Greninja ex / Froslass

What Greninja ex / Froslass looks like when you open the box

Across the 7 lists we counted, this deck runs 17 to 24 Pokémon, 29 to 34 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-froslass ». 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 132 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 sets up fast. Frogadier 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: 29 to 34 cards out of 60, against a median of 31 across the 132 decks we track. Inside that, 9 to 12 Supporters, and the rule there is strict — one a turn, even if you are holding three. The 16 to 20 Items you can play all of in the same turn. It also brings up to 3 Stadiums, and 124 of the 132 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 cards in this deck's name actually do

Greninja ex and Froslass give this deck its name. Here is what is written on them.

Greninja ex is in 6 of the 7 lists, 86 % of players, 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.) »

Froslass is in all 7 lists, 2 copies of it. Its Ability is called Freezing Shroud, and here is what is printed on it, word for word: « During Pokémon Checkup, put 1 damage counter on each Pokémon that has an Ability (both yours and your opponent's), except any Froslass. »

How Greninja ex / Froslass actually wins

Froslass attacks with Frost Smash for 60. It needs 2 Energy, 1 Water and 1 Colorless attached, and it has 90 HP.

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

Energy is not your only clock. Froakie has to climb a step before it becomes Frogadier, 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. Careful, though: only 6 of the 7 lists bring it, so it is a choice, and players are still arguing about it.

Good news on mobility: pulling Froslass 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.

Not one ex Pokémon in the core, and only 30 of the 132 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 FroslassStage 1	90	Frost Smash	60		Metal ×2	1
Close FrogadierStage 1	100	Aqua Edge	50		Lightning ×2	1
Close FroakieBasic	70	Water Gun	10		Lightning ×2	1
Close SnoruntBasic	70	Chilly	10		Metal ×2	1

The core: the 11 cards every list runs

These 11 cards appear in all 7 lists, without a single exception. That is 32 of the 60 slots. The other 28 are decided player by player.

Look at how those 32 slots break down: 17 Trainers, 10 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.

10 of those 11 cards do not sit at the same count from list to list: Froakie (3 to 4), Snorunt (3 to 4) and Frogadier (1 to 3), plus 7 more. Add those spreads up and you get 15 copies the 7 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 Froakie	CRI 20	Pokémon	stays
3–4	Close Snorunt	ASC 46	Pokémon	stays
1–3	Close Frogadier	CRI 21	Pokémon	stays
2–4	Close Froslass	TWM 53	Pokémon	leaves
3–4	Close Buddy-Buddy Poffin	TEF 144	Trainer	leaves
4	Close Lillie's Determination	MEG 119	Trainer	stays
2–3	Close Ultra Ball	MEG 131	Trainer	stays
1–3	Close Boss's Orders	MEG 114	Trainer	stays
1–2	Close Night Stretcher	ASC 196	Trainer	leaves
2–3	Close Rare Candy	MEG 125	Trainer	stays
3–6	Water Energy	MEE 11	Energy	stays

The 31 cards that change from list to list

31 cards fight over the 28 slots that are left: 6 above three lists in four, 5 below one in four, and the percentage on each row says how many players took it.

The most agreed on first: Budew at 86 %, Greninja ex at 86 % and Mega Froslass ex at 86 %, plus 3 more above 75 %. Add those to the core and you have the common build.

The dividing line runs through Munkidori, at 57 %: 4 of 7 players took it, 3 put something else there. The ones who run it bring 3 copies. Right at the bottom of the table, Dunsparce (1 list out of 7) and Dudunsparce (1 list out of 7).

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
86 %6/7	Close Budew	1–2	ASC 16	Pokémon
86 %6/7	Close Greninja ex	1–3	TWM 106	Pokémon
86 %6/7	Close Mega Froslass ex	1–2	ASC 47	Pokémon
86 %6/7	Close Hilda	2–3	WHT 84	Trainer
86 %6/7	Close Air Balloon	1	ASC 181	Trainer
86 %6/7	Close Ignition Energy	1–4	WHT 86	Energy
71 %5/7	Close Greninja ex	1–3	30C 21	Pokémon
71 %5/7	Close Poké Pad	3–4	POR 81	Trainer
71 %5/7	Close Team Rocket's Watchtower	1–2	DRI 180	Trainer
71 %5/7	Close Special Red Card	1	CRI 82	Trainer
71 %5/7	Close Surfing Beach	1–3	MEG 129	Trainer
71 %5/7	Close Switch	1	MEG 130	Trainer
57 %4/7	Close Munkidori	3	TWM 95	Pokémon
57 %4/7	Close Unfair Stamp	1	TWM 165	Trainer
57 %4/7	Darkness Energy	3	MEE 15	Energy
43 %3/7	Close Fezandipiti ex	1	ASC 142	Pokémon
43 %3/7	Close Pokégear 3.0	2–4	SVI 186	Trainer
43 %3/7	Close Colress's Tenacity	2	SFA 57	Trainer
43 %3/7	Close Energy Search	1	POR 72	Trainer
43 %3/7	Close Grand Tree	1	SCR 136	Trainer
43 %3/7	Close Judge	1	POR 76	Trainer
29 %2/7	Close Meowth ex	1	POR 62	Pokémon
29 %2/7	Close Team Rocket's Petrel	2	DRI 176	Trainer
29 %2/7	Close Team Rocket's Transceiver	2	DRI 178	Trainer
29 %2/7	Close Hand Trimmer	1	TEF 150	Trainer
29 %2/7	Close Bubbly Water Energy	2	CRI 84	Energy
14 %1/7	Close Dunsparce	3	JTG 120	Pokémon
14 %1/7	Close Dudunsparce	2	TEF 129	Pokémon
14 %1/7	Close Shaymin	1	DRI 10	Pokémon
14 %1/7	Close Dawn	3	PFL 87	Trainer
14 %1/7	Close Kieran	1	TWM 154	Trainer

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

You need 42 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 7 lists bring an ACE SPEC, and that is where they part ways: 4 took Unfair Stamp and 3 took Grand Tree. 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 Unfair Stamp 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: Froslass, Buddy-Buddy Poffin and Night Stretcher. The core table marks every one of them. In copies, that is 8 of the 32 slots the core fills. Which day it lands, we do not know yet.

What Greninja ex / Froslass struggles against

The attackers in this deck are Weak to Metal and Lightning, so they take DOUBLE damage from those types. 19 of the 132 decks we track attack in exactly those types.

Concretely, here is what is waiting for you: Slowking (Metagross), Mega Excadrill ex and Steven's Metagross ex, plus 16 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 19 decks out of the 132 we track. The other 113 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 13 of the decks we track have an attacker Weak to one of those: Dragapult ex / Blaziken ex, Ethan's Typhlosion and Ceruledge ex, among others. That is you doubling, for once. Second half of the table.