Mega Alakazam EX

It might be easy to overlook Mega Alakazam-EX at first. It has only one attack, Zen Force, which starts off doing a measly 10 damage. But that damage can increase quickly and easily by getting damage counters on the target in advance. The full potential of this attack begins before Mega Alakazam-EX is even in play, using Alakazam-EX's Kinesis Ability to get the ball rolling. When Mega Alakazam-EX is played from the hand to evolve Alakazam-EX, this Ability can put 2 damage counters on the

It might be easy to overlook Mega Alakazam-EX at first. It has only one attack, Zen Force, which starts off doing a measly 10 damage. But that damage can increase quickly and easily by getting damage counters on the target in advance. The full potential of this attack begins before Mega Alakazam-EX is even in play, using Alakazam-EX's Kinesis Ability to get the ball rolling. When Mega Alakazam-EX is played from the hand to evolve Alakazam-EX, this Ability can put 2 damage counters on the opponent’s Active Pokémon and 3 damage counters on one of their Benched Pokémon. Just like that, Mega Alakazam-EX’s Zen Force attack gets much more powerful if it can hit one of those Pokémon.

Calculating damage properly to Knock Out the opponent’s Pokémon is always important in the Pokémon TCG, but getting the math right is crucial for Mega Alakazam-EX’s success—and there are plenty of ways to make sure everything adds up in your favor. A Pokémon-EX has around 170 HP on average. If you can use the Kinesis Ability twice to put 4 damage counters on the Active Pokémon, Zen Force does 130 damage—adding up to exactly 170. Another option that can lead to even more damage is Absol’s Cursed Eyes Ability, which can move 3 damage counters from a Benched Pokémon to the Active Pokémon. After you use Kinesis and Cursed Eyes, the opponent’s Active Pokémon will have 5 damage counters on it. Then, Zen Force does a whopping 160 damage, for a total of 210! Even Pokémon with the highest HP are in danger of being taken down by Mega Alakazam-EX.

To help Mega Alakazam-EX do its thing, getting Pokémon into play is the name of the game, and this deck has plenty of tools to help execute its strategy quickly. Hoopa-EX's Scoundrel Ring Ability is a great way to find multiple Alakazam-EX in short order so they can be ready to evolve on the next turn. Shaymin-EX brings its Set Up Ability, drawing lots of cards to help you find exactly what you need. There are several Trainer cards that can help out: Ultra Ball, Trainers' Mail, and Professor Sycamore are regularly used in the Standard format to get off to a quick start, and all work especially well here.

Using Alakazam-EX’s Kinesis Ability is a key factor in this deck’s success, and it’s even better when you can use Zen Force in the same turn. So our example deck includes 4 Alakazam EX Sprit Links cards to keep your turn going after Mega Evolution, as well as some ways to reuse the Ability. The simplest method is to use Devolution Spray to devolve Mega Alakazam-EX, allowing you to evolve it again on the following turn. Super Scoop Up requires a coin flip, but it can pick up Mega Alakazam-EX (and any other cards attached to it, such as Alakazam Spirit Link) to play down on a different Alakazam-EX. It also allows Pokémon like Absol to reuse their Abilities, making it a valuable resource with flexible uses. AZ can also pick up a Pokémon, but all of the attached cards get discarded, so it’s only useful in certain situations.

So far, we’ve only covered how Kinesis and Cursed Eyes can support Zen Force, but there are a few other Pokémon that could work as a sidekick for Mega Alakazam-EX. Golbat and Crobat drop additional damage counters with their Abilities, making it easier for Zen Force to do big damage. Forretress’s Thorn Tempest Ability can do the same, but it spreads out the damage to each of the opponent’s Pokémon instead of targeting a specific one. Meowstic-EX is another option, using its Shadow Ear Ability to move a damage counter from your side to your opponent’s. If you’re looking for an attacker, Gourgiest can use the Eerie Voice attack to put 2 damage counters on each of the opponent’s Pokémon, making sure Zen Force can do more damage later. There are plenty of combinations of Pokémon to try out!