How to Build a Pokémon Deck

To build a Pokémon deck, choose the format you will play and one clear way of taking six Prize cards, then put together exactly 60 cards with at least one Basic Pokémon and no more than four cards of any one name, Basic Energy excepted. After that, check every card against the current format, deal test hands, and change the list based on what goes wrong in those hands.

The worked example is the Mega Lucario ex League Battle Deck, whose full 60-card list The Pokémon Company publishes. We use it because every card can be identified exactly, not because we claim it wins tournaments.

Choose a format and win plan

Build for the Standard format unless you have a reason not to. Under the official TCG Tournament Handbook (last revised 1 September 2026), Standard allows cards with the H, I and J regulation marks. Expanded is wider and adds the D, E, F and G marks plus the Black & White, XY and Sun & Moon expansions. Limited events, such as prereleases, use 40-card decks built from packs, so this page does not apply to them.

Teaching and replica products are a separate question. The rulebook suggests a Mega Battle Deck, a preconstructed 60-card deck with a strategy sheet, as a way to learn. The 2025 World Championships Decks copy real tournament lists, but Pokémon says their different backs and silver borders make them not legal for tournament play. If you are still learning how a turn works, read how to play Pokémon cards before building anything.

Your win plan is how the deck takes six Prize cards. In the example, Mega Lucario ex uses Aura Jab for 130 damage and attaches up to three Basic Fighting Energy from your discard pile to your Benched Pokémon, powering the next attacker. Mega Brave then does 270. The cost is that Mega Lucario ex is a Mega Evolution Pokémon ex, so your opponent takes three Prize cards when it is Knocked Out.

Check the deck-building rules

The rulebook (last updated September 2026) and the Tournament Handbook agree. The deck is exactly 60 cards, not 59 or 61. You may have no more than four cards with the same name, except Basic Energy. The deck must contain at least one Basic Pokémon, and Constructed games are played for six Prize cards.

The four-copy limit goes by name, not version, so four Pignite is the limit even if their attacks differ. The "ex" is part of a name, so Miraidon and Miraidon ex are separate, and so are Meowth, Alolan Meowth and Rocket's Meowth.

A few card types carry their own limits. Your deck can include only one ACE SPEC card in total, not one of each. Radiant Pokémon are limited to one per deck, and each Prism Star card to one copy. Both come from older series, so check their regulation marks before putting them in a Standard deck.

Choose Pokémon with complementary roles

Here is the full list as Pokémon publishes it. Set codes are from its deck list export, and Energy needs are from the official card database.

Riolu and Mega Lucario ex are the plan, so they get the most copies. Hariyama is a second attacker that does not hand over three Prizes, and when it evolves its Ability pulls one of your opponent's Benched Pokémon into the Active Spot, the same job Boss's Orders does. Lunatone draws only while Solrock is in play, and its cost is a discarded Basic Fighting Energy, which is exactly what Aura Jab wants. The two Pokémon ex are single copies doing jobs the main line cannot, and Gravity Mountain is aimed at opponents, since this list has no Stage 2 Pokémon.

Balance Trainers and Energy for the plan

There is no correct ratio for every deck. The rulebook's starting guideline is 12 to 15 Energy and around 20 to 25 Trainers, with the rest Pokémon. The example runs 18 Pokémon, 30 Trainers and 12 Energy, so it sits at the bottom of the Energy range and above the Trainer range.

That works because of assumptions you can check in the card text. Every attack costs Fighting or any-type Energy, so one type covers everything. You attach only one Energy from your hand each turn, but Aura Jab attaches up to three more from the discard pile. Lunar Cycle, Ultra Ball, Iris's Fighting Spirit and Secret Box let you discard Energy on purpose, while Fighting Gong finds Energy in the deck and Night Stretcher brings it back from the discard, so 12 Energy cards behave like more.

Change those and the numbers change. Without Lunatone and Solrock the discard pile fills more slowly, so Aura Jab attaches less. A second Energy type needs more Energy cards, because the searches only find Fighting.

Test starting hands and consistency

Opening-hand odds can be worked out exactly with the hypergeometric distribution: 60 cards, seven drawn without replacement, and the chance of at least one card from a group. The figures use the example's counts and treat each hand as one seven-card draw before any mulligan or Prize cards.

A hand with no Basic Pokémon comes up about one time in six, and the rulebook makes you reveal it, shuffle and redraw while your opponent may draw an extra card. Riolu alone appears in fewer than half of opening hands, which is why the list runs eight cards that can fetch it.

Then test by hand. Shuffle, draw seven, set six Prize cards aside and play your first two turns alone, then note if Mega Lucario ex was in play with Energy attached. Neither player can evolve a Pokémon on its first turn in play, and the player going first cannot attack or play a Supporter on their first turn, so your second turn is the earliest Mega Brave can happen. Tally twenty or more hands to see the real problems. This page gives no win rate, because that needs logged games against real opponents.

Check legality and improve the list

Run through this before an event. Each line was checked against the rulebook, the Tournament Handbook and the banned card list on 17 October 2026.

• Exactly 60 cards, counted by Pokémon, Trainer and Energy.
• No name more than four times, except Basic Energy.
• At least one Basic Pokémon.
• No more than one ACE SPEC card in total.
• Every card carries an H, I or J regulation mark, or is an older printing whose name and text match a card legal now (Handbook section 4.1.3).
• Nothing on the banned list (no cards are banned in Standard at the time of checking).
• All card backs consistent, and every sleeve the same colour, design, size and condition.
• Your list written on the official deck list form (A4 and US letter versions are on pokemon.com).

The reprint rule matters here. A published list can cite an older printing, such as Boss's Orders from Paldea Evolved. Look at the mark on your copy, and if it is not H, I or J, it is playable only under that reprint condition. Read the formats and rotation guide before each new season.

Improve the list one change at a time. If a card sat in your hand for most test games, cut a copy, add one of whatever you were short of, and test again. Gravity Mountain is the obvious swap if your local opponents play few Stage 2 Pokémon.

Buy the exact cards or a suitable starting product

If you know the list, buy the cards individually. Booster packs are random, so opening them is an unreliable way to find the specific copies a deck needs. When we open, our Pokémon singles range is where we will list individual cards by set and number, so you can match them against a list like the one above.

If you would rather start from a whole deck, the Mega Lucario ex League Battle Deck contains this exact list along with damage-counter dice, a coin-flip die, a deck box, a strategy sheet and a code card for Pokémon TCG Live. Pokémon also lists two 30th Celebration Battle Decks, led by Espeon ex or Umbreon ex, as all-foil 60-card decks with a deck box, playmat and coin. Their lists were not on the product page when we checked, so confirm the cards before treating either as a Standard deck. The World Championships replica decks are not tournament legal.

Once your deck is built, read the formats and rotation guide next. It explains when regulation marks leave Standard and how to keep a deck legal from one season to the next.