuno EX has 140 HP and two attacks to choose from. Ice Wing is a two Energy cost attack which deals 40 damage. Meanwhile, Blizzard is Artciuno’s far more imposing attack, costing four Energy but dealing 80 damage to your opponent’s Active Pokemon and 10 to each of their Benched Pokemon.
80 damage is already a solid amount of offensive power but the ability to hit Pokemon the Bench is where Articuno EX shines. If you take a Pokemon on the Bench, you still get the point for the KO, allowing you to use Articuno to finish off weakened opponents, even if they retreat: while 10 damage isn’t a lot, it will quickly rack up round-on-round, especially if they are already damaged.
What’s even better is that Articuno EX pairs wonderfully with Misty. Four energy is a lot but Misty allows you to side-step that limitation. Even if you only get one or two heads, that is still a massive boost when it comes to getting access to Blizzard. Articuno EX is far from the strongest EX in terms of raw offensive power but it is easily one of the trickiest to tackle for most decks in Pokemon TCG Pocket as it will just whittle you down each round until it can pull off a quick and clean victory.
Articuno EX, Bench Attacker
Giovanni
The final card we’ll be discussing today is another Supporter and, like Sabrina, it’s a very universal card. That card is, of course, Giovanni, the leader of Team Rocket. He’s one of the few offensive Supporter cards in TCG Pocket, letting you deal +10 damage to your opponent’s Active Pokemon this round.
At first, 10 damage doesn’t sound like a lot. When you start to see the difference it can make, though, you’ll quickly understand its power. For example, 10 extra damage lets Mewtwo EX KO most Basic Pokemon with just Psychic Sphere, letting you secure easy points early in a match. Similarly, 10 more damage puts Pikachu EX’s full power Circle Circuit up to 100 damage, letting it OHKO any Stage 1 Pokemon in the game.
Giovanni lets you get away with stuff you shouldn’t get away with and that’s what makes it such a dangerous Supporter: your opponent can believe they just managed to escape unscathed and you can crush their hopes with a flash of this card. What makes him even better is that any deck of any type and playstyle can benefit from him. It doesn’t matter if you’re running Grass, Water, Lightning, or Metal, every Pokemon in the game can make use of Giovanni’s extra damage and that’s what makes him such a key card.
Giovanni Supporter
Those were the best cards from each Genetic Apex pack in Pokemon TCG Pocket.
