Pokemon TCG Live Destined Rivals Battle Pass Deck Upgrade
The Pokemon Company has announced the two decks we are getting for the Destined Rivals Pokemon TCG Live Battle Pass and they are two fan favorites: Ethan’s Typhlosion/Ho-Oh and Team Rocket’s Mewtwo ex.
Below, we’ll be taking a look at two different versions of the Battle Pass Decks from Destined Rivals: one being the base set version and the second being a stronger, more fully upgraded version of the same strategy.
Both of these decks will be available for play when Destined Rivals comes out on May 30, 2025, with the Pokemon TCG Live app usually updating with the latest cards just one day before the official release date.
Ethan’s Ho-Oh ex Battle Pass basic deck
Starting with the Battle Pass deck that you get immediately as part of the Destined Rivals Pokemon TCG Live season: this deck actually looks to me like a mashup between two different deck strategies. While the central, unifying theme here is Ethan’s Pokemon, this deck combines elements of the Ethan’s Ho-Oh ex deck and Ethan’s Typhlosion deck. While you can certainly combine them, you don’t necessarily have to as the deck has many disparate attackers who don’t necessarily need to be run in the same deck.
Below, let’s look at two different options you can leverage in building your own upgraded Ethan’s Typhlosion single prize deck or Ethan’s Ho-Oh ex deck to help you climb the Pokemon TCG Live ladder.
Upgrade Method #1 – Ethan’s Ho-Oh ex
If you really enjoy the Ethan’s Ho-Oh ex strategy and want to lean more heavily into that, this deck might be the one for you. Essentially, here Ho-Oh is primarily used to either accelerate energies onto itself, Magcargo, or Pinsir. Magcargo is Ho-Oh ex’s most natural partner: manage to get five energy onto this guy and you’re hitting for an insane 350 damage.
Not running the Typhlosion in this deck means making room for more cards. Not only do you not have its evolution line taking up card slots, you don’t need to run the likes of Shaymin to protect your bench. Instead, you can hone in on your Basic Pokemon a bit more, enabling them free retreat (Magcargo gets free retreat when it doesn’t have any energy attached).
By cutting the Typhlosion and its evolution line from this deck, you get a more consistent, focused strategy that’s all about powering up your Pokemon and taking big hits quickly.
Upgrade method #2 – Ethan’s Typhlosion
The other option is to structure your Ethan’s deck around the Typhlosion evolution line and Typhlosion’s powerful Buddy Blast attack. Indeed, Typhlosion doesn’t gain much if anything at all by getting paired with Ho-Oh ex as Buddy Blast just requires a single energy to get off. Instead, the hard part of this deck is going to be just getting all of your Ethan’s Adventure cards into your discard.
That shouldn’t be too hard to do, and once you’ve achieved that goal, Typhlosion is swinging for 280 damage – and that’s without any of the damage modifiers this deck has access to like the mighty Maximum Belt or situationally handy Defiance Band.
Dudunsparce is an optional draw engine you could include in this deck as well, and you will of course need the Shaymin to help protect your bench.
Team Rocket’s Mewtwo ex Battle Pass basic deck
Halfway through the Battle Pass, you’ll unlock a new deck centered around Team Rocket’s Mewtwo ex. This deck is much, much more completed than the basic Ethan’s Ho-Oh ex deck, and forms an almost complete and consistent strategy. The deck centers all around using a multitude of Rocket-specific cards to gain you an advantage. Mewtwo ex itself is a very strong card. A basic Pokemon, it has 280 HP right off the bat without needing to be evolved, and can hit for 280 with relative ease.
This deck astutely boosts its attack power leveraging Maximum Belt for situations where you really need to be swinging for the fences.
That being said, there are a few additional cards you could leverage to make this deck even stronger.
Lillie’s Clefairy ex
Since you are running the Psychic energy anyways, why not tech in a Lillie’s Clefairy ex? This Pokemon makes for an excellent pinch hitter and its advantage against Dragon type Pokemon can help you get ahead of the competition.
Counter Catcher
Sometimes you get behind in the Pokemon TCG. When that happens, Counter Catcher is a great item to help even the odds. Try fitting a Counter Catcher into your deck to help you gust out more advantageous targets for your Mewtwo ex to take down. The water energy could be a great choice as you won’t necessarily need to attack with the Articuno.
Helpful tips when playing Rocket’s Mewtwo ex
One of the best parts about playing Team Rocket’s Mewtwo ex is how much support it has as an archetype. A lot of that powerful support stems from the trainers this deck runs, so make sure you learn what each of them do to better assist you in dominating the game.
Additionally, Team Rocket’s Pokemon specific cards like Team Rocket’s Energy, Transmitter, and Factory all give you massive buffs to help take on the challenging Pokemon TCG Live meta.
The Destined Rivals Battle Pass decks are pretty solid all things considered, with the Team Rocket’s Mewtwo ex deck being essentially play ready directly “out of the box.” With a little bit of fine tuning, Ethan’s Ho-Oh ex can also become a powerful strategy. Regardless of how you build and upgrade these decks, however, they’re sure to be a fun and exciting way to experience this instantly iconic Pokemon TCG set for yourself!
