Pokémon Pocket: Celestial Guardians - 5 Best Decks to Climb Ranks!

The Celestial Guardians meta is already stable enough for us to know what are the best lists as well as the worst. That's because, by now, most players have opened multiple packs, built new competitive lists, and put them in practice in the ranked queue.

Today, we'll explore the top 5 best Pokémon Pocket lists in the ranked queue. These decks are standing out and are currently the best options if you want to climb ranks or try playing competitive tournaments.

Unsurprisingly, this is one of the best decks in the game nowadays - it was also the best list in the meta last season. Many new cards fit this archetype rather well, but the best addition to it so far was Guzma, which is extremely useful right now. After all, nearly all lists in this meta attach something important to their Pokémon.

This deck is extremely fast and solid, as well as very consistent and easy to pilot. It nearly plays itself, really. The main idea behind it is to attach Darkness energies to your Darkrai ex (remember, this list only plays Darkness energies) and use Giratina ex's ability at the end of your turn. Then, attack with your Pokémon, and, if necessary, use your Trainers, like Sabrina or Cyrus, to control the board. There's no secret behind this strategy - it is quite straightforward.

The new trendy list right now is this Oricorio strategy that took the top tier of the ranked queue and tournaments by storm. Oricorio, all by itself, can counter many strategies, and, as a result, 18T decks are no longer dominating the top of the rankings. This card, all on its own, revived Greninja's "damage by effects" meta, and that's why now the lists with the highest win rates all deal damage to the enemy bench.

The idea behind this list is playing Oricorio in the active spot to counter your opponent's Pokémon ex. While they try to deal with your Oricorio, you'll set up Greninja and Giratina ex on your bench.

Please note that, in this list, Greninja is an attacker as well, as we play Water energies, and Giratina ex is an alternative win condition, not the main one. So, if your Oricorio doesn't win by itself, you can still play Greninja and Giratina ex to win if you have to.

This deck also plays one Shaymin, which is great in this meta because it is very cheap and heals your Pokémon for free. This will delay your opponent considerably if they're also trying to deal damage to your bench.

This deck is a direct answer to this Oricorio meta, and currently one of the most controversial lists in the entire game. It is strong, but not against all matchups. For instance, it actually struggles against Solgaleo ex and any Pokémon that can deal more than 80 damage in a single attack.

In any case, it is incredibly strong against any other strategy, particularly those that don't deal a lot of damage at once, like Oricorio lists. Another detail that makes this deck so great against Oricorio is that Carnivine and Crobat are not Pokémon ex, so Oricorio's passive ability can't counter them.

The main idea behind it is putting Carnivine in the active spot and attacking with it as much as possible so your opponent can't breathe for a single minute. As you only need one Grass energy to attack with Carnivine, use the other turns to attach energies to your Arceus ex so you can use it as an alternative win condition.

Crobat is essential in this list, as, with it, you'll be able to deal the last bit of damage you need to Knock Out enemy Pokémon. Crobat can deal 80 damage to the opponent's active Pokémon every turn if Carnivine is your active Pokémon and Arceus ex is on your bench.

Another controversial detail in this list is that it doesn't work if you can't find Arceus ex. After all, you need it to activate your Pokémon's abilities.

It might lose horribly to a few meta decks, but it also beats many other strategies. As such, we can consider it one of the best decks in the format.

Unlike other Greninja lists, this one doesn't use it as an attacker - it only uses its ability to deal some damage. In fact, this entire list focuses on dealing damage to the enemy bench or to certain enemy Pokémon.

Tapu Lele is one of the best cards in the game nowadays because it is a great attacker and punishes the opponent quite heavily if they only attach energies to a single Pokémon. After all, Tapu Lele deals more damage according to how many energies are attached to enemy Pokémon.

In this deck, Giratina ex is essential as well as the main win condition alongside Tapu Lele. This deck also plays Cyrus, which is essential whenever you need to deal just a little bit more damage to Knock Out the enemy Pokémon.

As this deck only plays Psychic energies, it is currently one of the fastest lists in the entire game. In fact, you can set up Giratina ex in just 3 turns.

This is one of the most flexible lists in the game as well as one of the fastest. It is also extremely well-positioned in the meta.

Actually, most decks in this meta have adapted to beat this archetype. In that sense, it is definitely the "meta-defining" list right now.

That's because this is one of the fastest and most solid lists in the format. Solgaleo ex has a lot of HP and only needs two energies to attack and deal 120 damage, which is a lot. It deals damage to itself whenever it attacks, but this won't put it at risk because it has 180 HP and most Pokémon in the meta deal less than 130 damage.

Furthermore, Skarmory is an extremely solid opener in this list. It deals 50 damage to the enemy Pokémon if it or Skarmory have anything equipped.

This list also doesn't have any clear counters in the meta right now because Fire decks aren't that popular in the ranked queue, which, in turn, is a direct consequence of how popular Greninja is. In fact, this deck only loses to itself. If you can't find Rare Candy and Solgaleo ex, you'll get stuck. It is a bit frustrating in that sense.

If you read this far, thank you! I hope you had fun and enjoyed reading this article.

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