Best Mega Sharpedo ex Decks

When you open a Mega Sharpedo ex deck list, look past the card that gives the deck its name. The most revealing card is often the one waiting on the Bench. Mega Sharpedo ex can pay for its own attack with one Water Energy, deal 70 damage, and attach a Water Energy from the Energy Zone to one of your Benched Water Pokémon. The first decision in a Sharpedo deck is where the extra Water goes. A Sharpedo build with Gyarados wants an attacker and a Bench it can afford to discard; a Sharpedo list with Chien-Pao ex wants three Water on one attacker.

Try this position before choosing a list. Your Mega is Active, a Water Pokémon on your Bench has no Energy, and the opposing Active has 140 HP remaining. Ignoring damage modifiers and healing, two hits for 70 would knock it out. That does not mean the opponent will stay put for two turns. If the damaged target retreats, the Sharpedo build with Gyarados usually has to face the new Active. A Sharpedo deck with Chien-Pao ex can still reach the original target once its attack is ready.

The identity of the recipient matters more than a raw count of Water Pokémon in the list. A Water Pokémon with no useful attack next turn can legally take the Energy, but that legal play may still waste your best chance to develop another attacker. Circle the intended recipient on the full Sharpedo list. A Mega Sharpedo ex deck without a Benched Water Pokémon cannot assign that extra attachment to the Mega itself.

Gyarados gives the deck a way to turn a developed Bench into immediate damage. Wild Swing costs two Water Energy and starts at 20 damage. You may discard your own Benched Water Pokémon for another 40 damage each. With no other modifiers, discarding zero, one, two or three gives 20, 60, 100 or 140 damage. Against 90 remaining HP the Sharpedo deck with Gyarados needs two discards, not three. Keep the third Pokémon if the Sharpedo list needs another attacker after this knockout.

A Pokémon on the Bench is rarely free simply because it is already in play. One might be your only remaining attacker; another might hold the extra Energy from Turbo Shark. Before selecting them for Wild Swing, imagine your board after the damage is dealt. If the game continues and your opponent can knock out Gyarados, what Pokémon would take its place? Discarding your own Benched Pokémon for Wild Swing does not give your opponent points. The rules distinguish a discard caused by an effect from a knockout. When the knockout wins the game, a Sharpedo build with Gyarados can spend its entire Bench. If a Mega Sharpedo ex deck still needs another point, save a replacement before committing to the attack.

The evolution line also changes how you read an opening hand. A Magikarp gives you a route to Gyarados, but a Gyarados in your hand cannot be the target of the Mega's acceleration until a suitable Pokémon is in play. Energy already attached to Magikarp stays when it evolves. Compare the Magikarp and Gyarados counts on each Sharpedo list. A Sharpedo deck that benches Magikarp early can attach to it now and keep the Energy through evolution.

Chien-Pao ex answers a different question. It is a Basic Pokémon, so it can enter play without a prior evolution. Icicle costs one Water Energy and deals 20 damage. Diving Icicles costs three Water Energy, discards all Water Energy attached to Chien-Pao ex, and deals 130 damage to one opposing Pokémon. The Sharpedo build with Chien-Pao ex trades all its Water for access to either row of the opponent's board. The Sharpedo deck with Gyarados trades Benched Pokémon for damage against the Active instead.

Suppose Turbo Shark has already damaged an opposing Pokémon and it retreats with 120 HP left. Gyarados cannot choose it as the target of Wild Swing from its new position. A ready Chien-Pao ex can choose it with Diving Icicles, assuming no effect prevents the damage. Count the points that knockout would earn before spending all the Water attached. At 120 HP on the Bench, the target is in range of the Sharpedo deck with Chien-Pao ex. A Sharpedo list with Gyarados needs another route to that point; more damage against the new Active does not hit the original target.

One extra attachment does not instantly pay a three-Water attack. If Chien-Pao ex had no Energy before Turbo Shark, it has one afterward. If you give it a normal attachment next turn, that makes two, still one short. On the other hand, an earlier attachment changes the entire sequence. Count normal attachments separately from Turbo Shark in a Mega Sharpedo ex deck. In a Sharpedo list with Chien-Pao ex, starting the turn with one Water already attached can change which turn the three-Water attack is ready.

Lisia looks for two random Basic Pokémon with 50 HP or less in the deck and puts them into your hand. Wallace does a different job: choose one of your Water Pokémon in play with 50 HP or less in maximum HP, then evolve it with a random eligible Water evolution from the deck. The first Supporter finds potential starters; the second advances a Pokémon that is already on the board. Look at the Basics in the Sharpedo list before choosing a Supporter. A Sharpedo deck looking for Carvanha has a different problem from one with Carvanha in play and its evolution still in the deck.

Consider Carvanha, a 50 HP Water Basic. If you do not have it in play yet, finding it can open a path to the Mega. If you already have it in play and the appropriate evolution remains in the deck, the evolution Supporter can help with a different step. For a Mega Sharpedo ex deck using Wallace, count the eligible evolutions still in the deck. A Sharpedo build that already drew its only copy cannot search the hand with Wallace.

Maximum HP is not remaining HP. A larger Water Pokémon that has taken enough damage to fall to 50 remaining HP does not become a legal Wallace target for that reason. Similarly, the Basic search does not promise to draw two Carvanha. A damaged Pokémon does not become eligible just because a Sharpedo deck can reduce its remaining HP to 50. Check printed maximum HP on the actual Carvanha in the Sharpedo list before counting it as a target.

Mega Sharpedo ex has no printed retreat cost. While nothing else changes that cost or prevents retreat, it can leave the Active Spot without discarding Energy to pay for retreat. This makes a developed partner particularly valuable: you can move the Mega away and attack with something that was just powered on the Bench. Free retreat gives a Mega Sharpedo ex deck a choice, not a free attack. A Sharpedo list with a powered partner can switch and deal damage; a list with an empty Bench cannot use retreat as an escape.

When a Mega Evolution Pokémon ex is knocked out, the opponent takes three points. If you are used to treating every Pokémon ex as a two-point target, that difference changes how you evaluate a damaged Mega. Keeping it Active for another 70 damage can lose the game immediately if the opponent can knock it out. Before leaving the Mega Active in a Sharpedo deck, count the three points at risk. A Sharpedo build facing a Bench-targeting attack may still lose those points after retreating.

Soothing Shore heals 20 damage from each of the turn player's Pokémon with Water Energy attached at the end of that player's turn. It can benefit the opponent on their turn as well. Imagine two planned 70-damage hits against a target with 140 HP. If it heals 20 between them, the original calculation no longer gives a knockout. Work out both players' healing before adding Soothing Shore to a Sharpedo list. A Mega Sharpedo ex deck planning two hits of 70 against 140 HP can miss its knockout if the opponent heals between hits.

Start with the edition of the partner, not just its name. Two cards called Gyarados need not have the same attack or even ask for the same Energy. Match the set and card number to the card image on the full list. Check the set number in the Sharpedo deck with Gyarados. Another Gyarados print may fit the evolution line but cannot reproduce this Sharpedo build unless it has the attack your plan depends on.

Trainer inclusion and copies per deck answer different questions. If several lists each contain Wallace, every such list adds one to its inclusion count, even if some lists contain two copies. The combined Trainer section helps identify cards to inspect. Compare the combined Trainer sample with one submitted Sharpedo list. A Wallace count for the whole Sharpedo deck family does not reveal how many copies the Gyarados version played.

Do the same with tournament statistics. A game count is not a count of unique players. A single event finish is not the expected finish of every copy of the deck. A matchup listed for one specific Sharpedo pairing should not be transferred to another just because they share the same Mega. A matchup for the Sharpedo build with Chien-Pao ex is not a result for every Sharpedo deck. If the Sharpedo list with Gyarados has no row for that opponent, that is missing evidence rather than a predicted even matchup.

When testing the Gyarados version, record how many useful Water Pokémon were on the Bench at the moment you wanted to use Wild Swing. Separate losses where you never found the evolution from losses where you found it but could not afford the discards. The first problem points toward finding or evolving the right Basic. For the Sharpedo build with Gyarados, record whether the problem was finding the evolution or paying for the discard. A change that helps the Sharpedo deck find Magikarp may do nothing for an already evolved Gyarados with no Bench.

For the Chien-Pao ex version, track where each of the three Water Energy came from before its first big attack. Mark whether the intended target was Active or Benched and whether 130 was enough. If you kept reaching three Water but missing a knockout by a small margin, another way to attach Energy is not necessarily the answer. For the Sharpedo list with Chien-Pao ex, record how the three Water arrived. If the Sharpedo deck reached three but missed a knockout at 130, faster attachments would not have changed the damage.

Finally, try the same opening twice with a different first recipient for Turbo Shark. Keep the rest of the decisions as similar as possible. Compare the attacks you can actually use next turn, the points at risk on each side and the retreat options still open to you. Test the same opening with a different first recipient in your Mega Sharpedo ex deck. Return to the submitted Sharpedo list to check whether the alternative line is possible with its actual cards.

Imagine you need one more point and the opposing Active has 60 HP remaining. With no other modifiers, the Mega's 70 damage already wins. Moving into Gyarados or waiting for a third Water Energy on Chien-Pao ex adds work without changing the result. Now move that same damaged target onto the opposing Bench. At 60 HP in the Active Spot, the Mega Sharpedo ex deck already has enough damage. Move that same target to the Bench and the Sharpedo build with Chien-Pao ex has an option that the Sharpedo deck with Gyarados does not.

Change the exercise once more. You need two points, a one-point target is in range, and the opponent can attack your Mega on the reply. Is there a route to both points that does not leave it exposed? Perhaps the one-point knockout is still correct because you can take it with Gyarados and keep the Mega out of reach. Work backward from the points still needed. A Sharpedo build with Gyarados can sometimes take a point without exposing the Mega; a Sharpedo list with Chien-Pao ex may be able to reach a more valuable target.

Before copying a list, try one last check with your own collection. Lay out the Basic, evolution and Energy recipient for your intended sequence. If you lack an alternate artwork with identical gameplay, compare its printed text to another version you own. If the text differs, treat it as a change of plan rather than a cosmetic substitution. Lay out the first three cards of your plan before copying a Sharpedo deck. A substitute in the Sharpedo list must preserve the attack or HP condition you rely on, even when the Pokémon names match.