Pokémon Pocket: Mega Rising Review - Pokémon ex & Mega Pokémon

Mega Rising is finally here, after a long month without any new cards! And, alongside it, we also got the highly expected new Mega Evolutions!

As this set brought many cards and is the biggest set since the game was released, we'll review it in two different articles. In this one, we'll focus solely on new Pokémon ex and Mega Pokémon ex.

We'll rate all cards from ★☆☆☆☆ (one star) to ★★★★★ (five stars) like so:

★☆☆☆☆: Bad card that will probably not see any play.

★★☆☆☆: Decent card that should see play in low-tier decks.

★★★☆☆: Good card that should see play in high-tier decks.

★★★★☆: Great card that should see play in several meta decks.

★★★★★: Excellent card that will either define the meta or become a staple.

Mega Pinsir ex is as powerful as an ordinary Pokémon ex. It also has less HP than many Grass Pokémon ex, and its setup is a bit too slow for what it wants to do.

The good news is that it is a basic Pokémon, so it should be a great tank early on.

The bad news is that it is a Mega Pokémon, and if your opponent knocks it out, you'll lose the game. So, using Mega Pinsir ex as a tank and your deck's ACE card doesn't seem smart. This is why it is one of the weakest cards in the game.

Whimsicott ex is versatile and could be very useful in a few specific matchups. The issue is that these matchups should be quite rare in this patch. This Pokémon deals more damage if the enemy Pokémon needs a lot of energies to retreat.

Currently, most strategies in the game don't play Pokémon that need more than 2 energies to retreat, so Whimsicott ex probably won't be able to deal much damage. Considering it is a stage 1 Pokémon ex, it is quite bad.

This card is great. It is actually one of the few Fire Pokémon that doesn't force you to discard energies from it when it attacks.

Rapidash ex is quite similar to the Rapidash from the first set: it is simple and fast, and all you need to do is attack and forget about everything else. The difference is that Rapidash ex is a bit more complex, though just slightly.

Because it also deals damage to the enemy bench, it goes really well with Cyrus, which is still one of the best cards in the entire game. The only problem is that Rapidash ex probably won't be as popular as Mega Blaziken ex. It should still take a while before we see its true potential.

Mega Blaziken ex will most likely be the most popular card in the game in the next few weeks. One of the reasons for this is that, besides being quite cool, it is also quite strong.

Its strength comes from its setup, which is extremely fast and simple. It also has a massive amount of HP. Though it doesn't deal as much damage as a few other cards (we definitely don't recommend it for competitive tournaments, for instance, as it only deals 140 damage), it burns the opponent. So, in theory, it deals the standard, recommended amount of damage.

In practice, though, that might not be the case. The meta will certainly center around this card, and all lists will try to counter it. So, we'll give it a symbolic rating of four stars and a half. It is essentially one of the best cards in the game in a vacuum, but, in practice, it should be just above average, and a few other cards will be slightly better.

Mega Gyarados ex should be one of the best cards in the entire patch, as it has a massive amount of HP and a strong attack that could destroy the opponent's strategy.

We all know Water decks have had an issue called Misty since the game was released. This season, she should shine once again and go from the best support card to possibly the best card in the entire game.

The only weakness old Gyarados ex decks had was that they struggled a bit to keep Magikarp alive in the first few turns, that is, if you couldn't find Gyarados soon. Other than that, they are still great, and, as they are similar to Mega Gyarados ex, the new builds are practically already good to go. This should make this archetype quite popular.

Another important factor that should make this Gyarados even more powerful is that Water decks can heal. Healing a Pokémon with 210 HP should be quite annoying for the opponent.

Greninja ex is quite similar to its regular version (which is currently one of the best cards in the game) and could be a great replacement for Giratina ex in Suicune ex lists.

This is one of the most versatile cards in the entire game and could change entire archetypes completely. I believe the regular version should still be the strongest, but certainly the decks that play Greninja should bring a copy of Greninja ex as a second win condition.

This card could make many meta decks quite efficient and well-rounded. It could become a great alternative win condition.

We may hear the sentence "Very little is said about Jolteon ex" a lot in the next few weeks.

This card is extremely powerful and already has a lot of support, such as Volt Switch, Zeraora, and Pichu. This entire archetype is practically ready and could become one of the best in the meta because it is strong against Mega Gyarados ex.

Jolteon ex interacts really well with Cyrus without even trying and deals a fair amount of damage that is the standard for Electric decks. Jolteon ex might not be the most popular archetype, but it will certainly become one of the strongest.

This card only deals a lot of damage.

One of the most common strategies in the game is not filling your bench with basic Pokémon so that your opponent can't play Cyrus or Sabrina to swap your active Pokémon for another damaged Pokémon or one with less HP.

Mega Ampharos ex interacts with Cyrus and punishes the opponent that plays against Cyrus, like we mentioned above. As a result, it could be one of the best cards in the entire game. And we haven't even mentioned its 210 HP.

Considering this is one of the main "stars" of this set, Mega Altaria ex looks quite ordinary. We also rated it four and a half, like Mega Blaziken ex. It is better than a regular ex card but a bit weak for a Mega card.

Indeedee ex is clearly one of the best Psychic Pokémon in the game and should be Mega Altaria ex's main support card. Actually, it should be able to support any strategy in the game.

Like a new healing sort of Sylveon ex, we should play only one copy of Indeedee ex in our decks. We don't even have to bring Psychic energies for it because we don't need to use its attacks.

This card could become a new staple. By itself, it could also make all matches considerably slower.

Hitmonchan ex isn't spectacular but is also not that bad. It's just like its attack: "Quick and Straight".

It could become a new staple in Lucario strategies and replace its regular version, the Hitmonchan from the first set. And that's all.

It's only a very simple card that slightly upgrades a tier-2 deck. This deck, in turn, performs really well on the ranked queue and once in a while does well in tournaments.

Mega Absol ex doesn't seem as explosive as other Mega Pokémon, but, in the right hands, it should be quite annoying to face.

Removing a support card from your opponent could destroy their plans completely. That's why Mega Absol ex could be great in tournaments. It might not be popular on the ranked queue, but it should shine a lot in competitive settings.

This card has a conditional effect that is a little bit too weak and doesn't deal enough damage for a stage 1 Pokémon ex. So, it should be one of the weakest Pokémon ex in this set.

Currently, Darkrai ex and Guzzlord ex are much better options than Dragalge ex, as well as a lot more consistent.

Melmetal ex looks a bit old school, as its strategy and design is a bit outdated. However, in practice, it is quite efficient, and the game actually has many support defensive Metal cards that should make Melmetal ex quite resilient.

It could be a great rogue list because it deals a lot of damage and can protect itself quite efficiently. The problem is that its setup is a bit too slow compared to the other strategies in the meta. As a result, it will rely a bit too much on its protection cards.

Finally, we have Tauros ex, which deals 30 damage to itself if you miss its coin flip. By far it is the worst Pokémon ex in this set and probably one of the worst Pokémon ex in the game.

It's ugly and fugly.

If you read this far, thank you! I hope you had fun and enjoyed reading this article.

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See you next time!