Piece Together Victory in the Pokémon TCG!

Whether you’re looking for a place to start when building your next Pokémon TCG deck, or just need that little something to put you over the top, these simple card combinations from the latest expansion might be just what you’re looking for.

Celebi-EX + Flygon

There are plenty of ways to take advantage of Celebi-EX’s (141/149) Time Recall Ability, which lets evolved Pokémon use attacks from their previous Evolutions. But one Pokémon stands out as a particularly great match for Time Recall: Flygon (99/149), which evolves from Vibrava (98/149), can do serious damage to all of your opponent’s Pokémon turn after turn. Vibrava’s Sand Pulse attack does 10 damage to each of your opponent’s Benched Pokémon (and 50 to the Defending Pokémon). Add that to the damage counter you put on each of your opponent’s Pokémon between turns with Flygon’s Sand Slammer Ability, and you’re doing a phenomenal amount of damage to your opponent’s Bench each round.

Mienshao + Hugh

Want a crafty way to slow down your opponent’s plans? Limit the cards he or she can play. First, play Hugh (130/149), which makes both you and your opponent draw or discard until you each have 5 cards in your hand. Then, strip your opponent of an additional card with Mienshao’s (88/149) Knock Off attack, which ’makes your opponent discard a random card. You’ll probably need to look elsewhere for the firepower to Knock Out any Pokémon, but this combo is a great way to frustrate your opponent’s strategy early in matches.

Cresselia-EX + Lopunny + Victini

There are plenty of Pokémon capable of attacking your Bench, including popular Pokémon such as Landorus-EX and Darkrai-EX. You can slow down the continuous assault first with Cresselia-EX (143/149) and its Sparkling Particles Ability, which heals 10 damage between turns. Then, heal an extra 60 damage from each of your Pokémon with Lopunny’s (117/149) Healing Melody attack. Healing Melody requires a successful coin flip—if you have room for Victini (Black & White—Noble Victories, 98/101) on your Bench, with its Victory Star Ability that lets you try a coin flip again if you don’t like the result, your whole team will be in good position to stay healthy throughout your match!