Mega Lopunny Dusknoir: 7th Place Regional Brisbane List

Mega Lopunny Dusknoir is a Standard deck that pairs Mega Lopunny ex's big Bench-to-Active hit with Dusknoir's "Cursed Blast" damage counters to take Knock Outs that neither card gets on its own.

Fletcher Cutting piloted this 60 to 7th place out of 817 players at Regional Brisbane on 2026-09-26, finishing 10-2-2. That's a strong result for an archetype sitting at just 1.3% usage and a 50.6% average win rate across 86 lists in CardForge's 33-day window. This isn't a meta deck. It's a well-tuned version of a niche one, and the tuning is the interesting part.

The list

Pokémon (24)

Trainer (30)

Energy (6)

What it's built to do

The whole deck revolves around Mega Lopunny ex's "Gale Thrust". For a single Colorless Energy it does 60, plus 170 more if Lopunny moved from your Bench to the Active Spot this turn. So you're not trying to keep Lopunny in front. You want it on the Bench, then pull it up and swing. Switch, Buneary's "Run Around" and retreating something else all count as moving it up.

If that number falls short, "Spiky Hopper" does 160 for two Colorless and ignores any effects on your opponent's Active Pokémon. That's your answer when a defender has some effect protecting it.

Dusknoir fills the gap. "Cursed Blast" puts 13 damage counters on any of your opponent's Pokémon and Knocks Dusknoir out. Dusclops has the same Ability with 5 counters. Use either one before the Gale Thrust and you hit numbers Lopunny can't reach alone, or you take a Benched Pokémon off the board on the same turn. The cost is real, though: every Cursed Blast gives your opponent a Prize. You're trading a single-Prize body for a big swing, so count Prizes before you pop one.

Latias ex's "Skyliner" gives your Basic Pokémon no Retreat Cost. That makes the pivot free: a Basic sitting Active (Duskull, Mega Kangaskhan ex, Meowth ex, Bloodmoon Ursaluna ex) retreats for nothing, Lopunny comes up from the Bench, and the Gale Thrust bonus is on. Mega Kangaskhan ex fills in as draw when it's Active ("Run Errand", draw 2) and doubles as a 300 HP attacker with "Rapid-Fire Combo".

Against the archetype as a whole, this list is a stock build with its own tuning on top. Almost every count sits close to the averages. The differences are about consistency of the pivot and a couple of tech slots, and we'll walk through those next.

Choices that stand out

More Switch, more Candy, fewer Dusknoir

The list runs 4 Switch against an archetype average of 3.5, and 4 Rare Candy against 3.5. Both point the same way. Switch is a Gale Thrust enabler as much as a retreat card, so every extra copy is another turn where Lopunny hits for full damage. And maxing Rare Candy means you get Duskull to Dusknoir more reliably.

The trade is in Dusknoir itself: 3 copies, where the average is 3.6. With 4 Duskull (avg 3.8) and 4 Candy you're more likely to find the Stage 2 when you need it, so you can get away with one fewer. I like this. A fourth Dusknoir is dead weight when you hold two and the Candy isn't there.

Second Latias ex, second Lopunny

Latias ex is at 2 against an average of 1.6, and Mega Lopunny ex is at 2 against 1.8. A second Latias means you can afford to lose one and keep free retreat, which matters because it's a 210 HP ex with Darkness Weakness sitting on your Bench. The second Lopunny protects your main attacker line. Remember each Mega gives up 3 Prizes when Knocked Out, so don't drop both on the Bench early if you don't need to.

Wally's Compassion (unusual inclusion)

CardForge has no archetype average for this one, so it's this pilot's own call. It heals all damage from one of your Mega Evolution Pokémon ex and returns its Energy to your hand. On a 330 HP Lopunny or 300 HP Kangaskhan that wipes out a whole attack's worth of work your opponent just did. Getting the Energy back hurts less than you'd think, because Gale Thrust only costs one Colorless. A common mistake is playing it on a Kangaskhan you need to attack with next turn: Rapid-Fire Combo costs three Energy, so you'd be resetting your own clock.

Festival Grounds over the usual Stadium

This is the other unusual inclusion. The archetype normally plays a different Stadium (in 80% of lists, 1.6 copies on average), and this list cuts it completely for one Festival Grounds. With Festival Grounds out, any Pokémon with Energy attached recovers from and can't be affected by Special Conditions. It works for both players, so keep that in mind. It's a narrow card. Put it down when Special Conditions are what's actually stopping you, not just because you drew it.

Flex slots the pilot kept

• Bloodmoon Ursaluna ex (in 45.7% of archetype lists): "Blood Moon" does 240 and costs one Colorless less for each Prize your opponent has taken. It's your late-game cleanup attacker, and it gets cheaper as you fall behind.
• Salvatore (54.3%): evolves a Pokémon into a card with no Abilities. Mega Lopunny ex and Bronzong both qualify. It works on a Pokémon you put down during setup, so going second you can have Lopunny evolved on your first turn.
• Budew (67.1%): "Itchy Pollen" costs nothing and stops your opponent from playing Items on their next turn.
• Special Red Card (67.1%): only playable when your opponent has 3 or fewer Prizes left. It shuffles their hand to the bottom and leaves them 3 cards, which is your comeback tool.

The engine is stock: 4 Hilda, 4 Lillie's Determination, 4 Poké Pad, 4 Ultra Ball, 2 Boss's Orders, 4 Telepathic Psychic Energy, Enriching Energy as the ACE SPEC and a single basic Psychic Energy. Attach Telepathic Psychic Energy to a Psychic Pokémon and it benches up to two Basic Psychic Pokémon (Duskull or Latias ex), which is how the Dusknoir line gets onto the board fast.

How it played

Regional Brisbane had 817 players. Fletcher Cutting finished 7th at 10-2-2. Here are the rounds CardForge has opponent data for (rounds 1 and 13 aren't in the data):

The story is Dragapult. Some version of it showed up in rounds 3, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 and 14, and that tracks with the field: Dragapult was the biggest archetype at Brisbane with a 15.3% share and a 54.6% win rate. This list beat most of those pairings, dropped one in round 14 and drew one against Dragapult Dusknoir. Keep in mind this is one player's run, not a matchup spread, so don't read it as proof the deck beats Dragapult. What it does show is that the deck can hold up in a Dragapult-heavy room.

The two draws came back to back in rounds 11 and 12. If you take this to an event, practice playing fast. Pivot-and-Cursed-Blast turns have a lot of steps, and draws hurt.

Adapting it

Every change below is a judgment call based on how these cards work. None of it has been tested in the data, so treat how it'll perform at your event as speculation.

If your local scene is mostly Dragapult, the base list is already set up for it, going by Brisbane. I wouldn't touch the core.

If Special Conditions aren't a factor where you play, Festival Grounds is the easiest slot to free up. A second Boss's Orders (the archetype average is 2, so a third would be above it) or a second Special Red Card both fit what the deck wants to do late.

If you're getting run over early, think about a second Budew. "Itchy Pollen" costs nothing and locks Items for a turn, which buys you time while Dusknoir sets up. Budew is a 30 HP Basic, though, so it's a Prize you hand over cheaply.

If you want a faster first turn going second, a second Salvatore turns a starting Buneary into Mega Lopunny ex right away. Bronzong was the pilot's own pick at the full 2-2 line (in 97.1% of archetype lists), so I'd cut there last.

If your opponents keep spreading damage or chipping your Megas, Wally's Compassion is already in. A second copy is reasonable, and Bloodmoon Ursaluna ex is the card I'd look at cutting since fewer than half the archetype plays it.

Whatever you change, keep 4 Switch and 2 Latias ex. Without those the Gale Thrust plan falls apart, and that's the main reason this list differs from the average. The CardForge archetype page for Mega Lopunny Dusknoir lets you compare against the other 86 lists.

FAQ

How does Mega Lopunny ex do its big damage?

"Gale Thrust" does 60 for one Colorless Energy, plus 170 more if Mega Lopunny ex moved from your Bench to the Active Spot that turn. In this list you set that up with Switch, Buneary's "Run Around", or a free retreat from a Basic thanks to Latias ex's "Skyliner". Add a Dusknoir "Cursed Blast" when that still isn't enough to Knock Out.

What record did Mega Lopunny Dusknoir get at Regional Brisbane?

Fletcher Cutting went 10-2-2 and finished 7th out of 817 players. Most of the listed opponents were Dragapult variants, and the losses came against Toucannon in round 4 and Dragapult in round 14. The two draws were against Dragapult Dusknoir and Lucario Mega Hariyama.

Why does this list play only 3 Dusknoir?

The archetype averages 3.6 Dusknoir, but this list maxes out at 4 Rare Candy (average 3.5) and 4 Duskull (average 3.8). With more ways to find and evolve the line, a fourth Dusknoir is more likely to be stuck in hand. The slot goes to consistency cards like the fourth Switch instead.

Is Mega Lopunny Dusknoir a popular deck right now?

No. Across CardForge's 33-day Standard window it's 1.3% of lists, 86 decks, with a 50.6% average win rate. This Top 8 finish is a strong result for a niche deck, not proof that it's a top-tier pick.

What ACE SPEC does Mega Lopunny Dusknoir use?

Enriching Energy, which shows up in 92.9% of archetype lists. It provides Colorless Energy and draws 4 cards when you attach it from your hand. That's enough for Gale Thrust's one-Energy cost, so the draw comes on a card you'd attach anyway.