Decidueye ex

What Decidueye ex looks like when you open the box

Across the 53 lists we counted, this deck runs 18 to 27 Pokémon, 26 to 36 Trainers and 4 to 11 Energy. Its attacks are paid for in Grass.

On results pages and on stream you will see it written « decidueye-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: 4 to 11 out of 60, when half the 125 decks we track run 11 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. Decidueye 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: 26 to 36 cards out of 60, against a median of 31 across the 125 decks we track. Inside that, 9 to 15 Supporters, and the rule there is strict — one a turn, even if you are holding three. The 9 to 21 Items you can play all of in the same turn. It also brings up to 4 Stadiums, and 87 of the 125 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

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

Decidueye ex is in all 53 lists, 3 copies of it. Its Ability is called Sniper's Eye, and here is what is printed on it, word for word: « If your opponent has exactly 4 cards in their hand, ignore all {C} Energy in the costs of attacks used by this Pokémon. »

How Decidueye ex actually wins

Decidueye ex attacks with Crushing Arrow for 240. It needs 4 Energy, 1 Grass and 3 Colorless attached, and it has 320 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 an Energy from your opponent's Active Pokémon."

The cost of Crushing Arrow decides your first few turns. You only get to attach one Energy a turn, and that attack asks for 4. On your own attachments alone, your first real swing lands on turn 4. We have not found anything in this list that attaches Energy faster than that, so plan on holding out for 3 turns 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. Rowlet has to climb two steps before it becomes Decidueye ex, and an evolution asleep at the bottom of your deck does you no good at all. The list has that covered. Dawn, which the list runs 2 of, goes into your deck for an evolution. Careful, though: only 48 of the 53 lists bring it, so it is a choice, and players are still arguing about it.

Here is the detail that quietly loses games. To pull Decidueye 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.

Decidueye ex carries the "ex" suffix, and your opponent takes 2 Prize cards instead of one when Decidueye 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 Decidueye exStage 2	320	Crushing Arrow	240		Fire ×2	2
Close VivillonStage 2	120	Blow Through	60+		Fire ×2	1
Close DartrixStage 1	100	Leafage	20		Fire ×2	2

The core: the 6 cards every list runs

These 6 cards appear in all 53 lists, without a single exception. That is 18 of the 60 slots. The other 42 are decided player by player.

Look at how those 18 slots break down: 10 Trainers, 8 Pokémon, 0 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: Dartrix (2 to 4), Decidueye ex (3 to 4) and Vivillon (2 to 4), plus 3 more. Add those spreads up and you get 11 copies the 53 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
2–4	Close Dartrix	POR 11	Pokémon
3–4	Close Decidueye ex	POR 12	Pokémon
2–4	Close Vivillon	POR 9	Pokémon
1–4	Close Forest of Vitality	MEG 117	Trainer
2–4	Close Lillie's Determination	MEG 119	Trainer
1–2	Close Boss's Orders	MEG 114	Trainer

The 79 cards that change from list to list

79 cards fight over the 42 slots that are left: 8 above three lists in four, 50 below one in four, and the percentage on each row says how many players took it.

The most agreed on first: Grass Energy at 98 %, Poké Pad at 94 % and Dawn at 91 %, plus 5 more above 75 %. Add those to the core and you have the common build.

The dividing line runs through Rowlet, at 51 %: 27 of 53 players took it, 26 put something else there. The ones who run it bring 3 copies. Right at the bottom of the table, Spewpa (12 lists out of 53) and Secret Box (12 lists out of 53).

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
98 %52/53	Grass Energy	1–10	MEE 1	Energy
94 %50/53	Close Poké Pad	2–4	POR 81	Trainer
91 %48/53	Close Dawn	1–4	PFL 87	Trainer
89 %47/53	Close Night Stretcher	1–4	ASC 196	Trainer
85 %45/53	Close Bug Catching Set	1–4	TWM 143	Trainer
77 %41/53	Close Spewpa	1–3	POR 8	Pokémon
77 %41/53	Close Growing Grass Energy	1–4	POR 86	Energy
75 %40/53	Close Relicanth	1–2	TEF 84	Pokémon
72 %38/53	Close Fezandipiti ex	1	ASC 142	Pokémon
70 %37/53	Close Hilda	1–2	WHT 84	Trainer
66 %35/53	Close Rowlet	1–4	SFA 3	Pokémon
66 %35/53	Close Buddy-Buddy Poffin	1–4	TEF 144	Trainer
66 %35/53	Close Ultra Ball	1–3	MEG 131	Trainer
58 %31/53	Close Scatterbug	1–4	SSP 5	Pokémon
53 %28/53	Close Meowth ex	1–2	POR 62	Pokémon
53 %28/53	Close Judge	1–4	POR 76	Trainer
53 %28/53	Close Air Balloon	1–2	ASC 181	Trainer
53 %28/53	Close Ignition Energy	1–4	WHT 86	Energy
51 %27/53	Close Rowlet	1–4	POR 10	Pokémon
43 %23/53	Close Scatterbug	1–3	POR 7	Pokémon
36 %19/53	Close Colress's Tenacity	1–2	SFA 57	Trainer
32 %17/53	Close Budew	1–2	ASC 16	Pokémon
32 %17/53	Close Celebi	1–3	MEG 12	Pokémon
32 %17/53	Close Shaymin	1	DRI 10	Pokémon
30 %16/53	Close Dudunsparce	1–3	TEF 129	Pokémon
30 %16/53	Close Max Rod	1	PRE 116	Trainer
26 %14/53	Close Dunsparce	2–3	JTG 120	Pokémon
26 %14/53	Close Team Rocket's Petrel	1–2	DRI 176	Trainer
26 %14/53	Close Lana's Aid	1	TWM 155	Trainer
23 %12/53	Close Spewpa	2–3	SSP 6	Pokémon
23 %12/53	Close Secret Box	1	TWM 163	Trainer
19 %10/53	Close Crushing Hammer	2–4	POR 71	Trainer
19 %10/53	Close Switch	1–2	MEG 130	Trainer
17 %9/53	Close Rare Candy	2–4	MEG 125	Trainer
13 %7/53	Close Decidueye	1	SFA 5	Pokémon
13 %7/53	Close Rabsca	1	TEF 24	Pokémon
13 %7/53	Close Handheld Fan	1–2	TWM 150	Trainer
13 %7/53	Close Hero's Cape	1	TEF 152	Trainer
13 %7/53	Close Sacred Ash	1	DRI 168	Trainer
11 %6/53	Close Scoop Up Cyclone	1	TWM 162	Trainer
9 %5/53	Close Patrat	1	CRI 70	Pokémon
8 %4/53	Close Psyduck	1	ASC 39	Pokémon
8 %4/53	Close Rellor	1	TEF 23	Pokémon
8 %4/53	Close Gwynn	1–3	PBL 78	Trainer
8 %4/53	Close Enriching Energy	1	SSP 191	Energy
6 %3/53	Close Maractus	1	JTG 8	Pokémon
6 %3/53	Close Rellor	1	DRI 24	Pokémon
6 %3/53	Close Team Rocket's Watchtower	1–2	DRI 180	Trainer
6 %3/53	Close Brock's Scouting	1	JTG 146	Trainer
6 %3/53	Close Energy Search	1–2	POR 72	Trainer
6 %3/53	Close Enhanced Hammer	1	TWM 148	Trainer
6 %3/53	Close Prime Catcher	1	TEF 157	Trainer
4 %2/53	Close Dunsparce	2	TEF 128	Pokémon
4 %2/53	Close Iris's Fighting Spirit	1–2	JTG 149	Trainer
4 %2/53	Close Pokégear 3.0	1–2	SVI 186	Trainer
4 %2/53	Close Surfer	1–2	SSP 187	Trainer
4 %2/53	Close Battle Cage	1	PFL 85	Trainer
4 %2/53	Close Dusk Ball	1	SSP 175	Trainer
4 %2/53	Close Maximum Belt	1	TEF 154	Trainer
2 %1/53	Close N's Zorua	3	JTG 97	Pokémon
2 %1/53	Close Cottonee	2	WHT 4	Pokémon
2 %1/53	Close Deerling	2	WHT 6	Pokémon
2 %1/53	Close Latias ex	2	SSP 76	Pokémon
2 %1/53	Close Mega Kangaskhan ex	2	MEG 104	Pokémon
2 %1/53	Close N's Zoroark ex	2	JTG 98	Pokémon
2 %1/53	Close Teal Mask Ogerpon ex	2	TWM 25	Pokémon
2 %1/53	Close Arboliva ex	1	DRI 23	Pokémon
2 %1/53	Close Dolliv	1	DRI 22	Pokémon
2 %1/53	Close Sawsbuck	1	TEF 17	Pokémon
2 %1/53	Close Smoliv	1	DRI 21	Pokémon
2 %1/53	Close Tatsugiri	1	TWM 131	Pokémon
2 %1/53	Close Whimsicott ex	1	WHT 5	Pokémon
2 %1/53	Close Brave Bangle	2	WHT 80	Trainer
2 %1/53	Close Ciphermaniac's Codebreaking	1	TEF 145	Trainer
2 %1/53	Close Cyrano	1	SSP 170	Trainer
2 %1/53	Close Morty's Conviction	1	TEF 155	Trainer
2 %1/53	Close Rust Syndicate Grunt	1	PBL 81	Trainer
2 %1/53	Close Special Red Card	1	CRI 82	Trainer
2 %1/53	Close Legacy Energy	1	TWM 167	Energy

The most common Decidueye ex list, all 60 cards

Here they are in full, ready to build. 18 slots come from the core, the cards all 53 lists run. The remaining 42 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 19 more cards to reach 60. The whole thing comes to 19 Pokémon, 33 Trainers and 8 Energy.

One thing to know before you build it: the 53 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 51 of the 53 lists carry one. Take Max Rod, 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.

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: 19
3 Dartrix POR 11
3 Decidueye ex POR 12
2 Vivillon POR 9
2 Spewpa POR 8
1 Relicanth TEF 84
1 Fezandipiti ex ASC 142
3 Rowlet SFA 3
2 Scatterbug SSP 5
1 Meowth ex POR 62
1 Rowlet POR 10

Trainer: 33
4 Forest of Vitality MEG 117
4 Lillie's Determination MEG 119
2 Boss's Orders MEG 114
4 Poké Pad POR 81
2 Dawn PFL 87
2 Night Stretcher ASC 196
4 Bug Catching Set TWM 143
2 Hilda WHT 84
3 Buddy-Buddy Poffin TEF 144
3 Ultra Ball MEG 131
2 Judge POR 76
1 Air Balloon ASC 181

Energy: 8
4 Grass Energy MEE 1
2 Growing Grass Energy POR 86
2 Ignition Energy WHT 86

Total Cards: 60

How many different cards Decidueye ex needs, and how long it will last

You need 85 different cards to cover every version of this deck, 6 of which nobody argues about. The rest is where lists differ from one another, and that is where you have room to choose.

51 of these 53 lists bring an ACE SPEC, and that is where they part ways: 16 took Max Rod, 12 took Secret Box and 7 took Hero's Cape. The flex table shows you all 8. 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 Max Rod and watch what the others do with theirs before you switch.

Then there is time, and the answer is a good one: not one of the 6 core cards carries the letter H, the one that goes at the next rotation. This deck walks through the change whole.

What Decidueye ex struggles against

The attackers in this deck are Weak to Fire, so they take DOUBLE damage from that type. 13 of the 125 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 10 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 13 decks out of the 125 we track. The other 112 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 Grass, and 24 of the decks we track have an attacker Weak to one of those: N's Zoroark ex, Mega Lucario ex / Hariyama and Mega Sharpedo ex / Toxtricity, among others. That is you doubling, for once. Second half of the table.