[Top 25] Pokemon TCG Best Cards 2021

Updated:

19 Apr 2021

Before we get into the list, let’s set some loose criteria for what makes a top card. A top card has relatively high hit points, a good attack and ability (if applicable), and will help out almost any deck in which you put it (within reason). For example, almost any fire or colorless card immediately becomes better when you use the Welder supporter. However, we want to see which cards stand on their own.

When It comes to trainer cards, we will look at which ones are far more powerful and/or versatile than others. For example, Viridian Forest might make the list over Giant Hearth because it is more versatile.

Finally, this disclaimer is to let you know that this list is not what is best for your specific deck, but just best in general. There are always scenarios in which one of these cards might not hold up against a card not on this list. Now let’s get into the list.

25. Cinccino

Cinccino Card

More cards is usually better. Cinccino’s ability can help you to go through cards and find one you want. Loading two or three onto your bench will definitely provide a nice card bonus.
Cinccino is only a stage 1. If you have the room in your deck, playing three Cinccinos and three Minccinos isn’t a bad choice.
A one energy attack that does a little bit of damage and attaches an energy isn’t a loss. If you need to stall for a bit of time and not put out someone more important, Cinccino is a great option. 40 damage for essentially no energy is pretty good.

24. Switch

Switch Card

This little card is a staple in almost any deck. You can play up to four in a deck and play all four in one turn if you get them.
According to the Pokemon rules, you can only retreat once per turn. This doesn’t account for switching. Switching lets you move Pokemon in and out of your active spots multiple times a turn and many strategies rely on this.
When retreating, you often need to discard energy. Or you could just play one of these. It saves you energy and time.

23. Galarian Weezing

Galarian Weezing Card

This powerful card often flies under the radar. Its ability blocks all of your opponent’s Pokémon’s abilities. Many support cards rely on abilities to work and this ability can nullify important parts of your opponent’s deck.
Since its ability only works from the active spot, Weezing needs a good attack and it has one. Severe Poison poisons your opponent and that poison does 40 damage instead of 10. This may not seem like a lot of damage but poison damage adds up more frequently than a normal attack.
Did I mention that Severe Poison only cost one energy to use? That’s really good.
The fact that this Pokémon is a stage 1 makes it really easy to set up. Often, powerful cards like this will be GXs or Vs. This makes them hard to knock out, but gives your opponents more prizes. I tend to lean towards less prizes.

22. Spiritomb

Spiritomb Card

This Dark type basic has only 60 hit points, but that’s to keep it from being too powerful. There have been many decks centered around this card.
Spiritomb’s ability lets you put one damage onto yourself every turn. Why would you put damage on yourself? Well, because of his attack.
Spiritomb’s attack only costs one energy and deals 10 damage plus 30 more for each damage counter on him.
There are multiple ways to speed up the damage taking process or to increase Spiritomb’s HP for more damage output, but as is, being able to deal 160 damage for one energy is about as much as you can do without additional support.

21. Lillie’s Poke Doll

Lillie's Poke Doll Full Art Card

This item card is actually a Pokemon. You can play it down on your bench as a 30 HP colorless basic.
Lillie’s Poke Doll is useless when it comes to dishing out damage. However, your opponent doesn’t get any prize cards for knocking it out. Essentially, they have to use an attack to get rid of a card and get nothing from it.
This card may be annoying for your opponent, but it’s also beneficial for you. Use this for one turn or two to power up other cards.
If your opponent decides not to knock out the Poke Doll, you don’t have to worry about retreating or switching it out. You can just choose to put it on the bottom of your deck and get it later. This can also ensure that you have cards in your deck near the end of the game.

20. Viridian Forest

Viridian Forest Full Art Card

Most decks play energy. Obviously. And if you want to get energy out, then this stadium is a pretty solid choice. You can play it down and, until someone gets rid of it, you can discard a card to search your deck for any basic energy. It’s extremely versatile.

19. Green’s Exploration

Green's Exploration Full Art Card

This supporter lets you look through your deck and pull out any two trainer cards you want. You can’t have a Pokemon with abilities in play to use it, but its versatility can make up for or take the place of abilities.

18. Cynthia & Caitlin

Cynthia & Caitlin Full Art Card

This tag team supporter has two powerful effects. The first effect lets you get a supporter out of your discard pile. This can be any number of useful cards, as long as it’s not another Cynthia & Caitlin.
The second effect allows you to discard a card from your hand and draw three cards. This draw support makes an otherwise average card very well rounded.
There’s nothing inhibiting about this card. You can play it in any deck and it will usually perform spectacularly.

17. Galarian Obstagoon

Galarian Obstagoon Card

Galarian Obstagoon is a stage 2 Pokemon. It’s harder to play stage 2s because of the time needed to evolve. However, Obstagoon’s ability lets you deal 30 damage to your opponent just for evolving.
Obstagoon’s attack is what really shines. For two energy, you can prevent all damage done to him by basic Pokemon for the next turn. Everyone plays basic Pokemon, so this card will never be useless. The attack also does 90 damage.

16. Boss’s Orders

Boss's Orders Full Art Card

This card is pretty simple. “Switch 1 of your opponent’s Benched Pokemon with their Active Pokemon.” This card can be used to stall or to bring whichever Pokemon you want up for a K.O.

15. Volcanion

Volcanion Card

This Basic Pokemon has some powerful attacks. For one energy, you can look through your deck and attach a fire energy to your Pokemon. However, if you go second and it’s your first turn, you get to attach three fire energy.
Volcanion’s second attack doesn’t do that much damage unless you have four fire energy in play. But that’s okay, because your first attack can get you all the necessary energy. Once you have the energy, this attack does a formidable 110 damage.

14. Professor’s Research

Professor's Research Full Art Card

This is another simple supporter with a bit of strategy behind it. You get to discard your hand and draw seven cards. This allows you to get rid of cards you don’t want and draw a good amount of new ones.
This card also helps with deck thinning, the process of discarding cards that you don’t need so that only cards you want remain in your deck.

13. Marnie

Marnie Full Art Card

Never underestimate the power of messing with your opponent’s hand. This supporter card has both players put their hands on the bottom of their decks. You draw five new cards and your opponent draws four.
This card is different from cards that shuffle your hand into your deck. It ensures that your deck stays in the same order and puts the cards you wanted to get rid of on the bottom so you won’t get them again.

12. Quick Ball

Quick Ball Card

This item card is great to go in any deck. You can discard a card from your hand and search your deck for any basic Pokemon. All decks need basic Pokemon to stay in the game, so this card is fundamental.

11. Alcremie VMAX

Alcremie VMAX Card

Alcremie’s G-MAX Whisk attack lets you discard as many energy from your Pokemon as you like and does 60 damage for each energy discarded. This attack only costs two psychic energy and can hit for as much damage as you have energy.
Typically it’s hard to get a lot of energy on the board but Alcremie’s Adornment attack lets you attach one energy from your deck to each of your benched Pokémon. Once you fill up your bench, you can spend one attack attaching energy and the next discarding them all for big damage.
This psychic type Pokemon is everything a VMAX should be. It hits hard and has high hit points. With 310 HP, Alcremie will almost definitely be in play for a few turns.

10. Boltund V

Boltund V Card

This powerful V Pokemon works well in any lightning deck. It has 200 HP and some powerful attacks.
The Electrify attack costs one lightning energy and you can search your deck for two more energy and attach them wherever you want.
The Bolt Storm attack costs two energy and does 10 damage plus 30 more for each lightning energy on all of your Pokemon. You can use Boltunds first attack to power this up or bring this Pokemon out later in the game when there is energy everywhere.

9. Dragapult VMAX

Dragapult VMAX Card

At first glance Dragapult VMAX has a high HP of 320 but it’s attacks don’t seem super great.
Dragapult’s Max Phantom attack costs two psychic energy. It does 130 damage to your opponent and spread 50 damage across their bench. This damage can sneak up on your opponent and cause him or her to lose two or three Pokemon as the result of one attack.

8. Lucario & Melmetal GX

Lucario & Melmetal GX Card

This Pokemon is a solid wall of defense. It has one of the few GX attacks in the game that stays active after you’ve used it. This attack says that your Pokémon take 30 less from attacks for the rest of the game.
Lucario & Melmetal’s Steel Fist attack is good, too. For two energy, you can do 50 damage and search your deck for a metal energy to attach to any of your Pokemon.
Lucametal’s Heavy Impact attack takes a lot of energy and doesn’t do that much damage. Usually this would be a problem, but since the Pokemon will be alive for a while, you definitely have the time to use this attack.

7. Centiskorch VMAX

Centiskorch VMAX Card

This is another VMAX with high HP (320) and a great attack.
For 2 energy, Centiskorch’s attack deals 40 damage plus 40 more for each fire energy attached to him. You also get to attach a fire energy from your discard pile to him. This attack only grows. You can speed it up with cards like Welder, but it’s a great attack even on it’s own.

6. Pikachu & Zekrom GX

Pikachu & Zekrom GX Card

This Tag Team Pokemon has some great attacks. Once you get three lightning energy on him, you can deal 150 damage and search your deck for another three energy to attach.
Pikachu and Zekrom’s GX attack can deal 200 damage for three energy or you can ramp it up with six energy. The extra energy allows you to deal an additional 170 damage to one of your opponent’s benched Pokémon. This usually KO’s two Pokemon with one attack.

5. Mewtwo & Mew GX

Mewtwo & Mew GX Card

Mewtwo and Mew GX has a fairly high 270 HP. It can take a hit and dish out a few as well.
We can’t follow our judging criteria for MewMew because it’s clearly meant to be played differently. It has no normal attacks, instead it features the ability Perfection. This allows you to use the attacks of any EX or GX Pokemon in your discard pile or on your bench. MewMew can take the place of nearly any card you want or fill any roll.
MewMew also has a great GX attack. When you get four energy on this Pokemon you get to deal 200 damage with the added benefit of completely healing all your Pokemon.

4. Welder

Welder Full Art Card

In my opinion, this card is truly overpowered. By playing this card you can attach two fire energy from your hand to your Pokemon. This isn’t limited to fire Pokemon either. Feel free to play this card in any deck that needs the extra energy.
You thought we were done with the attaching? Well hold on because after you attach you get some draw support. Draw three new cards to replace the energy you just attached. No other trainer card in the game does anything like this.

3. Eternatus VMAX

Eternatus VMAX Card

This VMAX is especially fast and allows you to play down a lot more Pokemon than normal, as long as they’re dark types.
Eternatus VMAX’s ability allows you to play up to eight Pokemon onto your bench, three more than are typically permitted. As long as they are all Dark types and you have an Eternatus VMAX in play, you can play a wide variety of support Pokemon.
Eternatus’s attack is made even better by his ability. It does 30 for each Pokemon in play and costs only two energy. Normally this attack would max out at 180 damage but not with Eternatus. Instead you can hit for a whopping 270 damage.

2. Zacian V

Zacian V Card

This powerful basic Pokemon works well in almost any deck. It has a good amount of HP, a great ability, and a hard hitting attack.
Zacian’s ability allows you to draw the top three cards of your deck. If any of the cards are metal energy, you can attach them to Zacian, but you don’t have to. This ability also ends your turn without an attack, but sometimes it’s wiser to wait and draw cards. People have even played Zacian in non-metal decks just for the draw support.
Brave Blade is one of the few attacks out there that does more damage than the user has itself without some kind of gimmick. It hits for 230 damage but you can’t use it next turn. Don’t worry though. You can just switch or use Zacian’s ability to get some cards.

1. Arceus & Dialga & Palkia GX

Arceus & Dialga & Palkia GX Card

For our number one spot, let’s start by highlighting it’s hit points. ADP had the third highest HP of any GX Pokemon - 280 - helping to make sure that ADP sticks around to use both of it’s attacks.
Altered Creation GX is another one of the GX attacks that stays in effect all game. After using it, your Pokémon’s attacks deal 30 more damage for the rest of the game. If you have an extra energy, you also get to take an extra prize card when you knock people out.
ADP’s Ultimate Ray attack is very similar to Pikarom’s. For three energy you can do 150 damage and search your deck for another three energy to attach to your Pokemon. Don’t forget that after using your GX attack, your damage gets boosted to 180.
One more thing - Arceus, Dialga, & Palkia GX is a dragon type. This means that it is weak to fairy types. Fairy types were recently discontinued as a type which means you probably won’t have to worry about any fairies dealing double damage to your ADP.