Milotic ex

What Milotic ex looks like when you open the box

Across the 6 lists we counted, this deck runs 8 to 19 Pokémon, 25 to 41 Trainers and 10 to 20 Energy. Its attacks are paid for in Water.

On results pages and on stream you will see it written « milotic-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: 10 to 20 out of 60, when half the 133 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 sets up fast. Milotic 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: 25 to 41 cards out of 60, against a median of 31 across the 133 decks we track. Inside that, 13 to 18 Supporters, and the rule there is strict — one a turn, even if you are holding three. The 10 to 21 Items you can play all of in the same turn. It also brings up to 3 Stadiums, and 125 of the 133 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

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

Milotic ex is in all 6 lists, 2 copies of it. Its Ability is called Sparkling Scales, and here is what is printed on it, word for word: « Prevent all damage from and effects of attacks from your opponent's Tera Pokémon done to this Pokémon. »

How Milotic ex actually wins

Milotic ex attacks with Hypno Splash for 160. It needs 3 Energy, 1 Water and 2 Colorless attached, and it has 270 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 Asleep."

The cost of Hypno Splash decides your first few turns. You only get to attach one Energy a turn, and that attack asks for 3. On your own attachments alone, your first real swing lands on turn 3. We have not found anything in this list that attaches Energy faster than that, so plan on holding out for 2 turns before you swing. Those turns still get played: you fill your Bench, you build your lines, and you keep something back to rebuild with when your attacker falls.

Energy is not your only clock. Feebas has to climb a step before it becomes Milotic ex, and an evolution asleep at the bottom of your deck does you no good at all. The list has that covered. Hilda, which the list runs 2 of, goes into your deck for an evolution. Careful, though: only 4 of the 6 lists bring it, so it is a choice, and players are still arguing about it.

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

Milotic ex carries the "ex" suffix, and your opponent takes 2 Prize cards instead of one when Milotic 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 Milotic exStage 1	270	Hypno Splash	160		Lightning ×2	2

The core: the 3 cards every list runs

These 3 cards appear in all 6 lists, without a single exception. That is 24 of the 60 slots. The other 36 are decided player by player.

Look at how those 24 slots break down: 2 Trainers, 2 Pokémon, 20 Energy. Nothing stands out in that split. What sets this deck apart is how thick its core is: 24 of the 60 slots are the same for everybody, when half the 133 decks we track fix 25 or more. This one leaves more room than most, and two players can build it very differently.

3 of those 3 cards do not sit at the same count from list to list: Milotic ex (2 to 4), Ultra Ball (2 to 4) and Water Energy (3 to 20). Add those spreads up and you get 21 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 Milotic ex	SSP 42	Pokémon	leaves
2–4	Close Ultra Ball	MEG 131	Trainer	stays
3–20	Water Energy	MEE 11	Energy	stays

The 60 cards that change from list to list

60 cards fight over the 36 slots that are left: 1 above three lists in four, 26 below one in four, and the percentage on each row says how many players took it.

The most agreed on first: Boss's Orders at 83 %. Add those to the core and you have the common build.

The dividing line runs through Feebas, 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, Dudunsparce (1 list out of 6) and Dunsparce (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 Boss's Orders	2–4	MEG 114	Trainer
67 %4/6	Close Buddy-Buddy Poffin	2–4	TEF 144	Trainer
67 %4/6	Close Lillie's Determination	3–4	MEG 119	Trainer
67 %4/6	Close Hilda	2–3	WHT 84	Trainer
67 %4/6	Close Hero's Cape	1	TEF 152	Trainer
67 %4/6	Close Bubbly Water Energy	1–3	CRI 84	Energy
50 %3/6	Close Feebas	2–4	SSP 41	Pokémon
50 %3/6	Close Pokégear 3.0	4	SVI 186	Trainer
50 %3/6	Close Battle Cage	2–3	PFL 85	Trainer
50 %3/6	Close Special Red Card	1	CRI 82	Trainer
33 %2/6	Close Cinderace	4	MEG 28	Pokémon
33 %2/6	Close Snorunt	4	ASC 46	Pokémon
33 %2/6	Close Kingdra ex	3	SFA 12	Pokémon
33 %2/6	Close Mega Froslass ex	3	ASC 47	Pokémon
33 %2/6	Close Seadra	3	SFA 11	Pokémon
33 %2/6	Close Horsea	2	SFA 10	Pokémon
33 %2/6	Close Aurorus	1	POR 24	Pokémon
33 %2/6	Close Crushing Hammer	3–4	POR 71	Trainer
33 %2/6	Close Jumbo Ice Cream	2–4	PFL 91	Trainer
33 %2/6	Close Poké Pad	2–4	POR 81	Trainer
33 %2/6	Close Rare Candy	4	MEG 125	Trainer
33 %2/6	Close Team Rocket's Petrel	2–4	DRI 176	Trainer
33 %2/6	Close Wally's Compassion	4	MEG 132	Trainer
33 %2/6	Close Crispin	3	SCR 133	Trainer
33 %2/6	Close Dawn	3	PFL 87	Trainer
33 %2/6	Close Gwynn	3	PBL 78	Trainer
33 %2/6	Close Larry's Skill	3	PRE 115	Trainer
33 %2/6	Close Cyrano	2	SSP 170	Trainer
33 %2/6	Close Misty's Vitality	2	PBL 80	Trainer
33 %2/6	Close Prism Tower	2	CRI 80	Trainer
33 %2/6	Close Secret Box	1	TWM 163	Trainer
33 %2/6	Close Xerosic's Machinations	1	SFA 64	Trainer
33 %2/6	Darkness Energy	3–4	MEE 15	Energy
33 %2/6	Close Mist Energy	1–2	TEF 161	Energy
17 %1/6	Close Dudunsparce	3	TEF 129	Pokémon
17 %1/6	Close Dunsparce	3	TEF 128	Pokémon
17 %1/6	Close Feebas	3	TWM 49	Pokémon
17 %1/6	Close Munkidori	3	TWM 95	Pokémon
17 %1/6	Close Buneary	2	PFL 83	Pokémon
17 %1/6	Close Kyogre	2	MEG 34	Pokémon
17 %1/6	Close Mega Lopunny ex	2	PFL 84	Pokémon
17 %1/6	Close Bruxish	1	SSP 49	Pokémon
17 %1/6	Close Dudunsparce ex	1	JTG 121	Pokémon
17 %1/6	Close Fan Rotom	1	SCR 118	Pokémon
17 %1/6	Close Fezandipiti ex	1	ASC 142	Pokémon
17 %1/6	Close Latias ex	1	SSP 76	Pokémon
17 %1/6	Close Meowth ex	1	POR 62	Pokémon
17 %1/6	Close AZ's Tranquility	2	CRI 76	Trainer
17 %1/6	Close Dark Bell	2	PBL 75	Trainer
17 %1/6	Close Night Stretcher	2	ASC 196	Trainer
17 %1/6	Close Super Potion	2	JTG 158	Trainer
17 %1/6	Close Bianca's Devotion	1	TEF 142	Trainer
17 %1/6	Close Cook	1	TWM 147	Trainer
17 %1/6	Close Enhanced Hammer	1	TWM 148	Trainer
17 %1/6	Close Handheld Fan	1	TWM 150	Trainer
17 %1/6	Close Lana's Aid	1	TWM 155	Trainer
17 %1/6	Close Surfing Beach	1	MEG 129	Trainer
17 %1/6	Close Team Rocket's Factory	1	DRI 173	Trainer
17 %1/6	Close Ignition Energy	2	WHT 86	Energy
17 %1/6	Psychic Energy	1	MEE 13	Energy

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

You need 63 different cards to cover every version of this deck, 3 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: 4 took Hero's Cape and 2 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 Hero's Cape and watch what the others do with theirs before you switch.

Then there is time. 1 of the 3 core cards carries the letter H, the one that goes at the next rotation: Milotic ex. The core table marks it. In copies, that is 2 of the 24 slots the core fills. Which day it lands, we do not know yet.

What Milotic ex struggles against

The attackers in this deck are Weak to Lightning, so they take DOUBLE damage from that type. 9 of the 133 decks we track attack in exactly that type.

Concretely, here is what is waiting for you: Mega Manectric ex / Eelektrik, Eelektrik and Iono's Bellibolt ex, plus 6 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 9 decks out of the 133 we track. The other 124 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 Water, and 13 of the decks we track have an attacker Weak to one of those: Dragapult ex / Blaziken ex, Ethan's Typhlosion and Ceruledge ex, among others. That is you doubling, for once. Second half of the table.