Pokémon TCG: Top 10 Best Kyogre of All Time

In this article, we'll keep exploring the Hoenn Pokédex by going through the best Kyogre of all time, a legendary Water Pokémon.

It first appeared in the Ruby & Sapphire block as part of the "Weather Trio". In particular, it represents the oceans, whereas its rival, Groudon, represents the Earth, and Rayquaza represents the "skies". Rayquaza also often mediates the constant conflicts between these two titans.

The remakes Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire introduced a new version of this story alongside Mega Evolutions (first introduced in the X/Y block).

These games made these titans even more powerful, as they showed their Primal forms, that is, what they looked like when the planet was just forming.

The Pokémon Company was inspired by Judeo-Christian culture, more specifically by a creature called "Leviathan".

Animated Series: Pokémon Generations

Japanese episode:

English episode:

Brazilian Portuguese episode:

In this article, I'll show you a few Kyogre that were relevant in their own Standard formats. We'll see what are the best Kyogre ever printed, considering their attacks, abilities, and how relevant they were in different formats.

Let's go!

10 - Kyogre (X/Y: Primal Clash)

Its attack, Ocean Cyclone, is what makes this Pokémon stand out, as it is a "sniper" attack that deals a lot of damage across the entire enemy bench. This Pokémon was only strong in Expanded with Blastoise BCR 31 and its ability, "Rain Dance", which gave you the energy you needed to use its attack. Today, you can use Baxcalibur sv2 60 to do the same thing.

There are a few cards that buff how much damage it deals to the bench, like Wide Lens ROS 95, which goes around the rule concerning "applying weakness and resistance".

This card is also useful in the Gym Leader Challenge format.

9 - Kyogre (Sword/Shield: Celebrations)

This card was part of a "rogue deck" with Groudon CEL 17. Check it out:

Unlike Groudon CEL 17, Kyogre CEL 3 was a better fit for the Water Box archetype in this format. It also saw play in Lost Box decks, where it performed rather well competitively speaking.

Here is a video that shows how we used to play this Kyogre in Lost Box decks:

Its main attack, Aqua Storm, forces you to discard the top 5 cards in your own deck. For each energy you discard this way, you'll deal 50 damage to 2 Pokémon on the enemy bench.

In Expanded and in the Gym Leader Challenger format, you can deal even more damage if you use Wide Lens ROS 95 with it.

8 - Kyogre (Sword/Shield: Crown Zenith)

Another Pokémon that was important in Standard in the Sword/Shield era was this Kyogre CRZ 36. It was released when the game was transitioning into Scarlet/Violet.

It was a "Plan B" you could use to close out a few K.O.s with its attack, Dynamic Wave.

7 - Kyogre Amazing Rare (Sword/Shield: Shining Fates)

This is one of the few great "Amazing Rare"s that saw play in "Sword/Shield"'s Standard format.

It used to deal more "sniper" damage out of all the Pokémon in the game at the time, and was quite critical for Lost Box decks.

In the Gym Leader Challenger format, this card was banned because of how destructive it was, as it could Knock Out multiple Pokémon in a row. We can only use it in Expanded now.

If you enjoy decks that use this type of "sniper" effect, click here to see more!

6 - Kyogre ex (Ruby/Sapphire: Hidden Legends)

This is the best "ex" card from the first part of the Ruby/Sapphire block. Just like its rival, Groudon ex HL 93, it had many great qualities:

Its ability, Mark of Antiquity, prevents enemy Groudon ex and Rayquaza ex from attacking if Kyogre ex is your active Pokémon.

Its first attack, Water Arrow, can deal damage to any enemy Pokémon, including their bench.

Finally, its second attack, Super Tidal Wave, offers you two choices: dealing 50 damage or dealing 50 damage, showing your hand to the opponent, and dealing 10 extra damage for each energy in your hand. Then, shuffle these energies back into your deck.

5 - Kyogre ex (Ruby/Sapphire: Promo Cards - Nintendo Black Star Promos)

This is another excellent Kyogre ex. It is much more aggressive than the one above:

Its ability, Frenzy, makes Kyogre ex deal 40 extra damage to the opponent's active Pokémon (before applying weakness and resistance) if they have a Groudon, Groudon ex, Rayquaza, or Rayquaza ex* in play.

Its attack, Aqua Supply, besides dealing damage, lets you attach one basic energy from your hand to your Pokémon.

Finally, its second attack, Tsunami, dealt a reasonable amount of damage (40 damage) for Standard at the time. It also deals 10 "sniper" damage to all Pokémon on the enemy bench!

4 - Kyogre & Groudon Legend (Heart Gold/Soul Silver: Undaunted)

This is a LEGEND Pokémon, a mechanic featured in the HG/SS block. It has two attacks:

- Discard the top 5 cards in your deck. This attack deals 30 damage for each energy you discard this way to each Pokémon on the enemy bench. (Don't apply Weakness and Resistance to the enemy Bench).

- Discard the top 5 cards in your deck. This attack deals 100 damage for each energy you discard this way.

This card is risky, as it relies on luck to deal damage. Massive Eruption, in particular, is the riskiest attack because at the time we didn't have many items to recycle basic energies, and attaching them to begin with took a while. We only had Fisherman HS 92 to recycle energies, and it was also quite slow.

In Legacy, this card became more powerful with Water Pokémon, namely Blastoise BCR 31 and its ability, "Rain Dance", and a few alternative attackers, like Keldeo-EX BCR 49.

3 - Team Aqua's Kyogre-EX (X/Y: Double Crisis)

This version is Team Aqua's Kyogre MA 3's "spiritual successor" when it comes to Team Magma vs Team Aqua.

Just like its rival, Team Magma's Groudon-EX DCR 15, its ability states that it can only attack if there are at least 5 Team Aqua Pokémon in play.

Compared to Team Aqua's Kyogre MA 3, it is better because it relies on how much the opponent has to spend to retreat their active Pokémon, unlike its "predecessor", which deals damage based on special conditions.

At the time, it was considered "Groudon's counter" because its attack costs a lot of energies (4 energies). It can also deal 160 damage if you use other cards to increase your opponent's retreat cost, like Team Aqua's Muk DCR 8's ability and Team Aqua's Secret Base DCR 28.

However, we didn't have many efficient ways to attach energies to it, and, in that sense, Groudon-EX came out on top, even if you attached Double Aqua Energy DCR 33 to Kyogre-EX.

2 - Kyogre V (Sword/Shield: Crown Zenith)

In our second spot, we have Kyogre V, which became relevant in Expanded because of a few tech cards from the Water archetype. These cards both help you attach energies to this Pokémon and deal more damage with it.

To get the energies you need to use it, you can play Blastoise BCR 31 and/or Baxcalibur sv2 60.

To deal more damage with Dual Splash, you can use Wide Lens ROS 95, which goes around the rule regarding "applying weakness and resistance" to the bench. It simply deals 100 damage to 2 benched Pokémon.

Then, you can use Manaphy-EX BKP 32's ability, Aqua Tube, which lets you retreat any Pokémon with Water energies attached for free. It is perfect with Aqua Typhoon, which doesn't let you attack with Kyogre V in the following turn if you use it. With Manaphy-EX, you can retreat your Pokémon and promote it again to the active spot to reset this effect!

1 - Primal Kyogre-EX (X/Y: Primal Clash)

Finally, we have Kyogre's Primal version.

Its "Alpha" ability fixes the energy issue this Pokémon has.

Essentially, with it, whenever you attach one energy from your hand to it, so it doesn't work with ability effects, Trainers, or Pokémon attacks, you can attach two extra energies to it!

Its attack, Tidal Storm, besides dealing 150 base damage, lets you move two energies attached to this Pokémon to your benched Pokémon. If you do this, you'll also deal 30 damage to all Pokémon on the enemy bench for each energy you move this way. In a single turn, that means you can deal 60 "sniper" damage.

Here are a few ways we used it in Expanded in 2016/2017:

Do you agree with our picks? Tell us your thoughts in our comment section below.

Thank you for reading, and see you next time!