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Meat Wall: Snorlax’s strategy in Pokémon TCG Pocket that allows you to easily gain an Energy advantage
In Pokémon TCG Pocket, we take a look at a simple and fun strategy with Snorlax that allows you to gain an Energy advantage without too much effort.
Snorlax is one of the most recognizable Pokémon, known for its voracious appetite and enormous size. In mainline titles like Pokémon Gold, Silver, and Crystal, its devastating power has made it an important part of the metagame, and in the Pokémon TCG Pocket, it has become a great choice for almost any deck. The reason? Its large amount of Health makes it a great defender, giving us an Energy advantage over the opponent in a simple and effective way.
What is the Snorlax Strategy in Pokémon TCG Pocket and how do I get it?
The Snorlax card is available in the Genetic Apex Set, the first expansion pack for the game. It only appears in the Pikachu Booster Packs, and unfortunately has a very low appearance rate (between 0.3% and 1.4%, depending on the rarity of the card). However, we can purchase a copy of this card directly with 150 Pack Points.
Snorlax’s strategy is simple and effective. Essentially, it is to start the game with it as an Active Pokémon. Although Snorlax needs a lot of resources to attack or be removed (four Energy of each color), it does not matter because that is not its purpose.
The idea is that its large amount of Health (150 HP) will allow us to withstand the opponent’s successive attacks, while we accumulate Energy in other Pokémon we have in the bench that will allow us to win the game once Snorlax is weakened. As a result, attacking Pokémon that require a lot of Energy, such as Mewtwo ex, Lapras ex, or Charizard ex, will go into battle with full Health and ready to unleash their devastating power.
Since we will only be using Snorlax to take hits, this strategy can be applied to decks of any type and color. To increase its consistency, it is ideal to add two copies of Snorlax to the deck, as well as additional cards that speed the flow of cards from the deck to your hand, such as Professor Research - Professor Oak (draws two cards) or Poké Ball (adds a Basic Pokémon to your hand). This serves to drastically increase the odds of starting each game with at least one copy of Snorlax in hand. In addition, cards like Potion can heal Snorlax by 20 Health, allowing it to serve as a wall of flesh for longer.
Other cards, such as Sabrina, that force the opponent to switch their active Pokémon to another from their bench can help us buy even more time with Snorlax if used properly. For example, we can force the opponent to switch to a low-damage Pokémon, causing them to lose turns and Energy when they try to retreat it, while we build up Energy and continue to set up our attackers for the long term.
This particular tactic may seem counterintuitive, as we are effectively sacrificing a Pokémon for our opponent, giving them one of the three points they need to win. However, this strategy emphasizes that Pokémon’s HP is another resource that must be managed, and that, as in chess, it is sometimes necessary to make some immediate sacrifices in order to gain a long-term advantage to ensure victory.