Hi there. In this Pokemon TCG gaming post, I cover the concept of netdecking. Netdecking also applies to the Pokemon TCG Pocket mobile game.
Note: This post is long.
Netdecking is pretty much copying decklists from online. A lot of players copy winning Pokemon TCG decks from the Limitless TCG website. These decks are copied for testing out a deck to see how the deck functions and plays. Netdecked decks are also for people who are not sure of what to play or for people who want to play with the most popular/strongest deck.
Less Thinking When Deck Building
Deckbuilding in the Pokemon TCG can be tricky. You may not know which cards work and don't work when you play them. Copying successful decklists helps take the thinking out of it. For newer players, there is nothing wrong with trying out a popular deck list as you focus on playing.
Knowing What Is Popular & What Works
Copying successful decklists should help in winning more games. Going with a deck that is known to be good is pretty safe versus untried and untested deck ideas. As you play more and more, you do find out which cards are good, which ones are bad and which cards are good in certain situations.
Finding Deck Ideas
As you play copied decklists, you may come up with some ideas of your own. You may also use the copied decklist and change a few cards to make the deck archetype your own. A few card changes can make a big difference in your deck and gameplay.
Lack Of Originality
Netdecking can be seen as lazy and unoriginal. You don't really build your deck as you copy winning decklists. There may be a few card changes here and there.
Beware Of Counter Strategies
If a lot of people are copying successful decklists in a Monkey See Monkey Do manner, then there will be some players who will develop counter strategies against popular decks. Successful decklists can also be predictable as they are popular.
Some Decklists Are Not For Newer/Average Players
There is a bit of a trap when it comes to copying decklists. If a high level player wins a large tournament with a particular decklist, does that mean the deck is good? Or is it also the player played that deck really well? Did that player get lucky with matchups? You never know.
Some decks are not easy for newer or average players. More complicated decks could have more combos involved and require a high level of logic and thinking for gameplay. A top deck may not be a good deck for a newer player.
This screenshot is from the Limitless TCG website on December 2025. The environment is in the Phantasmal Flames format. Cards from Scarlet & Violet Base Set to Phantasmal Flames (G to I regulation mark cards) are legal for standard format tournament play.
Deck rankings by popularity are:
Gholdengo ex decks are very popular right now as it is fairly easy to play with. It has good draw power with the Solrock and Lunatone combo and Gholdengo ex's Coin Bonus ability. This deck also has one hit knockout potential.
Dragapult ex with Dusclops & Dusknoir is still very popular. The gameplay of this deck is pretty straight forward. You do fall behind in the early and mid-game but you can pull off multiple knockouts with good strategy.
Gardevoir ex is not the most popular deck but it has won many large tournaments for the most of 2025. Gardevoir ex provides the engine for its many Psychic attackers. As Gardevoir damages the Psychic Pokemon as it powers them up with Energy, there is rampant Munkidori abuse. This deck can attack you in different ways once Gardevoir ex is in play. Some people love this deck and some people (including me) are getting sick of this deck.
The other 3 decks in the form of Charizard ex, Mega Absol ex Box and Marnie's Grimmsnarl ex are Dark decks. These decks are hostile against Gardevoir ex and its past dominance in large tournaments.
Decks that are not in this top 6 may or may not be good. They are just not popular. There are some players who play with good deck archetypes that are either undiscovered or untested.
Here are some other decks based on large tournament data on Limitless TCG.
Netdecking happens in the Pokemon TCG Pocket mobile game (and I assume other TCGs). Here are some popular decks in the Pokemon TCG Pocket game. Data from December 9, 2025.
Suicune ex + Greninja ex Sample Deck
This French player took 2nd place out of 791 players with a 12 wins, 2 losses and 1 tie record.
In this list, there is no Frogadier. Two Froakies with 2 Rare Candy, 2 Greninja and a Greninja ex. Suicune ex is good for drawing cards and the lone Giratina ex is can power itself up on the turns you don't attack.
Mega Altaria ex + Indeedee ex
A Peruvian player got 1st place out of 334 players with this Mega Altaria ex & Indeedee ex deck. There is a 2-2 of Swablu and Mega Altaria ex. There is a 100 HP Altaria as an alternative attacker. Two Chinglings are there to be annoying. One Jirachi to possibly bench hit other 30 HP Pokemon.
The single Indeedee ex is for healing your Active Pokemon and can be used as an alternate attacker.
Two Rocky Helmets is for extra damage as Mega Altaria ex can do a maximum of 130 damage. 130 damage may not be enough.
One Pokeball is interesting. I guess it is to play around Chingling Item lock.
Netdecking helps you with testing out popular decks, seeing which cards are good and why certain cards are good. You also discover strategies from popular decks.
You can also netdeck and test out popular decks to see weaknesses so you can choose a deck that can counter popular decks. If the metagame has a lot of deck A and deck B at a 50% usage rate then you can choose deck J that can in theory hard counter decks A and B. You do have to get lucky in your matchups.
One deck example is Flareon ex. Flareon ex has a type advantage against Gholdengo ex.
I hope this long post helps with learning about the netdecking concept. A lot of people netdeck lists as deck building is not that easy and they would prefer to just play.
With the internet and the availability of deck lists, there are not many surprise decks. Good players who play a lot (and who are possibly all in on a game) know the card pool very well.
People will have different opinions on netdecking if it is good or bad. For me, I think overall it is good. It helps people see what is out there in terms of decks.
Happy playing.
Thank you for reading.
