Pokémon

Neither Buzzwole ex nor Xurkitree: these are the ten best cards of the A3a Extradimensional Crisis miniset in Pokémon TCG Pocket

We detail which are the ten best cards of the Pokémon TCG Pocket Extradimensional Crisis miniset. These cards are the ones that have the greatest potential to make a dent in the metagame.

Rubén Martínez Gabriel Huerta

Update: May 30th, 2025 20:10 CEST

Extradimensional Crisis is available in Pokémon TCG Pocket since Thursday, May 29, 2025, and among its 103 new cards, there are several that stand out above the rest. Here, we take a look at the ten best cards of this new expansion. As usual, not all of them are new Pokémon, and the list contains several surprises. Ironically, this list does not include Buzzwole EX, the Ultra Beast that illustrates the booster packs of this expansion.

Decidueye

Neither Buzzwole ex nor Xurkitree: these are the ten best cards of the A3a Extradimensional Crisis miniset in Pokémon TCG Pocket

Extradimensional Crisis’s Decidueye is a very good choice for Plant-type decks that use its entire evolutionary line. Its only move, Sniping Arrow, deals 70 damage. That’s a respectable amount by itself, but the best thing about it is that we decide which of our opponent’s Pokémon this damage will be aimed at, including those on the Bench. Not only does it allow us to inflict “piercing damage”, but those 70 points of damage are more than enough to finish off many Basic Pokémon, potentially ruining the opponent’s strategies that consist of evolving them. This is a very useful card as a “sniper”.

Tapu Koko ex

Tapu Koko ex, introduced in Extradimensional Crisis, becomes a fundamental piece to speed up Electric-type decks that use Pokémon with powerful attacks that discard Electric Energies such as Raichu. Its basic move, Plasma Hurricane, deals 20 damage and allows it to attach an Electric Energy to Tapu Koko ex, paving the way for early use of Mach Bolt, its most powerful move, which deals 90 damage. Using Lieutenant Surge, we can transfer all the Energy accumulated in Tapu Koko ex to a Raichu, Electrode or Electabuzz in our Active Post. Another option is to equip Tapu Koko ex with an Electric Cable, so that when it falls weakened, we can recycle two Electric Energies into Pokémon from our Bench, which gives these decks great versatility and strategic depth.

Zeraora

Zeraora, introduced in Extradimensional Crisis, is an interesting option to dominate the early game if we use Electric decks. Its Ability, Thunderclap Flash, allows us to attach an Electric Energy to it at the end of our first turn, which means that it can start attacking from the second turn with Lightning Claw, which requires two Electric Energies and inflicts 50 damage. It may not seem like a high amount of damage, but the idea is to start damaging the opponent’s Pokémon as soon as possible; if it uses a strategy based on Basic Pokémon, we will be able to sweep it with ease given the low health of these creatures.

Claydol

Claydol’s Ability, a Phase 1 Pokémon introduced with Extradimensional Crisis, is unprecedented and can catch the opponent completely off guard. Heal Block serves, as its name suggests, to prevent Pokémon from being healed, both our own and our opponent’s. Although this may seem counterproductive, there are certain decks that rely too much on advanced healing cards like Erika or Irida , so it can be an attractive toolbox and anti-meta option for almost all decks. Since Baltoy and its evolution Claydol do not need Energies of any specific type, they can be adapted to decks of any type.

Lycanroc ex

Lycanroc ex debuts in Extradimensional Crisis. What he offers is very simple, but no less attractive for that: brute force in a reliable way. His only move, Lycanfang, inflicts 130 points of damage, requires two Fighting Energies and one of any other type, and compulsorily removes one Fighting Energy. However, if we keep him in the Active Post, he becomes a consistent attacker since each turn we can add the Fighting Energy he discards once we get the initial three. Currently, there is nothing in the game that can withstand two 130 damage hits in a row, so it can finish off any opposing Pokémon in two turns in a row on most occasions.

Nihilego

Nihilego is one of the Ultra Beasts debuting in Pokémon TCG Pocket thanks to Extradimensional Crisis. It is an extremely useful Pokémon for Dark decks focused on poisoning the opponent. Its Ability, More Poison, causes Poison to deal an additional 10 points of damage on a turn-by-turn basis, meaning that Poison will now deal 20 points of damage instead of the usual ten. If that wasn’t enough, its only move, New Wave, requires a Darkness Energy and another of any type, and deals 30 points of damage and poisons the opposing Pokémon. Not only is it a danger on its own, but it can stay on the Bench and support the rest of the team with its continuous Ability.

Bewear

Extradimensional Crisis’s Bewear is unique in that it is the first Pokémon TCG Pocket card with the potential to instantly kill any opposing Pokémon, regardless of its health. Its unique move, Superpowered Hug, requires the flip of two coins: if both come up heads, the opponent’s Active Pokémon is knocked out. In other words, we have a 25% chance of killing any Pokémon. Although once in four is a bit inconsistent, the real potential of Bewear lies in the fact that it is a psychological pressure tool; its mere presence on the field can force the opponent to make suboptimal moves and mistakes.

Silvally

Both Type: Null and Silvally have come to Pokémon TCG Pocket through the Extradimensional Crisis miniset. Silvally, the final stage of this evolutionary line, can give us big surprises thanks to the fact that its unique move, Brave Buddies, only needs two Energies of any type to be used, and inflicts 50 points of damage, and an additional 50 points of damage if, in the same turn, we have used any Supporter card from our hand. As the activation requirement is surprisingly common, since Supporter cards are a fundamental part of any deck, this implies that, in practice, Silvally can do 100 points of damage consistently. With decks optimized around this strategy, using support cards like Gladion - which allows you to search for both Type: Null and Silvally from the deck - this tactic is surprisingly solid.

Celesteela

Celesteela is another Ultra Beast that debuts in Pokémon TCG Pocket as part of the Extradimensional Crisis miniset. Its Ability, Ultra Boosters, makes this Pokémon the centerpiece of the engine of any Ultra Beast-centric deck. Basically, it allows to change, once per turn, an Ultra Beast in the Active Position for another one in the Bench, which serves to optimize resources by not having to waste Energies in retreats and changes, and saves space in the decks by not depending on cards like X-Speed or Leaf to save retreat cost.

Repel

Last but not least, this new Item debuting in Extradimensional Crisis is here to stay. The Repel serves to force the opponent to exchange a Basic Pokémon in the Active Station for any of its Bench. In other words, it is a new control card that, along with Sabrina and Cyrus, serves to disrupt the opponent’s moves or put them in a compromising situation. Also, since many Basic Pokémon are powerful ex Pokémon like Mewtwo ex, Mew ex or Celebi ex, this is a card with quite a few use cases.