Many players have guessed that someday there will be a Mega Gyarados ex deck that makes water-type Pokemons shine. And they’ve guessed it right! Mega Gyarados ex made an appearance in the Mega Rising Expansion of the Pokemon TCG Pocket. However, this Pokemon is sort of hit and miss because on the other hand it has a pretty annoying ability but it still doesn’t compare to the current metas. So, is this card any good? This article walks you through the many types of Mega Gyarados ex decks to build, the best strategy to use it, and how to counter it.
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Best Mega Gyarados ex Decks
The common build for Mega Gyarados ex is just using its basic Pokemon and evolutions. Mega Gyarados ex is already strong on its own, but still requires an alternative attacker, in case you’re facing an annoying opponent, like Pom-Pom Oricorio. Another alternative is to combine it with Milotic. This Pokemon card has a healing ability that can be useful to make Mega Gyarados ex more durable in tough battles. If you still don’t have Milotic around, it’s never too late to pull some. Just depend on Lootbar on that. Below are the details of recommended Mega Gyarados ex decks to build.
Mega Gyarados ex & Milotic
Milotic is indeed the best partner for Mega Gyarados ex for its healing ability. The strategy for this deck is so simple. What you’ll need here are a few support Supporter and Item cards to pull the basic Pokemons, like Magikarp, Mantyke, and Feebac quicker. Lisia works the best with her ability to pull 2 basic Pokemons to your hand. Additionally, you will need Poke Ball, Professor's Research, and a Red Card just to annoy the enemy.
The key here is to get all the basic Pokemons as quickly as possible. Once you get Magikarp, evolve it into Mega Gyarados ex and spam Mega Blaster on every turn. This will allow you to discard enemies’ cards, specifically 3 cards for each turn. Don’t forget to evolve Feebas into Milotic to get 60 healing for Mega Gyarados ex. Combine Mega Blaster and Red Card, and you will drain the enemy’s cards so quickly and win the game. However, the skill requires 4 energy, which might take some time.
While Mega Blaster is really strong with 140 damage, which can easily eliminate even ex Pokemons, the problems come from the basic Pokemons. Both Feebas and Magikarp have really low HP, making them easy targets for the enemy. Thus, it’s always better to only put them if you already have the evolution in hand.
Mega Gyarados ex Solo Deck
If you think the healing from Milotic isn’t that significant, you can always go solo with only Mega Gyarados ex. The strategy remains the same, which is to evolve Magikarp as quickly as possible into Mega Gyarados ex. Always use Lisia to quickly pull the basic Pokemons and go from there. To enable Mega Blaster quicker for Mega Gyarados ex, Mantyke is also usable. But, since it only has 30 HP, you need to be careful.
Another attacker is also recommended, in case you’re fighting Pom-Pom Oricorio, the Pokemon that will render Mega Gyarados ex’s attack useless. Pom-Pom Oricorio’s ability is to nullify any damage coming from ex Pokemons. To counter it, use a copy of Gyarados that can deal 100 damage with its Hammering Tail.
How to Use Mega Gyarados ex Deck
When using this build, you’ll focus on building energy for Mega Gyarados ex to unleash Mega Blaster. This offensive ability will deal 140 damage, a pretty high damage that can easily take down most ex Pokemons in two hits. However, it still requires 4 energy, which might take time to build. For this, you’ll need a Supporter Card, like Misty, that can easily grant you the required amount of energy for it. Using another Pokemon, like Mantyke, can hasten this process as well. If you still don’t have it, Lootbar can help with that.
Since you want to use Mega Gyarados ex as quickly as possible, you will need to have Magikarp on your hand. Use Lisia to pull 2 basic Pokemons from your deck. Unless you have other basics, it will be guaranteed Magikarp each time you use Lisia. For facing Pom-Pom Oricorio, which can nullify any attacks from ex Pokemons, you can depend on Gyarados. The Hammering Tail can deal 100 damage, which will defeat Pom-Pom Oricorio on one hit.
How to Counter Mega Gyarados ex Deck TCG Pocket
While it’s good and annoying, the Mega Gyarados ex deck is easy to counter. Since the enemy will depend on the support card a lot, you can use a Pokemon that can easily counter this, like Gengar ex. Shadowy Spellbind will prevent the enemy from activating their Support cards, including Lisia. This will make them longer to pull both Magikarp and Mega Gyarados ex.
Mega Gyaradox requires 4 energy to unleash its ultimate attack, Mega Blaster. Normally, this takes about 4 turns, if the enemy doesn’t have a Support Card or Mantyke. During the turns, you can deal chip damage to Mega Gyarados ex and defeat it before it actually gets the required energy. It’s easy to defeat it, even with basic ex Pokemons.
Since Magikarp has a really low HP, focus your attack on it first. Use strong basic Pokemon, like Hitmonchan ex or Jirachi to quickly defeat any Magikarp cards on the field. Once Magikarp are completely gone, the enemy will have no choice but to retreat.
Conclusion
Mega Gyarados ex is indeed a unique Pokemon card. It has a strong attack and is able to reduce the enemy’s cards with its ability. Winning by reducing the cards to zero is always a good strategy when using this deck. However, it’s easy to not consider it a meta. It has some flaws, including low HP basic Pokemon and high energy requirements. Therefore, it’s not a perfect deck if you’re looking for a meta. For those who want to get much better cards, you can always do a Pokémon TCG Pocket top up to build excellent decks.
