Marnie's Grimmsnarl ex / Froslass

What Marnie's Grimmsnarl ex / Froslass looks like when you open the box

Across the 85 lists we counted, this deck runs 17 to 24 Pokémon, 27 to 32 Trainers and 8 to 11 Energy. Its attacks are paid for in Darkness, Water and Psychic.

On results pages and on stream you will see it written « grimmsnarl-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: 8 to 11 out of 60, when half the 126 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. Marnie's Grimmsnarl 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 32 cards out of 60, against a median of 31 across the 126 decks we track. Inside that, 8 to 14 Supporters, and the rule there is strict — one a turn, even if you are holding three. The 10 to 17 Items you can play all of in the same turn. It also brings up to 4 Stadiums, and 88 of the 126 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

Marnie's Grimmsnarl ex and Froslass give this deck its name. Here is what is written on them.

Marnie's Grimmsnarl ex is in all 85 lists, 3 copies of it. Its Ability is called Punk Up, and here is what is printed on it, word for word: « When you play this Pokémon from your hand to evolve 1 of your Pokémon during your turn, you may search your deck for up to 5 Basic {D} Energy cards and attach them to your Marnie's Pokémon in any way you like. Then, shuffle your deck. »

Froslass is in all 85 lists, 3 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 Marnie's Grimmsnarl ex / Froslass actually wins

Marnie's Grimmsnarl ex attacks with Shadow Bullet for 180. It needs 2 Darkness Energy attached, and it has 320 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: "This attack also does 30 damage to 1 of your opponent's Benched Pokémon. (Don't apply Weakness and Resistance for Benched Pokémon.)"

The cost of Shadow Bullet 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. Except it charges itself. Marnie's Grimmsnarl ex, which the list runs 3 of, has an Ability called Punk Up: it goes into your deck for Energy and attaches it. Not whenever you feel like it, though. The card itself says when, so read it before you count on it. 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.

Here is the detail that quietly loses games. To pull Marnie's Grimmsnarl 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.

Marnie's Grimmsnarl ex carries the "ex" suffix, and your opponent takes 2 Prize cards instead of one when Marnie's Grimmsnarl 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 Marnie's Grimmsnarl exStage 2	320	Shadow Bullet	180		Grass ×2	2
Close FroslassStage 1	90	Frost Smash	60		Metal ×2	1
Close Marnie's MorgremStage 1	100	Corkscrew Punch	60		Grass ×2	1
Close MunkidoriBasic	110	Mind Bend	60		Darkness ×2	1

The core: the 14 cards every list runs

These 14 cards appear in all 85 lists, without a single exception. That is 44 of the 60 slots. The other 16 are decided player by player.

Look at how those 44 slots break down: 20 Trainers, 15 Pokémon, 9 Energy. Nothing stands out in that split. What sets this deck apart is how thick its core is: 44 of the 60 slots are the same for everybody, when half the 126 decks we track fix 25 or fewer. Fewer choices left to you than usual, and fewer ways to get them wrong.

14 of those 14 cards do not sit at the same count from list to list: Munkidori (3 to 4), Froslass (2 to 3) and Marnie's Grimmsnarl ex (2 to 3), plus 11 more. Add those spreads up and you get 22 copies the 85 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 Munkidori	TWM 95	Pokémon	leaves
2–3	Close Froslass	TWM 53	Pokémon	leaves
2–3	Close Marnie's Grimmsnarl ex	DRI 136	Pokémon	stays
3–4	Close Marnie's Impidimp	DRI 134	Pokémon	stays
2–3	Close Marnie's Morgrem	DRI 135	Pokémon	stays
3–4	Close Lillie's Determination	MEG 119	Trainer	stays
3–4	Close Poké Pad	POR 81	Trainer	stays
2–3	Close Boss's Orders	MEG 114	Trainer	stays
2–4	Close Spikemuth Gym	DRI 169	Trainer	stays
1–4	Close Buddy-Buddy Poffin	TEF 144	Trainer	leaves
2–3	Close Night Stretcher	ASC 196	Trainer	leaves
1–2	Close Air Balloon	ASC 181	Trainer	stays
1–4	Close Rare Candy	MEG 125	Trainer	stays
6–10	Darkness Energy	MEE 7	Energy	stays

The 51 cards that change from list to list

51 cards fight over the 16 slots that are left: 7 above three lists in four, 40 below one in four, and the percentage on each row says how many players took it.

The most agreed on first: Snorunt at 99 %, Budew at 99 % and Team Rocket's Petrel at 96 %, plus 4 more above 75 %. Add those to the core and you have the common build.

The dividing line runs through Energy Switch, at 45 %: 38 of 85 players took it, 47 put something else there. The ones who run it bring 1 copy. Right at the bottom of the table, Team Rocket's Watchtower (19 lists out of 85) and Ultra Ball (16 lists out of 85).

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 %84/85	Close Snorunt	2–3	ASC 46	Pokémon
99 %84/85	Close Budew	1–2	ASC 16	Pokémon
96 %82/85	Close Team Rocket's Petrel	2–4	DRI 176	Trainer
88 %75/85	Close Yveltal	1–2	MEG 88	Pokémon
88 %75/85	Close Special Red Card	1	CRI 82	Trainer
84 %71/85	Close Gwynn	1–3	PBL 78	Trainer
82 %70/85	Close Secret Box	1	TWM 163	Trainer
66 %56/85	Close Shaymin	1	DRI 10	Pokémon
45 %38/85	Close Energy Switch	1–2	MEG 115	Trainer
36 %31/85	Close Pokégear 3.0	1–3	SVI 186	Trainer
35 %30/85	Close Tatsugiri	1	TWM 131	Pokémon
22 %19/85	Close Team Rocket's Watchtower	1	DRI 180	Trainer
19 %16/85	Close Ultra Ball	1–2	MEG 131	Trainer
18 %15/85	Close Psyduck	1	ASC 39	Pokémon
16 %14/85	Close Bloodmoon Ursaluna ex	1	TWM 141	Pokémon
16 %14/85	Close Unfair Stamp	1	TWM 165	Trainer
13 %11/85	Close Judge	1–3	POR 76	Trainer
11 %9/85	Close Maractus	1	JTG 8	Pokémon
11 %9/85	Close Dark Bell	1–2	PBL 75	Trainer
7 %6/85	Close Larry's Skill	2	PRE 115	Trainer
7 %6/85	Close Xerosic's Machinations	1	SFA 64	Trainer
5 %4/85	Close Prism Energy	1–2	ASC 216	Energy
4 %3/85	Close Dudunsparce	1	TEF 129	Pokémon
4 %3/85	Close Dunsparce	1	JTG 120	Pokémon
2 %2/85	Close Fezandipiti ex	1	ASC 142	Pokémon
2 %2/85	Close Hilda	1–3	WHT 84	Trainer
2 %2/85	Close Lana's Aid	1	TWM 155	Trainer
1 %1/85	Close Pikipek	2	PBL 66	Pokémon
1 %1/85	Close Snorunt	2	TWM 51	Pokémon
1 %1/85	Close Toucannon	2	PBL 68	Pokémon
1 %1/85	Close Dudunsparce ex	1	JTG 121	Pokémon
1 %1/85	Close Dusclops	1	PRE 36	Pokémon
1 %1/85	Close Dusknoir	1	PRE 37	Pokémon
1 %1/85	Close Duskull	1	PRE 35	Pokémon
1 %1/85	Close Mega Froslass ex	1	ASC 47	Pokémon
1 %1/85	Close Meowth ex	1	POR 62	Pokémon
1 %1/85	Close Moltres	1	PFL 14	Pokémon
1 %1/85	Close Paldean Tauros	1	SSP 18	Pokémon
1 %1/85	Close Pecharunt ex	1	SFA 39	Pokémon
1 %1/85	Close Trumbeak	1	PBL 67	Pokémon
1 %1/85	Close Binding Mochi	1	PRE 95	Trainer
1 %1/85	Close Black Belt's Training	1	JTG 143	Trainer
1 %1/85	Close Brave Bangle	1	WHT 80	Trainer
1 %1/85	Close Dawn	1	PFL 87	Trainer
1 %1/85	Close Kieran	1	TWM 154	Trainer
1 %1/85	Close Morty's Conviction	1	TEF 155	Trainer
1 %1/85	Close Precious Trolley	1	SSP 185	Trainer
1 %1/85	Close Punk Helmet	1	PFL 92	Trainer
1 %1/85	Close Switch	1	MEG 130	Trainer
1 %1/85	Close Team Rocket's Factory	1	DRI 173	Trainer
1 %1/85	Water Energy	2	MEE 11	Energy

The most common Marnie's Grimmsnarl ex / Froslass list, all 60 cards

Here they are in full, ready to build. 44 slots come from the core, the cards all 85 lists run. The remaining 16 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 12 more cards to reach 60. The whole thing comes to 22 Pokémon, 29 Trainers and 9 Energy.

One thing to know before you build it: the 85 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: 22
4 Munkidori TWM 95
3 Froslass TWM 53
3 Marnie's Grimmsnarl ex DRI 136
3 Marnie's Impidimp DRI 134
2 Marnie's Morgrem DRI 135
3 Snorunt ASC 46
1 Budew ASC 16
1 Yveltal MEG 88
1 Shaymin DRI 10
1 Tatsugiri TWM 131

Trainer: 29
4 Lillie's Determination MEG 119
4 Poké Pad POR 81
3 Boss's Orders MEG 114
3 Spikemuth Gym DRI 169
2 Buddy-Buddy Poffin TEF 144
2 Night Stretcher ASC 196
1 Air Balloon ASC 181
1 Rare Candy MEG 125
2 Team Rocket's Petrel DRI 176
1 Special Red Card CRI 82
2 Gwynn PBL 78
1 Secret Box TWM 163
1 Energy Switch MEG 115
1 Pokégear 3.0 SVI 186
1 Team Rocket's Watchtower DRI 180

Energy: 9
9 Darkness Energy MEE 7

Total Cards: 60

Which decks beat Marnie's Grimmsnarl ex / Froslass at tournaments

Here is how Marnie's Grimmsnarl ex / Froslass 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 24 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 236 games, 114 won and 119 lost. 3 ended with no winner.

Against Latias ex / Mega Kangaskhan ex: over 108 games, 49 won and 59 lost.

How many different cards Marnie's Grimmsnarl ex / Froslass needs, and how long it will last

You need 65 different cards to cover every version of this deck, 14 of which nobody argues about. The rest is where lists differ from one another, and that is where you have room to choose.

All 85 lists bring an ACE SPEC, and that is where they part ways: 70 took Secret Box, 14 took Unfair Stamp and 1 took Precious Trolley. 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. 4 of the 14 core cards carry the letter H, the one that goes at the next rotation: Munkidori, Froslass, Buddy-Buddy Poffin and Night Stretcher. The core table marks every one of them. In copies, that is 11 of the 44 slots the core fills. Which day it lands, we do not know yet.

What Marnie's Grimmsnarl ex / Froslass struggles against

The attackers in this deck are Weak to Grass, Metal and Darkness, so they take DOUBLE damage from those types. 46 of the 126 decks we track attack in exactly those types.

Concretely, here is what is waiting for you: N's Zoroark ex, Slowking (Metagross) and Mega Excadrill ex, plus 43 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 46 decks out of the 126 we track. The other 80 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 Darkness, Water and Psychic, and 43 of the decks we track have an attacker Weak to one of those: Latias ex / Mega Kangaskhan ex, N's Zoroark ex and Slowking, among others. That is you doubling, for once. Second half of the table.