Dudunsparce deck: the core, the flex slots, and what beats it

What Dudunsparce looks like when you open the box

Across the 10 lists we counted, this deck runs 15 to 22 Pokémon, 31 to 39 Trainers and 6 to 7 Energy. Its attacks do not ask for any particular type of Energy.

On results pages and on stream you will see it written « dudunsparce-control ». The cards we can recognise in that label are Dudunsparce. The bit « control » 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: 6 to 7 out of 60, when half the 91 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. Dudunsparce 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.

On the Trainer side: 7 to 13 Supporters, 12 to 22 Items, 2 to 4 Tools and 2 to 4 Stadiums, out of 31 to 39 — the median across the 91 decks we track being 31. Items dominate, so expect long turns where you chain five or six before you swing. 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

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

Dudunsparce is in all 10 lists, 3 copies of it. Its Ability is called Run Away Draw, and here is what is printed on it, word for word: « Once during your turn, you may draw 3 cards. If you drew any cards in this way, shuffle this Pokémon and all attached cards into your deck. »

How Dudunsparce actually wins

Dudunsparce attacks with Land Crush for 90, and it costs 3 Energy (Colorless, Colorless and Colorless), with 140 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, 3 to pay for Land Crush: with no help you swing on turn 3, and every card that accelerates Energy buys one of those turns back.

Here is the detail that quietly loses games: Dudunsparce has a Retreat Cost of 3, which is a whole turn to get it back to the Bench.

Not one ex Pokémon in the core, and only 18 of the 91 decks we track are in that position. It is a hidden advantage: every knockout your opponent takes is worth a single Prize, so they need six, where three would do against a deck stuffed with ex cards.

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

Pokémon	HP	Attack	Damage	Cost	Weakness	Retreat
DudunsparceStage 1	140	Land Crush	90	Colorless + Colorless + Colorless	Fighting ×2	3
ElgyemBasic	60	Beam	40	Colorless + Colorless + Colorless	none	1

The core: the 9 cards every list runs

These 9 cards appear in all 10 lists, without a single exception. That is 26 of the 60 slots. The other 34 are decided player by player.

Look at how those 26 slots break down: 18 Trainers, 5 Pokémon, 3 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.

5 of those 9 cards do not sit at the same count from list to list: Dudunsparce (3 to 4), Buddy-Buddy Poffin (3 to 4) and Boss's Orders (2 to 3), plus 2 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	Rotation
3–4	Dudunsparce	TEF 129	Pokémon	leaves
2	Elgyem	BLK 40	Pokémon	stays
3–4	Buddy-Buddy Poffin	TEF 144	Trainer	leaves
4	Lillie's Determination	MEG 119	Trainer	stays
4	Poké Pad	POR 81	Trainer	stays
2–3	Boss's Orders	MEG 114	Trainer	stays
2	Night Stretcher	ASC 196	Trainer	leaves
1–3	Handheld Fan	TWM 150	Trainer	leaves
2–4	Psychic Energy	MEE 5	Energy	stays

The 53 cards that change from list to list

53 cards fight over the 34 slots that are left: 8 above three lists in four, 21 below one in four, and the percentage on each row says how many players took it.

The most agreed on first: Clefairy at 90 %, Dedenne at 90 % and Dunsparce at 90 %, plus 5 more above 75 %. Add those to the core and you have the common build.

The dividing line runs through Drilbur, at 60 %: 6 of 10 players took it, 4 put something else there. Read its text before you decide. Right at the bottom, Cornerstone Mask Ogerpon ex at 20 % and Patrat at 20 %: 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
90 %9/10	Clefairy	1–2	POR 30	Pokémon
90 %9/10	Dedenne	1	SSP 87	Pokémon
90 %9/10	Dunsparce	1–4	TEF 128	Pokémon
90 %9/10	Prism Energy	1–2	ASC 216	Energy
80 %8/10	Dunsparce	2–4	JTG 120	Pokémon
80 %8/10	Ethan's Sudowoodo	1	DRI 93	Pokémon
80 %8/10	Psyduck	1	ASC 39	Pokémon
80 %8/10	Fighting Energy	1	MEE 6	Energy
70 %7/10	Bastiodon	2–3	PBL 62	Pokémon
70 %7/10	Shieldon	1–3	PBL 61	Pokémon
70 %7/10	Antique Armor Fossil	3–4	PBL 72	Trainer
70 %7/10	Fossil Quarry	2–3	PBL 76	Trainer
60 %6/10	Drilbur	1	SSP 108	Pokémon
60 %6/10	Fan Rotom	1	SCR 118	Pokémon
60 %6/10	Ultra Ball	2–4	MEG 131	Trainer
60 %6/10	Gravity Gemstone	1–3	SCR 137	Trainer
60 %6/10	Rare Candy	1–2	MEG 125	Trainer
60 %6/10	Eri	1	TEF 146	Trainer
60 %6/10	Special Red Card	1	CRI 82	Trainer
60 %6/10	Switch	1–2	MEG 130	Trainer
60 %6/10	Unfair Stamp	1	TWM 165	Trainer
60 %6/10	Magnetic Metal Energy	1–2	CRI 85	Energy
40 %4/10	Accompanying Flute	1–2	TWM 142	Trainer
40 %4/10	Redeemable Ticket	1	JTG 156	Trainer
40 %4/10	Xerosic's Machinations	1–2	SFA 64	Trainer
30 %3/10	Cubchoo	1	BLK 25	Pokémon
30 %3/10	Latias ex	1–2	SSP 76	Pokémon
30 %3/10	Shaymin	1	DRI 10	Pokémon
30 %3/10	Battle Cage	2	PFL 85	Trainer
30 %3/10	Hilda	2	WHT 84	Trainer
30 %3/10	Telepathic Psychic Energy	2	POR 88	Energy
30 %3/10	Water Energy	1	MEE 3	Energy
20 %2/10	Cornerstone Mask Ogerpon ex	1	TWM 112	Pokémon
20 %2/10	Patrat	1	CRI 70	Pokémon
20 %2/10	Shuckle	1	MEG 11	Pokémon
20 %2/10	Team Rocket's Larvitar	1	DRI 94	Pokémon
20 %2/10	Turtonator	1	POR 17	Pokémon
20 %2/10	Dawn	1	PFL 87	Trainer
20 %2/10	Lana's Aid	1	TWM 155	Trainer
20 %2/10	Meddling Memo	1	SSP 181	Trainer
20 %2/10	Miracle Headset	1	SSP 183	Trainer
20 %2/10	Ruffian	1	JTG 157	Trainer
10 %1/10	Budew	1	ASC 16	Pokémon
10 %1/10	Lillie's Cutiefly	1	JTG 66	Pokémon
10 %1/10	Lillie's Ribombee	1	JTG 67	Pokémon
10 %1/10	Maractus	1	JTG 8	Pokémon
10 %1/10	Totodile	1	TEF 39	Pokémon
10 %1/10	Crushing Hammer	4	POR 71	Trainer
10 %1/10	Colress's Tenacity	3	SFA 57	Trainer
10 %1/10	Enhanced Hammer	2	TWM 148	Trainer
10 %1/10	Grand Tree	1	SCR 136	Trainer
10 %1/10	Nighttime Mine	1	ASC 197	Trainer
10 %1/10	Scoop Up Cyclone	1	TWM 162	Trainer

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

You need 62 different cards to cover every version of this deck, 9 of which nobody argues about. We do not have card prices, so we are not going to put a number on it.

Nothing here really weighs on the bill. There is no ex Pokémon in this core at all, which is very good news for your wallet, because the expensive cards in a deck are almost always the ex ones. All 10 lists bring an ACE SPEC, and that is where they part ways: 6 took Unfair Stamp, 2 took Miracle Headset and 1 took Grand Tree. The flex table shows you all 4. 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. 4 of the 9 core cards carry the letter H, the one that goes at the next rotation: Dudunsparce, Buddy-Buddy Poffin, Night Stretcher and Handheld Fan. The core table marks each of them. The date belongs to the publisher, and we do not have it.

What Dudunsparce struggles against

The attackers in this deck are Weak to Fighting, so they take DOUBLE damage from that type. 12 of the 91 decks we track attack in exactly that type.

Concretely, here is what is waiting for you: Mega Lucario ex, Mega Lucario ex / Hariyama and Cynthia's Garchomp ex, plus 9 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 sets up fast, so what troubles it looks less like a Weakness and more like an opponent who absorbs your first hits and answers harder.

Going the other way, your attackers are , and 6 of the decks we track have an attacker Weak to one of those: Mega Lucario ex, Mega Lucario ex / Hariyama and Greninja ex, among others. That is you doubling, for once. Second half of the table.

Questions people ask

What is the Dudunsparce deck list?

There isn't one, and that is the whole point. Across 10 tournament lists harvested on 16 August 2026, 9 cards turn up in every single one — 26 slots out of 60. The remaining 34 change from player to player, with 53 different cards competing for them. Both tables are above.

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

10 lists, played across 10 different tournaments, harvested on 16 August 2026 from play.limitlesstcg.com. All 10 were read card by card, and every card recognised.

Where do I start if I want to build Dudunsparce?

With the whole core: 9 cards, 26 slots. Inside it, buy the 18 Trainer slots and the 3 Energy first — they are cheap and they carry over into your next deck. Leave the 5 Pokémon slots for last. Only then work down the flex table and add the cards the most lists agree on, starting with Clefairy at 90 % and Dedenne at 90 %.

What beats Dudunsparce?

Its attackers are Weak to Fighting, so they take double damage from an attacker of that type. 12 of the 91 decks we track play an attacker of that type: Mega Lucario ex, Mega Lucario ex / Hariyama, Cynthia's Garchomp ex and Ceruledge ex, among others.

Will Dudunsparce survive the next rotation?

Not intact: 4 core cards out of 9 carry the letter H, starting with Dudunsparce, Buddy-Buddy Poffin, Night Stretcher and Handheld Fan.

Are a lot of people playing Dudunsparce?

We have read 10 lists of it, which puts it 83th of the 91 decks we track by lists read. The platform those tournaments run on counts 10 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.