How Dragapult ex is dominating the Pokémon TCG Metagame

It is more than official: Dragapult is, by far, the most powerful deck of the format. When the rotation was about to happen, we wrote an article talking about the top contenders and there I expressed why I thought Dragapult would remain as strong as in the previous formats. I honestly was expecting to be right, but I guess I was not anticipating how dominant it would eventually become. So today I want to be very transparent and explain why Dragapult is winning all the different tournaments across the globe as well as discuss the three different versions you can run.

Is the deck invincible? Why is Dragapult ex winning so much?

Well, first of all, let’s try not to panic: Dragapult is not invincible. It is a very, very strong deck, though. I don’t think we are in a situation where an emergency ban is required (and even if we were, Pokémon really doesn’t ban cards so…) but it is true that most players are feeling frustrated when they see Dragapult topping the charts and achieving a 30-40% representation in the final stages of big tournament.

In order to understand why Dragapult is winning non-stop, there are a couple of things we need to consider: 

• Before the rotation, Dragapult was just one of the “big decks” you could consider playing during a tournament, alongside Gholdengo, Charizard and Gardevoir ex. All these strategies were incredibly powerful and dominated over other strategies. The 2026 rotation forced us to part ways with 3 of these decks and only Dragapult remained… which meant there were no more decks in its power level. 
• The new decks that have been printed since the rotation can’t simply match Dragapult’s potential. Pokémon Company is really trying to balance the metagame and ensure they don’t print something crazy. In other words, they are not trying to fight fire (Dragapult) with more fire (power creep) and as a result, even if there are some really interesting Pokémon that have been released, there is simply no reason for players to choose them over Dragapult. 
• Last but not least, it is all about consistency. With the loss of cards like Nest Ball or Professor Research, the only deck that can replenish resources without cost is Dragapult (yes, the Drakloak engine is broken). That alone is a huge advantage against other decks that struggle to get the cards they need throughout the game.  

Broadly speaking, there are 3 main ways to play Dragapult: Straight, Blaziken and Dusknoir. Each version has pros and cons but it is true that the one that has been winning the most lately is the Straight one. However, don’t worry too much, whatever approach you choose is going to guarantee fantastic results. Let’s check them more closely!

Straight Dragapult ex

This deck relies basically on Dragapult as the only attacker and tries to make sure it survives as much as possible until all prize cards are taken.  

The deck is simple to pilot in principle but it then honestly branches into so many different directions that it can become incredibly complex. First, you really need to slow down the game and Budew is the perfect weapon to achieve that. After one or hopefully two turns of itchy pollen, you should have your board established (3 Drakloaks and you are golden). From that moment on, the idea is straightforward: Attack with Dragapult and spread as many counters as possible. Munkidori plays a crucial role in keeping your big dragon alive and also setting up other Pokémon for a future knock out.  

But perhaps the biggest advantage of playing this deck is its capacity to run 4 copies of Crushing Hammer, which is something that other variants such as Dragapult Dusknoir or Dragapult Blaziken can’t simply afford to. Crushing Hammer is a card that has been around almost forever but its impact in the game has been very noticeable in certain formats (Tag Team era, for example). Now, it is a must-have in Dragapult. Just getting one heads during a game can make the difference against the mirror match and, specially, against decks that might have a good pairing against Drapault but that struggle to put energies on the field, such as Lucario and Grachomp ex.

Right now, we have entered in the era of Dragapult ex and I want to be very transparent with you: either you play hammers or you are assuming a very rough time against any other Dragapult variant that does run them. So do yourself a favor and run the full playset. 
 

1st Place Regional Los Angeles, CA - Andrew Hedrick

But just in case you really, really refuse to play hammers, my suggestion would be to use the Darkaness package (Pecharunt + Yveltal) as well as Area Zero in order to hear your Pokémon whenever you want. 

2nd Place Regional Campinas - Francisco Osorio

Dragapult Dusknoir ex

While not many people consider Dusknoir a real threat, I do really think it is still a very underrated card that has the potential to completely turn games around. Let’s not forget that Dragapult Dusknoir was THE deck before the rotation and perhaps the only issue the deck has right now is the fact that it can no longer benefit from comeback mechanic cards like Iono + Counter Catcher and that it doesn’t have that much free space as to include tech cards.

The reality is that the combination of Dusknoir and Dragapult has always been (and still is) devastating. If you know when to target what, you can wipe an entire board in just one turn. On top of this, almost no one plays Psyduck nowadays so chances are that your ghost Pokémon can freely explode turn after turn.

Besides, something people tend to forget is that sacrificing ghosts might still have some benefits! You can activate Rosa’s encouragement fairly easily and with the arrival of Special Red Card, you can disrupt your opponent earlier than you normally would.

All in all, I have a strong feeling that this deck will gain more popularity the more players test the format.
 

7th Place Regional Utrecht - Luke Burke

Dragapult Blaziken ex

Even if I think this is kinda the weakest version of Dragapult, it is my favorite one because of how fun it is playing it. There are some very clear similarities to the other decklists we’ve already discussed, like the supporter counts and the energy lines. However, the strongest point is being able to leverage Blaziken ex’s ability to get continuous access to energies. Once you’ve been able to set up one (or two) you no longer need to be worried about getting energies in play via Crispin or replenishing the ones that Crushing hammer has taken away from you.

If extra energies in play doesn’t already sound nice, the reality is that this deck can really swing with different attackers, including fire (Blaziken) and psychic (Cleffairy ex) out of the blue. This is a fantastic addition against decks that Dragapult might struggle with like Hydrapple ex, the mirror match and Mega Lucario. However, if there are so many good points, why do I say this is the weakest version? It is much more susceptible to item lock (Budew) and sometimes you really need to draw well in order to set up not only one but two stages 2. In summary, it is a deck that requires more resources to set up in early with the promise of a very strong mid and late game. 

Conclusions

What else is there to say? If you ask me, we have entered a moment of the metagame where you need to either play Dragapult or pick a deck that has a good pairing against Dragapult. It doesn’t make any sense to try to play something like Festival Lead, which is very good on paper, but struggles against the most powerful deck in the format. All the three variants of the deck (Straight, Dusknoir and Blaziken) are amazing options so pick the one you like the most and master it as much as you can. You are not going to regret it! Thanks for reading!