By Xander Pero, contributing writer

The Mega Evolution—Ascended Heroes expansion is stacked with new Trainer’s Pokémon for both new and nostalgic Trainers, plus new Mega Evolution Pokémon seen in Pokémon Legends: Z-A. The expansion will certainly make a splash in upcoming competitions, as powerful Pokémon ex and useful Trainer cards will find their way into many strong decks.

The Mega Evolution—Ascended Heroes expansion won’t be tournament legal for the Europe International Championships, but you can be sure you’ll start seeing cards popping up at your Pokémon League events soon.

To prepare, check out some of the top competitive cards to look for in this expansion.

Marnie’s Grimmsnarl ex / Froslass was popular last year but has since fallen out of favor due to its inconsistency and shaky matchups. Enter Mega Froslass ex. Its first attack, Resentful Refrain, does 50 damage for each card in your opponent’s hand. Now, you can Knock Out any Pokémon for a single Energy on a Pokémon that evolves from Snorunt. I envision the best way to play this deck moving forward is to cut the Grimmsnarl package entirely, instead relying on Mega Froslass ex to do the heavy damage. Combined with Bloodmoon Ursaluna ex, you should have enough firepower to deal with large targets. Froslass’s Freezing Shroud, Munkidori’s Adrena-Brain, and Technical Machine: Devolution can handle multiple small targets.

You may be asking yourselves, “Why would so much change with this one single card?” Well, the biggest upside of Mega Froslass ex is that it only takes up one or two cards in your deck. Marnie’s Grimmsnarl ex is an amazing attacker—both for its Darkness type and efficiency—but takes up 10 cards (Marnie’s Impidimp, Marnie’s Morgrem, Marnie’s Grimmsnarl ex, and Spikemuth Gym). With this extra space, we can add Supporter cards or even Pokémon that let you draw cards, like Drakloak. Since we’re no longer all-in on Marnie’s Grimmsnarl ex, we can also outfit our deck with a few secondary attackers. Yveltal, Budew, and Mega Absol ex are a few options.

Finally, there’s one puzzle piece left to place before the masterpiece is complete—a 70-HP one. Along with Mega Froslass ex, Mega Evolution—Ascended Heroes will include a 70-HP Snorunt. This is important in two matchups: Dragapult ex and Gardevoir ex. With this new Snorunt, neither Phantom Dive nor two uses of Munkidori’s Adrena-Brain can KO Snorunt on the Bench.

All things considered, the Froslass deck is the one I’m most looking forward to tinkering with once the set drops on Pokémon Trading Card Game Live!

N’s Zekrom is an absurdly strong card that will redefine how the N’s Zoroark ex archetype is built. The current version of this archetype was popularized by Liam Halliburton, using Toedscruel and Mega Lopunny ex to counteract two bad matchups: Gholdengo ex and Cornerstone Mask Ogerpon ex, respectively. Instead of this package, you can rely on N’s Zekrom to take care of both issues. Its first attack, Shred, does 70 damage and goes through opposing effects. Cornerstone Mask Ogerpon ex cannot block this damage. Its second attack deals with Gholdengo ex and other mid-HP Pokémon ex. It does a flat 250 damage, which can one-hit KO Gholdengo ex when paired with Vitality Band or another card that adds 10 damage. With N’s Zekrom, you can instead match pace with Gholdengo ex rather than rely on Toedscruel to win a long, defensive battle.

Considering this avenue of victory, decks will likely increase the number of N’s PP Up played from one to three and perhaps bring back Bloodmoon Ursaluna ex as an additional late-game option. Cards like Vitality Band and Defiance Band can push the damage over the edge, providing enough output to one-shot some of the key Pokémon ex in Standard, such as Gholdengo ex and Pidgeot ex. I’d still play a single copy of N’s Reshiram, though, which can be useful in a pinch due to Powerful Rage. Charizard ex and Dragapult ex don’t do enough damage to Knock Out N’s Zoroark ex in a single attack at the start of a game.

Mega Lopunny ex could still be a worthwhile inclusion if Cornerstone Mask Ogerpon ex once again becomes popular. Against a deck like Mega Absol ex, Shred may not do enough damage when the opponent can also use their own Munkidori to heal Cornerstone Mask Ogerpon ex. Time will tell how players choose to optimize their deck lists for the meta they foresee.

Mega Lopunny ex has lived up to the hype as a Cornerstone Mask Ogerpon ex deterrent, frequently seen in Gholdengo ex and N’s Zoroark ex decks. Decks with Cornerstone Mask Ogerpon ex can adapt by including a counter, such as Sandy Shocks ex or Okidogi.

However, both of those require two Fighting Energy to attack, meaning it can be difficult for non-Fighting-type decks that play Cornerstone Mask Ogerpon ex—such as Mega Absol ex—to power up. Koraidon ex’s Orichalcum Fang does not have this issue, only requiring one Fighting Energy and one Colorless Energy. From a deck list perspective, this is a massive buff, allowing you to play less Basic Fighting Energy. You could even play Prism Energy instead, provided you have enough to make it through the game.

Koraidon ex also does enough damage to Fezandipiti ex and Mega Kangaskhan ex to pick up Knock Outs thanks to those two’s Weakness to Fighting. Currently, Mega Absol ex decks don’t have a great way to deal with Mega Kangaskhan ex, instead relying on their own Mega Kangaskhan ex to pick up the Knock Out with a lucky Rapid-Fire Combo. Koraidon ex is an easy answer to this problem and can even get through a Mega Kangaskhan ex with a Bravery Charm by pairing it alongside a single damage modifier, like Defiance Band or 10 more damage from Munkidori.

Mega Meganium ex could be the card that the Mega Venusaur ex / Meganium deck needs to push it over the edge. Its attack, Giant Bouquet, does 70 plus 50 damage for each Grass Energy attached to Mega Meganium ex. When pairing this with Meganium from the original Mega Evolution expansion, each Grass Energy card attached to Mega Meganium ex means an additional 100 damage. Compare this to Teal Mask Ogerpon ex’s 30 plus 30 (or 60) damage, and you’ll see why this is a major power increase.

On top of this power difference, Mega Meganium ex boasts an unwieldy 360 HP. You can trade Prize cards favorably with the opponent, rather than evenly; this is necessary for a deck that requires more resources than its opponent to set up its board. Mega Venusaur ex decks should play a single copy of Mega Meganium ex as a pinch attacking option, though the deck can certainly still attack with Teal Mask Ogerpon ex throughout the game.

Perhaps the most hyped card of the set, Poké Pad provides additional Item-based Pokémon search specifically for Pokémon without a Rule Box. While it can find Basic Pokémon, I expect most of the usage will be finding Evolution Pokémon. Almost all Evolution decks are forced to play Arven and Technical Machine: Evolution to guarantee their setup. Dragapult ex is the main exception to this rule, because that deck prioritizes attacking with Budew’s Itchy Pollen and plays few Energy cards. Other decks may follow suit with the release of Poké Pad.

I predict Dragapult ex and Froslass decks will play a few copies of Poké Pad. While Dragapult ex decks don’t mind discarding resources with Ultra Ball, Poké Pad increases the total number of Pokémon search cards it can play. On the other hand, Froslass decks don’t play Ultra Ball because they don’t have the space or the ability to discard two cards comfortably. Old lists rely on Spikemuth Gym, Artazon, and Technical Machine: Evolution to widen their board. Since we’ll be getting space back after cutting the Marnie’s Grimmsnarl ex package, we can max out copies of Poké Pad.

I’m looking forward to seeing how some tier-two decks perform with the added consistency boost of Poké Pad, especially after the Standard format rotation in April. Single-Prize decks are notoriously resource-intensive because they require twice as many attackers as a two-Prize deck. Often the strongest decks after rotation are those with the most Trainer support, since all other decks are working with fewer tools in their toolbox. Poké Pad may be enough to push them over the edge by the time the North America International Championships come around.

Mega Evolution—Ascended Heroes introduces a few powerful cards that will change how players think about battling. These cards provide additional options and deckbuilding opportunities for less popular archetypes, widening the format.

For more Pokémon TCG strategy and analysis, visit Pokemon.co.uk/Strategy.