Pokémon TCG: Standard Deck Tech - Mega Greninja ex (Kanagawa City League Winner)

In today's article, we'll explore the Mega Greninja ex list that won the Kanagawa City League (a Japanese tournament equal to Western regionals) in the hands of トルスケ.

Please note that Japanese tournaments feature "best of 1" matches, and that makes their strategies a little different. Many of their decks only work in "best of 1" formats (Western decks, for instance, are built for best of 3 formats).

Decklist

POKÉMON: 18

4 Froakie M4 20 (Ninja Spinner/Chaos Rising)

3 Frogadier M4 21 (Ninja Spinner/Chaos Rising)

2 Mega Greninja ex M4 22 (Ninja Spinner/Chaos Rising)

2 Greninja ex TWM 106

2 Dunsparce JTG 120

1 Dudunsparce TEF 129

1 Meowth ex M3 61 (Nihil Zero/Perfect Order)

1 Fezandipiti ex ASC 142

1 Budew ASC 16

1 Psyduck ASC 39

TRAINERS: 30

4 Lillie's Determination MEG 119

3 Colress's Tenacity SFA 57

2 Boss's Orders MEG 114

2 Surfing Beach MEG 129

1 Grand Tree SCR 136

4 Buddy-Buddy Poffin TEF 144

4 Ultra Ball MEG 131

4 Poké Pad ASC 198

2 Rare Candy MEG 125

2 Special Red Card M4 72

1 Night Stretcher ASC 196

1 Air Balloon ASC 181

ENERGIES: 12

10 Water Energy MEE 3

2 Ignition Energy WHT 86

Mega Greninja ex

Ability: Deadly Shuriken - during your turn, if Mega Greninja ex is your active Pokémon, you may discard 1 basic Water energy from your hand and use this effect. If you do, you may then put 6 damage counters on an enemy Pokémon.

Attack: Ninja Spinner - this attack deals 120 base damage plus 80 extra damage if you return 1 Water energy attached to Mega Greninja ex to your hand.

Basically, this Mega Greninja ex is inspired by two Greninjas from X/Y:

It's excellent against baby Pokémon and lists that rely on their evolutions, like Dragapult ex PRE 73, Marnie's Grimmsnarl ex DRI 136, and Mega Charizard X ex PFL 13, for instance.

Terastal Greninja ex: Alternative Sniper Attacker

Both of its attacks are excellent!

Shinobi Blade deals 170 damage for just one Water (W) energy and also lets you look for any card you want in your deck.

As for its second attack, Mirage Barrage, it deals 120 damage to two enemy Pokémon if you discard 2 energies attached to Greninja ex TWM 106. It's a great sniper attack.

Recursive Pokémon

Pokémon ex

Meowth ex: the Nihil Zero newcomer.

A great support Pokémon will come in the next base set: Meowth ex. Its ability, Last-Ditch Catch, is similar to Lumineon V BRS 40's ability: it lets you get a Supporter from your deck when you play it from your hand to the bench.

Its attack, Tuck Tail, deals 60 damage and returns Meowth ex to the deck. You should use it defensively, that is, to protect it from enemy attacks after they use a Boss's Orders, for instance.

Its ability, Flip the Script, draws three cards if one of your Pokémon was knocked out on the previous turn by enemy attacks.

As most of this deck includes basic baby Pokémon and stage 1 Pokémon (Froakie and Frogadier, for instance), you'll be able to use this ability a few times.

Baby Pokémon

Dudunsparce TEF 129's ability draws three cards. If you use it, this Pokémon and all cards attached to it return to your deck.

Budew PRE 4's attack sabotages opponents because it prevents them from using items on their turn.

Psyduck - Disabling Abilities

This Psyduck will disable Dusclops SFA 19's and Dusknoir SFA 20's abilities.

Trainers

Supporters

Lillie's Determination MEG 119 shuffles your hand back into your deck and draws 6 new cards. If you have exactly 6 Prize cards left, it draws 8 cards instead of 6.

Colress's Tenacity SFA 57 filters a Stadium and an energy (basic or special) from your deck. You should use it to get Ignition Energy WHT 86.

Boss's Orders MEG 114 pulls enemy Pokémon from their bench into their active spot. Like so, you'll be able to target a specific Pokémon and knock it out.

Items to Get Pokémon

Ultra Ball MEG 131 gets any Pokémon (evolution or basic) from your deck if you discard 2 cards from your hand.

Buddy-Buddy Poffin TEF 144 gets 2 basic Pokémon with up to 70 HP from your deck and puts them on your bench.

Poké-Pad: the Nihil Zero newcomer.

Poké-Pad will replace Nest Ball sv1 181 after the April rotation, but it only gets baby Pokémon for you. This means all Pokémon that don't have a Rule Box.

Item to Evolve Pokémon

Rare Candy evolves Froakie into Mega Greninja ex or Greninja ex TWM 106 directly.

Item to Recycle Pokémon or Energies

Tools

This card lets you retreat the Pokémon it is attached to for 2 colorless energies less.

ACE SPEC

Grand Tree is a Stadium that lets you evolve your Pokémon a bit faster.

In particular, when you activate its effect, you may look for a stage 1 Pokémon that evolves from your Pokémon. You may get Frogadier, for instance, and evolve your Froakie straight away.

However, if you do this with a stage 1 Pokémon, you may then get its stage 2 Pokémon and put it over the Pokémon you recently evolved. This means you may evolve that Frogadier into Mega Greninja ex or Greninja ex TWM 106 straight away on that very same turn.

Special Energy

This deck is great at dealing small bits of damage and knocking out baby Pokémon. So, it's efficient against lists that rely on these baby Pokémon and their evolutions.

Japan features best-of-1 matches, which favors this game style. Spread/Sniper decks usually win quite easily in this format, but I believe they'll be great in the West, that is, in best-of-3 matches, as well.

Considering both Greninja in this list don't need a lot of energies to attack, this deck is a lot more dangerous than it seems. Fire decks will struggle against it, particularly Mega Charizard X ex PFL 13.

And, because these spread/sniper lists will be popular, you can be sure many players will invest in Shaymin DRI 10. This support Pokémon will help a lot against these strategies.

What do you think? Tell us your thoughts in our comment section below.

Thank you for reading, and see you next time!