Decidueye ex deck: the core, the flex slots, and what beats it

What Decidueye ex looks like when you open the box

Across the 18 lists we counted, this deck runs 19 to 27 Pokémon, 26 to 32 Trainers and 5 to 11 Energy. Its attacks are paid for in Grass.

On results pages and on stream you will see it written « decidueye-ex ». 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: 5 to 11 out of 60, when half the 72 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 takes a while to set up. Decidueye 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: 9 to 15 Supporters, 9 to 16 Items, 0 to 5 Tools and 3 to 4 Stadiums, out of 26 to 32 — the median across the 72 decks we track being 31. Items edge it without crushing the Supporters. And it runs up to 4 Stadiums, which is no accident: it plans on bumping the one across the table.

What those four families of Trainer actually do, and why the Energy count says so much: how to read a deck list.

What the card in this deck's name actually does

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

Decidueye ex is in all 18 lists, 3 copies of it. Its Ability is called Sniper's Eye, and here is what is printed on it, word for word: « If your opponent has exactly 4 cards in their hand, ignore all {C} Energy in the costs of attacks used by this Pokémon. »

How Decidueye ex actually wins

Decidueye ex attacks with Crushing Arrow for 240, and it costs 4 Energy (Grass, Colorless, Colorless and Colorless), with 320 HP to absorb the answer. The whole list exists to get it online fast.

Do the arithmetic, it decides your first few turns. One Energy attached a turn, 4 to pay for Crushing Arrow: with no help you swing on turn 4, and every card that accelerates Energy buys one of those turns back.

Here is the detail that quietly loses games: Decidueye ex has a Retreat Cost of 2, which is a whole turn to get it back to the Bench.

Decidueye ex carries the "ex" suffix, and your opponent takes TWO Prize cards instead of one when Decidueye ex falls. They need six to win: three well-placed knockouts on that card beat you, where it would take six 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
Decidueye exStage 2	320	Crushing Arrow	240	Grass + Colorless + Colorless + Colorless	Fire ×2	2
VivillonStage 2	120	Blow Through	60+	Grass	Fire ×2	1
DartrixStage 1	100	Leafage	20	Grass	Fire ×2	2

The core: the 7 cards every list runs

These 7 cards appear in all 18 lists, without a single exception. That is 22 of the 60 slots. The other 38 are decided player by player.

Look at how those 22 slots break down: 10 Trainers, 8 Pokémon, 4 Energy. The balance is a normal one, so it is the cards themselves, more than the split, that give this deck its character.

7 of those 7 cards do not sit at the same count from list to list: Dartrix (2 to 4), Decidueye ex (3 to 4) and Vivillon (2 to 4), plus 4 more. Everybody runs them, the last copy is arguable.

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
2–4	Dartrix	POR 11	Pokémon
3–4	Decidueye ex	POR 12	Pokémon
2–4	Vivillon	POR 9	Pokémon
3–4	Forest of Vitality	MEG 117	Trainer
2–4	Lillie's Determination	MEG 119	Trainer
1–2	Boss's Orders	MEG 114	Trainer
1–9	Grass Energy	MEE 1	Energy

The 56 cards that change from list to list

56 cards fight over the 38 slots that are left: 9 above three lists in four, 31 below one in four, and the percentage on each row says how many players took it.

The most agreed on first: Bug Catching Set at 94 %, Poké Pad at 89 % and Dawn at 89 %, plus 6 more above 75 %. Add those to the core and you have the common build.

The dividing line runs through Colress's Tenacity, at 50 %: 9 of 18 players took it, 9 put something else there. Read its text before you decide. Right at the bottom, Spewpa at 22 % and Dunsparce at 22 %: personal ideas, only worth copying if you know why.

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 %17/18	Bug Catching Set	1–4	TWM 143	Trainer
89 %16/18	Poké Pad	2–4	POR 81	Trainer
89 %16/18	Dawn	1–4	PFL 87	Trainer
83 %15/18	Rowlet	1–4	SFA 3	Pokémon
83 %15/18	Fezandipiti ex	1	ASC 142	Pokémon
83 %15/18	Relicanth	1–2	TEF 84	Pokémon
83 %15/18	Growing Grass Energy	1–4	POR 86	Energy
78 %14/18	Spewpa	2–3	POR 8	Pokémon
78 %14/18	Night Stretcher	1–4	ASC 196	Trainer
67 %12/18	Hilda	1–2	WHT 84	Trainer
61 %11/18	Scatterbug	1–4	SSP 5	Pokémon
61 %11/18	Ultra Ball	1–3	MEG 131	Trainer
61 %11/18	Buddy-Buddy Poffin	2–4	TEF 144	Trainer
56 %10/18	Meowth ex	1	POR 62	Pokémon
56 %10/18	Judge	1–4	POR 76	Trainer
56 %10/18	Air Balloon	1–2	ASC 181	Trainer
56 %10/18	Ignition Energy	1–2	WHT 86	Energy
50 %9/18	Colress's Tenacity	1–2	SFA 57	Trainer
44 %8/18	Scatterbug	1–3	POR 7	Pokémon
44 %8/18	Shaymin	1	DRI 10	Pokémon
39 %7/18	Max Rod	1	PRE 116	Trainer
33 %6/18	Rowlet	1–4	POR 10	Pokémon
33 %6/18	Dudunsparce	2	TEF 129	Pokémon
33 %6/18	Budew	1–2	ASC 16	Pokémon
33 %6/18	Decidueye	1	SFA 5	Pokémon
22 %4/18	Spewpa	2–3	SSP 6	Pokémon
22 %4/18	Dunsparce	2–3	JTG 120	Pokémon
22 %4/18	Celebi	1–3	MEG 12	Pokémon
22 %4/18	Patrat	1	CRI 70	Pokémon
22 %4/18	Psyduck	1	ASC 39	Pokémon
22 %4/18	Rabsca	1	TEF 24	Pokémon
22 %4/18	Sacred Ash	1	DRI 168	Trainer
22 %4/18	Secret Box	1	TWM 163	Trainer
22 %4/18	Team Rocket's Petrel	1–2	DRI 176	Trainer
17 %3/18	Rellor	1	DRI 24	Pokémon
17 %3/18	Gwynn	1–3	PBL 78	Trainer
17 %3/18	Hero's Cape	1	TEF 152	Trainer
17 %3/18	Lana's Aid	1	TWM 155	Trainer
11 %2/18	Dunsparce	2	TEF 128	Pokémon
11 %2/18	Rare Candy	2–4	MEG 125	Trainer
11 %2/18	Crushing Hammer	2	POR 71	Trainer
11 %2/18	Enriching Energy	1	SSP 191	Energy
6 %1/18	Cottonee	2	WHT 4	Pokémon
6 %1/18	Arboliva ex	1	DRI 23	Pokémon
6 %1/18	Dolliv	1	DRI 22	Pokémon
6 %1/18	Rellor	1	TEF 23	Pokémon
6 %1/18	Smoliv	1	DRI 21	Pokémon
6 %1/18	Tatsugiri	1	TWM 131	Pokémon
6 %1/18	Whimsicott ex	1	WHT 5	Pokémon
6 %1/18	Brave Bangle	2	WHT 80	Trainer
6 %1/18	Switch	2	MEG 130	Trainer
6 %1/18	Battle Cage	1	PFL 85	Trainer
6 %1/18	Brock's Scouting	1	JTG 146	Trainer
6 %1/18	Energy Search	1	POR 72	Trainer
6 %1/18	Maximum Belt	1	TEF 154	Trainer
6 %1/18	Legacy Energy	1	TWM 167	Energy

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

You need 63 different cards to cover every version of this deck, 7 of which nobody argues about. We do not have card prices, so we are not going to put a number on it.

Where the money goes, though, we can name: it is Decidueye ex, by a distance. The 10 Trainer slots in the core cost next to nothing, and you probably own some already. All 18 lists bring an ACE SPEC, and that is where they part ways: 7 took Max Rod, 4 took Secret Box and 3 took Hero's Cape. The flex table shows you all 6. 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 Max Rod and watch what the others do with theirs before you switch.

Then there is time, and the answer is a good one: not one of the 7 core cards carries the letter H, the one that goes at the next rotation. This deck walks through the change whole.

What Decidueye ex struggles against

The attackers in this deck are Weak to Fire, so they take DOUBLE damage from that type. 6 of the 72 decks we track attack in exactly that type.

Concretely, here is what is waiting for you: Dragapult ex / Blaziken ex, Ethan's Typhlosion and Ceruledge ex, plus 3 more decks. The table below takes them one at a time, and those are the lists you practise against first before an event.

Do not stop at this table, though. This deck spends three cards getting Decidueye ex standing, and the deck that hurts you most this season may simply be the one that swings before your line is up, without ever touching your Weakness.

Going the other way, your attackers are Grass, and 16 of the decks we track have an attacker Weak to one of those: N's Zoroark ex, Marnie's Grimmsnarl ex / Froslass and Mega Lucario ex, among others. That is you doubling, for once. Second half of the table.

Questions people ask

What is the Decidueye ex deck list?

There isn't one, and that is the whole point. Across 18 tournament lists harvested on 16 August 2026, 7 cards turn up in every single one — 22 slots out of 60. The remaining 38 change from player to player, with 56 different cards competing for them. Both tables are above.

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

18 lists, played across 18 different tournaments, harvested on 16 August 2026 from play.limitlesstcg.com. All 18 were read card by card, and every card recognised.

Where do I start if I want to build Decidueye ex?

With the whole core: 7 cards, 22 slots. Inside it, buy the 10 Trainer slots and the 4 Energy first — they are cheap and they carry over into your next deck. Leave Decidueye ex for last, because that is the bill. Only then work down the flex table and add the cards the most lists agree on, starting with Bug Catching Set at 94 % and Poké Pad at 89 %.

What beats Decidueye ex?

Its attackers are Weak to Fire, so they take double damage from an attacker of that type. 6 of the 72 decks we track play an attacker of that type: Dragapult ex / Blaziken ex, Ethan's Typhlosion, Ceruledge ex and Blaziken / N's Zoroark ex, among others.

Will Decidueye ex survive the next rotation?

Yes, whole: not one of the 7 core cards carries the letter H. At equal price, that is the argument that should settle where your money goes.

Are a lot of people playing Decidueye ex?

We have read 18 lists of it, which puts it 71th of the 72 decks we track by lists read. The platform those tournaments run on counts 24 entries for it, 0.09 % 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.