Misty's Gyarados deck: the core, the flex slots, and what beats it

What Misty's Gyarados looks like when you open the box

Across the 9 lists we counted, this deck runs 19 to 25 Pokémon, 27 to 33 Trainers and 6 to 8 Energy. Its attacks are paid for in Water.

On results pages and on stream you will see it written « misty-gyarados ». 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: 6 to 8 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. Misty's Gyarados 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: 8 to 13 Supporters, 15 to 20 Items, 0 to 1 Tools and 0 to 4 Stadiums, out of 27 to 33 — 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.

How Misty's Gyarados actually wins

Misty's Gyarados attacks with Waterfall for 120, and it costs 3 Energy (Water, Water and Colorless), 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, 3 to pay for Waterfall: 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: Misty's Gyarados has a Retreat Cost of 4, 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
Misty's GyaradosStage 1	180	Waterfall	120	Water + Water + Colorless	Lightning ×2	4
Misty's StarmieStage 1	100	Abrupt Flash	60+	Water	Lightning ×2	1
Misty's PsyduckBasic	70	Sprinkle Water	30	Water	Lightning ×2	1
Misty's StaryuBasic	70	Bubble Beam	20	Water	Lightning ×2	1

The core: the 8 cards every list runs

These 8 cards appear in all 9 lists, without a single exception. That is 36 of the 60 slots. The other 24 are decided player by player.

Look at how those 36 slots break down: 8 Trainers, 20 Pokémon, 8 Energy. Pokémon dominate, which is unusual: this deck needs bodies on the board, and it depends on any single attacker less than it looks.

5 of those 8 cards do not sit at the same count from list to list: Misty's Starmie (1 to 4), Misty's Staryu (1 to 4) and Buddy-Buddy Poffin (3 to 4), 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
4	Misty's Gyarados	DRI 49	Pokémon	stays
4	Misty's Magikarp	DRI 48	Pokémon	stays
4	Misty's Psyduck	DRI 45	Pokémon	stays
1–4	Misty's Starmie	DRI 47	Pokémon	stays
1–4	Misty's Staryu	DRI 46	Pokémon	stays
3–4	Buddy-Buddy Poffin	TEF 144	Trainer	leaves
2–4	Poké Pad	POR 81	Trainer	stays
6–8	Water Energy	MEE 3	Energy	stays

The 25 cards that change from list to list

25 cards fight over the 24 slots that are left: 6 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: Misty's Lapras at 89 %, Lillie's Determination at 89 % and Night Stretcher at 89 %, plus 3 more above 75 %. Add those to the core and you have the common build.

The dividing line runs through Lana's Aid, at 56 %: 5 of 9 players took it, 4 put something else there. Read its text before you decide. Right at the bottom, Meowth ex at 22 % and Gwynn at 22 %: 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
89 %8/9	Misty's Lapras	3–4	DRI 50	Pokémon
89 %8/9	Lillie's Determination	4	MEG 119	Trainer
89 %8/9	Night Stretcher	2–4	ASC 196	Trainer
89 %8/9	Sacred Ash	3–4	DRI 168	Trainer
89 %8/9	Max Rod	1	PRE 116	Trainer
78 %7/9	Boss's Orders	1–2	MEG 114	Trainer
67 %6/9	Great Haul Net	2–4	CRI 78	Trainer
67 %6/9	Academy at Night	2–3	SFA 54	Trainer
56 %5/9	Lana's Aid	1–3	TWM 155	Trainer
44 %4/9	Psyduck	1	ASC 39	Pokémon
44 %4/9	Ciphermaniac's Codebreaking	1–2	TEF 145	Trainer
33 %3/9	Hilda	2	WHT 84	Trainer
33 %3/9	Pokégear 3.0	2–4	SVI 186	Trainer
22 %2/9	Meowth ex	1	POR 62	Pokémon
22 %2/9	Gwynn	4	PBL 78	Trainer
22 %2/9	Iris's Fighting Spirit	2–4	JTG 149	Trainer
22 %2/9	Morty's Conviction	3	TEF 155	Trainer
22 %2/9	Hassel	2	TWM 151	Trainer
22 %2/9	Team Rocket's Petrel	1	DRI 176	Trainer
22 %2/9	Ultra Ball	1	MEG 131	Trainer
11 %1/9	Dedenne	1	SSP 87	Pokémon
11 %1/9	Carmine	4	TWM 145	Trainer
11 %1/9	Air Balloon	1	ASC 181	Trainer
11 %1/9	Colress's Tenacity	1	SFA 57	Trainer
11 %1/9	Surfing Beach	1	MEG 129	Trainer

What Misty's Gyarados costs to build, and how long it will last

You need 33 different cards to cover every version of this deck, 8 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. Add Max Rod, the list's ACE SPEC, chosen by 8 of those 9 players. You are allowed ONE ACE SPEC card in your whole deck, so a single copy covers it whatever it costs.

Then there is time. 1 of the 8 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 Misty's Gyarados struggles against

The attackers in this deck are Weak to Lightning, so they take DOUBLE damage from that type. 4 of the 91 decks we track attack in exactly that type.

Concretely, here is what is waiting for you: Mega Manectric ex / Eelektrik, Iono's Bellibolt ex and Joltik, plus 1 more deck. 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 Water, and 9 of the decks we track have an attacker Weak to one of those: Dragapult ex / Blaziken ex, Ethan's Typhlosion and Ceruledge ex, among others. That is you doubling, for once. Second half of the table.

Questions people ask

What is the Misty's Gyarados deck list?

There isn't one, and that is the whole point. Across 9 tournament lists harvested on 16 August 2026, 8 cards turn up in every single one — 36 slots out of 60. The remaining 24 change from player to player, with 25 different cards competing for them. Both tables are above.

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

9 lists, played across 9 different tournaments, harvested on 16 August 2026 from play.limitlesstcg.com. All 9 were read card by card, and every card recognised.

Where do I start if I want to build Misty's Gyarados?

With the whole core: 8 cards, 36 slots. Inside it, buy the 8 Trainer slots and the 8 Energy first — they are cheap and they carry over into your next deck. Leave the 20 Pokémon slots for last. Only then work down the flex table and add the cards the most lists agree on, starting with Misty's Lapras at 89 % and Lillie's Determination at 89 %.

What beats Misty's Gyarados?

Its attackers are Weak to Lightning, so they take double damage from an attacker of that type. 4 of the 91 decks we track play an attacker of that type: Mega Manectric ex / Eelektrik, Iono's Bellibolt ex, Joltik and Raging Bolt ex / Iono's Bellibolt ex.

Will Misty's Gyarados survive the next rotation?

Not intact: 1 core cards out of 8 carry the letter H, starting with Buddy-Buddy Poffin.

Are a lot of people playing Misty's Gyarados?

We have read 9 lists of it, which puts it 85th 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.