Mankey Is Secretly the Best Card in Pokemon TCG Pocket’s Lapras Ex Event

The Lapras Ex drop event is now underway in Pokemon TCG Pocket, and players have a chance of pulling the new Lapras Ex card from the game’s Promo Packs. If you’re like me and your luck has been terrible, however, you’ve probably gotten swarms of Mankeys or Butterfrees instead of the coveted card.

That being said, I’m here to tell you not to despair. The Promo Pack Mankey is actually shaping up to be a pretty damn strong card, especially in the face of the Pikachu Ex meta that’s dominating the game right now.

Unlike the regular Mankey, Promo Pack Mankey comes with a move called Reckless Charge, which does 30 damage to the opponent, but also 10 damage to itself. This doesn’t seem like a very good move at first glance, but when you take that little bit of damage and then evolve it into Primeape, suddenly you’ve got a fairly beefy Pokemon that can hit for 80 damage with just two Energy. Pretty good deal, if you ask me.

In addition to that, considering the fact that we’re currently in a Pikachu Ex meta, a Promo Pack Mankey deck is going to absolutely destroy these Lightning decks that have been running rampant. Lightning Pokemon are weak against Fighting Pokemon, and Promo Pack Mankey just makes it easier to ramp up your damage output faster.

Of course, fingers crossed that you’ll still be able to get your Lapras Ex before the event ends, but hey, it’s not the end of the world if you already managed to pull Mankey. If anything, this bodes well for the future of Pokemon TCG Pocket and its card releases. It was obvious that Pikachu Ex would be one of the dominating decks on launch day, and the developers choosing to stealth release a counter card for free just a short while after means that they want the meta to stay fresh.

Pokemon TCG Pocket is now available on mobile devices.