5 most powerful Pokemon TCG decks heading into Europe International Championships

It’s an exciting time for Pokemon TCG fans right now. The 2023 Europe International Championships are on the way, and fans will no doubt see some Scarlet and Violet-themed decks going into the event. Despite that, some of the previous meta’s decks are also surely going to be seen. The Pokemon Company recently looked at the power rankings of the best decks in the game right now.

The action will begin on April 14 and run through the weekend, and while it’s not clear right now which decks will dominate the event, there are some stand-out Pokemon TCG decks that will likely make an appearance.

It’s going to be incredibly interesting to see which direction the meta takes this weekend. Below we’re going to highlight the five strongest decks that could show up at the Europe International Championships.

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What are the 5 most powerful Pokemon TCG decks right now?

5) Gardevoir EX

A Stage 2 option among the best Pokemon TCG decks? Better believe it! Gardevoir EX is a card from the Scarlet and Violet base set, and while it’s a little slow to get going, it’s ferocious nonetheless.

The ability to move as much energy from your discard pile onto a Pokemon to set up OHKO combos is incredible. Pair it with threats like Cresselia, or Zacian V, to try and smash through opponents. Unfortunately, this is still a slow deck in a fast meta. Will it take first place this weekend? It’s unlikely, but I would love to see a successful showing for the base Scarlet and Violet set.

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4) Lugia VSTAR

There was a time when Lugia VSTAR was easily the most powerful Pokemon TCG deck in the whole of the meta. It’s lost some tools (Powerful Colorless Energy, Aurora Energy, Yvetal for example), and that’s not all. It’s harder to get Archeops into your discard pile, but Primal Turbo is still an overwhelmingly powerful ability.

It will be interesting to see if a Single Strike deck can shine, even without so many of the cards that made the archetype famous. This Pokemon TCG deck isn’t out of contention yet, and Tyrannitar and Single Strike Energy could easily start smashing even the toughest Pokemon.

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3) Mew VMAX

Despite never having been a big winner, Mew VMAX somehow stands among the strongest decks in Pokemon TCG. While it’s not a particularly sneaky variant, Mew VMAX has so many tools at its disposal. You can disrupt your opponent’s hand, you have amazing Trainer cards, damage, damage modification, and more.

Mew VMAX is my favorite kind of control archetype. It has so many tools to use, that opponents must consider every single thing they do twice, in order to get past this Pokemon TCG deck. If you are looking for important cards, you can do so with the new addition - Arven, and he is an amazing Trainer card for sure. Is it Mew’s time to shine? We’ll know soon!

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2) Giratina VSTAR

One of the downsides to a Standard rotation, whether Magic: The Gathering or Pokemon TCG, is that powerful decks lose cards that made them great. That’s no exception with Giratina VSTAR. It’s a great deck, but it hasn’t really been a star player in a long time. Thankfully, the game is slowing down a bit in Scarlet and Violet.

Other decks have been limited, but Giratina VSTAR very much has a chance. It hasn’t been hit quite as hard as other decks on this list might have been. You still have plenty of damage (~280), and has many of its powerful cards still around. While Giratina VSTAR may have been weak in the past, its time could certainly come in 2023.

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1) Lost Zone Box

We already talked about the dangers of Standard rotations. Thankfully, Lost Zone Box lost virtually nothing and it’s still a dangerous, flexible deck with tons of powerful attackers. Most of the decks on this list lost at least something key to their success, but not this one.

Do you want to use Dragonite V for damage? Raikou V or Galarian Zapdos V for weakness support? You could just use Radiant Charizard and smash things into bits and pieces.

There are cards that can deal with this choice potentially (Klefki for example), but no option in the meta has as many answers to problems as this Pokemon TCG deck. It’s not unstoppable, but no other deck really has as much potential as this one does.

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This is not a definitive list of decks that will win the Europe International Championship for Pokemon TCG. However, they all have an excellent shot at succeeding in the upcoming tournament. It’s going to be interesting to see how this all shakes out. You can watch the action on the PokemonTCG Twitch channel, from April 14 - 16, 2023.