Raging Bolt ex deck: the core, the flex slots, and what beats it

What Raging Bolt ex looks like when you open the box

Across the 37 lists we counted, this deck runs 17 to 23 Pokémon, 26 to 28 Trainers and 11 to 16 Energy. Its attacks are paid for in Psychic, Water, Lightning and Fighting.

On results pages and on stream you will see it written « raging-bolt-ogerpon ». The cards we can recognise in that label are Raging Bolt ex. The bit « ogerpon » does not point at any one card in the list, so we leave it out of the name rather than make up a meaning.

Look at the Energy: 11 to 16 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.

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: 26 to 28 cards out of 60, against a median of 31 across the 97 decks we track. Inside that, 7 to 14 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

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

Raging Bolt ex is in all 37 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

Latias ex attacks with Eon Blade for 200. It needs 3 Energy, 2 Psychic and 1 Colorless attached, and it has 210 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 Eon Blade 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. Except you are not on your own. Teal Mask Ogerpon ex, which the list runs 3 of, has an Ability called Teal Dance: 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. Glass Trumpet does the same job. 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 Latias 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.

Mega Kangaskhan ex is a Mega Evolution ex, and that is the most expensive rule in the game: your opponent takes 3 Prize cards instead of one the turn it goes down. They need 6 to win the game, so 2 well-placed knockouts on that card beat you, where it would take 6 knockouts anywhere else on your Bench. Meowth ex, Teal Mask Ogerpon ex, Latias ex, Raging Bolt ex, Fezandipiti ex and Wellspring Mask Ogerpon ex carry the plain "ex" suffix, and give up 2. That is already a lot, and it is less than the Mega.

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

Pokémon	HP	Attack	Damage	Cost	Weakness	Retreat
Close Latias exBasic	210	Eon Blade	200	Psychic + Psychic + Colorless	Darkness ×2	2
Close Mega Kangaskhan exBasic	300	Rapid-Fire Combo	200+	Colorless + Colorless + Colorless	Fighting ×2	3
Close Wellspring Mask Ogerpon exBasic	210	Torrential Pump	100	Water + Colorless + Colorless	Lightning ×2	1
Close Raging Bolt exBasic	240	Bellowing Thunder	70×	Lightning + Fighting	none	3

The core: the 18 cards every list runs

These 18 cards appear in all 37 lists, without a single exception. That is 49 of the 60 slots. The other 11 are decided player by player.

Look at how those 49 slots break down: 21 Trainers, 16 Pokémon, 12 Energy. Nothing stands out in that split. What sets this deck apart is how thick its core is: 49 of the 60 slots are the same for everybody, when half the 97 decks we track fix 34 or fewer. Fewer choices left to you than usual, and fewer ways to get them wrong.

11 of those 18 cards do not sit at the same count from list to list: Mega Kangaskhan ex (2 to 4), Meowth ex (1 to 3) and Energy Switch (2 to 4), plus 8 more. Add those spreads up and you get 19 copies the 37 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 Mega Kangaskhan ex	MEG 104	Pokémon	stays
1–3	Close Meowth ex	POR 62	Pokémon	stays
3	Close Teal Mask Ogerpon ex	TWM 25	Pokémon	leaves
2	Close Latias ex	SSP 76	Pokémon	leaves
2	Close Raging Bolt ex	TEF 123	Pokémon	leaves
1	Close Fezandipiti ex	ASC 142	Pokémon	leaves
1	Close Wellspring Mask Ogerpon ex	TWM 64	Pokémon	leaves
4	Close Crispin	SCR 133	Trainer	leaves
2–4	Close Energy Switch	MEG 115	Trainer	stays
4	Close Ultra Ball	MEG 131	Trainer	stays
2–4	Close Area Zero Underdepths	SCR 131	Trainer	leaves
2–3	Close Boss's Orders	MEG 114	Trainer	stays
1–3	Close Cyrano	SSP 170	Trainer	leaves
1–2	Close Night Stretcher	ASC 196	Trainer	leaves
5–8	Grass Energy	MEE 1	Energy	stays
1–3	Fighting Energy	MEE 6	Energy	stays
2–3	Lightning Energy	MEE 4	Energy	stays
1–2	Water Energy	MEE 3	Energy	stays

The 39 cards that change from list to list

39 cards fight over the 11 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: Lillie's Clefairy ex at 97 %, Psychic Energy at 97 % and Glass Trumpet at 95 %, plus 3 more above 75 %. Add those to the core and you have the common build.

The dividing line runs through Iron Leaves ex, at 49 %: 18 of 37 players took it, 19 put something else there. The ones who run it bring 1 copy. Right at the bottom of the table, Lillie's Determination (9 lists out of 37) and AZ's Tranquility (7 lists out of 37).

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 %36/37	Close Lillie's Clefairy ex	1–2	JTG 56	Pokémon
97 %36/37	Psychic Energy	1–2	MEE 5	Energy
95 %35/37	Close Glass Trumpet	1–2	SCR 135	Trainer
95 %35/37	Close Ciphermaniac's Codebreaking	1	TEF 145	Trainer
92 %34/37	Close Chien-Pao	1	SSP 56	Pokémon
84 %31/37	Close Unfair Stamp	1	TWM 165	Trainer
57 %21/37	Close Iron Crown ex	1	TEF 81	Pokémon
49 %18/37	Close Iron Leaves ex	1	TEF 25	Pokémon
43 %16/37	Close Switch	1	MEG 130	Trainer
30 %11/37	Close Special Red Card	1	CRI 82	Trainer
24 %9/37	Close Lillie's Determination	1–3	MEG 119	Trainer
19 %7/37	Close AZ's Tranquility	1	CRI 76	Trainer
19 %7/37	Close Energy Retrieval	1	SVI 171	Trainer
14 %5/37	Close Prime Catcher	1	TEF 157	Trainer
11 %4/37	Close Passimian	1	SSP 111	Pokémon
8 %3/37	Close Bloodmoon Ursaluna ex	1	TWM 141	Pokémon
8 %3/37	Close Flutter Mane	1	TEF 78	Pokémon
8 %3/37	Fire Energy	1	MEE 2	Energy
5 %2/37	Close Fan Rotom	1–2	SCR 118	Pokémon
5 %2/37	Close Hoothoot	2	SCR 114	Pokémon
5 %2/37	Close Noctowl	2	SCR 115	Pokémon
5 %2/37	Close Koraidon	1	SSP 116	Pokémon
5 %2/37	Close Paldean Tauros	1	SSP 18	Pokémon
5 %2/37	Close Poké Pad	2	POR 81	Trainer
5 %2/37	Close Briar	1	SCR 132	Trainer
5 %2/37	Close Energy Search	1	POR 72	Trainer
5 %2/37	Close Tera Orb	1	SSP 189	Trainer
3 %1/37	Close Iron Boulder ex	1	TEF 99	Pokémon
3 %1/37	Close Koraidon ex	1	ASC 121	Pokémon
3 %1/37	Close Moltres	1	PFL 14	Pokémon
3 %1/37	Close Pecharunt ex	1	SFA 39	Pokémon
3 %1/37	Close Shaymin	1	DRI 10	Pokémon
3 %1/37	Close Tapu Koko ex	1	JTG 51	Pokémon
3 %1/37	Close Brock's Scouting	1	JTG 146	Trainer
3 %1/37	Close Enhanced Hammer	1	TWM 148	Trainer
3 %1/37	Close Hero's Cape	1	TEF 152	Trainer
3 %1/37	Close Jamming Tower	1	TWM 153	Trainer
3 %1/37	Close Judge	1	POR 76	Trainer
3 %1/37	Close Team Rocket's Watchtower	1	DRI 180	Trainer

The most common Raging Bolt ex list, all 60 cards

Here they are in full, ready to build. 49 slots come from the core, the cards all 37 lists run. The remaining 11 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 9 more cards to reach 60. The whole thing comes to 20 Pokémon, 26 Trainers and 14 Energy.

One thing to know before you build it: the 37 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: 20
4 Mega Kangaskhan ex MEG 104
3 Meowth ex POR 62
3 Teal Mask Ogerpon ex TWM 25
2 Latias ex SSP 76
2 Raging Bolt ex TEF 123
1 Fezandipiti ex ASC 142
1 Wellspring Mask Ogerpon ex TWM 64
1 Lillie's Clefairy ex JTG 56
1 Chien-Pao SSP 56
1 Iron Crown ex TEF 81
1 Iron Leaves ex TEF 25

Trainer: 26
4 Crispin SCR 133
4 Energy Switch MEG 115
4 Ultra Ball MEG 131
3 Area Zero Underdepths SCR 131
2 Boss's Orders MEG 114
2 Cyrano SSP 170
2 Night Stretcher ASC 196
2 Glass Trumpet SCR 135
1 Ciphermaniac's Codebreaking TEF 145
1 Unfair Stamp TWM 165
1 Switch MEG 130

Energy: 14
7 Grass Energy MEE 1
2 Fighting Energy MEE 6
2 Lightning Energy MEE 4
1 Water Energy MEE 3
2 Psychic Energy MEE 5

Total Cards: 60

Which decks beat Raging Bolt ex at tournaments

Here is how Raging Bolt ex did against every other deck at tournaments. Real games, real players sitting across the table from each other, and the platform those tournaments run on counts them one by one. All of them were played after Pitch Black became legal for tournaments, and we read the table on 5 September 2026.

The format matters more than people think. When the next set lands, decks get rebuilt around the new cards, and a matchup that leaned one way can swing the other. What you are reading holds for today's format.

We start with the opponent that gives you the most trouble, because that is where the work is before your next tournament. The further down the list you go, the better it goes for you.

Always look at the number of games next to the score. Six wins out of ten happens on its own, even with a middling deck: it is the same as flipping six heads in ten tries. Six hundred out of a thousand, and luck has nothing to do with it. Below 100 games we show nothing at all, because at that count half the matchups look like they lean one way when they lean nowhere.

Against Alakazam / Dudunsparce: over 265 games, 102 won and 156 lost. 7 ended with no winner.

Against Festival Lead: over 229 games, 103 won and 121 lost. 5 ended with no winner.

Against Slowking: over 251 games, 128 won and 117 lost. 6 ended with no winner.

Against Mega Excadrill ex: over 330 games, 172 won and 156 lost. 2 ended with no winner.

Against Dragapult ex: over 365 games, 195 won and 159 lost. 11 ended with no winner.

Against Dragapult ex / Dusknoir: over 208 games, 114 won and 91 lost. 3 ended with no winner.

Against Dhelmise: over 127 games, 69 won and 58 lost.

Against N's Zoroark ex: over 239 games, 136 won and 97 lost. 6 ended with no winner.

Against Dragapult ex / Blaziken ex: over 269 games, 157 won and 105 lost. 7 ended with no winner.

Against Marnie's Grimmsnarl ex / Froslass: over 176 games, 117 won and 59 lost.

What Raging Bolt ex costs to build, and how long it will last

You need 57 different cards to cover every version of this deck, 18 of which nobody argues about. We do not have card prices, so we are not going to put a number on it.

All 37 lists bring an ACE SPEC, and that is where they part ways: 31 took Unfair Stamp, 5 took Prime Catcher and 1 took Hero's Cape. 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 Unfair Stamp and watch what the others do with theirs before you switch.

Then there is time. 9 of the 18 core cards carry the letter H, the one that goes at the next rotation: Teal Mask Ogerpon ex, Latias ex, Raging Bolt ex and Fezandipiti ex, plus 5 more. The core table marks every one of them. In copies, that is 20 of the 49 slots the core fills. Which day it lands, we do not know yet.

What Raging Bolt ex struggles against

The attackers in this deck are Weak to Darkness, Fighting and Lightning, so they take DOUBLE damage from those types. 29 of the 97 decks we track attack in exactly those types.

Concretely, here is what is waiting for you: N's Zoroark ex, Marnie's Grimmsnarl ex / Froslass and Mega Lucario ex, plus 26 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 29 decks out of the 97 we track. The other 68 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 Psychic, Water, Lightning and Fighting, and 15 of the decks we track have an attacker Weak to one of those: Dragapult ex / Blaziken ex, Mega Lucario ex and Mega Lucario ex / Hariyama, among others. That is you doubling, for once. Second half of the table.

Questions people ask

What is the Raging Bolt ex deck list?

There isn't one, so we built one for you: all 60 cards are written out further up this page. Across 37 tournament lists harvested between 11 August 2026 and 2 September 2026, 18 cards turn up in every single one, 49 slots out of 60. The remaining 11 change from player to player, with 39 different cards competing for them. Both tables are above.

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

37 lists, played across 35 different tournaments, harvested between 11 August 2026 and 2 September 2026 from play.limitlesstcg.com. All 37 were read card by card, and every card recognised.

Where do I start if I want to build Raging Bolt ex?

With the whole core: 18 cards, 49 slots. Inside it, buy the 21 Trainer slots and the 12 Energy first: they carry over into your next deck. Leave the 16 Pokémon slots for last. Only then work down the flex table and add the cards the most lists agree on, starting with Lillie's Clefairy ex at 97 % and Psychic Energy at 97 %.

What beats Raging Bolt ex?

Its attackers are Weak to Darkness, Fighting and Lightning, so they take double damage from an attacker of that type. 29 of the 97 decks we track play an attacker of that type: N's Zoroark ex, Marnie's Grimmsnarl ex / Froslass, Mega Lucario ex and Mega Lucario ex / Hariyama, among others.

Will Raging Bolt ex survive the next rotation?

Not intact: 9 core cards out of 18 carry the letter H, starting with Teal Mask Ogerpon ex, Latias ex, Raging Bolt ex and Fezandipiti ex, plus 5 more.

Are a lot of people playing Raging Bolt ex?

We have read 37 lists of it, which puts it 13th of the 97 decks we track by lists read. The platform those tournaments run on counts 890 entries for it, 2.18 % 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.