Ethan's Magcargo deck: the core, the flex slots, and what beats it

What Ethan's Magcargo looks like when you open the box

Across the 21 lists we counted, this deck runs 15 to 20 Pokémon, 27 to 34 Trainers and 9 to 14 Energy. Its attacks are paid for in Fire.

On results pages and on stream you will see it written « ethan-magcargo ». 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 14 out of 60, when half the 97 decks we track run 10 or fewer. This one carries more than most, and you feel it at the table — it wants to load up a big Pokémon and swing hard, even if that means drawing a spare Energy now and then.

It sets up fast. Ethan's Magcargo 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: 27 to 34 cards out of 60, against a median of 31 across the 97 decks we track. Inside that, 11 to 15 Supporters, and the rule there is strict — one a turn, even if you are holding three. The 11 to 18 Items you can play all of in the same turn. It also brings up to 3 Stadiums, and 91 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

Ethan's Magcargo gives this deck its name. Here is what is written on it.

Ethan's Magcargo is in all 21 lists, 3 copies of it. Its Ability is called Melt Away, and here is what is printed on it, word for word: « If this Pokémon has no Energy attached, it has no Retreat Cost. »

How Ethan's Magcargo actually wins

Ethan's Ho-Oh ex attacks with Shining Feathers for 160. It needs 4 Fire Energy attached, and it has 230 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: "Heal 50 damage from each of your Pokémon."

The cost of Shining Feathers 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. Except it charges itself. Ethan's Ho-Oh ex, which the list runs 3 of, has an Ability called Golden Flame: it attaches Energy from your hand on top of the one you already play. An Ability costs you nothing: not your attack, not your card for the turn. That is where this deck buys its turns, and it is the first thing to look for in your opening hand.

There is another trick in this list, and the whole of it happens in one turn. Team Rocket's Petrel goes into your deck for a Trainer card and puts it in your hand. Precious Trolley is one, and it puts as many Basic Pokémon as you like onto your Bench in one go. A full Bench on turn one is what decides the game in a deck with lines to build. One rule to know: Precious Trolley is an ACE SPEC card. You are allowed just ONE ACE SPEC in your whole deck, so a second copy is never coming, and taking this one means giving up every other. One detail that matters: Team Rocket's Petrel is a Supporter, so that turn you play no other Supporter. Items all still go through. And if Team Rocket's Petrel will not show up, Team Rocket's Transceiver goes and gets it: 11 of the 21 lists bring it for exactly that.

Here is the detail that quietly loses games. To pull Ethan's Ho-Oh 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.

Ethan's Ho-Oh ex carries the "ex" suffix, and your opponent takes 2 Prize cards instead of one when Ethan's Ho-Oh 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 Ethan's Ho-Oh exBasic	230	Shining Feathers	160	Fire + Fire + Fire + Fire	Water ×2	2
Close Ethan's MagcargoStage 1	130	Lava Burst	70×	Fire + Fire + Fire	Water ×2	3
Close Ethan's SlugmaBasic	80	Steady Firebreathing	20	Fire	Water ×2	2

The core: the 6 cards every list runs

These 6 cards appear in all 21 lists, without a single exception. That is 15 of the 60 slots. The other 45 are decided player by player.

Look at how those 15 slots break down: 6 Trainers, 9 Pokémon, 0 Energy. Pokémon dominate, which is unusual: this deck needs bodies on the board, and it depends on any single attacker less than it looks.

5 of those 6 cards do not sit at the same count from list to list: Ethan's Ho-Oh ex (2 to 4), Ethan's Magcargo (2 to 3) and Ethan's Slugma (3 to 4), plus 2 more. Add those spreads up and you get 7 copies the 21 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 Ethan's Ho-Oh ex	DRI 39	Pokémon	stays
2–3	Close Ethan's Magcargo	DRI 36	Pokémon	stays
3–4	Close Ethan's Slugma	DRI 35	Pokémon	stays
2	Close Boss's Orders	MEG 114	Trainer	stays
2–4	Close Lillie's Determination	MEG 119	Trainer	stays
2–3	Close Night Stretcher	ASC 196	Trainer	leaves

The 51 cards that change from list to list

51 cards fight over the 45 slots that are left: 11 above three lists in four, 28 below one in four, and the percentage on each row says how many players took it.

The most agreed on first: Ethan's Adventure at 95 %, Fire Energy at 95 % and Fezandipiti ex at 90 %, plus 8 more above 75 %. Add those to the core and you have the common build.

The dividing line runs through Team Rocket's Transceiver, at 52 %: 11 of 21 players took it, 10 put something else there. The ones who run it bring 4 copies. Right at the bottom of the table, Meowth ex (4 lists out of 21) and Gravity Mountain (4 lists out of 21).

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 %20/21	Close Ethan's Adventure	2–4	DRI 165	Trainer
95 %20/21	Fire Energy	9–14	MEE 2	Energy
90 %19/21	Close Fezandipiti ex	1	ASC 142	Pokémon
90 %19/21	Close Energy Retrieval	2–4	SVI 171	Trainer
90 %19/21	Close Switch	1–2	MEG 130	Trainer
90 %19/21	Close Ultra Ball	1–4	MEG 131	Trainer
81 %17/21	Close Latias ex	1–2	SSP 76	Pokémon
81 %17/21	Close Ethan's Pinsir	1	DRI 1	Pokémon
76 %16/21	Close Team Rocket's Petrel	2–4	DRI 176	Trainer
76 %16/21	Close Precious Trolley	1	SSP 185	Trainer
76 %16/21	Close Special Red Card	1	CRI 82	Trainer
71 %15/21	Close Mega Kangaskhan ex	1–2	MEG 104	Pokémon
67 %14/21	Close Pokégear 3.0	1–2	SVI 186	Trainer
67 %14/21	Close Lana's Aid	1–2	TWM 155	Trainer
52 %11/21	Close Team Rocket's Transceiver	4	DRI 178	Trainer
52 %11/21	Close Team Rocket's Factory	3	DRI 173	Trainer
48 %10/21	Close Poké Pad	2–4	POR 81	Trainer
48 %10/21	Close Energy Search	1–2	POR 72	Trainer
43 %9/21	Close Firebreather	1–3	PFL 89	Trainer
38 %8/21	Close Energy Recycler	1–3	DRI 164	Trainer
33 %7/21	Close Psyduck	1	ASC 39	Pokémon
29 %6/21	Close Battle Cage	1–3	PFL 85	Trainer
29 %6/21	Close Brave Bangle	1–2	WHT 80	Trainer
19 %4/21	Close Meowth ex	1	POR 62	Pokémon
19 %4/21	Close Gravity Mountain	1	SSP 177	Trainer
14 %3/21	Close Ethan's Cyndaquil	2	DRI 32	Pokémon
14 %3/21	Close Ethan's Quilava	2	DRI 33	Pokémon
14 %3/21	Close Ethan's Pichu	1	DRI 71	Pokémon
14 %3/21	Close Ethan's Typhlosion	1–2	DRI 34	Pokémon
14 %3/21	Close Shaymin	1	DRI 10	Pokémon
14 %3/21	Close Air Balloon	1–2	ASC 181	Trainer
10 %2/21	Close Chi-Yu	1	MEG 31	Pokémon
10 %2/21	Close Moltres	1	PFL 14	Pokémon
10 %2/21	Close Tatsugiri	1	TWM 131	Pokémon
10 %2/21	Close Blowtorch	1–2	PFL 86	Trainer
10 %2/21	Close Xerosic's Machinations	1–2	SFA 64	Trainer
10 %2/21	Close Max Rod	1	PRE 116	Trainer
10 %2/21	Close Prime Catcher	1	TEF 157	Trainer
5 %1/21	Close Delphox	3	CRI 13	Pokémon
5 %1/21	Close Fennekin	3	CRI 11	Pokémon
5 %1/21	Close Braixen	2	CRI 12	Pokémon
5 %1/21	Close Ethan's Sudowoodo	2	DRI 93	Pokémon
5 %1/21	Close Heatmor	1	WHT 19	Pokémon
5 %1/21	Close Dawn	1	PFL 87	Trainer
5 %1/21	Close Jamming Tower	1	TWM 153	Trainer
5 %1/21	Close Kieran	1	TWM 154	Trainer
5 %1/21	Close Rare Candy	1	MEG 125	Trainer
5 %1/21	Close Surfer	1	SSP 187	Trainer
5 %1/21	Close Tool Scrapper	1	ASC 212	Trainer
5 %1/21	Water Energy	12	MEE 3	Energy
5 %1/21	Close Nitro Fire Energy	1	CRI 86	Energy

The most common Ethan's Magcargo list, all 60 cards

Here they are in full, ready to build. 15 slots come from the core, the cards all 21 lists run. The remaining 45 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 17 more cards to reach 60. The whole thing comes to 15 Pokémon, 33 Trainers and 12 Energy.

One thing to know before you build it: the 21 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.

There is no price total on this page. The readings we have are Cardmarket's, in euros, and the shop link further down sends you to TCGplayer, which quotes in dollars. Putting a euro figure next to a dollar shop would be one currency too many. The French and German pages carry the total.

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: 15
3 Ethan's Ho-Oh ex DRI 39
3 Ethan's Magcargo DRI 36
3 Ethan's Slugma DRI 35
1 Fezandipiti ex ASC 142
2 Latias ex SSP 76
1 Ethan's Pinsir DRI 1
2 Mega Kangaskhan ex MEG 104

Trainer: 33
2 Boss's Orders MEG 114
2 Lillie's Determination MEG 119
2 Night Stretcher ASC 196
3 Ethan's Adventure DRI 165
4 Energy Retrieval SVI 171
2 Switch MEG 130
1 Ultra Ball MEG 131
4 Team Rocket's Petrel DRI 176
1 Precious Trolley SSP 185
1 Special Red Card CRI 82
2 Pokégear 3.0 SVI 186
1 Lana's Aid TWM 155
4 Team Rocket's Transceiver DRI 178
3 Team Rocket's Factory DRI 173
1 Energy Search POR 72

Energy: 12
12 Fire Energy MEE 2

Total Cards: 60

What Ethan's Magcargo costs to build, and how long it will last

You need 57 different cards to cover every version of this deck, 6 of which nobody argues about. We do not have card prices, so we are not going to put a number on it.

20 of these 21 lists bring an ACE SPEC, and that is where they part ways: 16 took Precious Trolley, 2 took Max Rod and 2 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 Precious Trolley and watch what the others do with theirs before you switch.

Then there is time. 1 of the 6 core cards carries the letter H, the one that goes at the next rotation: Night Stretcher. The core table marks it. In copies, that is 2 of the 15 slots the core fills. Which day it lands, we do not know yet.

What Ethan's Magcargo struggles against

The attackers in this deck are Weak to Water, so they take DOUBLE damage from that type. 24 of the 97 decks we track attack in exactly that type.

Concretely, here is what is waiting for you: Festival Lead (Seaking), Marnie's Grimmsnarl ex / Froslass and Raging Bolt ex (Wellspring Mask Ogerpon 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 Fire, and 29 of the decks we track have an attacker Weak to one of those: Mega Excadrill ex, Festival Lead and Slowking, among others. That is you doubling, for once. Second half of the table.

Questions people ask

What is the Ethan's Magcargo deck list?

There isn't one, so we built one for you: all 60 cards are written out further up this page. Across 21 tournament lists harvested between 16 August 2026 and 5 September 2026, 6 cards turn up in every single one, 15 slots out of 60. The remaining 45 change from player to player, with 51 different cards competing for them. Both tables are above.

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

21 lists, played across 20 different tournaments, harvested between 16 August 2026 and 5 September 2026 from play.limitlesstcg.com. All 21 were read card by card, and every card recognised.

Where do I start if I want to build Ethan's Magcargo?

With the whole core: 6 cards, 15 slots. Inside it, buy the 6 Trainer slots and the 0 Energy first: they carry over into your next deck. Leave the 9 Pokémon slots for last. Only then work down the flex table and add the cards the most lists agree on, starting with Ethan's Adventure at 95 % and Fire Energy at 95 %.

What beats Ethan's Magcargo?

Its attackers are Weak to Water, so they take double damage from an attacker of that type. 24 of the 97 decks we track play an attacker of that type: Festival Lead, Marnie's Grimmsnarl ex / Froslass, Raging Bolt ex and Latias ex / Mega Kangaskhan ex, among others.

Will Ethan's Magcargo survive the next rotation?

Not intact: 1 core cards out of 6 carry the letter H, starting with Night Stretcher.

Are a lot of people playing Ethan's Magcargo?

We have read 21 lists of it, which puts it 78th of the 97 decks we track by lists read. The platform those tournaments run on counts 22 entries for it, 0.05 % 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.