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

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

Across the 36 lists we counted, this deck runs 19 to 23 Pokémon, 32 to 36 Trainers and 5 to 8 Energy. Its attacks are paid for in Fire.

On results pages and on stream you will see it written « ethan-typhlosion ». 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: 5 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 takes a while to set up. Ethan's Typhlosion 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: 32 to 36 cards out of 60, against a median of 31 across the 97 decks we track. Inside that, 10 to 13 Supporters, and the rule there is strict — one a turn, even if you are holding three. The 14 to 19 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.

How Ethan's Typhlosion actually wins

Ethan's Typhlosion attacks with Steam Artillery for 160. It needs 3 Energy, 2 Fire and 1 Colorless attached, and it has 170 HP.

The cost of Steam Artillery 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 Ethan's Typhlosion 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.

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 Ethan's TyphlosionStage 2	170	Steam Artillery	160	Fire + Fire + Colorless	Water ×2	2
Close Ethan's QuilavaStage 1	100	Combustion	40	Fire	Water ×2	1
Close Ethan's CyndaquilBasic	70	Ember	30	Fire	Water ×2	1
Close ShayminBasic	80	Smash Kick	30	Colorless + Colorless	Fire ×2	1

The core: the 12 cards every list runs

These 12 cards appear in all 36 lists, without a single exception. That is 38 of the 60 slots. The other 22 are decided player by player.

Look at how those 38 slots break down: 21 Trainers, 12 Pokémon, 5 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.

9 of those 12 cards do not sit at the same count from list to list: Ethan's Quilava (3 to 4), Ethan's Typhlosion (3 to 4) and Poké Pad (2 to 4), plus 6 more. Add those spreads up and you get 16 copies the 36 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 Ethan's Cyndaquil	DRI 32	Pokémon	stays
3–4	Close Ethan's Quilava	DRI 33	Pokémon	stays
3–4	Close Ethan's Typhlosion	DRI 34	Pokémon	stays
1	Close Shaymin	DRI 10	Pokémon	stays
4	Close Ethan's Adventure	DRI 165	Trainer	stays
2–4	Close Poké Pad	POR 81	Trainer	stays
1–4	Close Ultra Ball	MEG 131	Trainer	stays
2–4	Close Buddy-Buddy Poffin	TEF 144	Trainer	leaves
2–3	Close Boss's Orders	MEG 114	Trainer	stays
1–3	Close Brave Bangle	WHT 80	Trainer	stays
1–3	Close Rare Candy	MEG 125	Trainer	stays
4–6	Fire Energy	MEE 2	Energy	stays

The 46 cards that change from list to list

46 cards fight over the 22 slots that are left: 11 above three lists in four, 31 below one in four, and the percentage on each row says how many players took it.

The most agreed on first: Night Stretcher at 97 %, Kieran at 94 % and Redeemable Ticket at 94 %, plus 8 more above 75 %. Add those to the core and you have the common build.

The dividing line runs through Battle Cage, at 64 %: 23 of 36 players took it, 13 put something else there. The ones who run it bring 2 copies. Right at the bottom of the table, Tool Scrapper (9 lists out of 36) and Budew (8 lists out of 36).

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
97 %35/36	Close Night Stretcher	2–3	ASC 196	Trainer
94 %34/36	Close Kieran	1–2	TWM 154	Trainer
94 %34/36	Close Redeemable Ticket	1	JTG 156	Trainer
94 %34/36	Close Secret Box	1	TWM 163	Trainer
92 %33/36	Close Victini	1–2	SSP 21	Pokémon
92 %33/36	Close Fezandipiti ex	1	ASC 142	Pokémon
92 %33/36	Close Lillie's Determination	1–4	MEG 119	Trainer
89 %32/36	Close Drakloak	2–3	TWM 129	Pokémon
89 %32/36	Close Dreepy	2–3	TWM 128	Pokémon
86 %31/36	Close Lana's Aid	1–2	TWM 155	Trainer
78 %28/36	Close Sacred Ash	1	DRI 168	Trainer
72 %26/36	Close Special Red Card	1	CRI 82	Trainer
69 %25/36	Close Gravity Mountain	1–3	SSP 177	Trainer
64 %23/36	Close Battle Cage	1–3	PFL 85	Trainer
36 %13/36	Close Psyduck	1	ASC 39	Pokémon
25 %9/36	Close Tool Scrapper	1	ASC 212	Trainer
22 %8/36	Close Budew	1	ASC 16	Pokémon
17 %6/36	Close Meowth ex	1	POR 62	Pokémon
17 %6/36	Close Team Rocket's Petrel	1–2	DRI 176	Trainer
17 %6/36	Close Black Belt's Training	1	JTG 143	Trainer
14 %5/36	Psychic Energy	1–3	MEE 5	Energy
11 %4/36	Close Dragapult ex	1–2	TWM 130	Pokémon
11 %4/36	Close Air Balloon	1–2	ASC 181	Trainer
11 %4/36	Close Switch	1	MEG 130	Trainer
8 %3/36	Close Pikipek	2–4	PBL 66	Pokémon
8 %3/36	Close Toucannon	2–3	PBL 68	Pokémon
8 %3/36	Close Chi-Yu	1	MEG 31	Pokémon
8 %3/36	Close Trumbeak	1–2	PBL 67	Pokémon
8 %3/36	Close Judge	1	POR 76	Trainer
6 %2/36	Close Crispin	1	SCR 133	Trainer
6 %2/36	Close Enhanced Hammer	1	TWM 148	Trainer
6 %2/36	Close Neutralization Zone	1	SFA 60	Trainer
6 %2/36	Close Prism Tower	1	CRI 80	Trainer
3 %1/36	Close Dusclops	3	PRE 36	Pokémon
3 %1/36	Close Duskull	3	PRE 35	Pokémon
3 %1/36	Close Dusknoir	2	PRE 37	Pokémon
3 %1/36	Close Fan Rotom	1	SCR 118	Pokémon
3 %1/36	Close Lillie's Clefairy ex	1	JTG 56	Pokémon
3 %1/36	Close Patrat	1	CRI 70	Pokémon
3 %1/36	Close Naveen	3	POR 79	Trainer
3 %1/36	Close Hassel	2	TWM 151	Trainer
3 %1/36	Close Energy Recycler	1	DRI 164	Trainer
3 %1/36	Close Morty's Conviction	1	TEF 155	Trainer
3 %1/36	Close Pokégear 3.0	1	SVI 186	Trainer
3 %1/36	Close Pokémon Catcher	1	POR 82	Trainer
3 %1/36	Close Rosa's Encouragement	1	POR 84	Trainer

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

Here they are in full, ready to build. 38 slots come from the core, the cards all 36 lists run. The remaining 22 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 21 Pokémon, 34 Trainers and 5 Energy.

One thing to know before you build it: the 36 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: 21
4 Ethan's Cyndaquil DRI 32
4 Ethan's Quilava DRI 33
3 Ethan's Typhlosion DRI 34
1 Shaymin DRI 10
2 Victini SSP 21
1 Fezandipiti ex ASC 142
3 Drakloak TWM 129
3 Dreepy TWM 128

Trainer: 34
4 Ethan's Adventure DRI 165
4 Poké Pad POR 81
4 Ultra Ball MEG 131
3 Buddy-Buddy Poffin TEF 144
2 Boss's Orders MEG 114
2 Brave Bangle WHT 80
2 Rare Candy MEG 125
2 Night Stretcher ASC 196
1 Kieran TWM 154
1 Redeemable Ticket JTG 156
1 Secret Box TWM 163
3 Lillie's Determination MEG 119
1 Lana's Aid TWM 155
1 Sacred Ash DRI 168
1 Special Red Card CRI 82
1 Gravity Mountain SSP 177
1 Battle Cage PFL 85

Energy: 5
5 Fire Energy MEE 2

Total Cards: 60

Which decks beat Ethan's Typhlosion at tournaments

Here is how Ethan's Typhlosion 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 Pitch Black became legal for tournaments, and we read the table on 5 September 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 Mega Excadrill ex: over 101 games, 81 won and 20 lost.

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

You need 58 different cards to cover every version of this deck, 12 of which nobody argues about. We do not have card prices, so we are not going to put a number on it.

All 36 lists bring an ACE SPEC, and that is where they part ways: 34 took Secret Box and 2 took Neutralization Zone. 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 Secret Box and watch what the others do with theirs before you switch.

Then there is time. 1 of the 12 core cards carries the letter H, the one that goes at the next rotation: Buddy-Buddy Poffin. The core table marks it. In copies, that is 3 of the 38 slots the core fills. Which day it lands, we do not know yet.

What Ethan's Typhlosion struggles against

The attackers in this deck are Weak to Water and Fire, so they take DOUBLE damage from those types. 33 of the 97 decks we track attack in exactly those types.

Concretely, here is what is waiting for you: Festival Lead (Seaking), Dragapult ex / Blaziken ex and Marnie's Grimmsnarl ex / Froslass, plus 30 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 33 decks out of the 97 we track. The other 64 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 43 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 Typhlosion deck list?

There isn't one, so we built one for you: all 60 cards are written out further up this page. Across 36 tournament lists harvested between 11 August 2026 and 4 September 2026, 12 cards turn up in every single one, 38 slots out of 60. The remaining 22 change from player to player, with 46 different cards competing for them. Both tables are above.

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

36 lists, played across 34 different tournaments, harvested between 11 August 2026 and 4 September 2026 from play.limitlesstcg.com. All 36 were read card by card, and every card recognised.

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

With the whole core: 12 cards, 38 slots. Inside it, buy the 21 Trainer slots and the 5 Energy first: they carry over into your next deck. Leave the 12 Pokémon slots for last. Only then work down the flex table and add the cards the most lists agree on, starting with Night Stretcher at 97 % and Kieran at 94 %.

What beats Ethan's Typhlosion?

Its attackers are Weak to Water and Fire, so they take double damage from an attacker of that type. 33 of the 97 decks we track play an attacker of that type: Festival Lead, Dragapult ex / Blaziken ex, Marnie's Grimmsnarl ex / Froslass and Raging Bolt ex, among others.

Will Ethan's Typhlosion survive the next rotation?

Not intact: 1 core cards out of 12 carry the letter H, starting with Buddy-Buddy Poffin.

Are a lot of people playing Ethan's Typhlosion?

We have read 36 lists of it, which puts it 18th of the 97 decks we track by lists read. The platform those tournaments run on counts 288 entries for it, 0.71 % 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.