Palworld TCG Recommended Decks: All 4, and Which One Wins

Chillet – Dragon Whisperer is in 39 of the 49 tournament decklists Bushiroad has published for the Palworld TCG. Helzephyr – Wings of the Moonless Night is in one. Bushiroad recommends building a deck around each of them.

Its Japanese site posted four recommended Dawn of Palpagos decks on 31 July: a Material deck, a Dragon deck, an Ingredient deck and a Nocturnal deck. On 1 October its English site put up a Recommended Decks page with the same four lists, card for card. Apart from the two prebuilt trial decks, they are the only decks either site's recommended or featured deck section lists.

The English site has added tournament lists since. On 5 October it posted English versions of the Japanese release-tournament and Kyoto lists, and on 7 October it posted the top three from the Grand Challengers Cup at Bushiroad EXPO 2026 in Kuala Lumpur. That event was played with English-edition cards, and its lists are the first of their kind on either site.

So I pulled the four recommended lists and every tournament list in both of Bushiroad's deck-recipe databases as of 14 October 2026. That is 49 lists: 16 from Japan's three Grand Release Tournaments (Osaka, Tokyo and Nagoya), 12 from the Kyoto Masters League stop, 18 from Tokyo Autumn and 3 from Kuala Lumpur. Then I checked which cards from each recommended deck turn up in them.

The four decks at a glance

All four run exactly eight Lucky Pals, the cap in rule 6.1.1.3, and so do all 49 tournament lists. Our Lucky Pals guide covers why eight is the number.

The bigger gap is Interrupt. The recommended decks run 6 to 8 Pals with Interrupt. The 49 tournament lists run 503 between them, 6 to 14 per list and 10.3 on average, and 36 of the 49 run more than eight. The keyword abilities guide has the rules for Interrupt, which nullifies an attack from your hand.

Dragon Deck: the one the field adopted

Bushiroad's description of the deck is short: deploy Chillet, and if the top card of your deck is a Dragon Pal costing 8 or less, deploy that too, with Jormuntide Ignis as the example. The list runs 20 Dragon Pals, the most a Red-Blue deck could run before the sleeve set: four each of the three non-Lucky Dragons in Blue and Colorless, plus eight Lucky Pals that are all Dragons. Our elements guide lists every Dragon Pal in the pool. The Red half is built around eight Foxparks for Foxparks' Harness, which gives a 《Foxparks》 an On Attack trigger that deals 700 damage, plus Single-Shot Rifle's 1500 on deploy and two Pump-Action Shotguns.

The engine is the format's backbone. Chillet is in 39 of the 49 tournament lists, at four copies every time, and in 39 of the 41 lists that play Blue. The two Blue lists without it are an Osaka release-tournament list built around Helzephyr and a Tokyo Autumn third-place list built around the sleeve set's Grizzbolt and Quivern.

The colour pair is where the field went its own way. Of the 39 Chillet lists, 25 are Blue-Purple, 12 Blue-Red and 2 Blue-Green. The closest any of them comes to Bushiroad's build is an undefeated list from the Tokyo Grand Release Tournament, which shares 38 of its 50 cards. It drops Cryolinx, Univolt and Sparkit and adds four Reptyro – Ore Gorger, four Grappling Gun, two more Pump-Action Shotguns and two Reindrix – Icy Gaze. Our Kyoto breakdown compared the same recommended list against Kyoto's Block D champion and found nine of its 13 card names in common.

Two of the Dragon deck's cards barely show up: Univolt is in none of the 49 lists, and Sparkit is in two.

Material Deck: the engine places, with Purple

The plan is to make Material and spend it. Stone Pit gets 3 Material and a card when you assign a Pal to it, Flambelle and Arsox each get 2 Material on deploy, and Ribbuny gets 1 when it goes to the graveyard. Mounted Machine Gun spends X Material and an assigned Pal to deal 500 damage X times, and Mossanda Lux spends 2 for Power +500. Bushiroad's description singles out Suzaku – Hellfire Wings, which adds 200 to non-battle damage from your red cards. Official Q&A #53 confirms that covers red structures, so each Machine Gun shot deals 700. The structures guide covers assigning and why it leaves a Pal open to attack.

The engine does finish on top. Mounted Machine Gun is in 6 of the 49 lists, including the Block B champion at Kyoto and the Block A champion at Tokyo Autumn. All six are Red-Purple. None of the 13 Blue-Red tournament lists runs Mounted Machine Gun or Stone Pit.

So Bushiroad's list and the decks that placed share an engine and not much else. The recommended Material deck has 14 cards in common with Kyoto's Block B champion and 13 with Kuala Lumpur's third-place list. Those cards are Stone Pit, Mounted Machine Gun, Suzaku and Foxparks – A Toasty Hug. Kyoto's list fills the rest with Purple cards (Menasting, Shadowbeak, Leezpunk, Blazehowl Noct, Lyleen Noct and Zoe's Strategy), the Colorless Lamball and Cattiva – My First Pal, and two more Red cards, Primitive Furnace and Pump-Action Shotgun. Arsox, Flambelle and Mossanda Lux are in none of the 49 lists.

Ingredient Deck: Lyleen made three lists

Lyleen – Blessing of the Goddess gets 3 Ingredient on deploy, and once per turn it can consume 3 to look at the top five cards of your deck and deploy a Pal costing 6 or less from among them. More Ingredient comes from Flopie (2 on deploy), Chikipi (1 when it goes to the graveyard) and Digtoise's Headband, which gives 2 Material or 2 Ingredient when it pumps a 《Digtoise》. Both Digtoise and Eikthyrdeer Terra spend 2 Ingredient for Power +500, and the Digtoise pair get Breakthrough for the turn as well. There are no structures, so all the Ingredient comes from Pals and the Headband.

Lyleen is in 3 of the 49 lists. One is the only Green-Purple list in the sample, an undefeated list from the Tokyo Grand Release Tournament, which shares 25 of its 50 cards with Bushiroad's. It keeps Lyleen, Digtoise – Seismic Drillback, Petallia, Blazehowl Noct, Gumoss, Dinossom, Tombat and Lyleen Noct. Instead of Eikthyrdeer Terra, Digtoise – Keen Needleback, Flopie, Rushoar, Chikipi, the Headband and both Strategy cards, it runs Wumpo Botan, Warsect, Mossanda – Guard Captain, Medieval Medicine Workbench, Viewing Cage and four Strike from the Darkness. The other two are Tokyo Autumn's Block B champion and Block A third place, and both pair Lyleen with Blue and Chillet. Our Tokyo Autumn breakdown covers those two.

Eikthyrdeer Terra, Digtoise – Keen Needleback, Flopie, Chikipi, Digtoise's Headband and Lily's Strategy are in none of the 49.

Nocturnal Deck: one list, and it was Blue-Purple

Helzephyr's ability reads: when your 〈Nocturnal〉 Pal is deployed, if it is night, put up to one Pal costing that much or less into the graveyard, and Helzephyr rests at the end of the turn if it did. Official Q&A #78 says it triggers on Helzephyr's own deploy, since Helzephyr has Nocturnal. Lamp gives all of your Pals Nocturnal, and Q&A #80 confirms a Pal that gets it from Lamp triggers Helzephyr. Four of the list's cards turn night on: Lamp and Shoddy Bed each mill three cards for night until the end of your opponent's next turn, Daedream's Necklace adds night to its +200, and Maraith makes it night while it is resting. Two of its three Red cards are removal: Kitsun deals 1200 to a Pal costing 7 or more, and Blazamut 1000 to any Pal. The third, Foxparks – A Toasty Hug, is Interrupt.

The catch is in that last clause of Helzephyr's text. A resting Pal is a legal attack target under rule 9.2.3, so a turn in which Helzephyr removes a Pal ends with Helzephyr open to attack, at 700 Power, or 1000 while it is still night.

Helzephyr is in one of the 49 lists, an undefeated list from the Osaka Grand Release Tournament. It is Blue-Purple, with four each of Helzephyr, Shadowbeak, Lamp, Depresso, Maraith, Pyrin Noct, Reindrix and Pengullet – Yearning for the Sky. It shares 20 of its 50 cards with Bushiroad's Nocturnal deck, and its 14 Interrupt Pals are the most in any of the 49 lists, against the recommended deck's 6. No Kyoto, Tokyo Autumn or Kuala Lumpur list runs Helzephyr. Pyrin Noct, the Nocturnal Pal that also has Interrupt, is in 20 of the 49 lists, 19 of them next to Chillet.

Kuala Lumpur: the first English-edition decklists

Bushiroad EXPO 2026 in Kuala Lumpur ran from 2 to 4 October at LaLaport Bukit Bintang City Centre. Its programme listed two Palworld tournaments for English Edition cards: a Special Release Tournament on 3 October and a Grand Challengers Cup on 4 October. Bushiroad's English deck-recipe page posted the Cup's top three on 7 October. The English sleeve set does not release until 16 October, and all three lists use only Dawn of Palpagos and launch trial-deck cards.

"Jormuntide" here is Jormuntide – Surging Sea Serpent, the Blue Lucky Pal. Handles are as Bushiroad published them.

Two of the three are Kyoto podium lists with two cards changed. The champion's list differs from Kyoto's Block B third-place list by two Pyrin Noct in place of one Blazehowl Noct and one Pal Sphere. The third-place list is Kyoto's Block B champion with two Strike from the Darkness in place of one Lyleen Noct and one Mounted Machine Gun.

Against Bushiroad's recommendations, two of the three run the Dragon deck's engine, in Blue-Purple, and the third runs the Material engine with Purple. The champion shares 17 cards with the recommended Dragon deck. Both Blue-Purple lists run 13 Interrupt Pals, against the recommended decks' 6 to 8.

The prizes were the store Grand Challengers Cup's, plus a top-8 tier. Bushiroad's EXPO page lists a PR Card Pack Vol.1.5 for the top 8, the Lovander promo EPR-011 for the top 4 and a serial-numbered Jormuntide Ignis, EPR-010, for the champion. The store version's prize list on the English Challengers Cup page stops at the top 4. Our Challengers Cup breakdown has the store format, and stores can run their Cups until 31 October.

15 cards no tournament list has played

The four recommended lists use 53 different cards between them. Fifteen of the 53 are in none of the 49 tournament lists:

Six of the 15 come from the Ingredient deck, and five of those six make or spend Ingredient. Two of the Material deck's three Material-making Pals, Flambelle and Arsox, are on the list, and so is Mossanda Lux, which spends Material; the third maker, Ribbuny, is in two lists. Every Daedream card in the recommended Nocturnal deck is here too.

At the other end, ten cards from the recommended lists are in at least 24 of the 49: Chillet – Dragon Whisperer (39), Pengullet – Yearning for the Sky (35), Relaxaurus – Hungry Gunner (35), Zoe's Strategy (32), Cryolinx – Arctic Ordeal (31), Elphidran Aqua – Gentle Ripples (31), Strike from the Darkness (28), Blazehowl Noct – Darkflame Defender (26), Elphidran – Gentle Radiance (25) and Lyleen Noct – Providence of the Goddess (24). Five of the ten are in the Dragon deck. The other five are scattered across Bushiroad's other three lists: Pengullet in the Red-Blue Material deck, and four Purple cards (Zoe's Strategy, Strike from the Darkness, Blazehowl Noct and Lyleen Noct) that the Blue-Purple tournament lists run beside Chillet.

What each deck takes to build

Bushiroad's Japanese site published both launch trial-deck lists on 17 August. Each box holds two copies of most of its cards, with three of Arsox and Jolthog Cryst in Red・Blue and three of Eikthyrdeer Terra and Hoocrates in Green・Purple. Everything else in the four recommended lists comes from Booster Pack "Dawn of Palpagos".

The two-box count comes from the four-of cards: the Dragon deck wants four each of Single-Shot Rifle, Foxparks – A Toasty Hug and Elphidran Aqua, and Red・Blue holds two of each. The Nocturnal deck's six trial-deck cards are two each of Foxparks – A Toasty Hug, Blazamut and Strike from the Darkness, so one box of each covers them.

RR is the top base rarity in the booster, so the RR column is the one to plan around. Different printings of a card share its four-copy limit (official Q&A #2), and our rarities guide lists which RR cards come as OSR, SP or SSP parallels. The Nocturnal deck needs the fewest RR copies, and on the evidence above it is also the one furthest from anything that has placed. Our trial deck comparison covers what else is in each box.

What Bushiroad has not published

• Standings, attendance or match results on the deck-recipe pages, Kuala Lumpur included. Each list carries a placing label and nothing on what it beat.
• Lists from the Kuala Lumpur Special Release Tournament on 3 October, or from below third place at the Cup.
• English versions of the Tokyo Autumn lists. The English deck-recipe pages carry the release tournaments, Kyoto and Kuala Lumpur.
• The trial-deck card counts on the English site. They are on the Japanese deck-recipe pages only.
• More than a short paragraph of reasoning per recommended deck. Each list comes with a few lines on its engine and nothing on its card choices.
• Recommended decks for Booster Pack "Legends Awaken", which goes on sale on 30 October. Its card list is in neither database yet.

Quick reference

• The four recommended decks: Material (Red-Blue), Dragon (Red-Blue), Ingredient (Green-Purple) and Nocturnal (Purple-Red). Posted on the Japanese site on 31 July and the English site on 1 October, identical card for card.
• Tournament lists checked: 49 from Bushiroad's databases on 14 October 2026: 16 Grand Release Tournament, 12 Kyoto, 18 Tokyo Autumn, 3 Kuala Lumpur.
• Colour pairs in those 49: Blue-Purple 26, Blue-Red 13, Red-Purple 7, Blue-Green 2, Green-Purple 1.
• Engine cards: Chillet – Dragon Whisperer in 39 lists, Mounted Machine Gun in 6 (all Red-Purple), Lyleen – Blessing of the Goddess in 3, Helzephyr in 1.
• Lucky Pals: exactly eight in all four recommended decks and all 49 tournament lists.
• Interrupt: 6 to 8 in the recommended decks; 6 to 14 per tournament list, 10.3 on average.
• Kuala Lumpur Grand Challengers Cup (4 October): Blue-Purple champion and runner-up, Red-Purple third; two of the three differ from a Kyoto podium list by two cards.
• Cards from the recommended lists in no tournament list: 15 of 53.
• To build one: two copies of one trial deck for Material, Dragon or Ingredient, one of each for Nocturnal; 4 to 14 RR copies.

If you want one of Bushiroad's four, build the Dragon deck, because its engine is the one the results back. Then look at what the Blue-Purple lists did with the other half of it: Zoe's Strategy, Strike from the Darkness and more Interrupt where Bushiroad put Red.