Uploaded April 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
You may recognize this as the deck I used for the Trainer Trials before rotation, “2026 Rotation Lesson,”: in which no “G” regulation mark cards were allowed. With cards from Perfect Order now available, I was able to improve the consistency of this deck, namely with Telepathic Psychic Energy, another new Special Energy card introduced in this set. This is one of the strongest Special Energy cards released in the Pokémon Trading Card Game’s entire history, and thanks to it, this has become one of my more effective decks.
Of course, all eyes are on Steven’s Metagross ex pertaining to this Pokémon species in particular, so of the three instances of the Beldum line in this format (or FOUR if you include the Metagross to come out in Chaos Rising), I would go after the one in the least popular one, the one from Journey Together (there’s also another one from Temporal Forces, but the Metang in that one is sometimes used as Metal Energy acceleration).
POKÉMON (18)
4x Beldum (Journey Together)
3x Metang (Journey Together)
3x Metagross (Journey Together)
2x Smoochum (Surging Sparks)
1x Lillie’s Clefairy ex (Journey Together)
1x Latias ex (Surging Sparks)
1x Fezandipiti ex (Shrouded Fable)
1x Meowth ex (Perfect Order)
1x Psyduck (SV Black Star Promo OR Ascended Heroes)
1x Shaymin (Destine Rivals)
TRAINERS (32)
2x Battle Cage
2x Brave Bangle
2x Boss’s Orders
3x Buddy-Buddy Poffin
2x Dawn
1x Gravity Mountain
2x Hilda
3x Lana’s Aid
4x Lillie’s Determination
1x Night Stretcher
1x Maximum Belt
2x Poké Pad
3x Rare Candy
2x Ultra Ball
2x Wondrous Patch
ENERGY (10)
6x Psychic Energy
4x Telepathic (P) Energy
Telepathic (P) Energy is the most impactful change to this deck: it provides Psychic Energy, and if attached to a Psychic Pokémon, allows you to put two Basic Psychic Pokémon straight onto your Bench (provided there’s room for it). It doesn’t have to be a single-Prize Pokémon or something that has yet to evolve: Telepathic (P) Energy will let you quickly get Lillie’s Clefairy ex or Latias ex onto the field too. As a result, they’re both in this deck as single cards: Lillie’s Clefairy ex to help fight Dragon-type decks like Dragapult ex or Raging Bolt ex and Latias ex to help switch out Pokémon you don’t want in the Active Spot. Telepathic (P) Energy also helps set up Metagross’s Conjoined Beams at full power by getting Beldum onto the Bench. And to facilitate that, we have Meowth ex from Perfect Order in there, who can get Hilda to get that Telepathic (P) Energy into your hand.
All of the other Pokémon in there serve the same purposes as the pre-Perfect Order version of this deck: Fezandipiti ex to draw cards because Metagross will get knocked out quickly, Psyduck to stop Dusknoir from taking out a Beldum that’s necessary to have on your Bench, Shaymin to prevent Bench damage, and Smoochum to accelerate Psychic Energy and as a pivot with free Retreat Cost. The Trainer scheme is also much the same: Lana’s Aid to get Beldum, Metang, and Metagross back in your hand to evolve a Metang into a Metagross, Beldum into Metang, and play a Beldum; Battle Cage to block damage counter placement from Dragapult ex and Munkidori (among others); Brave Bangle, Maximum Belt, and Gravity Mountain as steps to reach one-hit knockouts of Stage 2 Pokémon ex (and some Mega Evolution Pokémon ex); and Wondrous Patch to quickly get a Metagross up and running once the previous once is knocked out.
As you can see, Fighting has become a more popular type post-rotation, so Psychic decks like this are in a good spot. Of course, some of them have a Grass weakness, but thanks to those measures I took to reach Stage 2 Pokémon ex knockouts (my opponent’s Mega Lucario ex deck also had Mamoswine ex), I was able to keep at least one step ahead.
You may recognize this as the deck I used for the Trainer Trials before rotation, “2026 Rotation Lesson,”: in which no “G” regulation mark cards were allowed. With cards from Perfect Order now available, I was able to improve the consistency of this deck, namely with Telepathic Psychic Energy, another new Special Energy card introduced in this set. This is one of the strongest Special Energy cards released in the Pokémon Trading Card Game’s entire history, and thanks to it, this has become one of my more effective decks.
Of course, all eyes are on Steven’s Metagross ex pertaining to this Pokémon species in particular, so of the three instances of the Beldum line in this format (or FOUR if you include the Metagross to come out in Chaos Rising), I would go after the one in the least popular one, the one from Journey Together (there’s also another one from Temporal Forces, but the Metang in that one is sometimes used as Metal Energy acceleration).
POKÉMON (18)
4x Beldum (Journey Together)
3x Metang (Journey Together)
3x Metagross (Journey Together)
2x Smoochum (Surging Sparks)
1x Lillie’s Clefairy ex (Journey Together)
1x Latias ex (Surging Sparks)
1x Fezandipiti ex (Shrouded Fable)
1x Meowth ex (Perfect Order)
1x Psyduck (SV Black Star Promo OR Ascended Heroes)
1x Shaymin (Destine Rivals)
TRAINERS (32)
2x Battle Cage
2x Brave Bangle
2x Boss’s Orders
3x Buddy-Buddy Poffin
2x Dawn
1x Gravity Mountain
2x Hilda
3x Lana’s Aid
4x Lillie’s Determination
1x Night Stretcher
1x Maximum Belt
2x Poké Pad
3x Rare Candy
2x Ultra Ball
2x Wondrous Patch
ENERGY (10)
6x Psychic Energy
4x Telepathic (P) Energy
Telepathic (P) Energy is the most impactful change to this deck: it provides Psychic Energy, and if attached to a Psychic Pokémon, allows you to put two Basic Psychic Pokémon straight onto your Bench (provided there’s room for it). It doesn’t have to be a single-Prize Pokémon or something that has yet to evolve: Telepathic (P) Energy will let you quickly get Lillie’s Clefairy ex or Latias ex onto the field too. As a result, they’re both in this deck as single cards: Lillie’s Clefairy ex to help fight Dragon-type decks like Dragapult ex or Raging Bolt ex and Latias ex to help switch out Pokémon you don’t want in the Active Spot. Telepathic (P) Energy also helps set up Metagross’s Conjoined Beams at full power by getting Beldum onto the Bench. And to facilitate that, we have Meowth ex from Perfect Order in there, who can get Hilda to get that Telepathic (P) Energy into your hand.
All of the other Pokémon in there serve the same purposes as the pre-Perfect Order version of this deck: Fezandipiti ex to draw cards because Metagross will get knocked out quickly, Psyduck to stop Dusknoir from taking out a Beldum that’s necessary to have on your Bench, Shaymin to prevent Bench damage, and Smoochum to accelerate Psychic Energy and as a pivot with free Retreat Cost. The Trainer scheme is also much the same: Lana’s Aid to get Beldum, Metang, and Metagross back in your hand to evolve a Metang into a Metagross, Beldum into Metang, and play a Beldum; Battle Cage to block damage counter placement from Dragapult ex and Munkidori (among others); Brave Bangle, Maximum Belt, and Gravity Mountain as steps to reach one-hit knockouts of Stage 2 Pokémon ex (and some Mega Evolution Pokémon ex); and Wondrous Patch to quickly get a Metagross up and running once the previous once is knocked out.
As you can see, Fighting has become a more popular type post-rotation, so Psychic decks like this are in a good spot. Of course, some of them have a Grass weakness, but thanks to those measures I took to reach Stage 2 Pokémon ex knockouts (my opponent’s Mega Lucario ex deck also had Mamoswine ex), I was able to keep at least one step ahead.
