Megas are returning to the Pokemon TCG, and this time, they won’t be such a risk to play. This will be a huge step forward in optimizing past mechanics for modern gameplay.
The Pokemon Day 2025 Presents delivered a slew of exciting news to players, from the new Legends: ZA trailer to news about the Pokemon Champions game. However, Tabletop players were left in the dust, as it has been confirmed Megas will return to the TCG.
While there hasn’t been much detail about the new mechanics Mega ex cards will utilize, we have an idea of how they will function just from the Mega Lucario ex and Mega Gardevoir ex that were revealed during the trailer.
Mega Evolution isn’t new – but no one remembers it
The Pokemon CompanyMega Evolution was first introduced to the Pokemon TCG in 2014 with the X and Y expansions. These cards, called Mega Pokemon EX, operated in a similar way to V and VMAX cards.
For example, players would need to pull a Lucario EX card, get it on the bench, and then evolve it into Mega Lucario EX with another card. While the two-evolution system doesn’t sound terrible, some major hiccups created issues with the mechanics.
First, EX cards have a two-prize-card pull when taken out. This meant that if players didn’t pull well, and their EX cards got knocked out, it could be a painfully quick match. Additionally, the Energy cost for both EX and Mega EX cards was very high. This caused the setup to be lengthy and difficult, leaving players to opt for strong EX cards, skipping the Mega evolution entirely.
Because of this, Mega in the TCG got a bit of a bad reputation for being unpleasant to use and difficult to set up. Many fans only sought them out for collection purposes, and few are remembered as meta mainstays of the time.
Related
How the Scarlet and Violet era Megas do it better
A powerful card like a Mega ex can’t be too easy to play, but the modern equivalent of this mechanic seems much less punishing than its predecessor.
In the two cards shown, we have an idea of how this mechanic is going to function. Evolution will not require a base ex card. Instead, it will evolve just like a regular ex. For example, Mega Lucario ex evolves from Riolu, while Mega Gardevoir ex evolves from Kirlia. These are low-cost cards that can be pulled easily with Supports and Items, as well as Pokemon Abilities.
Additionally, the Energy cost for these cards is much lower than what was seen during X and Y. Mega Lucario ex’s move “Mega Brave” only requires two Fighting-type Energy to do 270 points of damage. Mega Gardevoir ex has two moves, and they both cost a single Psychic-type Energy. Additionally, Gardevoir has an Energy acceleration move and an attack boosted by Energy count. This is a fun strategy and one that has been popular in past cards like Serperior VSTAR.
When looking at the same Pokemon from the EX run during X and Y, it is clear how much better the new versions of the Mega mechanic are.
Boosted HP puts new Mega Lucario at 340 and Mega Gardevoir at 360. Both have two moves instead of one. Both moves do much better overall damage to an opponent. They both have less risk when being set up and can be done so quickly thanks to helpful items and strategy.
While nothing can be guaranteed until cards are tested in battle, it is possible the Mega ex mechanic could throw some hard changes at the current Pokemon TCG meta. No matter how things shift, the changes made to the Scarlet and Violet versions have fixed the main issues that made Mega unplayable in the past.
