The best way to counter Celebi ex in Pokemon TCG Pocket

Celebi ex can be a challenge to try and counter, but there are plenty of other Pokemon in TCG Pocket that can take it down just as quickly as it comes up.

Coming alongside the new booster pack Mythical Island, Celebi ex has quickly risen through the ranks to become one of the best cards in the Pokemon TCG Pocket meta. The card allows the player to flip a coin for every attached energy and deal 50 damage for every heads. With a little bit of luck, it can destroy entire decks in the blink of an eye. Fortunately, Celebi ex isn’t invincible and can be taken down with a little bit of strategy.

For those looking to beat the solo battles or take down their friends’ meta decks, here are the best Celebi ex counters currently available.

Jynx is a surprising counter to Celebi ex

Jynx, Alakazam, and Mythical Island’s Exeggutor can all counter Celebi ex’s grass energy acquisition in TCG Pocket.

Looking at any Genetic Apex Pokemon tier list, Jynx rarely cracks the top ten list. Celebi ex’s entry into the meta quickly shakes that up. It has the move Psychic: for only two energy, it can do a base damage of 30 plus 20 for every energy on the opponent’s active Pokemon. For a Pokemon like Celebi ex that requires having a lot of energy to beat the odds of a coin flip, this is a game changer.

This is especially useful in a Celebi ex and Serperior deck. In the new set of solo battles, Serperior has thrived alongside both Celebi ex and Venusaur because of its passive ability. When it is on the board, every grass energy attached to a grass Pokemon turns into two. This is part of the reason why Celebi ex has become so powerful, as the odds of dealing damage doubles. However, Jynx also takes advantage of this. The stronger Celebi ex gets, the stronger Jynx gets as well.

Both Alakazam from Genetic Apex and Exeggutor ex from Mythical Island also have Psychic, dealing 30 and 20 extra damage respectively. However, each requires at least one stage of evolution and four energy, compared to the basic Pokemon Jynx who only needs two.

A Blaine fire deck can one-shot Celebie for little energy

Against Celebi ex, the Blaine deck strategy revolves around taking out the opposing Pokemon as quickly as possible.

Blaine is one of the trainer cards from Genetic Apex who forms the basis of several fire decks. His main purpose is to allow Ninetales, Rapidash, or Magmar to do an additional 30 damage to the opposing Pokemon. When against a grass-type deck, this can result in an extra 50 damage total.

With Blaine, Ninetales from Genetic Apex and Rapidash from Mythical Island can one-shot Celebi ex. Each is a first stage Pokemon that only takes two energy to charge up. Ninetales does a base 90 damage, while Mythical Island-specific Rapidash can deal up to 100 with a coin flip. When Celebi ex is in the active spot, both have the chance to take it down before it builds up too much energy.

Two other Pokemon can serve a Blaine deck well. Volcarona from Mythical Island and Arcanine ex from Genetic Apex both slot in perfectly. Volcarona is a first stage card that can attack the bench rather than just the active spot. Helpfully, it can weaken Celebi ex or potentially get rid of any cards in the Snivy line before they evolve to Serperior. Additionally, Arcanine ex needs only three damage to obliterate Celebi with or without pulling Blaine. It can also withstand two hits from Celebi as opposed to the one-hit wonders Ninetales and Rapidash.

A trading feature should arrive to Pokemon Pocket TCG sometime in January 2025, making it easier to build decks that fit the current meta. Players looking to effectively counter Celebi ex should save up some of their extras to get the missing piece of their strategy when it goes live.