Dragapult / Dusknoir — New Best Deck in Format
Hello to all PokeBeach readers, this is Gabriel Semedo again with another Pokemon TCG article. This time, I want to talk about Dragapult ex / Dusknoir—the best deck in the format and my top choice for the European International Championships (EUIC).
Recently, I’ve been playing Dragapult much more than any other deck. My initial goal wasn’t even to use the deck, but rather to find one that had a good matchup against it while also performing well against the rest of the metagame. Sometimes, I play games with myself to test ideas, so I almost always test them against Dragapult ex / Dusknoir or Gardevoir ex. I even ended up finding some interesting options for EUIC, like Miraidon ex and Archaludon ex, but in the end, I really enjoyed playing Dragapult ex / Dusknoir. I also realised that even in these unfavourable matchups, there are still chances to win.
I believe that if you choose between Dragapult, Gardevoir, or Miraidon, there’s a good chance you’ve picked a strong deck. Among them all, Dragapult / Dusknoir gives me the most pleasure to play, and I feel the most comfortable using it. However, in the end, I believe any of these decks could bring me a good result.
At the time of writing this article, there are still five days until the start of EUIC, so a lot can happen—mainly because I’ll be spending a few days in an Airbnb with seven other friends from Brazil. Usually, the most interesting ideas come up right before the tournament, but honestly, I find that unlikely to happen this time. I still don’t see another deck as versatile or with as many ways to achieve Knock Outs as Dragapult, which is why I decided to write about it.
It’s rare that I enjoy playing with the best deck in format, so I find that strange. Of course, in the end, the deck needs to deliver results, and so far, it has been one of the best in my tests.
Dragapult ex is Finally a Perfect Deck
Since Dragapult ex was released, it never had a fixed archetype. At first, it was combined with Charizard ex or Xatu to help with getting Energy cards on the board, but these combinations never became popular. Later, with the arrival of Crispin and Sparkling Crystal, it became possible to play Dragapult ex without relying on any Pokemon to accelerate Energy. This opened up space to use Dusknoir, which remains the most popular combination to date and has even produced a few good results. However, Regidrago VSTAR was so dominant in the previous format that it performed better than Dragapult ex itself, consistently attacking with Phantom Dive by the second turn.
To try and slow down the speed of Regidrago VSTAR, a version of Dragapult ex with Iron Thorns ex was created and gained some popularity. However, the deck still had flaws in both strategy and consistency. But finally, Prismatic Evolutions introduced a baby Pokemon that would solve all of Dragapult ex’s problems.
Budew brings everything Dragapult ex needs to perform well—essentially one or two turns at the start of the game to properly set up. Thanks to this extra time, you gain additional turns to find and attach Energy, as Budew attacks with no Energy required. You can also make full use of two cards that only work if the opponent takes a slow turn: Drakloak and Lance. As interesting as Drakloak’s Ability was, the format without Budew didn’t offer favourable conditions to play a Stage 1 Pokemon effectively. Because of this, Lance was considered a weak Supporter—but now, he’s proving to be a great option.
It is everything I wanted Dragapult ex to be from the moment I first saw it. Its consistency problems are gone, but that doesn’t mean it’s perfect or unbeatable. The massive wave of Miraidon ex at the Merida Regional in Mexico showed that Dragapult ex still has weaknesses in the format.
Other Dragapult Variants I’ve Tested
Before confirming that Dusknoir is the best match for Dragapult ex, I decided to test all the other variants I found that might make sense. Even though, in theory, Dusknoir seemed indisputably the best combination, in practice, I wasn’t using it that much. Not because it was bad, but because I was searching for something that could add even more to the deck.
Dragapult ex / Charizard ex
This was the first variant I tested after the Merida Regional, as I wanted something that could counter Miraidon ex while still performing well in the format. The advantages of this variant include the ability to Knock Out Gardevoir ex in one attack, having one of the best Pokemon to deal with Miraidon ex, and Charizard’s Ability helping to get Energy cards to Dragapult ex. This also frees up the ACE SPEC slot—usually taken by Sparkling Crystal—allowing the use of Hero's Cape or, in my case, Maximum Belt , which I prefer.
Although these two ACE SPEC cards have completely different effects, I believe they ultimately serve the same goal: reducing the disadvantage in the Dragapult / Dusknoir matchup. The extra damage from Maximum Belt is equivalent to having one Dusclops, while the extra HP from Hero’s Cape allows Dragapult ex to survive two attacks. I personally prefer Maximum Belt because it lets Dragapult ex deal 250 damage, which is enough to KO almost all relevant Basic Pokemon ex, such as Iron Hands ex and Raging Bolt ex . Another key point is that if the opponent has already taken three Prize cards, Charizard ex with Maximum Belt attached deals 320 damage.
Even with an ACE SPEC focused on improving the Dragapult / Dusknoir matchup, I believe it’s still not enough—the Dusknoir variant maintains a slight advantage. This led me to conclude that Dragapult / Charizard is not an ideal choice for a high-level tournament like the International Championships. However, it could be a good option for a League Cup, League Challenge, or even local leagues, especially if you believe your gameplay can make up for the matchup disadvantage.
Iron Thorns ex / Dragapult ex
This version made a lot of sense when Budew wasn’t in the format, as the only reliable way to force the opponent into a bad turn was by placing Iron Thorns ex in the Active Spot. However, now that Budew exists, it simply does a better, more efficient, and more consistent job.
The main advantage of still using Iron Thorns ex is that it performs well against Lugia VSTAR and significantly improves the Miraidon ex matchup, making it favorable. However, its matchups against Dragapult / Dusknoir and Gardevoir ex become significantly weaker. For me, that trade-off isn’t worth it, which is why I no longer consider this version a viable choice.
This concludes the public portion of this article.
If you'd like to continue reading, consider purchasing a PokeBeach premium membership! If you're not completely satisfied with your membership, you can request a full refund within 30 days.
Each week we post high-quality content from some of the game's top players. Our article program isn't a corporate operation, advertising front, or for-profit business. We set our prices so that we can pay the game's top players to write the best content for our subscribers. Each article topic is carefully selected, goes through multiple drafts, and is touched up by our editors. We take great pride in our program!
