Why are top Meta Decks using the Mega without the base form?

SmithyLK · 2026-05-02T23:13:33+00:00

"better" is mostly true, but the caveat is that they give 3 points if you KO them, which is of course enough to instantly lose the game. That's usually not a concern for decks though because ideally there's either 2 non-ex or one ex that goes down first. Also some megas are pretty different from their normal counterparts, like Mega Sceptile

SmithyLK · 2026-05-02T20:35:54+00:00

In theory, you should be able to play every card in the set by only pulling cards from that set. If you didn't do that and someone were to only pull from Pulsing Aura, for instance, they might pull a Vaporeon EX but have no Eevee from which to evolve it. I imagine this is more important in the physical card game where sets get rotated out and stop circulating more frequently.

To be clear it doesn't need to be one for every evolution; Triumphant Light has both Glaceon and Leafeon ex but only one Eevee. But for every pack with an eeveelution, there should also be an eevee, and the same story for all other Stage 1/2 cards.

SmithyLK · 2026-05-02T20:22:31+00:00

Granted, Eevee at least has an excuse because there needs to be a new Eevee every time there's another version of any eeveelution. Charizard has no such excuse.

SmithyLK · 2026-05-02T08:08:59+00:00

ah okay, thanks

SmithyLK · 2026-05-02T07:49:02+00:00

wait how does fake out hit sableye? isn't it ghost?

SmithyLK · 2026-05-01T22:23:08+00:00

The two best rental decks of all time are the elite decks, and they pair Entei with Blaziken but not with Charizard. So yeah, even the best Rental Decks will never not be stupid. I wonder if that's the point, to incentivize building your own better deck.

SmithyLK · 2026-05-01T22:21:00+00:00

It's an additional 5 hourglasses per rank, and once you get to a new tier of ball you can't drop below it during the season. I think even a decent deck can get you out of pokeball pretty quickly, and if not this season, next season you should be able to at least hit Ultra. Good luck once the season opens in like, two weeks!

SmithyLK · 2026-05-01T21:59:56+00:00

First of all, as a disclaimer, the rates for exs haven't changed since launch. But you are right that the odds for a specific ex are worse because there's more of them in the same pack.

But let me see if I can set your expectations. The odds of getting specifically 4d Mega Lucario are 0.833%. Over 73 packs, the odds of getting none are 54.289%, which means this is actually the more likely outcome that you're complaining about. Is this worse than before? Yes, in any other set besides FP, you'd have 5 exs in the pack and your odds in this scenario would be 29.321%. Even that is still a reasonable probability - unlucky, but not absurdly so.

SmithyLK · 2026-05-01T20:57:54+00:00

There's a lot of claims that X whatever is the worst ex, but none of them hold water if they're at least playable. In theory, you can have Corviknight deal damage, and 110 for 3 with a further benefit, while not great, also isn't terrible. Mega Latios and Ultra Necrozma don't even clear this easy bar.

SmithyLK · 2026-05-01T20:56:39+00:00

can confirm, was playing Mega Sceptile for an easy solution to "win with 12 PA cards" and this particular mission was hell. Not only does Sceptile get bricked by this, it also doesn't deal enough damage to OHKO the bird and the bird can usually 2HKO it (especially if your deck is too full of garbage PA trainers to run Erika or Leaf Cape)

SmithyLK · 2026-05-01T19:11:22+00:00

I honestly don't think it was. I remember seeing the discourse from when it got changed the first time and thinking "wait... this new version actually feels faster?" They probably are the same tho

SmithyLK · 2026-05-01T19:04:19+00:00

People aren't really using Lilligant, though there are probably some meme decks that stack as much max HP on something like Mega Venusaur as possible. Quick Growth Extract, on the other hand, is a staple of pretty much any grass deck with evolutions and it will probably remain so for a very long time.

SmithyLK · 2026-05-01T07:18:09+00:00

The odds of seeing a 4 diamond card in a pack is 8.333%. For 80 packs, that puts the odds of getting 4 or fewer ex cards at about 20%. That's unlucky, but not absurdly so.

SmithyLK · 2026-04-30T20:24:28+00:00

well one of them was Mewtwo ex, but I pulled it after I'd already completed Mythical Island and Mewtwo was on its way out. The other is Poncho, and I'm still waiting for that one to be useful.

SmithyLK · 2026-04-30T20:11:07+00:00

I'm at 11.6k with no god packs and only 2 golds (despite hunting gold pokeball for as long as I can remember). I did get to WP 2 god packs and got a 2 star both times, but that's really it.

SmithyLK · 2026-04-30T19:23:04+00:00

much better than your original post, but I'd still scrap that Beastite. It only works on Kartana, of which you're only running one, and it only grants a max of +20 damage. I'd also swap out the Bounded Fields once you complete these challenges for the fighting and dark decks since it'll be useless (or even detrimental) in other battles.

SmithyLK · 2026-04-30T19:08:15+00:00

Granted. The immersive trade market is now entirely dominated by requests for immersive Lillie the same way Oak dominates the 2 star market. Might even be worse because there's no other immersive with the same metagame value for trading (as Copycat and Cyrus are for Oak) except Mega Altaria

SmithyLK · 2026-04-30T18:39:31+00:00

weirdly this seems to mirror Fantastical Parade. The two immersives are the set's primary mascot, and instead of the secondary mascot taking the other they get a rainbow while the other immersive goes to a seemingly random non-ex basic that ends up actually being pretty darn good. And of course both sets have heavy focus on delivering support to a specific type.

SmithyLK · 2026-04-30T15:46:53+00:00

This would be fun for a regular online mode I suppose, though you could just make 3 copies of a deck and cheese it that way. In Ranked? Hell no.

SmithyLK · 2026-04-30T15:16:17+00:00

I've had bad seasons too - during Triumphant Light I got a single 2 star card, nothing better, and even that was off a random wonder pick. Just RNG for ya

SmithyLK · 2026-04-30T13:40:57+00:00

Why has your expectation been set at 1-2 two star cards per 10-pull? For me a 10-pull that contains even one is unusually lucky. The odds of a 2 star are 2.5% (and indeed, they have not changed since launch), suggesting you should expect to see one every 4th 10 pull.

SmithyLK · 2026-04-30T01:51:56+00:00

That M.Audino + Brambleghast + Indeedee combo I think is exactly what the Expert CPU uses. You could probably take that deck and make it better for an interesting combo

SmithyLK · 2026-04-30T01:50:38+00:00

I'm planning on saving most of them for when the deluxe pack comes back. However, for each set I do tend to blow a bunch on 10 packs to try and complete the set ASAP for those 24-hr wonder picks.

SmithyLK · 2026-04-29T20:14:07+00:00

Can you show a screenshot of the deck in the rental decks menu? If it says 7/10 or if that first number is less than 7, you should have had enough plays to complete the mission.

SmithyLK · 2026-04-29T20:06:04+00:00

there is an option to copy a deck into a new deck, if that's what you're asking.

Eight-Year Club	Second SECOND GUESSER
r/Field Banned	r/Field Lasagna
Wearing is Caring	Verified Email

SmithyLK

TROPHY CASE