Dragapult ex Ultimate Guide

How to play Dragapult ex:

Welcome to the free Dragapult ex guide!

Gameplay:

Always set up at least two Dreepy and a Duskull in the starting hand. Budew heavily depends on the matchup. Prioritize going slow and setting up, use Budew to stall, you’ll be pulling off massive turns rather than going for 2-2-2 KOs like most decks. Once Dragapult ex is online, start finding the best numbers to hit for. Usually this means using the Dusk line to nuke the board. Don’t hesitate to use multiple

How to play Dragapult ex:

Welcome to the free Dragapult ex guide!

Gameplay:

Always set up at least two Dreepy and a Duskull in the starting hand. Budew heavily depends on the matchup. Prioritize going slow and setting up, use Budew to stall, you’ll be pulling off massive turns rather than going for 2-2-2 KOs like most decks. Once Dragapult ex is online, start finding the best numbers to hit for. Usually this means using the Dusk line to nuke the board. Don’t hesitate to use multiple Cursed Blasts in a turn if it means destroying all the attackers. However, be careful not to use it if they have counterattacking means (know your opp’s DL)!! Midgame should always be optimizing your draw support and making sure to spread energy. This ensures you c*****ways slide in another Dragapult to keep the pressure on. In the late game, find BM Ursaluna and ready a Boss + Ursa combo to nuke a Fez, Latias, Ogerpon, or other support cards. This closes off games.

Using your Pokemon:

Don’t mindlessly set up Latias ex or Fezandipiti ex mid game, they are for controlled flow. Hawlucha is a very conditional card that is meant to fix the 70 HP matchups (Zard, Garde, Dengo, Zoroark). BM Ursaluna is a late game finisher, once Pults are used up use BM Ursaluna + Boss or Counter Catcher to close the game. Moltres is really just a single prize metal or grass type counter. Use against Dengo or Mega Venusaur ex. Munkidori is also extremely situational, it works to help fix difficult math.

Concepts to understand:

Spreading energy is very important. Instead of instantly going for an aggressive attack, spread energy to prepare for chainable attackers. Keep Drakloak unevolved until the last moment to maximize draw power.

Understanding math helps you to plan ahead and prepare a board wipe. Spreading counters and understanding what heal/munki cards they have is incredibly important. Don’t just mindlessly go for the KO. For example, if they have Picnic Basket, you should prioritize taking KOs fast to prevent healing. Understanding this helps to keep them away from Counter Catcher until it is too late. Do not be too slow however, that they evolve and nuke you first.

Controlling the board is so important in all matchups, that I would recommend learning it if you haven’t already. Due to Dragapult’s spread consistency, it is possible to control the cards they play by mixing counter spreading and Iono. Being down in prizes is fine if you can Iono to three or two while you keep a good hand.

Matchups:

Good:

Dragapult consistently does well against all Charizard variants except Pult due to its limiting powers and spread. It does do better (3%) against Pidgeot variants. Remember to keep using Budew to stop rare candy. 70-30 against Zard/Pidgeot 65-35 against Zard/Owls
Ceruledge is also a particularly good matchup, Budew is simply very powerful and the Rocks don’t exactly help. 57-43

Alakazam Dundunsparce is easy because Pult naturally does well against single prize decks with its spreading power. 76-23

Neutral:

PultZard isn’t an easy matchup because it combines the slower rhythm of Pult and the fast aggression of Zard. This makes PultZard a harder matchup compared to other Zard variants. 50-50

N’s Zoroark is difficult as well because N’s Darmacannon can end Pult before it sets up. The fact that it can OHKO Drakloak doesn’t help. 48-52

Bad:

Gardevoir is sadly still one of the worst matchups to deal with because of Lille’s Clefairy which allows it to take out Pult in one hit. Combined with better spread, it makes it difficult. Jellicent is also very bad to deal with. 34-66 (Normal) 45-55 (Jellicent)

Gholdengo is also difficult because it can OHKO Pult. It’s also extremely fast. The best strategy is to use Budew once energies are spent. 

Marnie’s Grimmsnarl is virtually impossible to deal with because Froslass stops Drakloak’s draw power. 38-62

Kangaskhan Absol is unfortunately another spread deck that Pult just can’t deal with because it works well against more linear decks. 40-60

Conclusion:
Dragapult ex is still one of the greatest meta decks if not the BDIF and is very consistent. With Zard popping off as well, Dragapult has some good matchups. Rotation also won’t affect Dragapult too much. Losing Iono will always be unfortunate and Hawlucha means that it’s harder to fix math. Overall, it will still be consistent and really powerful.