I’m Luke Summerhayes, and I love Zekrom.
With each new Pokémon generation, it seems as though the monsters on the box become more involved in the story. Generation 1 just used the starters, then Ho-oh and Lugia were kind of side-plots. Generation 3 involved Kyogre and Groudon in the plot around team Aqua and Magma, then Diamond and Pearl continue that trend even further. By the time we get to Black and White, the player and the rival are each catching and using very story-significant Legendary Dragons.
So the legends go, long ago Reshiram and Zekrom were the same dragon, who was the partner of a pair of brothers. When the two brothers took different paths – one of truth and one of ideals – the dragon split into the White Reshiram and the Black Zekrom. The ensuing battle between the two brothers and their heirs led to destruction and the two dragons being sealed away.
Zekrom is the dragon of ideals, a black electric and dragon type Pokémon which appears on Pokémon white. Just as Reshiram embodied yang, so Zekrom embodies Yin. It is black in color, of course, and as the electrical output it has a more passive role in the turbine process than the fire of Reshiram.
On the other hand, it subverts expectations. Yin is traditionally feminine whereas Zekrom has muscular, masculine features and Reshiram is drawn with more traditionally feminine curves. Truth is a constant whereas ideals are an active force. Of course, this all makes perfect sense – there is yin in the yang, and yang in the yin.
Black
Concealing itself in lightning clouds, it flies throughout the Unova region. It creates electricity in its tail.
White
This Pokémon appears in legends. In its tail, it has a giant generator that creates electricity.
Black 2
This legendary Pokémon can scorch the world with lightning. It assists those who want to build an ideal world.
White 2

JAY
Unlike Reshiram’s pokédex entries, which flirt dangerously with these being jet-plane Pokémon, Zekrom is explicitly a turbine.
Sword
When the interior part of its tail spins like a motor, Zekrom can generate many bolts of lightning to blast its surroundings.*

That said, just as with Reshiram, the process of splitting and battling was still destructive.
Shield
Mythology tells us that if people lose the righteousness in their hearts, their kingdoms will be razed by Zekrom's lightning.*

Zekrom had a similar trajectory in the competitive scene to Reshiram. When introduced, its electric and dragon typing was unique and it was a pretty powerful monster, but the rise of Mega Pokémon and the return of other legendaries was a big issue.
It did have a little more staying power than Reshiram, thanks to its moves filling more unique roles and things like tailwind and dragon dance letting it make up for its low speed stat.
Zekrom. The other half that changed the modern day Pokemon TCG along side with Reshiram. And we do mean that in a big way.

And was Zekrom big! It entered the game with 130 HP in Black & White base set. An HP amount on a basic Pokemon that hasn’t been seen since the days of Chansey during the Base set format. You can start with Zekrom in the active and let it soak hits for turns.

Though, you would not want to do that if you were facing a Zekrom. That is because Zekrom had the infamous Outrage attack. For two Colorless energy, Outrage did a base 20 damage plus ten more for each damage counter on it. All you had to do was slap a Double Colorless Energy onto Zekrom and with 30 damage on Zekrom would mean 50 damage on the opponent’s Pokemon thanks to Outrage.

If by some feat you were able to survive the onslaught of Outrage then you will not be surviving the next attack. Bolt Strike.

Bolt Strike cost two Lightning and a Colorless energy and did 120 damage. This also did 40 damage to Zekrom. That would sound good though you will need to remember that Zekrom still had Outrage. In the end, Bolt Strike was only making Zekrom’s Outrage even stronger. Cards like Evolite and eventually Hard Charm will give Zekrom even longer staying power in matches.

While it didn’t win any World Championships, Zekrom was feared on the local and Regional level. A single Zekrom could use Bolt Strike as early as turn 1 with the ZPST aka Zekrom Donk Deck.

ZPST would involve Zekrom as the main attacker and Pachirisu from Call of Legends. Pachirisu had the Self Generation ability that allows it to attach two Lighting Energy from your hand on ot it when you play Pachirisu from your hand. You will then use Shaymin from Heartgold Soulsilver Unleashed for it’s Celebration Wind ability. When you put Shaymin in your hand to your Bench then you can move any number of Energy cards attached to your Pokemon in any way you want. Usually you want to attach them to Zekrom so you can use Bolt Strike. Rarely would any card in the active would survive that hit so early in the game. Then, as we said before, Bolt Strike would do 40 damage to itself which only fueled Outrage for later in the game.

Zekrom was reprinted so many times during the Black & White era that it was legal in the game up until the XY era. Did it saw play during the whole format? No but Zekrom certainly left it’s mark on the TCG.

Zekrom would later return during the Sun & Moon era to change the game once again. Enter Pikachu & Zekrom GX from Team Up. Once again, Zekrom helped redefine what Big Basic meant by having 240 HP. Pikachu & Zekrom would then have the Full Blitz attack that did 150 damage for three Lighting Energy. It will then be able to attach three Lightning Energy from your deck to any of your Pokemon. So you can power up another Pikachu & Zekrom or the one who just attacked.

Why would you put more energy on your active Pikachu & Zekrom? To use Tag Bolt GX. For the cost of three Lightning Energy, Tag Bolt does 200 damage. Though, if you have three extra Lightning energy then you can do 170 damage to one of your opponent’s Benched Pokemon. Perfect to snipe Pokemon that helps your opponent to set up that give up two prize cards like Dedenne GX.

Pikachu & Zekrom GX will go on to win the 2019 Pokemon World Championships in the Juniors Division for Haruki Miyamoto as Pikarom Judge. An oppressive deck that will constantly limit your opponent’s hand using cards like Judge and Let Loose Marshadow. Simply making it impossible for opponents to retaliate.

Zekrom cards may not always see play but when they do then they can change the format with how shocking they can be.

Pokémon Black and White were a controversial pair of games. Releasing with 2D sprite art so close to the 3DS, replacing the whole Pokédex and leaning harder than ever into scripted storytelling. They are the worst selling core Pokémon games, and the series took a big change in direction after them, relying on 3D graphics and many more returning monsters. Yet despite this, or perhaps because of it, the games are remembered extremely fondly by fans today. Just as truth and ideals cannot exist without one another, so Pokémon games need to embrace both the old and the new. Hopefully we’ll see that in Black 3 and White 3, or maybe Legends Kyurem, or Vanta Black and Opal White, who knows.
Original music for Luke Loves Pokémon is by Jonathan Cromie. Artwork is by Katie Groves. Funding is provided by listeners at Patreon. If you enjoy this podcast and want to check out other shows by me and my friends, head to podcastiopodcastius.org.
I love hearing from listeners! Get in touch about upcoming Pokémon on twitter or facebook at LukeLovesPKMN or Bluesky at PodcastPodcast. Drop a comment if you’re watching the video, or a review on apple podcasts or spotify. Coming up are Landorus and Kyurem, so please get in touch about those or any other monsters.
Even if you don’t feel like doing any of that, thank you so much just for listening.
I love Zekrom. And remember, I love you too.