Terapagos ex / Noctowl deck: the core, the flex slots, and what beats it

What Terapagos ex / Noctowl looks like when you open the box

Across the 17 lists we counted, this deck runs 18 to 25 Pokémon, 26 to 33 Trainers and 6 to 11 Energy. Its attacks are paid for in Water, Grass and Lightning.

On results pages and on stream you will see it written « terapagos-noctowl ». 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: 6 to 11 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. Noctowl 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: 26 to 33 cards out of 60, against a median of 31 across the 97 decks we track. Inside that, 7 to 11 Supporters, and the rule there is strict — one a turn, even if you are holding three. The 16 to 20 Items you can play all of in the same turn. It also brings up to 3 Stadiums, and 91 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 cards in this deck's name actually do

Terapagos ex and Noctowl give this deck its name. Here is what is written on them.

Terapagos ex is in all 17 lists, 2 copies of it.

Noctowl is in all 17 lists, 3 copies of it. Its Ability is called Jewel Seeker, and here is what is printed on it, word for word: « Once during your turn, when you play this Pokémon from your hand to evolve 1 of your Pokémon, if you have any Tera Pokémon in play, you may search your deck for up to 2 Trainer cards, reveal them, and put them into your hand. Then, shuffle your deck. »

How Terapagos ex / Noctowl actually wins

Terapagos ex attacks with Crown Opal for 180. It needs 3 Energy, 1 Grass, 1 Water and 1 Lightning attached, and it has 230 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 opponent's next turn, prevent all damage done to this Pokémon by attacks from Basic non-{C} Pokémon."

The cost of Crown Opal 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. Glass Trumpet, a single copy in the list, digs Energy out of your discard pile and puts it back on one of your Pokémon. Not whenever you feel like it, though. The card itself says when, so read it before you count on it. One copy in the whole list, so do not build your turn around it. When it shows up it buys you a turn, and that is already a lot.

Energy is not your only clock. Hoothoot has to climb a step before it becomes Noctowl, and an evolution asleep at the bottom of your deck does you no good at all. The list has that covered. Dawn, which the list runs 2 of, goes into your deck for an evolution. Careful, though: only 14 of the 17 lists bring it, so it is a choice, and players are still arguing about it.

Here is the detail that quietly loses games. To pull Terapagos 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.

Terapagos ex and Wellspring Mask Ogerpon ex carry the "ex" suffix, and your opponent takes 2 Prize cards instead of one when one of them falls. They need 6 to win: 3 well-placed knockouts on those cards 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 Terapagos exBasic	230	Crown Opal	180	Grass + Water + Lightning	Fighting ×2	2
Close Wellspring Mask Ogerpon exBasic	210	Torrential Pump	100	Water + Colorless + Colorless	Lightning ×2	1
Close Fan RotomBasic	70	Assault Landing	70	Colorless	Lightning ×2	1
Close NoctowlStage 1	100	Speed Wing	60	Colorless + Colorless	Lightning ×2	1

The core: the 11 cards every list runs

These 11 cards appear in all 17 lists, without a single exception. That is 25 of the 60 slots. The other 35 are decided player by player.

Look at how those 25 slots break down: 13 Trainers, 12 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 11 cards do not sit at the same count from list to list: Hoothoot (3 to 4), Noctowl (2 to 4) and Fan Rotom (1 to 2), plus 6 more. Add those spreads up and you get 13 copies the 17 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 Hoothoot	SCR 114	Pokémon	leaves
2–4	Close Noctowl	SCR 115	Pokémon	leaves
1–2	Close Fan Rotom	SCR 118	Pokémon	leaves
2	Close Terapagos ex	SCR 128	Pokémon	leaves
1–2	Close Wellspring Mask Ogerpon ex	TWM 64	Pokémon	leaves
3–4	Close Poké Pad	POR 81	Trainer	stays
2–3	Close Area Zero Underdepths	SCR 131	Trainer	leaves
1–2	Close Boss's Orders	MEG 114	Trainer	stays
1–4	Close Lillie's Determination	MEG 119	Trainer	stays
2	Close Night Stretcher	ASC 196	Trainer	leaves
2–4	Close Ultra Ball	MEG 131	Trainer	stays

The 51 cards that change from list to list

51 cards fight over the 35 slots that are left: 11 above three lists in four, 27 below one in four, and the percentage on each row says how many players took it.

The most agreed on first: Fezandipiti ex at 94 %, Buddy-Buddy Poffin at 94 % and Rare Candy at 94 %, plus 8 more above 75 %. Add those to the core and you have the common build.

The dividing line runs through Transformation Tome, at 53 %: 9 of 17 players took it, 8 put something else there. The ones who run it bring 2 copies. Right at the bottom of the table, Unfair Stamp (4 lists out of 17) and Psychic Energy (4 lists out of 17).

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
94 %16/17	Close Fezandipiti ex	1	ASC 142	Pokémon
94 %16/17	Close Buddy-Buddy Poffin	3–4	TEF 144	Trainer
94 %16/17	Close Rare Candy	2–3	MEG 125	Trainer
88 %15/17	Close Glass Trumpet	1–3	SCR 135	Trainer
88 %15/17	Water Energy	2–6	MEE 3	Energy
82 %14/17	Close Duskull	1–3	PRE 35	Pokémon
82 %14/17	Close Dusknoir	1–2	PRE 37	Pokémon
82 %14/17	Close Dawn	1–3	PFL 87	Trainer
76 %13/17	Close Crispin	2–4	SCR 133	Trainer
76 %13/17	Grass Energy	1–2	MEE 1	Energy
76 %13/17	Lightning Energy	1–2	MEE 4	Energy
71 %12/17	Close Dusclops	1–2	PRE 36	Pokémon
71 %12/17	Close Switch	1	MEG 130	Trainer
71 %12/17	Close Tera Orb	1–2	SSP 189	Trainer
65 %11/17	Close Pikipek	1–2	PBL 66	Pokémon
65 %11/17	Close Toucannon	2	PBL 68	Pokémon
65 %11/17	Close Energy Search	1	POR 72	Trainer
65 %11/17	Close Sparkling Crystal	1	SCR 142	Trainer
59 %10/17	Close Trumbeak	1	PBL 67	Pokémon
59 %10/17	Close Brave Bangle	1	WHT 80	Trainer
53 %9/17	Close Transformation Tome	2	CRI 83	Trainer
41 %7/17	Close Air Balloon	1–2	ASC 181	Trainer
29 %5/17	Close Lillie's Clefairy ex	1	JTG 56	Pokémon
29 %5/17	Close Briar	1	SCR 132	Trainer
24 %4/17	Close Unfair Stamp	1	TWM 165	Trainer
24 %4/17	Psychic Energy	4–11	MEE 5	Energy
18 %3/17	Close Special Red Card	1	CRI 82	Trainer
12 %2/17	Close Ralts	3	MEG 58	Pokémon
12 %2/17	Close Latias ex	1–2	SSP 76	Pokémon
12 %2/17	Close Mega Gardevoir ex	2	MEG 60	Pokémon
12 %2/17	Close Bloodmoon Ursaluna ex	1	TWM 141	Pokémon
12 %2/17	Close Kirlia	1	MEG 59	Pokémon
12 %2/17	Close Meowth ex	1	POR 62	Pokémon
12 %2/17	Close Shaymin	1	DRI 10	Pokémon
12 %2/17	Close Judge	1–2	POR 76	Trainer
12 %2/17	Close Wally's Compassion	2	MEG 132	Trainer
12 %2/17	Close Energy Switch	1	MEG 115	Trainer
12 %2/17	Close Prime Catcher	1	TEF 157	Trainer
6 %1/17	Close Bouffalant	3	SCR 119	Pokémon
6 %1/17	Close Seel	3	POR 18	Pokémon
6 %1/17	Close Dewgong	2	POR 19	Pokémon
6 %1/17	Close Budew	1	ASC 16	Pokémon
6 %1/17	Close Chien-Pao	1	SSP 56	Pokémon
6 %1/17	Close Durant ex	1	SSP 4	Pokémon
6 %1/17	Close Koraidon ex	1	ASC 121	Pokémon
6 %1/17	Close Mega Kangaskhan ex	1	MEG 104	Pokémon
6 %1/17	Close Tapu Koko ex	1	JTG 51	Pokémon
6 %1/17	Close Colress's Tenacity	1	SFA 57	Trainer
6 %1/17	Close Jacinthe	1	POR 75	Trainer
6 %1/17	Close Xerosic's Machinations	1	SFA 64	Trainer
6 %1/17	Close Prism Energy	3	ASC 216	Energy

The most common Terapagos ex / Noctowl list, all 60 cards

Here they are in full, ready to build. 25 slots come from the core, the cards all 17 lists run. The remaining 35 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 21 more cards to reach 60. The whole thing comes to 22 Pokémon, 32 Trainers and 6 Energy.

One thing to know before you build it: the 17 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: 22
3 Hoothoot SCR 114
3 Noctowl SCR 115
2 Fan Rotom SCR 118
2 Terapagos ex SCR 128
2 Wellspring Mask Ogerpon ex TWM 64
1 Fezandipiti ex ASC 142
2 Duskull PRE 35
1 Dusknoir PRE 37
1 Dusclops PRE 36
2 Pikipek PBL 66
2 Toucannon PBL 68
1 Trumbeak PBL 67

Trainer: 32
3 Poké Pad POR 81
2 Area Zero Underdepths SCR 131
2 Boss's Orders MEG 114
2 Lillie's Determination MEG 119
2 Night Stretcher ASC 196
2 Ultra Ball MEG 131
4 Buddy-Buddy Poffin TEF 144
3 Rare Candy MEG 125
1 Glass Trumpet SCR 135
2 Dawn PFL 87
2 Crispin SCR 133
1 Switch MEG 130
1 Tera Orb SSP 189
1 Energy Search POR 72
1 Sparkling Crystal SCR 142
1 Brave Bangle WHT 80
2 Transformation Tome CRI 83

Energy: 6
2 Water Energy MEE 3
2 Grass Energy MEE 1
2 Lightning Energy MEE 4

Total Cards: 60

What Terapagos ex / Noctowl costs to build, and how long it will last

You need 62 different cards to cover every version of this deck, 11 of which nobody argues about. We do not have card prices, so we are not going to put a number on it.

All 17 lists bring an ACE SPEC, and that is where they part ways: 11 took Sparkling Crystal, 4 took Unfair Stamp and 2 took Prime Catcher. 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 Sparkling Crystal and watch what the others do with theirs before you switch.

Then there is time. 7 of the 11 core cards carry the letter H, the one that goes at the next rotation: Hoothoot, Noctowl, Fan Rotom and Terapagos ex, plus 3 more. The core table marks every one of them. In copies, that is 16 of the 25 slots the core fills. Which day it lands, we do not know yet.

What Terapagos ex / Noctowl struggles against

The attackers in this deck are Weak to Fighting and Lightning, so they take DOUBLE damage from those types. 17 of the 97 decks we track attack in exactly those types.

Concretely, here is what is waiting for you: Mega Lucario ex, Mega Lucario ex / Hariyama and Cynthia's Garchomp ex, plus 14 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 17 decks out of the 97 we track. The other 80 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 Water, Grass and Lightning, and 10 of the decks we track have an attacker Weak to one of those: Dragapult ex / Blaziken ex, Ethan's Typhlosion and Ceruledge ex, among others. That is you doubling, for once. Second half of the table.

Questions people ask

What is the Terapagos ex / Noctowl deck list?

There isn't one, so we built one for you: all 60 cards are written out further up this page. Across 17 tournament lists harvested between 16 August 2026 and 26 August 2026, 11 cards turn up in every single one, 25 slots out of 60. The remaining 35 change from player to player, with 51 different cards competing for them. Both tables are above.

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

17 lists, played across 17 different tournaments, harvested between 16 August 2026 and 26 August 2026 from play.limitlesstcg.com. All 17 were read card by card, and every card recognised.

Where do I start if I want to build Terapagos ex / Noctowl?

With the whole core: 11 cards, 25 slots. Inside it, buy the 13 Trainer slots and the 0 Energy first: they carry over into your next deck. Leave the 12 Pokémon slots for last. Only then work down the flex table and add the cards the most lists agree on, starting with Fezandipiti ex at 94 % and Buddy-Buddy Poffin at 94 %.

What beats Terapagos ex / Noctowl?

Its attackers are Weak to Fighting and Lightning, so they take double damage from an attacker of that type. 17 of the 97 decks we track play an attacker of that type: Mega Lucario ex, Mega Lucario ex / Hariyama, Cynthia's Garchomp ex and Greninja ex, among others.

Will Terapagos ex / Noctowl survive the next rotation?

Not intact: 7 core cards out of 11 carry the letter H, starting with Hoothoot, Noctowl, Fan Rotom and Terapagos ex, plus 3 more.

Are a lot of people playing Terapagos ex / Noctowl?

We have read 17 lists of it, which puts it 86th of the 97 decks we track by lists read. The platform those tournaments run on counts 17 entries for it, 0.04 % 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.