Cynthia's Garchomp ex deck: the core, the flex slots, and what beats it

What this deck looks like when you open the box

Across the 18 lists we counted, this deck runs 19 to 22 Pokémon, 30 to 33 Trainers and 7 to 9 Energy. Its attacks are paid for in Fighting and Grass.

Limitless files it under « cynthia-garchomp-ex », and that is the label you will see on results pages and on stream. Every card named in it turns up in the core below, which is what makes it a fair name for the deck.

Look at the Energy count first: 7 to 9 out of 60. No single number tells you more about how a deck breathes. A lot of Energy means it wants to load up one big Pokémon and swing hard. Very little means it lives on cheap attacks and on Trainers to dig out whatever it is missing.

It takes a while to set up. Cynthia's Garchomp ex 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.

On the Trainer side: 10 to 12 Supporters, 15 to 19 Items, 3 to 4 Tools and 0 to 2 Stadiums. Worth saying out loud, because everyone forgets it once a tournament: you only get ONE Supporter a turn, while you can chain as many Items as you like. So a deck full of Items takes longer, louder turns than a deck full of Supporters.

How it actually wins

Cynthia's Garchomp ex attacks with Draconic Buster for 260, and it costs 2 Energy (Fighting and Fighting). It has 330 HP to absorb the answer. Everything else in the list is built around getting that card online.

Do the arithmetic with us, because it decides your first few turns. You attach one Energy a turn by hand. Cynthia's Garchomp ex wants 2. With no help, that means you swing on turn 2 at the earliest. Every card in this deck that accelerates Energy or fetches a Pokémon buys back a turn on that count, and at this level a turn is a game.

Good news on mobility: Cynthia's Garchomp ex retreats for 0 Energy. You can pull it out of the Active spot without throwing away your turn, and that matters enormously when your opponent lands something nasty on it.

1 of the core Pokémon carry the « ex » suffix. Those are the big ones: high HP, attacks that hurt, and the price tag to match. They also cost you more when they fall — an opponent takes extra Prize cards for knocking out an ex, so every trade you lose there walks you towards the loss faster than you think.

The attackers in the deck's core, with their best attack, its cost and their Weakness

Pokémon	HP	Attack	Damage	Cost	Weakness	Retreat
Cynthia's Garchomp exStage 2	330	Draconic Buster	260	Fighting + Fighting	Grass ×2	0
Cynthia's RoseradeStage 1	130	Leaf Step	80	Grass + Colorless + Colorless	Fire ×2	1
Cynthia's GabiteStage 1	100	Dragonslice	40	Fighting	Grass ×2	1
Cynthia's GibleBasic	70	Rock Hurl	20	Fighting	Grass ×2	1

The core: the 14 cards every list runs

These 14 cards appear in all 18 lists, without a single exception. That is 47 of the 60 slots. The other 13 are decided player by player.

This is the most useful table on the page, and nobody publishes it. Everywhere else you get one list, from one player, who won one tournament. Fine — but you have no way of telling which parts of it were the deck and which parts were that person's idea on the day. Counting 18 lists settles the question by itself: what 18 people put in their deck without talking to each other IS the deck.

A word on the count column. We give you the number that comes up most often, and where the lists disagree we give you the range instead. A card sitting at "3 to 4" is one everybody plays but whose fourth copy is up for debate. That is exactly the kind of slot you reclaim when you want to fit an idea of your own.

The code next to the name — "TWM 130" and the like — is the set and the collector number, printed at the bottom of the card. We show you the printing the lists use most often, because two cards can share a name and have completely different attacks. Check that number before you buy anything.

The cards present in every list counted, with the number of copies

Copies	Card	Printing	Kind	Rotation
4	Cynthia's Gabite	DRI 103	Pokémon	stays
4	Cynthia's Gible	DRI 102	Pokémon	stays
3–4	Cynthia's Roselia	DRI 7	Pokémon	stays
2–3	Cynthia's Garchomp ex	DRI 104	Pokémon	stays
3–4	Cynthia's Roserade	DRI 8	Pokémon	stays
1	Cynthia's Spiritomb	DRI 129	Pokémon	stays
3–4	Buddy-Buddy Poffin	TEF 144	Trainer	leaves
4	Lillie's Determination	MEG 119	Trainer	stays
3–4	Poké Pad	POR 81	Trainer	stays
2–4	Boss's Orders	MEG 114	Trainer	stays
3–4	Cynthia's Power Weight	DRI 162	Trainer	stays
2–4	Fighting Gong	MEG 116	Trainer	stays
3–4	Fighting Energy	MEE 6	Energy	stays
3–4	Rocky Fighting Energy	POR 87	Energy	stays

What changes from one list to the next

27 cards show up in some lists and not in others. The percentage tells you how many lists run each one: at 50%, half the players want it and the other half deliberately chose something else.

Do not read this table as a ranking from best to worst. A card sitting at 80% is one four players in five find useful and the fifth cut on purpose, usually because they were expecting a different field. That disagreement is worth something on its own.

Here is how to use it when you build. Take the whole core first, no arguing. Then walk down this list and stop on every card you do not understand: read its text, work out what it is answering. A card you cannot explain is a card you will misplay, even if the champion had it in their list.

And if this is your first time with the deck, build the boring version — the full core plus the most common cards from here. Understand the deck before you start tinkering with it. That order is the only one that works.

The cards some lists run and others don't, most common first

Lists running it	Card	Copies	Printing	Kind
94 %17/18	Hilda	1–3	WHT 84	Trainer
94 %17/18	Pokégear 3.0	1–4	SVI 186	Trainer
94 %17/18	Night Stretcher	1–2	ASC 196	Trainer
94 %17/18	Neo Upper Energy	1	TEF 162	Energy
72 %13/18	Premium Power Pro	1–2	MEG 124	Trainer
56 %10/18	Rare Candy	1	MEG 125	Trainer
50 %9/18	Shaymin	1	DRI 10	Pokémon
39 %7/18	Special Red Card	1	CRI 82	Trainer
33 %6/18	Switch	1	MEG 130	Trainer
33 %6/18	Team Rocket's Petrel	1–2	DRI 176	Trainer
28 %5/18	AZ's Tranquility	1	CRI 76	Trainer
28 %5/18	Battle Cage	1	PFL 85	Trainer
28 %5/18	Judge	1–4	POR 76	Trainer
28 %5/18	Kieran	1	TWM 154	Trainer
17 %3/18	Forest of Vitality	1–2	MEG 117	Trainer
17 %3/18	Gwynn	1–2	PBL 78	Trainer
17 %3/18	Team Rocket's Watchtower	1	DRI 180	Trainer
11 %2/18	Patrat	1	CRI 70	Pokémon
6 %1/18	Budew	1	ASC 16	Pokémon
6 %1/18	Cornerstone Mask Ogerpon ex	1	TWM 112	Pokémon
6 %1/18	Genesect	1	SFA 40	Pokémon
6 %1/18	Relicanth	1	TEF 84	Pokémon
6 %1/18	Air Balloon	1	ASC 181	Trainer
6 %1/18	Lana's Aid	1	TWM 155	Trainer
6 %1/18	Prime Catcher	1	TEF 157	Trainer
6 %1/18	Sacred Ash	1	DRI 168	Trainer
6 %1/18	Ultra Ball	1	MEG 131	Trainer

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

You need 41 different cards to cover every version of this deck, 14 of which nobody argues about. We do not have card prices, so we are not going to put a number on it.

What we can tell you is where the money goes. 1 ex Pokémon in the core, and they are almost the whole bill. The Trainers and basic Energy are near enough free, or already in your box. This deck runs no ACE SPEC card at all.

Now the question nobody asks you before you pay: how long will this deck stay legal? Of the 14 core cards, 1 carry the letter H in the bottom-left corner. That is the oldest letter still allowed in tournaments, which makes it the one that goes at the next rotation. Those 1 cards have an expiry date. We do not know what that date is — the publisher announces it and it appears in no card data — but we do know exactly which cards leave.

One last piece of old-player advice. Never build a deck card by card starting with the prettiest one. Start with the core Trainers: they are cheap, they carry over into other decks, and they are what makes the machine run. Buy the expensive Pokémon last, once you know you actually enjoy the deck.

What this deck struggles against

The attackers in this deck are Weak to Grass and Fire. A card with a Weakness takes DOUBLE damage from an attacker of that type. Of the decks we track, 16 attack in exactly that type.

Here is how the table below is built. The Weakness is printed on your cards, the type of the attacker across the table is printed on theirs, and the fact that this particular deck really does play that attacker is counted off its own lists. You can check every line of it with the cards in your hand.

One limit, while we are here. Weakness alone does not decide a match. A deck can double your damage and still lose because it sets up too slowly, or crush you without ever touching your Weakness. This table tells you where to look first. What settles the game sits further along.

Going the other way, your attackers are Fighting and Grass — and 26 of the decks we track have an attacker Weak to one of those. That is you doubling, for once. Second half of the table.

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.