Pokémon TCG Slowking Deck Guide: Builds and Matchups

Slowking was the second-most-registered deck at the Nice Regional Championships on October 17-18: 170 Masters, behind only pure Dragapult ex. Across the 2027 season's first six Regionals it has 815 players, fourth behind Dragapult ex (2,362), Basic Box (830) and N's Zoroark (829). It has not won any of the six. Its best finish is Mark Dreitzler's 4th in Baltimore, it has 4 of the season's 65 top-cut seats, and Tomás Malaca of Portugal took two of them: 6th in Frankfurt and 11th in Nice.

The deck is built around a 120 HP Stage 1 with no Ability and an attack that borrows other Pokémon's attacks off the top of your own deck. This guide covers how that works, what 815 lists agree on, which splits came with better results, and who it beats. Every tournament number comes from Limitless Labs, which builds its tables from the RK9 tournament software: all 815 Slowking decklists registered at Baltimore, Brisbane, Frankfurt, Recife, Louisville and Nice, and Limitless's matchup tables for those players, Swiss and top cut. Win rates count a tie as a third of a win, the way Limitless does. Card text is from the Pokémon TCG API. The Puebla Regional (October 24-25) is being played as this goes up, and none of its results are in these numbers.

It beat the field's Day 2 rate at five of the six events. Nice, where its share of the field was the highest of the six, was the exception.

How Seek Inspiration takes Prizes

Slowking 058/142 from Stellar Crown has two attacks. Super Psy Bolt does 120 for three Energy. The one the deck is built on costs two:

Seek Inspiration (Psychic, Colorless): Discard the top card of your deck, and if that card is a Pokémon that doesn't have a Rule Box, choose 1 of its attacks and use it as this attack.

Two things follow from the wording. The borrowed attack costs Slowking's two Energy, whatever its own printed cost is. And if the top card is anything else, a Trainer, an Energy or a Pokémon ex, it is discarded and the attack does nothing. So the deck's real work happens before it attacks: deciding what the top card is. Three cards do that job.

• Academy at Night, a Stadium, is in all 815 lists: "Once during each player's turn, that player may put a card from their hand on top of their deck." 797 lists run four.
• Poké Pad, an Item in all 815 lists, searches your deck for a Pokémon that doesn't have a Rule Box and puts it into your hand. 647 lists run four. Poké Pad then Academy at Night is the basic turn: find the Pokémon whose attack you want, put it on top, attack.
• Ciphermaniac's Codebreaking, a Supporter in 811 lists, searches your deck for 2 cards, shuffles, and puts them on top in any order. The top one can be this turn's Seek Inspiration target; the second becomes the card you draw at the start of your next turn. 416 lists run four and 380 run three.

Night Stretcher, in all 815 lists, puts a Pokémon from your discard pile back into your hand, and so does the Dangle Tail attack on the Stellar Crown Slowpoke, the printing 779 lists use. The Pokémon Seek Inspiration discarded this turn can go back on top next turn.

Academy at Night says "each player", so your opponent gets the same once-a-turn top-deck while it is in play. Like any Stadium, it is discarded when your opponent plays a different one, which is the Stadium rule our Trainer card guide covers.

The Energy side is three cards:

• Telepathic Psychic Energy (all 815 lists, four in 798) provides Psychic Energy, and when you attach it from your hand to a Psychic Pokémon you search your deck for up to 2 Basic Psychic Pokémon and put them onto your Bench. Slowpoke is a Basic Psychic Pokémon, so one attachment can set up two more Slowking lines.
• Wondrous Patch (813 lists, three in 760) attaches a Basic Psychic Energy from your discard pile to one of your Benched Psychic Pokémon, which is how the next Slowking gets powered while the current one attacks.
• Boomerang Energy (728 lists) provides Colorless Energy, and if it is discarded by an effect of an attack used by the Pokémon it is attached to, it comes back to that Pokémon after the attack. Two of the attacks this deck borrows most, Kyurem's Trifrost and Zeraora's Thunder Raid, discard all Energy from the attacking Pokémon.

What Slowking borrows

These are the attackers without a Rule Box that at least 100 of the 815 lists carried for Seek Inspiration to find, with what each one does when Slowking uses its attack:

Metagross, both Annihilapes, Drapion and Pawmot are Evolution Pokémon, and not one of the 815 lists runs a Beldum, Metang, Mankey, Primeape, Skorupi, Pawmi or Pawmo. With no earlier stages in the deck they cannot reach play. They are there to be discarded.

Besides Slowpoke and Slowking themselves, two more Pokémon without a Rule Box cleared 100 lists and are not in the table: Munkidori (141 lists), whose Adrena-Brain Ability moves damage counters only if it has Darkness Energy attached (143 lists ran Darkness Energy), and Budew (104), whose Itchy Pollen stops the opponent playing Item cards during their next turn.

Trifrost is the reason Kyurem is in all 815 lists, at two copies in 788. Kyurem pays five Energy for it; Slowking pays two. Its Energy discard is where Boomerang Energy and Wondrous Patch come in, and its spread is where the Dragapult arithmetic below starts.

Two Japanese rulings that set the numbers

The English card does not say which Pokémon is attacking when Slowking borrows an attack, or how a borrowed "you may discard" works. Japan's official Pokémon Card Game Q&A has ruled on both for the same card, Stellar Miracle's Slowking, whose Japanese card text matches Seek Inspiration. We found no English ruling on either question, so treat these as Japan's answers.

• The borrowed attack belongs to Slowking. In a ruling on a coin-flip Pokémon Tool, Japan's Q&A says that even when Seek Inspiration uses a Colorless Pokémon's attack, the Pokémon using the attack is the Psychic-type Slowking. Weakness is applied by the attacking Pokémon's type, so the attacks Slowking borrows hit as Psychic attacks. "This Pokémon" in the borrowed text means Slowking too, which is how the Metagross ruling below reads it: Trifrost's Energy discard comes off Slowking, and so does the 70 that Hazardous Tail does to itself.
• Metallic Hammer does 300 from a Slowking with no Metal Energy. Japan's Q&A says a Slowking with no Metal Energy attached that uses Metallic Hammer through Seek Inspiration, and chooses to carry out the attack's effect, adds the 150. If that Slowking has even one Metal Energy attached, it must discard Metal Energy.

The second ruling turns a Stage 2 the deck has no way to play into its biggest single hit: 300 damage for two Energy, against the 150 the English wording ("You may discard 3 Metal Energy from this Pokémon and have this attack do 150 more damage") suggests at first read. If your event is judged on the English text, ask the head judge before you build a turn around 300.

Fairy Zone and the Dragapult math

Lillie's Clefairy ex is in 802 of the 815 lists, one copy in 797. Its Fairy Zone Ability works from the Bench: "The Weakness of each of your opponent's Dragon Pokémon in play is now Psychic. (Apply Weakness as ×2.)" Dragapult ex, the most-registered deck at all six Regionals, is a 320 HP Stage 2 Tera Dragon Pokémon with no printed Weakness. Put that next to the first ruling, and read the deck's attacks against a Dragapult ex in the Active Spot with Fairy Zone on:

• Trifrost: 110 doubled is 220 to the Active Dragapult ex, plus 110 to each of two other Pokémon. The Ascended Heroes Dreepy has 70 HP and Drakloak 90, so a Benched Dreepy or Drakloak is Knocked Out. A Benched Dragapult ex takes none of it, because a Tera Pokémon on the Bench is protected from attack damage, as our Bench rules guide covers.
• Metallic Hammer: 300 doubled is 600. Under the narrower reading of the English text it is 150 doubled, 300, which is 20 short.
• Super Psy Bolt: 120 doubled is 240.
• Brave Bangle, a Pokémon Tool in 248 lists, makes attacks used by a Pokémon without a Rule Box do 30 more to the opponent's Active Pokémon ex, before Weakness. Under Japan's ruling, a Slowking wearing it does 330 with Metallic Hammer, enough for a 320 HP Dragapult ex even without Fairy Zone.

That is card arithmetic, and the records show an edge rather than a lock. Across the six Regionals Slowking went 595-466-203 (52.4%) against pure Dragapult ex over 1,264 matches, and 928-711-304 (53.0%) against the three main Dragapult builds combined. The pure matchup by event was 50.0% in Baltimore, 50.2% in Brisbane, 55.7% in Frankfurt, 44.7% in Recife, 56.5% in Louisville and 51.1% in Nice. The best of the three was the Dusknoir hybrid, at 56.0% over 352 matches. The three Dragapult builds themselves are broken down in our Dragapult ex guide.

The cards 815 lists agree on

Most of the 60 is settled. These are the cards in at least 700 of the 815 lists, with the count most of them chose:

Ten Energy cards was the count in 641 lists.

Five of those Pokémon ex are the support package our Basic Box guide explains in detail, and they do the same jobs here. Latias ex's Skyliner gives your Basic Pokémon no Retreat Cost, which covers Slowpoke, Kyurem and Kangaskhan but not Slowking, a Stage 1 with a Retreat Cost of three; Switch, in 721 lists, and Surfer, in 302, cover that. Mega Kangaskhan ex's Run Errand draws 2 cards while it is in the Active Spot. Meowth ex's Last-Ditch Catch searches out a Supporter when you bench it, and Fezandipiti ex's Flip the Script draws 3 if one of your Pokémon was Knocked Out during your opponent's last turn. Lillie's Clefairy ex is there for Fairy Zone.

The ACE SPEC is mostly a two-way split: 526 lists ran Secret Box and 258 Prime Catcher (the other 31 ran a different one), and the Secret Box lists made Day 2 at 23.8% against 20.2%. Our ACE SPEC breakdown found the same split three Regionals in.

Where the lists split

The last eight or so slots are where Slowking lists differ. This is the share of each event's Slowking lists running a card, then the Day 2 rate for lists with and without it:

The Mew ex Day 2 figures leave out Baltimore, which was played before 30th Celebration became tournament-legal on September 25 per The Pokémon Company's TCG Live notice. A Day 2 rate measures the players as well as the cards, and nothing in standings data separates the two. Four splits are still worth reading.

Mega Kangaskhan ex count is the clearest. Lists with three or more made Day 2 at 26.5% (143 of 540), lists with two or fewer at 14.2% (39 of 275), and the three-or-more lists were ahead at all six events. The card text gives the obvious reason to want it: Run Errand draws 2 a turn in a deck whose main search Supporter, Ciphermaniac's Codebreaking, draws nothing, and with Latias ex in play Kangaskhan retreats for free after drawing.

Lucky Helmet held up the same way. It draws 2 cards when the Active Pokémon it is attached to is damaged by an opponent's attack, and lists with it made Day 2 at 30.5% (81 of 266) against 18.4% without, ahead at all six events.

The Annihilape printings went opposite ways. The Pitch Black Annihilape, whose Ghostly Blow does 100 and places 5 damage counters on a Benched Pokémon, rose from half of Baltimore's lists to 61% of Nice's. The Surging Sparks Annihilape, whose Destined Fight Knocks Out both Active Pokémon, fell from 52% to 35%. Destined Fight trades a one-Prize Slowking for whatever is Active on the other side, so on paper it is a strong swap against a two- or three-Prize Pokémon ex. The lists that ran only that printing made Day 2 at 13.3% (22 of 165), against 26.4% (74 of 280) for lists that ran only the Pitch Black one.

Boss's Orders had the lowest Day 2 rate of any card in 100 or more lists. The 108 lists with it made Day 2 at 8.3%, and they trailed the lists without it at all six events. The deck has other ways to change the opponent's Active Pokémon: Prime Catcher, in 258 lists, and Metagross's Bounce Back.

Mew ex grew more than any other card in that table, from 24% of Brisbane's lists to 58% of Nice's. Its Memory Helix Ability lets it use the attacks of any of your Benched Pokémon as long as it has the Energy, and a Benched Slowking's attack is Seek Inspiration. The Day 2 rates with and without it are close (23.0% against 20.8%), so read the rise as the field's choice rather than a verdict. It is also a two-Prize Pokémon ex standing in for a one-Prize Slowking.

Malaca's 60, two top cuts apart

Tomás Malaca is the only player to take Slowking to two top cuts at the six Regionals: 6th in Frankfurt at 12-3-1 and 11th in Nice at 11-3-1. Here is his Nice list, from his decklist page, with his Frankfurt counts from his Frankfurt decklist:

Pokémon - 21

Trainers - 29

Energy - 10

Both lists sit on the better side of four splits above: three Kangaskhan, the Pitch Black Annihilape, no Boss's Orders and no Brave Bangle. Only the Nice list adds Lucky Helmet. Between the two events he cut his Mew ex, a Ciphermaniac's and an Ultra Ball for Surfer, Lucky Helmet and Special Red Card, an Item playable only once your opponent has 3 or fewer Prize cards left, which makes them put their hand on the bottom of their deck and draw 3.

His two runs, from Limitless Labs (Nice, Frankfurt):

Both of his Day 2 losses came against Alakazam/Dusknoir. Chałupka went on to win Frankfurt with it, as our Frankfurt and Brisbane recap covers, and the matchup table below has Alakazam/Dusknoir among Slowking's two worst opponents.

Matchups from 6,371 matches

This is every Slowking match at the six Regionals against another deck, Swiss and top cut, grouped by Limitless's label for the opponent. Mirror matches (251 of them), byes and other procedural results, and 7 matches against opponents with no deck on file are left out. These are the opponents Slowking played at least 115 times:

Across all 6,371 non-mirror matches Slowking went 2,846-2,674-851 (49.1%). Because a tie counts a third of a win for both players, the two sides of a matchup do not add up to 100%: our Basic Box guide gives Basic Box 50.2% in the same 458 matches that are 45.6% from Slowking's side.

The worst rows are the two Alakazam decks. Slowking won 23.7% of 365 matches against Alakazam/Dudunsparce and 24.7% of 132 against Alakazam/Dusknoir, and it was under 36% against Alakazam/Dudunsparce at all six events. Alakazam's Powerful Hand places 2 damage counters on the opponent's Active Pokémon for each card in its player's hand, so six cards is a Knock Out on a 120 HP Slowking. That is a reading of two cards, not a diagnosis of 497 matches. Dhelmise (30.8%) and Ogerpon/Meganium/Hydrapple (32.3%) come next.

Card text explains the two best rows. Crustle's Mysterious Rock Inn Ability prevents all damage done to it by attacks from the opponent's Pokémon ex. Slowking is not a Pokémon ex, and it went 68.9% against Crustle, where Basic Box went 41.7% over the same six Regionals in its own guide and N's Zoroark 31.9% over the first four in its guide. The Lucario/Hariyama deck is built on Mega Lucario ex and Hariyama, both Fighting Pokémon weak to Psychic, while Slowking resists Fighting by 30, and Slowking went 72.5% against it. Mega Excadrill (62.2%) and Rocket's Honchkrow (61.3%) are the other rows above 60%.

N's Zoroark is the bad row that Weakness explains, partly. N's Zoroark ex is a Darkness Pokémon, and Slowking, Slowpoke and Latias ex are all weak to Darkness. Slowking won 41.8% of 480 matches and was under 47% at all six events. Weakness does not decide everything, though: Sharpedo/Toxtricity is built on another Darkness Pokémon ex, Mega Sharpedo ex, and that row is close to even. The Zoroark side of this matchup is in our N's Zoroark ex guide.

Delta Reign, and what's next

The Pokémon Company's Delta Reign rule changes announcement, posted October 22, makes no changes to the Standard or Expanded banned card lists and sets an effective date of November 20, the day the Latin America International Championships open in São Paulo. Nothing in this deck is leaving.

Two things are worth checking when the set is out. Storm Emeralda's Legendary Lava Cave (伝説の溶岩洞; the English name is a translation until the card is shown), on its Japanese card, removes every Ability from every Evolution Pokémon in play, and the Abilities in this deck's core list are all on Basic Pokémon: Latias ex, Lillie's Clefairy ex, Mega Kangaskhan ex, Meowth ex, Fezandipiti ex and Kyurem. Seek Inspiration is an attack. And any new Pokémon without a Rule Box is a new Seek Inspiration target. Delta Reign's English Groudon, for one, has a Brutal Lands attack that does 100, plus 170 more if a Stadium with "Legendary" in its name is in play, whoever played it. Our Delta Reign guide has the cards shown so far. That is card text, not a prediction.

Before then, Puebla (October 24-25) and Gdańsk (October 31 to November 1) are both played on today's card pool.

Quick Action Checklist

• Slowking is the season's fourth-most-registered deck (815 players across six Regionals) and was second at Nice. It made Day 2 at 22.3% against the field's 18.3% and has 4 of 65 top-cut seats, but no wins.
• Seek Inspiration borrows the attack of the top card of your deck, for two Energy, if it is a Pokémon without a Rule Box. Academy at Night, Poké Pad and Ciphermaniac's Codebreaking decide what that card is.
• Kyurem and Metagross are the main targets. Trifrost does 110 to three Pokémon. Metallic Hammer does 300 from a Slowking with no Metal Energy under Japan's official ruling; check with your judge if your event goes by the English text.
• Lillie's Clefairy ex makes Dragapult weak to Slowking. Under Japan's ruling the Psychic-type Slowking is the Pokémon using the borrowed attack, so Trifrost does 220 to an Active Dragapult ex with Fairy Zone on. Slowking won 52.4% of 1,264 matches against pure Dragapult ex.
• Run three or more Mega Kangaskhan ex. Those lists made Day 2 at 26.5%, against 14.2% with two or fewer, and were ahead at all six events. Lucky Helmet lists were ahead at all six too.
• Prefer the Pitch Black Annihilape and skip Boss's Orders. Surging Sparks-only Annihilape lists made Day 2 at 13.3%, and Boss's Orders lists at 8.3%.
• Respect the Alakazam decks: 23.7% against Alakazam/Dudunsparce and 24.7% against Alakazam/Dusknoir, with Dhelmise (30.8%) and Ogerpon/Meganium/Hydrapple (32.3%) next. Crustle (68.9%) and Lucario/Hariyama (72.5%) are the best big matchups.