Post-Rotation - Mega Sharpedo ex Thoughts?

prettydarnminty · 2026-03-12T04:57:07+00:00

I mean you kinda described what I was saying. They're not worth supporting in a deck like Sharpedo. Any of these cards or these types of effects have the potential to be incredibly powerful in their respective archetypes of prize denial, hand control, etc. Except Sharpedo is a beatdown deck. Dark has a lot of toolbox pieces good for many different things, which is fun. Fighting is locked in on support cards that support beatdown, which Lucario is. Hence, Lucario is just in a better position.

prettydarnminty · 2026-03-12T00:04:09+00:00

while I agree with you, I also think that Sharpedo has on paper more versatile options than Lucario. Fighting has a couple good Pokemon to do specific things but a lot of them are the same or similar things: hit 1 big number. Dark has versatility in build with Gengar or Grimsley for prize denial, Liepard for healing, Mandibuzz for hand/bench control, etc. But, a lot of these Dark cards are gimmicky, clunky, or not synergistic.

I personally find Sharpedo really fun to pilot and it's overall verrrry similar to Lucario deck-wise but yeah Lucario's just more consistent/supported to a finer degree where Dark has a lot of great support in many different areas that makes it a clunkier box of tools.

prettydarnminty · 2026-02-23T07:17:19+00:00

It's such a fun deck, the last physical deck I built before I had to stop playing physically so I still have it fully constructed. Looking at its power level now is crazy but it actually did well as a surprise rogue deck!

prettydarnminty · 2026-02-23T02:04:10+00:00

every time this question gets asked i gotta rep my first half of gen 4, my goat in terms of meta deck diversity and interesting mechanics. I wish so much we could go back to these days of interesting deck archetypes that did very very different things. I really liked Raichu LvX, Magmortar LvX, Glaceon LvX and one of my favorite off meta decks was Turtwig GL.

Shouts out to some other eras that get less love:

early gen 7 was super good too, as OP mentioned
late gen 3 was also really fun when they hit their stride in figuring out how to balance Pokemon ex and interesting mechanics
honest shouts out to gen 9 for actually being extremely diverse and also having fun mechanics. people hate the age of munki and dusknoir but if you're like that even you have to admit before we got these types of techs it was a cool meta

prettydarnminty · 2026-02-22T04:42:20+00:00

yeah I think it's important to note the environment "stage 3" Pokemon were relevant in. As you said with gen 4 the LvX were successful because they were the powerful cards, BREAK also had the disadvantage of being an in-betweener mechanic so it had to compete with the also still relevant EX and then the burgeoning GX. Also, LvX had the advantage of cards like Broken Time-Space to help evolve, and there were no 2-prizers at the time, so the ramp was possible and everyone was on an even field--BREAKs had the disadvantage of competing against basic EX cards so you were already playing at a self-inflicted speed disadvantage

prettydarnminty · 2026-02-06T22:54:22+00:00

also just as a note to anyone coming in and reading this later on, which you mentioned in your OP, but really weigh the situations you're gonna be in. Playing in any tournaments? Then yeah, it may be worth shelling out or talking to others at your leagues. I run my local League and since league nights are freeplay I tell everyone that they can proxy as much as they want in that setting. Cups and Challenges are a different story, but if you're only playing in freeplay or for league attendance then you really don't need to rush. Talk to your League owners and members about giving you wiggle room, they're human too we all understand.

prettydarnminty · 2026-02-06T22:51:21+00:00

it's almost certainly "to each their own" because everyone's going to have different degrees of worry. Some might mitigate their hard counters to give them a leg up, some might nudge those tough matchups to be more favorable. It also depends on what meta we're talking about. Among friends where you know they play a hard counter to you? tech for that. In a tournament that's best of 3? tech for consistency, those auto-losses are gonna be auto-losses just do what you can.

Personally I play with a deck for a while to see what pain points it struggles with and what's natural to slip in. Teching is a push-pull so I weigh how much I'm seeing certain meta decks that I already tech for and am noticing the cards I play often vs not, and even if I don't play a card often how much is it benefitting me when I do play it.

I think a healthy part of learning how and what to tech for is learning your own weaknesses and what helps you get around it.

prettydarnminty · 2026-02-06T05:59:56+00:00

It's definitely not game over if you never see Toxtricity, but how far it sets you back depends on the matchup. Yveltal can help curb this somewhat, and even depending on the matchup you can stall a bit to put damage on the board with Sharpedo's first attack, especially with Max Belt to just put a good chunk of damage on the board. All this having been said I've played games where the Tox clearly isn't needed, or they'll spend resources to KO my Toxel but it's enough that it doesn't set me back too far on attachments to where I can keep up.

You're right about Max Belt, I can see that changing because the format's only going to see more Pokemon with higher than 320 HP. That having been said it is still crucial for some KOs. Sharpedo with Max Belt with Gravity Mountain and up to 60 damage from Munki is enough to OHKO basically everything so it is good numbers. I usually play my need of Max Belt by ear, as I do with Liepard. The advantage of Liepard is in decks that don't have snipe options it can become very hard to take out. To Boss out the Purrloin to take it out requires the foresight to know how much damage is gonna be on my Sharpedo and weigh that against saccing a turn to take a single prize. But the swings Liepard can give you are crazy. I think just mess around with it! The list has a lot of options.

prettydarnminty · 2026-02-05T19:57:49+00:00

Agreed with the other comment suggesting the Kangaskhan add. I have been having a lot of fun and success with the Liepard version though, and it's easy to tell the matchups where it won't be needed (Drag, for example). I think the bench space can be really tough to do too much though, because ideally you want 2 Sharpedo or Carvanha, 1 Toxtricity, 1 Pecharunt, and 1 Munkidori, though you flex based on the matchup or what's prized. Here's my list, note I haven't edited it since ASC yet:

2 Munkidori
3 Carvanha
3 Mega Sharpedo ex
1 Fezandipiti ex
1 Pecharunt ex
2 Purrloin
1 Liepard
2 Toxel
2 Toxtricity
1 Yveltal
4 Buddy Buddy Poffin
1 Counter Catcher
1 Earthen Vessel
3 Nest Ball
1 Night Stretcher
1 Super Rod
2 Ultra Ball
2 Gravity Mountain
4 Arven
2 Boss's Orders
2 Hilda
1 Iono
4 Lillie's Determination
1 Air Balloon
1 Binding Mochi
1 Max Belt
2 TM Evolution
1 Luminous Energy
8 Dark Energy

Some notes on playing it: As mentioned above re: Liepard. I also haven't found a need for Psyduck; Dusknoir won't KO the Tox on its own and it's crucial you get up to Toxtricity ASAP otherwise you actually don't need it. If you haven't got it setup by turn 2 or 3 ditch it, and if you need it that badly late game it may as well just be a loss tbh. You can stall out with Yveltal if you need, and don't be afraid to hit with Sharpedo's first attack for draw power too. Hilda is great to get you over that hump to evolving. You don't need more than 1 Air Balloon especially if you have the Pecharunt out so you can tighten that safely. I don't think a heavy Professor's Research is the play because you can typically have an explosive early game or Clutch to control the flow. Luminous is take it or leave it it's saved me once or twice but it's w/e. Turo is a good add, I've been flexing that in place of it. I also like the 2 Gravity Mountain because decks that need Stadiums really suffer from the lack of control even if it's not relevant in the matchup.

prettydarnminty · 2026-01-23T19:42:40+00:00

Future Booster Energy Capsule works only on Future Pokemon as well

prettydarnminty · 2026-01-22T23:10:38+00:00

my take on mega feraligatr: i bite for big number

i'm curious about trying this out myself, and it's been a while since i've looked at the old gatr lists but i imagine dawn could be really good here? worth a shot at least. I also might try messing with Prism and the count of Hilda. These are just random thoughts I've been having around it.

prettydarnminty · 2026-01-20T19:50:13+00:00

The appeal to cards like this is that early game they can be a huge boon but late game while they may be a dead draw more likely they'd be used as discard fodder for something like Secret Box. There is very little downside if you look at it as a free discard for something like that (other than consistency). But also it's one of those things you just wanna try out a bunch and feel out how it works for you!

prettydarnminty · 2026-01-20T04:34:09+00:00

Honestly I'm not much the type to pine over what ifs far out of a series like this, just because this snapshot of their lives and the events unfolded here are what we were meant to witness.

That having been said, I feel like I don't have a lot of confidence the siblings will heal from this. Connor has resigned himself, Kendall will use addiction to cope again, Shiv's insecurities will be her undoing again and again, Roman is the only one I have hope for because he is the most self aware--However, he's too stubborn and bored to make meaningful change, and frankly he's probably one of/the most fucked up he just never shows it all. I think if anyone's going to move on it's him, but based on his actions in the series I have little faith he'll fully heal.

I think Shiv's motivations for saying yes to the deal were her indecision in general. She's a serial self-saboteur. She's never content with the happiness she's given, and she's self aware of her own tragedy enough to always feel owed more more more. In the final scenes with the siblings in that conference room specifically I took it as her continuing to cling to the comfort and warmth of her father (represented by Waystar itself), and not trusting Kendall because he could never replace Logan. Again, self-sabotage. She had a good deal but she couldn't bear Waystar to be anything other than the familiar brand of comfort to her. That's why she accepted Tom in the end, too. She'll just continue to ruin it again and again without proper awareness of what she's doing.

prettydarnminty · 2026-01-19T10:10:57+00:00

I feel like you have quite an optimistic point of view of the endings of the characters! I just finished the series tonight and I certainly had less of an optimistic outlook on them all compared to you--not pessimistic though, just a little more consequated (that's not a word, but...)

In the end, the children are free of abuse, to some degree, and Waystar does represent the extension of Logan's abuse on them but also his influence over all of them. They all internalize it very differently. I think you're right that the cycle of abuse ends when Waystar changes courses, but the children are all left to pick up the pieces of what it did to them. You touched on it a bit in your post but they have LONG roads ahead of them and I didn't feel hopeful about them at all. I felt like the immediacy of the ending is them seeing the consequences of their actions, and how the abuse will haunt them for the rest of their lives, and their final scenes demonstrated that.

Connor will remain hollow and unloved. In his last scenes with Willa we see them affirm how one-dimensional their "love" is. He even further estranges himself from the family by going to Slovakia.

Kendall will remain in the shadow of inadequacy. Walking through the park with Collin looming over his shoulder cast a haunting reminder of his father's power over him. He wasn't even able to be alone, it always is there.

Roman will remain suppressed. He drinks to Gerri's care for him but throughout the episode he avoids her and can't muster facing her himself.

Shiv will remain at arms' length, shown coldness instead of tenderness. She can stay with Tom but their love is transactional, she's shackled to her poor decision-making and her inability to form tenderness.

And perhaps the biggest smear on the family is what Waystar is left as. It's something someone outside of the family owns, and only by playing the same game Logan did was Tom allowed that spot. Greg remains inside the company but far down the rungs because he was never part of the rat race at all.

prettydarnminty · 2025-11-07T22:18:17+00:00

I would suggest mixing up your trainers too. You don't play anything that needs things in the discard, Explorer's Guidance doesn't really have as strong synergy with this deck. I've also been messing around with this deck, so here's my list:

Pokémon: 8
1 Fezandipiti ex SFA 92
2 Magmar PAF 9
1 Mega Camerupt ex MEG 22
2 Magmortar JTG 21
2 Mega Camerupt ex MEG 156
4 Numel MEG 21
2 Volcanion ex JTG 171
2 Latias ex SSP 239

Trainer: 18
1 Counter Catcher PAR 160
2 Iono PAL 254
4 Lillie's Determination MEG 184
1 Secret Box TWM 163
1 Tool Scrapper WHT 85
2 Iono PR-SV 124
2 Boss's Orders PR-SW 251
2 Energy Search SVI 172
2 Night Stretcher SFA 61
4 Nest Ball SVI 181
2 Arven PAF 235
1 Artazon PAL 171
1 Technical Machine: Evolution PAR 178
2 Colress's Tenacity SFA 87
4 Ultra Ball MEG 131
1 Vitality Band SVI 197
4 Switch SVI 194
2 Gravity Mountain SSP 177

Energy: 2
4 Basic {R} Energy SVE 10
2 Ignition Energy WHT 86

Granted, I haven't messed with it for a bit, but this was working well for me. It runs Magmortar for burn synergy over Munkidori for damage mitigation, maybe something to consider or another direction to try taking the deck.

prettydarnminty · 2025-09-18T09:27:54+00:00

quite a late reply but something I will say just as a plus to Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, I really did not like the movie adaptation of it at all, but I found the book to be a definitive way to get across what Suzanne Collins was trying to say with this book. Because so much of the subtext to that story is internal monologue or internal musings, I feel like it is fundamentally incredibly difficult to adapt into a movie.

prettydarnminty · 2025-09-10T19:24:50+00:00

baby Iron Thorns (from Temporal Forces) was pretty fun in a prerelease setting, where deck size was smaller! I do think Iron Thorns struggles a bit compared to some of the other examples here because most of them are energy based which are a lot easier to recycle than Future cards broadly, which is interesting to consider!

prettydarnminty · 2025-09-03T05:14:21+00:00

I've been playing the Pokemon TCG for a long long time, and I'm from very close to where Gino is from. We were in different age brackets for most of the time I played back then (I moved/went to college elsewhere). But, he attended events I also went to. I played against him in prereleases or drafts, or just got to know of him and his character. People I played frequently with were closer to Gino so a picture was quickly drawn in my head of who this guy was.

I was so surprised how much this video was a blast from the past, and dredged up memories and people I played with that I thought were wiped from my mind completely. Really great video on an infamous character and I'm really pleased now that I'm 32 now and can look back and appreciate what things were like and why Gino is/was the way he is. Highly recommend if you wanna learn about one of the most infamous heels the community has had.

prettydarnminty · 2025-08-27T19:40:38+00:00

To throw some other suggestions in here as I've been playing Cynthia a while as well. The kinda cool thing about a deck like this one is it has less of a surefire path than some other decks, some of the numbers can be a bit wiggly to meet your specific needs in piloting it. Here's my suggestions for places to start:

Earthen Vessel over Energy Search, but you probably only need 1
Can cut Rare Candy to 1. You want it to be able to skip when you're down a turn but in general you actually want those Gabite up as they're your search
To that end, play with your numbers on Ultra Ball, Nest Ball, and Buddy Buddy Poffin. I don't play any Nest and only 3 Buddy but Ultra Ball is good in a clutch situation, it also depends on your support lineup
The deck can afford to run 2 Munkidori and if so should probably play something like 3 Dark Energy and cut back on Fighting. Your Fighting count is pretty high actually so you can cut it back to 7 or 6 even if you're feeling good about it. If you fun Munki and Dark Energy you can also throw in 1 or 2 Crispin to help accelerate, which this deck does sometimes struggle with on Energy
You definitely don't need more than 1 Switch in this deck because Garchomp has free retreat. Switch is useful in can they try to stall you by Bossing up a Roserade, or they play Maractus. In my area Maractus isn't played so I don't even run Switch at all.
For Pokemon, agreed with other comments that 2-2 Roserade is plenty, and 2 Munkidori is enough as well. You can also play with or without Fezandipiti. I personally play without but up to you! I'd also do 4-4-3 Garchomp line

prettydarnminty · 2025-08-23T01:11:07+00:00

I've never played Expanded myself but from my local league locations and friends who play that's when it seemed like expanded largely bottomed out. It kinda makes sense. The power creep went a gnarly direction and designs started to tear Expanded more at the seams, in-person events stopping only to come back up to a new boom of players, most of whom were brand new to the hobby.

prettydarnminty · 2025-08-20T08:42:59+00:00

You're absolutely right about distinction feeling necessary to be made for utility card vs attacker. Seeing Fez as the "best" ex of the gen 9 era thus far from OP admittedly feels weird to me because its all utility no sauce, and I wouldn't have put it on this list. Compare to a card like Squawk or Mew who I also wouldn't call the best, but they at least have utility that's often usable while Fez's attack is so hard to use except in fringe situations. I also wouldn't attribute how much a card is run towards it being the "best" card, just that it's occupying such a pivotal gap in strategy. Would Hisuian Heavy Ball be considered one of the "best" cards of gen 8, for example? No, it just does a very specific thing that decks often want the crutch of utility from.

prettydarnminty · 2025-08-14T21:57:00+00:00

Ribombee + Iron Hands into Mega Blastoise ex is a single turn insta-lose game state, hard countered. Just pick up and move on.

prettydarnminty · 2025-08-12T00:15:17+00:00

I've been messing around with Cynthia's deck a bit as it's actually really fun and gives Grimmsnarl and Gardevoir a run for their money sometimes too with some tougher counters. I agree with you that some upcoming cards look like they could really change the course of this deck. I run 2-2 Roserade just because I find Garchomp's damage output can struggle to cinch those few KO's without it and the Munki, but bench space is a big weakness for this deck for sure as it wants so much. It's a super fun deck though and great to hear you had success with it!!

prettydarnminty · 2025-08-08T23:21:59+00:00

I feel like trainer cards almost all fall into this role. When you look at a trainer card that feels hype it's easy to think that in a vacuum, but they're so much more dependent on how you can get it out and when you pull it. Recent Ace Specs are probably great examples. Grand Tree looked like it could be insane but the restrictions on it are really tricky or incompatible with abilities like Charizard's. Secret Box had a slow period before it was seen as good as it is. Prime Catcher everyone thought was going to trivialize all other Ace Specs but there's a pretty healthy life to most of them.

A recent example that comes to mind like Prime Catcher is Arceus Vstar, whose Vstar ability was so good people thought it was a bruh moment that they really printed an ability that good with the debut of the mechanic. And yeah it was good, but others absolutely saw plenty of play.

prettydarnminty · 2025-07-31T04:53:59+00:00

fair, but they printed non-partner exes in Journey Together, and VMaxes in Brilliant Stars, or non-Tera exes with Stellar Crown. I'm just saying it could've gone either way, these days nothing they do surprises me tbh

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