Raging Bolt ex [Temporal Forces] first started off as a hyped up partner for Sandy Shocks ex [Paradox Rift], but quickly retreated into the shadows due to limited success. Towards the tail end of the Temporal Forces metagame, a few diehard players started seeing success with various Raging Bolt ex variants, and that seemed to be the start of what was to come next!

With any new set release, players often hype some cards up, like Dragapult ex [Twilight Masquerade], and miss some obvious playables from time to time, such as Teal Mask Ogrepon ex [Twilight Masquerade]. Thanks to some early  Pokémon TCG Live results from online tournaments, Raging Bolt ex / Teal Mask Ogrepon ex was born, and quickly rose to great success!

Why? The deck features fun-to-play cards, is undeniably the most aggressive deck in format, it's relatively easy to play, and has a decent matchup spread against some top decks! That alone has made it popular among the masses, and it is the most hyped deck heading into our 2024 North American International Championships in New Orleans, Louisiana!

Hi, I’m Zach Lesage, your resident  Pokémon TCG writer for Ultimate Guard, and I’m here to share my thoughts on this emerging deck from Twilight Masquerade! In this article I’ll be covering my decklist, the strategy, and more - so continue reading to learn more about my take on Raging Bolt ex / Teal Mask Ogrepon ex! Let’s get it!

Raging Bolt ex / Teal Mask Ogrepon ex Decklist | Pokémon

While many decks feature cards like Arven [Scarlet and Violet], Forest Seal Stone [Silver Tempest], and a handful of attackers - this deck feels quite unique! Being an Ancient Pokémon, Raging Bolt ex can utilize powerful Trainer cards, such as Professor Sada’s Vitality [Paradox Rift], to attach Energy, draw cards, and more! This archetype has seen a handful of online Pokémon TCG event wins, and most recently placed second at the Japanese Championships. My list is similar to many other successful builds, and I’m excited to share my personal list in this article!

This text version of the decklist is importable to Pokémon TCG Live by copying it, and selecting import when creating a new deck online:

Typically aggressive decks like this will see success in the early metagame whenever we get new sets, and more complex will get better once they have time to adapt to those early results. Either way, I’m sure this deck will see some success throughout our entire Twilight Masquerade format, so store it in a deck Sidewinder to keep it safe, and an Omnihive to keep all of your deck boxes safe ! I’ve been a huge fan of using Ultimate Guard’s The Katana: The Shogun’s Journey Special Edition Omnihive to store all of my decks, but especially a deck as great as Raging Bolt ex / Teal Mask Ogrepon ex! You can pick one up here.

Raging Bolt ex / Teal Mask Ogrepon ex: Strategy & Key Cards

The strategy of most aggressive decks is to attack quickly, and this deck follows that idea strongly! You’ll need to acquire Grass Energy in your hand to accelerate to Teal Mask Ogrepon ex, and you can easily grab those Energy with Earthen Vessel [Paradox Rift]. Those Energy allow you to hit for massive numbers with Raging Bolt ex’s Bellowing Thunder, which can allow you to OHKO anything! To power up Raging Bolt ex, you’ll need to use Professor Sada’s Vitality, and that means you’ll need to get Lightning Energy and / or Fighting Energy in your discard pile. Between Ultra Ball [Scarlet and Violet], Earthen Vessel, Squawkabilly ex [Paldea Evolved], and Radiant Greninja [Astral Radiance] that should be fairly achievable. Once you have all of your Energy needed to attack, you keep sending up Raging Bolt ex, unleashing all of your Energy, and applying a lot of damage to your opponents Pokémon! Seems simple enough now, right? Let’s look into some of the in dividual cards in this deck that are interesting enough for their own side section!

• Sandy Shocks: In a deck where all of the other attackers are worth two Prize Cards each, having a single Prize Card attacking option can be clutch! Sandy Shocks [Temporal Forces] allows you to attack popular single Prize Card Pokémon, like Charmander [Pokémon 151], to offset the Prize trade by offering up a Pokémon that’s only worth a single Prize Card. Additionally, it’s a solid answer to Mimikyu [Paldean Fates], otherwise you wouldn’t have a single option to attack into it.
• Energy Retrieval: While Energy Retrieval [Scarlet and Violet] might seem like a basic Item Card, it does have plenty of use cases in this Raging Bolt ex. You can easily find it off of PokéStop [ Pokémon Go], use it to accelerate Energy to your Teal Mask Ogrepon ex in play, or draw cards with Radiant Greninja. Most of the cards in your deck are designed around Energy so the four count of this card is crucial to managing Energy everywhere!
• PokéStop: While the two of count of PokéStop might imply that it isn’t one of the main cards in this deck, that would be far from the truth! PokéStop allows us to fetch the many Item Cards out of our deck, and maybe we’ll mill an occasional Energy Card to get back with Professor Sada’s Vitality too! It also counts as a Stadium bump to annoying Stadiums, such as Jamming Tower [Twilight Masquerade] that can shut off our Bravery Charm [Paldea Evolved] from working.

Twilight Masquerade: A New Metagame

Our Twilight Masquerade metagame is shaping up nicely from a handful of events in Japan, and online PTCG Live events, but NAIC is actually going to be the first major event outside of Asia, and will set up the Standard metagame until we get Shrouded Fable later this summer!

I’m actually driving from Toronto to New Orleans for the biggest event of the year, and I’m torn on a few decks to play! I’m sure I’ll eventually find a deck that works for me at some point! I’m hoping that my articles next month will include a deep run at NAIC from me, so stay tuned for updates on how I do at that event, and more!