Mega Manectric ex

What Mega Manectric ex looks like when you open the box

Across the 8 lists we counted, this deck runs 12 to 19 Pokémon, 28 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 117 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: 28 to 34 cards out of 60, against a median of 31 across the 117 decks we track. Inside that, 12 to 19 Supporters, and the rule there is strict — one a turn, even if you are holding three. The 9 to 15 Items you can play all of in the same turn. It also brings up to 4 Stadiums, and 74 of the 117 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. Except you are not on your own. Magneton, which the list runs 3 of, has an Ability called Overvolt Discharge: 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. 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. 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 7 of the 8 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 5 cards every list runs

These 5 cards appear in all 8 lists, without a single exception. That is 22 of the 60 slots. The other 38 are decided player by player.

Look at how those 22 slots break down: 4 Trainers, 4 Pokémon, 14 Energy. Nothing stands out in that split. What sets this deck apart is how thick its core is: 22 of the 60 slots are the same for everybody, when half the 117 decks we track fix 30 or more. This one leaves more room than most, and two players can build it very differently.

5 of those 5 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 2 more. Add those spreads up and you get 14 copies the 8 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
3–4	Close Voltaic Lightning Energy	PBL 84	Energy

The 54 cards that change from list to list

54 cards fight over the 38 slots that are left: 5 above three lists in four, 29 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 88 %, Lillie's Determination at 88 % and Hilda at 88 %, plus 2 more above 75 %. Add those to the core and you have the common build.

The dividing line runs through Electrike, at 50 %: 4 of 8 players took it, 4 put something else there. The ones who run it bring 4 copies. Right at the bottom of the table, Shaymin (2 lists out of 8) and Night Stretcher (2 lists out of 8).

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
88 %7/8	Close Buddy-Buddy Poffin	1–4	TEF 144	Trainer
88 %7/8	Close Lillie's Determination	3–4	MEG 119	Trainer
88 %7/8	Close Hilda	2–3	WHT 84	Trainer
75 %6/8	Close Team Rocket's Petrel	3–4	DRI 176	Trainer
75 %6/8	Close Switch	1–2	MEG 130	Trainer
63 %5/8	Close Electrike	1–4	PBL 23	Pokémon
63 %5/8	Close Jumbo Ice Cream	2–4	PFL 91	Trainer
63 %5/8	Close Ultra Ball	1–3	MEG 131	Trainer
63 %5/8	Close Xerosic's Machinations	1	SFA 64	Trainer
50 %4/8	Close Electrike	3–4	MEG 49	Pokémon
50 %4/8	Close Magnemite	2–3	MEG 45	Pokémon
50 %4/8	Close Magneton	2–3	SSP 59	Pokémon
50 %4/8	Close Crustle	2	DRI 12	Pokémon
50 %4/8	Close Dwebble	2	DRI 11	Pokémon
50 %4/8	Close Canari	3	ASC 185	Trainer
50 %4/8	Close Pokégear 3.0	3–4	SVI 186	Trainer
50 %4/8	Close Special Red Card	1–2	CRI 82	Trainer
50 %4/8	Close Hero's Cape	1	TEF 152	Trainer
50 %4/8	Close Growing Grass Energy	3–4	POR 86	Energy
50 %4/8	Close Mist Energy	3–4	TEF 161	Energy
38 %3/8	Close Mega Kangaskhan ex	4	MEG 104	Pokémon
38 %3/8	Close Festival Grounds	1–3	TWM 149	Trainer
38 %3/8	Close Lumiose City	1–2	POR 77	Trainer
38 %3/8	Close Team Rocket's Factory	1–2	DRI 173	Trainer
38 %3/8	Close Kieran	1	TWM 154	Trainer
25 %2/8	Close Shaymin	1	DRI 10	Pokémon
25 %2/8	Close Night Stretcher	2–3	ASC 196	Trainer
25 %2/8	Close Poké Pad	3	POR 81	Trainer
25 %2/8	Close Air Balloon	1–2	ASC 181	Trainer
25 %2/8	Close Eri	1–2	TEF 146	Trainer
25 %2/8	Close Handheld Fan	1	TWM 150	Trainer
25 %2/8	Close Maximum Belt	1	TEF 154	Trainer
13 %1/8	Close Volbeat	4	TWM 9	Pokémon
13 %1/8	Close Iono's Kilowattrel	2	JTG 55	Pokémon
13 %1/8	Close Iono's Wattrel	2	JTG 54	Pokémon
13 %1/8	Close Mega Zeraora ex	2	PBL 27	Pokémon
13 %1/8	Close Magnezone	1	MEG 47	Pokémon
13 %1/8	Close Meowth ex	1	POR 62	Pokémon
13 %1/8	Close Psyduck	1	ASC 39	Pokémon
13 %1/8	Close Carmine	4	TWM 145	Trainer
13 %1/8	Close Crushing Hammer	3	POR 71	Trainer
13 %1/8	Close Levincia	3	JTG 150	Trainer
13 %1/8	Close Naveen	3	POR 79	Trainer
13 %1/8	Close Powerglass	2	SFA 63	Trainer
13 %1/8	Close Prism Tower	2	CRI 80	Trainer
13 %1/8	Close AZ's Tranquility	1	CRI 76	Trainer
13 %1/8	Close Bianca's Devotion	1	TEF 142	Trainer
13 %1/8	Close Lisia's Appeal	1	SSP 179	Trainer
13 %1/8	Close Pokémon Center Lady	1	MEG 123	Trainer
13 %1/8	Close Prime Catcher	1	TEF 157	Trainer
13 %1/8	Close Surfer	1	SSP 187	Trainer
13 %1/8	Close Unfair Stamp	1	TWM 165	Trainer
13 %1/8	Close Wally's Compassion	1	MEG 132	Trainer
13 %1/8	Close Spiky Energy	2	JTG 159	Energy

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

You need 59 different cards to cover every version of this deck, 5 of which nobody argues about. We do not have card prices, so we are not going to put a number on it.

All 8 lists bring an ACE SPEC, and that is where they part ways: 4 took Hero's Cape, 2 took Maximum Belt and 1 took Prime Catcher. The flex table shows you all 4. 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 5 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. 14 of the 117 decks we track attack in exactly that type.

Concretely, here is what is waiting for you: Mega Lucario ex, Mega Lucario ex / Hariyama and Cynthia's Garchomp ex, plus 11 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 14 decks out of the 117 we track. The other 103 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 26 of the decks we track have an attacker Weak to one of those: Festival Lead, Toucannon and Raging Bolt ex, among others. That is you doubling, for once. Second half of the table.