Archaludon ex deck: the core, the flex slots, and what beats it

What Archaludon ex looks like when you open the box

Across the 24 lists we counted, this deck runs 11 to 22 Pokémon, 26 to 40 Trainers and 7 to 15 Energy. Its attacks are paid for in Metal.

On results pages and on stream you will see it written « archaludon-ex ». Every card named in that label turns up in the tables below, which is what makes it a fair name for the deck.

Look at the Energy: 7 to 15 out of 60, when half the 97 decks we track run 10 or fewer. This one carries more than most, and you feel it at the table — it wants to load up a big Pokémon and swing hard, even if that means drawing a spare Energy now and then.

It sets up fast. Archaludon ex is a Stage 1 Pokémon: a Basic, one evolution on top, and you are attacking. Two cards instead of three. You lose fewer turns building, and you rebuild much more easily when an early knockout lands on you.

Look at the Trainers: 26 to 40 cards out of 60, against a median of 31 across the 97 decks we track. Inside that, 9 to 16 Supporters, and the rule there is strict — one a turn, even if you are holding three. The 12 to 26 Items you can play all of in the same turn. It also brings up to 4 Stadiums, and 57 of the 97 decks we track bring that many or more. Only one Stadium sits on the table at a time: the one you play sends the one already there to the discard pile.

What Tools and Stadiums do — the two Trainer families we skipped here — and why the Energy count says so much: how to read a deck list.

What the card in this deck's name actually does

Archaludon ex gives this deck its name. Here is what is written on it.

Archaludon ex is in all 24 lists, 3 copies of it. Its Ability is called Assemble Alloy, and here is what is printed on it, word for word: « When you play this Pokémon from your hand to evolve 1 of your Pokémon during your turn, you may attach up to 2 Basic {M} Energy cards from your discard pile to your {M} Pokémon in any way you like. »

How Archaludon ex actually wins

Archaludon ex attacks with Metal Defender for 220. It needs 3 Metal Energy attached, and it has 300 HP. And the number is not everything the card says. There is one more line printed under the attack, and it is the one everybody skips: "During your opponent's next turn, this Pokémon has no Weakness."

The cost of Metal Defender decides your first few turns. You only get to attach one Energy a turn, and that attack asks for 3. On your own attachments alone, your first real swing lands on turn 3. Except you are not on your own. Philippe, a single copy in the list, digs Energy out of your discard pile and puts it back on one of your Pokémon. Archaludon ex does the same job. One copy in the whole list, so do not build your turn around it. When it shows up it buys you a turn, and that is already a lot.

Here is the detail that quietly loses games. To pull Archaludon ex back to the Bench you have to discard 2 Energy attached to it. Retreating does not cost you your turn, you can step back and still swing right after. What it costs you is the 2 Energy you spent 2 turns attaching, and you start that climb again from nothing. Pack a card that moves it for free, or send it up knowing it stays up.

Archaludon ex carries the "ex" suffix, and your opponent takes 2 Prize cards instead of one when Archaludon ex falls. They need 6 to win: 3 well-placed knockouts on that card beat you, where it would take 6 anywhere else on your Bench.

The attackers in the deck's core, with their best attack, its cost and their Weakness

Pokémon	HP	Attack	Damage	Cost	Weakness	Retreat
Close Archaludon exStage 1	300	Metal Defender	220	Metal + Metal + Metal	Fire ×2	2

The core: the 6 cards every list runs

These 6 cards appear in all 24 lists, without a single exception. That is 28 of the 60 slots. The other 32 are decided player by player.

Look at how those 28 slots break down: 15 Trainers, 3 Pokémon, 10 Energy. Trainers outweigh everything else put together, which is the mark of a deck that goes and fetches its cards rather than waiting to draw them.

6 of those 6 cards do not sit at the same count from list to list: Archaludon ex (2 to 4), Lillie's Determination (3 to 4) and Poké Pad (2 to 4), plus 3 more. Add those spreads up and you get 17 copies the 24 lists do not agree on, inside the core itself.

What "3 to 4" means in the copies column, what the "TWM 130" code under each name is for, and why we count dozens of lists instead of one: how to read a deck list.

The cards present in every list counted, with the number of copies

Copies	Card	Printing	Kind	Rotation
2–4	Close Archaludon ex	SSP 130	Pokémon	leaves
3–4	Close Lillie's Determination	MEG 119	Trainer	stays
2–4	Close Poké Pad	POR 81	Trainer	stays
3–4	Close Ultra Ball	MEG 131	Trainer	stays
1–4	Close Night Stretcher	ASC 196	Trainer	leaves
7–15	Metal Energy	MEE 8	Energy	stays

The 92 cards that change from list to list

92 cards fight over the 32 slots that are left: 3 above three lists in four, 69 below one in four, and the percentage on each row says how many players took it.

The most agreed on first: Duraludon at 96 %, Boss's Orders at 96 % and Relicanth at 92 %. Add those to the core and you have the common build.

The dividing line runs through Philippe, at 50 %: 12 of 24 players took it, 12 put something else there. The ones who run it bring 1 copy. Right at the bottom of the table, Duraludon (6 lists out of 24) and Handheld Fan (6 lists out of 24).

Why a card at 45 % is not a bad card, and what order to buy all this in: how to read a deck list.

The cards some lists run and others don't, most common first

Lists running it	Card	Copies	Printing	Kind
96 %23/24	Close Duraludon	1–4	SCR 106	Pokémon
96 %23/24	Close Boss's Orders	1–4	MEG 114	Trainer
92 %22/24	Close Relicanth	1–2	TEF 84	Pokémon
71 %17/24	Close Fezandipiti ex	1	ASC 142	Pokémon
67 %16/24	Close Meowth ex	1–2	POR 62	Pokémon
63 %15/24	Close Special Red Card	1–2	CRI 82	Trainer
54 %13/24	Close Prism Tower	1–4	CRI 80	Trainer
50 %12/24	Close Philippe	1–2	CRI 79	Trainer
46 %11/24	Close Mega Mawile ex	1	MEG 94	Pokémon
38 %9/24	Close Psyduck	1	ASC 39	Pokémon
38 %9/24	Close Air Balloon	1–2	ASC 181	Trainer
38 %9/24	Close Judge	1–2	POR 76	Trainer
33 %8/24	Close Genesect ex	1–2	BLK 67	Pokémon
33 %8/24	Close Munkidori	1–3	TWM 95	Pokémon
33 %8/24	Close Archaludon	1	PFL 75	Pokémon
33 %8/24	Close Carmine	2–4	TWM 145	Trainer
33 %8/24	Close Team Rocket's Petrel	1–4	DRI 176	Trainer
33 %8/24	Close Jumbo Ice Cream	1–4	PFL 91	Trainer
33 %8/24	Close Pokégear 3.0	1–4	SVI 186	Trainer
33 %8/24	Close Scoop Up Cyclone	1	TWM 162	Trainer
33 %8/24	Darkness Energy	1–3	MEE 7	Energy
29 %7/24	Close Explorer's Guidance	2–4	TEF 147	Trainer
29 %7/24	Close Hero's Cape	1	TEF 152	Trainer
25 %6/24	Close Duraludon	1–4	PFL 74	Pokémon
25 %6/24	Close Handheld Fan	1–3	TWM 150	Trainer
25 %6/24	Close Rare Candy	1–2	MEG 125	Trainer
25 %6/24	Close Kieran	1	TWM 154	Trainer
25 %6/24	Close Magnetic Metal Energy	1–3	CRI 85	Energy
21 %5/24	Close Bastiodon	2–3	PBL 62	Pokémon
21 %5/24	Close Shieldon	1–3	PBL 61	Pokémon
21 %5/24	Close Antique Armor Fossil	3	PBL 72	Trainer
21 %5/24	Close Buddy-Buddy Poffin	2–3	TEF 144	Trainer
21 %5/24	Close Fossil Quarry	1–3	PBL 76	Trainer
17 %4/24	Close Beldum	3	TEF 113	Pokémon
17 %4/24	Close Metang	3	TEF 114	Pokémon
17 %4/24	Close Metagross	1–2	CRI 61	Pokémon
17 %4/24	Close Team Rocket's Transceiver	1–3	DRI 178	Trainer
17 %4/24	Close Switch	1–2	MEG 130	Trainer
17 %4/24	Close Full Metal Lab	1–3	TEF 148	Trainer
13 %3/24	Close Cinderace	3–4	MEG 28	Pokémon
13 %3/24	Close Archaludon	1	SCR 107	Pokémon
13 %3/24	Close Mega Skarmory ex	1	POR 55	Pokémon
13 %3/24	Close Shaymin	1	DRI 10	Pokémon
13 %3/24	Close Crushing Hammer	3–4	POR 71	Trainer
13 %3/24	Close Team Rocket's Watchtower	1–2	DRI 180	Trainer
13 %3/24	Close Colress's Tenacity	1	SFA 57	Trainer
13 %3/24	Close Energy Recycler	1	DRI 164	Trainer
13 %3/24	Close Hilda	1–2	WHT 84	Trainer
13 %3/24	Close Secret Box	1	TWM 163	Trainer
8 %2/24	Close Empoleon ex	2	PFL 70	Pokémon
8 %2/24	Close Piplup	2	PFL 27	Pokémon
8 %2/24	Close Scizor ex	2	TEF 111	Pokémon
8 %2/24	Close Scyther	2	TEF 1	Pokémon
8 %2/24	Close Bloodmoon Ursaluna ex	1	TWM 141	Pokémon
8 %2/24	Close Budew	1	ASC 16	Pokémon
8 %2/24	Close Genesect	1	SFA 40	Pokémon
8 %2/24	Close Klefki	1	POR 59	Pokémon
8 %2/24	Close Prinplup	1	PFL 28	Pokémon
8 %2/24	Close Pokémon Catcher	4	POR 82	Trainer
8 %2/24	Close Battle Cage	2	PFL 85	Trainer
8 %2/24	Close Energy Search	2	POR 72	Trainer
8 %2/24	Close Gravity Mountain	2	SSP 177	Trainer
8 %2/24	Close Team Rocket's Factory	2	DRI 173	Trainer
8 %2/24	Close Black Belt's Training	1	JTG 143	Trainer
8 %2/24	Close Brock's Scouting	1	JTG 146	Trainer
8 %2/24	Close Gwynn	1	PBL 78	Trainer
8 %2/24	Close Maximum Belt	1	TEF 154	Trainer
8 %2/24	Close Precious Trolley	1	SSP 185	Trainer
8 %2/24	Close Sacred Ash	1	DRI 168	Trainer
8 %2/24	Close Mist Energy	1–2	TEF 161	Energy
4 %1/24	Close Drilbur	2	PBL 46	Pokémon
4 %1/24	Close Dusclops	2	PRE 36	Pokémon
4 %1/24	Close Duskull	2	PRE 35	Pokémon
4 %1/24	Close Dusknoir	1	PRE 37	Pokémon
4 %1/24	Close Mega Excadrill ex	1	PBL 65	Pokémon
4 %1/24	Close Patrat	1	CRI 70	Pokémon
4 %1/24	Close Tatsugiri	1	TWM 131	Pokémon
4 %1/24	Close Iron Defender	4	MEG 118	Trainer
4 %1/24	Close Morty's Conviction	3	TEF 155	Trainer
4 %1/24	Close Team Rocket's Venture Bomb	3	DRI 179	Trainer
4 %1/24	Close Sacred Charm	2	PFL 93	Trainer
4 %1/24	Close Brilliant Blender	1	SSP 164	Trainer
4 %1/24	Close Colbur Berry	1	SSP 168	Trainer
4 %1/24	Close Crispin	1	SCR 133	Trainer
4 %1/24	Close Dusk Ball	1	SSP 175	Trainer
4 %1/24	Close Energy Retrieval	1	SVI 171	Trainer
4 %1/24	Close Grand Tree	1	SCR 136	Trainer
4 %1/24	Close Hand Trimmer	1	TEF 150	Trainer
4 %1/24	Close Larry's Skill	1	PRE 115	Trainer
4 %1/24	Close Tool Scrapper	1	ASC 212	Trainer
4 %1/24	Close Tremendous Bomb	1	PBL 82	Trainer
4 %1/24	Close Xerosic's Machinations	1	SFA 64	Trainer

The most common Archaludon ex list, all 60 cards

Here they are in full, ready to build. 28 slots come from the core, the cards all 24 lists run. The remaining 32 come from the table just above, working down it: the cards the most players chose, each at its most common copy count, until the total lands on 60.

This list is nobody's list in particular. It takes, slot by slot, what the most people played, under the guardrails a judge would hold you to: never more than four copies of a card, and one ACE SPEC. Behind the core it took 17 more cards to reach 60. The whole thing comes to 17 Pokémon, 33 Trainers and 10 Energy.

One thing to know before you build it: the 24 lists we counted are all from players who came in the top twenty of their tournament. Nobody publishes the lists of the players who lost. So what you have in front of you is what the players finishing near the top bring most often.

One thing to fix before you play: there is no ACE SPEC card in these 60. Players split that slot so many ways that none of their cards climbed high enough to get in, and 24 of the 24 lists carry one. Take Scoop Up Cyclone, the most chosen, and drop a card from the bottom of the table to make room.

The text under the table is the one the game expects: copy it, paste it into the deck manager, and the list builds itself.

There is no price total on this page. The readings we have are Cardmarket's, in euros, and the shop link further down sends you to TCGplayer, which quotes in dollars. Putting a euro figure next to a dollar shop would be one currency too many. The French and German pages carry the total.

Why we only read lists from players who came in the top twenty of their tournament, and what that changes about every percentage on this page: how to read a deck list.

Pokémon: 17
3 Archaludon ex SSP 130
4 Duraludon SCR 106
1 Relicanth TEF 84
1 Fezandipiti ex ASC 142
1 Meowth ex POR 62
1 Mega Mawile ex MEG 94
1 Psyduck ASC 39
2 Genesect ex BLK 67
2 Munkidori TWM 95
1 Archaludon PFL 75

Trainer: 33
4 Lillie's Determination MEG 119
4 Poké Pad POR 81
4 Ultra Ball MEG 131
3 Night Stretcher ASC 196
4 Boss's Orders MEG 114
1 Special Red Card CRI 82
4 Prism Tower CRI 80
1 Philippe CRI 79
2 Air Balloon ASC 181
1 Judge POR 76
4 Carmine TWM 145
1 Team Rocket's Petrel DRI 176

Energy: 10
10 Metal Energy MEE 8

Total Cards: 60

What Archaludon ex costs to build, and how long it will last

You need 98 different cards to cover every version of this deck, 6 of which nobody argues about. We do not have card prices, so we are not going to put a number on it.

All 24 lists bring an ACE SPEC, and that is where they part ways: 8 took Scoop Up Cyclone, 7 took Hero's Cape and 3 took Secret Box. The flex table shows you all 7. You are allowed ONE ACE SPEC card in your whole deck, so a single copy covers it whatever it costs. New to this deck? Take Scoop Up Cyclone and watch what the others do with theirs before you switch.

Then there is time. 2 of the 6 core cards carry the letter H, the one that goes at the next rotation: Archaludon ex and Night Stretcher. The core table marks every one of them. In copies, that is 6 of the 28 slots the core fills. Which day it lands, we do not know yet.

What Archaludon ex struggles against

The attackers in this deck are Weak to Fire, so they take DOUBLE damage from that type. 10 of the 97 decks we track attack in exactly that type.

Concretely, here is what is waiting for you: Dragapult ex / Blaziken ex, Ethan's Typhlosion and Ceruledge ex, plus 7 more decks. The table below takes them one at a time, and those are the lists you practise against first before an event.

This table counts one thing, Weakness, and that comes to 10 decks out of the 97 we track. The other 87 do not attack into yours, and this table says nothing about them. You will still run into them.

Going the other way, your attackers are Metal, and 12 of the decks we track have an attacker Weak to one of those: Marnie's Grimmsnarl ex / Froslass, Dhelmise and Mega Starmie ex / Froslass, among others. That is you doubling, for once. Second half of the table.

Questions people ask

What is the Archaludon ex deck list?

There isn't one, so we built one for you: all 60 cards are written out further up this page. Across 24 tournament lists harvested between 16 August 2026 and 5 September 2026, 6 cards turn up in every single one, 28 slots out of 60. The remaining 32 change from player to player, with 92 different cards competing for them. Both tables are above.

How many lists is this counted on, and where do they come from?

24 lists, played across 18 different tournaments, harvested between 16 August 2026 and 5 September 2026 from play.limitlesstcg.com. All 24 were read card by card, and every card recognised.

Where do I start if I want to build Archaludon ex?

With the whole core: 6 cards, 28 slots. Inside it, buy the 15 Trainer slots and the 10 Energy first: they carry over into your next deck. Leave the 3 Pokémon slots for last. Only then work down the flex table and add the cards the most lists agree on, starting with Duraludon at 96 % and Boss's Orders at 96 %.

What beats Archaludon ex?

Its attackers are Weak to Fire, so they take double damage from an attacker of that type. 10 of the 97 decks we track play an attacker of that type: Dragapult ex / Blaziken ex, Ethan's Typhlosion, Ceruledge ex and Blaziken / N's Zoroark ex, among others.

Will Archaludon ex survive the next rotation?

Not intact: 2 core cards out of 6 carry the letter H, starting with Archaludon ex and Night Stretcher.

Are a lot of people playing Archaludon ex?

We have read 24 lists of it, which puts it 67th of the 97 decks we track by lists read. The platform those tournaments run on counts 42 entries for it, 0.1 % of the field, across all its players. That figure is theirs.

These pages are about the same corner of the game. If you came away from this one still wondering about something, start with one of them.