Dudunsparce deck: the core, the flex slots, and what beats it

What Dudunsparce looks like when you open the box

Across the 22 lists we counted, this deck runs 15 to 26 Pokémon, 26 to 39 Trainers and 2 to 8 Energy. Its attacks do not ask for any particular type of Energy.

On results pages and on stream you will see it written « dudunsparce-control ». The cards we can recognise in that label are Dudunsparce. The bit « control » does not point at any one card in the list, so we leave it out of the name rather than make up a meaning.

Look at the Energy: 2 to 8 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 sets up fast. Dudunsparce is a Stage 1 Pokémon: a Basic, one evolution on top, and you are attacking. Two cards instead of three. You lose fewer turns building, and you rebuild much more easily when an early knockout lands on you.

Look at the Trainers: 26 to 39 cards out of 60, against a median of 31 across the 97 decks we track. Inside that, 7 to 15 Supporters, and the rule there is strict — one a turn, even if you are holding three. The 9 to 22 Items you can play all of in the same turn. It also brings up to 4 Stadiums, and 57 of the 97 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

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

Dudunsparce is in all 22 lists, 4 copies of it. Its Ability is called Run Away Draw, and here is what is printed on it, word for word: « Once during your turn, you may draw 3 cards. If you drew any cards in this way, shuffle this Pokémon and all attached cards into your deck. »

How Dudunsparce actually wins

Dudunsparce attacks with Land Crush for 90. It needs 3 Colorless Energy attached, and it has 140 HP.

The cost of Land Crush decides your first few turns. You only get to attach one Energy a turn, and that attack asks for 3. On your own attachments alone, your first real swing lands on turn 3. We have not found anything in this list that attaches Energy faster than that, so plan on holding out for 2 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.

Here is the detail that quietly loses games. To pull Dudunsparce back to the Bench you have to discard 3 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 3 Energy you spent 3 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.

Not one ex Pokémon in the core, and only 21 of the 97 decks we track are in that position. It is a hidden advantage: every knockout your opponent takes is worth a single Prize, so they need 6, where 3 would do against a deck stuffed with ex cards.

The attackers in the deck's core, with their best attack, its cost and their Weakness

Pokémon	HP	Attack	Damage	Cost	Weakness	Retreat
Close DudunsparceStage 1	140	Land Crush	90	Colorless + Colorless + Colorless	Fighting ×2	3
Close ElgyemBasic	60	Beam	40	Colorless + Colorless + Colorless	Darkness ×2	1

The core: the 8 cards every list runs

These 8 cards appear in all 22 lists, without a single exception. That is 22 of the 60 slots. The other 38 are decided player by player.

Look at how those 22 slots break down: 16 Trainers, 6 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.

7 of those 8 cards do not sit at the same count from list to list: Dudunsparce (3 to 4), Elgyem (1 to 2) and Buddy-Buddy Poffin (2 to 4), plus 4 more. Add those spreads up and you get 10 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
3–4	Close Dudunsparce	TEF 129	Pokémon	leaves
1–2	Close Elgyem	BLK 40	Pokémon	stays
2–4	Close Buddy-Buddy Poffin	TEF 144	Trainer	leaves
3–4	Close Lillie's Determination	MEG 119	Trainer	stays
4	Close Poké Pad	POR 81	Trainer	stays
1–2	Close Night Stretcher	ASC 196	Trainer	leaves
1–3	Close Boss's Orders	MEG 114	Trainer	stays
1–3	Close Handheld Fan	TWM 150	Trainer	leaves

The 76 cards that change from list to list

76 cards fight over the 38 slots that are left: 5 above three lists in four, 32 below one in four, and the percentage on each row says how many players took it.

The most agreed on first: Prism Energy at 95 %, Psychic Energy at 95 % and Dunsparce at 91 %, plus 2 more above 75 %. Add those to the core and you have the common build.

The dividing line runs through Shuckle, at 55 %: 12 of 22 players took it, 10 put something else there. The ones who run it bring 3 copies. Right at the bottom of the table, Cubchoo (5 lists out of 22) and Hilda (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 Prism Energy	1–3	ASC 216	Energy
95 %21/22	Psychic Energy	1–4	MEE 5	Energy
91 %20/22	Close Dunsparce	2–4	JTG 120	Pokémon
86 %19/22	Close Psyduck	1	ASC 39	Pokémon
82 %18/22	Close Ethan's Sudowoodo	1	DRI 93	Pokémon
73 %16/22	Close Fan Rotom	1	SCR 118	Pokémon
68 %15/22	Close Redeemable Ticket	1	JTG 156	Trainer
64 %14/22	Close Cornerstone Mask Ogerpon ex	1	TWM 112	Pokémon
59 %13/22	Close Shaymin	1	DRI 10	Pokémon
59 %13/22	Close Lana's Aid	1	TWM 155	Trainer
59 %13/22	Close Ruffian	1	JTG 157	Trainer
55 %12/22	Close Shuckle	1–3	MEG 11	Pokémon
55 %12/22	Close Dedenne	1	SSP 87	Pokémon
45 %10/22	Close Eevee	2	SSP 143	Pokémon
45 %10/22	Close Rabsca	2	TEF 24	Pokémon
45 %10/22	Close Rellor	2	TEF 23	Pokémon
45 %10/22	Close Sylveon	2	PRE 40	Pokémon
45 %10/22	Close Clefairy	1–2	POR 30	Pokémon
45 %10/22	Close Comfey	1	SCR 63	Pokémon
45 %10/22	Close Gwynn	3–4	PBL 78	Trainer
45 %10/22	Close Forest of Vitality	2	MEG 117	Trainer
45 %10/22	Close Hero's Cape	1	TEF 152	Trainer
45 %10/22	Close Lumiose City	1	POR 77	Trainer
45 %10/22	Close Rust Syndicate Grunt	1	PBL 81	Trainer
45 %10/22	Close Sacred Ash	1	DRI 168	Trainer
45 %10/22	Grass Energy	2	MEE 1	Energy
45 %10/22	Close Rocky Fighting Energy	2	POR 87	Energy
41 %9/22	Close Dunsparce	1–4	TEF 128	Pokémon
36 %8/22	Close Hassel	1	TWM 151	Trainer
36 %8/22	Fighting Energy	1	MEE 6	Energy
32 %7/22	Close Bastiodon	2–3	PBL 62	Pokémon
32 %7/22	Close Shieldon	1–3	PBL 61	Pokémon
32 %7/22	Close Ultra Ball	1–4	MEG 131	Trainer
32 %7/22	Close Antique Armor Fossil	3–4	PBL 72	Trainer
32 %7/22	Close Fossil Quarry	2–3	PBL 76	Trainer
32 %7/22	Close Gravity Gemstone	1–3	SCR 137	Trainer
32 %7/22	Close Rare Candy	1–4	MEG 125	Trainer
32 %7/22	Close Xerosic's Machinations	1–2	SFA 64	Trainer
27 %6/22	Close Drilbur	1	SSP 108	Pokémon
27 %6/22	Close Eri	1	TEF 146	Trainer
27 %6/22	Close Special Red Card	1	CRI 82	Trainer
27 %6/22	Close Switch	1–2	MEG 130	Trainer
27 %6/22	Close Unfair Stamp	1	TWM 165	Trainer
27 %6/22	Close Magnetic Metal Energy	1–2	CRI 85	Energy
23 %5/22	Close Cubchoo	1	BLK 25	Pokémon
23 %5/22	Close Hilda	1–2	WHT 84	Trainer
18 %4/22	Close Latias ex	1–2	SSP 76	Pokémon
18 %4/22	Close Accompanying Flute	1–2	TWM 142	Trainer
18 %4/22	Close Battle Cage	2	PFL 85	Trainer
18 %4/22	Close Telepathic Psychic Energy	2	POR 88	Energy
18 %4/22	Water Energy	1	MEE 3	Energy
14 %3/22	Close Team Rocket's Larvitar	1	DRI 94	Pokémon
14 %3/22	Close Dawn	1–4	PFL 87	Trainer
9 %2/22	Close Budew	1	ASC 16	Pokémon
9 %2/22	Close Lillie's Cutiefly	1	JTG 66	Pokémon
9 %2/22	Close Lillie's Ribombee	1	JTG 67	Pokémon
9 %2/22	Close Patrat	1	CRI 70	Pokémon
9 %2/22	Close Totodile	1	TEF 39	Pokémon
9 %2/22	Close Turtonator	1	POR 17	Pokémon
9 %2/22	Close Crushing Hammer	3–4	POR 71	Trainer
9 %2/22	Close Enhanced Hammer	1–2	TWM 148	Trainer
9 %2/22	Close Nighttime Mine	1–2	ASC 197	Trainer
9 %2/22	Close Meddling Memo	1	SSP 181	Trainer
9 %2/22	Close Miracle Headset	1	SSP 183	Trainer
9 %2/22	Close Scoop Up Cyclone	1	TWM 162	Trainer
5 %1/22	Close Flygon	4	PFL 53	Pokémon
5 %1/22	Close Trapinch	4	PFL 51	Pokémon
5 %1/22	Close Maractus	1	JTG 8	Pokémon
5 %1/22	Close Team Rocket's Articuno	1	DRI 51	Pokémon
5 %1/22	Close Vibrava	1	SSP 105	Pokémon
5 %1/22	Close Vibrava	1	PFL 52	Pokémon
5 %1/22	Close Colress's Tenacity	3	SFA 57	Trainer
5 %1/22	Close Tarragon	3	POR 85	Trainer
5 %1/22	Close Brock's Scouting	1	JTG 146	Trainer
5 %1/22	Close Grand Tree	1	SCR 136	Trainer
5 %1/22	Close Legacy Energy	1	TWM 167	Energy

What Dudunsparce costs to build, and how long it will last

You need 84 different cards to cover every version of this deck, 8 of which nobody argues about. We do not have card prices, so we are not going to put a number on it.

All 22 lists bring an ACE SPEC, and that is where they part ways: 10 took Hero's Cape, 6 took Unfair Stamp and 2 took Miracle Headset. 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 Hero's Cape and watch what the others do with theirs before you switch.

Then there is time. 4 of the 8 core cards carry the letter H, the one that goes at the next rotation: Dudunsparce, Buddy-Buddy Poffin, Night Stretcher and Handheld Fan. The core table marks every one of them. In copies, that is 11 of the 22 slots the core fills. Which day it lands, we do not know yet.

What Dudunsparce struggles against

The attackers in this deck are Weak to Fighting and Darkness, so they take DOUBLE damage from those types. 24 of the 97 decks we track attack in exactly those types.

Concretely, here is what is waiting for you: N's Zoroark ex, Marnie's Grimmsnarl ex / Froslass and Mega Lucario ex, plus 21 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 24 decks out of the 97 we track. The other 73 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 , and 6 of the decks we track have an attacker Weak to one of those: Mega Lucario ex, Mega Lucario ex / Hariyama and Greninja ex, among others. That is you doubling, for once. Second half of the table.

Questions people ask

What is the Dudunsparce deck list?

There isn't one. Across 22 tournament lists harvested between 16 August 2026 and 4 September 2026, 8 cards turn up in every single one, 22 slots out of 60. The remaining 38 change from player to player, with 76 different cards competing for them. Both tables are above.

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

22 lists, played across 21 different tournaments, harvested between 16 August 2026 and 4 September 2026 from play.limitlesstcg.com. All 22 were read card by card, and every card recognised.

Where do I start if I want to build Dudunsparce?

With the whole core: 8 cards, 22 slots. Inside it, buy the 16 Trainer slots and the 0 Energy first: they carry over into your next deck. Leave the 6 Pokémon slots for last. Only then work down the flex table and add the cards the most lists agree on, starting with Prism Energy at 95 % and Psychic Energy at 95 %.

What beats Dudunsparce?

Its attackers are Weak to Fighting and Darkness, so they take double damage from an attacker of that type. 24 of the 97 decks we track play an attacker of that type: N's Zoroark ex, Marnie's Grimmsnarl ex / Froslass, Mega Lucario ex and Mega Lucario ex / Hariyama, among others.

Will Dudunsparce survive the next rotation?

Not intact: 4 core cards out of 8 carry the letter H, starting with Dudunsparce, Buddy-Buddy Poffin, Night Stretcher and Handheld Fan.

Are a lot of people playing Dudunsparce?

We have read 22 lists of it, which puts it 74th of the 97 decks we track by lists read. The platform those tournaments run on counts 23 entries for it, 0.06 % 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.