Pokémon TCG Live - Show Me the Monkey (ver. 4.0.0)

This was an experiment to see how far I can take a “budget” deck. Well, “budget” as in there are no Pokémon EX or Pokémon V (which are rarer than holo-rare cards), and there is minimal use of rare cards. I think the only rare cards in here are Manaphy, Bibarel, Mimikyu, Professor’s Research, and, the rarest card here, Neutralization Zone, which shows my opponents that I’m serious about this theme.

The other inspiration came from the fact that some of the Pokémon I miss the most are the elemental monkeys: Simisage, Simisear, and Simipour. They’ve been absent from the games for the entire Nintendo Switch era, and I was delighted to see an interesting set of Uncommon cards in the Paradox Rift set.

So I put together this deck to see how far I could take the idea. This is what I had at the time (though I’ve since revised it a few times):

POKÉMON (19)
3x Pansage (Paradox Rift)
2x Simisage (Paradox Rift)
3x Pansear (Paradox Rift) (or Stellar Crown, they’re functionally the same)
2x Simisear (Paradox Rift)
3x Panpour (Paradox Rift)
2x Simipour (Paradox Rift)
1x Bidoof (Crown Zenith)
1x Bibarel (Brilliant Stars)
1x Manaphy (Brilliant Stars)
1x Mimikyu (Paldea Evolved)

TRAINERS (31)
4x Arezu
2x Boss’s Orders
4x Buddy-Buddy Poffin
2x Colress’s Tenacity
3x Earthen Vessel
2x Iono
1x Lacey
1x Neutralization Zone
2x Practice Studio
2x Professor’s Research
4x Super Rod
4x Ultra Ball

ENERGY (10)
2x Fire Energy
2x Grass Energy
2x Water Energy
4x Luminous Energy

For the record, this deck was originally named “Monkey Can’t Buy Me Love,” but it was too long for TCG Live.

The Trainer cards here are focused mainly on getting Simisage, Simisear, and Simipour out as quickly as possible and leaving as little to chance as I can. (Of course, destiny likes to give me a lot of stinkbombs anyway.) Buddy-Buddy Poffin brings out any Basic Pokémon in this deck as they’re all 70 HP or less, Ultra Ball gets me any Pokémon without using the Supporter slot, Arezu gets me up to three Evolution cards without a Rule Box (and there are no Pokémon in this deck with a Rule Box), and Super Rod gets my Pokémon out of the discard pile. I have 4 of each of these cards.

This is because the three fully-evolved monkeys have the Ability “Monkey Trio,” in which if all three are present, they can attack for just 1 Energy of their type. These are strong attacks too: Simipour’s Liquid Lashing deals only 50 to the Active Pokémon but 30 to everything on the bench; Simisage’s Heat Tackle does an excellent 190 damage but takes 30 in recoil; and, most debilitating of all, Simisage’s Arm Thrust Needle does 100 and grants it invulnerability from any Pokémon with an Ability. The key is to determine which of these three are the most valuable—and to get the three of them out before the opponent can fully set up.

Manaphy is there to protect Pansage, Pansear, and Panpour, as many people use decks with strong attacks that hit the bench, and the easiest way to stop this deck is to not allow it to fully set up. Manaphy takes away that option.

It’s a very hard deck to manage because I need to complete three evolution lines—and keep them there, which is an even harder task. There is only so much deck space I have to fit them, and it also means bench space is valuable. I don’t have space for Pokémon that will show up, use their Ability on the bench, and become dead weight for the rest of the battle, like Rotom V, Squawkabilly ex, or Lumineon V. Hence, the other Pokémon here—Bibarel, Mimikyu, and Manaphy—have continuous, very valuable effects.

Cards like Neutralization Zone and Mimikyu are there as defense against Pokémon ex and Pokémon V, which are almost omnipresent in the metagame. They’ve become more important since Stellar Crown’s release, where a lot of Pokémon ex were introduced without Abilities, which, without Mimikyu and Neutralization Zone, would otherwise smash this deck 99 times out of 100 because the elemental monkeys have no real defense against them. Though Practice Studio goes well with this deck, giving extra damage to all Stage 1 Pokémon Colress’s Tenacity is to get Neutralization Zone out—but I’d recommend that be saved for as close to the end of the match as possible, as the opponent WILL get rid of it ASAP if you bring it out too soon.

I don’t recommend you use this deck unless you’re very confident. Without any powerful Pokémon ex, you’re treading on eggshells, on the verge of losing the entire way through. Nevertheless, I’ve shown 2 matches this time, to demonstrate how it makes up for its lack of strength with its versatility. The first one had me up against a Galvantula ex deck, which has been tearing the scene with its Stellar move, Fulgurite, that majorly slows down the opponent. The second one is against Iron Thorns ex again and shows that when your Pokémon all have Abilities, a fully set-up Simisage can take on this deck all by itself.