Hi there. In this Pokemon TCG Pocket post I provide an overview of the latest Celebi ex and Serperior Grass deck. There was no teaser for Celebi ex in the Mythical Island mini set. The Celebi ex and Serperior Grass deck is recent and popular because it is fairly to use and for high damage potential. That is if you get lucky with coin flips.
Topics
- Key Cards
- Sample Deck
- Advantages
- Disadvantages
Key Cards
Celebi ex
Celebi ex is a Basic Pokemon ex attacker of the Grass type. It has 130 HP, one retreat cost and fire weakness. The attack requires one Grass and one Colourless Energy. You flip one coin for each Energy attached to Celebi ex. For each Heads you do 50 damage. On its own this Celebi ex as an attacker is a bit meh. Check out the Serperior below.
Serperior
Serperior is the final stage 2 evolution of Snivy. You need to evolve Snivy into Servine and then into Serperior. The Jungle Totem is a very powerful Grass Energy acceleration ability. Each Grass Energy attached to your Grass Pokemon provides two Grass Energy. This ability cannot stack as in two Serperiors in play just counts as one for the ability.
Combine Serperior with Celebi for more coin flipping action. Two Grass on a Celebi ex turn into four Grass Energy which would be four coin flips.
Dhelmise
Dhelmise is a tanky Basic Grass Pokemon with 100 HP. This Pokemon can be used as a wall or stalling Pokemon as the player setups Serperior and Celebi ex on the Bench. The Energy Whip attack does 20 damage for one Grass Energy. If there are at least 4 Grass Energy on this then Energy Whip does 90 damage instead.
Combine Dhelmise with Serperior to have Dhelmise as an alternate attacker. I do think it is difficult to get this combo out though.
Sample Deck
This Sample deck is from here.
Pokemon (9)
- x2 Celebi ex
- x2 Snivy
- x2 Servine
- x2 Serperior
- x1 Dhelmise
Trainer Cards (11)
- x2 Pokeball
- x2 Professor's Research
- x2 Sabrina
- x2 Erika
- x1 Potion
- x2 X Speed
Two Celebi ex is a must along with the six cards from the Serperior evolution line. One Dhelmise is okay as a wall.
Two copies of Pokeball and two copies of Professor's Research is a must in any deck in TCG Pocket.
The two copies of Erika are okay. You could do one Erika and have two Potions instead.
Two Sabrinas are okay. One could experiment with one Sabrina and one Giovanni or one Blue.
The two copies of X Speed are okay for making retreating easier. One could experiment with the new Supporter card Leaf.
Advantages
- Two Energy Requirement to start attacking with Celebi ex
- Fairly easy deck to use
- Serperior support to increase potential damage from Celebi ex
- Hit for weakness on some Fighting types.
Disadvantages
- Very vulnerable to Fire & Blaine decks.
- Coin flipping randomness may not work in your favour.
- People may not give Thanks in game if you get super lucky or because you like coin flipping
- Serperior evolution line can be hard to get in play.
Looking At Coin Flip Probabilities For Celebi ex
The probability side in me is curious about the chances of getting certain outcomes for Celebi ex.
Two Energy Case
When Celebi ex has two Energy you can deal either 0 damage from two Tails, 50 damage from (HT or TH) or 100 damage from two Heads. this assumes the coin is fair (50-50) and the flips are independent in game.
| # Heads | Damage Dealt | Probability |
|---|---|---|
| Zero | 0 | 25% |
| One | 50 | 50% |
| Two | 100 | 25% |
Three Energy Case
| # Heads | Damage Dealt | Probability |
|---|---|---|
| Zero | 0 | 12.5% or 1/8 |
| One | 50 | 37.5% or 3/8 |
| Two | 100 | 37.5% or 3/8 |
| Three | 150 | 12.5% or 1/8 |
Four Energy Case
| # Heads | Damage Dealt | Probability |
|---|---|---|
| Zero | 0 | 6.25% or 1/16 |
| One | 50 | 25% or 4/16 = 1/4 |
| Two | 100 | 37.5% or 3/8 |
| Three | 150 | 25% or 1/4 |
| Four | 200 | 6.25% or 1/16 |
Five Energy Case
| # Heads | Damage Dealt | Probability |
|---|---|---|
| Zero | 0 | 3.125% or 1/32 |
| One | 50 | 15.625% |
| Two | 100 | 31.25% |
| Three | 150 | 31.25% |
| Four | 200 | 15.625% |
| Five | 250 | 3.125% or 1/32 |
Six Energy Case
| # Heads | Damage Dealt | Probability |
|---|---|---|
| Zero | 0 | 1.562% or 1/64 |
| One | 50 | 9.375% |
| Two | 100 | 23.438% |
| Three | 150 | 31.25% |
| Four | 200 | 23.438% |
| Five | 250 | 9.375% |
| Six | 300 | 1.562% or 1/64 |
For other cases you can use a binomial distribution calculator.
Having more energy on Celebi ex increases the amount of flips. More flips equals more chances to get heads and deal more damage. It is easier to hit damage targets like 150 or 200 damage with more flips. It is not guaranteed though.
Closing Notes
I write this on the third day of the Mythical Island release. With the Celebi ex deck I have not played with it as I don't have the cards but I have played against it a couple of times. It feels as if that the game is decided on flips many times.
Celebi ex decks are similar to Mewtwo ex decks as both decks have a supporting evolution line that has a good ability on a Stage 2 Pokemon. The main attackers are Basic Pokemon ex.
I do have mixed reviews on the increased number of coin flip attackers from the Mythical Island set. Yeah it gives underdogs a chance to win but it makes the game more luck based than it should be. Even outside of coin flipping there is setup and draw luck. A bad starting hand feels unlucky too.
Celebi ex in my opinion is not an awful deck archetype. I don't think it is super amazing. Lucky coin flips can bail you out and squeak some wins here and there. Anything dependent on coin flipping is not consistent enough for a deck to be top tier.