Pu-Pu-Puppy Bomb! – Pokémon TCG Pocket Deck

With the release of Everyday Wonders, it has been several months since I’ve featured a deck from Pokémon TCG Pocket. Of the ones I’ve drafted, here was a concept that had piqued my interest since its inclusion in the reveal trailer. First introduced in Pulsing Aura, Puppy Pile is an attack that requires Two Colorless energy and deals 20 damage for each of your Pokémon in play and on hand with the Puppy Pile attack. 

While the attack was only featured on Lillipup, it would return in Everyday Wonders with the inclusion of four new puppies. Growlithe, Fidough, Rockruff, and Yamper all return, centered around the lot of puppies presumably in the care of the Puppy-Loving Girl, the Trainer who ties this concept together. 

Despite the similarities, each puppy plays a specific role in this variant of the Puppy Girl deck. I suppose if it had an archetype, I would call it “Puppy Girl.” I mean, I can already hear the groans of some of my readers, but you know what they say about hit dogs being the loudest—

Deck Profile!

• Lillipup x1
• Yamper x2
• Rockruff x2
• Growlithe x2
• Fidough x2
• Sabrina x1
• Cyrus x1
• Professor’s Research x2
• Puppy-Loving Girl x1
• Poké Ball x2
• Electrical Cord x1
• Electric Generator x2

Introducing The Litter

Lillipup, Rockruff, and Yamper share the same 60 base HP and single energy retreat cost, while Growlithe and Fidough represent the extremes of the lot. Growlie has a beefy 80 HP, well above average from an already decent 60 HP base, and it can surely take a punch as much as it can dish it out. Late game, it can do a great deal in closing out games or being a tanky revenge killer under certain circumstances.

However, the three-energy retreat cost is laughably bad. The trade-off of 20 bonus health points in exchange for needing two extra energies to ensure its safety can spell disaster if you lead with Growlithe on Turn 1. Best case scenario, it survives up to Turn 5 with enough puppies in the litter to wreck shop. Worst-case scenario, it can be used as a sacrificial lead. While this is shared with the other pups, Growlithe feels this the most. 

This can be circumvented slightly with a deck built around Growlithe as the de facto “team leader.” By using Fire energy as the default, Growlithe benefits from Flame Patch, further improving its revenge capabilities as the discarded fire energy from the lead Pokémon can be used to kickstart another Puppy Pile from the big dog (Big pup? Tiny dawg?). 

Fidough, on the other hand, has the least HP with a flimsy base value of 40. For a Pokémon that needs two energy to become a threat, the poor loaf will flatten worse than a sheet of naan before it can even begin to cook, much less bake. That would be the case if it needed a retreat cost to get out of harm’s way. Fortunately, Fidough doesn’t have one. This makes this bunned delight an amazing Turn 1 lead, as it can switch into a puppy more suited for a job that Fidough doesn’t have to commit to. It’s also good as Sabrina bait, as Fidough can switch out freely even if it’s dragged from the bench.

Yamper is the “team leader” of this specific Puppy Pile deck as it centers around Electric energy. This makes it a good target for Electric Generator, as the 50% chance for free energy comes in handy for speedrunning a Puppy Pile. A Fidough lead with a Yamper on the bench enables board presence. By Turn 3, with a successful Generator and a free switch-in, Yamper can begin causing chaos as early as Turn 2. An Electrical Cord ensures that none of the energy is wasted as it’s passed down to the bench, continuing the flow of Puppy Piles.

I run two of every pup except Lillipup, as it doesn’t offer much to the overarching theme of this deck aside from being the original Puppy Piler. It’s not a bad start, lead, or revenge killer. It’s just there. However, it is susceptible to Riolus and other Fighting-type leads as it is a Normal-type, so again it’s on a case-by-case basis.

Other trainer and item cards include the staples. Two Professors’ Research and Poké Balls. A Sabrina and a Cyrus for getting rid of problems and solving loose ends. Puppy-Loving Girl works similarly to Sightseer, as you view the top four cards in your deck and add any Puppies to your hand while shuffling the rest. Using her just before you attack ensures you will have a better chance at adding enough Puppies to your hand to make the Puppy Pile count. Playing the trainer card early is an option, but there’s always a risk of losing your hand if your opponent has several aces up their sleeve.

The Surf Gets Ruff

The win condition of this, and any other variation of Puppy Pile decks, is to ramp your hand with as many puppies as you can by the time you can execute the attack. Puppy decks can have up to ten basic monsters, two copies of each Puppy, for a theoretical total of 200 Attack damage. The maximum hand size in Pokémon TCG Pocket is ten cards, so a full bench and six cards reserved in your hand for puppies will leave you with four free cards to ensure the win condition is kept.

On turn 1, you’re going to want to have a Fidough as a lead. Its ability to switch in freely with a suitable choice makes it a safe start. Otherwise, pay close attention to your opponent’s Energy Pool. That thing on the top left corner of the screen that tells you what Energy you and your opponent will draw next? That will often be an important piece of information to learn what kind of deck they are running. 

If you notice Water energy as your opponent is setting up, it may be a good idea to keep Yamper in your reserves, as chances are your opponent’s “boss Pokémon” will have a weakness to Electric-types. Grass energy would be a decent tell to start with Growlithe, as it is a Fire-type. Electric energy usually means a weakness to Fighting-types, so a Rockruff isn’t a bad choice. Lastly, Fighting energy equates to a Fidough reliance, as Fighting is usually weak to Psychic. All of this is necessary for the central card in this deck, the Bounded Field stadium card.

Imagine a familiar scenario. You’re playing against a Feebas or Magikarp lead, and on Turn 1, they play Wallace. In the case of the latter, they manage to force out Mega Gyarados EX, and you’re staring down the double barrel of a shotgun ready to turn a puppy’s brains into mush. Oh, but wait, Yamper has two energy required for a Puppy Pile with a Fidough as a lead and four other puppers in your hand. But it’s only going to deal 120 damage because six cards times twenty equals 120! Under normal circumstances, the attack will do a total of 140, but because you have Bounded Field in play, that 120 turns to 240. Mega Gyarados EX has 210 HP. Even with an Elegant Cape, they are cooked. You just won the game on your first handful of turns.

While Puppy Pile will always deal enough damage to cause concern, Bounded Field ensures that any Weakness on your opponent is a critical hit. If it doesn’t one-shot your opponent, it will surely do enough to ensure Cyrus can finish the job next turn. Not only is it one of the most hilarious things in the game to witness, but it’s also a valid threat. Unsuspecting foes will fall for the beady eyes only to die from a rabid bite. It’s one of the most fun ways to cinch a game, and it’s fairly consistent.

However, for a deck that has such extremes in winning, the inverse is true for losing. With all the puppies in your deck, your tankiest ‘mon has 80 HP. While that’s a decent number for early game, as it progresses into the mid game and beyond, your opponent’s power will eventually catch up to you. If you haven’t already defeated your opponent and shut down their prime targets, there’s not much stopping your opponent from picking off one of your doggies and disrupting the flow of damage.

Aside from the squishy targets, this should go without saying, but hand destruction absolutely ruins this deck. Red Card will melt the rolling snowball before it can become an avalanche. Mars alone is an annoying Trainer to work around, but worst-case scenario, you manage to score a point. Suddenly, that juicy hand filled with all the puppies in the world is now limited to two, or even one. If there are no other puppies on the bench aside from the one in your hand, you’re only dealing 40 damage, which is more than enough time for your opponent to stage a comeback.

All That Whimpers Isn’t A Wolf

The fast pace of Pokémon TCG Pocket works with this deck as well as against it. During the mid to late stages of a game, if the puppies hadn’t already weakened the key members of an opponent’s deck and they’re already considering conceding next turn, it wouldn’t be the end of the world if a puppy falls and you have enough energy to continue the Puppy Pile. Your opponent will never know exactly what’s in your hand unless they are running Silver or Mega Absol ex. By that point, you would have already used the required Trainers and/or be on your way to securing a win.

The Puppy Lover deck isn’t a “meta” deck, nor would I consider it “anti-meta” in terms of rogue decks that are out there. With this particular profile, I have no ex Pokémon, and the strategy is “all-in or bust,” but it adds to the charm. If all of the Stars align and you manage to get your doggies in a row under a cataclysmic dome, expect to deal damage in the 300s, destroying the sturdiest of Megas. Unfortunately, there isn’t a Water Pokémon that has the Puppy Pile attack, which would have been great in dealing with the Mega Charizard Y problem. The fact that it can contend with some of the more annoying megas in a niche way certainly adds cool points. Plus, it has puppies! Who can deny puppies except the ones who can’t handle them? All aboard the Puppy Pile!