Official Pokémon TCG: Scarlet & Violet—Paldean Fates Battle Pass Deck Strategies revealed by The Pokémon Company

Get more from Pokémon TCG Live when you use the in-game Battle Pass. With the Battle Pass, you can complete quests to earn experience and unlock new tiers by playing Ranked or Casual matches. Each Battle Pass is accessible only until the next expansion releases.

Begin your path along the Pokémon TCG: Scarlet & Violet—Paldean Fates Battle Pass with a new deck featuring Lugia VSTAR. Advance through the Battle Pass to unlock booster packs, Credits, a Collector Crate, and 16 additional cards that you can add to your new deck!

You can also redeem Crystals for a Premium Pass to unlock an additional deck centered around Gardevoir ex. Premium Pass tiers also offer a bounty of fun items themed around Shiny Pikachu, booster packs, Coins, another Collector Crate, Crystals, and 16 additional foil cards to bling out your Gardevoir ex deck. The Premium Pass + gives you a 15-tier head start to your journey on top of the items offered with the regular Premium Pass.

Learn how to play and upgrade these powerful decks in Pokémon TCG Live.

Gabriel Fernandez soared to great heights in Yokohama, all the way to an impressive World Championships victory. Fast, resilient, and hard-hitting, his Colorless Lugia deck delivered on synergy and Energy acceleration. The Lugia VSTAR and Archeops dream team at its center has become a major part of the metagame for a reason—Lugia VSTAR pulls Archeops directly onto the Bench, and Archeops returns the favor by immediately powering the Legendary Pokémon up for battle. Combine this with Double Turbo Energy to quickly swoop in with a devastating Tempest Dive attack, and get ready to summon the Prize cards!

The Lugia VSTAR deck has a simple goal: use Summoning Star as soon as possible. This powerful VSTAR Power is Lugia VSTAR’s Ability, allowing you to put two Colorless-type Pokémon that don’t have a Rule Box from your discard pile onto your Bench. Because you can only use 1 VSTAR Power per game, you’ll want to make sure it counts; aim to discard two Archeops as soon as possible so Lugia VSTAR can bring them directly into play. Thankfully, your deck is chock-full of effects that let you discard cards, like Professor’s Research and Ultra Ball, so you can quickly find and discard Archeops. If your hand is in a good spot, you can even use Lumineon V to find Professor Burnet to discard two Archeops straight from your deck.

Archeops is an especially powerful Pokémon that normally has to evolve through the cumbersome Unidentified Fossil line. Its Ability, Primal Turbo, lets you search your deck for two Special Energy cards and attach them to 1 of your Pokémon every single turn. If you use Summoning Star to put two Archeops into play, that’s four Special Energy (without even counting your normal Energy attachment) every single turn!

Your deck has a bevy of Special Energy cards you can search for using Primal Turbo. V Guard Energy can help your Pokémon take a hit from your opponent’s Pokémon V. If your hand is looking a bit light after throwing away so many cards to get Archeops into the discard pile, you can go for Gift Energy to fill your hand back up if the Pokémon you attached it to is Knocked Out. And you can keep your Snorlax alert with the help of Therapeutic Energy.

Speaking of Snorlax, this Pokémon can hit hard while only giving up a single Prize card when it’s Knocked Out. While Therapeutic Energy will keep it from taking a nap on the job, you can also use Jet Energy to swap a new Benched Pokémon into its place if it got a bit too sleepy. Slaking V can do a gargantuan 260 damage, but it’s Kinda Lazy, meaning it can’t attack if you have an even number of Prize cards remaining. Thankfully, Path to the Peak can help turn off this annoying Ability, while shutting down any Abilities your opponent’s Rule Box Pokémon might want to use. Just be sure to use your VSTAR Power before slamming this Stadium into play.

Make your way through Tier 16 to unlock the cards listed below:

Swap these cards into your deck to dazzle the competition as you pave your way on your path to the peak. You can replace a card in the deck with your new, full-art version or give the deck your own spin.

Make your way to Tier 50 to unlock the final copy of an ultra rare Lugia V!

Pokémon TCG legend Tord Reklev’s masterful touch is apparent throughout his Psychic Elegance deck—its pieces build upon each other to form a powerhouse engine. From the early game to the late, support is provided by synergistic card combinations. In this skillful strategy, Kirlia is more than a means to an end—its Refinement Ability forms the deck’s backbone, as it helps Gardevoir ex accelerate extra Energy through discarding, and ultimately, take control of the game. With a little help from comeback kid Iono, opponents can watch their strategies suddenly dissolve in Gardevoir’s embrace.

Pokémon: 18

3 Ralts ASR 060

1 Ralts SIT 067

3 Kirlia SIT 068

1 Kirlia CRE 060

2 Gardevoir ex PAF 029

2 Gardevoir CRE 061

1 Zacian V CEL 016

1 Cresselia LOR 074

1 Mew CEL 011

1 Radiant Greninja ASR 046

1 Manaphy BRS 041

1 Lumineon V BRS 040

Trainers: 30

3 Iono PAF 080

2 Professor’s Research (Professor Sada) PAF 087

2 Boss’s Orders (Ghetsis) PAL 172

4 Battle VIP Pass FST 225

4 Level Ball BST 129

3 Ultra Ball PAF 091

3 Rare Candy PAF 089

2 Fog Crystal CRE 140

2 Super Rod PAL 188

1 Lost Vacuum CRZ 135

1 Pal Pad SVI 182

1 Forest Seal Stone SIT 156

1 Artazon PAF 076

1 Collapsed Stadium BRS 137

Energy: 12

2 Reversal Energy PAL 192

10 Basic  Energy SVE 005

Gardevoir ex’s Ability, Psychic Embrace, lets you attach any number of Basic Psychic Energy cards from your discard pile to your Psychic-type Pokémon in any way you like. But as they say, no pain, no gain—every time you attach an Energy card in this way, the Pokémon that Psychic Embrace attached to will get 2 damage counters.

While this Ability can be an efficient way to power up Gardevoir ex’s Miracle Force attack, you have other options at your disposal. Gardevoir and Zacian V have similar attacks that do a base 60 damage but can do 30 more for each Psychic Energy attached to them. Gardevoir can be especially potent with Reversal Energy—a Special Energy that provides three Energy of every type as long as you have more Prize cards remaining than your opponent, effectively adding 90 damage to its Brainwave attack. Finally, you can use the damage counters Psychic Embrace adds to your Pokémon with Cresselia’s Moonglow Reverse attack, which moves 2 damage counters from each of your Pokémon to one of your opponent’s Pokémon.

Of course, in order to use Gardevoir ex’s Psychic Embrace Ability at all, you’ll need Basic Psychic Energy cards in your discard pile! As mentioned before, Kirlia can be a key piece here, but Radiant Greninja can provide a similar effect. That said, Radiant Greninja can’t attack in this deck, so don’t attach Energy to it unless you’re using it to retreat.

By Tier 14, the following cards will be granted to you:

Embrace the power of Shiny Gardevoir ex as a special illustration rare, and take control of the game with the new special illustration rare version of Iono.

If you make it all the way to Tier 50 of the Premium Pass, an additional special illustration rare Gardevoir ex will shine a spotlight on your accomplishment. Feel free to swap it into your deck to showcase the majesty of Scarlet & Violet—Paldean Fates.

Enjoy your new decks, Trainers!