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

What Joltik looks like when you open the box

Across the 13 lists we counted, this deck runs 14 to 20 Pokémon, 25 to 32 Trainers and 12 to 15 Energy. Its attacks are paid for in Psychic, Grass, Lightning and Metal.

On results pages and on stream you will see it written « joltik-box ». The cards we can recognise in that label are Joltik. The bit « box » 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: 12 to 15 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.

Nothing here needs evolving — everything that attacks is a Basic Pokémon. Put it down, charge it, swing. That is as fast as the game gets, and it makes those turns where you draw nothing far less painful.

On the Trainer side: 11 to 15 Supporters, 8 to 14 Items, 1 to 2 Tools and 2 to 3 Stadiums, out of 25 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. 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

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

Joltik is in all 13 lists, 2 copies of it. Its attack Jolting Charge costs 1 Energy (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: « Search your deck for up to 2 Basic {G} Energy cards and up to 2 Basic {L} Energy cards and attach them to your Pokémon in any way you like. Then, shuffle your deck. »

How Joltik actually wins

Joltik attacks with Jolting Charge, and it costs 1 Energy (Colorless). It has 30 HP to absorb the answer. Its damage box is empty, so the table below, which sorts by printed damage, cannot rank it: its printed text above is where the counting happens.

One Energy to attack is enormous. You can swing the turn after you set up, and you can do it again straight away when your attacker falls. Decks like that forgive a lot of bad draws.

Good news on mobility: Joltik retreats for 1 Energy. You can pull it out of the Active spot without throwing away your turn, and that matters enormously when your opponent lands something nasty on it.

Latias ex, Pikachu ex and Fezandipiti 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
JoltikBasic	30	Jolting ChargeSearch your deck for up to 2 Basic {G} Energy cards and up to 2 Basic {L} Energy cards and attach them to your Pokémon in any way you like. Then, shuffle your deck.	—	Colorless	Fighting ×2	1
Pikachu exBasic	200	Topaz Bolt	300	Grass + Lightning + Metal	Fighting ×2	1
Latias exBasic	210	Eon Blade	200	Psychic + Psychic + Colorless	Darkness ×2	2

The core: the 13 cards every list runs

These 13 cards appear in all 13 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: 15 Trainers, 7 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 13 cards do not sit at the same count from list to list: Latias ex (1 to 2), Crispin (2 to 4) and Ultra Ball (2 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	Joltik	SCR 50	Pokémon	leaves
1–2	Latias ex	SSP 76	Pokémon	leaves
2	Pikachu ex	SSP 57	Pokémon	leaves
1	Fezandipiti ex	ASC 142	Pokémon	leaves
2–4	Crispin	SCR 133	Trainer	leaves
2–4	Ultra Ball	MEG 131	Trainer	stays
2–4	Boss's Orders	MEG 114	Trainer	stays
1–3	Night Stretcher	ASC 196	Trainer	leaves
1–2	Light Ball	ASC 191	Trainer	stays
1	Special Red Card	CRI 82	Trainer	stays
3–4	Grass Energy	MEE 1	Energy	stays
4	Lightning Energy	MEE 4	Energy	stays
2–4	Metal Energy	MEE 8	Energy	stays

The 54 cards that change from list to list

54 cards fight over the 28 slots that are left: 6 above three lists in four, 28 below one in four, and the percentage on each row says how many players took it.

The most agreed on first: Galvantula at 92 %, Area Zero Underdepths at 92 % and Meowth ex at 77 %, plus 3 more above 75 %. Add those to the core and you have the common build.

The dividing line runs through Battle Cage, at 54 %: 7 of 13 players took it, 6 put something else there. Read its text before you decide. Right at the bottom, Eelektrik at 23 % and Mega Zeraora ex at 23 %: 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
92 %12/13	Galvantula	1	SFA 2	Pokémon
92 %12/13	Area Zero Underdepths	1–2	SCR 131	Trainer
77 %10/13	Meowth ex	1–3	POR 62	Pokémon
77 %10/13	Mega Kangaskhan ex	1–2	MEG 104	Pokémon
77 %10/13	Team Rocket's Petrel	2–4	DRI 176	Trainer
77 %10/13	Precious Trolley	1	SSP 185	Trainer
69 %9/13	Lillie's Determination	1–4	MEG 119	Trainer
62 %8/13	Lillie's Clefairy ex	1–2	JTG 56	Pokémon
62 %8/13	Wellspring Mask Ogerpon ex	1–2	TWM 64	Pokémon
62 %8/13	Brock's Scouting	1	JTG 146	Trainer
62 %8/13	Psychic Energy	2	MEE 5	Energy
62 %8/13	Water Energy	2	MEE 3	Energy
54 %7/13	Battle Cage	1–2	PFL 85	Trainer
46 %6/13	Bloodmoon Ursaluna ex	1	TWM 141	Pokémon
46 %6/13	Iron Leaves ex	1	TEF 25	Pokémon
46 %6/13	Energy Search	1	POR 72	Trainer
38 %5/13	Chien-Pao	1	SSP 56	Pokémon
38 %5/13	Team Rocket's Transceiver	1–3	DRI 178	Trainer
38 %5/13	Energy Recycler	1	DRI 164	Trainer
38 %5/13	Gravity Mountain	1–2	SSP 177	Trainer
38 %5/13	Switch	1	MEG 130	Trainer
31 %4/13	Magnemite	1–2	MEG 45	Pokémon
31 %4/13	Magneton	1–2	SSP 59	Pokémon
31 %4/13	Pokégear 3.0	1–4	SVI 186	Trainer
31 %4/13	Bianca's Devotion	1	TEF 142	Trainer
31 %4/13	Energy Switch	1	MEG 115	Trainer
23 %3/13	Eelektrik	2	ASC 60	Pokémon
23 %3/13	Mega Zeraora ex	2	PBL 27	Pokémon
23 %3/13	Tynamo	2	ASC 59	Pokémon
23 %3/13	Galvantula ex	1	SCR 51	Pokémon
23 %3/13	Team Rocket's Articuno	1	DRI 51	Pokémon
23 %3/13	Team Rocket's Kangaskhan ex	1	ASC 162	Pokémon
23 %3/13	Terapagos ex	1	SCR 128	Pokémon
23 %3/13	Canari	3	ASC 185	Trainer
23 %3/13	Judge	2	POR 76	Trainer
23 %3/13	Hilda	1	WHT 84	Trainer
23 %3/13	Prime Catcher	1	TEF 157	Trainer
23 %3/13	Voltaic Lightning Energy	4	PBL 84	Energy
15 %2/13	Psyduck	1	ASC 39	Pokémon
15 %2/13	Black Belt's Training	1	JTG 143	Trainer
15 %2/13	Ciphermaniac's Codebreaking	1	TEF 145	Trainer
15 %2/13	Cyrano	1	SSP 170	Trainer
15 %2/13	Tool Scrapper	1	ASC 212	Trainer
8 %1/13	Cornerstone Mask Ogerpon ex	1	TWM 112	Pokémon
8 %1/13	Patrat	1	CRI 70	Pokémon
8 %1/13	Poké Pad	2	POR 81	Trainer
8 %1/13	Air Balloon	1	ASC 181	Trainer
8 %1/13	Backtrack Badge	1	PBL 74	Trainer
8 %1/13	Buddy-Buddy Poffin	1	TEF 144	Trainer
8 %1/13	Colress's Tenacity	1	SFA 57	Trainer
8 %1/13	Glass Trumpet	1	SCR 135	Trainer
8 %1/13	Lillie's Pearl	1	JTG 151	Trainer
8 %1/13	Wondrous Patch	1	PFL 94	Trainer
8 %1/13	Fighting Energy	1	MEE 6	Energy

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

You need 67 different cards to cover every version of this deck, 13 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 Latias ex, Pikachu ex and Fezandipiti ex, by a distance. The 15 Trainer slots in the core cost next to nothing, and you probably own some already. All 13 lists bring an ACE SPEC, and that is where they part ways: 10 took Precious Trolley and 3 took Prime Catcher. 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 Precious Trolley and watch what the others do with theirs before you switch.

Then there is time. 6 of the 13 core cards carry the letter H, the one that goes at the next rotation: Joltik, Latias ex, Pikachu ex and Fezandipiti ex, plus 2 more. The core table marks each of them. The date belongs to the publisher, and we do not have it.

What Joltik struggles against

The attackers in this deck are Weak to Fighting and Darkness, so they take DOUBLE damage from those types. 24 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 Mega Lucario ex, plus 21 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 Psychic, Grass, Lightning and Metal, and 29 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 Joltik deck list?

There isn't one, and that is the whole point. Across 13 tournament lists harvested on 16 August 2026, 13 cards turn up in every single one — 32 slots out of 60. The remaining 28 change from player to player, with 54 different cards competing for them. Both tables are above.

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

13 lists, played across 11 different tournaments, harvested on 16 August 2026 from play.limitlesstcg.com. All 13 were read card by card, and every card recognised.

Where do I start if I want to build Joltik?

With the whole core: 13 cards, 32 slots. Inside it, buy the 15 Trainer slots and the 10 Energy first — they are cheap and they carry over into your next deck. Leave Latias ex, Pikachu ex and Fezandipiti 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 Galvantula at 92 % and Area Zero Underdepths at 92 %.

What beats Joltik?

Its attackers are Weak to Fighting and Darkness, so they take double damage from an attacker of that type. 24 of the 91 decks we track play an attacker of that type: N's Zoroark ex, Marnie's Grimmsnarl ex / Froslass, Mega Lucario ex and Mega Lucario ex / Hariyama, among others.

Will Joltik survive the next rotation?

Not intact: 6 core cards out of 13 carry the letter H, starting with Joltik, Latias ex, Pikachu ex and Fezandipiti ex, plus 2 more.

Are a lot of people playing Joltik?

We have read 13 lists of it, which puts it 78th 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.