Alolan Ninetales Drop Event Guide For Pokemon Pocket

The monthly Drop Event in Pokemon TCG Pocket is back, and this time the focus is on Pokemon of the Alola region. Alola is a region of tropical islands and warm, sandy beaches, so the highlight of the event is the Ice-type Alolan Ninetales.

Ninetales was a popular Pokemon in the original Kanto games, and the gorgeous white-furred Alolan version may be even more popular. And while the Pokemon TCG Pocket card isn’t great, the art certainly belongs in any fan’s collection. Here’s how to add a full-art Alolan Ninetales to your collection!

What Is The Alolan Ninetales Drop Event?

Each Drop event features four AI-controlled decks with a shared theme and new promo cards that you can earn for beating those decks. As a rule, those promos include three reprints of existing cards with new art, and two mechanically new cards.

The Alolan Ninetales Drop Event runs from May 16, 2025, until May 26, 2025, which gives you time to get about 24 packs before the end of the event.

Alolan Ninetales Drop Event New Cards

Each Drop Event introduces five new promo cards, two of which are mechanically unique and usually not available anywhere else. Since cards can sometimes become viable only months after release, it’s important to pick up those unique cards, while new art on reprints gives you more customization options.

The namesake of the event is Alolan Ninetales, which is reprinted from Celestial Guardians as a gorgeous full-art promo with Ninetales standing on a mountain in a blizzard. While not competitively viable (Articuno ex does the same thing better and more consistently), it’s a great piece for your collection.

The new cards are Alolan Grimer and Toucannon, which are both arguably better than the Celestial Guardians version. Alolan Grimer’s Poison Gas Poisons your opponent’s Active Pokemon for one Darkness Energy, which can deal more damage than the non-promo version’s Sludge Toss in the early game.

Toucannon’s Beak Blast deals 80 damage for two Colorless Energy, which is a minor upgrade to the Celestial Guardians version’s 70-damage Drill Peck. But two Energy for a Stage Two Pokemon isn’t much, and it can also Burn your opponent’s Pokemon for even more damage.

The last two cards are reprints from Celestial Guardians. Alolan Exeggutor is a Stage One Pokemon that can do a whopping 150 damage for three Energy, but only if you win a coin flip. That makes it an unreliable card that will occasionally run wild, but also often cause frustration.

Crabrawler is a Basic Fighting-type Pokemon that deals 20 damage for one Energy, but it can evolve into the Water-type Crabominable ex, which can deal 40 or 80 damage for the same one Energy. It’s a serious threat to decks that need some time to set up!

Crabominable ex is not available through this event, but you can find it in Celestial Guardians packs.

Alolan Ninetales Drop Event Battles

Each time you beat one of the event decks, you’ll unlock the next one, which is a higher difficulty and which gives better rewards. The higher the difficulty, the more likely you are to get a Promo Pack, and Expert matches always give a Promo Pack.

In order to challenge a deck, you need Event Stamina. You’ll get one Event Stamina every 12 hours, and can use Event Hourglasses that you earn from Battle Tasks to restore one full Event Stamina per Event Hourglass.

Event Stamina is only spent when you win a battle, and some Battle Tasks don’t require you to win to complete them. If you need to complete a Battle Task that does not require you to win, you can challenge the deck, complete the task, and concede to save Event Stamina.

Beginner – Alolan Ninetales Deck

Alolan Sandshrew x2	Alolan Vulpix x2	Alolan Ninetales x2	Shellder x2
Popplio x2	Brionne x1	Dewpider x2	Pyukumuku x1
Bruxish x1	Tauros x1	Yungoos x2	Poke Ball x2

The beginner deck is pretty basic, containing 18 Pokemon, 15 of which are Basic, and two Poke Balls. Alolan Sandshrew, Alolan Vulpix, and Alolan Ninetales are all weak to Metal attacks, while the rest are weak to Lightning.

While a Lightning-type deck burns through this deck easily, you need some solid Metal attacks to complete one of the Battle Tasks. Since this is a recurring theme in these decks, we recommend a modified Magnezone / Skarmory deck.

The deck we recommend to easily complete all the Battle Tasks for all four event decks swaps out the Mythical Island Magnemite and Magnezone for the Metal Triumphant Light versions in order to have access to strong Lightning and Metal attacks. It also drops Heatran for Giovanni.

Remember to turn off Lightning Energy, and make sure you aren’t using the full-art Magnemite or promo Skarmory. Both of these cards will prevent you from completing the rarity-based Battle Tasks in the more advanced decks.

Magnezone / Skarmory Deck
Magnemite (A2a) x2	Magneton (A1) x2	Magnezone (A2a) x2	Skarmory (A2) x2
Professor’s Research x2	Sabrina x2	Giovannni x1	Cyrus x1
Poke Ball x2	Giant Cape x2	Rocky Helmet x2

Intermediate – Alolan Ninetales and Alolan Sandslash Deck

Alolan Sandshrew x2	Alolan Sandslash x1	Alolan Vulpix x2	Alolan Ninetales x2
Lapras x1	Popplio x2	Brionne x1	Dewpider x2
Araquanid x1	Pyukumuku x2	Professor’s Research x2	Poke Ball x2

The intermediate deck is an upgrade to the beginner deck: It drops a few extraneous Pokemon and picks up Lapras and Stage One evolutions for a few, plus it adds consistency with Professor’s Research.

The Magnezone / Skarmory deck works beautifully here, but you may need an extra attempt to get a second KO with a Metal-type Pokemon. We found that the AI on this deck is happy to attack into Rocky Helmet when it means that the attacking Pokemon will be KOed, even when it causes the AI to lose.

Advanced – Alolan Ninetales and Crabominable ex Deck

Alolan Vulpix x2	Alolan Ninetales x2	Popplio x2	Brionne x2
Primarina x1	Dewpider x1	Araquanid x1	Crabominable ex x1
Crabrawler x2	Professor’s Research x2	Sabrina x1	Misty x1
Poke Ball x2

The Advanced deck starts to present a challenge, since Crabominable ex boasts 160 HP and can deal 80 damage on one Water Energy once it gets warmed up. Misty also allows Alolan Ninetales to set up almost instantly, while Primarina can heal all of your opponent’s Pokemon.

The bonus damage from Crabominable ex’s Insatiable Striking resets if it retreats so you can use Sabrina or Cyrus to give yourself some breathing room. It’s also a good idea to prioritize Rocky Helmet over Giant Cape in order to get some chip damage on Crabominable ex.

Expert – Alolan Ninetales and Crabominable ex Deck

Alolan Vulpix x2	Alolan Ninetales x2	Crabrawler x2	Crabominable ex x2
Professor’s Research x2	Sabrina x1	Cyrus x1	Irida x1
Mars x1	Leaf x1	Poke Ball x2	Pokemon Communication x1
Giant Cape x2

The Expert deck can present a legitimate challenge, considering how quickly and consistently it can set up Crabominable ex. If you can deal with that threat reliably, the backup Pokemon, Alolan Ninetales, hardly threatens your deck.

Once again, prioritize Rocky Helmet, which can chip away Crabrawler’s HP enough to get a KO on your next turn, or deal enough damage to Crabrawler ex over two turns to put it in KO range.