Hi there. I do a Pokemon TCG deck profile. I cover Dhelmise decks with the latest Hide 'n' Sneak Pokemon archetype. This is a new budget deck archetype that offers resistance against Dragapult ex decks.
Note: This post is long.
In Japan, these Ghost Pokemon had the Ghost Veil ability. It has been renamed to Hide 'n' Sneak.
Shuppet and Poltchageist are not great attackers. The Poltchageist does have a zero retreat cost which is useful in some scenarios.
For a stage 1 attacker, Banette does not have alot of HP. The Puppet Pull attack for 1 Psychic energy does 80 damage and you search your deck for 1 card and put it into your hand. For this search effect, you do not reveal the card you got from the deck. (Most of time you do reveal.) Eighty damage does knockout weaker 70 HP Basic Pokemon in the early game.
Sinistcha's attack can only be used if there are 6 or more Hide 'n' Sneak Pokemon in your discard pile. Then you place 4 damage counters on each of the opponent's Pokemon. This is a damage spread attack. Placing 4 damage counters may knockout some weak Pokemon but it does set up for future knockouts.
Dhelmise is a new dangerous single prize attacker introduced in the Pitch Black set. For one Psychic energy, Vengeful Anchor deals 30 base damage. If you have 4 or more Pokemon that have the Hide 'n' Sneak Ability in your discard pile, this attack does 140 more damage or 170 damage.
Combine Dhelmise with Lillie's Clefairy ex to deal a hit Knockout on Dragapult ex.
The 170 damage from Dhelmise also one hit knockouts a Meowth ex.
Spiritomb is a niche attacker. The Spirtual End attack only works if you have 13 or more Pokemon with the Hide 'n' Sneak ability in your discard pile. Choose 2 of your opponent's Pokemon. Then you quadruple the number of damage counters on each of these 2 Pokemon. With this attack, there is a potential for a double knockout. Depending on the scenario and the number of damage counters, this Spiritomb attack can win you the game.
There are supporting cards for Dhelmise decks. These include Prism Tower, Telepathic Psychic Energy, Gwynn and Patrat.
Prism Tower is a draw engine Stadium card where you discard any 2 cards from hand to draw 1 card. In terms of card advantage, Prism Tower is bad. However you do want to dump Hide 'n' Sneak Pokemon into the discard pile to activate the attacks for Dhelmise, Sinistcha or Spiritomb.
Telepathic Psychic Energy is a very good special Psychic Energy card. When attached to a Psychic Pokemon you can bench up to 2 Basic Psychic Pokemon from deck to Bench.
Patrat stops damage counters from being transferred. It is hard counter against Munkidori.
Gwynn is a new draw Supporter card. Discard up to 2 Pokemon with no Rule Box (no Pokemon V nor Pokemon ex). Draw 3 cards for each card discarded in this way. Gwynn is for discarding Hide 'n' Sneak Pokemon plus drawing cards.
ACE SPEC Options
When it comes to ACE SPEC cards for the deck, there is no set favourite. Two popular choices are Legacy Energy or Brilliant Blender. Legacy Energy helps you stay in the game longer while Brilliant Blender would be used to quickly discard Hide 'n' Sneak Pokemon.
I do think the ever popular Unfair Stamp or Prime Catcher are valid ACE SPEC options also. Maybe Secret Box could work too.
As of mid July 2026, there is no consensus on whether the Spiritomb version of a Dhelmise deck is better than the no Spiritomb version.
If you put 1 copy of Spiritomb in then you have to max out on the Hide 'n' Sneak attackers. You run the max 4 copies of Shuppet, Banette, Poltchageist and Sinistcha.
Some people may not like the Spiritomb as getting 13 out of 16 Hide 'n' Sneak in the discard pile takes too long. They may prefer a more Turbo Dhelmise deck. You cut some of the Hide 'n' Sneak attackers to make room for a draw engine like Dudunsparce, Lucky Helmet(s) or even Drakloak.
How many Hide 'n' Sneak attackers to cut for a no Spiritomb build? There is no set rule for now. Sinstcha is typically cut out or limited in a no Spiritomb build. Banette is the more useful attacker over Sinistcha.
Here are some sample decks to copy or get ideas from.
Rank 2 out of 2700 - Japan Championships 2026, June 6, 2026
Pokémon: 24
4 Dhelmise PBL 39
4 Shuppet PBL 33
3 Banette PBL 34
3 Dunsparce JTG 120
2 Dudunsparce TEF 129
2 Poltchageist PBL 5
1 Sinistcha PBL 6
2 Lillie's Clefairy ex JTG 56
1 Flutter Mane TEF 78
1 Patrat CRI 70
1 Bloodmoon Ursaluna ex TWM 141
Trainer: 29
4 Lillie's Determination MEG 119
3 Gwynn PBL 78
3 Boss's Orders MEG 114
1 Kieran TWM 154
4 Ultra Ball MEG 131
4 Poké Pad POR 81
2 Buddy-Buddy Poffin TEF 144
2 Pokégear 3.0 SVI 186
2 Night Stretcher ASC 196
1 Air Balloon ASC 181
3 Prism Tower CRI 80
Energy: 7
4 Telepathic Psychic Energy POR 88
2 Psychic Energy MEE 5
1 Legacy Energy TWM 167
This list is piloted by a Japanese pro player. This is a no Spiritomb list that cut out 2 Poltchageist, 1 Spiritomb and 3 Sinistcha. In its place is a 3-2 Dudunsparce draw engine line.
The player did include one Flutter Mane to stop Festival Lead attackers, one Kieran for switching or damage boosting and a Bloodmoon Ursaluna ex for late game big damage.
Rank 6 out of 2700 - Japan Championships 2026, June 6, 2026
Pokémon: 24
4 Dhelmise PBL 39
3 Shuppet PBL 33
4 Banette PBL 34
3 Dunsparce JTG 120
2 Dudunsparce TEF 129
2 Poltchageist PBL 5
1 Sinistcha PBL 6
2 Lillie's Clefairy ex JTG 56
1 Fan Rotom SCR 118
1 Moltres PFL 14
1 Chien-Pao SSP 56
Trainer: 28
4 Lillie's Determination MEG 119
3 Gwynn PBL 78
3 Boss's Orders MEG 114
2 Naveen POR 79
4 Ultra Ball MEG 131
4 Poké Pad POR 81
2 Buddy-Buddy Poffin TEF 144
2 Night Stretcher ASC 196
1 Special Red Card CRI 82
3 Prism Tower CRI 80
Energy: 8
4 Telepathic Psychic Energy POR 88
2 Prism Energy ASC 216
1 Psychic Energy MEE 5
1 Legacy Energy TWM 167
This one is also a no Spiritomb build of Dhelmise with a Dudunsparce draw engine. Note that this build does include one Moltres, 2 Prism Energy, 2 Naveen and a Special Red Card.
Moltres with Prism Energy is to one hit knockout a Genesect ex or a Teal Mask Ogerpon ex. Special Red card is good for late game hand disruption. Naveen is an interesting choice as it is not used much right now. It makes sense to use Naveen as you can discard useless cards from the hand and then draw until 5 cards in hand.
Rank 21 out of 1341 Players - 2026 Indonesia Master Ball League, June 28, 2026
The highest placing Hide 'n' Sneak deck at this Indonesia Master Ball League tournament placed 21st.
This Dhelmise build does max out on the Shuppet, Banette, Poltchageist and Sinistcha and it has the one Spiritomb. There is a Shaymin to protect non Pokemon ex from bench hitting attacks.
Note that this build does include one Latias ex and Meowth ex. There is a risk and reward to playing additional 2 Prize Pokemon. The risk is that the opponent can win faster but the reward is that Latias ex allows mobility with free retreat for Basic Pokemon.
One Meowth ex can be helpful in fetching a Supporter card. Sometimes Meowth ex can be helpful in preventing a game loss at the cost of leaving a 2 Prize liability on the Bench.
The ACE SPEC here is Brilliant Blender for discarding a lot of Hide 'n' Sneak Pokemon. Note the 3 copies of Lucky Helmet as its draw engine and a copy of Ruffian. Lucky Helmet is okay if you do not want to use Dudunsparce or Drakloak. The one Ruffian is good if you want to remove a Special Energy and a Tool card. For me I would prefer something like one Enhanced Hammer or a Tool Scrapper as these are Item cards instead of a Supporter.
I actually may try this Spiritomb build myself online and see how it goes.
(+) Hide 'n' Sneak Pokemon cards should be cheap and easy to find.
(+) Dhelmise is a very good attacker and offers resistance against Mega Lucario ex decks and Dragapult ex decks.
(+) Sinistcha and Spiritomb can potentially deal multiple knockouts.
(+) Spiritomb build has better matchup spread.
(-) Dhelmise's 170 damage attack is not one hit knockout against larger HP Pokemon and decks.
(-) Spiritomb attack requirements is hard to fulfill and is slow. (If you play Spiritomb version.)
(-) There are times when it is not easy to get Hide 'n' Sneak Pokemon in the discard pile. Deck can suffer from bad draws and nasty hand disruption from the opponent.
(-) Dhelmise only build with no Spiritomb is limited in attacking.
I do think Dhelmise and the Hide 'n' Sneak archetype is necessary for the Pokemon TCG right now. Something needs to offer resistance to Dragapult ex decks as the meta share of Dragapult ex is stupid high at near 50%.
Dhelmise decks could be a good first competitive deck for a new player. This deck archetype is also good for intermediate and advanced players.
In terms of deck building, there is no set rule in how this deck should be built. This may annoy some players who prefer to copy and paste decks and then play. As there is no set rule for the deck, there is room for creativity and interesting card inclusions to surprise opponents.
When it comes to gameplay, it is actually hit or miss. In theory, the Dhelmise deck with Lillie's Clefairy is good against Dragapult ex decks. The matchup is actually not an auto win as the Dhelmise deck can suffer from bad draws. Dhelmise decks against non Dragapult decks could be tough if they run heavy HP Mega Pokemon or Stage 2 Pokemon ex.
Thank you for reading.
