Mega Dragonite ex / Eelektrik

What Mega Dragonite ex / Eelektrik looks like when you open the box

Across the 10 lists we counted, this deck runs 17 to 22 Pokémon, 27 to 32 Trainers and 9 to 12 Energy. Its attacks are paid for in Lightning and Water.

On results pages and on stream you will see it written « dragonite-eelektrik ». Every card named in that label turns up in the tables below, which is what makes it a fair name for the deck.

Look at the Energy: 9 to 12 out of 60, exactly the median of the 132 decks we track. It draws neither too much nor too little, so this is not where its games are won or lost.

It takes a while to set up. Mega Dragonite ex is a Stage 2 Pokémon: you put down the baby, you evolve it, and then you evolve it again. Three cards stacked before anything attacks. That is what the hardest-hitting decks cost you, and it is also where they crack — a fast opponent can bury you before the line is standing.

Look at the Trainers: 27 to 32 cards out of 60, against a median of 31 across the 132 decks we track. Inside that, 10 to 15 Supporters, and the rule there is strict — one a turn, even if you are holding three. The 11 to 18 Items you can play all of in the same turn. It also brings up to 4 Stadiums, and 91 of the 132 decks we track bring that many or more. Only one Stadium sits on the table at a time: the one you play sends the one already there to the discard pile.

What Tools and Stadiums do — the two Trainer families we skipped here — and why the Energy count says so much: how to read a deck list.

What the cards in this deck's name actually do

Mega Dragonite ex and Eelektrik give this deck its name. Here is what is written on them.

Mega Dragonite ex is in all 10 lists, 3 copies of it. Its Ability is called Sky Transport, and here is what is printed on it, word for word: « Once during your turn, you may use this Ability. Switch your Active Pokémon with 1 of your Benched Pokémon. »

Eelektrik is in all 10 lists, 2 copies of it. Its Ability is called Dynamotor, and here is what is printed on it, word for word: « Once during your turn, you may attach a Basic {L} Energy card from your discard pile to 1 of your Benched Pokémon. »

How Mega Dragonite ex / Eelektrik actually wins

Mega Dragonite ex attacks with Ryuno Glide for 330. It needs 3 Energy, 1 Water and 2 Lightning attached, and it has 370 HP. And the number is not everything the card says. There is one more line printed under the attack, and it is the one everybody skips: "Discard 2 Energy from this Pokémon."

The cost of Ryuno Glide decides your first few turns. You only get to attach one Energy a turn, and that attack asks for 3. On your own attachments alone, your first real swing lands on turn 3. Except you are not on your own. Eelektrik, which the list runs 2 of, has an Ability called Dynamotor: it digs Energy out of your discard pile and puts it back on one of your Pokémon. An Ability costs you nothing: not your attack, not your card for the turn. Crispin does the same job. That is where this deck buys its turns, and it is the first thing to look for in your opening hand.

Energy is not your only clock. Dratini has to climb two steps before it becomes Mega Dragonite ex, and an evolution asleep at the bottom of your deck does you no good at all. The list has that covered. Dragonair, which the list runs 3 of, has an Ability called Evolutionary Guidance: it goes into your deck for an evolution. Not whenever you feel like it, though. The card itself says when, so read it before you count on it.

Here is the detail that quietly loses games. To pull Mega Dragonite ex back to the Bench you have to discard 2 Energy attached to it. Retreating does not cost you your turn, you can step back and still swing right after. What it costs you is the 2 Energy you spent 2 turns attaching, and you start that climb again from nothing. Pack a card that moves it for free, or send it up knowing it stays up.

Mega Dragonite ex is a Mega Evolution ex, and that is the most expensive rule in the game: your opponent takes 3 Prize cards instead of one the turn it goes down. They need 6 to win the game, so 2 well-placed knockouts on that card beat you, where it would take 6 knockouts anywhere else on your Bench.

The attackers in the deck's core, with their best attack, its cost and their Weakness

Pokémon	HP	Attack	Damage	Cost	Weakness	Retreat
Close Mega Dragonite exStage 2	370	Ryuno Glide	330		none	2
Close DragonairStage 1	100	Tail Snap	60		none	2
Close EelektrikStage 1	90	Electric Ball	50		Fighting ×2	2
Close DratiniBasic	80	Headbutt	30		none	2

The core: the 10 cards every list runs

These 10 cards appear in all 10 lists, without a single exception. That is 34 of the 60 slots. The other 26 are decided player by player.

Look at how those 34 slots break down: 10 Trainers, 13 Pokémon, 11 Energy. Pokémon dominate, which is unusual: this deck needs bodies on the board, and it depends on any single attacker less than it looks.

9 of those 10 cards do not sit at the same count from list to list: Dragonair (1 to 4), Dratini (2 to 4) and Mega Dragonite ex (2 to 3), plus 6 more. Add those spreads up and you get 16 copies the 10 lists do not agree on, inside the core itself.

What "3 to 4" means in the copies column, what the "TWM 130" code under each name is for, and why we count dozens of lists instead of one: how to read a deck list.

The cards present in every list counted, with the number of copies

Copies	Card	Printing	Kind
1–4	Close Dragonair	ASC 151	Pokémon
2–4	Close Dratini	ASC 150	Pokémon
2–3	Close Mega Dragonite ex	ASC 152	Pokémon
2	Close Eelektrik	ASC 60	Pokémon
2–3	Close Tynamo	ASC 59	Pokémon
3–4	Close Lillie's Determination	MEG 119	Trainer
2–4	Close Poké Pad	POR 81	Trainer
2–3	Close Boss's Orders	MEG 114	Trainer
4–6	Lightning Energy	MEE 4	Energy
2–5	Water Energy	MEE 3	Energy

The 57 cards that change from list to list

57 cards fight over the 26 slots that are left: 4 above three lists in four, 37 below one in four, and the percentage on each row says how many players took it.

The most agreed on first: Ultra Ball at 90 %, Night Stretcher at 90 % and Crispin at 80 %, plus 1 more above 75 %. Add those to the core and you have the common build.

The dividing line runs through Mega Kangaskhan ex, at 50 %: 5 of 10 players took it, 5 put something else there. The ones who run it bring 2 copies. Right at the bottom of the table, Budew (2 lists out of 10) and Tatsugiri (2 lists out of 10).

Why a card at 45 % is not a bad card, and what order to buy all this in: how to read a deck list.

The cards some lists run and others don't, most common first

Lists running it	Card	Copies	Printing	Kind
90 %9/10	Close Ultra Ball	1–4	MEG 131	Trainer
90 %9/10	Close Night Stretcher	1–3	ASC 196	Trainer
80 %8/10	Close Crispin	2–4	SCR 133	Trainer
80 %8/10	Close Rare Candy	1–4	MEG 125	Trainer
70 %7/10	Close Fezandipiti ex	1	ASC 142	Pokémon
60 %6/10	Close Buddy-Buddy Poffin	3–4	TEF 144	Trainer
60 %6/10	Close Wally's Compassion	1–2	MEG 132	Trainer
50 %5/10	Close Mega Kangaskhan ex	2	MEG 104	Pokémon
50 %5/10	Close Mega Eelektross ex	1	ASC 61	Pokémon
50 %5/10	Close Special Red Card	2	CRI 82	Trainer
40 %4/10	Close Dunsparce	2–3	JTG 120	Pokémon
40 %4/10	Close Dudunsparce	2	TEF 129	Pokémon
40 %4/10	Close Powerglass	2	SFA 63	Trainer
40 %4/10	Close Air Balloon	1–2	ASC 181	Trainer
30 %3/10	Close Latias ex	1	SSP 76	Pokémon
30 %3/10	Close Meowth ex	1	POR 62	Pokémon
30 %3/10	Close Shaymin	1	DRI 10	Pokémon
30 %3/10	Close Dawn	2–3	PFL 87	Trainer
30 %3/10	Close Team Rocket's Petrel	2–4	DRI 176	Trainer
30 %3/10	Close Battle Cage	1–2	PFL 85	Trainer
20 %2/10	Close Budew	1	ASC 16	Pokémon
20 %2/10	Close Tatsugiri	1	TWM 131	Pokémon
20 %2/10	Close Zekrom ex	1	BLK 34	Pokémon
20 %2/10	Close Levincia	4	JTG 150	Trainer
20 %2/10	Close Jumbo Ice Cream	1–2	PFL 91	Trainer
20 %2/10	Close Lana's Aid	1–2	TWM 155	Trainer
20 %2/10	Close Lumiose City	2	POR 77	Trainer
20 %2/10	Close Precious Trolley	1	SSP 185	Trainer
20 %2/10	Close Secret Box	1	TWM 163	Trainer
20 %2/10	Close Legacy Energy	1	TWM 167	Energy
10 %1/10	Close Froakie	2	CRI 20	Pokémon
10 %1/10	Close Frogadier	2	CRI 21	Pokémon
10 %1/10	Close Greninja ex	2	TWM 106	Pokémon
10 %1/10	Close Mega Starmie ex	2	POR 21	Pokémon
10 %1/10	Close Ninetales	2	CRI 9	Pokémon
10 %1/10	Close Staryu	2	POR 20	Pokémon
10 %1/10	Close Vulpix	2	CRI 8	Pokémon
10 %1/10	Close Buneary	1	PFL 83	Pokémon
10 %1/10	Close Mega Lopunny ex	1	PFL 84	Pokémon
10 %1/10	Close Stunfisk	1	ASC 62	Pokémon
10 %1/10	Close Volcanion ex	1	JTG 31	Pokémon
10 %1/10	Close Team Rocket's Transceiver	4	DRI 178	Trainer
10 %1/10	Close Brock's Scouting	2	JTG 146	Trainer
10 %1/10	Close Hilda	2	WHT 84	Trainer
10 %1/10	Close Pokégear 3.0	2	SVI 186	Trainer
10 %1/10	Close Team Rocket's Factory	2	DRI 173	Trainer
10 %1/10	Close Black Belt's Training	1	JTG 143	Trainer
10 %1/10	Close Grand Tree	1	SCR 136	Trainer
10 %1/10	Close Hero's Cape	1	TEF 152	Trainer
10 %1/10	Close Jamming Tower	1	TWM 153	Trainer
10 %1/10	Close Judge	1	POR 76	Trainer
10 %1/10	Close Kieran	1	TWM 154	Trainer
10 %1/10	Close Maximum Belt	1	TEF 154	Trainer
10 %1/10	Close Prism Tower	1	CRI 80	Trainer
10 %1/10	Close Unfair Stamp	1	TWM 165	Trainer
10 %1/10	Close Ignition Energy	3	WHT 86	Energy
10 %1/10	Fire Energy	2	MEE 2	Energy

The most common Mega Dragonite ex / Eelektrik list, all 60 cards

Here they are in full, ready to build. 34 slots come from the core, the cards all 10 lists run. The remaining 26 come from the table just above, working down it: the cards the most players chose, each at its most common copy count, until the total lands on 60.

This list is nobody's list in particular. It takes, slot by slot, what the most people played, under the guardrails a judge would hold you to: never more than four copies of a card, and one ACE SPEC. Behind the core it took 13 more cards to reach 60. The whole thing comes to 22 Pokémon, 27 Trainers and 11 Energy.

One thing to know before you build it: the 10 lists we counted are all from players who came in the top twenty of their tournament. Nobody publishes the lists of the players who lost. So what you have in front of you is what the players finishing near the top bring most often.

One thing to fix before you play: there is no ACE SPEC card in these 60. Players split that slot so many ways that none of their cards climbed high enough to get in, and 10 of the 10 lists carry one. Take Legacy Energy, the most chosen, and drop a card from the bottom of the table to make room.

The text under the table is the one the game expects: copy it, paste it into the deck manager, and the list builds itself.

Why we only read lists from players who came in the top twenty of their tournament, and what that changes about every percentage on this page: how to read a deck list.

Pokémon: 22
3 Dragonair ASC 151
3 Dratini ASC 150
3 Mega Dragonite ex ASC 152
2 Eelektrik ASC 60
2 Tynamo ASC 59
1 Fezandipiti ex ASC 142
2 Mega Kangaskhan ex MEG 104
1 Mega Eelektross ex ASC 61
3 Dunsparce JTG 120
2 Dudunsparce TEF 129

Trainer: 27
4 Lillie's Determination MEG 119
4 Poké Pad POR 81
2 Boss's Orders MEG 114
3 Ultra Ball MEG 131
1 Night Stretcher ASC 196
3 Crispin SCR 133
2 Rare Candy MEG 125
4 Buddy-Buddy Poffin TEF 144
1 Wally's Compassion MEG 132
2 Special Red Card CRI 82
1 Air Balloon ASC 181

Energy: 11
6 Lightning Energy MEE 4
5 Water Energy MEE 3

Total Cards: 60

How many different cards Mega Dragonite ex / Eelektrik needs, and how long it will last

You need 67 different cards to cover every version of this deck, 10 of which nobody argues about. The rest is where lists differ from one another, and that is where you have room to choose.

All 10 lists bring an ACE SPEC, and that is where they part ways: 2 took Legacy Energy, 2 took Precious Trolley and 2 took Secret Box. The flex table shows you all 7. You are allowed ONE ACE SPEC card in your whole deck, so a single copy covers it whatever it costs. New to this deck? Take Legacy Energy and watch what the others do with theirs before you switch.

Then there is time, and the answer is a good one: not one of the 10 core cards carries the letter H, the one that goes at the next rotation. This deck walks through the change whole.

What Mega Dragonite ex / Eelektrik struggles against

The attackers in this deck are Weak to Fighting, so they take DOUBLE damage from that type. 13 of the 132 decks we track attack in exactly that type.

Concretely, here is what is waiting for you: Mega Lucario ex / Hariyama, Cynthia's Garchomp ex and Mega Lucario ex, plus 10 more decks. The table below takes them one at a time, and those are the lists you practise against first before an event.

This table counts one thing, Weakness, and that comes to 13 decks out of the 132 we track. The other 119 do not attack into yours, and this table says nothing about them. You will still run into them.

Going the other way, your attackers are Lightning and Water, and 24 of the decks we track have an attacker Weak to one of those: Latias ex / Mega Kangaskhan ex, Mega Greninja ex and Team Rocket's Honchkrow, among others. That is you doubling, for once. Second half of the table.