Uploaded May 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
This is the first post-rotation deck I’ve made for the Metal type. It may feature Mega Skarmory ex and the Beldum line, but it is not the Steven’s Metagross ex deck the game provides for you. Rather, I went with Temporal Forces Beldum and Metang. I actually had no idea the Steven’s Metagross ex deck had Mega Skarmory ex as well; I don’t think Mega Skarmory ex was supposed to be the main attacker there, whereas it is for this one.
POKÉMON (14)
4x Mega Skarmory ex (Perfect Order)
4x Beldum (Temporal Forces)
4x Metang (Temporal Forces)
1x Mega Mawile ex (Mega Evolution)
1x Meowth ex (Perfect Order)
TRAINERS (32)
3x Air Balloon
2x Brock’s Scouting
1x Colress’s Tenacity
1x Energy Recycler
3x Full Metal Lab
2x Hilda
2x Iron Defender
4x Lillie’s Determination
2x Mega Signal
2x Night Stretcher
3x Poké Pad
3x Ultra Ball
3x Wally’s Compassion
1x Xerosic’s Machinations
ENERGY (14)
1x Enriching Energy
13x Metal Energy
The idea behind this deck is to use Mega Skarmory ex’s attack, Sonic Ripper, to prevent your opponent from setting up. Normally, it’s pretty difficult to meet the Energy requirements for that attack, let alone keep attacking after shuffling the Energy attached to it back into the deck, but Temporal Forces Metang makes that easier: its Ability, “Metal Maker,” enables you to attach any Basic Metal Energy to your Pokémon (including itself, if needed) among the top 4 cards of your deck. You can try this as many times as you have that Metang in play. Metagross is not needed, which is why Beldum and Metang are in this deck but not Metagross.
Sonic Ripper deals 220 damage to any of the opponent’s Pokémon. (Be sure not to hit something immune to Bench damage, such as Tera Pokémon ex or non-Rule Box Pokémon protectd by Destined Rivals Shaymin’s “Flower Curtain.”) This is enough to knock out any Pokémon the opponent plans to evolve later on and usually enough to knock out any support Pokémon they have, like Fezandipiti ex, Munkidori, Meganium in the Mega Venusaur ex or Mega Meganium ex decks, Team Rocket’s Spidops in the Team Rocket’s Mewtwo ex deck, Oricorio ex in the Charizard X ex deck, or Lunatone in the Mega Lucario ex deck. In other words, this deck attacks the opponent’s logistics, making it harder for their main attackers to do much or cutting off their momentum entirely.
The biggest vulnerability of this deck (besides it going up against the rare Lightning deck) is Mega Skarmory ex’s low HP. At 260 HP, it is the second lowest among any Mega Evolution Pokémon ex, after Mega Hawlucha ex. This is where Iron Defender and Full Metal Lab come in, reducing damage to allow Mega Skarmory ex to take a hit. I also have 4 of them in this deck to maximize the chances you can take advantage of its free retreat to send up a fresh one. Because it always ends its attack with all Energy shuffled back into the deck, you can use Wally’s Compassion on it to heal all damage back up without dealing with its penalty (return all Energy attached to it back to your hand). Together, it maks Mega Skarmory ex a lot harder to actually knock out than it looks. (Meowth ex hlps you look for Wally’s Compassion when you need it, but if you want it to look for, say, Lillie’s Determination, you can do that too.)
To exploit “Metal Maker,” I recommend to perform as many searches for cards from the deck as possible during your turn before you use the Ability, to maximize the odds of finding Metal Energy by taking as many of your other cards out as possible (including Enriching Energy). There are 13 Basic Metal Energy in here, but it only looks for 4 cards, so every little bit counts.
My opponent was setting up too fast for me to cut off their supply lines. Instead, their main attacker, Mega Froslass ex, happened to be weak to Metal, allowing me to knock it out in one hit for three Prizes. Otherwise, you can see how fast that Mega Froslass ex deck works, using Salvatore to start hitting for huge damage on their very first turn.
This is the first post-rotation deck I’ve made for the Metal type. It may feature Mega Skarmory ex and the Beldum line, but it is not the Steven’s Metagross ex deck the game provides for you. Rather, I went with Temporal Forces Beldum and Metang. I actually had no idea the Steven’s Metagross ex deck had Mega Skarmory ex as well; I don’t think Mega Skarmory ex was supposed to be the main attacker there, whereas it is for this one.
POKÉMON (14)
4x Mega Skarmory ex (Perfect Order)
4x Beldum (Temporal Forces)
4x Metang (Temporal Forces)
1x Mega Mawile ex (Mega Evolution)
1x Meowth ex (Perfect Order)
TRAINERS (32)
3x Air Balloon
2x Brock’s Scouting
1x Colress’s Tenacity
1x Energy Recycler
3x Full Metal Lab
2x Hilda
2x Iron Defender
4x Lillie’s Determination
2x Mega Signal
2x Night Stretcher
3x Poké Pad
3x Ultra Ball
3x Wally’s Compassion
1x Xerosic’s Machinations
ENERGY (14)
1x Enriching Energy
13x Metal Energy
The idea behind this deck is to use Mega Skarmory ex’s attack, Sonic Ripper, to prevent your opponent from setting up. Normally, it’s pretty difficult to meet the Energy requirements for that attack, let alone keep attacking after shuffling the Energy attached to it back into the deck, but Temporal Forces Metang makes that easier: its Ability, “Metal Maker,” enables you to attach any Basic Metal Energy to your Pokémon (including itself, if needed) among the top 4 cards of your deck. You can try this as many times as you have that Metang in play. Metagross is not needed, which is why Beldum and Metang are in this deck but not Metagross.
Sonic Ripper deals 220 damage to any of the opponent’s Pokémon. (Be sure not to hit something immune to Bench damage, such as Tera Pokémon ex or non-Rule Box Pokémon protectd by Destined Rivals Shaymin’s “Flower Curtain.”) This is enough to knock out any Pokémon the opponent plans to evolve later on and usually enough to knock out any support Pokémon they have, like Fezandipiti ex, Munkidori, Meganium in the Mega Venusaur ex or Mega Meganium ex decks, Team Rocket’s Spidops in the Team Rocket’s Mewtwo ex deck, Oricorio ex in the Charizard X ex deck, or Lunatone in the Mega Lucario ex deck. In other words, this deck attacks the opponent’s logistics, making it harder for their main attackers to do much or cutting off their momentum entirely.
The biggest vulnerability of this deck (besides it going up against the rare Lightning deck) is Mega Skarmory ex’s low HP. At 260 HP, it is the second lowest among any Mega Evolution Pokémon ex, after Mega Hawlucha ex. This is where Iron Defender and Full Metal Lab come in, reducing damage to allow Mega Skarmory ex to take a hit. I also have 4 of them in this deck to maximize the chances you can take advantage of its free retreat to send up a fresh one. Because it always ends its attack with all Energy shuffled back into the deck, you can use Wally’s Compassion on it to heal all damage back up without dealing with its penalty (return all Energy attached to it back to your hand). Together, it maks Mega Skarmory ex a lot harder to actually knock out than it looks. (Meowth ex hlps you look for Wally’s Compassion when you need it, but if you want it to look for, say, Lillie’s Determination, you can do that too.)
To exploit “Metal Maker,” I recommend to perform as many searches for cards from the deck as possible during your turn before you use the Ability, to maximize the odds of finding Metal Energy by taking as many of your other cards out as possible (including Enriching Energy). There are 13 Basic Metal Energy in here, but it only looks for 4 cards, so every little bit counts.
My opponent was setting up too fast for me to cut off their supply lines. Instead, their main attacker, Mega Froslass ex, happened to be weak to Metal, allowing me to knock it out in one hit for three Prizes. Otherwise, you can see how fast that Mega Froslass ex deck works, using Salvatore to start hitting for huge damage on their very first turn.
