Cynthia's Garchomp ex deck: the core, the flex slots, and what beats it

What Cynthia's Garchomp ex looks like when you open the box

Across the 30 lists we counted, this deck runs 19 to 22 Pokémon, 30 to 34 Trainers and 7 to 9 Energy. Its attacks are paid for in Fighting and Grass.

On results pages and on stream you will see it written « cynthia-garchomp-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 9 out of 60, when half the 97 decks we track run 10 or more. This one is lean. It lives on cheap attacks and leans on Trainers to find the right Energy at the right moment rather than stockpiling it.

It takes a while to set up. Cynthia's Garchomp ex is a Stage 2 Pokémon: you put down the baby, you evolve it, and then you evolve it again. Three cards stacked before anything attacks. That is what the hardest-hitting decks cost you, and it is also where they crack — a fast opponent can bury you before the line is standing.

Look at the Trainers: 30 to 34 cards out of 60, against a median of 31 across the 97 decks we track. Inside that, 10 to 12 Supporters, and the rule there is strict — one a turn, even if you are holding three. The 14 to 19 Items you can play all of in the same turn.

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.

How Cynthia's Garchomp ex actually wins

Cynthia's Garchomp ex attacks with Draconic Buster for 260. It needs 2 Fighting Energy attached, and it has 330 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: "Discard all Energy from this Pokémon."

The cost of Draconic Buster decides your first few turns. You only get to attach one Energy a turn, and that attack asks for 2. On your own attachments alone, your first real swing lands on turn 2. We have not found anything in this list that attaches Energy faster than that, so plan on holding out for a turn before you swing. Those turns still get played: you fill your Bench, you build your lines, and you keep something back to rebuild with when your attacker falls.

Energy is not your only clock. Cynthia's Gible has to climb two steps before it becomes Cynthia's Garchomp ex, and an evolution asleep at the bottom of your deck does you no good at all. The list has that covered. Hilda, which the list runs 2 of, goes into your deck for an evolution. Careful, though: only 27 of the 30 lists bring it, so it is a choice, and players are still arguing about it.

Good news on mobility: Cynthia's Garchomp ex retreats for free. You get it back to the Bench without discarding a single Energy, and you can still attack in the same turn. An attacker that comes and goes like that walks out of almost any mess.

Cynthia's Garchomp ex carries the "ex" suffix, and your opponent takes 2 Prize cards instead of one when Cynthia's Garchomp 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 Cynthia's Garchomp exStage 2	330	Draconic Buster	260	Fighting + Fighting	Grass ×2	0
Close Cynthia's RoseradeStage 1	130	Leaf Step	80	Grass + Colorless + Colorless	Fire ×2	1
Close Cynthia's GabiteStage 1	100	Dragonslice	40	Fighting	Grass ×2	1
Close Cynthia's GibleBasic	70	Rock Hurl	20	Fighting	Grass ×2	1

The core: the 14 cards every list runs

These 14 cards appear in all 30 lists, without a single exception. That is 50 of the 60 slots. The other 10 are decided player by player.

Look at how those 50 slots break down: 22 Trainers, 20 Pokémon, 8 Energy. Nothing stands out in that split. What sets this deck apart is how thick its core is: 50 of the 60 slots are the same for everybody, when half the 97 decks we track fix 34 or fewer. Fewer choices left to you than usual, and fewer ways to get them wrong.

10 of those 14 cards do not sit at the same count from list to list: Cynthia's Roselia (3 to 4), Cynthia's Roserade (3 to 4) and Cynthia's Garchomp ex (2 to 3), plus 7 more. Add those spreads up and you get 13 copies the 30 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
4	Close Cynthia's Gabite	DRI 103	Pokémon	stays
4	Close Cynthia's Gible	DRI 102	Pokémon	stays
3–4	Close Cynthia's Roselia	DRI 7	Pokémon	stays
3–4	Close Cynthia's Roserade	DRI 8	Pokémon	stays
2–3	Close Cynthia's Garchomp ex	DRI 104	Pokémon	stays
1	Close Cynthia's Spiritomb	DRI 129	Pokémon	stays
2–4	Close Boss's Orders	MEG 114	Trainer	stays
3–4	Close Buddy-Buddy Poffin	TEF 144	Trainer	leaves
4	Close Lillie's Determination	MEG 119	Trainer	stays
3–4	Close Poké Pad	POR 81	Trainer	stays
3–4	Close Cynthia's Power Weight	DRI 162	Trainer	stays
2–4	Close Fighting Gong	MEG 116	Trainer	stays
3–5	Fighting Energy	MEE 6	Energy	stays
3–4	Close Rocky Fighting Energy	POR 87	Energy	stays

The 34 cards that change from list to list

34 cards fight over the 10 slots that are left: 4 above three lists in four, 23 below one in four, and the percentage on each row says how many players took it.

The most agreed on first: Hilda at 90 %, Neo Upper Energy at 83 % and Night Stretcher at 80 %, plus 1 more above 75 %. Add those to the core and you have the common build.

The dividing line runs through Rare Candy, at 50 %: 15 of 30 players took it, 15 put something else there. The ones who run it bring 1 copy. Right at the bottom of the table, AZ's Tranquility (7 lists out of 30) and Forest of Vitality (7 lists out of 30).

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
90 %27/30	Close Hilda	1–3	WHT 84	Trainer
83 %25/30	Close Neo Upper Energy	1	TEF 162	Energy
80 %24/30	Close Night Stretcher	1–2	ASC 196	Trainer
77 %23/30	Close Pokégear 3.0	1–4	SVI 186	Trainer
67 %20/30	Close Premium Power Pro	1–2	MEG 124	Trainer
50 %15/30	Close Rare Candy	1	MEG 125	Trainer
47 %14/30	Close Shaymin	1	DRI 10	Pokémon
47 %14/30	Close Switch	1	MEG 130	Trainer
43 %13/30	Close Special Red Card	1	CRI 82	Trainer
40 %12/30	Close Team Rocket's Petrel	1–2	DRI 176	Trainer
30 %9/30	Close Kieran	1	TWM 154	Trainer
23 %7/30	Close AZ's Tranquility	1	CRI 76	Trainer
23 %7/30	Close Forest of Vitality	1–2	MEG 117	Trainer
20 %6/30	Close Judge	1–4	POR 76	Trainer
17 %5/30	Close Battle Cage	1	PFL 85	Trainer
13 %4/30	Close Sacred Ash	1	DRI 168	Trainer
13 %4/30	Close Team Rocket's Watchtower	1	DRI 180	Trainer
10 %3/30	Close Gwynn	1–2	PBL 78	Trainer
7 %2/30	Close Patrat	1	CRI 70	Pokémon
7 %2/30	Close Colress's Tenacity	2	SFA 57	Trainer
7 %2/30	Close Grand Tree	1	SCR 136	Trainer
3 %1/30	Close Budew	1	ASC 16	Pokémon
3 %1/30	Close Cornerstone Mask Ogerpon ex	1	TWM 112	Pokémon
3 %1/30	Close Genesect	1	SFA 40	Pokémon
3 %1/30	Close Psyduck	1	ASC 39	Pokémon
3 %1/30	Close Relicanth	1	TEF 84	Pokémon
3 %1/30	Close Air Balloon	1	ASC 181	Trainer
3 %1/30	Close Lana's Aid	1	TWM 155	Trainer
3 %1/30	Close Precious Trolley	1	SSP 185	Trainer
3 %1/30	Close Prime Catcher	1	TEF 157	Trainer
3 %1/30	Close Rosa's Encouragement	1	POR 84	Trainer
3 %1/30	Close Surfer	1	SSP 187	Trainer
3 %1/30	Close Ultra Ball	1	MEG 131	Trainer
3 %1/30	Close Unfair Stamp	1	TWM 165	Trainer

The most common Cynthia's Garchomp ex list, all 60 cards

Here they are in full, ready to build. 50 slots come from the core, the cards all 30 lists run. The remaining 10 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 7 more cards to reach 60. The whole thing comes to 21 Pokémon, 30 Trainers and 9 Energy.

One thing to know before you build it: the 30 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.

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: 21
4 Cynthia's Gabite DRI 103
4 Cynthia's Gible DRI 102
4 Cynthia's Roselia DRI 7
4 Cynthia's Roserade DRI 8
3 Cynthia's Garchomp ex DRI 104
1 Cynthia's Spiritomb DRI 129
1 Shaymin DRI 10

Trainer: 30
4 Boss's Orders MEG 114
4 Buddy-Buddy Poffin TEF 144
4 Lillie's Determination MEG 119
4 Poké Pad POR 81
3 Cynthia's Power Weight DRI 162
3 Fighting Gong MEG 116
2 Hilda WHT 84
1 Night Stretcher ASC 196
2 Pokégear 3.0 SVI 186
2 Premium Power Pro MEG 124
1 Rare Candy MEG 125

Energy: 9
4 Fighting Energy MEE 6
4 Rocky Fighting Energy POR 87
1 Neo Upper Energy TEF 162

Total Cards: 60

Which decks beat Cynthia's Garchomp ex at tournaments

Here is how Cynthia's Garchomp ex did against every other deck at tournaments. Real games, real players sitting across the table from each other, and the platform those tournaments run on counts them one by one. All of them were played after Pitch Black became legal for tournaments, and we read the table on 5 September 2026.

The format matters more than people think. When the next set lands, decks get rebuilt around the new cards, and a matchup that leaned one way can swing the other. What you are reading holds for today's format.

We start with the opponent that gives you the most trouble, because that is where the work is before your next tournament. The further down the list you go, the better it goes for you.

Always look at the number of games next to the score. Six wins out of ten happens on its own, even with a middling deck: it is the same as flipping six heads in ten tries. Six hundred out of a thousand, and luck has nothing to do with it. Below 100 games we show nothing at all, because at that count half the matchups look like they lean one way when they lean nowhere.

Against Festival Lead: over 138 games, 27 won and 109 lost. 2 ended with no winner.

Against Alakazam / Dudunsparce: over 143 games, 60 won and 81 lost. 2 ended with no winner.

Against Slowking: over 133 games, 58 won and 73 lost. 2 ended with no winner.

Against Dragapult ex / Dusknoir: over 141 games, 72 won and 66 lost. 3 ended with no winner.

Against Mega Excadrill ex: over 146 games, 76 won and 69 lost. One ended with no winner.

Against Dragapult ex: over 171 games, 95 won and 73 lost. 3 ended with no winner.

Against Marnie's Grimmsnarl ex / Froslass: over 100 games, 54 won and 44 lost. 2 ended with no winner.

Against Dhelmise: over 110 games, 67 won and 42 lost. One ended with no winner.

Against Dragapult ex / Blaziken ex: over 137 games, 88 won and 46 lost. 3 ended with no winner.

Against N's Zoroark ex: over 126 games, 88 won and 37 lost. One ended with no winner.

What Cynthia's Garchomp ex costs to build, and how long it will last

You need 48 different cards to cover every version of this deck, 14 of which nobody argues about. We do not have card prices, so we are not going to put a number on it.

All 30 lists bring an ACE SPEC, and that is where they part ways: 25 took Neo Upper Energy, 2 took Grand Tree and 1 took Precious Trolley. The flex table shows you all 5. 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 Neo Upper Energy and watch what the others do with theirs before you switch.

Then there is time. 1 of the 14 core cards carries the letter H, the one that goes at the next rotation: Buddy-Buddy Poffin. The core table marks it. In copies, that is 4 of the 50 slots the core fills. Which day it lands, we do not know yet.

What Cynthia's Garchomp ex struggles against

The attackers in this deck are Weak to Grass and Fire, so they take DOUBLE damage from those types. 27 of the 97 decks we track attack in exactly those types.

Concretely, here is what is waiting for you: Festival Lead (Thwackey), Dragapult ex / Blaziken ex and Teal Mask Ogerpon ex / Meganium / Hydrapple ex, plus 24 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 27 decks out of the 97 we track. The other 70 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 Fighting and Grass, and 48 of the decks we track have an attacker Weak to one of those: Dragapult ex, Alakazam / Dudunsparce and Dragapult ex / Blaziken ex, among others. That is you doubling, for once. Second half of the table.

Questions people ask

What is the Cynthia's Garchomp ex deck list?

There isn't one, so we built one for you: all 60 cards are written out further up this page. Across 30 tournament lists harvested between 11 August 2026 and 4 September 2026, 14 cards turn up in every single one, 50 slots out of 60. The remaining 10 change from player to player, with 34 different cards competing for them. Both tables are above.

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

30 lists, played across 28 different tournaments, harvested between 11 August 2026 and 4 September 2026 from play.limitlesstcg.com. All 30 were read card by card, and every card recognised.

Where do I start if I want to build Cynthia's Garchomp ex?

With the whole core: 14 cards, 50 slots. Inside it, buy the 22 Trainer slots and the 8 Energy first: they carry over into your next deck. Leave the 20 Pokémon slots for last. Only then work down the flex table and add the cards the most lists agree on, starting with Hilda at 90 % and Neo Upper Energy at 83 %.

What beats Cynthia's Garchomp ex?

Its attackers are Weak to Grass and Fire, so they take double damage from an attacker of that type. 27 of the 97 decks we track play an attacker of that type: Festival Lead, Dragapult ex / Blaziken ex, Teal Mask Ogerpon ex / Meganium / Hydrapple ex and Beedrill ex, among others.

Will Cynthia's Garchomp ex survive the next rotation?

Not intact: 1 core cards out of 14 carry the letter H, starting with Buddy-Buddy Poffin.

Are a lot of people playing Cynthia's Garchomp ex?

We have read 30 lists of it, which puts it 43rd of the 97 decks we track by lists read. The platform those tournaments run on counts 501 entries for it, 1.23 % 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.