Mega Gengar ex and Mega Diance ex Starter Decks Announced

A picture from the Pokemon cards, Mega Gengar ex and Mega Diancie ex.

Published: Aug 10, 2025, 11:00 pm Updated: Aug 11, 2025, 9:33 pm

It looks like The Pokemon Company International isn't done yet releasing more Mega Evolutions. Two brand-new starter decks have just been announced ahead of their release in Japan in September. Looking even further ahead, there’s a good chance these decks will join the Western release for Mega Brave and Mega Symphonia soon after.

New Mega Gengar ex line:

^Gastly

^{Petty Grudge: 10 damage.}

^Haunter

^{Hollow Shot: 40 damage.}

^{Mega Gengar ex}

^Ability^{: Shadow Hiding}

^{Whenever 1 of your Darkness-type Pokemon is Knocked Out by damage from an attack from your opponent's Pokemon ex, your opponent takes 1 less Prize card. This effect does not stack.}

^{Void Gale: 230 damage. Move an Energy from this Pokemon to 1 of your Benched Pokemon.}

In terms of damage output, Mega Gengar ex is pretty solid and fast. It lacks the upper potential of one-shotting enemy Pokemon like current meta units like Dragapult ex, but its Shadow Hiding forces the opponent into an unexpected attrition match on the prize card front.

With Shadow Hiding applied while on the bench, the opponent will either have to spend time sniping Mega Gengar ex or get 1 less prize card for knocking out the currently active Pokemon.

The two retreat cost, meanwhile, is easily solved by Air Balloon. On top of that, Mega Gengar ex is pretty robust. With 350 health, Mega Gengar ex has the same level of robustness as Mega Gardevoir ex and Mega Lucario ex.

The only downside to Mega Gengar ex’s Shadow Hiding is that it specifically activates from a Knock Out based on an opposing ex Pokemon’s attack. This means that sources of indirect damage like Frosslass and/or Munkudori (from Twilight Masquerade) could bypass the whole point of Shadow Hiding’s use.

There is potential with Mega Gengar ex, but, as with anything new, it’ll take some creative deck building, skilled piloting, and maybe a little help from a card pool rotation to make it happen.

Mega Diancie ex:

^Ability^{: Diamond Coat}

^{This Pokemon takes 30 less damage from attacks.}

^{Garland Ray}^{: 120x damage. Discard up to 2 Energy from this Pokemon. This attack does 120 damage for each Energy discarded in this way.}

We have to keep wondering how much TPCi will keep enhancing the card pool for Psychic-type Pokemon. Mega Diancie ex is probably on the lower end of the scale, and while the Diamond Coat ability does help with Mega Diancie ex’s longevity, most players tend to favor a more active (and offensive) ability package.

Thankfully, Mega Diancie ex does have speed going for it because of its Basic-Stage evolution level. Pairing Mega Diancie ex with the Psychic Embrace ability of Gardevoir ex and a couple of Munkidoris would end up making for a fast-acting attack option. That’s assuming players would be willing to experiment since the current iterations for Mega Gardevoir ex decks are bordering hyper-efficient levels already.

Other Interesting Cards Revealed:

^{Punk Helmet}

^{If the Darkness-type Pokemon this Tool is attached to is in the Active Spot and damaged by an attack from your opponent's Pokemon, put 4 damage counters on the Attacking Pokemon.}

^Mimikyu

^{Call for Family: Search your deck for up to 2 Basic Pokemon and put them onto your Bench. Then, shuffle your deck.}

^Scratch^{: 20 damage.}

^{Wonder Patch}

^{Attach a Basic Psychic-type Energy from your discard pile to 1 of your Benched Psychic-type Pokemon.}

While not necessarily mind-blowing, a couple of utility options were revealed that could potentially find their way into decks as rogue tech options.

Punk Helmet may be limited in scope as to what decks can use it, but that 40 damage reprisal could make the difference between reaching lethal thresholds faster or not.

Mimikyu comes in as a lingering search tool that could easily set up wide boards after a couple of uses. Mimikyu’s 70 health can help it live long enough to reach that number of uses. Since the ‘Call for Family’ can use any type of energy, Mimikyu’s flexibility can easily be slotted into any deck.

As for Wonder Patch, it’s basically emulating Gardevoir ex’s Psychic Embrace. It’s not on the same power level for energy acceleration as the Pokemon, but it does offer some form of flexible energy recursion without the damage application.

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