TPCi (The Pokemon Company International) has revealed the last Mega Evolution Pokemon for Inferno X. Mega Lopunny ex will be joining its siblings for the set's Japanese debut on the 26th of September. The rest of the world will have to wait a little more as Phantasmal Flames, the western counterpart to Inferno X, is slated for release on November 14th, 2025.
Last Mega Pokemon Revealed
Mega Lopunny ex
Gale Thrust: 60+ damage. If this Pokemon was on your Bench this turn, this attack does 170 more damage.
Spike Hopper: 160 damage. This attack's damage isn't affected by any effects on your opponent's Active Pokemon.
At first glance, there are a couple of things going against Mega Lopunny ex’s design package. Firstly, Mega Lopunny ex is a Stage-1 Pokemon. This makes this card actually quite hard to find without specific tools like Technical Machine: Evolution or Ultra Ball packed into the deck.
Secondly, despite its pretty respectable 330 health, Mega Lopunny ex suffers from a Fighting-type weakness. Mega Lucario ex’s existence, and the general buff to Fighting-type decks recently, makes fielding Mega Lopunny ex a risky venture unless you’re keeping an eye on the developing meta.
Mega Lopunny ex does come with its advantages, though. Mega Lopunny ex can easily be slotted into any deck; its ‘Gale Thrust’ has one of the best energy-to-damage ratios despite the setup, and its ‘Spike Hopper’ can bypass rival Pokemon like Mimikyu (Paldean Fates) that prevent damage. Mega Lopunny ex may not be the game-winning condition to build around, but it can certainly shore up any toolbox decks that require a fast-acting attacker with a relatively bulky body.
Interesting Single-prize Support
Linoone
Ability: Excite Dash
If this Pokemon is on your Bench, and you have a Pokemon ex in play, you may use this Ability. Switch this Pokemon with your Active Pokemon.
Slash: 70 damage.
Linoone is revealed to be a potential enabler to Mega Lopunny ex’s ‘Gale Thrust’. Linoone paired with an Air Balloon will allow Mega Lopunny ex to hit at full power constantly. Linoone is also a surprisingly good vanguard with its ‘Slash’ attack. Seventy damage is a good threshold for an early game offensive option.
A lot of Stage-2 focused competitive decks in the current format, like Dragapult ex or Gardevoir ex, have Basic-Stage Pokemon that have a starting health of 70. This is mostly because of how players tend to use Buddy-Buddy Poffin to help build their early-game board.
A lot of modern Pokemon decks tend to favor going second just for faster access to Technical Machine: Evolution. Linoone, on the other hand, looks to reward players going first, as you can evolve into it faster and potentially steal an early knockout while the opponent is still building their board.
Charcadet and Ceruledge
Charcadet
Gather Power: Search your deck for up to 2 Basic Energy cards, reveal them, and put them into your hand. Then, shuffle your deck.
Chop: 10 damage.
Ceruledge
Purgatory Slash: 220 damage. Discard 4 Basic Fire-type Energy cards from your hand or this attack does nothing.
The Ceruledge line comes in as a surprise for any player who’s currently using the Ceruledge ex from Surging Sparks. Thanks to the shared evolutionary line, a player can pivot to either version of Ceruledge as needed. This is on top of a Charcardet, who can easily search out energy from the deck in the early game.
While Ceruldege ex can easily be seen as a mid-to-late game tool, the Ceruledge from Inferno X can definitely be seen as a player’s early-game offensive package. Despite the required 5 energy total for activation, the 220 damage from ‘Purgatory Slash’ will instantly knock out anything not an ex Pokemon or a beefy Stage-2.
Some good energy management paired with this single-prize body could easily pave the way for early game pressure without too much risk. This card may not shake up the meta, but it will definitely elevate a rogue deck to potentially snatch a few more wins from the competitive frontrunners.
Potential Meta Affecting Trainer Cards
Dawn and Battle Colosseum
Dawn
Search your deck for a Basic Pokemon, a Stage 1 Evolution, and a Stage 2 Evolution, reveal them, and put them into your hand. Then, shuffle your deck.
Battle Colosseum
Prevent all damage counters from being placed on Benched Pokemon (both yours and your opponent's) by the effects of the attacks or Abilities used by the opponent's Pokemon.
Outside of all the new Mega Pokemon, these two particular Trainer cards have the potential to affect the tournament scene. By how much can be circumspect, but that will be up to the players to eventually figure out once Inferno X makes it to the west as Phantasmal Flames.
Dawn can technically accelerate an entire evolutionary line out from the deck. She does take up the precious Supporter slot for the turn, but that’s pretty much a bargain. With how Grass-type decks have the new Forest of Vitality, Mega Venusaur ex is technically two cards away from just dropping into the board and awaiting the needed energy to just start attacking.
Battle Colosseum, meanwhile, can be viewed as a potential roadblock for any deck taking full advantage of indirect damage placement like Munkidori or Dragapult ex. While this stadium card does little to protect the Pokemon in the active zone, or itself from being discarded, it can potentially protect the controlling player’s softer roster member while the game transitions into the mid-game.