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

What Feraligatr looks like when you open the box

Across the 11 lists we counted, this deck runs 16 to 23 Pokémon, 28 to 34 Trainers and 8 to 11 Energy. Its attacks are paid for in Water and Psychic.

On results pages and on stream you will see it written « feraligatr-tef ». Every card named in that label turns up in the tables below, which is what makes it a fair name for the deck.

The bit they tack on the end, « TEF », is a set code: Temporal Forces. They spell it out because several cards share that name, and this deck plays that particular printing.

Look at the Energy: 8 to 11 out of 60, exactly the median of the 91 decks we track. It draws neither too much nor too little, so this is not where its games are won or lost.

It takes a while to set up. Feraligatr 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 16 Supporters, 11 to 20 Items, 0 to 5 Tools and 0 to 3 Stadiums, out of 28 to 34 — the median across the 91 decks we track being 31. Items edge it without crushing the Supporters. And it runs up to 3 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

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

Feraligatr is in all 11 lists, 3 copies of it. Its Ability is called Torrential Heart, and here is what is printed on it, word for word: « Once during your turn, you may put 5 damage counters on this Pokémon. If you do, during this turn, attacks used by this Pokémon do 120 more damage to your opponent's Active Pokémon (before applying Weakness and Resistance). »

How Feraligatr actually wins

Feraligatr attacks with Giant Wave for 160, and it costs 2 Energy (Water and Water), with 180 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, 2 to pay for Giant Wave: with no help you swing on turn 2, and every card that accelerates Energy buys one of those turns back.

Here is the detail that quietly loses games: Feraligatr 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
FeraligatrStage 2	180	Giant Wave	160	Water + Water	Lightning ×2	3
MunkidoriBasic	110	Mind Bend	60	Psychic + Colorless	Darkness ×2	1
TotodileBasic	70	Big Bite	10	Water	Lightning ×2	1

The core: the 9 cards every list runs

These 9 cards appear in all 11 lists, without a single exception. That is 32 of the 60 slots. The other 28 are decided player by player.

Look at how those 32 slots break down: 13 Trainers, 9 Pokémon, 10 Energy. The balance is a normal one, so it is the cards themselves, more than the split, that give this deck its character.

8 of those 9 cards do not sit at the same count from list to list: Feraligatr (2 to 3), Munkidori (2 to 3) and Totodile (3 to 4), plus 5 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
2–3	Feraligatr	TEF 41	Pokémon	leaves
2–3	Munkidori	TWM 95	Pokémon	leaves
3–4	Totodile	TEF 39	Pokémon	leaves
3–4	Lillie's Determination	MEG 119	Trainer	stays
4	Poké Pad	POR 81	Trainer	stays
3–4	Buddy-Buddy Poffin	TEF 144	Trainer	leaves
1–3	Boss's Orders	MEG 114	Trainer	stays
3–7	Water Energy	MEE 3	Energy	stays
2–4	Darkness Energy	MEE 7	Energy	stays

The 50 cards that change from list to list

50 cards fight over the 28 slots that are left: 5 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: Croconaw at 91 %, Crispin at 91 % and Hilda at 91 %, plus 2 more above 75 %. Add those to the core and you have the common build.

The dividing line runs through Mega Feraligatr ex, at 55 %: 6 of 11 players took it, 5 put something else there. Read its text before you decide. Right at the bottom, Tatsugiri at 18 % and Colress's Tenacity at 18 %: 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
91 %10/11	Croconaw	2–4	TEF 40	Pokémon
91 %10/11	Crispin	2–4	SCR 133	Trainer
91 %10/11	Hilda	1–2	WHT 84	Trainer
91 %10/11	Night Stretcher	1–2	ASC 196	Trainer
82 %9/11	Air Balloon	1–3	ASC 181	Trainer
73 %8/11	Relicanth	1–2	TEF 84	Pokémon
73 %8/11	Lana's Aid	1–2	TWM 155	Trainer
64 %7/11	Dawn	1–2	PFL 87	Trainer
64 %7/11	Pokégear 3.0	2–3	SVI 186	Trainer
55 %6/11	Mega Feraligatr ex	1	ASC 43	Pokémon
55 %6/11	Rare Candy	1–4	MEG 125	Trainer
55 %6/11	Grand Tree	1	SCR 136	Trainer
55 %6/11	Special Red Card	1	CRI 82	Trainer
45 %5/11	Cornerstone Mask Ogerpon ex	1–2	TWM 112	Pokémon
45 %5/11	Fezandipiti ex	1	ASC 142	Pokémon
45 %5/11	Shaymin	1	DRI 10	Pokémon
45 %5/11	Surfing Beach	1–3	MEG 129	Trainer
45 %5/11	Ultra Ball	2–4	MEG 131	Trainer
36 %4/11	Hoothoot	2	SCR 114	Pokémon
36 %4/11	Noctowl	2	SCR 115	Pokémon
36 %4/11	Budew	1	ASC 16	Pokémon
36 %4/11	Area Zero Underdepths	2	SCR 131	Trainer
36 %4/11	Fighting Gong	1	MEG 116	Trainer
36 %4/11	Switch	1	MEG 130	Trainer
27 %3/11	Dudunsparce	1–4	TEF 129	Pokémon
27 %3/11	Dunsparce	1–4	JTG 120	Pokémon
27 %3/11	Meowth ex	1	POR 62	Pokémon
27 %3/11	Bubbly Water Energy	1	CRI 84	Energy
27 %3/11	Neo Upper Energy	1	TEF 162	Energy
18 %2/11	Tatsugiri	1	TWM 131	Pokémon
18 %2/11	Colress's Tenacity	1–2	SFA 57	Trainer
18 %2/11	Prism Energy	1	ASC 216	Energy
9 %1/11	Feebas	2	SSP 41	Pokémon
9 %1/11	Maractus	2	JTG 8	Pokémon
9 %1/11	Milotic ex	2	SSP 42	Pokémon
9 %1/11	Croconaw	1	ASC 42	Pokémon
9 %1/11	Fezandipiti	1	TWM 96	Pokémon
9 %1/11	Pecharunt ex	1	SFA 39	Pokémon
9 %1/11	Psyduck	1	ASC 39	Pokémon
9 %1/11	Team Rocket's Articuno	1	DRI 51	Pokémon
9 %1/11	Yveltal	1	MEG 88	Pokémon
9 %1/11	Brave Bangle	2	WHT 80	Trainer
9 %1/11	Carmine	2	TWM 145	Trainer
9 %1/11	Lumiose City	2	POR 77	Trainer
9 %1/11	Pokémon Catcher	2	POR 82	Trainer
9 %1/11	Judge	1	POR 76	Trainer
9 %1/11	Risky Ruins	1	MEG 127	Trainer
9 %1/11	Rosa's Encouragement	1	POR 84	Trainer
9 %1/11	Unfair Stamp	1	TWM 165	Trainer
9 %1/11	Legacy Energy	1	TWM 167	Energy

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

You need 59 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 11 lists bring an ACE SPEC, and that is where they part ways: 6 took Grand Tree, 3 took Neo Upper Energy and 1 took Legacy Energy. 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 Grand Tree 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: Feraligatr, Munkidori, Totodile and Buddy-Buddy Poffin. The core table marks each of them. The date belongs to the publisher, and we do not have it.

What Feraligatr struggles against

The attackers in this deck are Weak to Lightning and Darkness, so they take DOUBLE damage from those types. 17 of the 91 decks we track attack in exactly those types.

Concretely, here is what is waiting for you: N's Zoroark ex, Marnie's Grimmsnarl ex / Froslass and Team Rocket's Honchkrow, plus 14 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 Feraligatr 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 Water and Psychic, and 14 of the decks we track have an attacker Weak to one of those: Dragapult ex / Blaziken ex, Mega Lucario ex and Mega Lucario ex / Hariyama, among others. That is you doubling, for once. Second half of the table.

Questions people ask

What is the Feraligatr deck list?

There isn't one, and that is the whole point. Across 11 tournament lists harvested on 16 August 2026, 9 cards turn up in every single one — 32 slots out of 60. The remaining 28 change from player to player, with 50 different cards competing for them. Both tables are above.

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

11 lists, played across 10 different tournaments, harvested on 16 August 2026 from play.limitlesstcg.com. All 11 were read card by card, and every card recognised.

Where do I start if I want to build Feraligatr?

With the whole core: 9 cards, 32 slots. Inside it, buy the 13 Trainer slots and the 10 Energy first — they are cheap and they carry over into your next deck. Leave the 9 Pokémon slots for last. Only then work down the flex table and add the cards the most lists agree on, starting with Croconaw at 91 % and Crispin at 91 %.

What beats Feraligatr?

Its attackers are Weak to Lightning and Darkness, so they take double damage from an attacker of that type. 17 of the 91 decks we track play an attacker of that type: N's Zoroark ex, Marnie's Grimmsnarl ex / Froslass, Team Rocket's Honchkrow and Mega Absol ex, among others.

Will Feraligatr survive the next rotation?

Not intact: 4 core cards out of 9 carry the letter H, starting with Feraligatr, Munkidori, Totodile and Buddy-Buddy Poffin.

Are a lot of people playing Feraligatr?

We have read 11 lists of it, which puts it 82th of the 91 decks we track by lists read. The platform those tournaments run on counts 11 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.