Hop's Zacian ex deck: the core, the flex slots, and what beats it

What Hop's Zacian ex looks like when you open the box

Across the 32 lists we counted, this deck runs 12 to 20 Pokémon, 30 to 42 Trainers and 4 to 17 Energy. Its attacks are paid for in Metal.

On results pages and on stream you will see it written « hop-zacian ». 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: 4 to 17 out of 60, when half the 97 decks we track run 10 or fewer. This one carries more than most, and you feel it at the table — it wants to load up a big Pokémon and swing hard, even if that means drawing a spare Energy now and then.

Nothing here needs evolving — everything that attacks is a Basic Pokémon. Put it down, charge it, swing. That is as fast as the game gets, and it makes those turns where you draw nothing far less painful.

Look at the Trainers: 30 to 42 cards out of 60, against a median of 31 across the 97 decks we track. Inside that, 9 to 17 Supporters, and the rule there is strict — one a turn, even if you are holding three. The 8 to 21 Items you can play all of in the same turn. It also brings up to 6 Stadiums, and 2 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 Hop's Zacian ex actually wins

Hop's Zacian ex attacks with Brave Slash for 240. It needs 4 Energy, 3 Metal and 1 Colorless attached, and it has 230 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: "During your next turn, this Pokémon can't use Brave Slash."

The cost of Brave Slash decides your first few turns. You only get to attach one Energy a turn, and that attack asks for 4. On your own attachments alone, your first real swing lands on turn 4. Except you are not on your own. Philippe, which the list runs 4 of, digs Energy out of your discard pile and puts it back on one of your Pokémon. 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 Hop's Zacian 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.

Hop's Zacian ex carries the "ex" suffix, and your opponent takes 2 Prize cards instead of one when Hop's Zacian 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 Hop's Zacian exBasic	230	Brave Slash	240	Metal + Metal + Metal + Colorless	Fire ×2	2
Close Hop's SnorlaxBasic	150	Dynamic Press	140	Colorless + Colorless + Colorless	Fighting ×2	4

The core: the 7 cards every list runs

These 7 cards appear in all 32 lists, without a single exception. That is 22 of the 60 slots. The other 38 are decided player by player.

Look at how those 22 slots break down: 16 Trainers, 6 Pokémon, 0 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.

7 of those 7 cards do not sit at the same count from list to list: Hop's Zacian ex (2 to 4), Hop's Snorlax (1 to 2) and Hop's Choice Band (3 to 4), plus 4 more. Add those spreads up and you get 12 copies the 32 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
2–4	Close Hop's Zacian ex	JTG 111	Pokémon
1–2	Close Hop's Snorlax	JTG 117	Pokémon
3–4	Close Hop's Choice Band	JTG 148	Trainer
2–4	Close Lillie's Determination	MEG 119	Trainer
3–4	Close Postwick	JTG 154	Trainer
2–4	Close Boss's Orders	MEG 114	Trainer
1–4	Close Hop's Bag	JTG 147	Trainer

The 79 cards that change from list to list

79 cards fight over the 38 slots that are left: 6 above three lists in four, 57 below one in four, and the percentage on each row says how many players took it.

The most agreed on first: Ultra Ball at 97 %, Switch at 88 % and Secret Box at 88 %, plus 3 more above 75 %. Add those to the core and you have the common build.

The dividing line runs through Hop's Cramorant, at 50 %: 16 of 32 players took it, 16 put something else there. The ones who run it bring 1 copy. Right at the bottom of the table, Mist Energy (7 lists out of 32) and Mega Mawile ex (6 lists out of 32).

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 %31/32	Close Ultra Ball	1–4	MEG 131	Trainer
88 %28/32	Close Switch	1–3	MEG 130	Trainer
88 %28/32	Close Secret Box	1	TWM 163	Trainer
81 %26/32	Close Latias ex	1–2	SSP 76	Pokémon
81 %26/32	Metal Energy	4–15	MEE 8	Energy
75 %24/32	Close Team Rocket's Petrel	1–4	DRI 176	Trainer
72 %23/32	Close Philippe	1–4	CRI 79	Trainer
69 %22/32	Close Meowth ex	1–2	POR 62	Pokémon
69 %22/32	Close Special Red Card	1–2	CRI 82	Trainer
59 %19/32	Close Night Stretcher	1–3	ASC 196	Trainer
53 %17/32	Close Poké Pad	2–4	POR 81	Trainer
50 %16/32	Close Hop's Cramorant	1–2	JTG 138	Pokémon
50 %16/32	Close Buddy-Buddy Poffin	1–4	TEF 144	Trainer
44 %14/32	Close Air Balloon	1–2	ASC 181	Trainer
44 %14/32	Close Brock's Scouting	1–2	JTG 146	Trainer
44 %14/32	Close Magnetic Metal Energy	1–2	CRI 85	Energy
41 %13/32	Close Fezandipiti ex	1	ASC 142	Pokémon
31 %10/32	Close N's Zorua	2–4	JTG 97	Pokémon
31 %10/32	Close N's Zoroark ex	2–4	JTG 98	Pokémon
31 %10/32	Close Pokégear 3.0	1–4	SVI 186	Trainer
31 %10/32	Close Cyrano	1	SSP 170	Trainer
31 %10/32	Close Energy Search	1–2	POR 72	Trainer
22 %7/32	Close Mist Energy	1–4	TEF 161	Energy
19 %6/32	Close Mega Mawile ex	1	MEG 94	Pokémon
19 %6/32	Close Surfer	1–2	SSP 187	Trainer
16 %5/32	Close Munkidori	2–4	TWM 95	Pokémon
16 %5/32	Close Dudunsparce	3	TEF 129	Pokémon
16 %5/32	Close Dusclops	2	PRE 36	Pokémon
16 %5/32	Close Duskull	2–3	PRE 35	Pokémon
16 %5/32	Close Bloodmoon Ursaluna ex	1	TWM 141	Pokémon
16 %5/32	Darkness Energy	2–5	MEE 7	Energy
13 %4/32	Close Dunsparce	3	JTG 120	Pokémon
13 %4/32	Close Patrat	1	CRI 70	Pokémon
13 %4/32	Close Psyduck	1	ASC 39	Pokémon
13 %4/32	Close Carmine	1–3	TWM 145	Trainer
13 %4/32	Close Energy Switch	1	MEG 115	Trainer
9 %3/32	Close Hop's Phantump	3–4	ASC 95	Pokémon
9 %3/32	Close Duraludon	3	SCR 106	Pokémon
9 %3/32	Close Froslass	3	TWM 53	Pokémon
9 %3/32	Close Hop's Trevenant	2–3	ASC 96	Pokémon
9 %3/32	Close Snorunt	3	ASC 46	Pokémon
9 %3/32	Close Archaludon ex	2	SSP 130	Pokémon
9 %3/32	Close Mega Kangaskhan ex	1–2	MEG 104	Pokémon
9 %3/32	Close Archaludon	1	SCR 107	Pokémon
9 %3/32	Close Dusknoir	1–3	PRE 37	Pokémon
9 %3/32	Close Lillie's Clefairy ex	1	JTG 56	Pokémon
9 %3/32	Close Shaymin	1	DRI 10	Pokémon
9 %3/32	Close Yveltal	1	MEG 88	Pokémon
9 %3/32	Close Explorer's Guidance	2	TEF 147	Trainer
9 %3/32	Close Telepathic Psychic Energy	2–4	POR 88	Energy
6 %2/32	Close Beldum	2	TEF 113	Pokémon
6 %2/32	Close Metang	2	TEF 114	Pokémon
6 %2/32	Close Genesect	1	SFA 40	Pokémon
6 %2/32	Close Team Rocket's Venture Bomb	3–4	DRI 179	Trainer
6 %2/32	Close Judge	1–2	POR 76	Trainer
6 %2/32	Close Iris's Fighting Spirit	1	JTG 149	Trainer
6 %2/32	Close Unfair Stamp	1	TWM 165	Trainer
3 %1/32	Close Dunsparce	3	TEF 128	Pokémon
3 %1/32	Close Fan Rotom	1	SCR 118	Pokémon
3 %1/32	Close Genesect ex	1	BLK 67	Pokémon
3 %1/32	Close Hop's Dubwool	1	JTG 136	Pokémon
3 %1/32	Close Hop's Wooloo	1	JTG 135	Pokémon
3 %1/32	Close Mega Skarmory ex	1	POR 55	Pokémon
3 %1/32	Close Metagross	1	CRI 61	Pokémon
3 %1/32	Close Team Rocket's Transceiver	4	DRI 178	Trainer
3 %1/32	Close Rare Candy	3	MEG 125	Trainer
3 %1/32	Close Crispin	2	SCR 133	Trainer
3 %1/32	Close Energy Recycler	2	DRI 164	Trainer
3 %1/32	Close Hassel	2	TWM 151	Trainer
3 %1/32	Close Risky Ruins	2	MEG 127	Trainer
3 %1/32	Close Battle Cage	1	PFL 85	Trainer
3 %1/32	Close Colress's Tenacity	1	SFA 57	Trainer
3 %1/32	Close Hilda	1	WHT 84	Trainer
3 %1/32	Close Kieran	1	TWM 154	Trainer
3 %1/32	Close Lana's Aid	1	TWM 155	Trainer
3 %1/32	Close Precious Trolley	1	SSP 185	Trainer
3 %1/32	Close Prime Catcher	1	TEF 157	Trainer
3 %1/32	Close Xerosic's Machinations	1	SFA 64	Trainer
3 %1/32	Psychic Energy	2	MEE 5	Energy

What Hop's Zacian ex costs to build, and how long it will last

You need 86 different cards to cover every version of this deck, 7 of which nobody argues about. We do not have card prices, so we are not going to put a number on it.

All 32 lists bring an ACE SPEC, and that is where they part ways: 28 took Secret Box, 2 took Unfair Stamp and 1 took Precious Trolley. The flex table shows you all 4. 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, and the answer is a good one: not one of the 7 core cards carries the letter H, the one that goes at the next rotation. This deck walks through the change whole.

What Hop's Zacian ex struggles against

The attackers in this deck are Weak to Fire and Fighting, so they take DOUBLE damage from those types. 20 of the 97 decks we track attack in exactly those types.

Concretely, here is what is waiting for you: Dragapult ex / Blaziken ex, Mega Lucario ex and Mega Lucario ex / Hariyama, plus 17 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 20 decks out of the 97 we track. The other 77 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 Metal, and 12 of the decks we track have an attacker Weak to one of those: Marnie's Grimmsnarl ex / Froslass, Dhelmise and Mega Starmie ex / Froslass, among others. That is you doubling, for once. Second half of the table.

Questions people ask

What is the Hop's Zacian ex deck list?

There isn't one. Across 32 tournament lists harvested between 16 August 2026 and 1 September 2026, 7 cards turn up in every single one, 22 slots out of 60. The remaining 38 change from player to player, with 79 different cards competing for them. Both tables are above.

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

32 lists, played across 32 different tournaments, harvested between 16 August 2026 and 1 September 2026 from play.limitlesstcg.com. All 32 were read card by card, and every card recognised.

Where do I start if I want to build Hop's Zacian ex?

With the whole core: 7 cards, 22 slots. Inside it, buy the 16 Trainer slots and the 0 Energy first: they carry over into your next deck. Leave the 6 Pokémon slots for last. Only then work down the flex table and add the cards the most lists agree on, starting with Ultra Ball at 97 % and Switch at 88 %.

What beats Hop's Zacian ex?

Its attackers are Weak to Fire and Fighting, so they take double damage from an attacker of that type. 20 of the 97 decks we track play an attacker of that type: Dragapult ex / Blaziken ex, Mega Lucario ex, Mega Lucario ex / Hariyama and Cynthia's Garchomp ex, among others.

Will Hop's Zacian ex survive the next rotation?

Yes, whole: not one of the 7 core cards carries the letter H. At equal price, that is the argument that should settle where your money goes.

Are a lot of people playing Hop's Zacian ex?

We have read 32 lists of it, which puts it 40th of the 97 decks we track by lists read. The platform those tournaments run on counts 66 entries for it, 0.16 % 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.