Greninja ex deck: the core, the flex slots, and what beats it

What Greninja ex looks like when you open the box

Across the 37 lists we counted, this deck runs 19 to 24 Pokémon, 28 to 33 Trainers and 7 to 10 Energy. Its attacks are paid for in Water.

On results pages and on stream you will see it written « greninja-ex ». 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: 7 to 10 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. Greninja 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 33 cards out of 60, against a median of 31 across the 97 decks we track. Inside that, 9 to 15 Supporters, and the rule there is strict — one a turn, even if you are holding three. The 12 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.

What the card in this deck's name actually does

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

Greninja ex is in all 37 lists, 2 copies of it. Its attack Mirage Barrage costs 3 Energy (Water, Colorless and Colorless) 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: « Discard 2 Energy from this Pokémon. This attack does 120 damage to 2 of your opponent's Pokémon. (Don't apply Weakness and Resistance for Benched Pokémon.) »

How Greninja ex actually wins

Greninja ex attacks with Shinobi Blade for 170. It needs 1 Water Energy attached, and it has 310 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: "You may search your deck for a card and put it into your hand. Then, shuffle your deck."

One Energy to attack is enormous, and it means the attack cost will never be what slows you down. What slows you down here is getting Greninja ex up. Once the line is standing you swing every turn with nothing to recharge, and you can start again immediately when your attacker falls.

Energy is not your only clock. Froakie has to climb two steps before it becomes Greninja ex, and an evolution asleep at the bottom of your deck does you no good at all. The list has that covered. Hilda, which the list runs 2 of, goes into your deck for an evolution.

Good news on mobility: pulling Greninja 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.

Greninja ex carries the "ex" suffix, and your opponent takes 2 Prize cards instead of one when Greninja 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 Greninja exStage 2	310	Shinobi Blade	170	Water	Psychic ×2	1
Close FroakieBasic	70	Water Gun	10	Water	Lightning ×2	1

The core: the 12 cards every list runs

These 12 cards appear in all 37 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: 24 Trainers, 5 Pokémon, 9 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 12 cards do not sit at the same count from list to list: Froakie (2 to 3), Buddy-Buddy Poffin (3 to 4) and Lillie's Determination (3 to 4), plus 7 more. Add those spreads up and you get 18 copies the 37 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
2–3	Close Froakie	CRI 20	Pokémon	stays
2	Close Greninja ex	TWM 106	Pokémon	leaves
3–4	Close Buddy-Buddy Poffin	TEF 144	Trainer	leaves
3–4	Close Lillie's Determination	MEG 119	Trainer	stays
2–4	Close Ultra Ball	MEG 131	Trainer	stays
1–4	Close Poké Pad	POR 81	Trainer	stays
1–3	Close Rare Candy	MEG 125	Trainer	stays
1–2	Close Boss's Orders	MEG 114	Trainer	stays
2–3	Close Hilda	WHT 84	Trainer	stays
1–3	Close Night Stretcher	ASC 196	Trainer	leaves
3–7	Water Energy	MEE 3	Energy	stays
3	Close Ignition Energy	WHT 86	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, 21 below one in four, and the percentage on each row says how many players took it.

The most agreed on first: Frogadier at 97 %, Fezandipiti ex at 97 % and Dusclops at 95 %, plus 8 more above 75 %. Add those to the core and you have the common build.

The dividing line runs through Latias ex, at 49 %: 18 of 37 players took it, 19 put something else there. The ones who run it bring 1 copy. Right at the bottom of the table, Mega Greninja ex (8 lists out of 37) and AZ's Tranquility (7 lists out of 37).

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 %36/37	Close Frogadier	2	CRI 21	Pokémon
97 %36/37	Close Fezandipiti ex	1	ASC 142	Pokémon
95 %35/37	Close Dusclops	2	PRE 36	Pokémon
95 %35/37	Close Dusknoir	1–2	PRE 37	Pokémon
95 %35/37	Close Duskull	2–3	PRE 35	Pokémon
95 %35/37	Close Meowth ex	1–2	POR 62	Pokémon
95 %35/37	Close Snorunt	1–2	ASC 46	Pokémon
95 %35/37	Close Mega Froslass ex	1–2	ASC 47	Pokémon
95 %35/37	Close Colress's Tenacity	1–3	SFA 57	Trainer
95 %35/37	Close Grand Tree	1	SCR 136	Trainer
78 %29/37	Close Special Red Card	1	CRI 82	Trainer
70 %26/37	Close Budew	1	ASC 16	Pokémon
65 %24/37	Close Switch	1	MEG 130	Trainer
62 %23/37	Close Gravity Mountain	1	SSP 177	Trainer
49 %18/37	Close Latias ex	1	SSP 76	Pokémon
46 %17/37	Close Surfing Beach	1	MEG 129	Trainer
43 %16/37	Close Mega Starmie ex	1–2	POR 21	Pokémon
43 %16/37	Close Staryu	1–2	POR 20	Pokémon
32 %12/37	Close Wally's Compassion	1–2	MEG 132	Trainer
32 %12/37	Close Bubbly Water Energy	1–2	CRI 84	Energy
30 %11/37	Close Glalie	1	TWM 52	Pokémon
30 %11/37	Close Judge	1–2	POR 76	Trainer
27 %10/37	Close Air Balloon	1–2	ASC 181	Trainer
27 %10/37	Close Salvatore	1	TEF 160	Trainer
27 %10/37	Close Team Rocket's Petrel	1	DRI 176	Trainer
22 %8/37	Close Mega Greninja ex	1	CRI 22	Pokémon
19 %7/37	Close AZ's Tranquility	1	CRI 76	Trainer
19 %7/37	Close Sacred Ash	1	DRI 168	Trainer
11 %4/37	Close Shaymin	1	DRI 10	Pokémon
11 %4/37	Close Jamming Tower	1	TWM 153	Trainer
11 %4/37	Close Surfer	1	SSP 187	Trainer
8 %3/37	Close Lucian	1–2	TWM 157	Trainer
8 %3/37	Close Dawn	1–2	PFL 87	Trainer
5 %2/37	Close Hoothoot	3	SCR 114	Pokémon
5 %2/37	Close Noctowl	3	SCR 115	Pokémon
5 %2/37	Close Fan Rotom	2	SCR 118	Pokémon
5 %2/37	Close Wellspring Mask Ogerpon ex	2	TWM 64	Pokémon
5 %2/37	Close Area Zero Underdepths	3	SCR 131	Trainer
5 %2/37	Close Sparkling Crystal	1	SCR 142	Trainer
3 %1/37	Close Frogadier	2	TWM 57	Pokémon
3 %1/37	Close Buneary	1	PFL 83	Pokémon
3 %1/37	Close Froslass	1	TWM 53	Pokémon
3 %1/37	Close Genesect	1	SFA 40	Pokémon
3 %1/37	Close Mega Lopunny ex	1	PFL 84	Pokémon
3 %1/37	Close Patrat	1	CRI 70	Pokémon
3 %1/37	Close Dark Bell	2	PBL 75	Trainer

The most common Greninja ex list, all 60 cards

Here they are in full, ready to build. 38 slots come from the core, the cards all 37 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 15 more cards to reach 60. The whole thing comes to 21 Pokémon, 30 Trainers and 9 Energy.

One thing to know before you build it: the 37 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
3 Froakie CRI 20
2 Greninja ex TWM 106
2 Frogadier CRI 21
1 Fezandipiti ex ASC 142
2 Dusclops PRE 36
2 Dusknoir PRE 37
2 Duskull PRE 35
2 Meowth ex POR 62
2 Snorunt ASC 46
1 Mega Froslass ex ASC 47
1 Budew ASC 16
1 Latias ex SSP 76

Trainer: 30
4 Buddy-Buddy Poffin TEF 144
4 Lillie's Determination MEG 119
4 Ultra Ball MEG 131
3 Poké Pad POR 81
3 Rare Candy MEG 125
2 Boss's Orders MEG 114
2 Hilda WHT 84
2 Night Stretcher ASC 196
2 Colress's Tenacity SFA 57
1 Grand Tree SCR 136
1 Special Red Card CRI 82
1 Switch MEG 130
1 Gravity Mountain SSP 177

Energy: 9
6 Water Energy MEE 3
3 Ignition Energy WHT 86

Total Cards: 60

Which decks beat Greninja ex at tournaments

Here is how Greninja ex 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 Dragapult ex: over 112 games, 45 won and 66 lost. One ended with no winner.

Against Mega Excadrill ex: over 113 games, 59 won and 54 lost.

What Greninja ex 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 37 lists bring an ACE SPEC, and that is where they part ways: 35 took Grand Tree and 2 took Sparkling Crystal. 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 Grand Tree and watch what the others do with theirs before you switch.

Then there is time. 3 of the 12 core cards carry the letter H, the one that goes at the next rotation: Greninja ex, Buddy-Buddy Poffin and Night Stretcher. The core table marks every one of them. In copies, that is 8 of the 38 slots the core fills. Which day it lands, we do not know yet.

What Greninja ex struggles against

The attackers in this deck are Weak to Psychic and Lightning, so they take DOUBLE damage from those types. 36 of the 97 decks we track attack in exactly those types.

Concretely, here is what is waiting for you: Alakazam / Dudunsparce, Dragapult ex / Dusknoir and Slowking (Latias ex), plus 33 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 36 decks out of the 97 we track. The other 61 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 Water, and 41 of the decks we track have an attacker Weak to one of those: Dragapult ex, Alakazam / Dudunsparce and Dragapult ex / Blaziken ex, among others. That is you doubling, for once. Second half of the table.

Questions people ask

What is the Greninja ex deck list?

There isn't one, so we built one for you: all 60 cards are written out further up this page. Across 37 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?

37 lists, played across 32 different tournaments, harvested between 11 August 2026 and 4 September 2026 from play.limitlesstcg.com. All 37 were read card by card, and every card recognised.

Where do I start if I want to build Greninja ex?

With the whole core: 12 cards, 38 slots. Inside it, buy the 24 Trainer slots and the 9 Energy first: they carry over into your next deck. Leave the 5 Pokémon slots for last. Only then work down the flex table and add the cards the most lists agree on, starting with Frogadier at 97 % and Fezandipiti ex at 97 %.

What beats Greninja ex?

Its attackers are Weak to Psychic and Lightning, so they take double damage from an attacker of that type. 36 of the 97 decks we track play an attacker of that type: Alakazam / Dudunsparce, Dragapult ex / Dusknoir, Slowking and N's Zoroark ex, among others.

Will Greninja ex survive the next rotation?

Not intact: 3 core cards out of 12 carry the letter H, starting with Greninja ex, Buddy-Buddy Poffin and Night Stretcher.

Are a lot of people playing Greninja ex?

We have read 37 lists of it, which puts it 15th of the 97 decks we track by lists read. The platform those tournaments run on counts 301 entries for it, 0.74 % 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.