N's Box

Journey Together, the Pokemon TCG’s first main set of 2025 is not only a historic set given it is the first to include trainer’s Pokemon since the early days of Pokemon TCG, but because it brings welcome, interesting new mechanics into the game. 

Trainer Pokemon are different than regular Pokemon, and they have unique effects that only apply to themselves and other Pokemon from that same trainer. 

N’s Zoroark ex looks like a killer card, and a welcome new deck to

Journey Together, the Pokemon TCG’s first main set of 2025 is not only a historic set given it is the first to include trainer’s Pokemon since the early days of Pokemon TCG, but because it brings welcome, interesting new mechanics into the game. 

Trainer Pokemon are different than regular Pokemon, and they have unique effects that only apply to themselves and other Pokemon from that same trainer. 

N’s Zoroark ex looks like a killer card, and a welcome new deck to be included in the game post 2025 rotation. The deck this reminds me the most is the old Mew VMAX deck. Only this deck could be even stronger as it doesn’t rely on having a bunch of Genesect V two-prize supporter Pokemon on the bench. In this case, Zoroark has everything you need. It’s a powerful attacker and draw engine all-in-one which is very exciting to say the least. 

The draw engine itself looks like it will likely be the strongest draw engine we’ve seen included within an attacker in any recent set, reminding me a bit of Rayquaza VMAX’s Azure Pulse from the Sword and Shield Era. 

However, Zoroark’s Night Joker attack is essentially the same thing as Mew VMAX’s attack only it applies just to other N Pokemon.

 Let’s take a look at the main attackers that you have access to. Unlike Mew VMAX’s attack that let you use any attack from your bench, Night Joker just lets you use the attacks of N’s Pokemon. This means your two best and most reliable attacks are going to be from Reshiram and Darmanitan.

While Virtuous flame isn’t the strongest attack ever, you can bolster it with Defiance Band to take strategic KOs.

If your Zoroark ex has taken a few hits, you can also use Reshiram’s Powerful Rage to clean up the opposition. Zoroark ex has decently high HP meaning it’s quite likely you’ll be taking a hit with this attacker before retaliating with something of your own. 

What will especially make Zoroark ex strong in the post rotation format, however, is Darmanitan. Blaze Ball Cannon is basically Moonlight Shuriken but for the post Radiant Greninja world, and it is very powerful. Essentially because of these two different benched Pokemon your Zoroark has access to a heavy frontal attack and some added bench snipe, making it a solid pick to use against two-prize and single prize Pokemon.

That’s a lot of versatility from a single Pokemon ex with built-in draw support!

Additionally, this deck runs several Reversal energy, enabling you to attack with Darmanitan directly if need be.

With the Budew, the Reversal Energy, Counter Catchers and Defiance Band, it’s clear that N’s Zeroark ex is a deck that likes to go second, and sneak up from behind with a plethora of powerful attacks.

 Decks that ran Darkness energy used to have a huge leg-up on the competition thanks to Dark Patch. However, with that rotating out, you now have a new and equally powerful way to accelerate energies onto your Zeroark ex, and that’s N’s PP Up. Run at least three of these in your deck to quickly and effectively power up Zeroark ex, enabling some solid consistency via Night Joker. 

Because you’ll often be looking to power up your Zeroark ex via N’s PP Up from the bench, you’ll need some solid and reliable ways to pivot Zeroark ex into the Active Spot. There are two primary ways to do this, and the first is with a new stadium coming out in Journey together: N’s Castle. 

N’s Castle removes the retreat cost of your N’s Pokemon in play, meaning that while this will hugely benefit your Pokemon, it won’t help your opponent out unless they too are running an N deck. 

Meanwhile, this deck also runs Pecharunt ex – a Pokemon who has essentially become a staple in decks that run dark type Pokemon. 

Pecharunt ex can also be used as a late game attacker. However, keep in mind your PP Up won’t work on this Pokemon as it isn’t an N's Pokemon. Instead you’ll need to power it up with either manual attachments or the Powerglass card included in this list. 

Just in case you thought you had seen the last of Cramorant with Lost Origin rotating out of format, think again! Cramorant is back, although this time it’s a little stranger than before. This Cramorant can only attack if your opponent has exactly three or four prize cards remaining. This makes it a pretty niche attacker. However, if your opponent is ahead of your in prizes, you can pair it with Defiance band to do some pretty significant damage while unlocking a positive prize trade.

N’s Zoroark looks like a promising new deck to enter the Pokemon TCG. With powerful draw effects, access to various different attacks, and solid support via a powerful item and stadium, this deck looks like it might just be able to challenge the post 2025 rotation meta that otherwise will largely be dominated by Tera type Pokemon.