Paldean Tauros

What Paldean Tauros looks like when you open the box

Across the 32 lists we counted, this deck runs 8 to 11 Pokémon, 41 to 45 Trainers and 7 to 9 Energy. Its attacks are paid for in Fighting.

On results pages and on stream you will see it written « paldean-tauros-pfl ». Every card named in that label turns up in the tables below, which is what makes it a fair name for the deck.

The bit they tack on the end, « PFL », is a set code: Phantasmal Flames. They spell it out because several cards share that name, and this deck plays that particular printing.

Look at the Energy: 7 to 9 out of 60, when half the 125 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.

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: 41 to 45 cards out of 60, against a median of 31 across the 125 decks we track. Inside that, 11 to 19 Supporters, and the rule there is strict — one a turn, even if you are holding three. The 17 to 25 Items you can play all of in the same turn. It also brings up to 5 Stadiums, and 21 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.

How Paldean Tauros actually wins

Paldean Tauros attacks with Double-Edge for 70. It needs 2 Fighting Energy attached, and it has 130 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: "This Pokémon also does 20 damage to itself."

The cost of Double-Edge 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. We have not found anything in this list that attaches Energy faster than that, so plan on holding out for a turn 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.

Here is the detail that quietly loses games. To pull Paldean Tauros 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.

Not one ex Pokémon in the core, and only 26 of the 125 decks we track are in that position. It is a hidden advantage: every knockout your opponent takes is worth a single Prize, so they need 6, where 3 would do against a deck stuffed with ex cards.

The attackers in the deck's core, with their best attack, its cost and their Weakness

Pokémon	HP	Attack	Damage	Cost	Weakness	Retreat
Close Paldean TaurosBasic	130	Double-Edge	70		Psychic ×2	2

The core: the 9 cards every list runs

These 9 cards appear in all 32 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: 21 Trainers, 8 Pokémon, 8 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.

8 of those 9 cards do not sit at the same count from list to list: Tauros (1 to 4), Fighting Gong (3 to 4) and Lillie's Determination (2 to 4), plus 5 more. Add those spreads up and you get 20 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	Rotation
4	Close Paldean Tauros	PFL 48	Pokémon	stays
1–4	Close Tauros	CRI 69	Pokémon	stays
3–4	Close Fighting Gong	MEG 116	Trainer	stays
2–4	Close Lillie's Determination	MEG 119	Trainer	stays
2–4	Close Premium Power Pro	MEG 124	Trainer	stays
2–4	Close Risky Ruins	MEG 127	Trainer	stays
2–4	Close Night Stretcher	ASC 196	Trainer	leaves
2–4	Close Boss's Orders	MEG 114	Trainer	stays
3–9	Fighting Energy	MEE 6	Energy	stays

The 45 cards that change from list to list

45 cards fight over the 23 slots that are left: 6 above three lists in four, 29 below one in four, and the percentage on each row says how many players took it.

The most agreed on first: Air Balloon at 97 %, Poké Pad at 94 % and Brave Bangle at 84 %, plus 3 more above 75 %. Add those to the core and you have the common build.

The dividing line runs through Iris's Fighting Spirit, at 50 %: 16 of 32 players took it, 16 put something else there. The ones who run it bring 4 copies. Right at the bottom of the table, Special Red Card (8 lists out of 32) and Judge (7 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 Air Balloon	1–2	ASC 181	Trainer
94 %30/32	Close Poké Pad	1–4	POR 81	Trainer
84 %27/32	Close Brave Bangle	2–3	WHT 80	Trainer
81 %26/32	Close Pokégear 3.0	2–4	SVI 186	Trainer
81 %26/32	Close Colress's Tenacity	1–4	SFA 57	Trainer
81 %26/32	Close Lana's Aid	1	TWM 155	Trainer
69 %22/32	Close Hassel	1–3	TWM 151	Trainer
69 %22/32	Close Switch	1–2	MEG 130	Trainer
53 %17/32	Close Secret Box	1	TWM 163	Trainer
50 %16/32	Close Iris's Fighting Spirit	1–4	JTG 149	Trainer
50 %16/32	Close Team Rocket's Petrel	1–4	DRI 176	Trainer
50 %16/32	Close Rocky Fighting Energy	1–4	POR 87	Energy
31 %10/32	Close Ultra Ball	1–3	MEG 131	Trainer
28 %9/32	Close Counter Gain	1	SSP 169	Trainer
28 %9/32	Close Neutralization Zone	1	SFA 60	Trainer
28 %9/32	Close Repel	1–2	MEG 126	Trainer
25 %8/32	Close Special Red Card	1–2	CRI 82	Trainer
22 %7/32	Close Judge	1–2	POR 76	Trainer
19 %6/32	Close Tauros	2–3	DRI 152	Pokémon
19 %6/32	Close Budew	1	ASC 16	Pokémon
19 %6/32	Close Patrat	1	CRI 70	Pokémon
19 %6/32	Close Tarragon	2–4	POR 85	Trainer
19 %6/32	Close Precious Trolley	1	SSP 185	Trainer
16 %5/32	Close Emolga	1–3	TWM 69	Pokémon
16 %5/32	Close Team Rocket's Transceiver	2–4	DRI 178	Trainer
9 %3/32	Close Shaymin	1	DRI 10	Pokémon
9 %3/32	Close Dusk Ball	3	SSP 175	Trainer
9 %3/32	Close Lucky Helmet	3	TWM 158	Trainer
9 %3/32	Close Enhanced Hammer	1–2	TWM 148	Trainer
9 %3/32	Close Gwynn	1	PBL 78	Trainer
9 %3/32	Close Rust Syndicate Grunt	1	PBL 81	Trainer
3 %1/32	Close Friends in Paldea	3	PRE 109	Trainer
3 %1/32	Close Brock's Scouting	2	JTG 146	Trainer
3 %1/32	Close Crushing Hammer	2	POR 71	Trainer
3 %1/32	Close Energy Search	2	POR 72	Trainer
3 %1/32	Close Energy Switch	2	MEG 115	Trainer
3 %1/32	Close Lacey	2	SCR 139	Trainer
3 %1/32	Close Team Rocket's Venture Bomb	2	DRI 179	Trainer
3 %1/32	Close Black Belt's Training	1	JTG 143	Trainer
3 %1/32	Close Kieran	1	TWM 154	Trainer
3 %1/32	Close Pokémon Catcher	1	POR 82	Trainer
3 %1/32	Close Redeemable Ticket	1	JTG 156	Trainer
3 %1/32	Close Sacred Ash	1	DRI 168	Trainer
3 %1/32	Close Tremendous Bomb	1	PBL 82	Trainer
3 %1/32	Close Xerosic's Machinations	1	SFA 64	Trainer

The most common Paldean Tauros list, all 60 cards

Here they are in full, ready to build. 37 slots come from the core, the cards all 32 lists run. The remaining 23 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 11 more cards to reach 60. The whole thing comes to 8 Pokémon, 44 Trainers and 8 Energy.

One thing to know before you build it: the 32 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.

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: 8
4 Paldean Tauros PFL 48
4 Tauros CRI 69

Trainer: 44
4 Fighting Gong MEG 116
4 Lillie's Determination MEG 119
4 Premium Power Pro MEG 124
4 Risky Ruins MEG 127
3 Night Stretcher ASC 196
2 Boss's Orders MEG 114
1 Air Balloon ASC 181
4 Poké Pad POR 81
2 Brave Bangle WHT 80
3 Pokégear 3.0 SVI 186
2 Colress's Tenacity SFA 57
1 Lana's Aid TWM 155
2 Hassel TWM 151
1 Switch MEG 130
1 Secret Box TWM 163
4 Iris's Fighting Spirit JTG 149
2 Team Rocket's Petrel DRI 176

Energy: 8
8 Fighting Energy MEE 6

Total Cards: 60

How many different cards Paldean Tauros needs, and how long it will last

You need 54 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 32 lists bring an ACE SPEC, and that is where they part ways: 17 took Secret Box, 9 took Neutralization Zone and 6 took Precious Trolley. 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. 1 of the 9 core cards carries the letter H, the one that goes at the next rotation: Night Stretcher. The core table marks it. In copies, that is 3 of the 37 slots the core fills. Which day it lands, we do not know yet.

What Paldean Tauros struggles against

The attackers in this deck are Weak to Psychic, so they take DOUBLE damage from that type. 30 of the 125 decks we track attack in exactly that type.

Concretely, here is what is waiting for you: N's Zoroark ex (Munkidori), Latias ex / Mega Kangaskhan ex and Slowking (Latias ex), plus 27 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 30 decks out of the 125 we track. The other 95 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 Fighting, and 41 of the decks we track have an attacker Weak to one of those: Dragapult ex, Latias ex / Mega Kangaskhan ex and Slowking, among others. That is you doubling, for once. Second half of the table.