Incineroar ex

What Incineroar ex looks like when you open the box

Across the 6 lists we counted, this deck runs 18 to 22 Pokémon, 28 to 34 Trainers and 8 to 10 Energy. Its attacks are paid for in Fire.

On results pages and on stream you will see it written « incineroar-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: 8 to 10 out of 60, when half the 122 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. Incineroar 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: 28 to 34 cards out of 60, against a median of 31 across the 122 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 14 to 21 Items you can play all of in the same turn.

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

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

Incineroar ex is in all 6 lists, 3 copies of it. Its Ability is called Hustle Play, and here is what is printed on it, word for word: « Attacks used by this Pokémon cost {C} less for each of your opponent's Benched Pokémon. »

How Incineroar ex actually wins

Incineroar ex attacks with Blaze Blast for 240. It needs 5 Energy, 1 Fire and 4 Colorless 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: "Your opponent's Active Pokémon is now Burned."

The cost of Blaze Blast decides your first few turns. You only get to attach one Energy a turn, and that attack asks for 5. On your own attachments alone, your first real swing lands on turn 5. Except you are not on your own. Crispin, a single copy in the list, looks at the top of your deck and attaches the Energy it finds there. One copy in the whole list, so do not build your turn around it. When it shows up it buys you a turn, and that is already a lot.

There is another trick in this list, and the whole of it happens in one turn. Team Rocket's Petrel goes into your deck for a Trainer card and puts it in your hand. Precious Trolley is one, and it puts as many Basic Pokémon as you like onto your Bench in one go. A full Bench on turn one is what decides the game in a deck with lines to build. One rule to know: Precious Trolley is an ACE SPEC card. You are allowed just ONE ACE SPEC in your whole deck, so a second copy is never coming, and taking this one means giving up every other. One detail that matters: Team Rocket's Petrel is a Supporter, so that turn you play no other Supporter. Items all still go through.

Here is the detail that quietly loses games. To pull Incineroar 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.

Incineroar ex and Fezandipiti ex carry the "ex" suffix, and your opponent takes 2 Prize cards instead of one when one of them falls. They need 6 to win: 3 well-placed knockouts on those cards 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 Incineroar exStage 2	320	Blaze Blast	240		Water ×2	2
Close TorracatStage 1	100	Flare Strike	80		Water ×2	2
Close LittenBasic	70	Fake Out	10		Water ×2	2

The core: the 14 cards every list runs

These 14 cards appear in all 6 lists, without a single exception. That is 37 of the 60 slots. The other 23 are decided player by player.

Look at how those 37 slots break down: 22 Trainers, 9 Pokémon, 6 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.

9 of those 14 cards do not sit at the same count from list to list: Torracat (1 to 2), Ultra Ball (1 to 4) and Rare Candy (3 to 4), plus 6 more. Add those spreads up and you get 18 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
3	Close Incineroar ex	TEF 34	Pokémon	leaves
3	Close Litten	TEF 32	Pokémon	leaves
1–2	Close Torracat	TEF 33	Pokémon	leaves
1	Close Fezandipiti ex	ASC 142	Pokémon	leaves
4	Close Lillie's Determination	MEG 119	Trainer	stays
1–4	Close Ultra Ball	MEG 131	Trainer	stays
3–4	Close Rare Candy	MEG 125	Trainer	stays
1–2	Close Accompanying Flute	TWM 142	Trainer	leaves
1–2	Close Air Balloon	ASC 181	Trainer	stays
2–4	Close Boss's Orders	MEG 114	Trainer	stays
1–4	Close Night Stretcher	ASC 196	Trainer	leaves
2–4	Close Poké Pad	POR 81	Trainer	stays
1	Close Special Red Card	CRI 82	Trainer	stays
6–10	Fire Energy	MEE 10	Energy	stays

The 37 cards that change from list to list

37 cards fight over the 23 slots that are left: 6 above three lists in four, 19 below one in four, and the percentage on each row says how many players took it.

The most agreed on first: Delphox at 83 %, Fennekin at 83 % and Magmar at 83 %, plus 3 more above 75 %. Add those to the core and you have the common build.

The dividing line runs through Munkidori, 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, Cinderace (1 list out of 6) and Scorbunny (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 Delphox	2	CRI 13	Pokémon
83 %5/6	Close Fennekin	2	CRI 11	Pokémon
83 %5/6	Close Magmar	1–2	JTG 20	Pokémon
83 %5/6	Close Magmortar	1–2	JTG 21	Pokémon
83 %5/6	Close Braixen	1	CRI 12	Pokémon
83 %5/6	Close Meowth ex	1	POR 62	Pokémon
67 %4/6	Close Shaymin	1	DRI 10	Pokémon
50 %3/6	Close Munkidori	2	TWM 95	Pokémon
50 %3/6	Close Buddy-Buddy Poffin	2–4	TEF 144	Trainer
50 %3/6	Close Team Rocket's Petrel	3	DRI 176	Trainer
50 %3/6	Close Risky Ruins	2	MEG 127	Trainer
50 %3/6	Close Crispin	1	SCR 133	Trainer
50 %3/6	Close Energy Recycler	1	DRI 164	Trainer
50 %3/6	Close Precious Trolley	1	SSP 185	Trainer
50 %3/6	Darkness Energy	3	MEE 15	Energy
33 %2/6	Close Victini	1	SSP 21	Pokémon
33 %2/6	Close Maximum Belt	1	TEF 154	Trainer
33 %2/6	Close Rosa's Encouragement	1	POR 84	Trainer
17 %1/6	Close Cinderace	4	MEG 28	Pokémon
17 %1/6	Close Scorbunny	2	MEG 26	Pokémon
17 %1/6	Close Budew	1	ASC 16	Pokémon
17 %1/6	Close Ninetales	1	CRI 9	Pokémon
17 %1/6	Close Raboot	1	SCR 27	Pokémon
17 %1/6	Close Togekiss	1	SSP 72	Pokémon
17 %1/6	Close Togepi	1	SSP 70	Pokémon
17 %1/6	Close Togetic	1	SSP 71	Pokémon
17 %1/6	Close Vulpix	1	CRI 8	Pokémon
17 %1/6	Close Gwynn	2	PBL 78	Trainer
17 %1/6	Close Black Belt's Training	1	JTG 143	Trainer
17 %1/6	Close Blowtorch	1	PFL 86	Trainer
17 %1/6	Close Dawn	1	PFL 87	Trainer
17 %1/6	Close Gravity Mountain	1	SSP 177	Trainer
17 %1/6	Close Hilda	1	WHT 84	Trainer
17 %1/6	Close Kieran	1	TWM 154	Trainer
17 %1/6	Close Lana's Aid	1	TWM 155	Trainer
17 %1/6	Close Secret Box	1	TWM 163	Trainer
17 %1/6	Close Switch	1	MEG 130	Trainer

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

You need 51 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 6 lists bring an ACE SPEC, and that is where they part ways: 3 took Precious Trolley, 2 took Maximum Belt and 1 took Secret Box. 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 Precious Trolley and watch what the others do with theirs before you switch.

Then there is time. 6 of the 14 core cards carry the letter H, the one that goes at the next rotation: Incineroar ex, Litten, Torracat and Fezandipiti ex, plus 2 more. The core table marks every one of them. In copies, that is 13 of the 37 slots the core fills. Which day it lands, we do not know yet.

What Incineroar ex struggles against

The attackers in this deck are Weak to Water, so they take DOUBLE damage from that type. 21 of the 122 decks we track attack in exactly that type.

Concretely, here is what is waiting for you: Latias ex / Mega Kangaskhan ex (Wellspring Mask Ogerpon ex), Mega Greninja ex and Marnie's Grimmsnarl ex / Froslass, plus 18 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 21 decks out of the 122 we track. The other 101 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 Fire, and 27 of the decks we track have an attacker Weak to one of those: Slowking, Mega Excadrill ex and Teal Mask Ogerpon ex / Meganium / Hydrapple ex, among others. That is you doubling, for once. Second half of the table.