Mega Zygarde ex / Barbaracle

What Mega Zygarde ex / Barbaracle looks like when you open the box

Across the 44 lists we counted, this deck runs 12 to 18 Pokémon, 23 to 35 Trainers and 10 to 19 Energy. Its attacks are paid for in Fighting.

On results pages and on stream you will see it written « zygarde-barbaracle ». 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: 10 to 19 out of 60, when half the 126 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. Barbaracle 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: 23 to 35 cards out of 60, against a median of 31 across the 126 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 11 to 20 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.

What the cards in this deck's name actually do

Mega Zygarde ex and Barbaracle give this deck its name. Here is what is written on them.

Mega Zygarde ex is in all 44 lists, 2 copies of it. Its attack Nullifying Zero costs 5 Energy (Fighting, Fighting, Fighting, Fighting and Fighting) and has no damage number printed next to it. That is why you will not find it in the attacker table lower down, which sorts by printed damage. Everything it does lives in its text: « For each of your opponent's Pokémon, flip a coin. If heads, this attack does 150 damage to that Pokémon. (Don't apply Weakness and Resistance for Benched Pokémon.) »

Barbaracle is in all 44 lists, 3 copies of it. Its Ability is called Stone Arms, and here is what is printed on it, word for word: « Once during your turn, you may use this Ability. Attach a Basic {F} Energy card from your hand to 1 of your {F} Pokémon. »

How Mega Zygarde ex / Barbaracle actually wins

Mega Zygarde ex attacks with Gaia Wave for 200. It needs 3 Fighting Energy attached, and it has 310 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 opponent's next turn, this Pokémon takes 30 less damage from attacks (after applying Weakness and Resistance)."

The cost of Gaia Wave 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. Barbaracle, which the list runs 3 of, has an Ability called Stone Arms: it attaches Energy from your hand on top of the one you already play. 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.

There is another trick in this list, and the whole of it happens in one turn. Team Rocket's Petrel goes into your deck for a Trainer card and puts it in your hand. Precious Trolley is one, and it puts as many Basic Pokémon as you like onto your Bench in one go. A full Bench on turn one is what decides the game in a deck with lines to build. One rule to know: Precious Trolley is an ACE SPEC card. You are allowed just ONE ACE SPEC in your whole deck, so a second copy is never coming, and taking this one means giving up every other. One detail that matters: Team Rocket's Petrel is a Supporter, so that turn you play no other Supporter. Items all still go through.

Here is the detail that quietly loses games. To pull Mega Zygarde 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 Zygarde 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 Zygarde exBasic	310	Gaia Wave	200		Grass ×2	2
Close BarbaracleStage 1	130	Hammer In	80		Grass ×2	2
Close SolrockBasic	110	Cosmic Beam	70		Grass ×2	1
Close LunatoneBasic	110	Power Gem	50		Grass ×2	1

The core: the 10 cards every list runs

These 10 cards appear in all 44 lists, without a single exception. That is 33 of the 60 slots. The other 27 are decided player by player.

Look at how those 33 slots break down: 11 Trainers, 12 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.

10 of those 10 cards do not sit at the same count from list to list: Barbaracle (2 to 4), Binacle (2 to 4) and Lunatone (1 to 3), plus 7 more. Add those spreads up and you get 25 copies the 44 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
2–4	Close Barbaracle	POR 43	Pokémon
2–4	Close Binacle	POR 42	Pokémon
1–3	Close Lunatone	MEG 74	Pokémon
2–4	Close Mega Zygarde ex	POR 47	Pokémon
1–3	Close Solrock	MEG 75	Pokémon
2–4	Close Fighting Gong	MEG 116	Trainer
2–4	Close Poké Pad	POR 81	Trainer
1–3	Close Boss's Orders	MEG 114	Trainer
1–3	Close Core Memory	POR 70	Trainer
8–15	Fighting Energy	MEE 6	Energy

The 52 cards that change from list to list

52 cards fight over the 27 slots that are left: 4 above three lists in four, 37 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 95 %, Air Balloon at 93 % and Tarragon at 91 %, plus 1 more above 75 %. Add those to the core and you have the common build.

The dividing line runs through Precious Trolley, at 50 %: 22 of 44 players took it, 22 put something else there. It is an ACE SPEC card, and you are allowed exactly one in your whole deck. The players who passed on it did not leave the slot empty: they put a different ACE SPEC there. Right at the bottom of the table, Switch (11 lists out of 44) and Carmine (10 lists out of 44).

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
95 %42/44	Close Lillie's Determination	1–4	MEG 119	Trainer
93 %41/44	Close Air Balloon	1–2	ASC 181	Trainer
91 %40/44	Close Tarragon	1–4	POR 85	Trainer
80 %35/44	Close Rocky Fighting Energy	1–4	POR 87	Energy
68 %30/44	Close Team Rocket's Petrel	1–4	DRI 176	Trainer
61 %27/44	Close Night Stretcher	1–3	ASC 196	Trainer
59 %26/44	Close Cornerstone Mask Ogerpon ex	1–2	TWM 112	Pokémon
59 %26/44	Close Premium Power Pro	2–3	MEG 124	Trainer
59 %26/44	Close Ultra Ball	1–4	MEG 131	Trainer
59 %26/44	Close Wally's Compassion	1–2	MEG 132	Trainer
55 %24/44	Close Special Red Card	1	CRI 82	Trainer
50 %22/44	Close Precious Trolley	1	SSP 185	Trainer
39 %17/44	Close Jumbo Ice Cream	1–4	PFL 91	Trainer
34 %15/44	Close Team Rocket's Transceiver	2–3	DRI 178	Trainer
27 %12/44	Close Judge	2–4	POR 76	Trainer
25 %11/44	Close Switch	1–2	MEG 130	Trainer
23 %10/44	Close Carmine	1–4	TWM 145	Trainer
23 %10/44	Close Energy Retrieval	1–2	SVI 171	Trainer
23 %10/44	Close Team Rocket's Watchtower	1–2	DRI 180	Trainer
18 %8/44	Close Battle Cage	1–2	PFL 85	Trainer
18 %8/44	Close Scoop Up Cyclone	1	TWM 162	Trainer
16 %7/44	Close Shaymin	1	DRI 10	Pokémon
14 %6/44	Close Secret Box	1	TWM 163	Trainer
11 %5/44	Close Bloodmoon Ursaluna	1	PRE 54	Pokémon
11 %5/44	Close Meowth ex	1	POR 62	Pokémon
11 %5/44	Close Gwynn	2	PBL 78	Trainer
9 %4/44	Close Hariyama	1	MEG 73	Pokémon
9 %4/44	Close Makuhita	1–2	MEG 72	Pokémon
9 %4/44	Close Mega Signal	2–4	MEG 121	Trainer
7 %3/44	Close Lumiose City	1–2	POR 77	Trainer
5 %2/44	Close Passimian	2	SSP 111	Pokémon
5 %2/44	Close Genesect	1	SFA 40	Pokémon
5 %2/44	Close Mega Lucario ex	1	MEG 77	Pokémon
5 %2/44	Close Riolu	1	MEG 76	Pokémon
5 %2/44	Close Energy Search	4	POR 72	Trainer
5 %2/44	Close Waitress	4	ASC 215	Trainer
5 %2/44	Close Energy Switch	1–2	MEG 115	Trainer
5 %2/44	Close Gravity Mountain	2	SSP 177	Trainer
5 %2/44	Close AZ's Tranquility	1	CRI 76	Trainer
5 %2/44	Close Deluxe Bomb	1	SCR 134	Trainer
5 %2/44	Close Energy Recycler	1	DRI 164	Trainer
5 %2/44	Close Iris's Fighting Spirit	1	JTG 149	Trainer
5 %2/44	Close Scramble Switch	1	SSP 186	Trainer
5 %2/44	Close Unfair Stamp	1	TWM 165	Trainer
5 %2/44	Close Xerosic's Machinations	1	SFA 64	Trainer
2 %1/44	Close Mega Hawlucha ex	2	ASC 116	Pokémon
2 %1/44	Close Fezandipiti ex	1	ASC 142	Pokémon
2 %1/44	Close Pokégear 3.0	2	SVI 186	Trainer
2 %1/44	Close Brock's Scouting	1	JTG 146	Trainer
2 %1/44	Close Colress's Tenacity	1	SFA 57	Trainer
2 %1/44	Close Jamming Tower	1	TWM 153	Trainer
2 %1/44	Close Max Rod	1	PRE 116	Trainer

The most common Mega Zygarde ex / Barbaracle list, all 60 cards

Here they are in full, ready to build. 33 slots come from the core, the cards all 44 lists run. The remaining 27 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 13 Pokémon, 34 Trainers and 13 Energy.

One thing to know before you build it: the 44 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: 13
3 Barbaracle POR 43
3 Binacle POR 42
2 Lunatone MEG 74
2 Mega Zygarde ex POR 47
2 Solrock MEG 75
1 Cornerstone Mask Ogerpon ex TWM 112

Trainer: 34
4 Fighting Gong MEG 116
4 Poké Pad POR 81
2 Boss's Orders MEG 114
1 Core Memory POR 70
4 Lillie's Determination MEG 119
2 Air Balloon ASC 181
2 Tarragon POR 85
4 Team Rocket's Petrel DRI 176
1 Night Stretcher ASC 196
3 Premium Power Pro MEG 124
2 Ultra Ball MEG 131
1 Wally's Compassion MEG 132
1 Special Red Card CRI 82
1 Precious Trolley SSP 185
2 Jumbo Ice Cream PFL 91

Energy: 13
10 Fighting Energy MEE 6
3 Rocky Fighting Energy POR 87

Total Cards: 60

How many different cards Mega Zygarde ex / Barbaracle needs, and how long it will last

You need 62 different cards to cover every version of this deck, 10 of which nobody argues about. The rest is where lists differ from one another, and that is where you have room to choose.

43 of these 44 lists bring an ACE SPEC, and that is where they part ways: 22 took Precious Trolley, 8 took Scoop Up Cyclone and 6 took Secret Box. 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 Precious Trolley 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 10 core cards carries the letter H, the one that goes at the next rotation. This deck walks through the change whole.

What Mega Zygarde ex / Barbaracle struggles against

The attackers in this deck are Weak to Grass, so they take DOUBLE damage from that type. 21 of the 126 decks we track attack in exactly that type.

Concretely, here is what is waiting for you: Teal Mask Ogerpon ex / Meganium / Hydrapple ex, Festival Lead (Thwackey) and Crustle, plus 18 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 21 decks out of the 126 we track. The other 105 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 Fighting, and 41 of the decks we track have an attacker Weak to one of those: Dragapult ex, Latias ex / Mega Kangaskhan ex and Slowking, among others. That is you doubling, for once. Second half of the table.