Seaking deck: the core, the flex slots, and what beats it

What Seaking looks like when you open the box

Across the 34 lists we counted, this deck runs 17 to 26 Pokémon, 28 to 37 Trainers and 5 to 8 Energy. Its attacks are paid for in Grass.

On results pages and on stream you will see it written « seaking-pre ». 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, « PRE », is a set code: Prismatic Evolutions. They spell it out because several cards share that name, and this deck plays that particular printing.

Look at the Energy: 5 to 8 out of 60, when half the 97 decks we track run 10 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.

It sets up fast. Rabsca 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: 28 to 37 cards out of 60, against a median of 31 across the 97 decks we track. Inside that, 8 to 14 Supporters, and the rule there is strict — one a turn, even if you are holding three. The 9 to 22 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

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

Seaking is in all 34 lists, 3 copies of it. Its Ability is called Festival Lead, and here is what is printed on it, word for word: « If Festival Grounds is in play, this Pokémon may use an attack it has twice. If the first attack Knocks Out your opponent's Active Pokémon, you may attack again after your opponent chooses a new Active Pokémon. »

How Seaking actually wins

Seaking attacks with Rapid Draw for 60. It needs 1 Colorless Energy attached, and it has 110 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: "Draw 2 cards."

One Energy to attack is enormous, and it means the attack cost will never be what slows you down. What slows you down here is getting Rabsca up. Once the line is standing you swing every turn with nothing to recharge, and you can start again immediately when your attacker falls.

Energy is not your only clock. Rellor has to climb a step before it becomes Rabsca, and an evolution asleep at the bottom of your deck does you no good at all. The list has that covered. Dawn, a single copy in the list, goes into your deck for an evolution. Careful, though: only 19 of the 34 lists bring it, so it is a choice, and players are still arguing about it.

Good news on mobility: pulling Seaking back to the Bench costs you 1 Energy attached to it, and that is all. Retreating does not cost you your turn, so you step back and swing anyway. That matters enormously the day your opponent lands something nasty on it.

Not one ex Pokémon in the core, and only 21 of the 97 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 SeakingStage 1	110	Rapid Draw	60	Colorless	Lightning ×2	1
Close ThwackeyStage 1	100	Beat	50	Grass + Grass	Fire ×2	2
Close GrookeyBasic	70	Branch Poke	30	Grass + Grass	Fire ×2	1
Close RabscaStage 1	70	Psychic	10+	Grass	Fire ×2	1

The core: the 9 cards every list runs

These 9 cards appear in all 34 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: 12 Trainers, 11 Pokémon, 0 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.

9 of those 9 cards do not sit at the same count from list to list: Grookey (3 to 4), Seaking (3 to 4) and Thwackey (3 to 4), plus 6 more. Add those spreads up and you get 12 copies the 34 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
3–4	Close Grookey	TWM 14	Pokémon	leaves
3–4	Close Seaking	PRE 21	Pokémon	leaves
3–4	Close Thwackey	TWM 15	Pokémon	leaves
1–2	Close Rabsca	TEF 24	Pokémon	leaves
3–4	Close Festival Grounds	TWM 149	Trainer	leaves
1–3	Close Air Balloon	ASC 181	Trainer	stays
1–3	Close Boss's Orders	MEG 114	Trainer	stays
1–3	Close Brave Bangle	WHT 80	Trainer	stays
1–2	Close Sacred Ash	DRI 168	Trainer	stays

The 54 cards that change from list to list

54 cards fight over the 37 slots that are left: 11 above three lists in four, 35 below one in four, and the percentage on each row says how many players took it.

The most agreed on first: Goldeen at 97 %, Rellor at 97 % and Buddy-Buddy Poffin at 97 %, plus 8 more above 75 %. Add those to the core and you have the common build.

The dividing line runs through Dawn, at 56 %: 19 of 34 players took it, 15 put something else there. The ones who run it bring 1 copy. Right at the bottom of the table, Dipplin (8 lists out of 34) and Switch (8 lists out of 34).

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 %33/34	Close Goldeen	3–4	TWM 44	Pokémon
97 %33/34	Close Rellor	1–2	TEF 23	Pokémon
97 %33/34	Close Buddy-Buddy Poffin	3–4	TEF 144	Trainer
97 %33/34	Close Poké Pad	4	POR 81	Trainer
97 %33/34	Close Gladion's Final Battle	1–4	PBL 77	Trainer
94 %32/34	Close Lillie's Determination	3–4	MEG 119	Trainer
91 %31/34	Close Ultra Ball	4	MEG 131	Trainer
88 %30/34	Close Secret Box	1	TWM 163	Trainer
88 %30/34	Close Mist Energy	3–4	TEF 161	Energy
85 %29/34	Close Night Stretcher	1–3	ASC 196	Trainer
79 %27/34	Close Shaymin	1	DRI 10	Pokémon
68 %23/34	Close Moltres	1	PFL 14	Pokémon
65 %22/34	Close Hand Trimmer	1	TEF 150	Trainer
65 %22/34	Fire Energy	1–2	MEE 2	Energy
62 %21/34	Close Goldeen	1–4	PBL 13	Pokémon
59 %20/34	Close Meowth ex	1	POR 62	Pokémon
56 %19/34	Close Dawn	1–2	PFL 87	Trainer
32 %11/34	Grass Energy	1–6	MEE 1	Energy
29 %10/34	Close Psyduck	1	ASC 39	Pokémon
24 %8/34	Close Dipplin	1	TWM 18	Pokémon
24 %8/34	Close Switch	1	MEG 130	Trainer
24 %8/34	Close Tool Scrapper	1	ASC 212	Trainer
12 %4/34	Close Applin	1	TWM 126	Pokémon
12 %4/34	Close Kieran	1	TWM 154	Trainer
9 %3/34	Close Rillaboom	1	TWM 16	Pokémon
9 %3/34	Close Bug Catching Set	1–3	TWM 143	Trainer
9 %3/34	Close Special Red Card	1	CRI 82	Trainer
9 %3/34	Psychic Energy	1–3	MEE 5	Energy
6 %2/34	Close Abra	3	MEG 54	Pokémon
6 %2/34	Close Alakazam	3	MEG 56	Pokémon
6 %2/34	Close Kadabra	3	MEG 55	Pokémon
6 %2/34	Close Abra	1	TWM 80	Pokémon
6 %2/34	Close Applin	1	SCR 12	Pokémon
6 %2/34	Close Applin	1	TWM 17	Pokémon
6 %2/34	Close Cornerstone Mask Ogerpon ex	1	TWM 112	Pokémon
6 %2/34	Close Gwynn	4	PBL 78	Trainer
6 %2/34	Close Rare Candy	1	MEG 125	Trainer
6 %2/34	Close Prism Energy	2	ASC 216	Energy
6 %2/34	Close Legacy Energy	1	TWM 167	Energy
3 %1/34	Close Rellor	1	DRI 24	Pokémon
3 %1/34	Close Colress's Tenacity	2	SFA 57	Trainer
3 %1/34	Close Energy Swatter	2	POR 73	Trainer
3 %1/34	Close Energy Recycler	1	DRI 164	Trainer
3 %1/34	Close Forest of Vitality	1	MEG 117	Trainer
3 %1/34	Close Hyper Aroma	1	TWM 152	Trainer
3 %1/34	Close Judge	1	POR 76	Trainer
3 %1/34	Close Lana's Aid	1	TWM 155	Trainer
3 %1/34	Close Maximum Belt	1	TEF 154	Trainer
3 %1/34	Close Spiky Energy	4	JTG 159	Energy
3 %1/34	Close Growing Grass Energy	2	POR 86	Energy
3 %1/34	Darkness Energy	1	MEE 7	Energy
3 %1/34	Fighting Energy	1	MEE 6	Energy
3 %1/34	Lightning Energy	1	MEE 4	Energy
3 %1/34	Water Energy	1	MEE 3	Energy

The most common Seaking list, all 60 cards

Here they are in full, ready to build. 23 slots come from the core, the cards all 34 lists run. The remaining 37 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 17 more cards to reach 60. The whole thing comes to 19 Pokémon, 35 Trainers and 6 Energy.

One thing to know before you build it: the 34 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: 19
4 Grookey TWM 14
3 Seaking PRE 21
3 Thwackey TWM 15
1 Rabsca TEF 24
3 Goldeen TWM 44
1 Rellor TEF 23
1 Shaymin DRI 10
1 Moltres PFL 14
1 Goldeen PBL 13
1 Meowth ex POR 62

Trainer: 35
4 Festival Grounds TWM 149
3 Air Balloon ASC 181
2 Boss's Orders MEG 114
2 Brave Bangle WHT 80
1 Sacred Ash DRI 168
4 Buddy-Buddy Poffin TEF 144
4 Poké Pad POR 81
3 Gladion's Final Battle PBL 77
4 Lillie's Determination MEG 119
4 Ultra Ball MEG 131
1 Secret Box TWM 163
1 Night Stretcher ASC 196
1 Hand Trimmer TEF 150
1 Dawn PFL 87

Energy: 6
4 Mist Energy TEF 161
2 Fire Energy MEE 2

Total Cards: 60

What Seaking costs to build, and how long it will last

You need 63 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 34 lists bring an ACE SPEC, and that is where they part ways: 30 took Secret Box, 2 took Legacy Energy and 1 took Hyper Aroma. The flex table shows you all 4. 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. 5 of the 9 core cards carry the letter H, the one that goes at the next rotation: Grookey, Seaking, Thwackey and Rabsca, plus 1 more. The core table marks every one of them. In copies, that is 15 of the 23 slots the core fills. Which day it lands, we do not know yet.

What Seaking struggles against

The attackers in this deck are Weak to Lightning and Fire, so they take DOUBLE damage from those types. 15 of the 97 decks we track attack in exactly those types.

Concretely, here is what is waiting for you: Dragapult ex / Blaziken ex, Mega Manectric ex / Eelektrik and Ethan's Typhlosion, plus 12 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 15 decks out of the 97 we track. The other 82 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 Grass, and 26 of the decks we track have an attacker Weak to one of those: Dragapult ex / Blaziken ex, N's Zoroark ex and Marnie's Grimmsnarl ex / Froslass, among others. That is you doubling, for once. Second half of the table.

Questions people ask

What is the Seaking deck list?

There isn't one, so we built one for you: all 60 cards are written out further up this page. Across 34 tournament lists harvested between 16 August 2026 and 5 September 2026, 9 cards turn up in every single one, 23 slots out of 60. The remaining 37 change from player to player, with 54 different cards competing for them. Both tables are above.

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

34 lists, played across 29 different tournaments, harvested between 16 August 2026 and 5 September 2026 from play.limitlesstcg.com. All 34 were read card by card, and every card recognised.

Where do I start if I want to build Seaking?

With the whole core: 9 cards, 23 slots. Inside it, buy the 12 Trainer slots and the 0 Energy first: they carry over into your next deck. Leave the 11 Pokémon slots for last. Only then work down the flex table and add the cards the most lists agree on, starting with Goldeen at 97 % and Rellor at 97 %.

What beats Seaking?

Its attackers are Weak to Lightning and Fire, so they take double damage from an attacker of that type. 15 of the 97 decks we track play an attacker of that type: Dragapult ex / Blaziken ex, Mega Manectric ex / Eelektrik, Ethan's Typhlosion and Ceruledge ex, among others.

Will Seaking survive the next rotation?

Not intact: 5 core cards out of 9 carry the letter H, starting with Grookey, Seaking, Thwackey and Rabsca, plus 1 more.

Are a lot of people playing Seaking?

We have read 34 lists of it, which puts it 33rd of the 97 decks we track by lists read. The platform those tournaments run on counts 39 entries for it, 0.1 % 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.