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Updated June 12, 2026Great Tusk and Koraidon ex Deck Guide in Pokémon TCG Pocket
Smash through the format with an Ancient aggro core that trades cheap knockouts with Great Tusk and closes games with Koraidon ex.
This is an Ancient aggro deck that wins by trading efficiently: Great Tusk hands over only 1 point when it goes down but hits like an ex, while Koraidon ex arrives late with Legendary Drive to inherit every Energy on your board and finish the game. Furfrou stalls the early turns, and a stack of damage boosts for your Fighting attackers lets them reach knockout numbers well above their printed damage.
The decklist
How it works
Great Tusk is the deck's primary attacker and its best trade. For
Fighting, Shaking Stomp deals 80 damage, with
the drawback that it also does 20 damage to each of your own Benched Pokémon.
Because Great Tusk is not an ex, your opponent only scores 1 point for
knocking it out, yet with Arena of Antiquity and Korrina stacked it hits an
opposing Active Pokémon ex for 130. Its 120 HP grows to 160 with an Ancient
Booster Energy Capsule attached, putting it comfortably out of range of single
hits like Magnezone's 90-damage Mirror Shot.
Koraidon ex is the finisher you hold in hand until the moment is right. Its
Legendary Drive ability lets you switch it into the Active Spot the turn you
bench it from your hand, moving all of your Energy in play onto it, so three
Fighting Energy spread across Furfrou and Great Tusk
becomes an instant World Wrecker. That attack costs
Fighting and deals 110 damage,
discarding the top card of your deck each use. At 150 HP, it gives up 2 points
when it falls, so deploy it to close games, not to open them.
Furfrou is the opener that buys your fighting attackers time. Its Fur Coat
ability means it takes 20 less damage from attacks, and under Starting Plains
its 70 HP becomes 90, which is a surprisingly stubborn wall for a deck this
cheap. Tackle deals 30 for a single Colorless Energy, so
it applies pressure from turn one while Great Tusk charges on the Bench, and
its Retreat Cost of 1 keeps your pivots cheap.
Professor Sada is the Ancient engine's recovery valve. Her effect attaches 3
different types of Energy from your discard pile to your Ancient Pokémon, and
since this list only ever discards Fighting Energy, in
practice she returns one of them. That still matters: it is a second
attachment in the same turn on top of your Energy Zone attach, so the turn
after a loaded attacker is knocked out, a fresh Great Tusk reaches its
two-Energy attack a turn ahead of schedule. With two copies in the deck, you
can usually find one for the mid game when the Energy race tightens.
Matchups
| Matchup | Favorability | How to play it |
|---|---|---|
| Miraidon ex Magnezone | Favored | Everything they play is weak to Fighting, so your numbers spike by 20 across the board. With Arena of Antiquity in play and Korrina for the turn, Shaking Stomp hits Miraidon ex for 150 and knocks out its 140 HP in one swing for 2 points. Magnezone's 150 HP falls to two Shaking Stomps at 100 each, and Mirror Shot's coin flip is the only thing that can stall you. |
| Mega Blaziken ex Greninja | Favored | Mega Burning deals 120 and discards a  Fire Energy every use, so their tempo stutters while your attackers keep coming. Put an Ancient Booster Energy Capsule on Great Tusk so it sits at 160 HP and survives Mega Burning plus the Burn damage. Two World Wreckers total 220 and knock out the 210 HP Mega Blaziken ex for 3 points, which wins the game on the spot. |
| Suicune ex Baxcalibur | Even | Crystal Waltz counts Benched Pokémon on both sides, so keep your own Bench to one Pokémon and cap their damage low while Baxcalibur's Ice Maker accelerates them. Suicune ex's 140 HP is out of range of a boosted Shaking Stomp at 130, so save Korrina and Arena of Antiquity for a 160-damage World Wrecker instead. Use Cyrus to drag a damaged Baxcalibur into the Active Spot and cut off their Energy flow. |
| Mega Sceptile ex Sceptile | Even | Terminating Tail's 130 plus Poison one-shots an unbuffed Great Tusk, so the Capsule and Starting Plains matter here more than anywhere. Koraidon ex at 190 HP with a Capsule survives the hit and the Poison tick, then two World Wreckers at 260 with Arena of Antiquity clear the 210 HP Mega Sceptile ex for 3 points. Pokémon Center Lady heals 30 and removes the Poison, which swings the damage race. |
| Mega Altaria ex Espeon | Heavily unfavored | Both of your attackers are weak to  Psychic, and a full-Bench Mega Harmony hits 130, which becomes 150 into your Fighting Pokémon and knocks out a bare Koraidon ex exactly. Lead Furfrou, whose Fur Coat shaves every hit by 20 and who carries no Psychic weakness, and put a Capsule on Koraidon ex so 150 no longer kills it. You are racing from behind, so take the 1-point Espeon knockout with World Wrecker whenever Cyrus can drag it up. |
Tech options and swaps
The single-copy slots are where this list flexes. Lucky Ice Pop heals 20 from your Active Pokémon and returns to your hand on a heads, which quietly breaks two-hit math against midrange decks, while Pokémon Center Lady heals 30 and clears Special Conditions like the Burn and Poison the Mega decks inflict. Copycat is your comeback draw against slow hands. In a meta heavy on Special Conditions, you could shift to a second Pokémon Center Lady over Lucky Ice Pop; against faster aggro, a second Starting Plains over Copycat makes every Basic on your side harder to remove, though it buffs opposing Basics too.
How to pilot it
In your opening hand, you want Furfrou in the Active Spot and Great Tusk on the Bench; use Poké Ball immediately to find whichever half is missing, since every Pokémon in the deck is a Basic. If you go first you get no Energy attachment on turn one, so just bench your attacker and pass after playing your draw Supporters. From your first attachment onward, every Fighting Energy goes to Great Tusk while Furfrou jabs for 30 with Tackle.
By the time Great Tusk swings, think about Stadium sequencing: Starting Plains early to keep your Basics alive, Arena of Antiquity once you are attacking into an ex. The Koraidon ex turn is the deck's signature play. Keep it in hand, let Energy accumulate anywhere on your board, then bench it, trigger Legendary Drive to switch it in with every Energy attached, and fire a 110-damage World Wrecker out of nowhere. Pair that turn with Korrina and Arena of Antiquity for 160 into an Active Pokémon ex.
Common misplays: benching all three Pokémon for no reason, which both feeds Crystal Waltz and means Shaking Stomp chips 20 off each of your own Benched Pokémon every turn; playing Koraidon ex early as a body, which wastes Legendary Drive and gifts 2 points; and forgetting that World Wrecker discards the top card of your deck, so count your remaining cards in long games. Attach your Capsules before the opponent's big attacker is online, not after.
Deck strengths
- Great Tusk trades 1 point against attackers worth 2 or 3
- Korrina plus Arena of Antiquity pushes damage far past printed numbers against ex Pokémon
- All-Basic lineup means no evolution turns and consistent Poké Ball hits
- Legendary Drive turns scattered Energy into a surprise 110-damage attacker
Deck weaknesses
- Both Fighting attackers share Psychic weakness, so one matchup is nearly unwinnable
- Shaking Stomp damages your own Bench every turn
- Only one Koraidon ex, and World Wrecker slowly mills your own deck
- Great Tusk's Retreat Cost of 3 makes a stranded one very hard to rescue
Is it worth building?
This is one of the cheaper competitive builds around: the only multi-point rare is a single Koraidon ex, and the rest of the list is commons and uncommons from a few different sets, so most players can assemble it quickly. It suits players who like straightforward attacking math with one big decision point, namely when to cash in Legendary Drive. If your local ladder is full of 
Lightning decks it will feel great; if Mega Altaria ex is everywhere, build something else first and keep this as a counterpick.
