Raging Bolt ex

What Raging Bolt ex looks like when you open the box

Across the 6 lists we counted, this deck runs 10 to 21 Pokémon, 23 to 31 Trainers and 14 to 20 Energy. Its attacks are paid for in Lightning and Fighting.

On results pages and on stream you will see it written « raging-bolt-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: 14 to 20 out of 60, when half the 134 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.

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: 23 to 31 cards out of 60, against a median of 31 across the 134 decks we track. Inside that, 9 to 21 Supporters, and the rule there is strict — one a turn, even if you are holding three. The 9 to 19 Items you can play all of in the same turn. It also brings up to 3 Stadiums, and 129 of the 134 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

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

Raging Bolt ex is in all 6 lists, 2 copies of it. Its attack Burst Roar costs 1 Energy (Colorless) and has no damage number printed next to it. That is why you will not find it in the attacker table lower down, which sorts by printed damage. Everything it does lives in its text: « Discard your hand and draw 6 cards. »

How Raging Bolt ex actually wins

Raging Bolt ex attacks with Bellowing Thunder. It needs 2 Energy, 1 Lightning and 1 Fighting attached, and it has 240 HP. Watch the damage box. "70×" does not mean 70 damage: it means 70 per card you discard yourself to fire the attack. The total moves every turn.

The cost of Bellowing Thunder 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 you are not on your own. Crispin, which the list runs 4 of, looks at the top of your deck and attaches the Energy it finds there. 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 Raging Bolt 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.

Raging Bolt ex carries the "ex" suffix, and your opponent takes 2 Prize cards instead of one when Raging Bolt 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 Raging Bolt exBasic	240	Bellowing Thunder	70×		none	3

The core: the 4 cards every list runs

These 4 cards appear in all 6 lists, without a single exception. That is 23 of the 60 slots. The other 37 are decided player by player.

Look at how those 23 slots break down: 3 Trainers, 2 Pokémon, 18 Energy. Nothing stands out in that split. What sets this deck apart is how thick its core is: 23 of the 60 slots are the same for everybody, when half the 134 decks we track fix 24 or more. This one leaves more room than most, and two players can build it very differently.

4 of those 4 cards do not sit at the same count from list to list: Raging Bolt ex (2 to 4), Lillie's Determination (1 to 4) and Fighting Energy (2 to 9), plus 1 more. Add those spreads up and you get 19 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 Raging Bolt ex	TEF 123	Pokémon	leaves
1–4	Close Lillie's Determination	MEG 119	Trainer	stays
2–9	Fighting Energy	MEE 14	Energy	stays
2–9	Lightning Energy	MEE 12	Energy	stays

The 59 cards that change from list to list

59 cards fight over the 37 slots that are left: 4 above three lists in four, 32 below one in four, and the percentage on each row says how many players took it.

The most agreed on first: Crispin at 83 %, Ultra Ball at 83 % and Boss's Orders at 83 %, plus 1 more above 75 %. Add those to the core and you have the common build.

The dividing line runs through Fezandipiti ex, at 50 %: 3 of 6 players took it, 3 put something else there. The ones who run it bring 1 copy. Right at the bottom of the table, Solrock (1 list out of 6) and Dudunsparce (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 Crispin	1–4	SCR 133	Trainer
83 %5/6	Close Ultra Ball	2–4	MEG 131	Trainer
83 %5/6	Close Boss's Orders	1–2	MEG 114	Trainer
83 %5/6	Close Night Stretcher	1–3	ASC 196	Trainer
67 %4/6	Close Meowth ex	1–2	POR 62	Pokémon
67 %4/6	Close Energy Recycler	1–2	DRI 164	Trainer
50 %3/6	Close Fezandipiti ex	1	ASC 142	Pokémon
50 %3/6	Close Latias ex	1–2	SSP 76	Pokémon
50 %3/6	Close Team Rocket's Petrel	1–4	DRI 176	Trainer
33 %2/6	Close Beldum	3–4	TEF 113	Pokémon
33 %2/6	Close Ethan's Ho-Oh ex	2–4	DRI 39	Pokémon
33 %2/6	Close Metang	3–4	TEF 114	Pokémon
33 %2/6	Close Jangmo-o	3	DLR 73	Pokémon
33 %2/6	Close Kommo-o	3	DLR 75	Pokémon
33 %2/6	Close Hakamo-o	2	DLR 74	Pokémon
33 %2/6	Close Mega Kangaskhan ex	2	MEG 104	Pokémon
33 %2/6	Close Wellspring Mask Ogerpon ex	1	TWM 64	Pokémon
33 %2/6	Close Buddy-Buddy Poffin	3–4	TEF 144	Trainer
33 %2/6	Close Poké Pad	4	POR 81	Trainer
33 %2/6	Close Pokégear 3.0	3–4	SVI 186	Trainer
33 %2/6	Close Switch	2–4	MEG 130	Trainer
33 %2/6	Close Area Zero Underdepths	1–3	SCR 131	Trainer
33 %2/6	Close Rare Candy	3	MEG 125	Trainer
33 %2/6	Close Prime Catcher	1	TEF 157	Trainer
33 %2/6	Fire Energy	8–12	MEE 10	Energy
33 %2/6	Metal Energy	11	MEE 8	Energy
33 %2/6	Water Energy	1	MEE 3	Energy
17 %1/6	Close Solrock	3	MEG 75	Pokémon
17 %1/6	Close Dudunsparce	2	TEF 129	Pokémon
17 %1/6	Close Genesect ex	2	BLK 67	Pokémon
17 %1/6	Close Koraidon	2	SSP 116	Pokémon
17 %1/6	Close Lunatone	2	MEG 74	Pokémon
17 %1/6	Close Raging Bolt	2	SCR 111	Pokémon
17 %1/6	Close Dunsparce	1	TEF 128	Pokémon
17 %1/6	Close Dunsparce	1	JTG 120	Pokémon
17 %1/6	Close Shaymin	1	DRI 10	Pokémon
17 %1/6	Close Terapagos ex	1	SCR 128	Pokémon
17 %1/6	Close Togekiss	1	SSP 72	Pokémon
17 %1/6	Close Togepi	1	SSP 70	Pokémon
17 %1/6	Close Energy Switch	4	MEG 115	Trainer
17 %1/6	Close Ethan's Adventure	4	DRI 165	Trainer
17 %1/6	Close Judge	4	POR 76	Trainer
17 %1/6	Close N's Plan	4	BLK 83	Trainer
17 %1/6	Close Dawn	3	PFL 87	Trainer
17 %1/6	Close Energy Search	3	POR 72	Trainer
17 %1/6	Close Fighting Gong	3	MEG 116	Trainer
17 %1/6	Close Team Rocket's Transceiver	3	DRI 178	Trainer
17 %1/6	Close Academy at Night	2	SFA 54	Trainer
17 %1/6	Close Air Balloon	2	ASC 181	Trainer
17 %1/6	Close Battle Cage	2	PFL 85	Trainer
17 %1/6	Close Lacey	2	SCR 139	Trainer
17 %1/6	Close Levincia	2	JTG 150	Trainer
17 %1/6	Close Awakening Drum	1	TEF 141	Trainer
17 %1/6	Close AZ's Tranquility	1	CRI 76	Trainer
17 %1/6	Close Cyrano	1	SSP 170	Trainer
17 %1/6	Close Hero's Cape	1	TEF 152	Trainer
17 %1/6	Close Precious Trolley	1	SSP 185	Trainer
17 %1/6	Close Sparkling Crystal	1	SCR 142	Trainer
17 %1/6	Close Team Rocket's Watchtower	1	DRI 180	Trainer

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

You need 63 different cards to cover every version of this deck, 4 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: 2 took Prime Catcher, 1 took Awakening Drum and 1 took Hero's Cape. The flex table shows you all 5. 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 Prime Catcher and watch what the others do with theirs before you switch.

Then there is time. 1 of the 4 core cards carries the letter H, the one that goes at the next rotation: Raging Bolt ex. The core table marks it. In copies, that is 2 of the 23 slots the core fills. Which day it lands, we do not know yet.

What Raging Bolt ex struggles against

The attackers in this deck have no printed Weakness at all. That is rare and it is worth a fortune: nobody gets to double the damage they put on you.

Nothing to show here today, and that is information in itself: none of the 134 decks we track carry the type that would double the damage you take.

Going the other way, none of the 134 decks we track have an attacker Weak to your types. So you are not going to win trades on Weakness — you will have to win them on raw damage.