Pokemon TCG Pocket’s Space-Time Smackdown expansion has introduced a whole bunch of wonderful, shiny cards, with an abundance of alternative artwork and rare ex Pokemon for players to try and get their hands on. One such card brought into the mix with this expansion is Grass-type, Yanmega ex.
Yanmega ex is certainly not the most powerful ex Pokemon we’ve seen, but they’re viable in a wide range of decks given that they only require Colourless Energy. Because of this, and the fact Yanmega ex must discard Energy to attack, they’re great with Dialga ex and/or Lilligant. Anyways, here’s our Pokemon TCG Pocket Yanmega ex deck guide and card list.
Pokemon TCG Pocket Yanmega ex deck guide and card list
The best Yanmega ex deck in Pokemon TCG Pocket is a costly one, requiring you to have four rare ex cards to really make the most of it. That said, Yanmega ex rather interestingly — as a Grass-type Pokemon — does not require any Grass-type Energy to attack, meaning you can mix and match them with a wide range of cards.
Ultimately, however, Yanmega ex ideally wants to be paired with a Pokemon that can help successfully stack Energy onto it, and this is where Dialga ex comes in clutch.
- 2x Yanma
- 2x Yanmega ex
- 2x Dialga ex
- 1x Skarmory
- 1x Rocky Helmet (for Skarmory)
- 2x Giant Cape (for Yanmega ex)
- 2x Poke Ball
- 2x Professor’s Research
- 2x Dawn
- 2x Leaf
- 1x Sabrina (or Cyrus)
- 1x Pokemon Communication
First and foremost, we want to try and have Dialga ex in the Active Spot from the beginning of the game. You want to use a combination of your Poke Ball Item cards, and your Professor’s Research Supporter cards to try and secure this. In a pinch, you can also use the Pokemon Communication Item card to swap an unneeded Pokemon in your hand — perhaps Skarmory or a spare Yanma — for a random Pokemon from your deck.
We’re also bringing along two Leaf Supporter cards, though you likely won’t need both and can swap one for another Pokemon or Trainer Card of your choosing. Leaf allows us to preserve Energy when retreating Dialga ex, who has a two Energy retreat cost, and this is important because thanks to the Dawn Supporter card, we can use that Energy later.
Use Dialga ex’s Metallic Turbo attack to take two Steel Energy from the Energy Zone and attach them to any Benched Pokemon; in this case, your Yanma/Yanmega ex, who fortunately only requires Colourless Energy. You ideally want to do this two or three times, stacking Yanmega ex significantly, before retreating Dialga ex for them. How many times you use Metallic Turbo will depend on your opponent’s deck and how quickly they get set up, and hopefully you have Leaf in your hand by this point.
If not, you can still retreat Dialga ex for Yanmega ex and discard the Energy. It’s not the end of the world, especially if Yanmega ex has six Energy attached, as this should be more than enough Energy for them to do what we need them to do. Depending on how your battle is going though, you could keep Dialga ex in the Active Spot for a bit longer. At the end of the day, Yanmega ex is not going to suffer from having a huge stack of Energy on them, they just might not get to use it all. Though, this is where Dawn then comes in!
The Dawn Supporter card allows you to move an Energy from one of your Benched Pokemon to your Active Pokemon, which is why retreating Dialga ex using Leaf is preferred. For example, let’s say Yanmega ex has four Energy attached and we put them into the Active Spot. They attack twice, and now they need more Energy to attack. You can use your Energy from the Energy Zone to begin building another Dialga ex or Yanmega ex on the bench, and use Dawn to move Energy from our pre-existing Dialga ex onto Yanmega ex in the Active Spot.
Similarly, let’s say you need to retreat Yanmega ex from the Active Spot after a single attack. You can use Dawn to move the energy on Yanmega ex onto Skarmory in a pinch, or use it to finish off building whatever is on your bench, be it Dialga ex or another Yanmega ex. Simply put, Dawn is a situational card, but they can make the difference between whether your Active Pokemon is able to attack or not.
Now, with the basics of this deck out of the way, we’re bringing along two Skarmorys as filler cards, but you could easily swap them for other filler Pokemon of your choosing, or for even more Trainer Cards. Skarmory is a Steel-type Basic Pokemon with 80HP. With a single Energy attached, they can deal 30 damage, but this is boosted to 50 if they have a Pokemon Tool attached. And this deck has enough Pokemon Tools to go around!
In an ideal world, you won’t need Skarmory, but they can come in clutch if your Yanmega ex or Dialga ex ends up on low HP and you don’t have another ex Pokemon ready to replace them. Similarly, Heatran is an alternative to Skarmory which is a bit more demanding, but very good with Dialga ex. They’re a Steel-type Basic Pokemon with 120HP that, with three Energy attached, can deal 110 damage to an opponent. Great, right? Well, it isn’t without its setbacks, as Heatran will do 20 damage to themselves as a result.
Though, if Dialga is able to quickly stack Energy on Yanmega ex, they could have time to start stacking Heatran, and having a Basic ‘mon who can deal 110 damage in a pinch is pretty nice.
Last, but not least, given Yanmega ex’s 140HP, we’re bringing two Giant Cape Tool cards to attach to them. This gives them an additional 20HP, and can save them from the most brutal of ex Pokemon’s attacks. We’re going to bring along the Sabrina Supporter card (or Cyrus) too, as this allows us to force an opponent to swap out any of their pesky hard-hitting Pokemon.
On top of this, given Skarmory requires an attached Pokemon Tool to maximise their damage, we’re bringing along one Rocky Helmet Tool card. Rocky Helmets, when attached, will dish out 20 damage to any opposing Pokemon that attacks whomever the tool is attached to. This allows us to get a little more damage out of Skarmory, but if you don’t end up using them, you can pop this tool onto Dialga ex or even Heatran (if you opt for them).
An additional note for players who do not have multiple Dialga ex: you could also consider bringing Petilil and Lilligant, who can deal 50 damage while attaching a single Grass-type Energy to a Benched Grass-type Pokemon. This deck is slower to set up and not as powerful, but still viable for various battles. If you do this, remember to swap your Steel-type Pokemon out, and set your deck’s Energy to Grass-type.
For more on Pokemon TCG Pocket, take a look at our list of the best decks in the game, as well as how to complete all of the Secret Missions available.