The Pokemon Trading Card Game has been using alternate forms for Pokemon for a very long time. While EX cards have been out of the rotation for a while, followed by other big cards such as GX, Tag-Team, V, and VSTAR, some significantly impacted the game. These big boss cards have evolved over the years, but the EX cards were the first to make an impact.
Some of these cards would probably see play even today if they were legal in Standard Format. With the possibility of EX cards returning to the TCG never ruled out, it's always a good time to take a look at the best examples ever released.
10 Volcanion-EX From XY Steam Siege
At first glance, Volcanion doesn't seem so great. It had a double type, a gimmick the TCG tried some years back, being both Fire and Water. Volcanion had an okay attack in Volcanic Heat, dealing 130 Damage — which was quite respectable back then.
What made Volcanion great was its ability, Steam Up. With it, you could discard one Fire Energy once per turn, buffing your Basic Fire Pokemon in the active slot with +30 damage. But, here's the fun part — you could do this once for each Volcanion-EX you had, meaning you could buff your Fire-type attackers with up to 90 extra damage each turn.
9 Magearna-EX From XY Steam Siege
Magearna was an excellent support, especially for decks using Steel Energy as their primary pool. However, its stats and attack were nothing out of the ordinary for an EX card, with 160 HP and the attack Soul Blaster, dealing 120 damage and getting weaker on the next turn.
Once again, the ability was what makes Magearna worthwhile. Thanks to Mystic Heart, Magearna-EX prevented any additional effects (besides damage) of attacks that targeted your Pokemon who had Steel Energy attached to them. This could be pretty beneficial as a defensive option for Steel-type decks, or decks that used Colorless Energy and could be of any type, which is why it saw a lot of play.
8 Malamar-EX From Phantom Forces
Malamar-EX was a Dark-type Pokemon with both disruption and high damage options. To begin with, it had the attack MAXamar, letting you flip coins for each energy attached and dealing 60 damage per instance of heads. With some Energy stacking and luck manipulation through other cards, this damage could quickly become incredibly high.
In addition, Malamar-EX had the ability Hyper Hypnosis, which made your opponent's active Pokemon sleep when you attached an Energy to Malamar-EX. This could be annoying for the receiving end if they didn't have an out, forced to flip coins in the hope of waking up.
7 Aegislash-EX From Phantom Forces
Aegislash-EX was one of those Pokemon who would be a regular pack-filler card if not for its ability. It had 170 HP, which was respectable, and the attack Slash Blast, which dealt 40 damage, plus 20 for each Steel Energy attached to it.
Its ability Mighty Shield, made this card situationally unbeatable, though. It prevented any damage done to Aegislash-EX from Pokemon with any Special Energy attached to it. Considering tons of meta decks used to play Special Energy cards, such as the Night March deck, this ability could shut down a whole deck by itself.
6 Keldeo-EX From Boundaries Crossed
Keldeo-EX was a primary attacker with incredible damage potential. It did have a useful ability in Rush In, which allowed it to jump to the active spot from the bench once per turn. But Keldeo was a menace due to its attack, Secret Sword.
It cost three Colorless Energy to use and deals an underwhelming 50 damage. However, the damage increases by 20 for each Water Energy attached to it. This, in combination with the Deluge ability on Blastoise, made it incredibly easy to build a devastating Secret Sword within a few turns — so much so that the deck saw several top eight finishes in tournaments throughout the years.
5 Mew-EX From Dragons Exalted
Mew has always been an interesting Pokemon in the TCG. Its unique lore about being the ancestor of all Pokemon bled into the card designs for several years. Mew-EX was no different in that regard. Its Replace attack let you shuffle around your attached Energy between Pokemon, which was mostly useless.
Mew-EX's ability Versatile, however, made it an incredible option. With it, Mew-EX could use any attack of any Pokemon on the board, if it had the right Energy. Of course, that included your opponent's Pokemon as well. Night March decks in particular included Mew-EX, using it as another attacker — but one with some actual bulk.
4 Jirachi-EX From Plasma Blast
Jirachi-EX, while a pretty simple Pokemon, was extremely splashable on any deck. This tech card allowed you to grab a Supporter card from your deck and add it to your hand, upon being placed on the bench.
Jirachi-EX also had some downsides, having only 90 HP and a mostly useless attack. But adding a specific power card was so good that it saw tons of play in various decks.
3 Seismitoad-EX From Furious Fists
Seismitoad was never an excellent Pokemon in the video games, barring a few instances of countering Dracovish. However, in the TCG, Seismitoad was incredibly useful for a time. It was strong thanks to its regular attacks and didn't need useful abilities, unlike many other entries on this list.
Seismitoad-EX mainly saw play in stun and lock decks, aiming to prevent your opponent from making any power pushes as you accumulate power on your side of the board. For example, the excellent Quaking Punch locks your opponent out of Item cards for a turn. Seismitoad made for a perfect annoyance to your opponents when combined with other stun tools.
2 Hoopa-EX From Ancient Origins
Jirachi's ability to add cards to your hand has already been discussed in this list, but Hoopa-EX did that better. Its Scroundel Ring ability added a whopping three Pokemon-EX to your hand from your deck upon landing on the bench, making Hoopa-EX broken by itself.
Adding any three Pokemon-EX to your hand was incredibly useful for any deck, except for single-prize decks that opted out of using EXs. You could grab your best attacker, your best draw support, or whatever you needed at that moment. Being so generic and effective made Hoopa-EX a fantastic addition to almost all decks at the time.
1 Shaymin-EX From Roaring Skies
We've talked about utility, card draw, and card adding, which made many Pokemon-EX useful in the first place. Well, Shaymin-EX was the absolute best example of that. Sure, it had low HP and couldn't deal much damage, but it was one of the best EX cards to have ever been printed. Its speed from the video games also translated to the TCG.
The ability Set Up allowed you to draw until you had six cards in your hand, upon being put on the bench. Drawing this many cards, potentially several times per turn, was not bad at all. While Crobat V later took on the mantle of draw support, Shaymin-EX did it first and did it incredibly. It's no coincidence that it was in tons of decks that finished high and even won tournaments.