I’ve been procrastinating with my ranked climb. The reason is pretty simple, I don’t particularly enjoy it. Unlike literally every other digital card game in existence, Pokemon Pocket’s ranked system is point based, and there is no rank threshold. Meaning you can easily drop back down from a rank you’ve earned. As it is now, Pokemon Pocket Ranked is a grind fest that heavily discourages experimentation. I play this game for fun, as I aim to share a new competitive deck every single day, and this requires a lot of trial and error. The decks I share on this channel work, but there’s a lot of ideas I explore off camera that end up being downright awful. Unlike every other card game I’ve covered in the past, what I do is not compatible with Pokemon Pocket’s ranked system. So I enjoy random battles, I focus on showcasing games against competent players ranked great ball and higher, some of them play meta, others are experimenting as I am.

Yet naturally, a lot of you want to see me play in ranked where there is something at stake. A climb to Master Ball was long overdue, and because I took so long to do it, I wanted to design a deck that would allow me to turbo my way through Ultra Ball. I analyzed the meta to devise a deck that could matchup well into what people are playing, while also being edgy in the process. The current pokemon pocket ranked meta is quite diverse, yet there are some outliers. Darkrai Giratina is still king, yet many other Giratina variations exist as well, Garchomp, Incineroar and Solgaleo are Rare Candy powerhouses, while Meowscarada and Oricorio find a niche role as dedicated counters. What pokemon can defeat them all?

The answer is Turtonator. With 120 HP, Turtonators Fire Spin deals 90 damage for 3 energy. This pokemon seems… ok? Until you realize it synergizes with the new supporter: Kiawe. Leading off with Turtonator onto a turn 1 Kiawe is downright broken. Allowing us to Fire Spin on our very first attack, applying tremendous pressure onto our opponent’s right off the bat. You’re not always going to draw Kiawe in your opener though, which is why this combo shines in the following pokemon combination.

Today we spin and stoke, all the way to master ball. We combine Turtonator with Charizard EX in a deck that will put every meta matchup in check. The secret behind this deck's power level is the fact that we have access to not 1, but 2 broken openers. Some games we lead off with Turtonator Kiawe, forcing their pokemon gods to kneel down and pray. Other games we lead off with Rare Candy onto Charizard, as we stoke early to leave our enemies charred. You’re probably familiar with the Incineroar Charizard combination, this deck is like that, but much better. Turtonator is Charizards ideal team mate because we don’t need to invest energy prior onto him, and because Turtonator is not EX, Oricorio fails to counter it.

A full set of Sabrina is absolutely essential here, providing us with a way to Fire Spin threats hiding in the bench early, while also making our Charizards end game deadly.

Over the span of 30 games, our record with this deck in ranked was 24 wins, 6 losses. This is an 80% winrate. Turtonator made my climb easy. Check the stream vod if you don’t believe me.