Dragapult ex / N's Zoroark ex

What Dragapult ex / N's Zoroark ex looks like when you open the box

Across the 8 lists we counted, this deck runs 19 to 23 Pokémon, 28 to 31 Trainers and 9 to 10 Energy. Its attacks are paid for in Fire, Darkness, Lightning and Psychic.

On results pages and on stream you will see it written « dragapult-zoroark ». 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: 9 to 10 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 31 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 13 to 18 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.

What the cards in this deck's name actually do

Dragapult ex and N's Zoroark ex give this deck its name. Here is what is written on them.

Dragapult ex is in all 8 lists, 2 copies of it.

N's Zoroark ex is in all 8 lists, 3 copies of it. Its Ability is called Trade, and here is what is printed on it, word for word: « You must discard a card from your hand in order to use this Ability. Once during your turn, you may draw 2 cards. » Its attack Night Joker costs 2 Energy (Darkness and Darkness) 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: « Choose 1 of your Benched N's Pokémon's attacks and use it as this attack. »

How Dragapult ex / N's Zoroark ex actually wins

N's Zoroark ex attacks with Night Joker, and it needs 2 Darkness Energy attached. It has 280 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.

The cost of Night Joker 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. N's PP Up 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.

Here is the detail that quietly loses games. To pull N's Zoroark 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.

N's Zoroark ex and Dragapult 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 N's Zoroark exStage 1	280	Night JokerChoose 1 of your Benched N's Pokémon's attacks and use it as this attack.	—		Grass ×2	2
Close N's ZekromBasic	130	Rampaging Thunder	250		none	2
Close Dragapult exStage 2	320	Phantom Dive	200		none	1
Close DrakloakStage 1	90	Dragon Headbutt	70		none	1

The core: the 17 cards every list runs

These 17 cards appear in all 8 lists, without a single exception. That is 46 of the 60 slots. The other 14 are decided player by player.

Look at how those 46 slots break down: 18 Trainers, 18 Pokémon, 10 Energy. Nothing stands out in that split. What sets this deck apart is how thick its core is: 46 of the 60 slots are the same for everybody, when half the 125 decks we track fix 26 or fewer. Fewer choices left to you than usual, and fewer ways to get them wrong.

11 of those 17 cards do not sit at the same count from list to list: Drakloak (2 to 4), Dreepy (2 to 4) and N's Zoroark ex (2 to 4), plus 8 more. Add those spreads up and you get 18 copies the 8 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 Drakloak	TWM 129	Pokémon	leaves
2–4	Close Dreepy	TWM 128	Pokémon	leaves
2–4	Close N's Zoroark ex	JTG 98	Pokémon	stays
2–4	Close N's Zorua	JTG 97	Pokémon	stays
2–3	Close Dragapult ex	TWM 130	Pokémon	leaves
2	Close Munkidori	TWM 95	Pokémon	leaves
1–2	Close N's Zekrom	ASC 155	Pokémon	stays
4	Close Buddy-Buddy Poffin	TEF 144	Trainer	leaves
3	Close Boss's Orders	MEG 114	Trainer	stays
2–4	Close Ultra Ball	MEG 131	Trainer	stays
1–2	Close Crispin	SCR 133	Trainer	leaves
2	Close N's PP Up	JTG 153	Trainer	stays
2	Close Night Stretcher	ASC 196	Trainer	leaves
2–4	Close Poké Pad	POR 81	Trainer	stays
4–6	Darkness Energy	MEE 7	Energy	stays
2	Fire Energy	MEE 2	Energy	stays
2–3	Psychic Energy	MEE 5	Energy	stays

The 23 cards that change from list to list

23 cards fight over the 14 slots that are left: 4 above three lists in four, 11 below one in four, and the percentage on each row says how many players took it.

The most agreed on first: Budew at 88 %, N's Castle at 88 % and Pecharunt ex at 75 %, plus 1 more above 75 %. Add those to the core and you have the common build.

The dividing line runs through Area Zero Underdepths, at 50 %: 4 of 8 players took it, 4 put something else there. The ones who run it bring 1 copy. Right at the bottom of the table, Meowth ex (2 lists out of 8) and Judge (2 lists out of 8).

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
88 %7/8	Close Budew	1	ASC 16	Pokémon
88 %7/8	Close N's Castle	1–2	JTG 152	Trainer
75 %6/8	Close Pecharunt ex	1	SFA 39	Pokémon
75 %6/8	Close Lillie's Determination	4	MEG 119	Trainer
63 %5/8	Close Fezandipiti ex	1	ASC 142	Pokémon
63 %5/8	Close Binding Mochi	2	PRE 95	Trainer
63 %5/8	Close Cyrano	1–2	SSP 170	Trainer
63 %5/8	Close Kieran	1	TWM 154	Trainer
50 %4/8	Close Area Zero Underdepths	1–2	SCR 131	Trainer
50 %4/8	Close Unfair Stamp	1	TWM 165	Trainer
38 %3/8	Close N's Reshiram	1	JTG 116	Pokémon
38 %3/8	Close Yveltal	1	MEG 88	Pokémon
25 %2/8	Close Meowth ex	1	POR 62	Pokémon
25 %2/8	Close Judge	3	POR 76	Trainer
25 %2/8	Close Hilda	2	WHT 84	Trainer
25 %2/8	Close Pokégear 3.0	2	SVI 186	Trainer
25 %2/8	Close Ciphermaniac's Codebreaking	1	TEF 145	Trainer
25 %2/8	Close Neo Upper Energy	1	TEF 162	Energy
13 %1/8	Close Bloodmoon Ursaluna ex	1	TWM 141	Pokémon
13 %1/8	Close Energy Switch	1	MEG 115	Trainer
13 %1/8	Close Janine's Secret Art	1	PRE 112	Trainer
13 %1/8	Close Prime Catcher	1	TEF 157	Trainer
13 %1/8	Close Special Red Card	1	CRI 82	Trainer

The most common Dragapult ex / N's Zoroark ex list, all 60 cards

Here they are in full, ready to build. 46 slots come from the core, the cards all 8 lists run. The remaining 14 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 9 more cards to reach 60. The whole thing comes to 21 Pokémon, 29 Trainers and 10 Energy.

One thing to know before you build it: the 8 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 7 of the 8 lists carry one. Take Unfair Stamp, 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: 21
3 Drakloak TWM 129
3 Dreepy TWM 128
3 N's Zoroark ex JTG 98
3 N's Zorua JTG 97
2 Dragapult ex TWM 130
2 Munkidori TWM 95
2 N's Zekrom ASC 155
1 Budew ASC 16
1 Pecharunt ex SFA 39
1 Fezandipiti ex ASC 142

Trainer: 29
4 Buddy-Buddy Poffin TEF 144
3 Boss's Orders MEG 114
3 Ultra Ball MEG 131
2 Crispin SCR 133
2 N's PP Up JTG 153
2 Night Stretcher ASC 196
2 Poké Pad POR 81
1 N's Castle JTG 152
4 Lillie's Determination MEG 119
2 Binding Mochi PRE 95
2 Cyrano SSP 170
1 Kieran TWM 154
1 Area Zero Underdepths SCR 131

Energy: 10
6 Darkness Energy MEE 7
2 Fire Energy MEE 2
2 Psychic Energy MEE 5

Total Cards: 60

How many different cards Dragapult ex / N's Zoroark ex needs, and how long it will last

You need 40 different cards to cover every version of this deck, 17 of which nobody argues about. The rest is where lists differ from one another, and that is where you have room to choose.

7 of these 8 lists bring an ACE SPEC, and that is where they part ways: 4 took Unfair Stamp, 2 took Neo Upper Energy and 1 took Prime Catcher. 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. 7 of the 17 core cards carry the letter H, the one that goes at the next rotation: Drakloak, Dreepy, Dragapult ex and Munkidori, plus 3 more. The core table marks every one of them. In copies, that is 18 of the 46 slots the core fills. Which day it lands, we do not know yet.

What Dragapult ex / N's Zoroark ex struggles against

The attackers in this deck are Weak to Grass, so they take DOUBLE damage from that type. 21 of the 125 decks we track attack in exactly that type.

Concretely, here is what is waiting for you: Teal Mask Ogerpon ex / Meganium / Hydrapple ex, Festival Lead (Thwackey) and Crustle, plus 18 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 21 decks out of the 125 we track. The other 104 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 Fire, Darkness, Lightning and Psychic, and 26 of the decks we track have an attacker Weak to one of those: N's Zoroark ex, Latias ex / Mega Kangaskhan ex and Slowking, among others. That is you doubling, for once. Second half of the table.