Smog Signals

The Thesis

One attack scales off your own board, and every card in the deck is a legal target for it.

Team Rocket's Weezing does 40 damage for each Pokémon in play with "Koffing" or "Weezing" in its name, counting both sides of the table. Eighteen of the eighteen Pokémon in this deck qualify, including itself. A full board is 240 damage for two Energy.

Three cards turn that from a cute number into an engine.

Galarian Weezing makes it cost one card. Energy Factory means every basic Darkness Energy attached to a Pokémon with "Weezing" in its name provides two Darkness. One Energy pays for the whole attack, and it pays for plain Weezing's 170 too.

Team Rocket's Koffing rebuilds the board when it dies. Smog Signals fires when it is damaged in the Active Spot, even on the hit that knocks it out, and searches two more Koffing onto your Bench. Killing your Active raises your damage count.

Gwynn turns spare Koffing into cards. Discard up to two Pokémon without a Rule Box and draw three for each. Every Pokémon here qualifies, and Night Stretcher brings back whatever you needed.

The strategic point is simpler than the combo. Fox needs six knockouts to win this game no matter what he brings, because you never give up more than one Prize. If he plays ex style, he needs six kills while you need two or three. If he plays single-prize, you are even on trade and ahead on damage.

Deck List

Pokémon (18)

Qty	Card	Set	Number	Reg
4	Team Rocket's Koffing	Destined Rivals	125	I
4	Koffing	Journey Together	091	I
4	Team Rocket's Weezing	Destined Rivals	126	I
2	Weezing	Journey Together	092	I
2	Galarian Weezing	Chilling Reign	096	E
1	Galarian Weezing	Shining Fates	042	D
1	Weezing	Scarlet & Violet 151	110	G

Trainers (32)

Qty	Card	Type	Set	Number	Reg
4	Gwynn	Supporter	Pitch Black	078	J
3	Lillie's Determination	Supporter	Mega Evolution	119	I
2	Boss's Orders	Supporter	Mega Evolution	114	I
2	Team Rocket's Proton	Supporter	Destined Rivals	177	I
1	Team Rocket's Petrel	Supporter	Destined Rivals	176	I
4	Buddy-Buddy Poffin	Item	Temporal Forces	144	H
4	Evolution Incense	Item	Sword & Shield	163	D
3	Nest Ball	Item	Paldean Fates	084	G
2	Night Stretcher	Item	Shrouded Fable	061	H
2	Dark Bell	Item	Pitch Black	075	J
1	Prime Catcher	Item	Temporal Forces	157	H
2	Punk Helmet	Tool	Phantasmal Flames	092	I
2	Risky Ruins	Stadium	Mega Evolution	127	I

Energy (10)

Qty	Card	Set	Number	Reg
8	Basic Darkness Energy	Mega Evolution Energies	007	-
2	Team Rocket's Energy	Destined Rivals	182	I

18 + 32 + 10 = 60. ✓

Basics: 8 (4 Team Rocket's Koffing, 4 Koffing). Both sit under 70 HP, so Buddy-Buddy Poffin fetches either one, two at a time. All eight are Darkness, which matters for the Stadium.

Why Each Package Is Here

Main attacker. 4 Team Rocket's Weezing. The 40x. It evolves only from Team Rocket's Koffing, so the Basic count is split for it.

The Basics. 4 Team Rocket's Koffing and 4 Koffing. The Team Rocket ones feed the main attacker and carry Smog Signals; the plain ones feed everything else. Eight Basics is a slightly high mulligan rate for the format, and the fix is not more Basics, it is Poffin.

Energy engine. 2 Galarian Weezing from Chilling Reign. Energy Factory halves every attack cost in the deck and works from the Bench.

Ability lock. 1 Galarian Weezing from Shining Fates. Neutralizing Gas switches off every Ability your opponent has while it is Active, and it says "your opponent's," so Energy Factory keeps running.

Second attacker. 2 Weezing from Journey Together. Pervasive Gas confuses, then Crazy Blast hits 170 for one Energy under Energy Factory. Use it when the board is too thin for the 40x to be worth it.

Retaliation. 1 Weezing from 151. Let's Have a Blast is a coin flip to knock out whatever killed it, and Spinning Fumes puts 10 on their whole Bench. A one-of on purpose.

Draw. 4 Gwynn is the engine, because a hand full of spare Koffing converts to six cards. 3 Lillie's Determination is the reset.

Search. 4 Buddy-Buddy Poffin and 3 Nest Ball for Basics, 4 Evolution Incense for any Weezing. No Ultra Ball at all, which means no discard tax on a deck that wants its Pokémon in play rather than in the bin.

Gust. 2 Boss's Orders and the Prime Catcher. The 40x does fixed damage regardless of what is Active, so dragging up a 60 HP support Pokémon is a free Prize.

Setup. 2 Team Rocket's Proton, the only Supporter here you may play on your first turn going first, fetching three Team Rocket's Koffing. 1 Team Rocket's Petrel finds any Trainer, which in practice means the Prime Catcher or a Stadium.

Recovery. 2 Night Stretcher, which retrieves both the Pokémon Gwynn discarded and basic Darkness Energy.

Disruption. 2 Dark Bell confuses both Active non-Darkness Pokémon. Every Pokémon in this deck is Darkness, so it only ever hits theirs.

Tool. 2 Punk Helmet. 4 damage counters back at anything that attacks your Active Darkness Pokémon, and it still fires on the knockout.

Stadium. 2 Risky Ruins. All eight of your Basics are Darkness and therefore exempt, so this taxes their Bench and never yours.

Key Card Text

Team Rocket's Weezingx4

Set: SV10: Destined Rivals 126/182
Rarity: Uncommon
Type: Darkness
HP: 130
Stage: Stage 1
Weakness: Fighting ×2
Retreat: 2
Tournament: legal (Reg I)
Attack: Explode Together Now (40x) - This attack does 40 damage for each Pokémon in play that has "Koffing" or "Weezing" in its name (both yours and your opponent's).

130 HP, Stage 1, evolves from Team Rocket's Koffing only.

Explode Together Now for 40x. 40 damage for each Pokémon in play with "Koffing" or "Weezing" in its name, both yours and your opponent's. It counts itself.

Two things follow from the wording. Bench bodies count, so filling your Bench is the same action as raising your damage. And your opponent's count too, which never comes up against Fox but is worth knowing.

Galarian Weezing (Chilling Reign · E)x2

Set: SWSH06: Chilling Reign 096/198
Rarity: Rare
Type: Darkness
HP: 130
Stage: Stage 1
Ability: Energy Factory - Each basic Darkness Energy attached to your Pokémon that have "Weezing" in their name provide Darkness Darkness Energy. You can't apply more than 1 Energy Factory Ability at a time.
Weakness: Fighting ×2
Retreat: 2
Tournament: rotated out (Reg E)
Attack: Suffocating Gas (50)

Energy Factory makes each basic Darkness Energy attached to your Pokémon that have "Weezing" in their name provide two Darkness. You cannot apply more than one at a time, so the second copy is insurance, not a doubling.

Read the name clause carefully. It boosts Team Rocket's Weezing, plain Weezing, and Galarian Weezing itself. It does nothing for a Koffing.

Galarian Weezing (Shining Fates · D)x1

Set: Shining Fates 042/072
Rarity: Holo Rare
Type: Darkness
HP: 130
Stage: Stage 1
Ability: Neutralizing Gas - As long as this Pokémon is in the Active Spot, your opponent's Pokémon in play have no Abilities, except for Neutralizing Gas.
Weakness: Fighting ×2
Retreat: 3
Tournament: rotated out (Reg D)
Attack: Severe Poison - Your opponent's Active Pokémon is now Poisoned. Put 4 damage counters instead of 1 on that Pokémon during Pokémon Checkup.

Neutralizing Gas turns off every Ability your opponent has in play, for as long as this is your Active Pokémon. Your own Abilities are untouched.

Severe Poison poisons for 4 damage counters per Pokémon Checkup instead of 1. That is 40 a turn from a one-Energy attack.

Retreat is 3, so committing to this is a decision, not a pivot. Bring it up when his deck is doing something you need to stop, and accept the turn you spend not attacking.

Team Rocket's Koffingx4

Set: SV10: Destined Rivals 125/182
Rarity: Common
Type: Darkness
HP: 70
Stage: Basic
Ability: Smog Signals - If this Pokémon is in the Active Spot and is damaged by an attack from your opponent's Pokémon (even if this Pokémon is Knocked Out), search your deck for up to 2 Pokémon that have "Koffing" in their name and put them onto your Bench. Then, shuffle your deck.
Weakness: Fighting ×2
Retreat: 1
Tournament: legal (Reg I)
Attack: Leaking Gas (30)

Smog Signals fires when this is Active and takes damage from an attack, explicitly including the attack that knocks it out. Search your deck for up to 2 Pokémon with "Koffing" in their name and put them onto your Bench.

This is the card that makes the deck resilient. Fox knocks out your Active for one Prize, and you replace it with two bodies that both add 40 to your next attack.

Weezing (Journey Together · I)x2

Set: SV09: Journey Together 092/159
Rarity: Uncommon
Type: Darkness
HP: 130
Stage: Stage 1
Weakness: Fighting ×2
Retreat: 2
Tournament: legal (Reg I)
Attack: Pervasive Gas (30) - Your opponent’s Active Pokémon is now Confused.
Attack: Crazy Blast (50+) - If this Pokémon used Pervasive Gas during your last turn, this attack does 120 more damage.

Pervasive Gas for 30, and confuses.
Crazy Blast for 50, or 170 if this Pokémon used Pervasive Gas on your last turn.

Under Energy Factory both attacks cost one card. The two turn sequence is worth it when your board is small; once you have five bodies out, the 40x beats it.

Weezing (Scarlet & Violet 151 · G)x1

Set: SV: Scarlet & Violet 151 110/165
Rarity: Rare
Type: Darkness
HP: 110
Stage: Stage 1
Ability: Let's Have a Blast - If this Pokémon is in the Active Spot and is Knocked Out by damage from an attack from your opponent's Pokémon, flip a coin. If heads, the Attacking Pokémon is Knocked Out.
Weakness: Fighting ×2
Retreat: 2
Tournament: rotated out (Reg G)
Attack: Spinning Fumes (50) - This attack also does 10 damage to each of your opponent's Benched Pokémon. (Don't apply Weakness and Resistance for Benched Pokémon.)

Let's Have a Blast flips a coin when this is knocked out in the Active Spot, and on heads the attacking Pokémon is knocked out too.
Spinning Fumes for 50, plus 10 to each of their Benched Pokémon.

Gwynnx4

Set: ME05: Pitch Black 078/084
Rarity: Uncommon
Type: Trainer - Supporter
Ability: Discard up to 2 Pokémon that don't have a Rule Box from your hand, and draw 3 cards for each card you discarded in this way. (Pokémon ex, Pokémon V, etc. have Rule Boxes.)
Tournament: legal (Reg J)

Discard up to 2 Pokémon without a Rule Box from your hand and draw 3 for each. This deck has no Rule Boxes at all, so this is always a live draw 6 as long as you are holding two spare Pokémon, which you usually are.

Dark Bellx2

Set: ME05: Pitch Black 075/084
Rarity: Uncommon
Type: Trainer - Item
Ability: Both Active non-Darkness Pokémon are now Confused.
Tournament: legal (Reg J)

Both Active non-Darkness Pokémon become Confused. Yours never is one, so this is a one-sided Item.

Prime Catcherx1

Set: SV05: Temporal Forces 157/162
Rarity: ACE SPEC Rare
Type: Trainer - Item
Ability: Switch in 1 of your opponent’s Benched Pokémon to the Active Spot. If you do, switch your Active Pokémon with 1 of your Benched Pokémon.
Tournament: legal (Reg H)

Gust one of their Benched Pokémon up, then switch your own Active for free. The free switch matters more here than it looks, because Team Rocket's Weezing retreats for 2 and Galarian Weezing retreats for 3.

Damage Math

Explode Together Now is entirely a function of how many bodies you have out.

Koffing and Weezing in play: Damage
3: 120
4: 160
5: 200
6: 240

You have six slots, one Active and five Bench, and every Pokémon in this deck counts. Six is reachable, not theoretical.

Source	Cost	Damage
Team Rocket's Weezing, Explode Together Now, full board	one basic Darkness under Energy Factory	240
Weezing, Crazy Blast after Pervasive Gas	one basic Darkness under Energy Factory	170
Galarian Weezing, Severe Poison		40 per Checkup
Weezing, Spinning Fumes		50, plus 10 to each Benched
Punk Helmet	free	40 back at the attacker
Risky Ruins	free	20 per non-Darkness Basic they Bench

Target	HP	The line
Mega Zygarde ex	310	200, then 170 after Gaia Wave reduction. Two turns.
Flareon ex	270	240 at a full board, plus a Punk Helmet tick or one Risky Ruins trigger.
Team Rocket's Mewtwo ex	280	240 plus 40 from Punk Helmet.
Team Rocket's Crobat ex	310	200 twice, and Smog Signals refills between them.
Anything under 170	-	Crazy Blast on turn three, no board required.

The Prize Map

Every Pokémon in this deck gives up exactly 1 Prize. There is nothing to calculate on your side of the table, which is the point.

His deck	Prizes per knockout	Kills he needs	Kills you need
Ground Zero, Mega Zygarde ex	3	6	2
Team Rocket's Mewtwo	2	6	3
An all single-prize deck	1	6	6

Against anything with a Rule Box you are winning by construction, and you get there without a single conditional ability. Against a fair single-prize deck the race is even, and you win it on damage instead, because nothing he owns hits 240 for one Energy.

Game Plans

1. Bench first, attack second

The 40x rewards a wide board more than it rewards a fast one. Turn one, Poffin two Koffing. Turn two, Poffin or Nest Ball two more. Do not evolve everything; a Bench full of Koffing counts exactly the same as a Bench full of Weezing for the damage math, and unevolved Koffing are cheaper to lose.

2. Get Energy Factory down early

Galarian Weezing from Chilling Reign is the difference between attacking on turn two and attacking on turn four. Evolution Incense finds it. Once it is on the Bench, every attack in the deck costs one card, and your ten Energy behave like twenty.

3. Let the Active die

This is the counterintuitive one. When Team Rocket's Koffing is Active and takes a hit, Smog Signals gives you two more bodies. Giving up one Prize to add 80 damage to your next attack is a good trade, and it is often the fastest way to a full board.

4. The Neutralizing Gas turn

When his deck is running on an Ability, bring the Shining Fates Galarian Weezing up and turn it off. Poison for 40 a turn while it sits there. Understand what you are paying: retreat 3, and a turn not spent on the 40x. Prime Catcher gets you back out.

5. Crazy Blast when the board is thin

Early, or after he clears your Bench, Pervasive Gas into Crazy Blast is 170 from a two-card board. It does not care how many Weezing you have.

Versus The Table

Fox's Ground Zero, Mega Zygarde ex

He needs six knockouts and you need two. Gaia Wave is 200 and doubles against your Fighting weakness, so it kills any of your Pokémon in one hit. It also can only kill one per turn.

Punk Helmet is the card that wins this. Every knockout he takes costs him 40, and he has to do it six times. That is 240 back on a 310 HP Pokémon before you have attacked at all. Add Risky Ruins on every Bench drop, and the 200 you hit for twice, and he does not get to six.

Fox's Team Rocket's Mewtwo deck

Power Saver needs 4 or more Team Rocket's Pokémon in play, and Neutralizing Gas does not stop an attack requirement. What it does stop is everything else his board is doing. Erasure Ball is 160 base and needs him to discard his own Bench Energy to reach 280, which is a real cost against a deck that is happy to keep trading one Prize at a time.

Watch for the overlap. If he is playing his Team Rocket cards the same night, you are both drawing Team Rocket's Energy, Proton, and the Koffing line out of the same box. Sort that before you sit down.

A fair single-prize deck

The trade is even and you win on damage. Nothing in this deck gives him a two or three Prize turn to catch up with, so the game comes down to who hits harder for less Energy, and 240 for one card is a very good answer to that question.

The Hole In It

Everything is Fighting weak. All eighteen Pokémon are Darkness with Fighting ×2. There is no second weakness the way Shadow Syndicate has one, and no tech in the deck answers it.

That is a real cost and it is accepted on purpose. The trade is that adding an off-type attacker would take a slot off the board that the 40x counts, so it would cost damage every turn to hedge against one matchup. The single-prize Prize map is the hedge instead.

The second real weakness is a slow open. Eight Basics is at the bottom of the healthy band, and a hand with no Koffing and no Poffin is a lost turn. Proton going first patches this; going second there is nothing to do but mulligan through it.

Test And Tune

The board never gets past four bodies. If 160 is your ceiling most games, the problem is Bench-filling, not attackers. Go to 4 Nest Ball over 1 Night Stretcher and 1 Dark Bell. The 40x lives and dies on Bench count.

Energy Factory is prized or missing. If you are paying two Energy for everything, add a third Galarian Weezing from Chilling Reign over the 151 Weezing. That drops a fun card for a load-bearing one, which is the right call once you have played five games.

Gwynn has nothing to discard. If it is stuck in hand, you are evolving too eagerly. Hold spare Koffing. If it is still stuck, cut one for a fourth Lillie's Determination.

Dark Bell is doing nothing. Confusion is a coin flip and some nights it just loses. Two copies is already the minimum worth playing; if it is dead twice in a row, make them the third and fourth Boss's Orders instead.