Greninja ex / Blaziken ex deck: the core, the flex slots, and what beats it

What Greninja ex / Blaziken ex looks like when you open the box

Across the 14 lists we counted, this deck runs 20 to 29 Pokémon, 18 to 32 Trainers and 8 to 13 Energy. Its attacks are paid for in Fire and Water.

On results pages and on stream you will see it written « greninja-blaziken ». 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: 8 to 13 out of 60, when half the 91 decks we track run 10 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 takes a while to set up. Blaziken 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 14 Supporters, 6 to 17 Items, 1 Tools and 1 Stadiums, out of 18 to 32 — the median across the 91 decks we track being 31. As many Supporters as Items, which is rare: turns will be quieter and steadier.

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

What the cards in this deck's name actually do

Greninja ex and Blaziken ex give this deck its name. Here is what is written on them.

Greninja ex is in all 14 lists, 2 copies of it. Its attack Mirage Barrage costs 3 Energy (Water, Colorless and Colorless) 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: « Discard 2 Energy from this Pokémon. This attack does 120 damage to 2 of your opponent's Pokémon. (Don't apply Weakness and Resistance for Benched Pokémon.) »

Blaziken ex is in all 14 lists, 2 copies of it. Its Ability is called Seething Spirit, and here is what is printed on it, word for word: « Once during your turn, you may attach a Basic Energy card from your discard pile to 1 of your Pokémon. »

How Greninja ex / Blaziken ex actually wins

Blaziken ex attacks with Smolder-sault for 200, and it costs 2 Energy (Fire 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, 2 to pay for Smolder-sault: 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: Blaziken ex has a Retreat Cost of 2, which is a whole turn to get it back to the Bench.

Blaziken ex, Greninja ex and Meowth ex carry the "ex" suffix, and your opponent takes TWO Prize cards instead of one when one of them falls. They need six to win: three well-placed knockouts on those cards 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
Blaziken exStage 2	320	Smolder-sault	200	Fire + Colorless	Water ×2	2
Greninja exStage 2	310	Shinobi Blade	170	Water	Psychic ×2	1
Meowth exBasic	170	Tuck Tail	60	Colorless + Colorless + Colorless	Fighting ×2	1
CombuskenStage 1	100	Double Kick	40×	Fire + Colorless	Water ×2	2

The core: the 9 cards every list runs

These 9 cards appear in all 14 lists, without a single exception. That is 20 of the 60 slots. The other 40 are decided player by player.

Look at how those 20 slots break down: 6 Trainers, 7 Pokémon, 7 Energy. Pokémon dominate, which is unusual: this deck needs bodies on the board, and it depends on any single attacker less than it looks.

7 of those 9 cards do not sit at the same count from list to list: Blaziken ex (2 to 4), Greninja ex (2 to 4) and Boss's Orders (2 to 3), 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	Rotation
2–4	Blaziken ex	JTG 24	Pokémon	leaves
2	Combusken	DRI 41	Pokémon	stays
2–4	Greninja ex	TWM 106	Pokémon	leaves
1	Meowth ex	POR 62	Pokémon	stays
2–3	Boss's Orders	MEG 114	Trainer	stays
3–4	Ultra Ball	MEG 131	Trainer	stays
3–6	Water Energy	MEE 3	Energy	stays
1–2	Ignition Energy	WHT 86	Energy	stays
1–3	Fire Energy	MEE 2	Energy	stays

The 35 cards that change from list to list

35 cards fight over the 40 slots that are left: 16 above three lists in four, 12 below one in four, and the percentage on each row says how many players took it.

The most agreed on first: Special Red Card at 86 %, Froakie at 79 % and Frogadier at 79 %, plus 13 more above 75 %. Add those to the core and you have the common build.

The dividing line runs through Darkness Energy, at 50 %: 7 of 14 players took it, 7 put something else there. Read its text before you decide. Right at the bottom, Aurorus at 21 % and Cinderace at 21 %: 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
86 %12/14	Special Red Card	1	CRI 82	Trainer
79 %11/14	Froakie	3	CRI 20	Pokémon
79 %11/14	Frogadier	2	CRI 21	Pokémon
79 %11/14	N's Zoroark ex	2	JTG 98	Pokémon
79 %11/14	N's Zorua	2	JTG 97	Pokémon
79 %11/14	Torchic	2	DRI 40	Pokémon
79 %11/14	Budew	1–2	ASC 16	Pokémon
79 %11/14	Buddy-Buddy Poffin	4	TEF 144	Trainer
79 %11/14	Colress's Tenacity	3–4	SFA 57	Trainer
79 %11/14	Lillie's Determination	4	MEG 119	Trainer
79 %11/14	Poké Pad	3	POR 81	Trainer
79 %11/14	Rare Candy	2–3	MEG 125	Trainer
79 %11/14	Hilda	2	WHT 84	Trainer
79 %11/14	Night Stretcher	2	ASC 196	Trainer
79 %11/14	Air Balloon	1	ASC 181	Trainer
79 %11/14	Grand Tree	1	SCR 136	Trainer
71 %10/14	Switch	1	MEG 130	Trainer
50 %7/14	Darkness Energy	2–3	MEE 7	Energy
43 %6/14	Mega Greninja ex	1	CRI 22	Pokémon
43 %6/14	Crispin	1–4	SCR 133	Trainer
29 %4/14	Lillie's Clefairy ex	1	JTG 56	Pokémon
29 %4/14	N's Reshiram	1	JTG 116	Pokémon
29 %4/14	Psychic Energy	1	MEE 5	Energy
21 %3/14	Aurorus	4	POR 24	Pokémon
21 %3/14	Cinderace	4	MEG 28	Pokémon
21 %3/14	Tatsugiri ex	3–4	SSP 142	Pokémon
21 %3/14	Dusknoir	3	PRE 37	Pokémon
21 %3/14	Frogadier	2	TWM 57	Pokémon
21 %3/14	Pecharunt	1	SVP 149	Pokémon
21 %3/14	Carmine	3–4	TWM 145	Trainer
21 %3/14	Hero's Cape	1	TEF 152	Trainer
21 %3/14	Prism Tower	1	CRI 80	Trainer
21 %3/14	Team Rocket's Petrel	1	DRI 176	Trainer
7 %1/14	Cornerstone Mask Ogerpon ex	1	TWM 112	Pokémon
7 %1/14	Fighting Energy	1	MEE 6	Energy

What Greninja ex / Blaziken ex costs to build, and how long it will last

You need 44 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.

Where the money goes, though, we can name: it is Blaziken ex, Greninja ex and Meowth ex, by a distance. The 6 Trainer slots in the core cost next to nothing, and you probably own some already. All 14 lists bring an ACE SPEC, and that is where they part ways: 11 took Grand Tree and 3 took Hero's Cape. 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. 2 of the 9 core cards carry the letter H, the one that goes at the next rotation: Blaziken ex and Greninja ex. The core table marks each of them. The date belongs to the publisher, and we do not have it.

What Greninja ex / Blaziken ex struggles against

The attackers in this deck are Weak to Water, Psychic and Fighting, so they take DOUBLE damage from those types. 52 of the 91 decks we track attack in exactly those types.

Concretely, here is what is waiting for you: Dragapult ex (Munkidori), Festival Lead (Seaking) and Dragapult ex / Dusknoir, plus 49 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 Blaziken 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 Fire and Water, and 52 of the decks we track have an attacker Weak to one of those: Mega Excadrill ex, Dragapult ex and Festival Lead, among others. That is you doubling, for once. Second half of the table.

Questions people ask

What is the Greninja ex / Blaziken ex deck list?

There isn't one, and that is the whole point. Across 14 tournament lists harvested on 16 August 2026, 9 cards turn up in every single one — 20 slots out of 60. The remaining 40 change from player to player, with 35 different cards competing for them. Both tables are above.

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

14 lists, played across 14 different tournaments, harvested on 16 August 2026 from play.limitlesstcg.com. All 14 were read card by card, and every card recognised.

Where do I start if I want to build Greninja ex / Blaziken ex?

With the whole core: 9 cards, 20 slots. Inside it, buy the 6 Trainer slots and the 7 Energy first — they are cheap and they carry over into your next deck. Leave Blaziken ex, Greninja ex and Meowth 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 Special Red Card at 86 % and Froakie at 79 %.

What beats Greninja ex / Blaziken ex?

Its attackers are Weak to Water, Psychic and Fighting, so they take double damage from an attacker of that type. 52 of the 91 decks we track play an attacker of that type: Dragapult ex, Festival Lead, Dragapult ex / Dusknoir and Slowking, among others.

Will Greninja ex / Blaziken ex survive the next rotation?

Not intact: 2 core cards out of 9 carry the letter H, starting with Blaziken ex and Greninja ex.

Are a lot of people playing Greninja ex / Blaziken ex?

We have read 14 lists of it, which puts it 77th of the 91 decks we track by lists read. The platform those tournaments run on counts 14 entries for it, 0.05 % 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.