Dragapult ex / Alakazam

What Dragapult ex / Alakazam looks like when you open the box

Across the 22 lists we counted, this deck runs 21 to 26 Pokémon, 26 to 32 Trainers and 6 to 10 Energy. Its attacks are paid for in Psychic and Fire.

On results pages and on stream you will see it written « dragapult-alakazam ». 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: 6 to 10 out of 60, when half the 132 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. Alakazam 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 32 cards out of 60, against a median of 31 across the 132 decks we track. Inside that, 9 to 14 Supporters, and the rule there is strict — one a turn, even if you are holding three. The 13 to 19 Items you can play all of in the same turn. It also brings up to 4 Stadiums, and 91 of the 132 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 cards in this deck's name actually do

Dragapult ex and Alakazam give this deck its name. Here is what is written on them.

Dragapult ex is in all 22 lists, 2 copies of it.

Alakazam is in all 22 lists, 3 copies of it. Its Ability is called Psychic Draw, and here is what is printed on it, word for word: « Once during your turn, when you play this Pokémon from your hand to evolve 1 of your Pokémon, you may use this Ability. Draw 3 cards. » Its attack Powerful Hand costs 1 Energy (Psychic) and has no damage number printed next to it. That is why you will not find it in the attacker table lower down, which sorts by printed damage. Everything it does lives in its text: « Place 2 damage counters on your opponent's Active Pokémon for each card in your hand. » Do the arithmetic with us, it is worth it. A damage counter is 10 damage. 2 counters per card means 20 damage for every card you are holding when you swing. Five cards in hand, 100. Eight cards in hand, 160. In this deck your hand is your damage gauge.

How Dragapult ex / Alakazam actually wins

Alakazam attacks with Powerful Hand, and it needs 1 Psychic Energy attached. It has 140 HP. Its damage box is empty, so the table below, which sorts by printed damage, cannot rank it: its printed text above is where the counting happens.

One Energy to attack is enormous, and it means the attack cost will never be what slows you down. What slows you down here is getting Alakazam up. Once the line is standing you swing every turn with nothing to recharge, and you can start again immediately when your attacker falls.

Energy is not your only clock. Abra has to climb two steps before it becomes Alakazam, 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 3 of, goes into your deck for an evolution.

Good news on mobility: pulling Alakazam back to the Bench costs you 1 Energy attached to it, and that is all. Retreating does not cost you your turn, so you step back and swing anyway. That matters enormously the day your opponent lands something nasty on it.

Dragapult ex carries the "ex" suffix, and your opponent takes 2 Prize cards instead of one when Dragapult 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 AlakazamStage 2	140	Powerful HandPlace 2 damage counters on your opponent's Active Pokémon for each card in your hand.	—		Darkness ×2	1
Close Dragapult exStage 2	320	Phantom Dive	200		none	1
Close DrakloakStage 1	90	Dragon Headbutt	70		none	1
Close DreepyBasic	70	Bite	40		none	1

The core: the 12 cards every list runs

These 12 cards appear in all 22 lists, without a single exception. That is 34 of the 60 slots. The other 26 are decided player by player.

Look at how those 34 slots break down: 17 Trainers, 15 Pokémon, 2 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.

12 of those 12 cards do not sit at the same count from list to list: Kadabra (2 to 4), Alakazam (1 to 3) and Drakloak (3 to 4), plus 9 more. Add those spreads up and you get 22 copies the 22 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 Kadabra	MEG 55	Pokémon	stays
1–3	Close Alakazam	MEG 56	Pokémon	stays
3–4	Close Drakloak	TWM 129	Pokémon	leaves
3–4	Close Dreepy	TWM 128	Pokémon	leaves
2–3	Close Dragapult ex	TWM 130	Pokémon	leaves
3–4	Close Buddy-Buddy Poffin	TEF 144	Trainer	leaves
3–4	Close Poké Pad	POR 81	Trainer	stays
2–4	Close Boss's Orders	MEG 114	Trainer	stays
1–4	Close Dawn	PFL 87	Trainer	stays
1–3	Close Night Stretcher	ASC 196	Trainer	leaves
1–4	Fire Energy	MEE 10	Energy	stays
1–4	Psychic Energy	MEE 13	Energy	stays

The 49 cards that change from list to list

49 cards fight over the 26 slots that are left: 7 above three lists in four, 30 below one in four, and the percentage on each row says how many players took it.

The most agreed on first: Abra at 95 %, Fezandipiti ex at 95 % and Hilda at 91 %, plus 4 more above 75 %. Add those to the core and you have the common build.

The dividing line runs through Budew, at 45 %: 10 of 22 players took it, 12 put something else there. The ones who run it bring 1 copy. Right at the bottom of the table, Enhanced Hammer (5 lists out of 22) and Morty's Conviction (5 lists out of 22).

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
95 %21/22	Close Abra	2–4	MEG 54	Pokémon
95 %21/22	Close Fezandipiti ex	1	ASC 142	Pokémon
91 %20/22	Close Hilda	2–4	WHT 84	Trainer
86 %19/22	Close Telepathic Psychic Energy	1–4	POR 88	Energy
82 %18/22	Close Rare Candy	1–4	MEG 125	Trainer
82 %18/22	Close Special Red Card	1–3	CRI 82	Trainer
77 %17/22	Close Shaymin	1	DRI 10	Pokémon
73 %16/22	Close Psyduck	1	ASC 39	Pokémon
68 %15/22	Close Team Rocket's Watchtower	1–4	DRI 180	Trainer
64 %14/22	Close Neo Upper Energy	1	TEF 162	Energy
45 %10/22	Close Budew	1–2	ASC 16	Pokémon
41 %9/22	Close Crispin	1–3	SCR 133	Trainer
41 %9/22	Close Battle Cage	1–2	PFL 85	Trainer
41 %9/22	Close Sacred Ash	1	DRI 168	Trainer
36 %8/22	Close Alakazam	1	TWM 82	Pokémon
27 %6/22	Close Genesect	1	SFA 40	Pokémon
27 %6/22	Close Crushing Hammer	2–4	POR 71	Trainer
27 %6/22	Close Lillie's Determination	1–4	MEG 119	Trainer
27 %6/22	Close Air Balloon	1–2	ASC 181	Trainer
23 %5/22	Close Enhanced Hammer	1	TWM 148	Trainer
23 %5/22	Close Morty's Conviction	1	TEF 155	Trainer
18 %4/22	Close Abra	1–2	TWM 80	Pokémon
18 %4/22	Close Team Rocket's Chingling	1	DRI 85	Pokémon
18 %4/22	Close Ultra Ball	1–3	MEG 131	Trainer
18 %4/22	Close Rosa's Encouragement	1	POR 84	Trainer
18 %4/22	Close Switch	1	MEG 130	Trainer
14 %3/22	Close Area Zero Underdepths	1	SCR 131	Trainer
14 %3/22	Close Deluxe Bomb	1	SCR 134	Trainer
14 %3/22	Close Team Rocket's Petrel	1	DRI 176	Trainer
9 %2/22	Close Dedenne	1	SSP 87	Pokémon
9 %2/22	Close Meowth ex	1	POR 62	Pokémon
9 %2/22	Close Jamming Tower	1	TWM 153	Trainer
9 %2/22	Close Lucky Helmet	1	TWM 158	Trainer
9 %2/22	Close Legacy Energy	1	TWM 167	Energy
5 %1/22	Close Dudunsparce	1	TEF 129	Pokémon
5 %1/22	Close Dunsparce	1	JTG 120	Pokémon
5 %1/22	Close Elgyem	1	BLK 40	Pokémon
5 %1/22	Close Munkidori	1	TWM 95	Pokémon
5 %1/22	Close Patrat	1	CRI 70	Pokémon
5 %1/22	Close Togekiss	1	SSP 72	Pokémon
5 %1/22	Close Togepi	1	SSP 70	Pokémon
5 %1/22	Close Togetic	1	SSP 71	Pokémon
5 %1/22	Close Hero's Cape	1	TEF 152	Trainer
5 %1/22	Close Lana's Aid	1	TWM 155	Trainer
5 %1/22	Close Prime Catcher	1	TEF 157	Trainer
5 %1/22	Close Unfair Stamp	1	TWM 165	Trainer
5 %1/22	Close Wondrous Patch	1	PFL 94	Trainer
5 %1/22	Close Xerosic's Machinations	1	SFA 64	Trainer
5 %1/22	Darkness Energy	1	MEE 7	Energy

The most common Dragapult ex / Alakazam list, all 60 cards

Here they are in full, ready to build. 34 slots come from the core, the cards all 22 lists run. The remaining 26 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 14 more cards to reach 60. The whole thing comes to 23 Pokémon, 30 Trainers and 7 Energy.

One thing to know before you build it: the 22 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.

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: 23
4 Kadabra MEG 55
3 Alakazam MEG 56
3 Drakloak TWM 129
3 Dreepy TWM 128
2 Dragapult ex TWM 130
4 Abra MEG 54
1 Fezandipiti ex ASC 142
1 Shaymin DRI 10
1 Psyduck ASC 39
1 Budew ASC 16

Trainer: 30
4 Buddy-Buddy Poffin TEF 144
4 Poké Pad POR 81
3 Boss's Orders MEG 114
3 Dawn PFL 87
3 Night Stretcher ASC 196
4 Hilda WHT 84
3 Rare Candy MEG 125
1 Special Red Card CRI 82
1 Team Rocket's Watchtower DRI 180
2 Crispin SCR 133
1 Battle Cage PFL 85
1 Sacred Ash DRI 168

Energy: 7
1 Fire Energy
1 Psychic Energy
4 Telepathic Psychic Energy POR 88
1 Neo Upper Energy TEF 162

Total Cards: 60

How many different cards Dragapult ex / Alakazam needs, and how long it will last

You need 61 different cards to cover every version of this deck, 12 of which nobody argues about. The rest is where lists differ from one another, and that is where you have room to choose.

All 22 lists bring an ACE SPEC, and that is where they part ways: 14 took Neo Upper Energy, 3 took Deluxe Bomb and 2 took Legacy Energy. The flex table shows you all 6. 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. 5 of the 12 core cards carry the letter H, the one that goes at the next rotation: Drakloak, Dreepy, Dragapult ex and Buddy-Buddy Poffin, plus 1 more. The core table marks every one of them. In copies, that is 15 of the 34 slots the core fills. Which day it lands, we do not know yet.

What Dragapult ex / Alakazam struggles against

The attackers in this deck are Weak to Darkness, so they take DOUBLE damage from that type. 20 of the 132 decks we track attack in exactly that type.

Concretely, here is what is waiting for you: N's Zoroark ex, Mega Sharpedo ex / Toxtricity and Marnie's Grimmsnarl ex / Froslass, plus 17 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 20 decks out of the 132 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 Psychic and Fire, and 6 of the decks we track have an attacker Weak to one of those: Mega Lucario ex / Hariyama, Mega Lucario ex and Greninja ex, among others. That is you doubling, for once. Second half of the table.

When an attack does nothing at all

There are two ways to hurt the Pokémon across the table, and the game does not treat them the same. An attack with a number printed next to it deals damage. An attack with no number, whose text just says "place 2 damage counters", does what the rules call an effect. That matters, because a handful of Pokémon have an Ability that prevents the effects of your opponent's attacks, and their card spells it out in brackets: damage is not an effect.

The other way round, this deck attacks with counters too: Alakazam with Powerful Hand. Those attacks have no damage number printed next to them at all. In front of a Pokémon that shuts off effects, they place nothing. Zero.

Of the decks we track, 9 play a Pokémon like that, and they are in the table below. The day you see one come across the table, stop counting on your counters. You need an attack with a real number written on it. You have one: Phantom Dive, on Dragapult ex, for 200.