Yanmega ex

What Yanmega ex looks like when you open the box

Across the 67 lists we counted, this deck runs 13 to 22 Pokémon, 20 to 36 Trainers and 9 to 20 Energy. Its attacks are paid for in Grass.

On results pages and on stream you will see it written « yanmega-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: 9 to 20 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. Yanmega ex 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: 20 to 36 cards out of 60, against a median of 31 across the 132 decks we track. Inside that, 7 to 19 Supporters, and the rule there is strict — one a turn, even if you are holding three. The 5 to 22 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.

What the card in this deck's name actually does

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

Yanmega ex is in all 67 lists, 3 copies of it. Its Ability is called Buzzing Boost, and here is what is printed on it, word for word: « Once during your turn, when this Pokémon moves from your Bench to the Active Spot, you may search your deck for up to 3 Basic {G} Energy cards and attach them to this Pokémon. Then, shuffle your deck. »

How Yanmega ex actually wins

Yanmega ex attacks with Jet Cyclone for 210. It needs 4 Energy, 3 Grass and 1 Colorless attached, and it has 280 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: "Move 3 Energy from this Pokémon to 1 of your Benched Pokémon."

The cost of Jet Cyclone decides your first few turns. You only get to attach one Energy a turn, and that attack asks for 4. On your own attachments alone, your first real swing lands on turn 4. Except it charges itself. Yanmega ex, which the list runs 3 of, has an Ability called Buzzing Boost: it goes into your deck for Energy and attaches it. Not whenever you feel like it, though. The card itself says when, so read it before you count on it. 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.

Good news on mobility: pulling Yanmega ex back to the Bench costs you 1 Energy attached to it, and that is all. Retreating does not cost you your turn, so you step back and swing anyway. That matters enormously the day your opponent lands something nasty on it.

Yanmega ex carries the "ex" suffix, and your opponent takes 2 Prize cards instead of one when Yanmega ex falls. They need 6 to win: 3 well-placed knockouts on that card beat you, where it would take 6 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 Yanmega exStage 1	280	Jet Cyclone	210		Lightning ×2	1
Close YanmaBasic	70	Razor Wing	30		Lightning ×2	1

The core: the 4 cards every list runs

These 4 cards appear in all 67 lists, without a single exception. That is 21 of the 60 slots. The other 39 are decided player by player.

Look at how those 21 slots break down: 4 Trainers, 7 Pokémon, 10 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: Yanma (3 to 4), Yanmega ex (3 to 4) and Lillie's Determination (2 to 4), plus 1 more. Add those spreads up and you get 16 copies the 67 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
3–4	Close Yanma	DRI 2	Pokémon
3–4	Close Yanmega ex	DRI 3	Pokémon
2–4	Close Lillie's Determination	MEG 119	Trainer
8–20	Grass Energy	MEE 1	Energy

The 140 cards that change from list to list

140 cards fight over the 39 slots that are left: 5 above three lists in four, 114 below one in four, and the percentage on each row says how many players took it.

The most agreed on first: Boss's Orders at 99 %, Buddy-Buddy Poffin at 97 % and Energy Recycler at 96 %, plus 2 more above 75 %. Add those to the core and you have the common build.

The dividing line runs through Forest of Vitality, at 49 %: 33 of 67 players took it, 34 put something else there. The ones who run it bring 2 copies. Right at the bottom of the table, Bayleef (16 lists out of 67) and Meganium (16 lists out of 67).

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
99 %66/67	Close Boss's Orders	2–4	MEG 114	Trainer
97 %65/67	Close Buddy-Buddy Poffin	2–4	TEF 144	Trainer
96 %64/67	Close Energy Recycler	1–3	DRI 164	Trainer
87 %58/67	Close Ultra Ball	1–4	MEG 131	Trainer
75 %50/67	Close Poké Pad	1–4	POR 81	Trainer
64 %43/67	Close Night Stretcher	1–3	ASC 196	Trainer
60 %40/67	Close Switch	1–3	MEG 130	Trainer
57 %38/67	Close Prime Catcher	1	TEF 157	Trainer
54 %36/67	Close Fezandipiti ex	1	ASC 142	Pokémon
52 %35/67	Close Dudunsparce	2–4	TEF 129	Pokémon
49 %33/67	Close Forest of Vitality	1–4	MEG 117	Trainer
49 %33/67	Close Judge	1–3	POR 76	Trainer
46 %31/67	Close Bug Catching Set	1–4	TWM 143	Trainer
45 %30/67	Close Dunsparce	1–4	JTG 120	Pokémon
40 %27/67	Close Air Balloon	1–3	ASC 181	Trainer
40 %27/67	Close Special Red Card	1	CRI 82	Trainer
40 %27/67	Close Mist Energy	1–3	TEF 161	Energy
36 %24/67	Close Dunsparce	1–4	TEF 128	Pokémon
34 %23/67	Close Meowth ex	1–2	POR 62	Pokémon
34 %23/67	Close Ciphermaniac's Codebreaking	1–2	TEF 145	Trainer
33 %22/67	Close Dudunsparce ex	1	JTG 121	Pokémon
31 %21/67	Close Nighttime Mine	1–4	ASC 197	Trainer
30 %20/67	Close Surfer	1–4	SSP 187	Trainer
28 %19/67	Close Budew	1	ASC 16	Pokémon
28 %19/67	Close Regigigas	1	PRE 86	Pokémon
27 %18/67	Close Shaymin	1–2	DRI 10	Pokémon
24 %16/67	Close Bayleef	2–4	MEG 9	Pokémon
24 %16/67	Close Meganium	2	MEG 10	Pokémon
24 %16/67	Close Latias ex	1–2	SSP 76	Pokémon
21 %14/67	Close Mega Kangaskhan ex	1–4	MEG 104	Pokémon
21 %14/67	Close Dawn	1–2	PFL 87	Trainer
21 %14/67	Close AZ's Tranquility	1–2	CRI 76	Trainer
19 %13/67	Close Chikorita	2	MEG 8	Pokémon
19 %13/67	Close Psyduck	1	ASC 39	Pokémon
18 %12/67	Close Battle Cage	1–4	PFL 85	Trainer
18 %12/67	Close Cyrano	1–4	SSP 170	Trainer
18 %12/67	Close Unfair Stamp	1	TWM 165	Trainer
16 %11/67	Close Minccino	3	CRI 72	Pokémon
16 %11/67	Close Cinccino ex	2	CRI 73	Pokémon
16 %11/67	Close Team Rocket's Petrel	1–4	DRI 176	Trainer
15 %10/67	Close Tapu Bulu	1	SFA 6	Pokémon
15 %10/67	Close Handheld Fan	2	TWM 150	Trainer
15 %10/67	Close Pokégear 3.0	1–3	SVI 186	Trainer
13 %9/67	Close Kofu	1–3	SCR 138	Trainer
12 %8/67	Close Crushing Hammer	3–4	POR 71	Trainer
12 %8/67	Close Jumbo Ice Cream	2–3	PFL 91	Trainer
12 %8/67	Close Hilda	1–4	WHT 84	Trainer
10 %7/67	Close Scoop Up Cyclone	1	TWM 162	Trainer
9 %6/67	Close Paldean Tauros	1	SSP 18	Pokémon
9 %6/67	Close Patrat	1	CRI 70	Pokémon
9 %6/67	Close Backtrack Badge	1	PBL 74	Trainer
9 %6/67	Close Sacred Ash	1	DRI 168	Trainer
7 %5/67	Close Teal Mask Ogerpon ex	1–4	TWM 25	Pokémon
7 %5/67	Close Mega Heracross ex	1–2	PFL 4	Pokémon
7 %5/67	Close Celebi	1	MEG 12	Pokémon
7 %5/67	Close Fan Rotom	1	SCR 118	Pokémon
7 %5/67	Close Brock's Scouting	1–2	JTG 146	Trainer
7 %5/67	Close Xerosic's Machinations	1–2	SFA 64	Trainer
7 %5/67	Fire Energy	1	MEE 10	Energy
6 %4/67	Close Carmine	1–4	TWM 145	Trainer
4 %3/67	Close Erika's Gloom	2–3	ASC 2	Pokémon
4 %3/67	Close Erika's Oddish	3	ASC 1	Pokémon
4 %3/67	Close Erika's Tangela	2–3	ASC 7	Pokémon
4 %3/67	Close Chikorita	2–4	ASC 8	Pokémon
4 %3/67	Close Erika's Vileplume ex	2–3	ASC 3	Pokémon
4 %3/67	Close Crustle	1–2	DRI 12	Pokémon
4 %3/67	Close Dwebble	1–2	DRI 11	Pokémon
4 %3/67	Close Mega Lopunny ex	1	PFL 84	Pokémon
4 %3/67	Close Tatsugiri	1	TWM 131	Pokémon
4 %3/67	Close Crispin	1–2	SCR 133	Trainer
4 %3/67	Close Team Rocket's Transceiver	1–2	DRI 178	Trainer
4 %3/67	Close Lacey	1	SCR 139	Trainer
4 %3/67	Close Lively Stadium	1	SSP 180	Trainer
4 %3/67	Close Lumiose City	1	POR 77	Trainer
4 %3/67	Close Precious Trolley	1	SSP 185	Trainer
4 %3/67	Close Redeemable Ticket	1	JTG 156	Trainer
4 %3/67	Close Secret Box	1	TWM 163	Trainer
4 %3/67	Close Tremendous Bomb	1	PBL 82	Trainer
4 %3/67	Close Growing Grass Energy	1–4	POR 86	Energy
3 %2/67	Close Alolan Exeggutor	2	30C 2	Pokémon
3 %2/67	Close Raging Bolt ex	1–2	TEF 123	Pokémon
3 %2/67	Close Wellspring Mask Ogerpon ex	1–2	TWM 64	Pokémon
3 %2/67	Close Buneary	1	PFL 83	Pokémon
3 %2/67	Close Maractus	1	JTG 8	Pokémon
3 %2/67	Close Rabsca	1	TEF 24	Pokémon
3 %2/67	Close Rellor	1	DRI 24	Pokémon
3 %2/67	Close Shuckle	1	MEG 11	Pokémon
3 %2/67	Close Drayton	1–3	SSP 174	Trainer
3 %2/67	Close Energy Switch	1–3	MEG 115	Trainer
3 %2/67	Close Colress's Tenacity	1–2	SFA 57	Trainer
3 %2/67	Close Heavy Baton	2	TEF 151	Trainer
3 %2/67	Close Kieran	1–2	TWM 154	Trainer
3 %2/67	Close Rare Candy	1–2	MEG 125	Trainer
3 %2/67	Close Lana's Aid	1	TWM 155	Trainer
3 %2/67	Close Prism Energy	2–4	ASC 216	Energy
3 %2/67	Fighting Energy	1–2	MEE 14	Energy
3 %2/67	Lightning Energy	1–2	MEE 12	Energy
1 %1/67	Close Volbeat	4	TWM 9	Pokémon
1 %1/67	Close Bouffalant	3	SCR 119	Pokémon
1 %1/67	Close Amoonguss	2	BLK 11	Pokémon
1 %1/67	Close Exeggcute	2	30C 1	Pokémon
1 %1/67	Close Exeggcute	2	MEG 4	Pokémon
1 %1/67	Close Foongus	2	BLK 10	Pokémon
1 %1/67	Close Iron Leaves ex	2	TEF 25	Pokémon
1 %1/67	Close Mega Meganium ex	2	ASC 10	Pokémon
1 %1/67	Close Mew ex	2	30C 66	Pokémon
1 %1/67	Close Minior	2	30C 124	Pokémon
1 %1/67	Close Poltchageist	2	PBL 5	Pokémon
1 %1/67	Close Teal Mask Ogerpon	2	TWM 24	Pokémon
1 %1/67	Close Buneary	1	MEG 107	Pokémon
1 %1/67	Close Chien-Pao	1	SSP 56	Pokémon
1 %1/67	Close Genesect	1	SFA 40	Pokémon
1 %1/67	Close Golett	1	BLK 42	Pokémon
1 %1/67	Close Golurk	1	TEF 88	Pokémon
1 %1/67	Close Jirachi ex	1	30C 102	Pokémon
1 %1/67	Close Lokix	1	PFL 10	Pokémon
1 %1/67	Close Lombre	1	PFL 6	Pokémon
1 %1/67	Close Lotad	1	PFL 5	Pokémon
1 %1/67	Close Ludicolo	1	JTG 37	Pokémon
1 %1/67	Close Mega Starmie ex	1	POR 21	Pokémon
1 %1/67	Close Nymble	1	PFL 9	Pokémon
1 %1/67	Close Poltchageist	1	TWM 20	Pokémon
1 %1/67	Close Sinistcha ex	1	TWM 23	Pokémon
1 %1/67	Close Staryu	1	POR 20	Pokémon
1 %1/67	Close Team Rocket's Articuno	1	DRI 51	Pokémon
1 %1/67	Close Team Rocket's Kangaskhan ex	1	ASC 162	Pokémon
1 %1/67	Close Area Zero Underdepths	2	SCR 131	Trainer
1 %1/67	Close Energy Retrieval	2	SVI 171	Trainer
1 %1/67	Close Explorer's Guidance	2	TEF 147	Trainer
1 %1/67	Close Gravity Mountain	2	SSP 177	Trainer
1 %1/67	Close Gwynn	2	PBL 78	Trainer
1 %1/67	Close Rescue Board	2	TEF 159	Trainer
1 %1/67	Close Friends in Paldea	1	PRE 109	Trainer
1 %1/67	Close Hero's Cape	1	TEF 152	Trainer
1 %1/67	Close Maximum Belt	1	TEF 154	Trainer
1 %1/67	Close Tool Scrapper	1	ASC 212	Trainer
1 %1/67	Close Wally's Compassion	1	MEG 132	Trainer
1 %1/67	Close Enriching Energy	1	SSP 191	Energy
1 %1/67	Close Spiky Energy	1	JTG 159	Energy
1 %1/67	Water Energy	1	MEE 3	Energy

The most common Yanmega ex list, all 60 cards

Here they are in full, ready to build. 21 slots come from the core, the cards all 67 lists run. The remaining 39 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 18 more cards to reach 60. The whole thing comes to 14 Pokémon, 33 Trainers and 13 Energy.

One thing to know before you build it: the 67 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: 14
4 Yanma DRI 2
3 Yanmega ex DRI 3
1 Fezandipiti ex ASC 142
3 Dudunsparce TEF 129
1 Dunsparce JTG 120
2 Dunsparce TEF 128

Trainer: 33
4 Lillie's Determination MEG 119
3 Boss's Orders MEG 114
4 Buddy-Buddy Poffin TEF 144
1 Energy Recycler DRI 164
3 Ultra Ball MEG 131
4 Poké Pad POR 81
2 Night Stretcher ASC 196
2 Switch MEG 130
1 Prime Catcher TEF 157
2 Forest of Vitality MEG 117
2 Judge POR 76
2 Bug Catching Set TWM 143
2 Air Balloon ASC 181
1 Special Red Card CRI 82

Energy: 13
10 Grass Energy MEE 1
3 Mist Energy TEF 161

Total Cards: 60

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

You need 144 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.

66 of these 67 lists bring an ACE SPEC, and that is where they part ways: 38 took Prime Catcher, 12 took Unfair Stamp and 7 took Scoop Up Cyclone. The flex table shows you all 8. 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, 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 Yanmega ex struggles against

The attackers in this deck are Weak to Lightning, so they take DOUBLE damage from that type. 9 of the 132 decks we track attack in exactly that type.

Concretely, here is what is waiting for you: Mega Manectric ex / Eelektrik, Eelektrik and Iono's Bellibolt ex, plus 6 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 9 decks out of the 132 we track. The other 123 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 Grass, and 25 of the decks we track have an attacker Weak to one of those: N's Zoroark ex, Mega Sharpedo ex / Toxtricity and Mega Lucario ex / Hariyama, among others. That is you doubling, for once. Second half of the table.