By Xander Pero, Contributing Writer
Greetings! You’ve probably heard the chatter about the latest Pokémon Trading Card Game release: Scarlet & Violet—Destined Rivals expands upon the Trainer’s Pokémon theme first introduced in the Gym Heroes expansion. New Pokémon join classic choices like Misty’s Pokémon, including some of my new favorites, Cynthia’s Pokémon and Marnie’s Pokémon. Players can also don their black hats and work with villainous Team Rocket’s Pokémon, which I’m excited to try. As fun as Trainer’s Pokémon are, there are additional treasures to be found. Today, I thought I’d focus on a different kind of buzzworthy Pokémon in this new expansion: Yanmega ex.
Yanmega ex may have a mega powerful attack in Jet Cyclone, but the real strength for this Pokémon ex lies in its Buzzing Boost Ability. When Yanmega ex harnesses its power to move to the Active Spot, 3 Grass Energy from the deck get attached to it. Then, all you need is one additional Energy to use Jet Cyclone: its 210 damage is enough to Knock Out non-ex Pokémon and some Basic Pokémon ex, like Teal Mask Ogerpon ex or Fezandipiti ex. The final piece of the equation is that after using Jet Cyclone, you must move 3 Energy from Yanmega ex to one of your Benched Pokémon. Though powering down our main attacker seems detrimental, this allows us to power up other Pokémon that have Grass or Colorless attack costs that do more damage or are useful in specific situations. More on that later.
In my eyes, there are two ways to build around Yanmega ex. The first and most basic approach is to focus on Yanmega ex (a four–four line suffices) and play few or no other attackers. Doing so would typically move the 3 Energy resulting from Jet Cyclone to another Yanmega ex. The second idea is to play another core deck but slot in a thin Yanmega ex line—one or two copies only—as an easy means of attacking and accelerating Energy. In that scenario, you’d move the 3 Energy to your deck’s main attacker. I’ve seen examples of Terapagos ex / Noctowl and Milotic ex / Farigiraf ex that fall within that description. Let’s now take a look at our Yanmega ex deck, which includes some choice attackers but still keeps the spotlight on our star Pokémon ex.
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Yanmega ex
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8Basic Grass Energy
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3Jet Energy
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2Basic Lightning Energy
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4Iono
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3Boss’s Orders (Ghetsis)
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2Arven
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2Judge
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1Colress’s Tenacity
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2Artazon
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1Jamming Tower
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4Buddy-Buddy Poffin
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3Ultra Ball
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2Nest Ball
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2Super Rod
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1Scramble Switch
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1Counter Catcher
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1Technical Machine: Evolution
As illustrated above, I’ve kept a full count of Yanma and Yanmega ex to boost the natural odds of drawing into them. From there, I’ve also chosen to include Dudunsparce for a few reasons: First, it boosts our deck’s consistency and resilience against a late-game Iono. Second, Yanmega ex must move to the Active Spot during our turn, so we can promote a Dudunsparce, use Run Away Draw, then activate Buzzing Boost without paying a Retreat Cost. Finally, we can move Energy with Jet Cyclone to Dudunsparce, shuffle it back into the deck, then retrieve it again with Buzzing Boost! This allows us to keep some flexibility in where we place our Energy.
We have two situational attackers that would happily receive Energy after Jet Cyclone: Iron Hands ex and Regigigas. These two selections are self-explanatory: Iron Hands ex can accelerate the Prize race, and Regigigas Knocks Out Dragapult ex or Charizard ex in one hit. We do have to lose a few deck spots to Lightning Energy for Iron Hands ex, but the upside is well worth it.
There isn’t anything too special about our Supporters: Iono and Judge are the main draw Supporters because they allow us to shuffle Energy from our hand into the deck when needed. Arven is useful and allows us to play Technical Machine: Evolution, which is our best option to get things started on the first turn when going second. Colress’s Tenacity adds redundancy in finding Lightning Energy or Jamming Tower, which we are unlikely to draw into naturally.
Scramble Switch is our ACE SPEC card of choice. While it’s possible to attack with Iron Hands ex or Regigigas after Jet Cyclone, I’m worried that opponents may capitalize on this limitation. Dragapult ex decks play multiple copies of Counter Catcher, so they’d be able to easily use Counter Catcher and Knock Out Regigigas before we’ve had the chance to attack with the Pokémon. Scramble Switch fixes this problem and can be found with Arven.
One card that doesn’t get a lot of traction nowadays is Super Rod. Night Stretcher is almost always preferred because it goes to the hand rather than the deck, despite only being allowed to choose one card. For our purposes, Super Rod is better because we need to shuffle multiple Energy into the deck for Buzzing Boost. I thought about adding a single Night Stretcher to improve the odds of attacking with Iron Hands ex or Regigigas twice in one game, but I couldn’t find the space.
I’ll finish off with our Stadiums and Energy. Artazon synergizes well with Dudunsparce; we can search out a new Dunsparce whenever we shuffle one in. Jamming Tower is useful against Gardevoir ex decks and Bravery Charm: if they have the necessary damage counters on Drifloon to Knock Out our Iron Hands ex, we can play Jamming Tower and pick up a Knock Out for free. As discussed previously, we play a few Lightning Energy for Iron Hands ex. Jet Energy works well with Yanmega ex, fulfilling its 4 Energy requirement and providing a free pivot.
Core Strategy
You should choose to go first because we want to begin attacking as soon as possible with this deck. We aren’t reliant on Technical Machine: Evolution, nor do we mind getting Item locked by an opposing Budew. If you are indeed forced to go second, you should develop your board with Technical Machine: Evolution if possible. Your first priority is to set up Yanmega ex to attack on your second turn. You’ll usually want two Yanma in play before going for Dunsparce. Almost always, you’ll want to find Iron Hands ex by turn two so you can attack with Amp You Very Much on turn three. I’d still go for the quick setup against Dragapult ex decks: they can very easily Counter Catcher and Knock Out Regigigas. You’ll have to use Scramble Switch to power up Regigigas, but that’s why it’s in the deck!
Judge is an excellent early Supporter because opposing decks are likely to draw poorly compared to yours. Another benefit is that it forces the opponent to Bench Fezandipiti ex, which you can easily target with Boss’s Orders and then Knock Out with Yanmega ex. If you have an attacker set up, it’s typically better to play Judge over Iono.
After the first few turns, you should transition to setting up Dudunsparce rather than Yanmega ex. By this point, you’ll have taken a few Prize cards and are likely worried about an opposing Iono. Moreover, if you’re against an Evolution deck like Gardevoir ex or Dragapult ex, it’s likely that you’re ahead in the Prize race and just need to keep pace to win.
By the end of the game, you’ll likely understand how you’ll close it out. There may be an easy Fezandipiti ex you can take out with Boss’s Orders. Or perhaps you may have already amassed a large enough lead with Iron Hands ex and be able to take one final Prize card. No matter the scenario, be mindful of how many Grass Energy are left in your deck. If you’re looking to close the game with a cool Scramble Switch play, you’ll need at least three to fully power Iron Hands ex or Regigigas (assuming you don’t have any in play).
Strengths and Weaknesses
Let’s explore the strengths and weaknesses of this deck. Overall, we have a solid game plan for it, and it can execute against most opposing strategies. Yanmega ex is a low-maintenance attacker, so we can begin swinging on turn two most games. Dudunsparce adds protection against disruption and boosts consistency. We also have a few tricks up our sleeve with Counter Catcher, Scramble Switch, and Jamming Tower.
Despite this, our deck does have vulnerabilities: the biggest one being that we can’t Knock Out non-Tera Pokémon with HP greater than 210 in a single attack. Therefore, we’d have a hard time against Raging Bolt ex, and Gardevoir ex. Even if we could score Knock Outs over multiple turns, we may fall behind in the Prize race. You can alleviate this by including Bloodmoon Ursaluna ex or the damage modifiers discussed in a later section. However, you’ll have to sacrifice consistency or the Iron Hands ex package.
The second vulnerability is the deck’s fairness: there isn’t an overpowered trait it can exploit. A good comparison is Archaludon ex. It’s reliable, hits for solid damage, and empowers itself with an Ability. However, it doesn’t have anything unfair at its core. Gardevoir ex is an example of unfair when combined with Munkidori, Scream Tail, and Drifloon. It can take multiple Knock Outs in one turn, hit Benched Pokémon easily, and do all this while attacking with non-ex Pokémon. To get around this second vulnerability, you’d need to play a deck with Yanmega ex, rather than a Yanmega ex deck. Yanmega ex could still be an integral part of your strategy as a turn two attacker, but you’d have a backup strategy if you don’t find it.
From a matchups perspective, Raging Bolt ex, Gholdengo ex, and Team Rocket are the decks I’d be scared to face. All three Pokémon can easily Knock Out Yanmega ex in a single hit. The reverse is not true. Even if you add some damage modifiers, Gholdengo ex and Team Rocket's Mewtwo ex are still out of range of Jet Cyclone, so you’d need to overhaul the list by adding other attackers that either hit for Weakness or have higher damage ceilings.
Other Deck Building Options
There are a handful of strong options I’ve chosen not to include for space reasons. The first one is Bloodmoon Ursaluna ex. It can reach 240 damage—enough to Knock Out Terapagos ex and Raging Bolt ex—and we can attack with Blood Moon Ursaluna ex by turn three if we move Energy to it using Jet Cyclone. Another Pokémon option, though not for attacking, is Iron Bundle. If the opponent has an Active Pokémon that you can’t Knock Out, one way to deal with it is to avoid it: banishing it to the Bench with its Hyper Blower Ability could be helpful. Another scenario would be against Dragapult; at the end of the game, you may have one Prize card remaining while staring down a Bloodmoon Ursaluna ex or Dragapult ex.
Bravery Charm is interesting and could catch opponents off guard. While Iron Hands ex is already somewhat bulky at 230 HP, using a Pokémon Tool to bring it up to 280 certainly could help. If you’re able to use Amp You Very Much twice, the game is probably already over anyway. Bravery Charm can also add bulk to Regigigas, forcing a Dusclops, Hawlucha, or Munkidori ping from an opposing Dragapult deck to reach 210 damage.
Another defensive option that pairs well with Yanmega ex is Professor Turo's Scenario. Assuming the opponent attacks your Yanmega ex after you’ve attacked, you can use Professor Turo’s Scenario to pick up the heavily damaged Yanmega ex while only discarding a single Energy. Doing this, you could outplay your opponent if they aren’t careful.
Damage modifiers are the last group of cards I’ll call out here. Most top decks in Standard can manipulate damage in some way (Dragapult ex, Gardevoir ex) or have an uncapped damage ceiling (Gholdengo ex, Raging Bolt ex). Yanmega ex capping at 210 isn’t terrible, but our current deck doesn’t have a way to do even 10 more damage with it if desired. I’d recommend fixing this with Defiance Band or Kieran, which both let Yanmega ex reach 240 damage. Lilligant from Scarlet & Violet—Journey Together or Practice Studio are also options, but 20 and 10 damage respectively probably aren’t worth the space or investment. At that point, you could even consider a Volcanion ex to get 20 extra Burn damage.
Yanmega ex is a solid Stage 1 Pokémon that accelerates Energy to both itself and others. I’ve focused on a simple version of the deck in this article, but the sky’s the limit with what you can craft with the Ogre Darner Pokémon. And once you open the door to using non-Grass attackers, the complexity of decks you can create quickly balloons from there. I look forward to seeing the decks that other people build with Yanmega ex at upcoming tournaments!
Xander Pero is a contributing writer for Pokemon.com. He was an avid fan until discovering sanctioned tournaments in 2009. He formerly traveled often for the Top 16 circuit, but now spends his time focusing on university, where he studies industrial engineering. You can find him at various tournaments, as well as on X at @xanderpero.
