Mega Excadrill ex deck: the core, the flex slots, and what beats it

What Mega Excadrill ex looks like when you open the box

Across the 26 lists we counted, this deck runs 17 to 21 Pokémon, 22 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 97 decks we track run 10 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: 22 to 29 cards out of 60, against a median of 31 across the 97 decks we track. Inside that, 8 to 14 Supporters, and the rule there is strict — one a turn, even if you are holding three. The 10 to 16 Items you can play all of in the same turn.

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+	Metal + Metal + Metal	Fire ×2	4
Close Genesect exBasic	220	Protect Charge	150	Metal + Metal + Colorless	Fire ×2	2
Close MetagrossStage 2	180	Metallic Hammer	150+	Metal + Metal + Metal + Colorless	Fire ×2	3
Close MetangStage 1	100	Beam	60	Metal + Colorless + Colorless	Fire ×2	2

The core: the 8 cards every list runs

These 8 cards appear in all 26 lists, without a single exception. That is 36 of the 60 slots. The other 24 are decided player by player.

Look at how those 36 slots break down: 8 Trainers, 13 Pokémon, 15 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 8 cards do not sit at the same count from list to list: Drilbur (2 to 4), Mega Excadrill ex (2 to 3) and Metagross (1 to 2), plus 3 more. Add those spreads up and you get 14 copies the 26 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
2–4	Close Drilbur	PBL 46	Pokémon	stays
4	Close Metang	TEF 114	Pokémon	leaves
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
1–4	Close Buddy-Buddy Poffin	TEF 144	Trainer	leaves
2–4	Close Team Rocket's Petrel	DRI 176	Trainer	stays
13–18	Metal Energy	MEE 8	Energy	stays

The 41 cards that change from list to list

41 cards fight over the 24 slots that are left: 6 above three lists in four, 23 below one in four, and the percentage on each row says how many players took it.

The most agreed on first: Jumbo Ice Cream at 92 %, Boss's Orders at 88 % and Kieran at 88 %, plus 3 more above 75 %. Add those to the core and you have the common build.

The dividing line runs through Team Rocket's Transceiver, at 50 %: 13 of 26 players took it, 13 put something else there. The ones who run it bring 4 copies. Right at the bottom of the table, Shaymin (6 lists out of 26) and Team Rocket's Factory (6 lists out of 26).

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
92 %24/26	Close Jumbo Ice Cream	1–4	PFL 91	Trainer
88 %23/26	Close Boss's Orders	1–4	MEG 114	Trainer
88 %23/26	Close Kieran	1–2	TWM 154	Trainer
85 %22/26	Close Beldum	4	TEF 113	Pokémon
85 %22/26	Close Energy Recycler	1–2	DRI 164	Trainer
85 %22/26	Close Ultra Ball	1–3	MEG 131	Trainer
65 %17/26	Close Fezandipiti ex	1	ASC 142	Pokémon
65 %17/26	Close Lillie's Determination	2–4	MEG 119	Trainer
65 %17/26	Close Pokégear 3.0	1–4	SVI 186	Trainer
65 %17/26	Close Air Balloon	1–2	ASC 181	Trainer
62 %16/26	Close Special Red Card	1	CRI 82	Trainer
54 %14/26	Close Mega Skarmory ex	1	POR 55	Pokémon
50 %13/26	Close Team Rocket's Transceiver	2–4	DRI 178	Trainer
50 %13/26	Close Hero's Cape	1	TEF 152	Trainer
38 %10/26	Close Precious Trolley	1	SSP 185	Trainer
38 %10/26	Close Switch	1–2	MEG 130	Trainer
35 %9/26	Close Gravity Mountain	1	SSP 177	Trainer
27 %7/26	Close Brave Bangle	1	WHT 80	Trainer
23 %6/26	Close Shaymin	1	DRI 10	Pokémon
23 %6/26	Close Team Rocket's Factory	1–2	DRI 173	Trainer
19 %5/26	Close Judge	1–2	POR 76	Trainer
19 %5/26	Close Night Stretcher	1–2	ASC 196	Trainer
15 %4/26	Close Beldum	4	CRI 59	Pokémon
15 %4/26	Close Community Center	1	TWM 146	Trainer
12 %3/26	Close Flutter Mane	1	TEF 78	Pokémon
12 %3/26	Close Brock's Scouting	2–4	JTG 146	Trainer
12 %3/26	Close Secret Box	1	TWM 163	Trainer
8 %2/26	Close Piplup	1	PFL 27	Pokémon
8 %2/26	Close Steven's Skarmory	1	DRI 142	Pokémon
8 %2/26	Close Philippe	1	CRI 79	Trainer
8 %2/26	Close Rare Candy	1	MEG 125	Trainer
8 %2/26	Close Team Rocket's Watchtower	1	DRI 180	Trainer
8 %2/26	Close Tool Scrapper	1	ASC 212	Trainer
4 %1/26	Close Cornerstone Mask Ogerpon ex	1	TWM 112	Pokémon
4 %1/26	Close Empoleon ex	1	PFL 70	Pokémon
4 %1/26	Close Ethan's Pichu	1	DRI 71	Pokémon
4 %1/26	Close Meowth ex	1	POR 62	Pokémon
4 %1/26	Close Full Metal Lab	1	TEF 148	Trainer
4 %1/26	Close Handheld Fan	1	TWM 150	Trainer
4 %1/26	Close Pokémon Catcher	1	POR 82	Trainer
4 %1/26	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. 36 slots come from the core, the cards all 26 lists run. The remaining 24 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 19 Pokémon, 26 Trainers and 15 Energy.

One thing to know before you build it: the 26 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 26 of the 26 lists carry one. Take Hero's Cape, 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.

There is no price total on this page. The readings we have are Cardmarket's, in euros, and the shop link further down sends you to TCGplayer, which quotes in dollars. Putting a euro figure next to a dollar shop would be one currency too many. The French and German pages carry the total.

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: 19
4 Drilbur PBL 46
4 Metang TEF 114
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 Buddy-Buddy Poffin TEF 144
4 Team Rocket's Petrel DRI 176
2 Jumbo Ice Cream PFL 91
3 Boss's Orders MEG 114
1 Kieran TWM 154
1 Energy Recycler DRI 164
1 Ultra Ball MEG 131
4 Lillie's Determination MEG 119
2 Pokégear 3.0 SVI 186
1 Air Balloon ASC 181
1 Special Red Card CRI 82
2 Team Rocket's Transceiver DRI 178

Energy: 15
15 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 Pitch Black became legal for tournaments, and we read the table on 5 September 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 Ethan's Typhlosion: over 101 games, 20 won and 81 lost.

Against Alakazam / Dudunsparce: over 750 games, 185 won and 559 lost. 6 ended with no winner.

Against Mega Lucario ex: over 306 games, 105 won and 198 lost. 3 ended with no winner.

Against Slowking: over 818 games, 299 won and 508 lost. 11 ended with no winner.

Against Team Rocket's Honchkrow: over 165 games, 56 won and 108 lost. One ended with no winner.

Against Dragapult ex / Blaziken ex: over 841 games, 319 won and 514 lost. 8 ended with no winner.

Against Toucannon: over 358 games, 135 won and 220 lost. 3 ended with no winner.

Against Mega Chandelure ex: over 142 games, 51 won and 91 lost.

Against Teal Mask Ogerpon ex / Meganium / Hydrapple ex: over 192 games, 74 won and 117 lost. One ended with no winner.

Against Teal Mask Ogerpon ex / Meganium / Arboliva ex: over 101 games, 37 won and 63 lost. One ended with no winner.

Against Mega Lucario ex / Hariyama: over 285 games, 122 won and 163 lost.

Against Raging Bolt ex: over 330 games, 156 won and 172 lost. 2 ended with no winner.

Against Dragapult ex: over 1,076 games, 556 won and 506 lost. 14 ended with no winner.

Against Cynthia's Garchomp ex: over 146 games, 69 won and 76 lost. One ended with no winner.

Against Greninja ex: over 113 games, 54 won and 59 lost.

Against Festival Lead: over 847 games, 456 won and 382 lost. 9 ended with no winner.

Against Latias ex / Mega Kangaskhan ex: over 225 games, 114 won and 111 lost.

Against Mega Kangaskhan ex / Bouffalant: over 112 games, 56 won and 54 lost. 2 ended with no winner.

Against Dhelmise: over 576 games, 321 won and 249 lost. 6 ended with no winner.

Against Dragapult ex / Dusknoir: over 802 games, 452 won and 340 lost. 10 ended with no winner.

Against N's Zoroark ex: over 682 games, 383 won and 295 lost. 4 ended with no winner.

Against Marnie's Grimmsnarl ex / Froslass: over 563 games, 329 won and 231 lost. 3 ended with no winner.

Against Mega Absol ex: over 125 games, 71 won and 52 lost. 2 ended with no winner.

Against Beedrill ex: over 159 games, 101 won and 57 lost. One ended with no winner.

Against Mega Greninja ex: over 178 games, 117 won and 60 lost. One ended with no winner.

Against Team Rocket's Mewtwo ex: over 105 games, 78 won and 26 lost. One ended with no winner.

Against Crustle: over 118 games, 92 won and 24 lost. 2 ended with no winner.

What Mega Excadrill ex costs to build, and how long it will last

You need 49 different cards to cover every version of this deck, 8 of which nobody argues about. We do not have card prices, so we are not going to put a number on it.

All 26 lists bring an ACE SPEC, and that is where they part ways: 13 took Hero's Cape, 10 took Precious Trolley and 3 took Secret Box. 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. 2 of the 8 core cards carry the letter H, the one that goes at the next rotation: Metang and Buddy-Buddy Poffin. The core table marks every one of them. In copies, that is 8 of the 36 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. 10 of the 97 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 7 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 10 decks out of the 97 we track. The other 87 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 12 of the decks we track have an attacker Weak to one of those: Marnie's Grimmsnarl ex / Froslass, Dhelmise and Mega Starmie ex / Froslass, among others. That is you doubling, for once. Second half of the table.

Questions people ask

What is the Mega Excadrill ex deck list?

There isn't one, so we built one for you: all 60 cards are written out further up this page. Across 26 tournament lists harvested between 9 August 2026 and 5 September 2026, 8 cards turn up in every single one, 36 slots out of 60. The remaining 24 change from player to player, with 41 different cards competing for them. Both tables are above.

How many lists is this counted on, and where do they come from?

26 lists, played across 24 different tournaments, harvested between 9 August 2026 and 5 September 2026 from play.limitlesstcg.com. All 26 were read card by card, and every card recognised.

Where do I start if I want to build Mega Excadrill ex?

With the whole core: 8 cards, 36 slots. Inside it, buy the 8 Trainer slots and the 15 Energy first: they carry over into your next deck. Leave the 13 Pokémon slots for last. Only then work down the flex table and add the cards the most lists agree on, starting with Jumbo Ice Cream at 92 % and Boss's Orders at 88 %.

What beats Mega Excadrill ex?

Its attackers are Weak to Fire, so they take double damage from an attacker of that type. 10 of the 97 decks we track play an attacker of that type: Dragapult ex / Blaziken ex, Ethan's Typhlosion, Ceruledge ex and Blaziken / N's Zoroark ex, among others.

Will Mega Excadrill ex survive the next rotation?

Not intact: 2 core cards out of 8 carry the letter H, starting with Metang and Buddy-Buddy Poffin.

Are a lot of people playing Mega Excadrill ex?

We have read 26 lists of it, which puts it 60th of the 97 decks we track by lists read. The platform those tournaments run on counts 2,991 entries for it, 7.33 % of the field, across all its players. That figure is theirs.

These pages are about the same corner of the game. If you came away from this one still wondering about something, start with one of them.