Iono's Bellibolt ex deck: the core, the flex slots, and what beats it

What Iono's Bellibolt ex looks like when you open the box

Across the 20 lists we counted, this deck runs 14 to 17 Pokémon, 26 to 32 Trainers and 12 to 19 Energy. Its attacks are paid for in Lightning.

On results pages and on stream you will see it written « iono-bellibolt ». 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: 12 to 19 out of 60, when half the 72 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 sets up fast. Iono's Bellibolt ex 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: 9 to 13 Supporters, 11 to 16 Items, 0 to 2 Tools and 2 to 3 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 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

Iono's Bellibolt ex gives this deck its name. Here is what is written on it.

Iono's Bellibolt ex is in all 20 lists, 3 copies of it. Its Ability is called Electric Streamer, and here is what is printed on it, word for word: « As often as you like during your turn, you may attach a Basic {L} Energy card from your hand to 1 of your Iono's Pokémon. »

How Iono's Bellibolt ex actually wins

Iono's Bellibolt ex attacks with Thunderous Bolt for 230, and it costs 4 Energy (Lightning, Lightning, Lightning and Colorless), with 280 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 Thunderous Bolt: 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: Iono's Bellibolt ex has a Retreat Cost of 2, which is a whole turn to get it back to the Bench.

Iono's Bellibolt ex carries the "ex" suffix, and your opponent takes TWO Prize cards instead of one when Iono's Bellibolt 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
Iono's Bellibolt exStage 1	280	Thunderous Bolt	230	Lightning + Lightning + Lightning + Colorless	Fighting ×2	2
Iono's KilowattrelStage 1	120	Mach Bolt	70	Lightning + Colorless + Colorless	Lightning ×2	1
Iono's TadbulbBasic	60	Tiny Charge	30	Lightning + Colorless	Fighting ×2	2
Iono's VoltorbBasic	70	Voltaic Chain	20+	Colorless + Colorless	Fighting ×2	1

The core: the 10 cards every list runs

These 10 cards appear in all 20 lists, without a single exception. That is 41 of the 60 slots. The other 19 are decided player by player.

Look at how those 41 slots break down: 11 Trainers, 14 Pokémon, 16 Energy. Pokémon dominate, which is unusual: this deck needs bodies on the board, and it depends on any single attacker less than it looks.

10 of those 10 cards do not sit at the same count from list to list: Iono's Bellibolt ex (2 to 3), Iono's Kilowattrel (2 to 3) and Iono's Tadbulb (2 to 3), plus 7 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	Iono's Bellibolt ex	JTG 53	Pokémon	stays
2–3	Iono's Kilowattrel	JTG 55	Pokémon	stays
2–3	Iono's Tadbulb	JTG 52	Pokémon	stays
2–4	Iono's Wattrel	JTG 54	Pokémon	stays
2–4	Iono's Voltorb	JTG 47	Pokémon	stays
3–4	Buddy-Buddy Poffin	TEF 144	Trainer	leaves
2–3	Levincia	JTG 150	Trainer	stays
2–3	Boss's Orders	MEG 114	Trainer	stays
2–4	Canari	ASC 185	Trainer	stays
10–18	Lightning Energy	MEE 4	Energy	stays

The 41 cards that change from list to list

41 cards fight over the 19 slots that are left: 5 above three lists in four, 27 below one in four, and the percentage on each row says how many players took it.

The most agreed on first: Lillie's Determination at 95 %, Ultra Ball at 95 % and Energy Retrieval at 85 %, plus 2 more above 75 %. Add those to the core and you have the common build.

The dividing line runs through Judge, at 45 %: 9 of 20 players took it, 11 put something else there. Read its text before you decide. Right at the bottom, Lana's Aid at 25 % and Hilda 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
95 %19/20	Lillie's Determination	2–4	MEG 119	Trainer
95 %19/20	Ultra Ball	2–4	MEG 131	Trainer
85 %17/20	Energy Retrieval	1–4	SVI 171	Trainer
80 %16/20	Night Stretcher	1–4	ASC 196	Trainer
75 %15/20	Poké Pad	2–4	POR 81	Trainer
70 %14/20	Voltaic Lightning Energy	2–4	PBL 84	Energy
65 %13/20	Mega Zeraora ex	1–2	PBL 27	Pokémon
60 %12/20	Scramble Switch	1	SSP 186	Trainer
45 %9/20	Judge	1–2	POR 76	Trainer
40 %8/20	Air Balloon	1–2	ASC 181	Trainer
35 %7/20	Stunfisk	1	ASC 62	Pokémon
35 %7/20	Special Red Card	1	CRI 82	Trainer
30 %6/20	Max Rod	1	PRE 116	Trainer
30 %6/20	Team Rocket's Petrel	1–2	DRI 176	Trainer
25 %5/20	Lana's Aid	1–2	TWM 155	Trainer
20 %4/20	Hilda	1	WHT 84	Trainer
20 %4/20	Xerosic's Machinations	1	SFA 64	Trainer
15 %3/20	Fezandipiti ex	1	ASC 142	Pokémon
15 %3/20	Shaymin	1	DRI 10	Pokémon
15 %3/20	Transformation Tome	4	CRI 83	Trainer
10 %2/20	Budew	1	ASC 16	Pokémon
10 %2/20	Iono's Electrode	1	JTG 48	Pokémon
10 %2/20	Zeraora	1	DRI 78	Pokémon
10 %2/20	Energy Search	1–2	POR 72	Trainer
10 %2/20	Handheld Fan	1–2	TWM 150	Trainer
10 %2/20	Harlequin	1–2	WHT 83	Trainer
10 %2/20	Lucian	2	TWM 157	Trainer
10 %2/20	Clemont's Quick Wit	1	SSP 167	Trainer
10 %2/20	Tool Scrapper	1	ASC 212	Trainer
5 %1/20	Meowth ex	1	POR 62	Pokémon
5 %1/20	Psyduck	1	ASC 39	Pokémon
5 %1/20	Tatsugiri	1	TWM 131	Pokémon
5 %1/20	Carmine	3	TWM 145	Trainer
5 %1/20	Ciphermaniac's Codebreaking	3	TEF 145	Trainer
5 %1/20	Black Belt's Training	1	JTG 143	Trainer
5 %1/20	Brave Bangle	1	WHT 80	Trainer
5 %1/20	Gwynn	1	PBL 78	Trainer
5 %1/20	Hyper Aroma	1	TWM 152	Trainer
5 %1/20	Larry's Skill	1	PRE 115	Trainer
5 %1/20	Pokégear 3.0	1	SVI 186	Trainer
5 %1/20	Secret Box	1	TWM 163	Trainer

What Iono's Bellibolt ex costs to build, and how long it will last

You need 51 different cards to cover every version of this deck, 10 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 Iono's Bellibolt ex, by a distance. The 11 Trainer slots in the core cost next to nothing, and you probably own some already. All 20 lists bring an ACE SPEC, and that is where they part ways: 12 took Scramble Switch, 6 took Max Rod and 1 took Hyper Aroma. 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 Scramble Switch and watch what the others do with theirs before you switch.

Then there is time. 1 of the 10 core cards carry the letter H, the one that goes at the next rotation: Buddy-Buddy Poffin. The core table marks each of them. The date belongs to the publisher, and we do not have it.

What Iono's Bellibolt ex struggles against

The attackers in this deck are Weak to Fighting and Lightning, so they take DOUBLE damage from those types. 10 of the 72 decks we track attack in exactly those types.

Concretely, here is what is waiting for you: Mega Lucario ex, Mega Lucario ex / Hariyama and Cynthia's Garchomp ex, plus 7 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 Lightning, and 19 of the decks we track have an attacker Weak to one of those: Festival Lead, Toucannon and Raging Bolt ex, among others. That is you doubling, for once. Second half of the table.

Questions people ask

What is the Iono's Bellibolt ex deck list?

There isn't one, and that is the whole point. Across 20 tournament lists harvested on 16 August 2026, 10 cards turn up in every single one — 41 slots out of 60. The remaining 19 change from player to player, with 41 different cards competing for them. Both tables are above.

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

20 lists, played across 20 different tournaments, harvested on 16 August 2026 from play.limitlesstcg.com. All 20 were read card by card, and every card recognised.

Where do I start if I want to build Iono's Bellibolt ex?

With the whole core: 10 cards, 41 slots. Inside it, buy the 11 Trainer slots and the 16 Energy first — they are cheap and they carry over into your next deck. Leave Iono's Bellibolt 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 Lillie's Determination at 95 % and Ultra Ball at 95 %.

What beats Iono's Bellibolt ex?

Its attackers are Weak to Fighting and Lightning, so they take double damage from an attacker of that type. 10 of the 72 decks we track play an attacker of that type: Mega Lucario ex, Mega Lucario ex / Hariyama, Cynthia's Garchomp ex and Mega Manectric ex / Eelektrik, among others.

Will Iono's Bellibolt ex survive the next rotation?

Not intact: 1 core cards out of 10 carry the letter H, starting with Buddy-Buddy Poffin.

Are a lot of people playing Iono's Bellibolt ex?

We have read 20 lists of it, which puts it 62th of the 72 decks we track by lists read. The platform those tournaments run on counts 38 entries for it, 0.15 % 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.