Iono's Bellibolt ex deck: the core, the flex slots, and what beats it

What Iono's Bellibolt ex looks like when you open the box

Across the 24 lists we counted, this deck runs 14 to 17 Pokémon, 24 to 32 Trainers and 12 to 20 Energy. Its attacks are paid for in Lightning.

On results pages and on stream you will see it written « iono-bellibolt ». 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: 12 to 20 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.

It sets up fast. Iono's Bellibolt ex 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: 24 to 32 cards out of 60, against a median of 31 across the 97 decks we track. Inside that, 7 to 13 Supporters, and the rule there is strict — one a turn, even if you are holding three. The 11 to 16 Items you can play all of in the same turn. It also brings up to 4 Stadiums, and 57 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.

What the card in this deck's name actually does

Iono's Bellibolt ex gives this deck its name. Here is what is written on it.

Iono's Bellibolt ex is in all 24 lists, 3 copies of it. Its Ability is called Electric Streamer, and here is what is printed on it, word for word: « As often as you like during your turn, you may attach a Basic {L} Energy card from your hand to 1 of your Iono's Pokémon. »

How Iono's Bellibolt ex actually wins

Iono's Bellibolt ex attacks with Thunderous Bolt for 230. It needs 4 Energy, 3 Lightning and 1 Colorless attached, and it has 280 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 attack."

The cost of Thunderous Bolt 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 it charges itself. Iono's Bellibolt ex, which the list runs 3 of, has an Ability called Electric Streamer: 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. 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 Iono's Bellibolt 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.

Iono's Bellibolt ex carries the "ex" suffix, and your opponent takes 2 Prize cards instead of one when Iono's Bellibolt 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 Iono's Bellibolt exStage 1	280	Thunderous Bolt	230	Lightning + Lightning + Lightning + Colorless	Fighting ×2	2
Close Iono's KilowattrelStage 1	120	Mach Bolt	70	Lightning + Colorless + Colorless	Lightning ×2	1
Close Iono's TadbulbBasic	60	Tiny Charge	30	Lightning + Colorless	Fighting ×2	2
Close Iono's VoltorbBasic	70	Voltaic Chain	20+	Colorless + Colorless	Fighting ×2	1

The core: the 9 cards every list runs

These 9 cards appear in all 24 lists, without a single exception. That is 39 of the 60 slots. The other 21 are decided player by player.

Look at how those 39 slots break down: 9 Trainers, 14 Pokémon, 16 Energy. Pokémon dominate, which is unusual: this deck needs bodies on the board, and it depends on any single attacker less than it looks.

9 of those 9 cards do not sit at the same count from list to list: Iono's Bellibolt ex (2 to 3), Iono's Kilowattrel (2 to 4) and Iono's Tadbulb (2 to 3), plus 6 more. Add those spreads up and you get 22 copies the 24 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
2–3	Close Iono's Bellibolt ex	JTG 53	Pokémon	stays
2–4	Close Iono's Kilowattrel	JTG 55	Pokémon	stays
2–3	Close Iono's Tadbulb	JTG 52	Pokémon	stays
2–4	Close Iono's Wattrel	JTG 54	Pokémon	stays
2–4	Close Iono's Voltorb	JTG 47	Pokémon	stays
2–4	Close Buddy-Buddy Poffin	TEF 144	Trainer	leaves
2–4	Close Levincia	JTG 150	Trainer	stays
2–4	Close Canari	ASC 185	Trainer	stays
10–18	Lightning Energy	MEE 4	Energy	stays

The 50 cards that change from list to list

50 cards fight over the 21 slots that are left: 5 above three lists in four, 34 below one in four, and the percentage on each row says how many players took it.

The most agreed on first: Ultra Ball at 96 %, Boss's Orders at 96 % and Lillie's Determination at 92 %, plus 2 more above 75 %. Add those to the core and you have the common build.

The dividing line runs through Scramble Switch, at 54 %: 13 of 24 players took it, 11 put something else there. It is an ACE SPEC card, and you are allowed exactly one in your whole deck. The players who passed on it did not leave the slot empty: they put a different ACE SPEC there. Right at the bottom of the table, Shaymin (5 lists out of 24) and Hilda (4 lists out of 24).

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
96 %23/24	Close Ultra Ball	2–4	MEG 131	Trainer
96 %23/24	Close Boss's Orders	2–3	MEG 114	Trainer
92 %22/24	Close Lillie's Determination	2–4	MEG 119	Trainer
88 %21/24	Close Energy Retrieval	1–4	SVI 171	Trainer
75 %18/24	Close Night Stretcher	1–4	ASC 196	Trainer
71 %17/24	Close Voltaic Lightning Energy	1–4	PBL 84	Energy
67 %16/24	Close Poké Pad	2–4	POR 81	Trainer
58 %14/24	Close Mega Zeraora ex	1–2	PBL 27	Pokémon
54 %13/24	Close Scramble Switch	1	SSP 186	Trainer
46 %11/24	Close Judge	1–2	POR 76	Trainer
38 %9/24	Close Special Red Card	1	CRI 82	Trainer
33 %8/24	Close Air Balloon	1–2	ASC 181	Trainer
33 %8/24	Close Team Rocket's Petrel	1–2	DRI 176	Trainer
29 %7/24	Close Stunfisk	1	ASC 62	Pokémon
29 %7/24	Close Lana's Aid	1–2	TWM 155	Trainer
29 %7/24	Close Max Rod	1	PRE 116	Trainer
21 %5/24	Close Shaymin	1	DRI 10	Pokémon
17 %4/24	Close Hilda	1	WHT 84	Trainer
17 %4/24	Close Xerosic's Machinations	1	SFA 64	Trainer
13 %3/24	Close Fezandipiti ex	1	ASC 142	Pokémon
13 %3/24	Close Pokégear 3.0	1–4	SVI 186	Trainer
13 %3/24	Close Transformation Tome	4	CRI 83	Trainer
13 %3/24	Close Energy Search	1–2	POR 72	Trainer
13 %3/24	Close Lucian	1–2	TWM 157	Trainer
8 %2/24	Close Budew	1	ASC 16	Pokémon
8 %2/24	Close Iono's Electrode	1	JTG 48	Pokémon
8 %2/24	Close Psyduck	1	ASC 39	Pokémon
8 %2/24	Close Tatsugiri	1	TWM 131	Pokémon
8 %2/24	Close Zeraora	1	DRI 78	Pokémon
8 %2/24	Close Carmine	2–3	TWM 145	Trainer
8 %2/24	Close Handheld Fan	1–2	TWM 150	Trainer
8 %2/24	Close Harlequin	1–2	WHT 83	Trainer
8 %2/24	Close Clemont's Quick Wit	1	SSP 167	Trainer
8 %2/24	Close Gwynn	1	PBL 78	Trainer
8 %2/24	Close Sacred Ash	1	DRI 168	Trainer
8 %2/24	Close Tool Scrapper	1	ASC 212	Trainer
4 %1/24	Close Electrike	2	MEG 49	Pokémon
4 %1/24	Close Manectric	1	PBL 24	Pokémon
4 %1/24	Close Mega Manectric ex	1	MEG 50	Pokémon
4 %1/24	Close Meowth ex	1	POR 62	Pokémon
4 %1/24	Close Ciphermaniac's Codebreaking	3	TEF 145	Trainer
4 %1/24	Close Energy Recycler	2	DRI 164	Trainer
4 %1/24	Close Black Belt's Training	1	JTG 143	Trainer
4 %1/24	Close Brave Bangle	1	WHT 80	Trainer
4 %1/24	Close Hyper Aroma	1	TWM 152	Trainer
4 %1/24	Close Larry's Skill	1	PRE 115	Trainer
4 %1/24	Close Prime Catcher	1	TEF 157	Trainer
4 %1/24	Close Secret Box	1	TWM 163	Trainer
4 %1/24	Close Survival Brace	1	TWM 164	Trainer
4 %1/24	Close Switch	1	MEG 130	Trainer

The most common Iono's Bellibolt ex list, all 60 cards

Here they are in full, ready to build. 39 slots come from the core, the cards all 24 lists run. The remaining 21 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 15 Pokémon, 27 Trainers and 18 Energy.

One thing to know before you build it: the 24 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.

There is no price total on this page. The readings we have are Cardmarket's, in euros, and the shop link further down sends you to TCGplayer, which quotes in dollars. Putting a euro figure next to a dollar shop would be one currency too many. The French and German pages carry the total.

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: 15
3 Iono's Bellibolt ex JTG 53
3 Iono's Kilowattrel JTG 55
3 Iono's Tadbulb JTG 52
3 Iono's Wattrel JTG 54
2 Iono's Voltorb JTG 47
1 Mega Zeraora ex PBL 27

Trainer: 27
4 Buddy-Buddy Poffin TEF 144
3 Levincia JTG 150
2 Canari ASC 185
3 Ultra Ball MEG 131
2 Boss's Orders MEG 114
3 Lillie's Determination MEG 119
2 Energy Retrieval SVI 171
2 Night Stretcher ASC 196
2 Poké Pad POR 81
1 Scramble Switch SSP 186
1 Judge POR 76
1 Special Red Card CRI 82
1 Air Balloon ASC 181

Energy: 18
16 Lightning Energy MEE 4
2 Voltaic Lightning Energy PBL 84

Total Cards: 60

What Iono's Bellibolt ex costs to build, and how long it will last

You need 59 different cards to cover every version of this deck, 9 of which nobody argues about. We do not have card prices, so we are not going to put a number on it.

All 24 lists bring an ACE SPEC, and that is where they part ways: 13 took Scramble Switch, 7 took Max Rod and 1 took Hyper Aroma. The flex table shows you all 6. 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 Scramble Switch and watch what the others do with theirs before you switch.

Then there is time. 1 of the 9 core cards carries the letter H, the one that goes at the next rotation: Buddy-Buddy Poffin. The core table marks it. In copies, that is 4 of the 39 slots the core fills. Which day it lands, we do not know yet.

What Iono's Bellibolt ex struggles against

The attackers in this deck are Weak to Fighting and Lightning, so they take DOUBLE damage from those types. 16 of the 97 decks we track attack in exactly those types.

Concretely, here is what is waiting for you: Mega Lucario ex, Mega Lucario ex / Hariyama and Cynthia's Garchomp ex, plus 13 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 16 decks out of the 97 we track. The other 81 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 Lightning, and 24 of the decks we track have an attacker Weak to one of those: Festival Lead, Toucannon and Raging Bolt ex, among others. That is you doubling, for once. Second half of the table.

Questions people ask

What is the Iono's Bellibolt ex deck list?

There isn't one, so we built one for you: all 60 cards are written out further up this page. Across 24 tournament lists harvested between 16 August 2026 and 4 September 2026, 9 cards turn up in every single one, 39 slots out of 60. The remaining 21 change from player to player, with 50 different cards competing for them. Both tables are above.

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

24 lists, played across 24 different tournaments, harvested between 16 August 2026 and 4 September 2026 from play.limitlesstcg.com. All 24 were read card by card, and every card recognised.

Where do I start if I want to build Iono's Bellibolt ex?

With the whole core: 9 cards, 39 slots. Inside it, buy the 9 Trainer slots and the 16 Energy first: they carry over into your next deck. Leave the 14 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 96 % and Boss's Orders at 96 %.

What beats Iono's Bellibolt ex?

Its attackers are Weak to Fighting and Lightning, so they take double damage from an attacker of that type. 16 of the 97 decks we track play an attacker of that type: Mega Lucario ex, Mega Lucario ex / Hariyama, Cynthia's Garchomp ex and Greninja ex, among others.

Will Iono's Bellibolt ex survive the next rotation?

Not intact: 1 core cards out of 9 carry the letter H, starting with Buddy-Buddy Poffin.

Are a lot of people playing Iono's Bellibolt ex?

We have read 24 lists of it, which puts it 66th of the 97 decks we track by lists read. The platform those tournaments run on counts 46 entries for it, 0.11 % 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.