Mega Excadrill ex

What Mega Excadrill ex looks like when you open the box

Across the 73 lists we counted, this deck runs 17 to 22 Pokémon, 21 to 29 Trainers and 13 to 18 Energy. Its attacks are paid for in Metal.

On results pages and on stream you will see it written « mega-excadrill-ex ». 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: 13 to 18 out of 60, when half the 125 decks we track run 11 or fewer. This one carries more than most, and you feel it at the table — it wants to load up a big Pokémon and swing hard, even if that means drawing a spare Energy now and then.

It takes a while to set up. Metagross 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: 21 to 29 cards out of 60, against a median of 31 across the 125 decks we track. Inside that, 6 to 16 Supporters, and the rule there is strict — one a turn, even if you are holding three. The 9 to 16 Items you can play all of in the same turn. It also brings up to 3 Stadiums, and 118 of the 125 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.

How Mega Excadrill ex actually wins

Mega Excadrill ex attacks with Maximum Drilling. It needs 3 Metal Energy attached, and it has 340 HP. The damage box reads "200+", and that little symbol hides the real decision on this card: 200 to start with, 330 the moment it is carrying 2 Energy beyond the 3 in the cost.

The cost of Maximum Drilling 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. Metang, which the list runs 4 of, has an Ability called Metal Maker: it looks at the top of your deck and attaches the Energy it finds there. An Ability costs you nothing: not your attack, not your card for the turn. 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. Beldum has to climb two steps before it becomes Metagross, and an evolution asleep at the bottom of your deck does you no good at all. The list has that covered. Genesect ex, which the list runs 2 of, has an Ability called Metallic Signal: it goes into your deck for an evolution.

Here is the detail that quietly loses games. To pull Mega Excadrill ex back to the Bench you have to discard 4 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 4 Energy you spent 4 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 Excadrill 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. Genesect ex carries the plain "ex" suffix, and give up 2. That is already a lot, and it is less than the Mega.

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 Excadrill exStage 1	340	Maximum Drilling	200+		Fire ×2	4
Close Genesect exBasic	220	Protect Charge	150		Fire ×2	2
Close MetagrossStage 2	180	Metallic Hammer	150+		Fire ×2	3
Close MetangStage 1	100	Beam	60		Fire ×2	2

The core: the 7 cards every list runs

These 7 cards appear in all 73 lists, without a single exception. That is 32 of the 60 slots. The other 28 are decided player by player.

Look at how those 32 slots break down: 4 Trainers, 12 Pokémon, 16 Energy. Pokémon dominate, which is unusual: this deck needs bodies on the board, and it depends on any single attacker less than it looks.

6 of those 7 cards do not sit at the same count from list to list: Metang (3 to 4), Drilbur (2 to 4) and Mega Excadrill ex (2 to 3), plus 3 more. Add those spreads up and you get 12 copies the 73 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	Rotation
3–4	Close Metang	TEF 114	Pokémon	leaves
2–4	Close Drilbur	PBL 46	Pokémon	stays
2	Close Genesect ex	BLK 67	Pokémon	stays
2–3	Close Mega Excadrill ex	PBL 65	Pokémon	stays
1–2	Close Metagross	CRI 61	Pokémon	stays
2–4	Close Team Rocket's Petrel	DRI 176	Trainer	stays
13–18	Metal Energy	MEE 8	Energy	stays

The 65 cards that change from list to list

65 cards fight over the 28 slots that are left: 6 above three lists in four, 45 below one in four, and the percentage on each row says how many players took it.

The most agreed on first: Buddy-Buddy Poffin at 95 %, Jumbo Ice Cream at 95 % and Boss's Orders at 88 %, plus 3 more above 75 %. Add those to the core and you have the common build.

The dividing line runs through Hero's Cape, at 51 %: 37 of 73 players took it, 36 put something else there. It is an ACE SPEC card, and you are allowed exactly one in your whole deck. The players who passed on it did not leave the slot empty: they put a different ACE SPEC there. Right at the bottom of the table, Piplup (17 lists out of 73) and Rare Candy (17 lists out of 73).

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
95 %69/73	Close Buddy-Buddy Poffin	1–4	TEF 144	Trainer
95 %69/73	Close Jumbo Ice Cream	1–4	PFL 91	Trainer
88 %64/73	Close Boss's Orders	1–4	MEG 114	Trainer
82 %60/73	Close Energy Recycler	1–2	DRI 164	Trainer
82 %60/73	Close Kieran	1–2	TWM 154	Trainer
79 %58/73	Close Beldum	3–4	TEF 113	Pokémon
71 %52/73	Close Lillie's Determination	1–4	MEG 119	Trainer
68 %50/73	Close Ultra Ball	1–3	MEG 131	Trainer
66 %48/73	Close Fezandipiti ex	1	ASC 142	Pokémon
66 %48/73	Close Pokégear 3.0	1–4	SVI 186	Trainer
64 %47/73	Close Special Red Card	1–2	CRI 82	Trainer
55 %40/73	Close Mega Skarmory ex	1	POR 55	Pokémon
55 %40/73	Close Switch	1–2	MEG 130	Trainer
51 %37/73	Close Hero's Cape	1	TEF 152	Trainer
44 %32/73	Close Team Rocket's Transceiver	1–4	DRI 178	Trainer
40 %29/73	Close Brock's Scouting	1–4	JTG 146	Trainer
37 %27/73	Close Precious Trolley	1	SSP 185	Trainer
33 %24/73	Close Shaymin	1	DRI 10	Pokémon
33 %24/73	Close Air Balloon	1–2	ASC 181	Trainer
32 %23/73	Close Gravity Mountain	1	SSP 177	Trainer
23 %17/73	Close Piplup	1–2	PFL 27	Pokémon
23 %17/73	Close Rare Candy	1	MEG 125	Trainer
22 %16/73	Close Beldum	1–4	CRI 59	Pokémon
22 %16/73	Close Empoleon ex	1	PFL 70	Pokémon
22 %16/73	Close Judge	1–2	POR 76	Trainer
21 %15/73	Close Night Stretcher	1–2	ASC 196	Trainer
15 %11/73	Close Brave Bangle	1	WHT 80	Trainer
14 %10/73	Close Xerosic's Machinations	1–2	SFA 64	Trainer
11 %8/73	Close Team Rocket's Factory	1–2	DRI 173	Trainer
11 %8/73	Close Tool Scrapper	1	ASC 212	Trainer
10 %7/73	Close Full Metal Lab	1–2	TEF 148	Trainer
10 %7/73	Close Community Center	1	TWM 146	Trainer
10 %7/73	Close Team Rocket's Watchtower	1–2	DRI 180	Trainer
8 %6/73	Close Secret Box	1	TWM 163	Trainer
7 %5/73	Close Psyduck	1	ASC 39	Pokémon
7 %5/73	Close Philippe	1	CRI 79	Trainer
5 %4/73	Close Flutter Mane	1	TEF 78	Pokémon
5 %4/73	Close Battle Cage	1	PFL 85	Trainer
5 %4/73	Close Iron Defender	1	MEG 118	Trainer
4 %3/73	Close Poké Pad	1–2	POR 81	Trainer
3 %2/73	Close Duraludon	2	SCR 106	Pokémon
3 %2/73	Close Archaludon	1	SCR 107	Pokémon
3 %2/73	Close Archaludon ex	1	SSP 130	Pokémon
3 %2/73	Close Mew ex	1	30C 66	Pokémon
3 %2/73	Close Steven's Skarmory	1	DRI 142	Pokémon
3 %2/73	Close Team Rocket's Articuno	1	DRI 51	Pokémon
3 %2/73	Close Team Rocket's Kangaskhan ex	1	ASC 162	Pokémon
3 %2/73	Close Lumiose City	1–2	POR 77	Trainer
3 %2/73	Close Prime Catcher	1	TEF 157	Trainer
1 %1/73	Close Mega Kangaskhan ex	2	MEG 104	Pokémon
1 %1/73	Close Cornerstone Mask Ogerpon ex	1	TWM 112	Pokémon
1 %1/73	Close Ethan's Pichu	1	DRI 71	Pokémon
1 %1/73	Close Heatran	1	TWM 123	Pokémon
1 %1/73	Close Meowth ex	1	POR 62	Pokémon
1 %1/73	Close Orthworm ex	1	SCR 110	Pokémon
1 %1/73	Close AZ's Tranquility	1	CRI 76	Trainer
1 %1/73	Close Fennel	1	BLK 82	Trainer
1 %1/73	Close Hand Trimmer	1	TEF 150	Trainer
1 %1/73	Close Handheld Fan	1	TWM 150	Trainer
1 %1/73	Close N's Plan	1	BLK 83	Trainer
1 %1/73	Close Poké Vital A	1	SFA 62	Trainer
1 %1/73	Close Pokémon Catcher	1	POR 82	Trainer
1 %1/73	Close Redeemable Ticket	1	JTG 156	Trainer
1 %1/73	Close Wally's Compassion	1	MEG 132	Trainer
1 %1/73	Close Rocky Fighting Energy	2	POR 87	Energy

The most common Mega Excadrill ex list, all 60 cards

Here they are in full, ready to build. 32 slots come from the core, the cards all 73 lists run. The remaining 28 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 15 more cards to reach 60. The whole thing comes to 18 Pokémon, 26 Trainers and 16 Energy.

One thing to know before you build it: the 73 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.

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: 18
4 Metang TEF 114
3 Drilbur PBL 46
2 Genesect ex BLK 67
2 Mega Excadrill ex PBL 65
1 Metagross CRI 61
4 Beldum TEF 113
1 Fezandipiti ex ASC 142
1 Mega Skarmory ex POR 55

Trainer: 26
4 Team Rocket's Petrel DRI 176
4 Buddy-Buddy Poffin TEF 144
2 Jumbo Ice Cream PFL 91
1 Boss's Orders MEG 114
1 Energy Recycler DRI 164
1 Kieran TWM 154
4 Lillie's Determination MEG 119
1 Ultra Ball MEG 131
2 Pokégear 3.0 SVI 186
1 Special Red Card CRI 82
1 Switch MEG 130
1 Hero's Cape TEF 152
3 Team Rocket's Transceiver DRI 178

Energy: 16
16 Metal Energy MEE 8

Total Cards: 60

Which decks beat Mega Excadrill ex at tournaments

Here is how Mega Excadrill ex did against every other deck at tournaments. Real games, real players sitting across the table from each other, and the platform those tournaments run on counts them one by one. All of them were played after 30th Celebration became legal for tournaments, and we read the table on 20 October 2026.

The format matters more than people think. When the next set lands, decks get rebuilt around the new cards, and a matchup that leaned one way can swing the other. What you are reading holds for today's format.

We start with the opponent that gives you the most trouble, because that is where the work is before your next tournament. The further down the list you go, the better it goes for you.

Always look at the number of games next to the score. Six wins out of ten happens on its own, even with a middling deck: it is the same as flipping six heads in ten tries. Six hundred out of a thousand, and luck has nothing to do with it. Below 100 games we show nothing at all, because at that count half the matchups look like they lean one way when they lean nowhere.

Against Dragapult ex / Blaziken ex: over 141 games, 46 won and 95 lost.

Against Alakazam / Dudunsparce: over 211 games, 80 won and 129 lost. 2 ended with no winner.

Against Mega Lucario ex / Hariyama: over 130 games, 54 won and 73 lost. 3 ended with no winner.

Against Slowking: over 242 games, 106 won and 133 lost. 3 ended with no winner.

Against Teal Mask Ogerpon ex / Meganium / Hydrapple ex: over 167 games, 72 won and 93 lost. 2 ended with no winner.

Against Latias ex / Mega Kangaskhan ex: over 192 games, 90 won and 100 lost. 2 ended with no winner.

Against Alakazam / Dusknoir: over 125 games, 58 won and 67 lost.

Against Dragapult ex: over 532 games, 284 won and 239 lost. 9 ended with no winner.

Against Dragapult ex / Dusknoir: over 187 games, 95 won and 91 lost. One ended with no winner.

Against Festival Lead: over 103 games, 50 won and 51 lost. 2 ended with no winner.

Against Dhelmise: over 194 games, 103 won and 84 lost. 7 ended with no winner.

Against N's Zoroark ex: over 251 games, 142 won and 105 lost. 4 ended with no winner.

Against Mega Sharpedo ex / Toxtricity: over 127 games, 73 won and 53 lost. One ended with no winner.

Against Mega Lopunny ex / Dudunsparce: over 141 games, 92 won and 49 lost.

How many different cards Mega Excadrill ex needs, and how long it will last

You need 72 different cards to cover every version of this deck, 7 of which nobody argues about. The rest is where lists differ from one another, and that is where you have room to choose.

All 73 lists bring an ACE SPEC, and that is where they part ways: 37 took Hero's Cape, 27 took Precious Trolley and 6 took Secret Box. The flex table shows you all 5. 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 Hero's Cape and watch what the others do with theirs before you switch.

Then there is time. 1 of the 7 core cards carries the letter H, the one that goes at the next rotation: Metang. The core table marks it. In copies, that is 4 of the 32 slots the core fills. Which day it lands, we do not know yet.

What Mega Excadrill ex struggles against

The attackers in this deck are Weak to Fire, so they take DOUBLE damage from that type. 13 of the 125 decks we track attack in exactly that type.

Concretely, here is what is waiting for you: Dragapult ex / Blaziken ex, Ethan's Typhlosion and Ceruledge 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 125 we track. The other 112 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 Metal, and 16 of the decks we track have an attacker Weak to one of those: Dhelmise, Marnie's Grimmsnarl ex / Froslass and Mew ex, among others. That is you doubling, for once. Second half of the table.