Toxtricity

What Toxtricity looks like when you open the box

Across the 75 lists we counted, this deck runs 16 to 20 Pokémon, 29 to 34 Trainers and 9 to 12 Energy. Its attacks are paid for in Darkness and Psychic.

On results pages and on stream you will see it written « toxtricity-box ». The cards we can recognise in that label are Toxtricity. The bit « box » 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: 9 to 12 out of 60, exactly the median of the 126 decks we track. It draws neither too much nor too little, so this is not where its games are won or lost.

It sets up fast. Toxtricity 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: 29 to 34 cards out of 60, against a median of 31 across the 126 decks we track. Inside that, 10 to 14 Supporters, and the rule there is strict — one a turn, even if you are holding three. The 13 to 19 Items you can play all of in the same turn. It also brings up to 3 Stadiums, and 119 of the 126 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

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

Toxtricity is in all 75 lists, 4 copies of it. Its Ability is called Sinister Surge, and here is what is printed on it, word for word: « Once during your turn, you may use this Ability. Search your deck for a Basic {D} Energy card and attach it to 1 of your Benched {D} Pokémon. Then, shuffle your deck. If you attached Energy to a Pokémon in this way, place 2 damage counters on that Pokémon. »

How Toxtricity actually wins

Mega Absol ex attacks with Claw of Darkness for 200. It needs 3 Energy, 2 Darkness and 1 Colorless attached, and it has 280 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: "Your opponent reveals their hand, and you discard a card you find there."

The cost of Claw of Darkness 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. Toxtricity, which the list runs 4 of, has an Ability called Sinister Surge: it goes into your deck for Energy and attaches it. An Ability costs you nothing: not your attack, not your card for the turn. 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 Mega Absol 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 Absol 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. Pecharunt ex carries 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 Mega Absol exBasic	280	Claw of Darkness	200		Grass ×2	2
Close ToxtricityStage 1	140	Gentle Slap	100		Fighting ×2	2
Close MunkidoriBasic	110	Mind Bend	60		Darkness ×2	1
Close Pecharunt exBasic	190	Irritated Outburst	60×		Fighting ×2	1

The core: the 12 cards every list runs

These 12 cards appear in all 75 lists, without a single exception. That is 38 of the 60 slots. The other 22 are decided player by player.

Look at how those 38 slots break down: 15 Trainers, 13 Pokémon, 10 Energy. Nothing stands out in that split. What sets this deck apart is how thick its core is: 38 of the 60 slots are the same for everybody, when half the 126 decks we track fix 25 or fewer. Fewer choices left to you than usual, and fewer ways to get them wrong.

10 of those 12 cards do not sit at the same count from list to list: Toxel (3 to 4), Toxtricity (3 to 4) and Munkidori (2 to 3), plus 7 more. Add those spreads up and you get 16 copies the 75 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 Toxel	PFL 67	Pokémon	stays
3–4	Close Toxtricity	PFL 68	Pokémon	stays
2–3	Close Munkidori	TWM 95	Pokémon	leaves
1	Close Mega Absol ex	MEG 86	Pokémon	stays
1	Close Pecharunt ex	SFA 39	Pokémon	leaves
2–4	Close Lillie's Determination	MEG 119	Trainer	stays
3–4	Close Poké Pad	POR 81	Trainer	stays
1–3	Close Energy Switch	MEG 115	Trainer	stays
2–3	Close Night Stretcher	ASC 196	Trainer	leaves
1–4	Close Team Rocket's Petrel	DRI 176	Trainer	stays
1–2	Close Special Red Card	CRI 82	Trainer	stays
9–12	Darkness Energy	MEE 7	Energy	stays

The 44 cards that change from list to list

44 cards fight over the 22 slots that are left: 13 above three lists in four, 26 below one in four, and the percentage on each row says how many players took it.

The most agreed on first: Brute Bonnet at 99 %, Boss's Orders at 99 % and Air Balloon at 99 %, plus 10 more above 75 %. Add those to the core and you have the common build.

The dividing line runs through Lumiose City, at 45 %: 34 of 75 players took it, 41 put something else there. The ones who run it bring 1 copy. Right at the bottom of the table, Yveltal (13 lists out of 75) and Team Rocket's Sneasel (10 lists out of 75).

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
99 %74/75	Close Brute Bonnet	1–2	TWM 118	Pokémon
99 %74/75	Close Boss's Orders	1–3	MEG 114	Trainer
99 %74/75	Close Air Balloon	1–3	ASC 181	Trainer
99 %74/75	Close Energy Recycler	1–2	DRI 164	Trainer
99 %74/75	Close Buddy-Buddy Poffin	1–4	TEF 144	Trainer
97 %73/75	Close Ultra Ball	1–4	MEG 131	Trainer
95 %71/75	Close Fezandipiti ex	1	ASC 142	Pokémon
95 %71/75	Close Team Rocket's Watchtower	1–2	DRI 180	Trainer
91 %68/75	Close Chi-Yu	1–2	PBL 59	Pokémon
89 %67/75	Close Pecharunt	1–2	SVP 149	Pokémon
89 %67/75	Close Secret Box	1	TWM 163	Trainer
85 %64/75	Close Pokégear 3.0	1–3	SVI 186	Trainer
77 %58/75	Close Shaymin	1	DRI 10	Pokémon
56 %42/75	Close Judge	1–4	POR 76	Trainer
45 %34/75	Close Lumiose City	1–2	POR 77	Trainer
43 %32/75	Close Morty's Conviction	1–2	TEF 155	Trainer
32 %24/75	Close Hassel	1–3	TWM 151	Trainer
31 %23/75	Close Team Rocket's Factory	1	DRI 173	Trainer
17 %13/75	Close Yveltal	1	MEG 88	Pokémon
13 %10/75	Close Team Rocket's Sneasel	1	DRI 128	Pokémon
11 %8/75	Close Team Rocket's Transceiver	1–2	DRI 178	Trainer
9 %7/75	Close Dark Bell	1–2	PBL 75	Trainer
9 %7/75	Close Unfair Stamp	1	TWM 165	Trainer
7 %5/75	Close Mega Darkrai ex	1	PBL 48	Pokémon
7 %5/75	Close Xerosic's Machinations	1	SFA 64	Trainer
5 %4/75	Close Iris's Fighting Spirit	2	JTG 149	Trainer
3 %2/75	Close Psyduck	1	ASC 39	Pokémon
3 %2/75	Close Janine's Secret Art	1–2	PRE 112	Trainer
3 %2/75	Close Punk Helmet	1–2	PFL 92	Trainer
3 %2/75	Close Team Rocket's Venture Bomb	1–2	DRI 179	Trainer
3 %2/75	Close Binding Mochi	1	PRE 95	Trainer
1 %1/75	Close Mega Scrafty ex	3	ASC 135	Pokémon
1 %1/75	Close Scraggy	3	SVP 186	Pokémon
1 %1/75	Close Mega Kangaskhan ex	2	MEG 104	Pokémon
1 %1/75	Close Meowth ex	1	POR 62	Pokémon
1 %1/75	Close Scraggy	1	30C 94	Pokémon
1 %1/75	Close Tatsugiri	1	TWM 131	Pokémon
1 %1/75	Close Lacey	2	SCR 139	Trainer
1 %1/75	Close Risky Ruins	2	MEG 127	Trainer
1 %1/75	Close Acerola's Mischief	1	MEG 113	Trainer
1 %1/75	Close Gwynn	1	PBL 78	Trainer
1 %1/75	Close Kieran	1	TWM 154	Trainer
1 %1/75	Close Scoop Up Cyclone	1	TWM 162	Trainer
1 %1/75	Close Switch	1	MEG 130	Trainer

The most common Toxtricity list, all 60 cards

Here they are in full, ready to build. 38 slots come from the core, the cards all 75 lists run. The remaining 22 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 16 more cards to reach 60. The whole thing comes to 18 Pokémon, 32 Trainers and 10 Energy.

One thing to know before you build it: the 75 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.

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: 18
4 Toxel PFL 67
4 Toxtricity PFL 68
3 Munkidori TWM 95
1 Mega Absol ex MEG 86
1 Pecharunt ex SFA 39
1 Brute Bonnet TWM 118
1 Fezandipiti ex ASC 142
1 Chi-Yu PBL 59
1 Pecharunt SVP 149
1 Shaymin DRI 10

Trainer: 32
4 Lillie's Determination MEG 119
4 Poké Pad POR 81
2 Energy Switch MEG 115
2 Night Stretcher ASC 196
2 Team Rocket's Petrel DRI 176
1 Special Red Card CRI 82
3 Boss's Orders MEG 114
2 Air Balloon ASC 181
2 Energy Recycler DRI 164
1 Buddy-Buddy Poffin TEF 144
1 Ultra Ball MEG 131
2 Team Rocket's Watchtower DRI 180
1 Secret Box TWM 163
2 Pokégear 3.0 SVI 186
1 Judge POR 76
1 Lumiose City POR 77
1 Morty's Conviction TEF 155

Energy: 10
10 Darkness Energy MEE 7

Total Cards: 60

How many different cards Toxtricity needs, and how long it will last

You need 56 different cards to cover every version of this deck, 12 of which nobody argues about. The rest is where lists differ from one another, and that is where you have room to choose.

All 75 lists bring an ACE SPEC, and that is where they part ways: 67 took Secret Box, 7 took Unfair Stamp and 1 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. 3 of the 12 core cards carry the letter H, the one that goes at the next rotation: Munkidori, Pecharunt ex and Night Stretcher. The core table marks every one of them. In copies, that is 6 of the 38 slots the core fills. Which day it lands, we do not know yet.

What Toxtricity struggles against

The attackers in this deck are Weak to Grass, Fighting and Darkness, so they take DOUBLE damage from those types. 50 of the 126 decks we track attack in exactly those types.

Concretely, here is what is waiting for you: N's Zoroark ex, Mega Lucario ex / Hariyama and Mega Sharpedo ex / Toxtricity, plus 47 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 50 decks out of the 126 we track. The other 76 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 Darkness and Psychic, and 31 of the decks we track have an attacker Weak to one of those: Latias ex / Mega Kangaskhan ex, N's Zoroark ex and Slowking, among others. That is you doubling, for once. Second half of the table.