Mew ex

What Mew ex looks like when you open the box

Across the 9 lists we counted, this deck runs 23 to 25 Pokémon, 20 to 25 Trainers and 12 to 15 Energy. Its attacks are paid for in Psychic and Water.

On results pages and on stream you will see it written « mew-ex-30c ». 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, « 30C », is a set code: 30th Celebration. They spell it out because several cards share that name, and this deck plays that particular printing.

Look at the Energy: 12 to 15 out of 60, when half the 121 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.

Nothing here needs evolving — everything that attacks is a Basic Pokémon. Put it down, charge it, swing. That is as fast as the game gets, and it makes those turns where you draw nothing far less painful.

Look at the Trainers: 20 to 25 cards out of 60, against a median of 31 across the 121 decks we track. Inside that, 9 to 10 Supporters, and the rule there is strict — one a turn, even if you are holding three. The 8 to 13 Items you can play all of in the same turn. It also brings up to 3 Stadiums, and 114 of the 121 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 card in this deck's name actually does

Mew ex gives this deck its name. Here is what is written on it.

Mew ex is in all 9 lists, 4 copies of it. Its Ability is called Memory Helix, and here is what is printed on it, word for word: « This Pokémon can use the attacks of any of your Benched Pokémon. (You still need the necessary Energy to use each attack.) »

How Mew ex actually wins

Latias ex attacks with Eon Blade for 200. It needs 3 Energy, 2 Psychic and 1 Colorless attached, and it has 210 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: "During your next turn, this Pokémon can't attack."

The cost of Eon Blade 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. Crispin, which the list runs 4 of, looks at the top of your deck and attaches the Energy it finds there. Wondrous Patch 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.

Here is the detail that quietly loses games. To pull Latias 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 Kangaskhan 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. Mew ex, Meowth ex, Latias ex, Lillie's Clefairy ex, Wellspring Mask Ogerpon ex and Fezandipiti ex carry 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 Latias exBasic	210	Eon Blade	200		Darkness ×2	2
Close Mega Kangaskhan exBasic	300	Rapid-Fire Combo	200+		Fighting ×2	3
Close Wellspring Mask Ogerpon exBasic	210	Torrential Pump	100		Lightning ×2	1
Close Meowth exBasic	170	Tuck Tail	60		Fighting ×2	1

The core: the 13 cards every list runs

These 13 cards appear in all 9 lists, without a single exception. That is 37 of the 60 slots. The other 23 are decided player by player.

Look at how those 37 slots break down: 13 Trainers, 18 Pokémon, 6 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 13 cards do not sit at the same count from list to list: Mega Kangaskhan ex (1 to 4), Mew ex (3 to 4) and Meowth ex (3 to 4), plus 3 more. Add those spreads up and you get 9 copies the 9 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
1–4	Close Mega Kangaskhan ex	MEG 104	Pokémon	stays
3–4	Close Mew ex	30C 66	Pokémon	stays
3–4	Close Meowth ex	POR 62	Pokémon	stays
2	Close Latias ex	SSP 76	Pokémon	leaves
2	Close Lillie's Clefairy ex	JTG 56	Pokémon	stays
1–2	Close Wellspring Mask Ogerpon ex	TWM 64	Pokémon	leaves
1	Close Fezandipiti ex	ASC 142	Pokémon	leaves
4	Close Crispin	SCR 133	Trainer	leaves
4	Close Ultra Ball	MEG 131	Trainer	stays
3	Close Area Zero Underdepths	SCR 131	Trainer	leaves
2	Close Boss's Orders	MEG 114	Trainer	stays
2–4	Psychic Energy	MEE 5	Energy	stays
1–2	Water Energy	MEE 3	Energy	stays

The 36 cards that change from list to list

36 cards fight over the 23 slots that are left: 8 above three lists in four, 22 below one in four, and the percentage on each row says how many players took it.

The most agreed on first: Chien-Pao at 89 %, Unown at 89 % and Ciphermaniac's Codebreaking at 89 %, plus 5 more above 75 %. Add those to the core and you have the common build.

The dividing line runs through Jirachi ex, at 44 %: 4 of 9 players took it, 5 put something else there. The ones who run it bring 1 copy. Right at the bottom of the table, Teal Mask Ogerpon ex (2 lists out of 9) and Iron Leaves ex (2 lists out of 9).

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
89 %8/9	Close Chien-Pao	1	SSP 56	Pokémon
89 %8/9	Close Unown	1	30C 72	Pokémon
89 %8/9	Close Ciphermaniac's Codebreaking	1–2	TEF 145	Trainer
89 %8/9	Close Cyrano	1–2	SSP 170	Trainer
89 %8/9	Close Prime Catcher	1	TEF 157	Trainer
89 %8/9	Close Telepathic Psychic Energy	4	POR 88	Energy
78 %7/9	Close Iron Crown ex	1	TEF 81	Pokémon
78 %7/9	Close Wondrous Patch	2–3	PFL 94	Trainer
67 %6/9	Close Scream Tail ex	1	TWM 94	Pokémon
67 %6/9	Close Stunfisk	1	ASC 62	Pokémon
67 %6/9	Close Dusk Ball	3–4	SSP 175	Trainer
67 %6/9	Lightning Energy	2	MEE 4	Energy
44 %4/9	Close Jirachi ex	1	30C 102	Pokémon
44 %4/9	Close Night Stretcher	1–2	ASC 196	Trainer
22 %2/9	Close Teal Mask Ogerpon ex	2	TWM 25	Pokémon
22 %2/9	Close Iron Leaves ex	1	TEF 25	Pokémon
22 %2/9	Close Pecharunt	1	SVP 149	Pokémon
22 %2/9	Close Energy Switch	3	MEG 115	Trainer
22 %2/9	Grass Energy	5–6	MEE 1	Energy
22 %2/9	Darkness Energy	2	MEE 15	Energy
22 %2/9	Fighting Energy	1–2	MEE 6	Energy
11 %1/9	Close Drakloak	2	TWM 129	Pokémon
11 %1/9	Close Dreepy	2	TWM 128	Pokémon
11 %1/9	Close Dragapult ex	1	TWM 130	Pokémon
11 %1/9	Close Frillish	1	WHT 44	Pokémon
11 %1/9	Close Koraidon ex	1	ASC 121	Pokémon
11 %1/9	Close Moltres	1	PFL 14	Pokémon
11 %1/9	Close Munkidori	1	TWM 95	Pokémon
11 %1/9	Close Raging Bolt ex	1	TEF 123	Pokémon
11 %1/9	Close Team Rocket's Mimikyu	1	DRI 87	Pokémon
11 %1/9	Close Brock's Scouting	4	JTG 146	Trainer
11 %1/9	Close Hero's Cape	1	TEF 152	Trainer
11 %1/9	Close Judge	1	POR 76	Trainer
11 %1/9	Close Lillie's Determination	1	MEG 119	Trainer
11 %1/9	Close Special Red Card	1	CRI 82	Trainer
11 %1/9	Fire Energy	3	MEE 2	Energy

The most common Mew ex list, all 60 cards

Here they are in full, ready to build. 37 slots come from the core, the cards all 9 lists run. The remaining 23 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 24 Pokémon, 24 Trainers and 12 Energy.

One thing to know before you build it: the 9 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: 24
4 Mega Kangaskhan ex MEG 104
4 Mew ex 30C 66
3 Meowth ex POR 62
2 Latias ex SSP 76
2 Lillie's Clefairy ex JTG 56
2 Wellspring Mask Ogerpon ex TWM 64
1 Fezandipiti ex ASC 142
1 Chien-Pao SSP 56
1 Unown 30C 72
1 Iron Crown ex TEF 81
1 Scream Tail ex TWM 94
1 Stunfisk ASC 62
1 Jirachi ex 30C 102

Trainer: 24
4 Crispin SCR 133
4 Ultra Ball MEG 131
3 Area Zero Underdepths SCR 131
2 Boss's Orders MEG 114
2 Ciphermaniac's Codebreaking TEF 145
1 Cyrano SSP 170
1 Prime Catcher TEF 157
3 Wondrous Patch PFL 94
4 Dusk Ball SSP 175

Energy: 12
4 Psychic Energy MEE 5
2 Water Energy MEE 3
4 Telepathic Psychic Energy POR 88
2 Lightning Energy MEE 4

Total Cards: 60

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

You need 49 different cards to cover every version of this deck, 13 of which nobody argues about. The rest is where lists differ from one another, and that is where you have room to choose.

All 9 lists bring an ACE SPEC, and that is where they part ways: 8 took Prime Catcher and 1 took Hero's Cape. 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 Prime Catcher and watch what the others do with theirs before you switch.

Then there is time. 5 of the 13 core cards carry the letter H, the one that goes at the next rotation: Latias ex, Wellspring Mask Ogerpon ex, Fezandipiti ex and Crispin, plus 1 more. The core table marks every one of them. In copies, that is 12 of the 37 slots the core fills. Which day it lands, we do not know yet.

What Mew ex struggles against

The attackers in this deck are Weak to Darkness, Fighting and Lightning, so they take DOUBLE damage from those types. 40 of the 121 decks we track attack in exactly those types.

Concretely, here is what is waiting for you: N's Zoroark ex, Mega Lucario ex / Hariyama and Mega Sharpedo ex / Toxtricity, plus 37 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 40 decks out of the 121 we track. The other 81 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 Psychic and Water, and 17 of the decks we track have an attacker Weak to one of those: Dragapult ex / Blaziken ex, Mega Lucario ex / Hariyama and Mega Lucario ex, among others. That is you doubling, for once. Second half of the table.