Phantom Ferry

What Changed in v6

v5.1 leaned on five cards the box does not hold: two Rosa's Encouragement, two Energy Search, and a second Wondrous Patch. It also ran Lana's Aid, which the box does hold, in a job AZ's Tranquility now does better. Each seat went to an owned card, and the five test games then moved four more.

Three cards were tried on the way and did not stay. Janine's Secret Art went zero for four games and was shuffled away twice. Telepathic Psychic Energy was played twice as a plain Psychic with its Bench search declined both times, and it never comes back from the discard. Binding Mochi never made the list, because nothing the shop plays dies to 300 and survives 260. All three have rows in the skip table.

What The Test Games Said

Five games on the Live ladder with the paper list, three wins and two losses. Neither loss was to a deck the shop plays.

Before the Ferry, the deck for this week was a Darkness list built on Gengar ex from Temporal Forces, and it went 1-3 on the same ladder. Two of those losses were to Mega Lucario, which one-shots every card in a Darkness deck and does 130 to a lantern. That comparison is why the Ferry got the seat.

What The Research Says

Five findings shaped this 60, each one checkable.

The shop is a normal room. Per Limitless online play on 2026-09-23, Dragapult is about a fifth of the field across its builds at a 53% win rate, Mega Excadrill is 4.4% at 51%, and Festival Lead is 2.3%. Your shop plays those three plus one Tyrantrum player. Mega Chandelure is 0.5% of the ladder at 43% and Mega Gengar 0.16% at 41%, so nothing about this list comes from a winning archetype. It comes from the room.

Retreat Costs are the whole matchup table, and the snapshot in this repo strips them. Every Retreat Cost on this page was pulled live from pokemontcg.io on 2026-09-23: Mega Excadrill ex 4, Tyrantrum and Tyrunt 3, Steven's Metagross ex and Metagross 3, Metang, Genesect ex, Dipplin, and Thwackey 2, Dragapult ex, Drakloak, Munkidori, Meowth ex, and Fezandipiti ex 1, Budew 0.

Tyrantrum's extra HP is a Special Energy away. _Tyrannically Gutsy_ gives it 150 more HP while any Special Energy is attached, so it stands at 330. It retreats for 3, and one Flame makes Phantom Maze 330. The lantern resists Fighting, so _Wreak Havoc_ does 130 to it. The Tyrantrum deck that one-shots every Darkness card you own does not have an attack that kills a lantern in fewer than three turns.

Nobody plays Okidogi ex any more, and it does not matter. The card page shows zero tournament lists in the last three months. When it was played, it was a one-of beside Pecharunt ex in N's Zoroark, using Pecharunt's Ability to switch it in already Poisoned. Here it does a narrower job: the attacker with no Ability, the 260 that kills any single-prize body, and the only body that hits Cornerstone Mask Ogerpon ex.

Battle Cage on their side switches off Gnawing Curse. Not this deck's problem, but it decided which Gengar this deck runs. Cage prevents damage counters placed on Benched Pokémon by the opponent's Abilities, and the Temporal Forces Gengar ex's Ability places counters. Dragapult and Alakazam lists run Cage. The Mega Gengar's Ability takes Prizes away instead of placing counters, and nothing stops it.

Deck List

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Pokémon (19)

Trainers — Supporters (16)

Trainers — Items (10)

Trainers — Tool & Stadium (4)

Energy (11)

19 + 16 + 10 + 4 + 11 = 60. ✓ Ten Basics, one ACE SPEC, two Stadiums, nothing over four copies.

Basics: 10 (4 Litwick, 4 Gastly, 2 Okidogi ex), a 26% mulligan rate. Litwick and Gastly both sit at 70 HP, so any Poffin fetches either pair; Okidogi is a Dawn and Ultra Ball target. Sixteen Supporters is the ceiling for this deck and it is there on purpose, because seven of them are draw or search and two more are Energy. If hands clog with Supporters in play, Test and Tune names the first one out.

The same 60 in the TCG Live import format:

Pokémon: 19
4 Litwick PBL 36
3 Lampent PBL 37
3 Mega Chandelure ex PBL 38
4 Gastly POR 48
1 Haunter POR 49
2 Mega Gengar ex PFL 56
2 Okidogi ex SFA 36

Trainer: 30
4 Lillie's Determination MEG 119
3 Dawn PFL 87
2 Boss's Orders MEG 114
2 Crispin SCR 133
2 Hilda WHT 84
2 Team Rocket's Petrel DRI 176
1 AZ's Tranquility CRI 76
3 Buddy-Buddy Poffin TEF 144
2 Rare Candy MEG 125
1 Ultra Ball MEG 131
1 Energy Recycler DRI 164
2 Night Stretcher SFA 61
1 Prime Catcher TEF 157
2 Air Balloon ASC 181
2 Battle Cage PFL 85

Energy: 11
5 Psychic Energy MEE 13
6 Darkness Energy MEE 15

The same list is saved in the Limitless deck builder as "Phantom Ferry (paper)", and its Print Decklist page is the registration sheet the shop takes.

The Numbers

Memorize this section. Everything below it is explanation.

Damage you deal

Attack	Cost	Damage
Mega Chandelure ex, _Phantom Maze_		130, plus 50 for each Colorless in their Active Pokémon's Retreat Cost
Mega Gengar ex, _Void Gale_		230, and 460 into a Psychic Pokémon
Okidogi ex, _Chain-Crazed_		260 while Poisoned, 130 without it
Haunter, _Haunt_		3 damage counters on their Active
Gastly, _Surprise Attack_		30 on heads
Litwick, _Will-O-Wisp_		20

The toll. _Binding Flame_ adds one Colorless to their Active Pokémon's Retreat Cost for each Mega Chandelure ex you have in play, Bench included. Two lanterns in play is plus two.

Their printed Retreat	One Flame	Two Flames
0	180	230
1	230	280
2	280	330
3	330	380
4	380	430

Who pays what at the shop. Retreat Costs from pokemontcg.io, 2026-09-23.

Their Pokémon	HP	Retreat	One Flame	Two Flames	The line
Mega Excadrill ex	340	4	380	430	One Maze. The seat this deck was built to sit in.
Steven's Metagross ex	340	3	330	380	Two Flames, or one Maze and anything.
Metagross	180	3	330	380	One Maze.
Genesect ex	220	2	280	330	One Maze.
Metang	100	2	280	330	Anything. Boss it up early if their Mega is not built.
Tyrantrum, with a Special Energy	330	3	330	380	One Maze, exactly. Without the Special Energy it is 180.
Tyrunt	100	3	330	380	Anything.
Dragapult ex	320	1	230	280	Two Mazes, Maze then Okidogi, or Okidogi then Void Gale.
Munkidori	110	1	230	280	Anything, and Void Gale is 460 into it. Kill it the turn it lands.
Meowth ex	170	1	230	280	One Maze for two Prizes. Their Boss's Orders target of choice against you, and yours against them.
Fezandipiti ex	210	1	230	280	One Maze for two Prizes.
Dipplin, Thwackey	80, 100	2	280	330	Anything, for one Prize each.
Budew	30	0	180	230	Anything.

Two-hit lines. Void Gale then Okidogi is 490. Void Gale twice is 460. Maze at 230 twice is 460. Nothing the shop plays survives any pair, and Dragapult at 320 is the only body there that needs a pair at all.

1. Pick the Wall

Read the room, then lead the half the room cannot punish. At the shop the default is the lantern.

Do not build both Megas by reflex. Every game wants the toll engine on the Bench, because a Flame works from there; only some games want the lantern to attack at all. Two Megas exposed at once is six Prizes standing in the open, and game two on Live gave up five of them to a single Dive.

2. The Ferry

How one attachment a turn feeds two Megas.

_Void Gale_ must move an Energy off Gengar after it hits, and it moves any Energy. So Gengar wants plus one more aboard before its first swing, and after that every manual attachment goes onto Gengar and rides the ferry to the Bench.

1. Turn one, Poffin for Litwick and Gastly. Attach a Darkness to the Gastly. If the hand has no Energy, Crispin or Hilda is the turn's Supporter; Crispin attaches one and banks one.
2. Turn two, Rare Candy the Gastly into Mega Gengar; the Darkness rides up. Crispin attaches the second Darkness and puts a Psychic in hand; the manual attachment puts that Psychic on Gengar. Balloon on. _Void Gale_ for 230, and the Psychic ferries onto the Litwick or Lampent benched on turn one.
3. Turn three, attach a Psychic to Gengar. _Void Gale_ again; the second Psychic lands beside the first. Evolve the Lampent, and Mega Chandelure is standing on the Bench with while Gengar has hit for 460.
4. Turn four, Boss's Orders or Prime Catcher drags the heavy body forward. Gengar retreats for free, the lantern steps up, and _Phantom Maze_ collects.

Without Crispin, the first ferry carries Darkness. Gengar at exactly still swings, but the Energy it ships is a Darkness, so aim it at Okidogi or the spare Gastly, both of which want one. Game five did this twice and the dog came up holding two. The lantern then charges by hand on a turn Gengar does not attack, or off Hilda.

The rhythm to internalize. The attachment goes on Gengar. Gengar decides where it lands. The Bench never waits on a card.

3. The Gun

When the lantern comes forward, and when it goes back.

The lantern attacks when three things are true: it has , the toll table says the shot kills, and a gust or a free retreat gets it into the Active Spot this turn. Two Flames plus a gust reaches every Retreat 2 body at 330 and every Retreat 3 body at 380; check The Numbers before you commit.

After the Maze, they hit the lantern back. It is 350 HP and pays three Prizes, so do not leave it there to be two-shot. Its Balloon makes the retreat free: step back, promote Gengar, and the ferry resumes while the lantern waits for the next kill. A lantern that stays in front is a lantern volunteering half their game. The exception is a room that cannot two-shot it: Tyrantrum does 130 to it, Lopunny 160, and there the lantern stands and shoots until the third hit is coming.

If the Maze lands short, the closers are Okidogi's 260 and Void Gale's 230, in that order.

4. How To Play Okidogi

The turn-by-turn for the card with no Ability.

Get it down. Okidogi is 250 HP, so Poffin cannot fetch it. It reaches the board three ways: drawn and played, Dawn's Basic slot, or Ultra Ball. On the Bench it is a two-Prize body that pays one under Concealment; do not bench it early into a room that snipes, and never bench it when they are within two Prizes of winning unless their biggest hit is under 250.

Load it in front, with one Energy already on it. _Poisonous Musculature_ costs , so Okidogi needs one Energy of any type before it can use the attack. Attach it this turn if the ferry has not already dropped a Darkness on it; a spare Psychic is fine. Then _Musculature_: two Darkness from the deck onto Okidogi, and it is Poisoned. It now holds three Energy, which is the whole cost of _Chain-Crazed_. Poison ticks 10 at every Checkup, theirs and yours, so it stands on 230 by your next turn.

Keep it there. The Poison is the condition. Special Conditions clear the moment a Pokémon goes to the Bench, so never retreat it while it still has a target, and never leave Festival Grounds standing when Okidogi is loaded. Their Boss's Orders pulling one of your Benched Pokémon forward benches Okidogi too, and that one you cannot prevent. Cage first, Okidogi second.

Fire, and keep firing. _Chain-Crazed_ for 260, with no attachment; the Energy is already aboard. Say the target's HP out loud first. Anything at or under 260 dies now; anything at or under 490 dies to Void Gale next turn. If Okidogi survives the return hit, it hits 260 again next turn for nothing.

Check its attack before you pay its retreat. Game four on Live retreated a Poisoned dog holding three Energy to Maze a 170 HP Meowth, when _Chain-Crazed_ killed it from where the dog stood. Three Darkness went to the discard for nothing.

Let it die, or AZ's it. Under Concealment it pays one Prize and takes three Darkness to the discard, where Stretcher and Recycler want them. If it is about to die to its own Poison and has no kill, AZ's benches it, cures it, and heals 80; it comes back later with the Energy still on.

Turn shape

Okidogi or a Mega?

Cornerstone is Active

Okidogi, only. 260 into 210.

Target is 260 or less and a Mega is not loaded

Okidogi. Two Prizes of exposure against a three-Prize Mega.

Target retreats for 3 or 4

The lantern. The toll is 330 or 380 for free.

Single-prize room

Okidogi first, always. It pays two; a Mega pays three for the same kill.

Fighting room

Neither. Okidogi takes double. The lantern's turn.

Festival Grounds is down

Cage first. Then Okidogi.

5. The Boss on the Support ex

The line the ladder taught, and it worked three games out of three.

Most Basic-heavy boxes carry a support ex that never attacks: Meowth ex for _Last-Ditch Catch_, Fezandipiti ex for _Flip the Script_, Morpeko ex for its draw. Boss's Orders or Prime Catcher drags it into their Active Spot, and one of two things happens. Either they pay a retreat and an Energy to get their attacker back in front, or they pass. Mega Lopunny passed twice in a row in game four. Mega Eelektross had to Surf its Zeraora forward in game five.

Then the lantern kills the support ex for two Prizes at 230, since every one of them retreats for 1. Game four took Meowth ex and Morpeko ex that way; game five took Meowth ex. Two Prizes and a free turn, from one Supporter.

The one time not to do it is when their attacker is already damaged into Maze range and a gust on it wins. Then the gust goes on the attacker, and the support ex waits.

6. The Rebuild

The first Mega will die. This is the turn after.

1. Their attack Knocks it Out. Two or three Energy go to your discard along with the Mega.
2. Night Stretcher returns the Mega card itself, or a Darkness, whichever the next turn needs. Hilda finds the next Mega and its Energy from the deck when the Stretcher is spent.
3. If the dead Mega was a lantern, evolve the Lampent already on the Bench; it needs no Candy. If it was Gengar, Candy the spare Gastly or evolve the fed Haunter.
4. Energy Recycler puts the discarded Energy back into the deck, where Crispin, Hilda, and _Musculature_ read. Play it the turn the discard holds three or more.
5. Bring the new Mega forward with Prime Catcher, AZ's, or a Balloon retreat, and collect.

Game five ran this loop twice: Stretcher for a Psychic, Stretcher for the third Mega Chandelure, Hilda for its Energy, and the third lantern took the last two Prizes.

7. Reading the Opening Hand

Step one, do you have a Basic? At 10 Basics you mulligan about one game in four; dig accordingly.

Your hand has

Play

Buddy-Buddy Poffin

Play it first, always. Litwick plus Gastly.

No Energy

Crispin or Hilda is the Supporter, and Lillie's if you have neither. Petrel finds any of the three.

Gastly and a Darkness

Gastly to the Bench, Darkness on it. It is the turn-two Gengar.

Okidogi and any Energy, going second

Okidogi Active, attach the Energy to it, _Poisonous Musculature_. Three Energy on the board before they have attacked. Do not skip this; game one of the Darkness deck passed with Energy on an Active dog and gave away a turn.

Litwick Active and a Psychic

Attach. Going second, _Will-O-Wisp_ for 20.

Dawn

Gastly, Haunter, and Mega Gengar if the Candy is not in hand; Litwick, Lampent, Mega Chandelure if the room says lantern.

Candy, Mega Chandelure, and a Lampent already down

Candy the Gastly. The Lampent carries the lantern for free next turn.

Two Lillie's and a hand of Megas

Lillie's now, before you attach. Eight cards at six Prizes.

A bad hand

Lillie's for the reset.

Draw first, attach last. The Supporter that draws or searches goes before the manual attachment, so the attachment is chosen from the full hand.

8. Things That Will Cost You a Game

Mistake

What actually happens

Attaching a Psychic to Gengar at exactly

Gengar cannot swing at . Gengar keeps two Darkness always; the Psychic is the third card, never the second.

Forgetting Void Gale's move is mandatory

The Energy ships whether you planned it or not. Decide where it lands before you attack.

Void Gale with an empty Bench

Nothing to move to, and the next turn's attachment is spent staying at . Seed the Bench first.

Petrel for Dawn against Dragapult

Four Dives put 24 counters on your Bench while both Cages sat in the deck. Petrel's first job against Dragapult is Battle Cage, before the first Dive.

Letting Munkidori live

Three Adrena-Brains healed a Dragapult for 80 and turned a two-Maze kill into a three-turn one. It is 110 HP and Darkness-weak. Gust it and kill it the turn it lands.

Passing with seven cards against Dragapult

Special Red Card put them on the bottom and Unfair Stamp shuffled the three you drew back. Bench every Basic you can before you pass; a benched Gastly survives a Red Card and a Gastly in hand does not.

Balloon on the Mega that is not attacking

The lantern took a Dive at 150 with no way home while the Balloon sat on a Haunter. Balloon on the hitter.

Declining the Telepathic search when seats are open

Two bodies and next turn's Lampent left in the deck. The card is gone from the list now, but the habit applies to every search.

Paying the dog's retreat when Chain-Crazed kills

Three Darkness to the discard for a kill the dog already had. Say the attack out loud before the retreat.

Benching the dog when they are within two Prizes

A two-Prize body in the open hands them the game on any hit of 250 or more. Check their biggest number first.

Two Megas and a Lampent exposed to one Dive

Six counters finished the Lampent and the Gengar in the same attack that killed the lantern. Five Prizes from one Phantom Dive. Keep wounded bodies out of counter range or keep the Cage up.

Benching Okidogi after _Poisonous Musculature_

Poison clears. _Chain-Crazed_ is 130.

Okidogi under their Festival Grounds

Cured at once. Cage over it before the Musculature turn.

Rare Candy on a Basic benched this turn

Illegal. Bench the seeds one turn earlier than you think you need them.

Poffin for Okidogi

Illegal, 250 HP against a 70 cap. Dawn and Ultra Ball are the routes.

Ultra Ball pitching Hilda or Crispin

Game one of the Darkness deck pitched its only Energy source with nothing on the board able to attack. Those two count as Energy. Pitch the spare dog.

Leaving the lantern in front after the Maze against a two-shot deck

Three Prizes standing in the open. Balloon back, Gengar forward.

Prime Catcher while Okidogi is Active

Your Active goes to the Bench and the Poison clears. _Chain-Crazed_ is 130 until you load it again.

Second Battle Cage while the first is still down

Illegal. Same name. It is the answer to their Stadium, not a second copy of yours.

Counting the discount against Munkidori, Dusknoir, or Froslass

Counters are not attack damage. Every Knock Out they cause pays full Prizes.

Versus the Card Shop

Sixteen players, Swiss, one round per opponent. These are the decks that have shown up in previous weeks, with the numbers that decide each.

Mega Excadrill and the Metal box. Their Active Excadrill retreats for 4, so one Flame is 380 and it dies to a single Maze. Their Drilling is 330 with five Energy, so the lantern that collected survives on 20; Balloon it home and let Gengar or the second lantern take the next one. Every Steps or Hammer that strips an Energy turns Drilling into 200. Metang at 100 and Genesect ex at 220 both die to a Maze at 280, so Boss one up early if their Mega is not built yet. Two Excadrill dead is six Prizes. Their Jamming Tower switches off both Balloons; that is the second Cage's job. Undermine discards the top two cards of your deck each turn, so this is the one room where the deck can run thin late.

Dragapult, every build. Cage on turn one or two, before the first Dive. Every attacker they have is an ex, so Concealment is on for the Dark half and Gengar leads. Dragapult retreats for 1 and has 320 HP, so it is two Mazes, or Okidogi then Void Gale, or Maze then Okidogi. Munkidori dies the turn it lands. Their Meowth ex is the stall target in game plan 5. They run Special Red Card and Unfair Stamp, so bench before you pass once you are at three Prizes. The Dusknoir build's _Cursed Blast_ is 130 as counters, which Cage stops at the Bench line and nothing stops in front; its Prizes are full because counters are not attack damage.

Tyrantrum. Lantern only. Tyrantrum retreats for 3, so one Flame is 330, which is its full HP with a Special Energy attached and 150 more than it needs without one. _Wreak Havoc_ does 130 to a lantern after Resistance and 320 to Gengar or the dog, so the Dark half stays on the Bench for the whole game and attaches nothing. Never sit with one Pokémon in play against this deck; that is how it took a game on turn three before.

Festival Lead. One player. Cage over Festival Grounds before the _Musculature_ turn, and hold the second Cage for their replacement. Okidogi first, always; it pays two Prizes for the same kills a Mega pays three for. Dipplin and Thwackey retreat for 2 and die to anything, but they are one Prize each and you need six of them while they need two Megas. Bump the Grounds every turn it is up, because a Dipplin under it attacks twice.

Fox's Rainbow Eevee. Umbreon ex is Darkness and _Moon Mirage_ is 320 into a lantern, so the Dark half leads and the lantern works from the Bench as a Flame. Flareon ex is 270 and Fire, neutral both ways; Void Gale plus anything kills it. Espeon ex is Psychic and Void Gale is 460 into it. He runs Boss's Orders, so keep the Bench to bodies you can afford to lose.

Versus the Ladder

The rooms the five test games and the Darkness deck before them actually met, for the nights you practice online.

Mega Lucario ex, Lucario Hariyama. The concede. _Aura Jab_ is 260 into every Darkness body and _Mega Brave_ is 540; the lantern takes 130 and 240. Two Lucario alternate Brave every turn. Lead the lantern, attach by hand, and take what Prizes the Cape'd Lucario leaves you. Their Battle Cage is why Gnawing Curse never reached their Bench in the Darkness deck's loss, and it is why that deck is not this one.

Sharpedo Toxtricity. Darkness, and a real deck: 50th at Worlds 2026. Seviper hits 240 with a Mega in play and kills a Poisoned dog exactly; Mega Sharpedo's _Hungry Jaws_ is 270 once damaged. Everything doubles into a lantern. Gengar leads, the lantern stays a Flame, and Concealment is blank against Seviper because it is single-prize.

Mega Lopunny box. _Spiky Hopper_ is 160, so a Mega takes two and dies to the third. Gravity Mountain takes 30 off every Stage 2 in play, and the Cage over it gave the lantern the 30 it lived on. Their Meowth ex and Morpeko ex are two Prizes each at 230, and Boss on them cost the Lopunny player two turns.

Mega Charizard X. 360 HP at Retreat 2, so two Flames is exactly 330 and a Void Gale before or after finishes it. _Inferno X_ is 90 per Fire Energy discarded and needs two Fire to use, so a Charizard that just fired usually cannot fire again next turn.

Mega Eelektross. _Disaster Shock_ is 190 and Paralyzes; two of them kill a Mega. AZ's is the answer, cure and heal in one card. _Split Bomb_ puts 60 on two Benched Pokémon, which the Cage does not stop because it is attack damage. Magnezone's _Upper Spark_ is 170 the turn it evolves.

Rocket's Mewtwo. Mewtwo ex is Psychic and 280 HP. Void Gale is 460 into it and _Chain-Crazed_ 520. The Dark half owns this room; keep the lantern benched when Crobat ex is loaded, since _Assassin's Return_ doubles into it.

Versus the Kitchen Table

Fox's Rainbow Eevee. The shop notes above hold at home too, and at home he picks his deck after you name yours. When you say Ferry, expect Umbreon.

Fox's Team Rocket's Mewtwo. Mewtwo ex is Psychic, Darkness-weak, and 280 HP. Void Gale lands 460 and Chain-Crazed 520. His board is ex-heavy, so Concealment runs all game. Crobat ex's _Assassin's Return_ at 240 doubles into a lantern, so the Psychic ghosts stay benched when Crobat is loaded.

Xero's Lucky Haunt. Ghost against ghost, with the dog mirror inside it. Both sides park a Mega Gengar, so both Concealments are live, and counters skip both. Chaotic Pain skips your Concealment and takes full Prizes off every Gastly, Haunter, Litwick, and Lampent it reaches. Battle Cage stops it at your Bench line, and he runs two Risky Ruins and two Petrel to take the Cage down, so hold the second one. His Void Gale lands 460 and a Poisoned Chain-Crazed 520 on a lantern, so the Dark half leads and the lantern works from the Bench as a Flame.

The dogs trade evenly. Either Poisoned dog's 260 kills the other at 250, and leaves a Gengar ex on 20. When the lantern comes forward, one Flame prices his board: 280 into a Gengar ex, 330 into Okidogi ex, and 380 into Blissey ex. Blissey ex is Colorless, so Concealment never covers it, and Prime Catcher plus one Maze takes it for two full Prizes. Any attack that knocks out his Gengar ex flips Fainting Spell at the attacker, and heads costs you 3 Prizes on a lantern or 2 on a dog, so let Haunt finish one when it can. House rule of thumb: whoever's wall commits first loses the information war.

Cards That Look Right, Skip Them

Card

Why not

Rosa's Encouragement, Energy Search, Lana's Aid

The v5.1 discard engine. Rosa's and Energy Search are not in the box; Lana's is, and lost its seat to AZ's. Buy the two Rosa's and two Energy Search only if you want the Live-only v5.1 back, and read What Changed in v6 first.

Janine's Secret Art

Two Darkness from the deck onto two Dark bodies, Poisoning the Active. It went zero for four test games and was shuffled away twice, and every Darkness it pulls from the deck is one _Musculature_ cannot. Crispin does the two-color version.

Telepathic Psychic Energy

Played twice as a plain Psychic with the search declined both times, and a Special Energy never comes back from the discard. Test and Tune has it back if mulligans sting.

Binding Mochi

Plus 40 on a Poisoned attacker, so the dog hits 300. Dragapult is 320, Tyrantrum 330, Excadrill 340; nothing the shop plays dies to 300 and survives 260. The Tool seat on the dog is worth more empty than spent.

Wondrous Patch

A Psychic from the discard onto a Benched Psychic Pokémon. Dead until a lantern has died, and the lone copy came out for the second Petrel. First card back in if the Supporter count clogs.

Risky Ruins

Two counters on every Basic non-Darkness Pokémon either player benches. Four of your ten Basics are Litwick. The first Toll draft ran it and its own seeds kept dying.

Poké Pad

Finds any Pokémon without a Rule Box, which here is never the card that is missing. Ultra Ball, Dawn, and Hilda find the Megas and the dog.

Hero's Cape

A 450 HP lantern that tanks Excadrill's 330 and stays in for the second kill. It costs the ACE seat, and Prime Catcher wins games in every room. If the shop turns into an Excadrill room, this is the swap.

Gengar ex (Temporal Forces)

_Tricky Steps_ is 160 for and two Prizes, and _Gnawing Curse_ is switched off by every Battle Cage in the format. It is the core of the Darkness deck that went 1-3 the same week, and that deck is the right call for a Festival Lead room, not this one.

Fezandipiti ex

Two Prizes on a Basic that only draws. It becomes the Boss's Orders target every time. House rule.

Pecharunt ex

The card that makes Okidogi swing without the _Musculature_ turn, and a 190 HP ex that every gust finds first. Same house rule, same reason.

Munkidori

A 110 HP Psychic body that pays a full Prize, draws every snipe, and deals no damage. Battle Cage does its Bench-protection job.

Wally's Compassion

Heals a Mega to full and puts every Energy on it into your hand. On the ferry that is two turns of silence. AZ's heals 80 and leaves the Energy on.

Gravity Gemstone

Plus 50 on every Maze, and your own Active pays the extra Colorless too. The Balloon has the Tool seat.

Dusknoir

130 as counters anywhere, and it Knocks itself Out for a Prize. Every version of this deck that ran it lost games to its own button.

Marshadow, Chi-Yu, Krookodile, Mega Darkrai ex

Too small, needs counters this deck does not place, a third Stage 2 line, and a third 3-Prize body, in that order.

Energy Switch, Switch

The Balloons are the repeatable rotation, Prime Catcher and AZ's are the emergencies, and Void Gale is the Energy mover.

Precious Trolley, Scramble Switch

Both owned. Trolley is the whole Bench on turn one and a dead card from turn three on. Scramble Switch moves Energy the ferry already moves.

Test and Tune

The list is a hypothesis; games are the data. Symptoms and their fixes:

Symptom

Fix

Hands clog with Supporters

Second Team Rocket's Petrel out, Wondrous Patch in. Sixteen Supporters is the ceiling and this is the first card over it.

Mulligans sting

Telepathic Psychic Energy back over a Basic Psychic. Attach it from hand to a Litwick and take the two Basics every time.

Hand Energy is still dry with Hilda and Crispin

A seventh Darkness over AZ's Tranquility, and Petrel fetches nothing for Energy, so this is the last resort.

The Gengar line never comes online

A second Haunter over the Ultra Ball. Dawn and Hilda both find it.

Dragapult keeps surviving at 230

Two Flames before the Maze, or Okidogi first and Void Gale second. Black Belt's Training is the card for this and it is not owned.

Excadrill players multiply

Hero's Cape over Prime Catcher, on the lantern. Then Boss's Orders to three over a Petrel, because the Catcher's gust has to come from somewhere.

Wounded Megas keep dying loaded

A second AZ's Tranquility over the Ultra Ball. You own two.

Megas keep ending up in the discard with nothing to bring them back

A third Night Stretcher over the Energy Recycler.

Jamming Tower rooms

Nothing to change. Two Cages plus Petrel is three answers, and Prime Catcher is the one rotation that does not care.

Single-prize rooms keep winning

This deck's answer is knowing when not to play it. For a Festival Lead room, sleeve the Gengar ex Darkness list instead; Gengar Gang is its closest page, with the Temporal Forces Gengar ex in the 30th Celebration Gengar's seat.