N’s Zoroark ex is one of the newest decks in the Pokémon TCG, and it’s already making a name for itself by reaching the later rounds of regional tournaments and achieving some impressive results. The deck revolves around N’s Zoroark ex as its main win condition, but it also relies on supporting N’s Pokémon on the Bench to boost its attacking power and secure knockouts.
N’s Zoroark ex Decklist
Pokémon: 20
4 N's Zorua JTG 97
4 N's Zoroark ex JTG 98
3 N's Darumaka JTG 26
2 N's Darmanitan JTG 27
1 Munkidori TWM 95
1 N's Reshiram JTG 116
1 Fezandipiti ex SFA 38
1 Cleffa OBF 80
1 Bombirdier ex PAR 156
1 Budew PRE 4
1 Bloodmoon Ursaluna ex TWM 141
Trainer: 32
4 Iono PAL 185
3 Cyrano SSP 170
2 Boss's Orders PAL 172
1 Professor's Research JTG 155
1 Professor Turo's Scenario PAR 171
1 Black Belt's Training JTG 145
3 Nest Ball SVI 181
3 Buddy-Buddy Poffin TEF 144
2 N's PP Up JTG 153
2 Counter Catcher PAR 160
1 Secret Box TWM 163
1 Night Stretcher SFA 61
1 Super Rod PAL 188
1 Ultra Ball SVI 196
1 Pal Pad SVI 182
1 Powerglass SFA 63
1 Defiance Band SVI 169
2 N's Castle JTG 152
1 Pokémon League Headquarters OBF 192
Energy: 8
6 Darkness Energy SVE 15
2 Reversal Energy PAL 192How to Play
This deck heavily relies on the N’Zoroark game plan, using it as its main attacker, but requires supporting Pokémon on the Bench to copy their attacks. At 280 HP and early attacks, you can pressure your opponent and remove their win conditions before they get to attack with them. You can also attack with your other single-prize Pokémon if you don’t have an N’Zoroark in play. An alternate attacker is Bloodmoon Ursaluna, perfect as a late-game finisher.
N’Zoroark
We want to have N’s Zorua in play as early as possible, preferably on the Bench, to evolve it into N’s Zoroark. We often want to have Budew or Cleffa in the Active spot at the start of the game.
N’s Zoroark is a value Pokémon, using his Trade ability to discard a card from your hand and draw 2 cards, adding more resources to your hand.
N’s Zoroark’s Night Joker requires 2 Darkness Energy to activate, letting you choose one of your Benched N’s Pokémon’s attacks and use it as this attack. This means we have to include N’s Pokémon with powerful attacks, even if we don’t plan to attack with them directly. N’s Zoroark can copy their attack and use it as its own, which can make it easier for you to activate higher-cost attacks for only 2 Darkness Energy. This list has N’s Darmanitan and N’s Reshiram as supporting Pokémon to copy their attacks.
N’s Darmanitan has two attacks we can copy with N’s Zoroark ex’s Night Joker. Back Draft deals 30 damage for each Basic Energy card in your opponent’s Discard Pile. So it’s not great to copy early in the game, and it will depend on what deck your opponent is running.
As for the Flamebody Cannon, it deals 90 damage to the opponent’s Active Pokemon and another 90 to one of their Benched Pokemon, a great attack to snipe low HP Pokemon before they get to evolve, disrupting your opponent’s strategy and netting you a Prize Card.
N’s Reshiram features two attacks, with Virtuous Flame being the best option early in the game. It deals 170 damage to the opponent’s Active Pokémon—not the highest damage output, but enough to put on early pressure and set up future knockouts from other damage sources.
The second attack, Powerful Rage, deals 20 damage for each damage counter on your Pokémon. If your opponent lands a heavy blow on N’s Zoroark, Powerful Rage can turn the tables by dealing massive damage in return. With 130+ damage counters on N’s Zoroark ex, you can easily knock out almost any opponent in your way.
Since we’re running Darkness Energy in the deck, Munkidori works perfectly here for its Adrena-Brain ability, letting you move up to 3 damage counters from 1 of your Pokémon to 1 of your opponent’s Pokémon. This can secure a knock out and even keep one of your Pokémon from getting knocked out on the upcoming turn.
Energy Darkness is a must for the N’s Zoroark attacks. As for Reversal Energy, it’s mainly in the list to turn N’s Darmanitan into an attacker, giving it 3 Energy at a time to activate its Back Draft or Flamebody Cannon.
Energy Ramp
N’s PP Up allows you to attach a Basic Energy card from your discard pile to one of your Benched N’s Pokémon. So if you have an N’s Zoroark on the Bench, you can accelerate its attack turn by attaching the Darkness Energy to it. This can work with N’s Castle, as you’re able to retreat N’s Pokémon without having to discard any Energy.
For example, if N’s Zoroark attacked on the previous turn with Flamebody Cannon and discarded 2 Energy, you can attach 1 Darkness Energy from hand to another N’s Zoroark on the Bench and then have N’s PP Up attach a second Energy from the discard. N’s Castle can then retreat your Active N’s Zoroark or any other N’s Pokémon for free and have your ready to attack N’s Zoroark to carry the game.
At the end of your turn, Poweglass lets you attach a Basic Energy card from your discard pile to the Active Pokémon this card is attached to. This allows you to use Flamebody Cannon and still attack on the upcoming turn despite the 2 Energy getting discarded.
Black Belt’s Training boosts your damage output by 40 if you’re attacking an Active Pokémon ex, making sure you can secure a one-shot attack on high HP Pokémon ex.
Defiance Band boosts your attack’s damage by 30, only when you have more Prize cards remaining than your opponent.
Draw Pokemon
Cleffa is great for the early game, drawing you cards until you have 7 cards in your hand through its Grasping Draw attack. She requires no Energy to activate her attack and has no retreat cost, easy to retreat to your Bench and have an attacker take her place.
Bombirdier ex can draw you 3 Basic Pokémon through its Fast Carrier attack. It can also be used as an attacker by attaching a Reversal Energy to it, dealing 130 damage with its Shadow Wind attack, and you can choose to either keep it in play or return the Pokémon and Energy to your hand.
Fezandipiti ex offers a draw value with Flip the Script when one of your Pokémon gets Knocked Out. Three card draw every time a Pokémon is knocked out means we can at least get 6 draws in one game if Fezandipiti ex is on the bench early into the game.
Draw Support Cards
Cyrano searches your deck for Pokémon ex, adding the likes of N’s Zoroark, Fezandipiti ex, Bombirdier ex, and Bloodmoon Ursaluna ex to your hand.
Before you play Professor’s Research, make sure you’ve played all relevant cards in your hand before discarding everything to draw 7 cards.
Iono is a must-draw tool that could put you ahead of the opponent. It can also mess up their hand if they’re planning to make a certain play on their upcoming turn.
Gust Cards
Boss’s Order and Prime Catcher let you pull a Benched Pokémon to the Active spot, perfect to get a knock-out on grab Prize Cards. They can also be used to slow your opponent’s pace by moving a less threatening Pokémon to the Active spot and forcing them to retreat it. Ideally, it should have a high retreat cost to be worth moving.
