Alakazam ex Breakdown

By: Gabriel Pino Semedo · Posted Posted onOct 20, 2023 at 4:42 PM · 11 Comments

Hello to all PokeBeach readers! This is Gabriel Semedo again with another Pokémon TCG article and this time I’m going to talk about the mysterious Alakazam ex and how this Pokémon could stand out in the metagame.

In my previous article, I analyzed the best cards in the new 151 set, and the Pokémon that piqued my curiosity was Alakazam ex due to its unique attack, after all, it is the first time that a Pokémon can attack from the Bench. This, in theory, might be something never seen before, but in practice, we are talking about a reasonable attack of 120 damage, something that is not a big deal. The difference with this attack is that you can have another Pokémon in the Active Spot, preferably with a good Ability that prevents the opponent from doing everything they want. Klefki and Mimikyu are the most viable and popular Pokémon to make up an Alakazam ex list, but in my previous article, I put a list with several options, ranging from the new Weezing to the intriguing Glimmora ex.

In my article today I want to continue my analysis of the 151 expansion, as my next tournament is the Latin America International Championship (LAIC) in November, I have time to explore some decks and ideas that have not yet been properly explored. Alakazam ex can be a Pokémon with a lot of hidden potential and that’s why I decided to put a little effort into trying to find the best way to play with it. Many ideas and possibilities were tested and in the end, I still wasn’t able to test everything I wanted before concluding this article, but I managed to come up with two lists from which I see real potential to compete in the metagame and play on equal terms against the best.

What Does Alakazam ex Need to Perform Well in the Meta?

Every Pokémon TCG deck can be victorious, all it needs to do is have a good matchup against a large part of the metagame. Nocolo Abate reached the finals of the Sacramento regional with a unique Arceus VSTAR / Gyarados VMAX deck and although Gyarados VMAX was not considered a meta card, now it’s proven it can handle the job it could be considered a competitive card and can help you to achieve victory.

The only thing that can determine whether Alakazam ex is good or not will be the metagame and the reason that made me want to test this Pokémon is precisely the fact that it can be adaptable to the meta, you simply need to find the right wall Pokémon.

Meta Matchups

Against Lost Box, Klefki will do the job, put one in front and one on the Bench in case the opponent uses Escape Rope, meanwhile Alakazam ex attacks from the Bench and you manage the game to make sure you have at least two Alakazam ex in play.

Against Lugia VSTAR you need Klefki to prevent Lumineon V and Squawkabilly ex using their Abilities, Mimikyu to block attacks from Lugia VSTAR and other Pokémon V, and Path to the Peak to prevent Archeops from taking the field. The matchup is unstable, but Alakazam ex is a good attacker and can deal up to 240 damage with its Mind Jack attack.

Against Gardevoir ex, Klefki prevents Radiant Greninja, Lumineon V and Mew from accessing their Abilities, then Path to the Peak stops Gardevoir ex. It’s difficult for Gardevoir ex to use Boss's Orders while having to deal with setup difficulties, as you will always have a single-Prize Pokémon in front to interfere. It’s a more balanced matchup than it seems.

Lost Box Giratina VSTAR was another matchup that I found favorable, firstly because Klefki stops Comfey and Radiant Greninja from using their Abilities, and secondly, because Alakazam ex is almost unaffected by Path to the Peak, one of Lost Box Giratina’s main assets. Play normally, setup well, and victory will come.

Mew VMAX is perhaps one of the best matchups for Alakazam ex due to its entire composition. Klefki stops Genesect V from drawing cards, while Path to the Peak does the same. Another important fact is Mew VMAX’s difficulty in Knocking Out Alakazam ex, as 310 HP requires you to use all four Power Tablet in the deck.

Against Miraidon ex, Klefki can disrupt the initial setup, but later Mimikyu is the one who will give the opponent more work. Alakazam ex can easily get KOs with Mind Jack for 240 damage.

Charizard ex is definitely the most difficult matchup, for the simple fact that Charizard ex can easily KO Alakazam ex. If it’s against Arceus VSTAR / Charizard ex or Arven / Charizard ex the idea is to bet on Mimikyu as it can win the matchup alone if the opponent doesn’t have good single-Prize attackers. Charmeleon and Radiant Charizard are the main problems, but if you can access a lot of Mimikyu you might be able to do it. Lost Box Charizard ex is much worse a matchup precisely because it has Cramorant and Sableye to deal with Mimikyu.

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View thread (11 replies)
Played against it on live but I still don’t think it is good because I won with mycelium might
 
Mew ex deals with Mimikyu easily, most decks are running it. Alakazam ex is a gimmick card, not a deck foundation
 
The deck really needs something like a Leafy Camo Poncho but for ex Pokemon to truly become a menace... well... that also works on item cards, because we're getting Counter Catcher back soon.
 
Wanderer said:
Mew ex deals with Mimikyu easily, most decks are running it. Alakazam ex is a gimmick card, not a deck foundation
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New tool card can increase mimkyus hp by 100. That makes mew ex take 2 more attacks to ko it. That's the same amount that alakaxam can ko it.
You can also run lost vacuum to remove the tool card after taking an extra hit and they'll only take one prize
 
Wanderer said:
Mew ex deals with Mimikyu easily, most decks are running it. Alakazam ex is a gimmick card, not a deck foundation
Click to expand...
I've been playing Alakazam for a while now and in my limited experience it hasn't been a threat. Yeah, Mimikyu dies, but I can Super Rod it back into the deck and Mew just gets Mind Jacked next turn for an easy two Prizes. I'll take that trade every day. Alakazam does have its problems, but Mew ex definitely is not one of them.

Alakazam is a 2HKO deck. Dimensional Hand stalling is the best case scenario, but landing a Dimensional Hand on something will almost always set it up for getting KOed by Mind Jack later. I've fought plenty of battles where it seems like people just forget that Mind Jack exists, or that it's so powerful for so cheap. Additionally, with a single Retreat Cost and a somewhat beefy 310 HP, even if you take a Mind Jack turn, you are not likely to be KOed in return unless you are against a deck that would not normally have issues with hitting 310 damage, like Chien-Pao ex and Charizard ex. Then you just retreat to another wall next turn and continue cheesing.

The deck is not tier 1 but it is definitely viable, and a lot of fun to play.
TheRainmaker said:
The deck really needs something like a Leafy Camo Poncho but for ex Pokemon to truly become a menace... well... that also works on item cards, because we're getting Counter Catcher back soon.
Click to expand...
It would definitely help but I think having a more consistent damage-increasing option would be better. A Pokemon ex equivalent of Choice Band would let it 2HKO so many more threats, and with Vengeful Punch on your walls it would actually let Alakazam 2HKO Charizard ex, arguably its biggest threat. With that said, though, any Charizard deck that doesn't run Radiant Charizard gets walled by Mimikyu, and they only have so many Boss's Orders.
 
PMJ said:
It would definitely help but I think having a more consistent damage-increasing option would be better. A Pokemon ex equivalent of Choice Band would let it 2HKO so many more threats, and with Vengeful Punch on your walls it would actually let Alakazam 2HKO Charizard ex, arguably its biggest threat. With that said, though, any Charizard deck that doesn't run Radiant Charizard gets walled by Mimikyu, and they only have so many Boss's Orders.
Click to expand...
I'm mostly basing it off the success I had with Leafy Camo Poncho with Crobat VMAX before it rotated (and even in Expanded it's still surprisingly good even with Field Blower being a thing there, since most people only run 1), which played very similarly just with Alakazam ex having the benefit of skipping the step of having to retreat your wall/disruption every turn (and also laughing in the face of Block Snorlax decks).

I do agree that we're due for an anti-ex (and maybe also anti-V) damage modifier, but I'm not sure we'll get one with Defiance Band being fairly recent. Maybe they can give us a +20 against all rulebox one, maybe even increasing that to +30 instead if equipped to a non-rulebox mon, but I'm not sure they'll do something like that.
 
As I mentioned to the other user, getting bossed up is not that big a deal. Like I said, they only have so many Boss's Orders, and Judge/Iono + Path can help keep the opponent from finding them easily.

I know I said that Dimensional Hand can lead into an easy Mind Jack KO but the ideal situation is obviously to stay on the Bench for as long as possible; this would make you think that Leafy Camo Poncho would be the ideal Tool, but Dimensional Hand is so weak that Alakazam needs all the help it can get on the damage front (which is why I run both Choice Band and Vengeful Punch).

I ran into one Alakazam player who was playing Vitality Band. While there have been many times I have shamefully swung into a Radiant Greninja or Zamazenta only to miss the KO by 10 HP, I don't think that it's very useful in the majority of cases.
 
angooseburger said:
New tool card can increase mimkyus hp by 100. That makes mew ex take 2 more attacks to ko it. That's the same amount that alakaxam can ko it.
You can also run lost vacuum to remove the tool card after taking an extra hit and they'll only take one prize
Click to expand...
except that card makes it a 2-prizer of mimkyu, much safer to use the 50hp charm.
 
pokeraider123456 said:
except that card makes it a 2-prizer of mimkyu, much safer to use the 50hp charm.
Click to expand...
Doesn't matter because you're also taking two prizes from mew. You also will always ko mew first so you dont even lose a prize card vs one prize if ur running bravery. It'll always be a better trade for you because mew ex is run as a single copy.
 
@Gabriel Pino Semedo The meta matchups section of article was just what I needed to see to get an idea of how good Alakazam ex actually was. Now I'm excited about this archetype again. I don't go to tournaments, but I have a friend who might be interested in building an Alakazam ex deck so he has something his friends can battle his treasured Tinkaton ex deck with (the archetype that took top 8 once in Japan, not the ex Battle Deck). He's not playing in events at the moment, he just thought the Tinkaton ex deck looked cool and wanted to have the option of being able to join an event. I'll print out proxies and play a few games of Alakazam ex versus Tinkaton ex with him before deciding whether to suggest the possibility of him buying the cards, and if he still wants to play in official events after rotation, I'll look for a good beginner-friendly, budget-friendly deck for him to use.
PMJ said:
I've been playing Alakazam for a while now and in my limited experience it hasn't been a threat. Yeah, Mimikyu dies, but I can Super Rod it back into the deck and Mew just gets Mind Jacked next turn for an easy two Prizes. I'll take that trade every day. Alakazam does have its problems, but Mew ex definitely is not one of them.

Alakazam is a 2HKO deck. Dimensional Hand stalling is the best case scenario, but landing a Dimensional Hand on something will almost always set it up for getting KOed by Mind Jack later. I've fought plenty of battles where it seems like people just forget that Mind Jack exists, or that it's so powerful for so cheap. Additionally, with a single Retreat Cost and a somewhat beefy 310 HP, even if you take a Mind Jack turn, you are not likely to be KOed in return unless you are against a deck that would not normally have issues with hitting 310 damage, like Chien-Pao ex and Charizard ex. Then you just retreat to another wall next turn and continue cheesing.

The deck is not tier 1 but it is definitely viable, and a lot of fun to play.

It would definitely help but I think having a more consistent damage-increasing option would be better. A Pokemon ex equivalent of Choice Band would let it 2HKO so many more threats, and with Vengeful Punch on your walls it would actually let Alakazam 2HKO Charizard ex, arguably its biggest threat. With that said, though, any Charizard deck that doesn't run Radiant Charizard gets walled by Mimikyu, and they only have so many Boss's Orders.
Click to expand...
@PMJ, I've been trying to create an Alakazam ex list for a friend, and your comments on a Vengeful Punch/Choice Band build have piqued my curiosity. I was reading Tord Reklev's article on the official Pokemon website (https://www.pokemon.com/us/strategy/pokemon-tcg-strategy-bench-attacks-from-alakazam-ex) and was trying to figure out what cards I could cut to make room for those tools. Removing the two Defiance Belt for some combination of them makes sense, but the only other cards that I would consider cutting would be a couple of the four Boss's Orders (which I'm guessing are for Block Snorlax from Pokémon GO).

Here are my specific questions:
- What spread of Vengeful Punch and Choice Band do you recommend?
- Is one Mimikyu enough?
- Does the Block Snorlax tech in Tord's list seem too gimmicky?
- Is four Boss's Orders unnecessary? Is it necessary if I keep Snorlax?

I think hearing some feedback in this department would help me craft a Choice Band/Vengeful Punch list I could test and refine to my satisfaction.

Hope you are both doing well.
 
Charmaster:) said:
Here are my specific questions:
- What spread of Vengeful Punch and Choice Band do you recommend?
- Is one Mimikyu enough?
- Does the Block Snorlax tech in Tord's list seem too gimmicky?
- Is four Boss's Orders unnecessary? Is it necessary if I keep Snorlax?

I think hearing some feedback in this department would help me craft a Choice Band/Vengeful Punch list I could test and refine to my satisfaction.

Hope you are both doing well.
Click to expand...
Take the advice I give you with a grain of salt; my list is pretty different from Tord's and I would weigh deck advice from the GOAT much heavier than from me.

Defiance Band is a good Tool, especially since it works against everything. I just personally don't like having my damage output rely on being behind in Prizes. With the focus on Pokemon ex in Standard, getting that increase can let you OHKO Radiant Greninja (an otherwise embarrassing miss) 2HKO Pidgeot ex as well as the remaining Pokemon VSTAR that Choice Band would also allow for. That said, Vengeful Punch is a little unreliable, especially if they can gust around it. I'm using 2 Band and 1 Vengeful Punch, but I might give Defiance Band a try. He also doesn't use Arven, which I use to pull Battle VIP Pass turn 1 going second, Fog Crystal, or Rare Candy, plus the tools. Colress is definitely an interesting choice since it lets you see the top 5 and pick and choose what you need.

I don't know if one Mimikyu is enough. It might just be that you don't have space for any more. I run three, thinking that the harder it is for them to gust around it for 6 Prizes the better. Against decks like Charizard, you can just focus on Mimikyu and wipe their whole board, 70 damage at a time.

Block Snorlax sounds like a hilarious tech. Tord is right that it can win games on its own, after the opponent loses all of their switching outs. Is it gimmicky? I would say not really, in this deck. Your main attacker is swinging from the Bench, and you need all the disruption you can get, so you might as well put up something in the front that can help stall for a couple turns while you set up early game and possibly come out late game to cheese a win. During the mid-game it can help secure KOs on important things like Baxcalibur, who can't KO you back even if they power it up, forcing them to have the Cross Switcher play the following turn.

I can't think off the top of my head how many Boss I run, but having a good amount is important. Alakazam struggles against Pokemon ex decks that have no problem hitting Mimikyu, so being able to Boss out those exceptions and kill them, or bringing up something Snorlax can block forever, is pretty important. I would keep them even if you don't run Snorlax.

One thing I didn't think of, though, is how Klefki shuts off your own Manaphy. That is a hard truth to swallow but it's unavoidable.
 
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