Mega Heracross ex Revealed and Confirmed for Inferno X

A picture from the Pokemon card, Mega Heracross ex.

Published: Sep 11, 2025, 11:00 pm Updated: Sep 12, 2025, 6:55 pm

TPCi (The Pokemon Company International) confirmed the suspicions we had when they made their announcement for Phantasmal Flames. Released as part of Inferno X, which Phantasmal Flames draws from, Mega Heracross ex will be making its debut alongside some potential Grass and Psychic-type support.

Mega Heracross ex

^{Panzer Horn}^{: 100+ damage. If this Pokemon was damaged by an attack during your opponent's last turn, this attack does that much more damage.}

^{Mountain Thrust}^{: 170 damage. Discard 2 cards from the top of your opponent's deck.}

Mega Heracross ex is a bit of a mixed bag. For starters, this card is a Basic-Stage Pokemon with a relatively cheap activation cost. This is especially true if played with the new ‘Wild Growth’ Meganium from the Mega Evolution set.

Mega Herecross ex can easily trade attacks in the early game of the match and could do some potential resource denial with ‘Mountain Thrust,' and if the opponent isn’t able to implement a one-hit knockout, then Mega Heracross ex will more than happily send back a reprisal.

While these are some compelling selling points, Mega Heracross isn't perfect. For a start, it's actually pretty frail for a Mega Evolution. While a 280 healthpool isn’t anything to sneeze at, the other Mega Pokemon being reintroduced to the card game can easily swing for that number or higher. This makes Mega Heracross ex a particularly risky play if the opponent is able to get their own heavy hitter online relatively quickly.

There’s also the fact Charizard ex from Obsidian Flames is still in rotation and actively running around the competitive scene. One hit from Charizard ex’s ‘Burning Darkness’ and the opponent is three Prize Cards closer to winning the match. Unfortunately for Mega Heracross ex, type advantage gives any Fire-type Pokemon an easier time reaching lethal numbers.

Ludicolo Evolution Line

^Lotad

^Headbutt^{: 30 damage.}

^Lombre

^{Mega Drain}^{: 30 damage. Heal 30 damage from this Pokemon.}

^Ludicolo

^Ability^{: Excited Healing}

^{Once during your turn, if you have a Grass-type Mega Pokemon ex in play, you may heal 60 damage from 1 of your Pokemon.}

^{Knock Down}^{: 120 damage.}

It looks like TPCi is really trying to push the narrative of attrition combat with Grass-type Pokemon. With how Mega Venusaur ex is already healing itself for 30 health per attack, Ludicolo can easily increase Mega Venusaur ex’s staying power on the board. Ludicolo also has the benefit of undoing some of the chip damage done by the likes of Froslass and/or Munkudori. However, the exchange rate may end up being highly inefficient depending on the board.

That said, we don’t know how enticing it would be for players to run Ludicolo for just its healing prowess. Modern-day competitive Pokemon is usually filled with decks that try to end the match hard and fast. This usually leads to set-ups where the main win condition is to knock out the rival Pokemon in a single attack, leaving no room for healing tools to do their job.

There’s also the fact that Ludicolo is a Stage-2 Pokemon. Even if turbo’d out by a Rare Candy, players would have to set aside resources to dig out the necessary pieces to get this Pokemon online.

We could see a world where a creative and skilled player can get multiple copies of Ludicolo out to make an almost nigh-unkillable board of Grass-type Pokemon, but the feasibility of such a feat is very improbable given the efficiency competitive rival decks tend to pack into their toolkit.

Misdreavus and Mismagius ex

^Misdreavus

^{Minor Grudge}^{: 20 damage.}

^{Mismagius ex}

^Ability^{: Swirling Spell}

^{If this Pokemon is your Active Pokemon, when your opponent switches in a new Active Pokemon, it is now Confused.}

^{Six Magic}^{: 150 damage. You may draw cards until you have 6 cards in your hand.}

We have to wonder why TPCi keeps giving Psychic-focused decks more and more tools to draw cards. While not necessarily as turn-efficient as Mew ex’s ‘Restart’ ability, having another access point to restock resources through -with a higher upper limit to boot- is starting to feel a little lopsided.

Heading back to Mismagius ex’s ‘Swirling Spell’, it’s a humorous little ability that could potentially turn a game of Pokemon from calculated tactics to just praying to Lady Luck. While the ‘Confused’ status can easily be cured through quick bench switching or evolution, it’s still something that could easily disrupt an attack plan if not properly dealt with or if you’re just generally unlucky.

Bramblin and Brambleghast

^Bramblin

^{Sneaky Placement}^{: Put 1 damage counter on 1 of your opponent's Pokemon.}

^Brambleghast

^Ability^{: Panic Prison}

^{When you play this Pokemon from your hand to evolve 1 of your Pokemon during your turn, you may leave your opponent’s Active Pokemon Confused.}

^{Psychic Bullet}^{: 80 damage.}

TPCi is double-downing on a confusion toolkit as Brableghast just makes the opponent’s active Pokemon confused as it evolves. While not necessarily pushing a win condition, we have to admit that it’s a pretty good take on applying a status condition without having to give up the attack slot of the turn.

New Trainer Cards

Jumbo Ice and Vertigo Valley

^{Jumbo Ice}

^{Heal 80 damage from your Active Pokemon that has 3 or more Energy attached.}

^{Vertigo Valley}

^{Confused Pokemon (both yours and your opponent's) don't recover from Confusion when they evolve or devolve.}

It looks like TPCi is making sure this wave of reveals is basically synonymous with healing and confusion application. While Jumbo Ice can definitely make any Pokemon with 3+ energy stay on the field longer, and a Mega Pokemon like Mega Venusaur ex practically laughs off damage, it’s Vertigo Valley that is drawing attention.

The main drawback of Confusion is that it’s too easily removed. Vertigo Valley, while a double-edged sword, fixes that, and while Confusion isn’t as powerful as Paralysis in limiting the opponent’s actions, the newly revealed Mismagius ex and Brambleghast pair nicely with Vertigo Valley. This trifecta essentially gives a small safety net from enemy reprisals.

It’s not going to be consistent, not unless the Trading Card Game (TCG) gets a tool that ensures a coin flip result. That said, having a permanent 50/50 tacked on the opponent attack can drastically lower the ceiling for damage output that a rival normally has access to.

Phantasmal Flames Release Date Officially Announced