Mega Manectric ex

What Mega Manectric ex looks like when you open the box

Across the 14 lists we counted, this deck runs 12 to 21 Pokémon, 27 to 34 Trainers and 10 to 14 Energy. Its attacks are paid for in Lightning.

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

The bit they tack on the end, « MEG », is a set code: Mega Evolution. They spell it out because several cards share that name, and this deck plays that particular printing.

Look at the Energy: 10 to 14 out of 60, when half the 132 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 sets up fast. Manectric is a Stage 1 Pokémon: a Basic, one evolution on top, and you are attacking. Two cards instead of three. You lose fewer turns building, and you rebuild much more easily when an early knockout lands on you.

Look at the Trainers: 27 to 34 cards out of 60, against a median of 31 across the 132 decks we track. Inside that, 11 to 19 Supporters, and the rule there is strict — one a turn, even if you are holding three. The 9 to 17 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.

How Mega Manectric ex actually wins

Mega Manectric ex attacks with Riotous Blasting. It needs 3 Lightning Energy attached, and it has 330 HP. The damage box reads "200+": 200 to start with, and 330 if you agree to discard every Energy attached to it. You hit enormously once, then you are back to nothing and everything needs recharging.

The cost of Riotous Blasting 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. We have not found anything in this list that attaches Energy faster than that, so plan on holding out for 2 turns before you swing. Those turns still get played: you fill your Bench, you build your lines, and you keep something back to rebuild with when your attacker falls.

Energy is not your only clock. Electrike has to climb a step before it becomes Manectric, and an evolution asleep at the bottom of your deck does you no good at all. The list has that covered. Hilda, which the list runs 3 of, goes into your deck for an evolution. Careful, though: only 10 of the 14 lists bring it, so it is a choice, and players are still arguing about it.

Good news on mobility: Mega Manectric ex retreats for free. You get it back to the Bench without discarding a single Energy, and you can still attack in the same turn. An attacker that comes and goes like that walks out of almost any mess.

Mega Manectric 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 Manectric exStage 1	330	Riotous Blasting	200+		Fighting ×2	0
Close ManectricStage 1	120	Sonic Edge	110		Fighting ×2	1

The core: the 4 cards every list runs

These 4 cards appear in all 14 lists, without a single exception. That is 10 of the 60 slots. The other 50 are decided player by player.

Look at how those 10 slots break down: 2 Trainers, 4 Pokémon, 4 Energy. Pokémon dominate, which is unusual: this deck needs bodies on the board, and it depends on any single attacker less than it looks.

4 of those 4 cards do not sit at the same count from list to list: Manectric (1 to 2), Mega Manectric ex (2 to 3) and Boss's Orders (2 to 4), plus 1 more. Add those spreads up and you get 13 copies the 14 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
1–2	Close Manectric	PBL 24	Pokémon
2–3	Close Mega Manectric ex	MEG 50	Pokémon
2–4	Close Boss's Orders	MEG 114	Trainer
1–10	Lightning Energy	MEE 4	Energy

The 88 cards that change from list to list

88 cards fight over the 50 slots that are left: 3 above three lists in four, 60 below one in four, and the percentage on each row says how many players took it.

The most agreed on first: Lillie's Determination at 93 %, Ultra Ball at 79 % and Voltaic Lightning Energy at 79 %. Add those to the core and you have the common build.

The dividing line runs through Night Stretcher, at 50 %: 7 of 14 players took it, 7 put something else there. The ones who run it bring 1 copy. Right at the bottom of the table, Mega Kangaskhan ex (3 lists out of 14) and Munkidori (3 lists out of 14).

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
93 %13/14	Close Lillie's Determination	3–4	MEG 119	Trainer
79 %11/14	Close Ultra Ball	1–4	MEG 131	Trainer
79 %11/14	Close Voltaic Lightning Energy	2–4	PBL 84	Energy
71 %10/14	Close Buddy-Buddy Poffin	1–4	TEF 144	Trainer
71 %10/14	Close Hilda	2–3	WHT 84	Trainer
71 %10/14	Close Special Red Card	1–2	CRI 82	Trainer
64 %9/14	Close Electrike	1–4	PBL 23	Pokémon
64 %9/14	Close Jumbo Ice Cream	1–4	PFL 91	Trainer
64 %9/14	Close Pokégear 3.0	1–4	SVI 186	Trainer
57 %8/14	Close Team Rocket's Petrel	1–4	DRI 176	Trainer
50 %7/14	Close Night Stretcher	1–3	ASC 196	Trainer
50 %7/14	Close Mist Energy	1–4	TEF 161	Energy
43 %6/14	Close Electrike	3–4	MEG 49	Pokémon
43 %6/14	Close Magnemite	2–3	MEG 45	Pokémon
43 %6/14	Close Magneton	2–3	SSP 59	Pokémon
43 %6/14	Close Canari	2–4	ASC 185	Trainer
43 %6/14	Close Poké Pad	2–3	POR 81	Trainer
43 %6/14	Close Switch	1–2	MEG 130	Trainer
43 %6/14	Close Hero's Cape	1	TEF 152	Trainer
36 %5/14	Close Psyduck	1	ASC 39	Pokémon
36 %5/14	Close Crushing Hammer	2–4	POR 71	Trainer
36 %5/14	Close Xerosic's Machinations	1	SFA 64	Trainer
29 %4/14	Close Crustle	2	DRI 12	Pokémon
29 %4/14	Close Dwebble	2	DRI 11	Pokémon
29 %4/14	Close Latias ex	1	SSP 76	Pokémon
29 %4/14	Close Shaymin	1	DRI 10	Pokémon
29 %4/14	Close Air Balloon	1–2	ASC 181	Trainer
29 %4/14	Close Growing Grass Energy	3–4	POR 86	Energy
21 %3/14	Close Mega Kangaskhan ex	4	MEG 104	Pokémon
21 %3/14	Close Munkidori	4	TWM 95	Pokémon
21 %3/14	Close Feebas	3	TWM 49	Pokémon
21 %3/14	Close Iono's Kilowattrel	1–2	JTG 55	Pokémon
21 %3/14	Close Iono's Wattrel	1–2	JTG 54	Pokémon
21 %3/14	Close Milotic ex	2	SSP 42	Pokémon
21 %3/14	Close Crispin	2–3	SCR 133	Trainer
21 %3/14	Close Festival Grounds	1–3	TWM 149	Trainer
21 %3/14	Close Enhanced Hammer	2	TWM 148	Trainer
21 %3/14	Close Lumiose City	1–2	POR 77	Trainer
21 %3/14	Close Team Rocket's Factory	1–2	DRI 173	Trainer
21 %3/14	Close Kieran	1	TWM 154	Trainer
21 %3/14	Close Lana's Aid	1	TWM 155	Trainer
21 %3/14	Darkness Energy	4	MEE 15	Energy
21 %3/14	Water Energy	1–2	MEE 11	Energy
14 %2/14	Close Magnezone	1	MEG 47	Pokémon
14 %2/14	Close Stunfisk	1	ASC 62	Pokémon
14 %2/14	Close Levincia	3	JTG 150	Trainer
14 %2/14	Close Naveen	3	POR 79	Trainer
14 %2/14	Close Eri	1–2	TEF 146	Trainer
14 %2/14	Close Powerglass	1–2	SFA 63	Trainer
14 %2/14	Close Wally's Compassion	1–2	MEG 132	Trainer
14 %2/14	Close Gwynn	1	PBL 78	Trainer
14 %2/14	Close Handheld Fan	1	TWM 150	Trainer
14 %2/14	Close Maximum Belt	1	TEF 154	Trainer
14 %2/14	Close Surfer	1	SSP 187	Trainer
14 %2/14	Close Unfair Stamp	1	TWM 165	Trainer
14 %2/14	Close Bubbly Water Energy	1	CRI 84	Energy
7 %1/14	Close Volbeat	4	TWM 9	Pokémon
7 %1/14	Close Cinderace	2	MEG 28	Pokémon
7 %1/14	Close Mega Zeraora ex	2	PBL 27	Pokémon
7 %1/14	Close Eelektrik	1	ASC 60	Pokémon
7 %1/14	Close Fezandipiti ex	1	ASC 142	Pokémon
7 %1/14	Close Iron Thorns ex	1	TWM 77	Pokémon
7 %1/14	Close Mega Audino ex	1	ASC 172	Pokémon
7 %1/14	Close Meowth ex	1	POR 62	Pokémon
7 %1/14	Close Patrat	1	CRI 70	Pokémon
7 %1/14	Close Poltchageist	1	PBL 5	Pokémon
7 %1/14	Close Tatsugiri	1	TWM 131	Pokémon
7 %1/14	Close Team Rocket's Articuno	1	DRI 51	Pokémon
7 %1/14	Close Team Rocket's Kangaskhan ex	1	ASC 162	Pokémon
7 %1/14	Close Tynamo	1	ASC 59	Pokémon
7 %1/14	Close Zekrom ex	1	BLK 34	Pokémon
7 %1/14	Close Brock's Scouting	4	JTG 146	Trainer
7 %1/14	Close Carmine	4	TWM 145	Trainer
7 %1/14	Close Battle Cage	2	PFL 85	Trainer
7 %1/14	Close Prism Tower	2	CRI 80	Trainer
7 %1/14	Close AZ's Tranquility	1	CRI 76	Trainer
7 %1/14	Close Bianca's Devotion	1	TEF 142	Trainer
7 %1/14	Close Judge	1	POR 76	Trainer
7 %1/14	Close Lisia's Appeal	1	SSP 179	Trainer
7 %1/14	Close Pokémon Catcher	1	POR 82	Trainer
7 %1/14	Close Pokémon Center Lady	1	MEG 123	Trainer
7 %1/14	Close Precious Trolley	1	SSP 185	Trainer
7 %1/14	Close Prime Catcher	1	TEF 157	Trainer
7 %1/14	Close Scoop Up Cyclone	1	TWM 162	Trainer
7 %1/14	Close Team Rocket's Watchtower	1	DRI 180	Trainer
7 %1/14	Close Spiky Energy	2	JTG 159	Energy
7 %1/14	Close Legacy Energy	1	TWM 167	Energy
7 %1/14	Psychic Energy	1	MEE 13	Energy

The most common Mega Manectric ex list, all 60 cards

Here they are in full, ready to build. 10 slots come from the core, the cards all 14 lists run. The remaining 50 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, 30 Trainers and 12 Energy.

One thing to know before you build it: the 14 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 14 of the 14 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.

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
2 Manectric PBL 24
2 Mega Manectric ex MEG 50
4 Electrike PBL 23
4 Electrike MEG 49
3 Magnemite MEG 45
3 Magneton SSP 59

Trainer: 30
2 Boss's Orders MEG 114
4 Lillie's Determination MEG 119
4 Ultra Ball MEG 131
4 Buddy-Buddy Poffin TEF 144
3 Hilda WHT 84
1 Special Red Card CRI 82
4 Jumbo Ice Cream PFL 91
3 Pokégear 3.0 SVI 186
4 Team Rocket's Petrel DRI 176
1 Night Stretcher ASC 196

Energy: 12
4 Lightning Energy MEE 4
4 Voltaic Lightning Energy PBL 84
4 Mist Energy TEF 161

Total Cards: 60

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

You need 92 different cards to cover every version of this deck, 4 of which nobody argues about. The rest is where lists differ from one another, and that is where you have room to choose.

All 14 lists bring an ACE SPEC, and that is where they part ways: 6 took Hero's Cape, 2 took Maximum Belt and 2 took Unfair Stamp. 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 Hero's Cape 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 4 core cards carries the letter H, the one that goes at the next rotation. This deck walks through the change whole.

What Mega Manectric ex 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 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.