IntroductionWe've known that Mega Rayquaza ex would be released in the last half of this year (2026) for a while now. If you need a reminder, here it is in the original Japanese version:Mega Rayquaza exIt will come out in the West in the Delta Reign set in November, 2026, but it has already been out in Japan, as it came out in the Storm Emeralda set in July this year.Rayquaza in Pokémon TCGIt's common for the Pokémon Company to recycle old concepts and adapt them in new generations. If you'd like to see more about what they did with this block in particular, check out this article.This new Mega Rayquaza ex is similar to Black & White: Dragon Exalted's Rayquaza EX. Its attack was named Dragon Burst then, but the new version is called Emerald Break. The Sword & Shield: Evolving Skies version, Rayquaza VMAX EVS 111, also had a similar attack.They also share another detail: they both need certain support Pokémon to get Electric energies. Rayquaza-EX DRX 85 needs Eelektrik NVI 40, and Rayquaza VMAX EVS 111 needs Flaaffy EVS 55.Nonetheless, the new version is a bit different as well. Instead of discarding energies to deal more damage, it deals more damage according to how many energies are attached to your Pokémon!So, let's explore this Pokémon. First, we'll show you the first idea we had for this Pokémon. Then, we'll show you a few other combos you can set up with it and other Standard-legal cards so you can get inspired and build your own decks.Without further ado, let's go!Mega Rayquaza ex in Standard - 2026/2027DecklistPOKÉMON: 153 Mega Rayquaza ex (ME6 ???)3 Ethan's Ho-Oh ex DRI 393 Mega Kangaskhan ex MEG 1042 Meowth ex POR 621 Talonflame ex (ME6 ???)2 Latias ex SSP 761 Fezandipiti ex SFA 38TRAINERS: 324 Lillie's Determination MEG 1192 Crispin PRE 1052 Zinnia's Trust (M6 ???)1 N's Plan BLK 831 Cyrano SSP 1702 Boss's Orders MEG 1142 Gravity Mountain SSP 1773 Pokégear 3.0 BLK 843 Ultra Ball MEG 1313 Mega Signal MEG 1213 Adventure Lantern (M6 ???)1 Energy Recycler DRI 1641 Sacred Ash DRI 1681 Special Red Card CRI 822 Energy Switch MEG 1151 Precious Trolley SSP 185ENERGIES: 128 Basic Fire Energy sv3 2304 Basic Lightning Energy sv1 257Mega Rayquaza ex: Main AttackerMega Rayquaza exIts ability lets you, when you play it from your hand to your bench, look at the top 4 cards in your deck, get any basic energies you find among them, and attach one of them directly to Mega Rayquaza ex.Next, its attack, Storm Emeralda. It deals 50 damage for each Fire or Electric energies attached to your Pokémon!If there are 7 Fire energies attached to your Pokémon, this attack will deal 350 damage!Recursive PokémonTalonflame ex: A New Pokémon from Storm EmeraldaIts ability, Excited Dive, is only available when a colorless (C) Mega Pokémon ex is in play. If so, and if you have Talonflame ex in your hand, you may then put it on your bench directly.This is an excellent way to put this Pokémon in play without playing its previous evolutions first (Fletchling and Fletchinder). You'll play it as if it were a basic Pokémon.Now the best part: its attack! Talon Hunt deals 150 damage and lets you get any 2 cards in your deck and put them in your hand!Another extremely positive detail is that you can retreat Talonflame ex for free!Card Draw PokémonMega Kangaskhan ex MEG 104's ability, Run Errand, lets you draw 2 cards per turn while it is your active Pokémon (please note that this effect doesn't stack).Considering this Pokémon is a bit heavy and you need a lot of energies to retreat it, the best strategy is playing it with Latias ex SSP 76. This card will allow you to retreat Mega Kangaskhan ex for free so that you can put Mega Rayquaza ex as your active Pokémon after drawing cards!Fezandipiti ex SFA 38's ability, Flip the Script, lets you draw 3 cards if one of your Pokémon was knocked out by an enemy attack in the previous turn.Ethan's Ho-Oh ex: Energy SupportIts ability, Golden Flame, lets you attach up to 2 basic Fire energies in your hand to one of your benched Pokémon as long as it is one of Ethan's Pokémon.To use this ability consistently, all you have to do is keep at least 2 Ethan's Ho-Oh ex DRI 39 in play.To get the basic Fire energies you need, you'll play a new Item from this set: Adventure Lantern.Latias ex: MobilityLatias ex SSP 76's ability, Skyliner, lets you retreat all your basic Pokémon for no energies at all.As all the Pokémon in this deck are considered basic Pokémon, it is perfect in this strategy!Meowth ex: Getting SupportersFinally, we have Meowth ex POR 62. Its ability, Last-Ditch Catch, lets you get a Supporter from your deck, reveal it, and put it in your hand when you play this Pokémon from your hand to your bench.TrainersSupportersLillie's Determination MEG 119 lets you shuffle your hand back into your deck and draw 6 cards. If you have exactly 6 Prize cards left, you'll draw 8 cards instead.Cyrano SSP 170 lets you get up to 3 Pokémon ex from your deck and keep them in your hand.Boss's Orders MEG 114 lets you pull an enemy benched Pokémon to the opponent's active spot. You should use it to knock out any problematic Pokémon in your way.Crispin PRE 105 lets you get 2 basic energies from your deck, attach one of them to a Pokémon, and keep the other in your hand.Most of the time, you'll attach a Fire energy to one of your benched Pokémon and keep the Electric energy in your hand. Later on, you may use this Electric energy to use Mega Rayquaza ex's attack whenever necessary, as this list doesn't play a lot of them.N's Plan BLK 83 lets you move up to 2 energies from one of your benched Pokémon to your active Pokémon.You'll use it occasionally to move the Basic Fire Energy sv3 230 you'll get with your Ethan's Ho-Oh ex DRI 39s to your active Mega Rayquaza ex. Remember, it needs (F)(L)(C) to work.This list plays another new card from the new set, Storm Emeralda: Zinnia's Trust.You'll use it to swap your active Pokémon with one of your benched Pokémon, and, when you do, move an energy that was attached to that benched Pokémon to your new active Pokémon.ItemsItems to Get PokémonUltra Ball MEG 131 lets you get any Pokémon in your deck (evolution or basic), as long as you discard 2 cards from your hand.Mega Signal MEG 121 lets you get 1 Mega Pokémon ex from your deck.Item to Filter SupportersItem to Move EnergiesItem to Get Energies: Adventure LanternThis card is also from the new set, Storm Emeralda. It lets you get 1 basic Fire energy and 1 basic Electric energy at the same time!Item to Sabotage The Opponent's HandThis card from Chaos Rising is quite critical. You can only play it when the opponent has 3 Prize cards left or less.But, when you do, they'll shuffle their own hand back into the bottom of their deck and then only draw 3 cards.It works like an Unfair Stamp TWM 165, but it isn't an ACE SPEC, so you can use another ACE SPEC you prefer in this list.Item to Recycle Cards In GeneralSacred Ash DRI 168 recycles up to 5 Pokémon from your discard pile back into your deck.Energy Recycler DRI 164 recycles up to 5 basic energies from your discard pile back into your deck.StadiumThis Stadium makes all stage 2 Pokémon in play lose 30 HP. Like so, you'll be able to knock out the most popular Pokémon in the format right now with Mega Rayquaza ex a bit more easily. This includes Cynthia's Garchomp ex DRI 104, which will have 300 HP instead of 330 HP. Like so, you'll only need 6 Fire energies to deal exactly 300 damage with Mega Rayquaza ex and knock out Cynthia's Garchomp ex!ACE SPECThis ACE SPEC is considered an Item. It lets you get basic Pokémon from your deck and put them directly on your bench, so it's a great way to set up your game plan early on.Other Card CombosIono’s Bellibolt exThis Pokémon's ability lets you attach as many Electric energies as you like to your Pokémon as long as they're Iono's Pokémon.It's almost the same as Ethan's Ho-Oh ex DRI 39, but while Ho-Oh only lets you attach 2 Fire energies, Iono's Bellibolt ex JTG 53 lets you attach as many Electric energies as you want!You may also play it with Levincia JTG 150, which recycles another 2 Basic Lightning Energy sv1 257.With Adventure Lantern, you'll constantly be able to get Electric energies. Energy Recycler DRI 164 will, in turn, allow you to recycle them.Terapagos ex + Colorless BoxIn this case, Terapagos ex PRE 92 will enable Area Zero Underdepths PRE 94, which will, in turn, expand your bench to 8 slots. With it in play, you may then use Glass Trumpet PRE 110 (which only works if there is a Terastal Pokémon ex in play) to recycle up to 2 basic energies from your discard pile and attach them to your colorless Pokémon. It's great for Mega Rayquaza ex.Like any great Terapagos ex PRE 92 list, this one plays at least the Noctowl PRE 78 evolution line to filter Trainers.Storm Emeralda will also bring us another new Tool: it's called Mega Rayquaza Cap, an energy support card.This Tool gives the Pokémon it is attached to a new attack.Its effect lets you get in your deck a basic energy for each Pokémon in play with Mega Rayquaza Cap attached.To get these Tools faster, you may use Farfetch'd TWM 132 from Twilight Masquerade. Its ability, Impromptu Carrier, lets you, when you play it from your hand to your bench, get any Tool in your deck!ComboWith Fan Rotom PRE 85's ability, Fan Call, you'll get 3 Farfetch'd TWM 132 from your deck.Afterward, with Farfetch'd TWM 132's ability, you'll get Mega Rayquaza Caps, and, when Area Zero Underdepths PRE 94 expands your bench, you'll put Terapagos ex PRE 92 in play and start an energy loop.The New Stadium, Legendary SummitThe last option for the colorless archetype is a new Stadium that works with the old LEGENDS mechanic. This card only works if you combine 2 cards and put them in play at the same time.Its effect states that, if any of your colorless Pokémon are knocked out, the opponent will get one Prize card less.In practice, this means that if the opponent takes down a colorless single-prize Pokémon, they'll get no Prize cards instead of 1.If they take down a colorless Rule Box Pokémon (like Pokémon ex or Terastal Pokémon eX), instead of 2 Prize cards, they'll only get 1.If they take down a Mega Pokémon ex, instead of 3 Prize cards, they'll get 2 Prize cards.EmboarWith Firebreather PFL 89, you may get up to 7 Fire energies from your deck and put them in your hand. Then, with Emboar WHT 13's Inferno Fandango ability, you may attach them freely to your Pokémon.After you use Mega Rayquaza ex's attack and hoard these energies, you may lose them if the opponent knocks out the Pokémon they are attached to. If so, all you need to do is use Energy Recycler DRI 164 to return them to your deck and keep this cycle going.EelektrikAnother viable option from the old Black & White block is the classic ability Dynamotor. Rayquaza has always seen play with this ability. Check out these videos from 13 years ago:Final WordsThe main list we explored in this article will struggle against Team Rocket's Watchtower DRI 180 because it will disable Mega Rayquaza ex's, Talonflame ex's, and Mega Kangaskhan ex's abilities.Similarly, the Terapagos Box version will struggle against Team Rocket's Watchtower DRI 180 because it disables the entire structure centered around colorless abilities.The Pokémon Company may have decided to make this Pokémon colorless precisely to balance it and prevent it from becoming too oppressive. If it were released as a Dragon (Dragapult ex PRE 73 is a similar case), it wouldn't have a straightforward weakness in the current format. Personally, I believe this is a bad decision because this way the colorless archetype is too fragile and not that effective against the other types.Even if it were released as a Dragon, we could answer it with Lillie's Clefairy ex JTG 56's ability, Fairy Zone.Another noticeable weak spot is Mega Rayquaza ex's HP, which is not that great for a "basic" "legendary" Pokémon. I believe that 300 HP at least and 330 HP at the most would be excellent. For instance, basic Pokémon like Mega Kangaskhan ex MEG 104 have 300 HP, and this is a "common Pokémon."What do you think? Tell us your thoughts in our comment section below.Thank you for reading, and see you next time!
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