Just when you think the legendary Miraidon ex deck had reached its peak, it keeps on trucking!

Sets like Stellar Crown and Surging Sparks have brought effective new combinations into its strategy, giving it the means to once again dominate the meta.

In this guide, we’ll be taking a look at the strongest and most consistent build for Miraidon ex.

Pokémon: 16
2 Miraidon ex SVI 81
2 Iron Hands ex PAR 70
1 Magnemite SSP 58
1 Magneton SSP 59
1 Pikachu ex SSP 57
1 Latias ex SSP 76
1 Fezandipiti ex SFA 38
1 Mew ex MEW 151
1 Raichu V BRS 45
1 Raikou V BRS 48
1 Lumineon V BRS 40
1 Squawkabilly ex PAL 169
1 Iron Bundle PAR 56
1 Zapdos PGO 29
Trainer: 27
4 Arven OBF 186
3 Boss's Orders PAL 172
4 Nest Ball SVI 181
4 Electric Generator SVI 170
3 Ultra Ball SVI 196
1 Switch Cart ASR 154
1 Secret Box TWM 163
1 Hisuian Heavy Ball ASR 146
1 Counter Catcher PAR 160
2 Bravery Charm PAL 173
1 Forest Seal Stone SIT 156
2 Area Zero Underdepths SCR 131
Energy: 17
16 Lightning Energy SVE 12
1 Double Turbo Energy BRS 151

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Miraidon ex Deck – Key Cards

Miraidon ex

Take advantage of the strongest Pokemon to come out in Pokemon TCG Scarlet and Violet base set. Deal damage quickly to take out basic Pokemon V and ex before they can evolve while simultaneously lining up your bench.

Miraidon ex Deck Strategy Basics

Miraidon is not a particularly difficult deck to use – its effectiveness lies in its simplicity. Much like Zacian V before it back in Sword and Shield, Miraidon is a basic Pokemon and main attacker of this deck. However, backed by a slew of powerful Basic Pokemon and new ways to accelerate energies, the current form of Miraidon is definitely its strongest.

Being a basic Pokemon is that you won’t need to worry about your board set up as much as you would when playing an evolution deck. That being said, getting Miraidon ex onto the field as soon as possible means being able to take advantage of its “Tandem Unit” ability to load up your bench with your other electric Pokemon attackers and supporters.

Tandem Unit to set up your bench

Miraidon ex’s Tandem Unit ability might have seemed strong when it first came out. However, it’s only gotten more relevant since Battle VIP pass rotated out. Now, it’s one of the better ways in the entire game to ensure you get the cards you need on your bench from the start.

If only Tandem Unit worked for Pokemon beyond just electric it would be absolutely broken. Oh well. At least you have your vital electric Pokemon taken care of this way so you can focus your energy and Poke balls on bringing your supporter Pokemon to the bench.

Arguably one of the strongest plays and Pokemon to bench via Tandem unite is Magnemite from Surging Sparks.

As Magneton is your only evolution Pokemon in the deck, getting a Magnemite onto the bench early means having the option to evolve it into Magneton when you need additional energy on your Pokemon.

A Squawk and Sieze a day keeps the doctor away

One of my biggest critiques of the Pokemon TCG is the lack of an optional mulligan at the beginning of the game. Other games have some sort of mechanism in them that lets you build an opening hand that is more favorable to your strategy than just what you originally draw off the top of your deck.

Sure, Pokemon has a mulligan system but it’s based solely on forcing you to have a basic on the field. However, that’s not at all an indicator that you have a hand that is playable. The result is a good percentage of your games being dead on arrival.

What I love about Squawkabilly is that he effectively grants you an optional mulligan. While this simply won’t work in every single deck in the game, it is effective in decks that need to work fast, and an ideal fit for Miraidon ex. Use it to help quickly and effectively get what you need to accelerate energies to your Pokemon.

Power up your Pokemon with Electric Generator

Speaking of powering up your Pokemon, nothing helps get this done better in your Miraidon ex deck than Electric Generator. Miraidon is the trickiest to power up because you’ll need all Lightning energies on it – Double Turbo won’t have any avail here. However, assuming you can get Miraidon ex charged up and ready to go, you’re looking at a walloping 220 base damage output that can easily scale to 230 Thanks to Zapdos and take KOs against basic Pokemon ex and V no problem.

Use Raikou V as a secondary attacker

Raikou V is a very popular Pokemon V in the meta, but it fits Miraidon ex particularly like a glove.

Convenience of a powerful attack for only two energy mixed with a solid Fleet Footed ability, Raikou V cannot be underestimated as an attacker. He’s not a hugely heavy hitter but hits hard enough to take KOs against many Pokemon. This is particularly effective as an early game play, letting you get an attack off reliably even when you don’t hit all the energies you need to use Miraidon ex.

Most Miraidon ex players tend to start with Raikou V in the active, and will then pivot him to Miaidon ex when knockouts are in order.

Switching Pokemon got a whole lot easier thanks to Latias ex

Speaking of pivoting, let’s pivot over to one of the latest additions to this deck: Latias ex. As we expected before Surging Sparks even hit the shelves, Latias ex is an absolute must in decks featuring basic Pokemon. Its Skyliner ability is pretty self explanatory – granting free retreat to all Basic Pokemon. Not only is this handy to more easily move Pokemon around, it also frees up space in your deck that otherwise would have gone to Jet Energies or other mobility cards.

Raichu V is your heaviest hitter

While you have plenty of solid attackers like the well-rounded Miraidon ex, this deck list also features Raichu V. I love that we are getting back to Raichu V as this was a very solid attacker several years ago when Miraidon ex was first seeing competitive play. We largely lost it thanks to the fact that Flaaffy rotated out of the game. However, with Magnemite and Overvolt Discharge around, you certainly can justify including it for its Dynamic Spark attack which gets stronger for each lightning energy in play.

Area Zero Underdepths adds new “depth” to your strategy

Finally, it’s worth mentioning the powerful stadium Miraidon ex is running now, made possible thanks to Pikachu ex. When you have these two combined, you can take advantage of a massive bench from which to leverage the many, many advantages of your Basic supporting Pokemon. Normally, it wouldn’t be feasible to include the sheer number of different basic Pokemon this deck is running. However, with Area Zero Underdepths it is not only manageable but advantageous.

Need an extra 10 damage to take a KO? No problem – just bench a Zapdos. You have the room!

However, in order for this stadium to work you need a Tera type Pokemon in play. That’s where Pikachu ex comes into play. Pikachu is an incredibly low-liability Tera Pokemon you can tech into this deck. Because of its Resolute Heart ability, it’s not a convenient target for gust and attack plays like other Tera types would be. This means once you field it, its likely Pikachu ex will stick around for the entirety of the game.

Secret Box makes it easier to get the tools you need to set things up

Secret Box kind of kills me on a conceptual level because up until somewhat recently people were only running it in Ancient Box. The thing is, a card like this would have been absolutely game breaking just a year or two ago in the Pokemon TCG. It just goes to show you how wild the game is that a card that literally lets you handpick just about anything you could want from your deck four times wouldn’t at first be considered all that great.

In Miraidon ex it works really well as you can use it to set up your Tera-charged board. With it you can search your deck for your Area Zero Underdepths, an Electric Generator, an Arven or Boss’s Orders, and whatever Pokemon Tool is the most advantageous in the moment.

Matchups

Lastly, let’s go over a few of the most common matchups you’ll have to face down and wether or not they are favorable for you.

Regidrago VSTAR: due to Miraidon’s speed and consistency, it’s chances of victory are pretty solid against Regidrago VSTAR. Regidrgo is particularly lethal against decks that rely on Pokemon with lower HP stats and Miraidon isn’t one of those.
Charizard ex: this is arguably you toughest matchup and the main reason for Miraidon ex’s lack of presence in the meta being Charizard ex’s dominance. However, Charizard ex isn’t nearly as commonly played as it once was so hopefully you won’t be staring this deck down too often. Also you do have the means to take a KO against the beefy Charizard ex thanks to Raichu, making this matchup far less unfavorable than it once was.
Lugia VSTAR: Is your best matchup as you can just OHKO a Lugia VSTAR even with Raiku thanks to type advantage.

Miraidon ex remains a powerful, preferred deck in the current Pokemon TCG meta. I would expect to see this deck taking a large play share at an whatever competitive event that you go to. With new ways to reach much higher thresholds of damage, and the power of Area Zero Underdepths, it doesn’t look like Miraidon ex will be going anywhere as a competitive archetype.

Miraidon ex Deck List and Strategy (Surging Sparks Update)