Mega Pokémon Are Back!

Three Prize Card Pokémon were first introduced in 2019’s Sun and Moon: Team Up set, and paved the way for a power creep that seemingly plateaued with the release of 2023’s Scarlet and Violet: Base Set. With the release of Mega Pokemon speculatively in 2025, it looks like we are looking at a bunch of powerful three Prize Card Pokemon, large HP, bigger attacks, and more in our new future. 

Should this matter to competitive players? Honestly, that is the question that has been polarizing our online Pokémon TCG community! Many players are on the side of Mega Pokémon returning to the game after 5 years of absence, and the other half are upset that three Prize Card Pokémon can make games end quicker than usual (each game is only six Prizes, so it can effectively finish in two attacks in some cases). 

 For me, I’m personally on the side of having potentially quicker games, seeing “shelved” Pokémon return to the game after many years, and having new powerful archetypes to look forward to. I might be biased because I have been one of the most successful players in any three Prize Card Pokemon era, placing as a Finalist at the 2020 Oceania International Championships with Reshiram & Charizard-GX [Unbroken Bonds], and as a Champion at the 2021 Players Cup II Championships with Pikachu & Zekrom-GX [Team Up] / Mewtwo & Mew-GX [Unified Minds], among a few other high placements with VMAX Pokémon decks. 

Either way, this article is here to showcase the official early reveals by Pokémon, and how these strategies might integrate into our competitive format! 

Mega Gardevoir ex

Just as we all thought that our current Gardevoir ex [Scarlet and Violet] would drop out of the metagame due to Kirlia [Silver Tempest] rotating away, Mega Gardevoir ex [TBA] seems to breathe life into the archetype once again! Mega Gardevoir ex seems to be a fully contained archetype that is easy to digest, but offers a few options that could see success in the future - we just gotta wait and see what the full Mega Pokémon set offers in the future. 

For right now, Gardevoir ex seems like a likely partner for Mega Gardevoir ex. It has been featured as a tier 1 deck since 2023, and the fact that they both Evolve from Kirlia [Scarlet and Violet] seems to make it easily splashable in any new archetype. You can also go from Ralts [Scarlet and Violet] to either Gardevoir or Mega Gardevoir ex with a Rare Candy [Scarlet and Violet], an incredibly useful strategy that will certainly pay off in the right circumstance!

Mega Gardevoir ex can also play as a self-contained deck by using its Overflowing Wishes attack to load up Psychic Energy onto your Benched Pokémon. That can power up different tech Pokémon to attack during your next turn, or power up its Mega Symphonia attack! Mega Symphonia hits for a solid 50x for each Psychic Energy attached to all of your Pokémon, so you only need seven Energy to hit for 350 damage - enough to seemingly OHKO any Pokémon in the game. Gardevoir ex can help you get back some Energy that were either discarded earlier in the game, or for when one of your Pokémon was Knocked Out!

Area Zero Underdepths [Stellar Crown] could also be an interesting tech card, as long as you are able to find space for a Tera Pokémon in the deck! Dedenne ex [Paldea Evolved] could activate Area Zero Underdepths, and Overflowing Wishes now has the power to load up to eight different Pokémon with Psychic Energy. We’ll have to stay tuned for the full release of this upcoming set in the future to see which other cards might find their way into this developing archetype. As for now, I highly suggest picking up any powerful Scarlet and Violet-on Pokémon, and get ready for the release of Mega Gardevoir ex in 2025!

Mega Lucario ex

Mega Lucario ex [TBA] doesn’t have the same “pre-existing shell” that Mega Gardevoir ex has with Gardevoir ex, but it does hold a lot of promise. Similarly to Mega Gardevoir ex, Mega Lucario ex has its Aura Jab attack that can do some chip damage to your opponent’s Active, and load up a Benched Pokémon with Energy. 130 damage doesn’t sound like a lot at first, but you can take advantage of Mega Lucario ex being Fighting-type, and OHKO a popular Pokémon like Fezandipiti ex [Shrouded Fable] due to Weakness. 

And as long as you don’t have any easy targets to KO in return, like a Fezandipiti ex of your own, your opponent won’t likely be able to get a KO in return on your Mega Lucario ex. It has a hefty amount of HP, totalling to 340HP, which means this Fighting Pokémon is gonna have a lot of fight in the game, likely surviving an attack or two. And unlock Mega Gardevoir ex, Mega Lucario ex is a Stage 1 Pokémon, so it's directly Evolving from Riolu [TBA] into a 340HP Stage 1 beast!

While we can’t be 100% sure of every card that will come out in the unannounced Mega Pokémon set in 2025, another officially revealed card slots right into this Mega Lucario ex deck - Premium Power Pro [TBA]. Hitting for an additional 30 damage allows Mega Lucario ex to scale its Mega Brave attack from 270 damage to 300 damage, and it looks like you can play multiple copies to increase your damage from +30 to +60, etc. (unconfirmed). Need more damage? Slapping down a Maximum Belt [Prismatic Evolutions] can allow you to reach new heights, like OHKOing an opposing Mega Lucario ex. Doing large numbers quickly, and with built in Energy acceleration too, is certainly the making of a successful archetype - I’m excited for the upcoming release of this Mega Pokémon, and seeing where it takes the game!

A New Metagame to Look Towards

As we continuously get new cards, and new mechanics, the game continues to stay fresh! There are so many combinations to discover, tournaments to explore them in, and friends to make along the way! And I’m personally very excited for three Prize Card Pokémon to make their return to the game - a polarizing take, but I love the diversity in varying Prize Card amounts. I’ll continue to share my findings with the Ultimate Guard community so stay tuned for future articles from me!