25 Years in the Making. A look at Generations decks!

Hey everyone, Gabriel Smart is back here with another article! I hope everyone is enjoying your day, and I am excited to be writing again for everyone! Typically once every couple of years, Pokemon comes out with a miniature set that mostly is unplayable yet provides us with a few gems that can alter a meta. Pokemon's 25th Anniversary most recently occurred this year, and along with that, a new set was released named Celebrations. Celebrations was a set that took many old cards like Garchomp Lvl X, Luxury LVL X, the base set Blastoise, the base set Charizard, and more super cool Pokemon and made them cool collectible cards again! Although much of the set is not actually playable, this set saw some intriguing new cards be released that have the potential to shine in some decks. If you want to buy some Celebrations PTCGO codes you are in the right place. The PTCGO store has the best prices of PTCGL codes on the market. Now let's take a look at some Celebration pokemon online decks!

 

ザシアン V has been around for quite some time. Clocking in at 220 HP and dealing a massive 230 damage to all Pokemon has made it one of the most feared cards in the game. Although Zacian does not have its counterpart Arceus Dialga and Palkia Tag Team GX anymore (Cosmic Eclipse), it has many other tools that allow it to be so successful. One of the cruxes of Zacian decks has been its inability to attack fast enough and continuously stream “Brave Blade” after “Brave Blade”. Now, with Mew (Celebrations), it is even easier to achieve.

2 Oranguru VIV 199

1 Crobat V PR-SW 98

1 Kricketune V BST 142

4 ザシアン V PR-SW 76

1 Zamazenta V PR-SW 77

4 Mew CEL 11

4 Peony CRE 150

4 Metal Saucer SSH 170

3 Boss's Orders RCL 200

4 Rotom Phone CPA 64

1 Crystal Cave EVS 230

4 Switch SUM 160

3 Cape of Toughness VIV 200

4 Quick Ball SSH 216　

3 Marnie SSH 208

1 Raihan EVS 202

1 Tool Scrapper DRX 116　

2 Air Balloon SSH 213　

1 Energy Search BLW 93

12 Metal Energy Energy 8

Arguably the most viable card to come out of the new expansion Celebrations is Mew (Celebrations)! This little Pokemon may have a pretty useless attack, but it's the ability that makes it an incredibly viable Pokemon! Mew's ability “Mysterious Tale” allows you to look at the top 6 cards of your deck and choose any item card, and put it in your hand! This may remind us of Jirachi (Team Up), who had a very similar ability. ザシアン V is a deck that needs to continually find cards like Metal Saucer, Air Balloon, Tool Scrapper, and more, and Mew will serve as a great tool to find these cards!

Sometimes if it isn't broken, don't fix it! ザシアン V seems never to go away, and it continues to gain new tricks that allow it to remain viable. Its attack “Brave Blade” one or two shots everything in the game. Along with an incredible attack, its ability Intrepid Sword is what truly makes it such a force to be reckoned with. Zacian clocks in with 220 HP as well, and with a Cape of Toughness attached, it will have 270 HP making it nearly impossible to one-shot by any Pokemon. This will be the main attacker of your deck. The faster you set Zacian up, the easier it will be to run your opponent over with ferocious aggression. Currently, I have 4 Zacian in this list, as it is the heart and soul of this deck. 

Kricketune V (Battle Styles) is a card that has seen very little play since its release. With that being said, I think I have finally found the perfect deck for this card. Since our list utilizes Peony,  it will be crucial to rebuilding our hand in some way. Kricketune does what we need ideally. Games will often be won or lost by hitting or missing critical pieces, so having that extra draw power really takes this list to another level.

Oranguru (Sword and Shield) and ザシアン V are like Peanut Butter and Jelly. It just works so well together! Orangurus Primate Wisdom is a fantastic counter to Marnie, and it also allows us to stack metal energy on top of our deck to attach with Zacian V’s ability “Intrepid Sword.” 

Another card in this deck that is heavily underappreciated overall in the Pokemon Trading Card game is Peony (Chilling Reign)! Peony allows us to find any two trainer cards at the expense of discarding the rest of our hands. Usually, this card has been viewed as something that does more damage to yourself than good. ザシアン V is built to where it can actually abuse the positive effects of this card. With cards like Kricketune V, and so many burnable items like Switch, Air Balloon, Metal Saucer, and more, It makes it easier to thin out your hand to 1-2 cards. The Peony drawback of discarding your entire hand is severely mitigated. 

Currently, this is the card that I am most skeptical of keeping. I have flipped between Pokegear and Rotom Phone, but I think Rotom Phone is slightly better now. The main reasoning behind having it over Pokegear is preparing my next turn by choosing the card I want on top of the deck. This allows us to maximize its potential with Kricketune V, Oranguru, and ザシアン V’s abilities! 

This deck has been a blast to play. The brand new Mew from Generations makes this deck so much more aggressive and consistent. Zacian has been a deck that never seems to leave the format, and I think this deck will continue to stay at the top of the metagame as long as it keeps getting cards that support it. Now let's take a look at a deck that has been a ton of fun in testing and is actually better than a lot of people think.

When initially looking at this card, I thought it never had a chance to be viable. Although my hopes were low, I decided to give it a chance. When I looked at it and started playing it more, I realized how much better it actually was. It is paired with Suicune V (Evolving Skies), and the Inteleon engine makes it much more viable than I initially thought. Let's take a look at the list! 

4 Surfing Pikachu V CEL 8

3 Surfing Pikachu VMAX CEL 9

4 Sobble CRE 41

2 Suicune V EVS 31

4 Drizzile SHF 56

1 Inteleon SHF 100

2 Inteleon CRE 43

4 Level Ball BST 181　

3 Boss's Orders RCL 154

3 Evolution Incense SSH 163　

4 Melony CRE 146

2 Switch SUM 160

2 Telescopic Sight VIV 160

4 Quick Ball SSH 216　

4 Professor's Research SSH 209

2 Capacious Bucket RCL 156

1 Air Balloon SSH 213　

1 Ordinary Rod SSH 215　

10 Water Energy Energy 3

Clocking in at 200 HP Pikachu V is a pretty basic Pokemon. Its attack for three water energy deals 150, which is not super strong. But this is not the focal point of this deck. Let's take a look at Pikachu VMAX! 4 Pikachu V is essential as it is your main attacker.

Pikachu has officially gone aquatic mode! Its attack Max Surfer deals a respectable 160 damage. The second effect of the attack is what makes this card even better! Its second ability that Max Surfer has is, along with dealing 160 damage, the attack also deals 30 damage to each of your opponent's bench Pokemon! This will soften up Pokemon like Sobble,Drizzle, Zigzagoons, and more, making it easy to have game-altering multi-prize turns! Currently, there are three Pikachu VMAX in this list. I am pretty comfortable with three but have considered dropping it to two due to Suicune being a nice secondary attacker. 

Suicune V is a card that has been the secret MVP of this deck. Since the main attacker of this deck is a three prize Pokemon, it is lovely having a secondary attacker that can alter the prize trade for your opponent. Along with it being a viable two prizer, its attack Blizzard Rondo can clean up any Pokemon that Pikachu VMAX hit along the 30 damage snipes from Max Surfer. These can create crazy one-shot scenarios!

In this list, I have elected to play 4 Sobble from (Chilling Reign). I have chosen this because “Keep Calling” is such an incredibly viable attack in this deck. Some lists like to play the alternative Sobble (Sword and Shield), but in a melony deck, I value Keep Calling more than the extra 10 HP. 

Drizzile is the heart and soul of the consistency engine in this deck. Its ability “Shady Dealings” allows us to find any trainer we want, which gives us the tools to outpace and out-skill our opponents. Drizzile is easily searchable with Level Ball and Evolution Incense, making it incredibly easy to get out in the early turns to achieve the optimal board state. 4 Drizzile is a must and should NEVER but cut down to three.

インテレオン (CRE) really has changed the meta over the past couple of months. Its ability “Quick Shootings” has turned so many decks like Urshifu VMAX (Battle Styles), Dragapult VMAX (Rebel Clash), Jolteon VMAX (Evolving Skies), and others into top tier pokemon online decks. This is yet another deck that gets a massive boost from this card. Quick Shooting allows us to set up easy knockouts after using either “Max Surfer” or “Blizzard Rondo”, Inteleon really takes this deck to another level!

インテレオン (SWSH) has been becoming more and more underappreciated over time. I even see people cutting the card entirely, to begin with, which does not make sense. Having that little extra bit of consistency is what can determine the result of a match, and Inteleon (SWSH) adds that extra punch this deck needs. Its attack Aqua Bullet is no slouch either. Being able to deal 120 for two energy and snipe 20 onto one of your opponent's benches is very strong. 

I am only going to go over one trainer card in this deck, as I feel like the other ones are self-explanatory and are explained in other articles. Telescopic Sight is one of the most powerful cards in the game that does not see much play. The option to increase Max Surfers bench damage output to 60 on Bench V Pokemon is the icing on top of the cake for this deck. Currently, there are 2 Sights in this deck, and that seems to be the sweet spot currently. This card will make taking knockouts much easier!

These are my thoughts on Surfing Pikachu! This deck is a ton of fun, and it has so much more potential than people thought. I am excited to continue to work on this deck, and I hope you all enjoy the deck. That is all for me today, thank you everyone for reading another one of my articles. If you need any of these cards in this article make sure to check out PTCGO Store for the PTCGO codes. They have the best price on the market and instant delivery of your PTCGL codes to your email address! I can't wait to speak with you guys again soon!

Gabriel Smart is a contributing article writer for PTCGO Store. Gabriel currently resides in the Sacramento, California area and has been playing the game casually since 2010 and competitively since 2018. He streams on Twitch under the name GabrielSmartTCG, creates competitive Pokemon content on Youtube under the name SmartTCG, and posts about his tournaments results and life on Twitter @GabrielSmartTCG. Outside the game, he is a huge baseball and basketball fan and loves everything to do with athletics.