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

What Slowking looks like when you open the box

Across the 34 lists we counted, this deck runs 20 to 23 Pokémon, 27 to 30 Trainers and 9 to 11 Energy. Its attacks are paid for in Psychic and Metal.

On results pages and on stream you will see it written « slowking-scr ». 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, « SCR », is a set code: Stellar Crown. They spell it out because several cards share that name, and this deck plays that particular printing.

Look at the Energy: 9 to 11 out of 60, exactly the median of the 97 decks we track. It draws neither too much nor too little, so this is not where its games are won or lost.

It takes a while to set up. Metagross is a Stage 2 Pokémon: you put down the baby, you evolve it, and then you evolve it again. Three cards stacked before anything attacks. That is what the hardest-hitting decks cost you, and it is also where they crack — a fast opponent can bury you before the line is standing.

Look at the Trainers: 27 to 30 cards out of 60, against a median of 31 across the 97 decks we track. Inside that, 7 to 10 Supporters, and the rule there is strict — one a turn, even if you are holding three. The 13 to 17 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

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

Slowking is in all 34 lists, 3 copies of it. Its attack Seek Inspiration costs 2 Energy (Psychic and 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 the top card of your deck, and if that card is a Pokémon that doesn't have a Rule Box, choose 1 of its attacks and use it as this attack. (Pokémon ex, Pokémon V, etc. have Rule Boxes.) »

How Slowking 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. Wondrous Patch, which the list runs 3 of, digs Energy out of your discard pile and puts it back on one of your Pokémon. 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. Latias ex, Fezandipiti ex and Meowth 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 MetagrossStage 2	180	Metallic Hammer	150+	Metal + Metal + Metal + Colorless	Fire ×2	3
Close SlowkingStage 1	120	Super Psy Bolt	120	Psychic + Psychic + Colorless	Darkness ×2	3

The core: the 16 cards every list runs

These 16 cards appear in all 34 lists, without a single exception. That is 46 of the 60 slots. The other 14 are decided player by player.

Look at how those 46 slots break down: 25 Trainers, 13 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.

12 of those 16 cards do not sit at the same count from list to list: Mega Kangaskhan ex (2 to 4), Kyurem (1 to 2) and Metagross (1 to 2), plus 9 more. Add those spreads up and you get 14 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
2–4	Close Mega Kangaskhan ex	MEG 104	Pokémon	stays
3	Close Slowking	SCR 58	Pokémon	leaves
1–2	Close Kyurem	SFA 47	Pokémon	leaves
2	Close Latias ex	SSP 76	Pokémon	leaves
1	Close Fezandipiti ex	ASC 142	Pokémon	leaves
1	Close Meowth ex	POR 62	Pokémon	stays
1–2	Close Metagross	CRI 61	Pokémon	stays
3–4	Close Academy at Night	SFA 54	Trainer	leaves
3–4	Close Ciphermaniac's Codebreaking	TEF 145	Trainer	leaves
3–4	Close Lillie's Determination	MEG 119	Trainer	stays
3–4	Close Poké Pad	POR 81	Trainer	stays
3–4	Close Ultra Ball	MEG 131	Trainer	stays
2–3	Close Wondrous Patch	PFL 94	Trainer	stays
2–3	Close Night Stretcher	ASC 196	Trainer	leaves
3–5	Psychic Energy	MEE 5	Energy	stays
3–4	Close Telepathic Psychic Energy	POR 88	Energy	stays

The 40 cards that change from list to list

40 cards fight over the 14 slots that are left: 5 above three lists in four, 28 below one in four, and the percentage on each row says how many players took it.

The most agreed on first: Slowpoke at 97 %, Lillie's Clefairy ex at 94 % and Switch at 94 %, plus 2 more above 75 %. Add those to the core and you have the common build.

The dividing line runs through Lucky Helmet, at 53 %: 18 of 34 players took it, 16 put something else there. The ones who run it bring 1 copy. Right at the bottom of the table, Mega Slowbro ex (7 lists out of 34) and Drapion (4 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 Slowpoke	4	SCR 57	Pokémon
94 %32/34	Close Lillie's Clefairy ex	1	JTG 56	Pokémon
94 %32/34	Close Switch	1–2	MEG 130	Trainer
91 %31/34	Close Boomerang Energy	1–3	TWM 166	Energy
88 %30/34	Close Secret Box	1	TWM 163	Trainer
71 %24/34	Close Annihilape	1	SSP 100	Pokémon
59 %20/34	Close Annihilape	1	PBL 41	Pokémon
56 %19/34	Close Zeraora	1	DRI 78	Pokémon
53 %18/34	Close Lucky Helmet	1	TWM 158	Trainer
38 %13/34	Close Brave Bangle	1	WHT 80	Trainer
29 %10/34	Close Smoochum	1	SSP 75	Pokémon
26 %9/34	Close Lana's Aid	1	TWM 155	Trainer
21 %7/34	Close Mega Slowbro ex	1	PBL 31	Pokémon
12 %4/34	Close Drapion	1	POR 52	Pokémon
12 %4/34	Close Munkidori	1	TWM 95	Pokémon
12 %4/34	Close Crispin	1	SCR 133	Trainer
12 %4/34	Darkness Energy	2	MEE 7	Energy
9 %3/34	Close Colress's Tenacity	1	SFA 57	Trainer
9 %3/34	Close Hilda	1–2	WHT 84	Trainer
9 %3/34	Close Special Red Card	1	CRI 82	Trainer
9 %3/34	Close Team Rocket's Petrel	1	DRI 176	Trainer
6 %2/34	Close Cofagrigus	1	SSP 83	Pokémon
6 %2/34	Close Shaymin	1	DRI 10	Pokémon
6 %2/34	Close Spectrier	1	ASC 98	Pokémon
6 %2/34	Close Zoroark	1	WHT 62	Pokémon
6 %2/34	Close Boss's Orders	1	MEG 114	Trainer
6 %2/34	Close Kieran	1	TWM 154	Trainer
6 %2/34	Close Powerglass	1	SFA 63	Trainer
6 %2/34	Close Prime Catcher	1	TEF 157	Trainer
6 %2/34	Close Sacred Ash	1	DRI 168	Trainer
6 %2/34	Close Scoop Up Cyclone	1	TWM 162	Trainer
6 %2/34	Close Surfer	1	SSP 187	Trainer
3 %1/34	Slowpoke	4	MEP 86	Pokémon
3 %1/34	Close Genesect	1	SFA 40	Pokémon
3 %1/34	Close Pawmot	1	PFL 34	Pokémon
3 %1/34	Close Walrein	1	SSP 45	Pokémon
3 %1/34	Close Air Balloon	1	ASC 181	Trainer
3 %1/34	Close Counter Gain	1	SSP 169	Trainer
3 %1/34	Close Dawn	1	PFL 87	Trainer
3 %1/34	Close N's Plan	1	BLK 83	Trainer

The most common Slowking list, all 60 cards

Here they are in full, ready to build. 46 slots come from the core, the cards all 34 lists run. The remaining 14 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 21 Pokémon, 28 Trainers and 11 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: 21
3 Mega Kangaskhan ex MEG 104
3 Slowking SCR 58
2 Kyurem SFA 47
2 Latias ex SSP 76
1 Fezandipiti ex ASC 142
1 Meowth ex POR 62
1 Metagross CRI 61
4 Slowpoke SCR 57
1 Lillie's Clefairy ex JTG 56
1 Annihilape SSP 100
1 Annihilape PBL 41
1 Zeraora DRI 78

Trainer: 28
4 Academy at Night SFA 54
4 Ciphermaniac's Codebreaking TEF 145
4 Lillie's Determination MEG 119
4 Poké Pad POR 81
4 Ultra Ball MEG 131
3 Wondrous Patch PFL 94
2 Night Stretcher ASC 196
1 Switch MEG 130
1 Secret Box TWM 163
1 Lucky Helmet TWM 158

Energy: 11
4 Psychic Energy MEE 5
4 Telepathic Psychic Energy POR 88
3 Boomerang Energy TWM 166

Total Cards: 60

Which decks beat Slowking at tournaments

Here is how Slowking 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 663 games, 207 won and 443 lost. 13 ended with no winner.

Against Dhelmise: over 402 games, 151 won and 240 lost. 11 ended with no winner.

Against Teal Mask Ogerpon ex / Meganium / Hydrapple ex: over 160 games, 68 won and 89 lost. 3 ended with no winner.

Against Toucannon: over 238 games, 109 won and 126 lost. 3 ended with no winner.

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

Against Dragapult ex / Blaziken ex: over 631 games, 309 won and 310 lost. 12 ended with no winner.

Against Festival Lead: over 604 games, 308 won and 287 lost. 9 ended with no winner.

Against Dragapult ex: over 832 games, 441 won and 382 lost. 9 ended with no winner.

Against Latias ex / Mega Kangaskhan ex: over 182 games, 91 won and 86 lost. 5 ended with no winner.

Against Marnie's Grimmsnarl ex / Froslass: over 447 games, 236 won and 209 lost. 2 ended with no winner.

Against N's Zoroark ex: over 538 games, 287 won and 245 lost. 6 ended with no winner.

Against Dragapult ex / Dusknoir: over 552 games, 313 won and 231 lost. 8 ended with no winner.

Against Cynthia's Garchomp ex: over 133 games, 73 won and 58 lost. 2 ended with no winner.

Against Mega Excadrill ex: over 818 games, 508 won and 299 lost. 11 ended with no winner.

Against Mega Greninja ex: over 128 games, 74 won and 52 lost. 2 ended with no winner.

Against Beedrill ex: over 106 games, 61 won and 45 lost.

Against Mega Lucario ex: over 266 games, 167 won and 95 lost. 4 ended with no winner.

Against Team Rocket's Honchkrow: over 136 games, 84 won and 50 lost. 2 ended with no winner.

Against Mega Lucario ex / Hariyama: over 191 games, 135 won and 53 lost. 3 ended with no winner.

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

You need 56 different cards to cover every version of this deck, 16 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 Prime Catcher and 2 took Scoop Up Cyclone. 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. 7 of the 16 core cards carry the letter H, the one that goes at the next rotation: Slowking, Kyurem, Latias ex and Fezandipiti ex, plus 3 more. The core table marks every one of them. In copies, that is 18 of the 46 slots the core fills. Which day it lands, we do not know yet.

What Slowking struggles against

The attackers in this deck are Weak to Darkness, Fighting and Fire, so they take DOUBLE damage from those types. 31 of the 97 decks we track attack in exactly those types.

Concretely, here is what is waiting for you: Dragapult ex / Blaziken ex, N's Zoroark ex and Marnie's Grimmsnarl ex / Froslass, plus 28 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 31 decks out of the 97 we track. The other 66 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 and Metal, and 18 of the decks we track have an attacker Weak to one of those: Marnie's Grimmsnarl ex / Froslass, Dhelmise and Mega Lucario ex, among others. That is you doubling, for once. Second half of the table.

Questions people ask

What is the Slowking 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 11 August 2026 and 31 August 2026, 16 cards turn up in every single one, 46 slots out of 60. The remaining 14 change from player to player, with 40 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 32 different tournaments, harvested between 11 August 2026 and 31 August 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 Slowking?

With the whole core: 16 cards, 46 slots. Inside it, buy the 25 Trainer slots and the 8 Energy first: they carry over into your next deck. Leave the 13 Pokémon slots for last. Only then work down the flex table and add the cards the most lists agree on, starting with Slowpoke at 97 % and Lillie's Clefairy ex at 94 %.

What beats Slowking?

Its attackers are Weak to Darkness, Fighting and Fire, so they take double damage from an attacker of that type. 31 of the 97 decks we track play an attacker of that type: Dragapult ex / Blaziken ex, N's Zoroark ex, Marnie's Grimmsnarl ex / Froslass and Mega Lucario ex, among others.

Will Slowking survive the next rotation?

Not intact: 7 core cards out of 16 carry the letter H, starting with Slowking, Kyurem, Latias ex and Fezandipiti ex, plus 3 more.

Are a lot of people playing Slowking?

We have read 34 lists of it, which puts it 28th of the 97 decks we track by lists read. The platform those tournaments run on counts 2,239 entries for it, 5.49 % 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.