This deck was used by Lucas Henrique de Araujo Pereira at the Oceania International Championships, where he finished in the Top 8. Many of the cards in this deck have been selected to help get Pikachu & Zekrom-GX going as quickly as possible, potentially even on the first or second turn of the game.

Tapu Koko Prism Star's Dance of the Ancients Ability can net you two quick Lightning Energy, assuming you've managed to get those Energy cards into the discard pile. Thunder Mountain Prism Star's effect reduces attack costs for all your Lightning types, while Volkner can help make sure you have an Energy in hand so you don't miss your regular Energy attachment for the turn. Lightning-type decks like this one really benefit from the incredible Electropower Trainer card—use the extra damage to speed things up and turn lesser attacks into one-hit Knock Outs.

You'll ideally want to spend most of your turns slugging away with the massively powerful Pikachu & Zekrom-GX, but most players include Zapdos as a secondary attacker. Zapdos can easily Knock Out many Basic Pokémon with Thunderous Assault when swooping in from the Bench, and its Resistance to Fighting (where most Lightning types have a Weakness) makes it a key attacker against decks based around Fighting-type Pokémon. Tapu Koko-GX is a useful addition—its Ability helps get Zapdos back to the Bench, and if you can't spare the resources for Tag Bolt-GX, a timely Tapu Thunder-GX can be just as devastating to an opponent who has lots of Energy in play.

Since this deck features only Basic Pokémon, there's plenty of room to include complementary Trainer cards and Pokémon. Jirachi's Stellar Wish Ability has quickly made it a star, and most Pikachu & Zekrom-GX decks include at least a couple. It can be tricky to get Jirachi back to your Bench when it's Asleep after using Stellar Wish, so this deck includes several copies of Escape Board, Switch, and Guzma, plus a single copy of Escape Rope, to keep Jirachi from being stranded. These cards, plus Zeraora-GX's Thunderclap Zone Ability, also make it easier to keep Zapdos moving so its Thunderous Assault always does 80 damage instead of 10. Marshadow and Absol are included to disrupt opponents while your Lightning-type Pokémon keep hammering away.

Pikachu & Zekrom-GX has been the most impactful TAG TEAM in tournaments, so this is definitely a deck worth practicing! Check back to Pokemon.com/Strategy soon for more Sun & Moon—Team Up decks and other Pokémon TCG and video game tips.