The latest Pokémon TCG set, Scarlet and Violet, has just launched and has bought with it a bunch of new cards to shake up the format. With the reintroduction of EX cards, the clarification of Tool Trainer cards and more, the SV TCG is already off to an interesting start, with new decks emerging and old ones being refined with new tools. There’s a lot of variety and things to nail down, but one of the most prevalent decks so far features a Pokémon Scarlet and Violet flagship Legendaries as the mainstay inclusion. That deck, of course, is the Miraidon EX Deck.
The Miraidon Deck leans heavily on some new cards introduced in the Scarlet and Violet base set while dipping into some interesting inclusions from the Sword and Shield era. When played properly, the Miraidon Deck is capable of being one of the fastest decks in play, able to set up a ton of Pokémon at a rapid pace while still dealing good damage and providing denial abilities for other powerful decks.
Here’s how to build and play the Miraidon EX Deck in the Pokémon TCG.
Want some more Pokémon TCG or Pokémon Scarlet and Violet content? You can find more here on KeenGamer:
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Miraidon EX Card List
Like most decks, the Miraidon EX deck is comprised of some essential and non-essential cards. The essential category of cards is a mandatory requirement in every version of the deck to make it run smoothly. Meanwhile, the non-essential category is mainly here for coverage and can be played around with depending on your personal preferences or deck matchups.
For the essential cards, we have:
- Miraidon EX x3 (SV081)
- Regieleki V x4 (SIT057)
- Regieleki VMAX x3 (SIT058)
- Klefki x2 (SV096)
- Radiant Greninja x1 (AR046)
- Ultra Ball x3
- Nest Ball x4
- Escape Rope x1
- Switch Cart x1
- Electricity Generator x4
- Arven x2
- Judge x3
- Boss’s Orders x2
- Professor’s Research x3
- Beach Court x2
- Lightning Energy x13-15
Essential Cards
Then, for the non-essential cards in the Pokémon TCG, we have:
- Raikou V x1 (BS048)
- Zeraora V x1 + Zeraora VSTAR x1 (CZ053 + CZ055)
- Drapion V x1 (LO118)
- EXP Share x1
- Forest Seal Stone x2
- Serena x2
- Path to the Peak x2
Non-Essential Cards
Card Breakdown
Miraidon EX
Miraidon EX is the namesake of this deck and the main reason it can become such a strong part of the format. When played correctly, Miraidon can get you a lot of value early in the game, while also serving as a powerful attacking card that can thin the deck and make getting useful Trainer cards much easier.
Miraidon EX is a Basic Lightning type Pokémon with 220HP. This is a decent amount of bulk, especially early on in the match, and can allow it to tank some pretty hefty attacks from other decks. However, the real magic in Miraidon EX lies in its ability, Tandem Unit: once per turn, you may search your deck for 2 Basic Lightning Pokémon and then put them on your bench before shuffling. This is an incredibly strong search ability, one which circumvents the need for tons of other search cards like Pokéballs.
Using Tandem Unit as a starting point, Miraidon can go in several directions depending on how the early part of the match is going. If everything is going well and you have the Energy and Trainer cards required to begin building, simply pick up 2 Basic Regieleki V cards. If you need more offence out of the gate, there’s always the option of Raikou V or any other Lightning Pokémon you choose to bring. You can even Tandem Unit search from one Miraidon EX into another Miraidon EX, giving you the ability to pick up to 4 cards right from the start of the game.
This isn’t even factoring in Miraidon’s other Attack, Photon Blaster, which deals an impressive 220 damage with the downside of being unable to use Miraidon to attack the next turn. While it won’t be knocking out any imposing VSTAR or even some of the other EX cards in the format on its own, Photon Blaster pairs excellently with other abilities in our deck to turn it into a move to be feared.
Miraidon EX kind of has it all: decent bulk and incredible deck-searching potential with the potential to hit big with Photon Blaster and prime your bench early in the game. There’s a reason why it’s the head of the deck.
Flagship Miraidon EX
Regieleki V and Regieleki VMAX
Following Miraidon EX are the next in the chain, Regieleki V and Regieleki VMAX. Interestingly enough, both the regular V and the VMAX variants have their uses and you may want to run both on your bench at the same time (as opposed to instantly going for the evolution).
Let’s start with Regieleki V. With two attacks, Switching Bolt and Lightning Wall, Regieleki V will mainly be serving as a tanky protector that can get into a fight quickly. Switching Bolt lets you get Regieleki onto and off of the field with ease, sacrificing a bit of damage in the process. Meanwhile, Lightning Wall is here to stall out your opponents, as it deals 100 damage with the bonus of having Regieleki take 100 less damage during your opponent’s next turn.
Then we have Regieleki VMAX. The main thing to focus on here is the Transistor ability. While you have a Regieleki on the field, your Basic Lightning Pokémon’s attacks will deal 30 more damage to your opponent’s Active Pokémon (before applying Weakness and Resistance). On its own, this is already incredible and can combo with Miraidon EX or even Regieleki V to increase their damage and KO potential. What’s even better, though, is that this is stackable, meaning that 2 Regieleki VMAX will increase Lightning damage by 60, suddenly turning a move like Photon Blaster into a devastating attack for almost any deck.
Together, alongside Miraidon EX, you can get plenty of Regielki cards into play very quickly. They can then tank hits for you and poke low-health opposing Pokémon as you ready the Regieleki VMAX cards on the bench. In no time flat, you’ll have an army of powerful Pokémon on the bench, all benefitting from multiple Transistor abilities at once.
Regieleki V and VMAX
Klefki
The new Klefki card from the Pokémon Scarlet and Violet TCG may seem like an odd inclusion at first. However, it belongs in the deck as a source of denial and as a contingency plan against some of the other popular decks in the format.
The main reason for Klefki’s inclusion is the Prank Lock ability: as long as Klefki is in the Active slot, each player’s Basic Pokémon have no Abilities (aside from Prank Lock). The best way to think of this ability is a weaker, but slightly more sustainable, Path to the Peak (which can also be run in this deck for some additional security against certain decks). On your end, Prank Lock will affect Tandem Unit, but this will only really be useful in the first few turns of the game, and it won’t negate Transistor.
In terms of how it fares against other decks, Prank Lock will put a big dent in the plans of decks like Mew VMAX by shutting down the deck thinning of Genesect V and it will even fare well against Miraidon EX mirror decks if you can play Klefki quick enough to stop Tandem Unit. This works even better when you’re able to pair Klefki with Regieleki as a quick defensive duo: Regieleki V can do some nice poke damage on your turn with Switching Bolt (dealing up to 120 damage if you happen to have the maximum amount of Transistors active) before bringing in Klefki to deny your opponent access to abilities in the next turn.
Obviously, against anything other than a Basic EX or V Pokémon, Prank Lock won’t be as effective. However, those will take time to get going and if you’re able to use Klefki early enough, you can certainly put a spanner in the works of plenty of opposing decks.
Klefki Pokémon
Other Pokémon
Lastly, in terms of Pokémon cards, we have several choices to go through in terms of how you want to play. There are 3 main options, which you can even use in the same deck if you’re feeling confident, which each serve a different purpose.
First up is Raikou V. For the Miraidon Deck, Raikou is going to fulfil the role of another Lightning attacker alongside Regieleki and Miraidon. Lightning Rondo is a cheap move whose damage can quickly rack up if you manage to get Tandem Unit off early: summoning a Miraidon and Raikou using Tandem Unit, followed by two Regieleki with the second Tandem Unit will drastically increase Raikou’s damage very easily. This can also be paired with Transistor later on in the match. Raikou also happens to have Fleet-Footed for even more deck-thinning potential, letting you get your vital combos out easier.
On the other side of the Lightning coin, we have Zeraora V and Zeraora VSTAR. If you plan on running Forest Seal Stone, Zeraora may be better off sitting this one out in favour of Star Alchemy’s ability to perfectly choose combo cards. However, if you want a bit more firepower, both versions of Zeraora will allow you to deal good amounts of Lightning damage to your opponents. Zeraora VSTAR also lets you have a direct way to combo Stadiums like Path to the Peak (which can be extremely difficult if used at the wrong moment) and a way to attack the bench. This combo does need a bit more investment than Raikou or Regieleki, though, so keep that in mind.
Finally, we have Drapion V who is mainly here for security purposes. While we are running Klefki and Prank Lock for decks like Mew VMAX, there are ways for it to get around that (especially considering that Klefki is rather frail with 70HP and a Steel Weakness that Genesect can easily exploit) and Path to the Peak is a risky play. Drapion serves as a definitive way to deal with that.
Other Pokémon
Item and Tool Cards
The Miraidon Deck in the Pokémon TCG has quite a few Trainer cards to go through. Some, like the Ultra Ball and Nest Ball, have more obvious uses in thinning the deck and finding additional Pokémon to fill the bench. Similarly, Escape Rope and Switch Cart are both here to allow you a safe way to retreat and get new Pokémon into the active.
The most important Item card in the whole Miraidon EX Deck is the Electricity Generator. This is a new card from the Scarlet and Violet TCG that pairs incredibly well with Miraidon’s theme of searching the deck. One part of the Miraidon Deck to take note of is that you’ll need a decent amount of Energy cards to go around: between Miraidon, Regieleki, Klefki and any additional attackers, you’ll be needing a good deal of Lightning energy. Electricity Generator is an easy (if sometimes unreliable) way of not only finding Lightning Energy but equipping it as well.
While not an essential card, EXP Share is a valuable tool you may want to consider using. As previously mentioned, gaining Energy is a vital part of the deck and fights will only get harder the more Pokémon you lose (as you lack a lot of ways to get cards from the Discard pile). Enter EXP Share which allows you to transfer one Energy from your Active Pokémon when it is knocked out. You could substitute this Tool for something else that provides bonus damage, but the Energy gain will likely be more important.
Electric Generator Card
Supporter and Stadium Cards
Like with the Item and Tool cards, some of the Supporter cards have more obvious uses than others. Professor’s Research and Boss’s Orders are mainstays of many Pokémon TCG decks and it’s no different here. Judge is a similar story, playing into the aim of thinning the deck to obtain a useful hand.
Meanwhile, Arven is another new Pokémon SV TCG Trainer card. You’ll want to use Arven to easily find cards like the Ultra Ball, Nest Ball and the EXP Share to make life a lot easier. In the new Scarlet and Violet format, Item cards and Tool cards are separated, making obtaining them much harder: Arven is a way to sidestep that and get all the cards you need.
Then we have the Stadiums. Beach Court is the safer of the two, letting all Pokémon retreat for one less Energy, and letting you carry out the Klefki-Regieleki combo more easily. Path to the Peak, on the other hand, is far riskier and could even backfire if used incorrectly. The Miraidon Deck is very reliant on abilities – whether it’s Tandem Unit, Prank Lock or Transistor – and if you play Path at the wrong time, it can all blow up in your face. If played correctly, such as when all your Tandem Unit uses have been used up, you can turn the table on decks like Mew VMAX or Lugia VSTAR.
Arven Supporter Card
Miraidon EX Deck Playstyle
The Miraidon EX Deck in the Pokémon TCG excels at getting set up quickly. Between Miraidon’s Tandem Unit being able to summon an entire bench of Pokémon on turn one (depending on what Basics you shuffle from the deck) and the variety of Trainer cards that can either get you Pokémon, Lightning Energy or Tools and Items, you have a lot of options and will rarely be left twiddling your thumbs during a round. While there is some set-up with Regieleki VMAX, you can start attacking and messing with opponents early on without needing the long preparation of some other decks.
There are a handful of weaknesses in the Miraidon Deck to be aware of, though. We previously touched on the reliance on Energy for the deck, especially when EXP Share is your only way of fishing Energy cards from the Discard pile, but the others come from the deck’s damage output and ability reliance. Regieleki and Miraidon can do some incredible damage… if you manage to get several Transistor abilities active at once. Without them, your deck hits hard, but never hard enough to knock out a lot of the biggest foes in the format. With Regieleki and Raikou, you’ll mainly be dealing poke damage, priming foes for later in the fight, meaning that if one of them gets taken out early, you’ll be in trouble.
However, the Miraidon Deck is also one of the most versatile in the Pokémon TCG. Between being able to deal small bits of damage over time or large bits of damage thanks to Transistor, Klefki’s Prank Lock being able to lock down ability-centric decks and having easy access to deck thinning capabilities, the Miraidon Deck has a lot to offer. While you likely won’t be knocking out many high Prize-Card Pokémon in a single hit, you have enough ways to be annoying to basically every single deck in the format.
Overall, the Miraidon EX Deck is a lot easier to play than some other decks. With low requirements for attacks and the ability to respond to almost any other opposing deck, you can safely take this into many different duels. Despite this, you need to be aware of the deck’s shortcomings – especially the reliance on Lightning Energy, the lack of ways to retrieve that Energy once discarded and the lower damage output – to make it work. Figure that out, though, and the Miraidon EX Deck is one of the best in the new Pokemon Scarlet and Violet TCG
A Fast, Versatile Deck
That was how to build a Miraidon EX Deck in the Pokémon Scarlet and Violet TCG.
