Terapagos ex is one of the most exciting new decks in the Pokemon TCG, and in this deck guide I’m going to show you how to build and play it at a competitive level.

*4th out of 200 by ChaloZamorano – Late Night*

Pokémon: 25
3 Hoothoot SCR 114
3 Noctowl SCR 115
3 Terapagos ex SCR 128
2 Pidgey OBF 162
2 Pidgeot ex OBF 164
2 Duskull SFA 18
1 Dusclops SFA 19
2 Dusknoir SFA 20
2 Fan Rotom SCR 118
2 Bouffalant SCR 119
1 Squawkabilly ex PAL 169
1 Bloodmoon Ursaluna ex TWM 141
1 Fezandipiti ex SFA 38
Trainer: 31
3 Iono PAL 185
2 Professor's Research SVI 189
1 Briar SCR 132
1 Colress's Tenacity SFA 57
1 Boss's Orders PAL 172
4 Rare Candy SVI 191
4 Nest Ball SVI 181
3 Ultra Ball SVI 196
2 Buddy-Buddy Poffin TEF 144
2 Night Stretcher SFA 61
1 Switch SVI 194
1 Feather Ball ASR 141
1 Counter Catcher PAR 160
1 Prime Catcher TEF 157
4 Area Zero Underdepths SCR 131
Energy: 4
4 Double Turbo Energy BRS 151

Breaking Down Terapagos ex

On its own, Terapagos ex may not look like much. But when combined with the powerful Tera focused supporting cards released in Stellar Crown, it becomes very powerful. While it has two attacks, it’s strongest by far is the Unified Beatdown. It’s so strong and reliable to get off that this deck doesn’t even bother with the other one – Crown Opal. I think that’s pretty wise as Crown Opal is virtually useless and relatively hard to get off with all of those disparate energies.

Unified Beatdown

Unified Beatdown has a max damage output of 240. That’s enough to knockout any Basic Pokemon ex/V out there, making Terapagos ex perfectly efficient against other aggro decks. To make the most out of this attack, however, you will need Area Zero Underdepths in play.

Area Zero Underdepths

While Terapagos ex may be this deck’s main attacker, you can’t get things to work right without Area Zero Underdepths. This stadium lets either player have up to eight Pokemon on their bench, provided they have a Tera Pokemon in play.

Essentially, Area Zero Underdepths has changed the game. Many decks in the meta run Tera Pokemon, effectively increasing the number of Pokemon in play on the bench to eight at any given time.

If you are on the side of Terapagos ex, this is a very good thing as you can leverage those added benched Pokemon towards your Unified Beatdown attack.

However, if you are facing off against a Terapagos ex, you might look to remove this Stadium card from play as often as possible in an attempt to whittle down your opponent’s resources to a more manageable level.

Getting Unified Beatdown off more easily and reliably

You don’t need to worry about energy acceleration in this Terapagos ex deck build as you will be simply using Double Turbo Energy to power up your attack. Although Double Turbo Energy is a special energy, you can easily search it out via Colress’s Tenacity. This undervalued card not only lets you bring a Double Turbo to your hand, it also enables you to bring a Stadium to your hand.

This can easily be searched out via Noctowl – a card we will look into more thoroughly in the next section.

Needless to say, Colress’s Tenacity is an indispensable supporter in this deck’s strategy.

Terapagos ex has unparalleled card search capabilities

Now that we’ve covered how the Terapagos ex’s attack works, including the best way to power it up, let’s look at the other key aspect of this deck that makes it so competitively viable. It’s easy to be blinded by a Pokemon’s attack power and ignore what really makes a deck strong: search and draw power. Typically you need one or the other for a deck to be strong.

Take for example the late and great Mew VMAX. That deck was a powerhouse during its time not because it had particularly remarkable card search but because it’s draw engine was unparalled. To this day, we still haven’t seen anything like the draw engine of Genesect V, yet more decks have access to solid draw options thanks to cards like Mew ex and Fezandipiti ex.

In Terapagos ex, however, we might just be seeing the emergence of a new card search super power. This is due to the deck’s ease of fielding both Pidgeot ex and Noctowl – two cards that when combined let you search for exactly the cards you need when you need them most.

Noctowl brings additional value to Tera decks

There are two reasons why Noctowl is so strong in this deck. For starters, it is a colorless Pokemon, meaning that it can be easily brought out with Rotom Fan on turn one. Second, its ability only triggers when you have a Tera Pokemon in play. Of course, Terpagos ex is a Tera type (it’s basically in its name), making it the perfect deck to run Noctowl in. When you evolve your Hoothoot into Noctowl, you can bring two trainers into your hand.

Pidgeot ex

While Noctowl has a powerful ability, so does Pidgeot ex, and this deck runs both engines to give you powerful card search capabilities. Pidgeot ex may not be limited to just trainers, but it’s harder to evolve, relying on a Rare Candy to make it work.

However, there’s another card that this deck runs that makes getting both into play a whole lot easier. And that card is Fan Rotom

Fan Rotom and plenty of bench space

The common thread between Noctowl and Pidgeot ex is that the basic Pokemon they evolve from are both colorless Pokemon under 100 HP. This makes them prime targets for the powerful Fan Rotom Pokemon released in Stellar Crown. You can only use its Fan Call ability on turn one, but if you manage to get Fan Rotom into play (something that’s easy enough to achieve given the number of Nest Ball, Ultra Ball and Buddy-Buddy Poffin cards this deck runs), you can then stack up your bench with the cards you will need to get your card search engine running.

Normally, it might be a bit of a stretch to try and bench all of these great Pokemon, however the eight bench spaces you unlock with Area Zero Underdepths makes having plenty of great supporting Pokemon almost a no-brainer, hence making Terapagos ex the strongest card search engine deck we’ve seen since the Inteleon Line during Sword and Shield.

Bouffalant makes Terapagos ex tanky

While we’ve covered the core strategy of what makes Teragapos ex so strong, namely its Unified Beatdown attack, Area Zero Underdepths and unparalleled card search, there’s an added feature this deck has to offer that’s as unique as it is effective.

Bouffalant – a card that was released as a promo in the Build and Battle Box – has a powerful defensive ability that reduces the damage your Pokemon take.

This is not only helpful in making Terapagos ex tankier – the ability applies to all basic colorless Pokemon. Essentially, your Pokemon are all now shielded from common attacks and abilties that decimate the bench, freeing you from the likely tyranny of Dragapult ex and even opposing Cursed Blasts.

Cursed Blast for added reach

This deck also runs the Dusknoir evolution line, giving you added reach and making it easier for you to take advantage of the powerful Briar play that now only Tera type Pokemon can leverage. Most top tier decks are going to be running Dusknoir, and that’s especially the case if they are running Rare Candy already anyways. Easily evolve your Dusknoir to start blasting your opponent’s bench apart or making otherwise difficult KOs easier to reach.

You can also take up to four prizes in a turn when you use Dusknoir in the same turn as a successful Briar play. While not essential to Terapagos ex’s core strategy, you’ll find Cursed Blast to be a powerful differentiator and relatively easy to fit into your build given you are running Rare Candy already.

Additional Pokemon to mention

Lastly, there’s even more versatility in regards to the kind of Pokemon you can use in this deck. This deck also runs a Squawkabilly with the phenomenal Squawk and Sieze ability, Fezandipiti giving you added draw support, and Blood Moon Ursaluna ex who can take late game KOs while also benefiting from that Curly Wall.

Terapagos ex deck matchups

If you can’t see it from the guide, Terapagos ex is a pretty scary powerful deck. However, there’s plenty of other strong decks in the meta, so you’ll want to know how this deck fairs against them.

Disadvantaged against Charizard ex

Perhaps the biggest thing holding Terapagos ex back in the current meta is the fact that Charizard ex is a better Tera deck. It also benefits from Cursed Blast and Briar. Meanwhile it’s higher damage cap makes it easier for it to hit those KOs and get those four prize turns than Terapagos ex can.

Advantaged against Roaring Moon ex

Roaring Moon is the faster deck, as its attacks aren’t prevented from being used the first turn. However, it’s Calamity Storm isn’t strong enough to cut through your Terapagos ex. Meanwhile, it’s Frenzied Gouging is easily vulnerable to Cursed Blast.

Advantaged against Regidrago VSTAR

Regidrago VSTAR’s tools are largely nullified by Terapagos ex. Kyruem isn’t very effective against a full bench of Pokemon defended by Curly Wall. Also Terapagos ex is hard to take out for Regidrago.

Even against Raging Bolt ex

Raging Bolt ex’s main advantage is being able to launch a turn one strike against you. Otherwise, it’s a pretty even matchup.

Terapagos ex Deck List and Guide