Toxtricity / Brute Bonnet

What Toxtricity / Brute Bonnet looks like when you open the box

Across the 13 lists we counted, this deck runs 16 to 19 Pokémon, 28 to 33 Trainers and 9 to 16 Energy. Its attacks are paid for in Darkness.

On results pages and on stream you will see it written « toxtricity-brute-bonnet ». 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: 9 to 16 out of 60, when half the 127 decks we track run 11 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.

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: 28 to 33 cards out of 60, against a median of 31 across the 127 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 18 Items you can play all of in the same turn. It also brings up to 3 Stadiums, and 119 of the 127 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

Toxtricity and Brute Bonnet give this deck its name. Here is what is written on them.

Toxtricity is in all 13 lists, 3 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. »

Brute Bonnet is in all 13 lists, 2 copies of it. Its attack Poison Spray costs 1 Energy (Darkness) 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: « Your opponent's Active Pokémon is now Poisoned. »

How Toxtricity / Brute Bonnet actually wins

Toxtricity attacks with Gentle Slap for 100. It needs 3 Energy, 2 Darkness and 1 Colorless attached, and it has 140 HP.

The cost of Gentle Slap 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 it charges itself. Toxtricity, which the list runs 3 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 Toxtricity 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.

Pecharunt ex carries the "ex" suffix, and your opponent takes 2 Prize cards instead of one when Pecharunt ex falls. They need 6 to win: 3 well-placed knockouts on that card 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 ToxtricityStage 1	140	Gentle Slap	100		Fighting ×2	2
Close Pecharunt exBasic	190	Irritated Outburst	60×		Fighting ×2	1
Close Brute BonnetBasic	120	Relentless Punches	50+		Grass ×2	3
Close ToxelBasic	70	Playful Kick	20		Fighting ×2	1

The core: the 9 cards every list runs

These 9 cards appear in all 13 lists, without a single exception. That is 35 of the 60 slots. The other 25 are decided player by player.

Look at how those 35 slots break down: 15 Trainers, 10 Pokémon, 10 Energy. Nothing stands out in that split. What sets this deck apart is how thick its core is: 35 of the 60 slots are the same for everybody, when half the 127 decks we track fix 25 or fewer. Fewer choices left to you than usual, and fewer ways to get them wrong.

8 of those 9 cards do not sit at the same count from list to list: Toxel (3 to 4), Toxtricity (3 to 4) and Pecharunt ex (1 to 2), plus 5 more. Add those spreads up and you get 12 copies the 13 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	Close Brute Bonnet	TWM 118	Pokémon	leaves
1–2	Close Pecharunt ex	SFA 39	Pokémon	leaves
3–4	Close Lillie's Determination	MEG 119	Trainer	stays
2–4	Close Poké Pad	POR 81	Trainer	stays
2–4	Close Team Rocket's Petrel	DRI 176	Trainer	stays
2–4	Close Boss's Orders	MEG 114	Trainer	stays
9–11	Darkness Energy	MEE 15	Energy	stays

The 41 cards that change from list to list

41 cards fight over the 25 slots that are left: 10 above three lists in four, 17 below one in four, and the percentage on each row says how many players took it.

The most agreed on first: Munkidori at 92 %, Fezandipiti ex at 92 % and Air Balloon at 92 %, plus 7 more above 75 %. Add those to the core and you have the common build.

The dividing line runs through Punk Helmet, at 54 %: 7 of 13 players took it, 6 put something else there. The ones who run it bring 2 copies. Right at the bottom of the table, Switch (3 lists out of 13) and Shaymin (2 lists out of 13).

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
92 %12/13	Close Munkidori	2–3	TWM 95	Pokémon
92 %12/13	Close Fezandipiti ex	1	ASC 142	Pokémon
92 %12/13	Close Air Balloon	1–2	ASC 181	Trainer
92 %12/13	Close Energy Recycler	1–2	DRI 164	Trainer
92 %12/13	Close Night Stretcher	2–4	ASC 196	Trainer
85 %11/13	Close Chi-Yu	1–2	PBL 59	Pokémon
85 %11/13	Close Pecharunt	1	SVP 149	Pokémon
85 %11/13	Close Buddy-Buddy Poffin	1–4	TEF 144	Trainer
85 %11/13	Close Team Rocket's Watchtower	1–2	DRI 180	Trainer
85 %11/13	Close Ultra Ball	1–2	MEG 131	Trainer
69 %9/13	Close Energy Switch	1–2	MEG 115	Trainer
62 %8/13	Close Team Rocket's Factory	1	DRI 173	Trainer
54 %7/13	Close Punk Helmet	1–2	PFL 92	Trainer
54 %7/13	Close Dark Bell	1–4	PBL 75	Trainer
54 %7/13	Close Xerosic's Machinations	1	SFA 64	Trainer
46 %6/13	Close Budew	1	ASC 16	Pokémon
46 %6/13	Close Mega Darkrai ex	1–3	PBL 48	Pokémon
46 %6/13	Close Unfair Stamp	1	TWM 165	Trainer
38 %5/13	Close Yveltal	1–2	MEG 88	Pokémon
38 %5/13	Close Team Rocket's Transceiver	1–4	DRI 178	Trainer
38 %5/13	Close Secret Box	1	TWM 163	Trainer
31 %4/13	Close Tatsugiri	1	TWM 131	Pokémon
31 %4/13	Close Pokégear 3.0	1–3	SVI 186	Trainer
31 %4/13	Close Special Red Card	1	CRI 82	Trainer
23 %3/13	Close Switch	1–2	MEG 130	Trainer
15 %2/13	Close Shaymin	1	DRI 10	Pokémon
15 %2/13	Close Team Rocket's Sneasel	1	DRI 128	Pokémon
15 %2/13	Close Hassel	1–2	TWM 151	Trainer
15 %2/13	Close Judge	1	POR 76	Trainer
15 %2/13	Close Precious Trolley	1	SSP 185	Trainer
8 %1/13	Close Mega Dragalge ex	3	CRI 65	Pokémon
8 %1/13	Close Skrelp	3	CRI 58	Pokémon
8 %1/13	Close Yveltal ex	1	POR 53	Pokémon
8 %1/13	Close Energy Search	4	POR 72	Trainer
8 %1/13	Close Mega Signal	3	MEG 121	Trainer
8 %1/13	Close Binding Mochi	2	PRE 95	Trainer
8 %1/13	Close Lisia's Appeal	2	SSP 179	Trainer
8 %1/13	Close Risky Ruins	2	MEG 127	Trainer
8 %1/13	Close Brock's Scouting	1	JTG 146	Trainer
8 %1/13	Close Sacred Ash	1	DRI 168	Trainer
8 %1/13	Water Energy	6	MEE 3	Energy

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

You need 50 different cards to cover every version of this deck, 9 of which nobody argues about. The rest is where lists differ from one another, and that is where you have room to choose.

All 13 lists bring an ACE SPEC, and that is where they part ways: 6 took Unfair Stamp, 5 took Secret Box and 2 took Precious Trolley. 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. 2 of the 9 core cards carry the letter H, the one that goes at the next rotation: Brute Bonnet and Pecharunt ex. The core table marks every one of them. In copies, that is 3 of the 35 slots the core fills. Which day it lands, we do not know yet.

What Toxtricity / Brute Bonnet struggles against

The attackers in this deck are Weak to Fighting and Grass, so they take DOUBLE damage from those types. 33 of the 127 decks we track attack in exactly those types.

Concretely, here is what is waiting for you: Mega Lucario ex / Hariyama, Teal Mask Ogerpon ex / Meganium / Hydrapple ex and Festival Lead (Thwackey), plus 30 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 33 decks out of the 127 we track. The other 94 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 26 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.