Hi there. In this Pokemon TCG post I present a decent budget rogue deck. It is a Slaking ex deck.
Slaking ex is the Stage 2 evolution of Slakoth from the Surging Sparks set. This card was released in English internationally around November 2024. It is a fairly recent card.
This Slaking ex has 340 HP with 4 retreat cost and Fighting energy. The 340 HP is very large and difficult to knockout.
Its Born to Slack ability is a restrictive ability. Slaking ex cannot attack if the opponent does not have a Pokemon ex or Pokemon V in play.
The Great Swing attack requires 2 Colourless Energy to do 280 damage. The drawback is that you discard one Energy after this attack is used. 280 damage is very high as it knocks out pretty any Basic Pokemon out there and many Stage 1 Pokemon.
Discarding 1 Energy for its attack is not great but you can use Boomerang Energy. Boomerang Energy allows you to bring itself back after it is discarded.
The highest placing Slaking ex deck that I know of is recent. Bernardo Dias placed 49th out of 817 players at the Sevilla Special Event in Spain. This was on April 26, 2025.
This list has 3 Slakoth, 1 Vigorth and 2 Slaking ex. Most stage 2 decks run a line that has 4 Basics, 1 or 2 Stage 1 Pokemon and 3 Stage 2 Pokemon. This Slaking ex condenses the evolution line and goes 3-1-2.
Another evolution line in this deck is 2 Pidgey (1 of each Pidget), 1 Pidgeotto as the Stage 1 evolution and 2 Pidgeot ex. Pidgeot ex is a powerful Stage 2 Pokemon because of its Quick Search ability. Quick Search is the most powerful card search ability where you can search for 1 card from your deck once during your turn. (You don't have to reveal the searched card.) Pidgeot ex also serves as an alternate attacker if needed.
For setup purposes, 2 copies of Fan Rotom are in there. Fan Rotom is very good for setup purposes on turn 1. It is also a good attacker in the early game as 70 damage knocks out other 70 HP Basic Pokemon as long there is a Stadium in play.
There is a 1-1-1 evolution line of Duskull, Dusclops and Dusknoir. This is here as an option if you need more damage on a target or an additional knockout. Use Dusclops and Dusknoir wisely as you give the opponent a Prize card if you choose to selfdestruct.
Budew is good for the early game to stall out opponents as you setup.
Fezandipiti ex is standard in many decks as you draw 3 cards if any 1 of your Pokemon are knocked out. (Knockout by Poison or Burn does not count!)
Bloodmoon Ursaluna is a good late game attacker whose attack gets cheaper as the opponent is close to winning with few Prize cards.
Trainer Cards
Three copies of Arven and three copies of Iono are good. You could do 4 Arven and 2 Iono but 3 and 3 is okay.
Two Boss's Orders seems standard for many decks. Hunt down weak/vulnerable targets with Boss's Orders and ideally use Slaking ex to knock them out.
Buddy Buddy Poffin, Ultra Ball and Nest Ball are standard in many decks. It is the counts that can vary. Four Poffins are good, 3 Ultra is good and 2 Nest Ball if you need Bloodmoon Ursaluna ex or Fezandipiti ex.
Counter Catcher and Counter Gains are helpful if you fall behind. As this Slaking ex is a setup deck you are likely not to be too aggressive and take Prize cards fast.
Artazon is a nice stadium to get non Pokemon ex Basic Pokemon to your Bench. This benefits the opponent too.
Grand Tree stadium is the ACE SPEC of choice. For the turn after you Benched a Basic Pokemon in play, you can use Grand Tree to evolve a Basic Pokemon to Stage 1 and then evolve into Stage 2. This excludes the use of Rare Candy and you don't have to wait 2 turns to go from Basic Pokemon to Stage 1 and then Stage 2. Grand Tree would be great with Pidgey to Pidgeotto and Pidgeot ex.
Energy Cards
There are only 8 Energy cards in this deck. They are all Special Energy cards. Four copies of Jet Energy is good. Jet Energy provides 1 Colourless * Energy plus you can move a Benched Pokemon into the Active Spot if you attach this to a Benched Pokemon.
Boomerang Energy was featured above. It goes well with Slaking ex as it provides 1 Colourless Energy and can be recycled if this Energy is discarded.
This deck should not be too expensive. Slaking ex copies should be fairly cheap and not too hard to find. Pidgeot ex used to be popular and expensive but these days Pidgeot ex should be easier to find and not too expensive.
Fezandipiti ex may be hard to find and pricey. Almost every competitive deck uses 1 copy of this in their decks.
From the trainer cards they should be fairly inexpensive for the most part. Arven would be the most expensive Trainer card as almost every deck uses it. Being able to search for an Item card plus a tool card is very powerful. Arven comboes well with Technical Machine: Evolution as the Evolution TM lets you evolve instead of attack.
The ideal start with this deck is to get Fan Rotom into play. During the first turn Fan Rotom can retrieve up to 3 Colourless Pokemon of 100 HP from deck into your hand. This is a powerful search ability. Use Fan Rotom to search up to 3 of any combination of Slakoth, Pidgey, Pidgeotto, Vigoroth and even Fan Rotom.
In the early game Fan Rotom is a good attacker as long there is a Stadium in play.
As the game goes on you want to setup Slaking ex and put into play. There are different ways to evolve Slakoth into Slaking ex. You have Technical Machine: Evolution, Colress's Tenacity to fetch the Grand Tree stadium and Rare Candy.
If your opponent does not play any Pokemon ex then you cannot use Slaking ex. It is not an auto loss as you have alternate attackers like Pidgeot ex, Fan Rotom and Bloodmoon Ursaluna ex in the late game.
Counter Gain makes energy cost for attacks cheaper if you are behind. The one copy of Counter Catcher is for when you are behind and you want to make a good counter attack.
That is my overview of this Slaking ex deck. I have not tried it myself so all this stuff here is theoretical. From looking at the cards and the decklist I think there is a good amount of consistency, synergy and power from this deck. Slaking ex's 280 damage attack is no joke. Boomerang Energy is something that is never really used so its good to see it used well at a high level.
In the Journey Together format this Slaking ex deck can serve as a good beginner deck or as an alternate deck. Most opponents would know of Slaking ex but would not be familiar with this deck's gameplay. You can in theory take advantage of information asymmetry and catch some opponents off guard. Many players know of the top decks like Dragapult ex, Gholdengo ex, Gardevoir ex, etc but not rogue decks like Slaking ex.
When the Destined Rivals set releases I think Slaking ex may see more play. It is because it goes well with the stadium card Team Rocket's Watchtower. It removes the abilities of Colourless Pokemon as long as the stadium is in play.
Thank you for reading.
