Dragapult ex / Dusknoir

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

Across the 79 lists we counted, this deck runs 19 to 24 Pokémon, 28 to 34 Trainers and 6 to 9 Energy. Its attacks are paid for in Psychic and Fire.

On results pages and on stream you will see it written « dragapult-dusknoir ». 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 9 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. Dragapult 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: 28 to 34 cards out of 60, against a median of 31 across the 125 decks we track. Inside that, 9 to 12 Supporters, and the rule there is strict — one a turn, even if you are holding three. The 15 to 22 Items you can play all of in the same turn. It also brings up to 3 Stadiums, and 118 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 cards in this deck's name actually do

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

Dragapult ex is in all 79 lists, 3 copies of it.

Dusknoir is in all 79 lists, 1 copy of it. Its Ability is called Cursed Blast, and here is what is printed on it, word for word: « Once during your turn, you may put 13 damage counters on 1 of your opponent's Pokémon. If you use this Ability, this Pokémon is Knocked Out. »

How Dragapult ex / Dusknoir actually wins

Dragapult ex attacks with Phantom Dive for 200. It needs 2 Energy, 1 Fire and 1 Psychic 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: "Put 6 damage counters on your opponent's Benched Pokémon in any way you like."

The cost of Phantom Dive 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. Except you are not on your own. Crispin, which the list runs 2 of, looks at the top of your deck and attaches the Energy it finds there. Rosa's Encouragement does the same job. That is where this deck buys its turns, and it is the first thing to look for in your opening hand.

Good news on mobility: pulling Dragapult ex 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, Fezandipiti ex and Meowth ex carry the "ex" suffix, and your opponent takes 2 Prize cards instead of one when one of them falls. They need 6 to win: 3 well-placed knockouts on those cards 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 Dragapult exStage 2	320	Phantom Dive	200		none	1
Close DusknoirStage 2	160	Shadow Bind	150		Darkness ×2	3
Close DrakloakStage 1	90	Dragon Headbutt	70		none	1
Close Meowth exBasic	170	Tuck Tail	60		Fighting ×2	1

The core: the 15 cards every list runs

These 15 cards appear in all 79 lists, without a single exception. That is 41 of the 60 slots. The other 19 are decided player by player.

Look at how those 41 slots break down: 21 Trainers, 17 Pokémon, 3 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.

10 of those 15 cards do not sit at the same count from list to list: Dragapult ex (2 to 3), Duskull (1 to 2) and Budew (1 to 2), plus 7 more. Add those spreads up and you get 11 copies the 79 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 Drakloak	TWM 129	Pokémon	leaves
4	Close Dreepy	TWM 128	Pokémon	leaves
2–3	Close Dragapult ex	TWM 130	Pokémon	leaves
1–2	Close Duskull	PRE 35	Pokémon	leaves
1–2	Close Budew	ASC 16	Pokémon	leaves
1–2	Close Dusknoir	PRE 37	Pokémon	leaves
1	Close Fezandipiti ex	ASC 142	Pokémon	leaves
1–2	Close Meowth ex	POR 62	Pokémon	stays
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 Ultra Ball	MEG 131	Trainer	stays
2–3	Close Boss's Orders	MEG 114	Trainer	stays
2–4	Close Night Stretcher	ASC 196	Trainer	leaves
3–4	Fire Energy	MEE 2	Energy	stays

The 38 cards that change from list to list

38 cards fight over the 19 slots that are left: 8 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: Dusclops at 99 %, Psychic Energy at 99 % and Crispin at 96 %, plus 5 more above 75 %. Add those to the core and you have the common build.

The dividing line runs through Dawn, at 49 %: 39 of 79 players took it, 40 put something else there. The ones who run it bring 1 copy. Right at the bottom of the table, Patrat (18 lists out of 79) and Risky Ruins (18 lists out of 79).

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
99 %78/79	Close Dusclops	1–2	PRE 36	Pokémon
99 %78/79	Psychic Energy	3–4	MEE 5	Energy
96 %76/79	Close Crispin	1–3	SCR 133	Trainer
91 %72/79	Close Unfair Stamp	1	TWM 165	Trainer
86 %68/79	Close Rosa's Encouragement	1	POR 84	Trainer
85 %67/79	Close Special Red Card	1–2	CRI 82	Trainer
78 %62/79	Close Munkidori	1–2	TWM 95	Pokémon
78 %62/79	Darkness Energy	1–3	MEE 7	Energy
71 %56/79	Close Team Rocket's Watchtower	1–3	DRI 180	Trainer
65 %51/79	Close Jamming Tower	1–2	TWM 153	Trainer
49 %39/79	Close Dawn	1–2	PFL 87	Trainer
43 %34/79	Close Crushing Hammer	2–4	POR 71	Trainer
42 %33/79	Close Moltres	1	PFL 14	Pokémon
42 %33/79	Close Judge	1–2	POR 76	Trainer
38 %30/79	Close Rare Candy	1–4	MEG 125	Trainer
23 %18/79	Close Patrat	1	CRI 70	Pokémon
23 %18/79	Close Risky Ruins	1–2	MEG 127	Trainer
15 %12/79	Close Shaymin	1	DRI 10	Pokémon
8 %6/79	Close Area Zero Underdepths	1–2	SCR 131	Trainer
5 %4/79	Close Handheld Fan	1	TWM 150	Trainer
4 %3/79	Close Yveltal	1	MEG 88	Pokémon
4 %3/79	Close Sparkling Crystal	1	SCR 142	Trainer
3 %2/79	Close Pikipek	2	PBL 66	Pokémon
3 %2/79	Close Toucannon	2	PBL 68	Pokémon
3 %2/79	Close Lillie's Clefairy ex	1	JTG 56	Pokémon
3 %2/79	Close Hero's Cape	1	TEF 152	Trainer
1 %1/79	Close Bronzong	2	TEF 69	Pokémon
1 %1/79	Close Bronzor	2	TEF 68	Pokémon
1 %1/79	Close Blaziken ex	1	JTG 24	Pokémon
1 %1/79	Close Diancie	1	SCR 86	Pokémon
1 %1/79	Close Dudunsparce	1	TEF 129	Pokémon
1 %1/79	Close Dunsparce	1	JTG 120	Pokémon
1 %1/79	Close Torchic	1	DRI 40	Pokémon
1 %1/79	Close Hilda	3	WHT 84	Trainer
1 %1/79	Close Switch	3	MEG 130	Trainer
1 %1/79	Close Babiri Berry	1	SSP 163	Trainer
1 %1/79	Close Telepathic Psychic Energy	4	POR 88	Energy
1 %1/79	Close Neo Upper Energy	1	TEF 162	Energy

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

Here they are in full, ready to build. 41 slots come from the core, the cards all 79 lists run. The remaining 19 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 12 more cards to reach 60. The whole thing comes to 20 Pokémon, 32 Trainers and 8 Energy.

One thing to know before you build it: the 79 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: 20
4 Drakloak TWM 129
4 Dreepy TWM 128
3 Dragapult ex TWM 130
2 Duskull PRE 35
1 Budew ASC 16
1 Dusknoir PRE 37
1 Fezandipiti ex ASC 142
1 Meowth ex POR 62
2 Dusclops PRE 36
1 Munkidori TWM 95

Trainer: 32
4 Buddy-Buddy Poffin TEF 144
4 Lillie's Determination MEG 119
4 Poké Pad POR 81
4 Ultra Ball MEG 131
3 Boss's Orders MEG 114
2 Night Stretcher ASC 196
2 Crispin SCR 133
1 Unfair Stamp TWM 165
1 Rosa's Encouragement POR 84
1 Special Red Card CRI 82
1 Team Rocket's Watchtower DRI 180
1 Jamming Tower TWM 153
1 Dawn PFL 87
3 Crushing Hammer POR 71

Energy: 8
3 Fire Energy MEE 2
3 Psychic Energy MEE 5
2 Darkness Energy MEE 7

Total Cards: 60

Which decks beat Dragapult ex / Dusknoir at tournaments

Here is how Dragapult ex / Dusknoir 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 30th Celebration became legal for tournaments, and we read the table on 22 October 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 Dragapult ex: over 609 games, 250 won and 350 lost. 9 ended with no winner.

Against Slowking: over 241 games, 97 won and 142 lost. 2 ended with no winner.

Against Dhelmise: over 231 games, 94 won and 135 lost. 2 ended with no winner.

Against Dragapult ex / Blaziken ex: over 151 games, 64 won and 85 lost. 2 ended with no winner.

Against Latias ex / Mega Kangaskhan ex: over 275 games, 123 won and 147 lost. 5 ended with no winner.

Against Crustle: over 125 games, 57 won and 64 lost. 4 ended with no winner.

Against N's Zoroark ex: over 288 games, 141 won and 145 lost. 2 ended with no winner.

Against Mega Lopunny ex / Dudunsparce: over 167 games, 79 won and 87 lost. One ended with no winner.

Against Mega Excadrill ex: over 189 games, 93 won and 95 lost. One ended with no winner.

Against Mega Sharpedo ex / Toxtricity: over 127 games, 62 won and 63 lost. 2 ended with no winner.

Against Mega Lucario ex / Hariyama: over 150 games, 76 won and 72 lost. 2 ended with no winner.

Against Festival Lead: over 126 games, 65 won and 57 lost. 4 ended with no winner.

Against Alakazam / Dusknoir: over 151 games, 80 won and 71 lost.

Against Teal Mask Ogerpon ex / Meganium / Hydrapple ex: over 151 games, 85 won and 66 lost.

Against Alakazam / Dudunsparce: over 221 games, 130 won and 89 lost. 2 ended with no winner.

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

You need 53 different cards to cover every version of this deck, 15 of which nobody argues about. The rest is where lists differ from one another, and that is where you have room to choose.

78 of these 79 lists bring an ACE SPEC, and that is where they part ways: 72 took Unfair Stamp, 3 took Sparkling Crystal and 2 took Hero's Cape. The flex table shows you all 4. 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 Unfair Stamp and watch what the others do with theirs before you switch.

Then there is time. 9 of the 15 core cards carry the letter H, the one that goes at the next rotation: Drakloak, Dreepy, Dragapult ex and Duskull, plus 5 more. The core table marks every one of them. In copies, that is 22 of the 41 slots the core fills. Which day it lands, we do not know yet.

What Dragapult ex / Dusknoir struggles against

The attackers in this deck are Weak to Darkness and Fighting, so they take DOUBLE damage from those types. 32 of the 125 decks we track attack in exactly those types.

Concretely, here is what is waiting for you: N's Zoroark ex, Mega Lucario ex / Hariyama and Mega Sharpedo ex / Toxtricity, plus 29 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 32 decks out of the 125 we track. The other 93 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.