Ho-Oh ex and Lugia ex (TCG Pocket)

Ho-Oh ex and Lugia ex
Ho-Oh ex and Lugia ex Types used Major cards Ho-Oh ex and Lugia ex Era 2025-present

Ho-Oh ex and Lugia ex is a Pokémon Trading Card Game Pocket deck archetype that has been played since the release of Wisdom of Sea and Sky in 2025. The deck focuses on the synergy between the namesake cards, Ho-Oh ex and Lugia ex, by using Ho-Oh ex's Phoenix Turbo to charge up Lugia ex's powerful Elemental Blast.

Contents

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• (Return to top)
• Strategy
  • Weaknesses
• Key cards
• Typical decklist
• Possible tech cards

Contents

Strategy

Ho-Oh ex, for , can use Phoenix Turbo to attach , , and to your Benched Basic Pokémon. This naturally makes it the ideal partner for Lugia ex, whose Elemental Blast deals a hefty 180 damage and requires , while also discarding those Energy.

As such, the game plan revolves around getting Ho-Oh ex online to use Phoenix Turbo, in order to enable multiple uses of Elemental Blast to sweep through the opponent's Pokémon. The Baby Pokémon introduced in Wisdom of Sea and Sky also help with this by accelerating Energy attachment for Ho-Oh ex, allowing Phoenix Turbo to be used as early as turn 4.

Weaknesses

Ultimately, the game plan for Ho-Oh ex and Lugia ex is very inconsistent and slow. Ho-Oh ex requires 3 Energy to use Phoenix Turbo, making it very costly for an Energy ramping tool, often forcing the use of Baby Pokémon to accelerate Energy; in these builds, it's entirely possible for the deck to lose from the opponent Knocking Out a Baby Pokémon and then Ho-Oh ex before Lugia ex gets to attack. Even if not knocked out before it can finish attaching Energy, Ho-Oh ex will often be damaged when retreating to let Lugia ex into the Active Spot, making it easy prey for Cyrus.

Lugia ex is also extremely detrimental to have in the Active Spot early on due to its high Retreat Cost and very demanding Energy cost for Elemental Blast; without Ho-Oh ex, Lugia ex is hard-pressed to do anything. Furthermore, Elemental Blast discarding Energy with each use means the deck needs a lot of setup from Ho-Oh ex to close out games, which is often a daunting task given how slow Phoenix Turbo is to use and means a significant amount of the deck is devoted to enabling the combination. The massive cost has only become more pronounced with the introduction of Mega Evolution Pokémon ex that can often take an Elemental Blast and Knock Out Lugia ex in return.

Finally, the deck's reliance on Pokémon ex means the deck needs dedicated tools to deal with Oricorio or else risk losing outright.

Key cards

• Ho-Oh ex - The deck's main enabler, each use of Ho-Oh ex's Phoenix Turbo allows one use of Elemental Blast by attaching Energy.
• Lugia ex - The payoff for Ho-Oh ex's Energy ramp. While extremely costly, very few Pokémon can survive Lugia ex's Elemental Blast.
• Pichu and Magby - Accelerates the deck's Energy gain to let Ho-Oh ex use Phoenix Turbo sooner; if using exclusively in the Energy Zone, can also be used to enable Lugia ex in a pinch.
• Leaf - Necessary to get Lugia ex out of the Active Spot if forced to place it there, or retreat Ho-Oh ex into a Baby Pokémon.
• Red - Used to ensure Elemental Blast can Knock Out bulkier Pokémon ex with Giant Cape.

Typical decklist

The deck list below is meant to represent an average build of the archetype, not specifically constructed for any given metagame. The exact cards are highly variable depending on playstyle.

{{{title}}}
Quantity	Card	Type	Rarity
2×	Zeraora
1×	Magby
2×	Ho-Oh ex
1×	Pichu
2×	Lugia ex
2×	Poké Ball	Item	—
2×	Elemental Switch	Item
1×	Giant Cape	Tool
2×	Leaf	Supp
1×	Cyrus	Supp
1×	Mars	Supp
1×	Red	Supp
2×	Professor's Research [Professor Oak]	Supp	—
Energy used: and/or

Possible tech cards

• Snorlax ex and Ilima - An alternate build focused on stalling rather than Energy ramp, using Snorlax ex's bulk and Ilima to fend off attacks while attaching Energy to Ho-Oh ex.
• Rayquaza or Ho-Oh - Can be played as outs to Oricorio and as supplemental 1-prize attackers.
• Mantyke - Helps accelerate Energy, similar to the other Baby Pokémon.
• Sabrina or Repel - Can help slow down enemy pressure or force vulnerable Pokémon into the active spot, potentially allowing a KO with Phoenix Turbo.

This article is part of both Project Sidegames and Project TCG, Bulbapedia projects that, together, aim to write comprehensive articles on video games about the TCG.