Best Mega Chandelure EX Deck Options In Pokemon TCG Live

Published Sep 24, 2026, 2:11 PM EDT Cat Webling is a Kansas-based writer with six years of experience in the gaming industry in a range of roles from editor and journalist to narrative writer. She enjoys cozy gaming on PC and Nintendo Switch 2, especially if the game includes cute animals. With the latest Pitch Black expansion of the Pokemon TCG Live, the Mega Chandelure EX deck has become available for players to explore in Pokemon TCG Live. While the standard version of the deck is interesting, variations using an older version of Chandelure as an alternate attacker and strategy supplement have become increasingly popular as a counter for major meta decks like Dragapult EX. The deck rewards careful Energy management and smart switching between attackers, so learning when to commit to each one can make a big difference. Here is how to play the Mega Chandelure ex deck and make the most of its different strategies. How Mega Chandelure EX Works: Ability, Attacks, & Evolution Line Mega Chandelure EX is a psychic type Stage Two Pokemon that has 350 HP. It's weak to dark types and resistant to fighting types, and has a retreat cost of two colorless energy. Ability: Binding Flame This Pokemon features the ability Binding Flame, which simply increases your opponent's active Pokemon's retreat cost by one colorless energy. On its own, this is interesting, but not too powerful. Binding Flame can cause your opponent to become retreat locked, leaving a vulnerable or useless Pokemon trapped in the active spot so that they can't cause you any damage. This ability also stacks, meaning the more Mega Chandelure EXs you have in play, the higher your opponent's active Pokemon's retreat cost will be. However, it takes at least two turns to establish a Stage Two Pokemon, giving your opponent more than enough time to organize their active Pokemon in the early game. Mega Chandelure EX does have a way to speed this process up — we'll talk about this in a minute. Attack: Phantom Maze Mega Chandelure EX's attack is a big part of what makes its ability worthwhile. Phantom Maze costs two psychic energy to use, and does 130 HP of damage as a baseline. It also does 50 more damage for each colorless energy in your opponent's retreat cost, meaning that just by being on the board with its ability active, it's doing 180 HP of damage per hit. If your opponent has any retreat cost, and/or you can get more Mega Chandelure EXs out on the board, and/or you can combine it with appropriate Trainers, you can quickly and relatively easily hit as much as 300 or more damage in one hit. Evolution Line: Litwick & Lampent Mega Chandelure EX evolves from Lampent, which evolves from Litwick. Litwick, also from Pitch Black, is a psychic Pokemon with 70 HP. It's weak to dark types, resistant to fighting types, and has one colorless energy retreat cost. Its Will-O-Whisp attack costs one psychic energy and does 20 damage. You can find Litwick with Telepathic Energy or Buddy-Buddy Poffin, making it a quick and easy search to start the game with. Lampent, again from Pitch Black, is a psychic Pokemon with 90 HP, weakness to dark types, resistance to fighting types, and one colorless energy retreat cost. Its attack, Spreading Light, is incredibly useful to this deck; it lets you search for up to three Lampent in your deck and put them directly onto the bench. This bypasses Litwick completely and makes setting up your bench quick and easy compared to other Stage Two reliant decks. What Are The Key Mega Chandelure Support Cards? The version of the Mega Chandelure EX deck that comes from the Pokemon TCG Live developers relies on a combination of supporter Pokemon and effective Trainers to execute a strategy based on trapping your opponent's Pokemon in the active spot with no way to attack while you knock them out. Pokemon Items Supporters Pokemon Tools Stadiums Energies Meowth EX (POR) - 1 Buddy-Buddy Poffin - 4 Crispin - 1 Air Balloon - 1 Battle Cage - 2 Neo Upper Energy - 1 Spinerak (POR) - 2 Poke Pad - 4 Lillie's Determination - 4 Gravity Gemstone - 1 Telepathic Psychic Energy - 2 Ariados (TWM) - 2 Special Red Card - 1 Boss's Orders - 2 Basic Psychic Energy - 3 Litwick (PBL) - 4 Night Stretcher - 1 Ruffian - 1 Basic Grass Energy - 3 Lampent (PBL) - 4 Ultra Ball - 4 Team Rocket's Petrel - 1 Mega Chandelure EX (PBL) - 4 Wondrous Patch - 2 Hilda - 3 Lillie's Clefairy EX (JTG) - 1 Rare Candy - 2 Fezendipiti EX (SFA) - 1 Supporter Pokémon A key component of this deck is Ariados, from Twilight Masquerade. It's a Stage One grass-type Pokemon that evolves from Spinerak. It's got 90 HP, is weak to fire, has no resistances, and has a retreat cost of one. Its ability, Big Net, also increases your opponent's active Pokemon's retreat cost by one colorless energy, so it's a great supplement to Chandelure's mechanics. Ariados's attack, String Bind, also does ten damage plus 30 more for each colorless energy in your opponent's retreat cost, so it can work as an alternate attacker if you need it to. This can be pretty valuable in the early game to take prizes quickly and put pressure on your opponent while you're setting up your Chandelures. This deck also includes a copy of Lillie's Clefairy EX, a basic psychic Pokemon with 190 HP, a weakness to metal types, no resistances, and one retreat cost. Its ability, Fairy Zone, makes the weakness of all of your opponent's dragon type Pokemon psychic types, which makes Chandelure twice as effective against them. This is mostly included for the Dragapult EX matchup, as that's the most popular meta deck in the format at the moment; with Lillie's Clefairy in play, Mega Chandelure EX can knock out Dragapult EX in one hit. You also have a copy of Fezendipity EX, for its Flip the Script ability (letting you draw three cards if your Pokemon was knocked out last turn), and Meowth EX, for its Last Ditch Catch ability (letting you search for a Supporter and put it in your hand when you play Meowth to the bench). Trainers Some key Trainers to support Mega Chandelure EX are: Trainers What they are Buddy-Buddy Poffin Allows you to search for two basic Pokemon with up to 70 HP and put them on your bench - great for finding Litwick and Spinerak Hilda Lets you search your deck for an evolution Pokemon and an energy, which lets you find Lampent, Chandelure, or Ariados and grab whichever energy you need to go with them Battle Cage Prevents damage counters from being placed on either player's bench, protecting your bench from attacks like Dragapult EX's Phantom Dive Gravity Gemstone Adds one colorless energy to each active Pokemon's retreat cost when the Pokemon it's attached to is in the active spot; this boosts Chandelure's attack damage Wondrous Patch Allows you to attach a psychic energy from your discard pile to a benched psychic Pokemon; great for establishing Chandelures on the bench Ruffian Discards a tool and a special energy from one of your opponent's Pokemon; great for disruption and keeping your opponent trapped in the active spot Special Red Card If your opponent has three or fewer prize cards remaining, they shuffle their hand to the bottom of their deck and draws three cards; great for slowing down your opponent if you fall behind Energy The Ace Spec card in this deck is Neo Upper Energy, which provides two energy of any type to a Stage Two Pokemon, which makes it perfect for Chandelure. It can be searched with Hilda for quick attachment. There are also a couple of copies of Telepathic Psychic Energy, which is a psychic energy that allows you to look for two basic psychic Pokemon and put them on your bench when you attach it to a psychic Pokemon. Mega Chandelure EX Deck Strategy You'll want to go first with Mega Chandelure EX. Open a Litwick in the active spot if possible; your second-best option is Spinerak, but if that fails and you end up with Meowth or Fezendipity, your priority turn one is getting either Litwick or Spinerak into the active. On turn one, your goal is to find Lampent and attach an energy to Litwick. Then, in turn two, evolve into Lampent and use Spreading Light to fill your board with Lampents. In turn three, evolve into Chandelure, attach another energy, and start taking knockouts. Throughout these turns, use your supporter Pokemon to establish control of the board — play down Lillie's Clefairy as early as possible in a Dragapult matchup, use Meowth to find Hilda, use Ariados to attack quickly if you can't find Lampent first-try, etc. Try not to fill your bench with too many supporting Pokemon, though; you want room for at least three Chandelures (or Ariados) to maximize its attack functionality. You'll also want to time your Trainer use for maximum impact; for example, if your opponent has attached a major tool or special energy to their active Pokemon, use Ruffian to slow them down, waste those cards, and prevent damage. You can use Rare Candy to bypass Lampent if you end up prizing them and can't use Spreading Light; in those cases, Ariados will be a useful stalling choice.