Hydrapple ex

What Hydrapple ex looks like when you open the box

Across the 6 lists we counted, this deck runs 17 to 21 Pokémon, 26 to 34 Trainers and 9 to 14 Energy. Its attacks are paid for in Grass.

On results pages and on stream you will see it written « hydrapple-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: 9 to 14 out of 60, when half the 125 decks we track run 11 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.

It takes a while to set up. Hydrapple 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: 26 to 34 cards out of 60, against a median of 31 across the 125 decks we track. Inside that, 9 to 10 Supporters, and the rule there is strict — one a turn, even if you are holding three. The 13 to 19 Items you can play all of in the same turn. It also brings up to 3 Stadiums, and 118 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

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

Hydrapple ex is in all 6 lists, 2 copies of it. Its Ability is called Ripening Charge, and here is what is printed on it, word for word: « Once during your turn, you may attach a Basic {G} Energy card from your hand to 1 of your Pokémon. If you attached Energy to a Pokémon in this way, heal 30 damage from that Pokémon. »

How Hydrapple ex actually wins

Hydrapple ex attacks with Syrup Storm. It needs 2 Colorless Energy attached, and it has 330 HP. Watch the damage box: "30+" is not a total. Here is what the card prints, word for word: "This attack does 30 more damage for each {G} Energy attached to all of your Pokémon."

The cost of Syrup Storm 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. Hydrapple ex, which the list runs 2 of, has an Ability called Ripening Charge: it attaches Energy from your hand on top of the one you already play. An Ability costs you nothing: not your attack, not your card for the turn. Teal Mask Ogerpon ex does the same job. 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 Hydrapple ex back to the Bench you have to discard 3 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 3 Energy you spent 3 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.

Hydrapple ex carries the "ex" suffix, and your opponent takes 2 Prize cards instead of one when Hydrapple 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 Hydrapple exStage 2	330	Syrup Storm	30+		Fire ×2	3
Close ApplinBasic	40	Spray Fluid	20		Fire ×2	1

The core: the 9 cards every list runs

These 9 cards appear in all 6 lists, without a single exception. That is 35 of the 60 slots. The other 25 are decided player by player.

Look at how those 35 slots break down: 17 Trainers, 4 Pokémon, 14 Energy. Nothing stands out in that split. What sets this deck apart is how thick its core is: 35 of the 60 slots are the same for everybody, when half the 125 decks we track fix 26 or fewer. Fewer choices left to you than usual, and fewer ways to get them wrong.

6 of those 9 cards do not sit at the same count from list to list: Applin (2 to 4), Hydrapple ex (2 to 4) and Poké Pad (1 to 4), plus 3 more. Add those spreads up and you get 15 copies the 6 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
2–4	Close Applin	SCR 12	Pokémon	leaves
2–4	Close Hydrapple ex	SCR 14	Pokémon	leaves
4	Close Bug Catching Set	TWM 143	Trainer	leaves
4	Close Lillie's Determination	MEG 119	Trainer	stays
1–4	Close Poké Pad	POR 81	Trainer	stays
1–3	Close Forest of Vitality	MEG 117	Trainer	stays
2	Close Night Stretcher	ASC 196	Trainer	leaves
6–11	Grass Energy	MEE 1	Energy	stays
2–3	Close Growing Grass Energy	POR 86	Energy	stays

The 43 cards that change from list to list

43 cards fight over the 25 slots that are left: 5 above three lists in four, 8 below one in four, and the percentage on each row says how many players took it.

The most agreed on first: Dipplin at 83 %, Boss's Orders at 83 % and Rare Candy at 83 %, plus 2 more above 75 %. Add those to the core and you have the common build.

The dividing line runs through Arboliva ex, at 50 %: 3 of 6 players took it, 3 put something else there. The ones who run it bring 2 copies. Right at the bottom of the table, Shuckle (1 list out of 6) and Dipplin (1 list out of 6).

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
83 %5/6	Close Dipplin	1–4	TWM 18	Pokémon
83 %5/6	Close Boss's Orders	1–2	MEG 114	Trainer
83 %5/6	Close Rare Candy	1	MEG 125	Trainer
83 %5/6	Close Team Rocket's Petrel	1	DRI 176	Trainer
83 %5/6	Close Ultra Ball	1–2	MEG 131	Trainer
67 %4/6	Close Lana's Aid	1–2	TWM 155	Trainer
50 %3/6	Close Arboliva ex	2	DRI 23	Pokémon
50 %3/6	Close Chikorita	2	ASC 8	Pokémon
50 %3/6	Close Pinsir	1–2	TWM 3	Pokémon
50 %3/6	Close Smoliv	2	DRI 21	Pokémon
50 %3/6	Close Teal Mask Ogerpon ex	2	TWM 25	Pokémon
50 %3/6	Close Bayleef	1	MEG 9	Pokémon
50 %3/6	Close Celebi	1	MEG 12	Pokémon
50 %3/6	Close Dolliv	1	DRI 22	Pokémon
50 %3/6	Close Fezandipiti ex	1	ASC 142	Pokémon
50 %3/6	Close Meganium	1	MEG 10	Pokémon
50 %3/6	Close Meowth ex	1	POR 62	Pokémon
50 %3/6	Close Buddy-Buddy Poffin	4	TEF 144	Trainer
50 %3/6	Close Special Red Card	1–2	CRI 82	Trainer
50 %3/6	Close Colress's Tenacity	1–2	SFA 57	Trainer
50 %3/6	Close Judge	1	POR 76	Trainer
50 %3/6	Close Scoop Up Cyclone	1	TWM 162	Trainer
50 %3/6	Close Switch	1	MEG 130	Trainer
33 %2/6	Close Fomantis	4	PBL 3	Pokémon
33 %2/6	Close Lurantis ex	3	PBL 4	Pokémon
33 %2/6	Close Rellor	2	DRI 24	Pokémon
33 %2/6	Close Rabsca	1	TEF 24	Pokémon
33 %2/6	Close Hilda	3	WHT 84	Trainer
33 %2/6	Close Air Balloon	1	ASC 181	Trainer
33 %2/6	Close Community Center	1	TWM 146	Trainer
33 %2/6	Close Energy Retrieval	1	SVI 171	Trainer
33 %2/6	Close Lumiose Galette	1	POR 78	Trainer
33 %2/6	Close Maximum Belt	1	TEF 154	Trainer
33 %2/6	Close Risky Ruins	1	MEG 127	Trainer
33 %2/6	Close Tool Scrapper	1	ASC 212	Trainer
17 %1/6	Close Shuckle	4	MEG 11	Pokémon
17 %1/6	Close Dipplin	1	DRI 17	Pokémon
17 %1/6	Close Iron Leaves ex	1	TEF 25	Pokémon
17 %1/6	Close Psyduck	1	ASC 39	Pokémon
17 %1/6	Close Shaymin	1	DRI 10	Pokémon
17 %1/6	Close Tapu Bulu	1	SFA 6	Pokémon
17 %1/6	Close Iris's Fighting Spirit	2	JTG 149	Trainer
17 %1/6	Close Hero's Cape	1	TEF 152	Trainer

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

You need 52 different cards to cover every version of this deck, 9 of which nobody argues about. The rest is where lists differ from one another, and that is where you have room to choose.

All 6 lists bring an ACE SPEC, and that is where they part ways: 3 took Scoop Up Cyclone, 2 took Maximum Belt and 1 took Hero's Cape. 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 Scoop Up Cyclone and watch what the others do with theirs before you switch.

Then there is time. 4 of the 9 core cards carry the letter H, the one that goes at the next rotation: Applin, Hydrapple ex, Bug Catching Set and Night Stretcher. The core table marks every one of them. In copies, that is 10 of the 35 slots the core fills. Which day it lands, we do not know yet.

What Hydrapple ex struggles against

The attackers in this deck are Weak to Fire, so they take DOUBLE damage from that type. 13 of the 125 decks we track attack in exactly that type.

Concretely, here is what is waiting for you: Dragapult ex / Blaziken ex, Ethan's Typhlosion and Ceruledge ex, plus 10 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 13 decks out of the 125 we track. The other 112 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 Grass, and 24 of the decks we track have an attacker Weak to one of those: N's Zoroark ex, Mega Lucario ex / Hariyama and Mega Sharpedo ex / Toxtricity, among others. That is you doubling, for once. Second half of the table.