Greninja ex

What Greninja ex looks like when you open the box

Across the 100 lists we counted, this deck runs 15 to 24 Pokémon, 27 to 34 Trainers and 7 to 12 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 12 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. 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: 27 to 34 cards out of 60, against a median of 31 across the 125 decks we track. Inside that, 7 to 16 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 87 of the 125 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 100 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		Psychic ×2	1

The core: the 11 cards every list runs

These 11 cards appear in all 100 lists, without a single exception. That is 33 of the 60 slots. The other 27 are decided player by player.

Look at how those 33 slots break down: 22 Trainers, 2 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 11 cards do not sit at the same count from list to list: Buddy-Buddy Poffin (3 to 4), Lillie's Determination (1 to 4) and Poké Pad (1 to 4), plus 7 more. Add those spreads up and you get 28 copies the 100 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	Close Greninja ex	TWM 106	Pokémon	leaves
3–4	Close Buddy-Buddy Poffin	TEF 144	Trainer	leaves
1–4	Close Lillie's Determination	MEG 119	Trainer	stays
1–4	Close Poké Pad	POR 81	Trainer	stays
1–4	Close Rare Candy	MEG 125	Trainer	stays
2–4	Close Ultra Ball	MEG 131	Trainer	stays
1–4	Close Boss's Orders	MEG 114	Trainer	stays
1–4	Close Hilda	WHT 84	Trainer	stays
1–3	Close Night Stretcher	ASC 196	Trainer	leaves
3–9	Water Energy	MEE 3	Energy	stays
2–4	Close Ignition Energy	WHT 86	Energy	stays

The 66 cards that change from list to list

66 cards fight over the 27 slots that are left: 13 above three lists in four, 42 below one in four, and the percentage on each row says how many players took it.

The most agreed on first: Froakie at 99 %, Frogadier at 98 % and Fezandipiti ex at 98 %, plus 10 more above 75 %. Add those to the core and you have the common build.

The dividing line runs through Latias ex, at 47 %: 47 of 100 players took it, 53 put something else there. The ones who run it bring 1 copy. Right at the bottom of the table, Jamming Tower (25 lists out of 100) and Greninja ex (19 lists out of 100).

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
99 %99/100	Close Froakie	2–4	CRI 20	Pokémon
98 %98/100	Close Frogadier	1–3	CRI 21	Pokémon
98 %98/100	Close Fezandipiti ex	1	ASC 142	Pokémon
97 %97/100	Close Dusclops	1–2	PRE 36	Pokémon
97 %97/100	Close Dusknoir	1–2	PRE 37	Pokémon
97 %97/100	Close Duskull	2–3	PRE 35	Pokémon
97 %97/100	Close Meowth ex	1–3	POR 62	Pokémon
97 %97/100	Close Colress's Tenacity	1–3	SFA 57	Trainer
97 %97/100	Close Grand Tree	1	SCR 136	Trainer
88 %88/100	Close Snorunt	1–4	ASC 46	Pokémon
88 %88/100	Close Mega Froslass ex	1–2	ASC 47	Pokémon
84 %84/100	Close Budew	1–2	ASC 16	Pokémon
83 %83/100	Close Special Red Card	1	CRI 82	Trainer
69 %69/100	Close Switch	1–2	MEG 130	Trainer
58 %58/100	Close Mega Starmie ex	1–2	POR 21	Pokémon
58 %58/100	Close Staryu	1–2	POR 20	Pokémon
47 %47/100	Close Latias ex	1	SSP 76	Pokémon
43 %43/100	Close Gravity Mountain	1	SSP 177	Trainer
43 %43/100	Close Bubbly Water Energy	1–2	CRI 84	Energy
39 %39/100	Close Team Rocket's Petrel	1	DRI 176	Trainer
37 %37/100	Close Judge	1–2	POR 76	Trainer
36 %36/100	Close Surfing Beach	1	MEG 129	Trainer
33 %33/100	Close Air Balloon	1–2	ASC 181	Trainer
32 %32/100	Close Wally's Compassion	1–2	MEG 132	Trainer
25 %25/100	Close Jamming Tower	1	TWM 153	Trainer
19 %19/100	Close Greninja ex	1–2	30C 21	Pokémon
17 %17/100	Close Mega Greninja ex	1	CRI 22	Pokémon
17 %17/100	Close Shaymin	1	DRI 10	Pokémon
15 %15/100	Close Salvatore	1	TEF 160	Trainer
12 %12/100	Close Frogadier	1–2	TWM 57	Pokémon
12 %12/100	Close Glalie	1	TWM 52	Pokémon
11 %11/100	Close Sacred Ash	1	DRI 168	Trainer
9 %9/100	Close AZ's Tranquility	1	CRI 76	Trainer
9 %9/100	Close Surfer	1	SSP 187	Trainer
6 %6/100	Close Dudunsparce	1–2	TEF 129	Pokémon
5 %5/100	Close Kieran	1	TWM 154	Trainer
4 %4/100	Close Dunsparce	1–2	JTG 120	Pokémon
4 %4/100	Close Dawn	1–2	PFL 87	Trainer
3 %3/100	Close Froakie	1–3	TWM 56	Pokémon
3 %3/100	Close Hoothoot	2–3	SCR 114	Pokémon
3 %3/100	Close Noctowl	2–3	SCR 115	Pokémon
3 %3/100	Close Fan Rotom	1–2	SCR 118	Pokémon
3 %3/100	Close Wellspring Mask Ogerpon ex	1–2	TWM 64	Pokémon
3 %3/100	Close Patrat	1	CRI 70	Pokémon
3 %3/100	Close Area Zero Underdepths	1–3	SCR 131	Trainer
3 %3/100	Close Lucian	1–2	TWM 157	Trainer
2 %2/100	Close Dunsparce	1–2	TEF 128	Pokémon
2 %2/100	Close Dudunsparce ex	1	JTG 121	Pokémon
2 %2/100	Close Genesect	1	SFA 40	Pokémon
2 %2/100	Close Sparkling Crystal	1	SCR 142	Trainer
2 %2/100	Close Xerosic's Machinations	1	SFA 64	Trainer
1 %1/100	Close Buneary	1	PFL 83	Pokémon
1 %1/100	Close Froslass	1	TWM 53	Pokémon
1 %1/100	Close Mega Lopunny ex	1	PFL 84	Pokémon
1 %1/100	Close Mew ex	1	30C 66	Pokémon
1 %1/100	Close Tatsugiri	1	TWM 131	Pokémon
1 %1/100	Close Dark Bell	2	PBL 75	Trainer
1 %1/100	Close Powerglass	2	SFA 63	Trainer
1 %1/100	Close Briar	1	SCR 132	Trainer
1 %1/100	Close Crispin	1	SCR 133	Trainer
1 %1/100	Close Energy Switch	1	MEG 115	Trainer
1 %1/100	Close Premium Power Pro	1	MEG 124	Trainer
1 %1/100	Close Risky Ruins	1	MEG 127	Trainer
1 %1/100	Close Team Rocket's Watchtower	1	DRI 180	Trainer
1 %1/100	Psychic Energy	2	MEE 13	Energy
1 %1/100	Close Enriching Energy	1	SSP 191	Energy

The most common Greninja ex list, all 60 cards

Here they are in full, ready to build. 33 slots come from the core, the cards all 100 lists run. The remaining 27 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 18 more cards to reach 60. The whole thing comes to 23 Pokémon, 28 Trainers and 9 Energy.

One thing to know before you build it: the 100 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.

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: 23
2 Greninja ex TWM 106
3 Froakie CRI 20
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 Mega Starmie ex POR 21
1 Staryu POR 20
1 Latias ex SSP 76

Trainer: 28
4 Buddy-Buddy Poffin TEF 144
4 Lillie's Determination MEG 119
3 Poké Pad POR 81
3 Rare Candy MEG 125
3 Ultra Ball MEG 131
2 Boss's Orders MEG 114
2 Hilda WHT 84
1 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 30th Celebration became legal for tournaments, and we read the table on 22 October 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 157 games, 73 won and 83 lost. One ended with no winner.

How many different cards Greninja ex needs, and how long it will last

You need 77 different cards to cover every version of this deck, 11 of which nobody argues about. The rest is where lists differ from one another, and that is where you have room to choose.

All 100 lists bring an ACE SPEC, and that is where they part ways: 97 took Grand Tree, 2 took Sparkling Crystal and 1 took Enriching Energy. 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 11 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 7 of the 33 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, so they take DOUBLE damage from that type. 30 of the 125 decks we track attack in exactly that type.

Concretely, here is what is waiting for you: N's Zoroark ex (Munkidori), Latias ex / Mega Kangaskhan ex and Slowking (Latias ex), plus 27 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 30 decks out of the 125 we track. The other 95 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, Latias ex / Mega Kangaskhan ex and Slowking, among others. That is you doubling, for once. Second half of the table.