A deep guide to N's Zoroark ex, the 280 HP Trade draw engine that copies benched N's attacks. Game plan, Transformation Tome lines, the Rampaging Thunder reset chain, piloting lines from Worlds, and real matchup data from PokeDojo.
is a 280 HP draw engine that attacks by copying its own bench. Trade digs through the deck every turn, N's PP Up powers attackers from the discard, and Night Joker copies N's Zekrom's Rampaging Thunder for 250. Damage modifiers turn that 250 into one-shots on the format's biggest ex.
Results.TCGplayer grades it an A+. Most-played deck in Day 2 of NAIC 2026, where Tord Reklev finished 10th; 9th at the 2026 World Championships with Öjvind Svinhufvud. Limitless counts 26 regional Top 8s with 4 wins and 7 international Top 8s.
Who it is for. Players who like damage math and sequencing. Most turns you see half your deck and have to choose which line to take; the deck rewards planning the modifier stack before committing a Supporter.
Go second with this build. Budew's Itchy Pollen is an attack, and the player going first cannot attack on turn 1, so going second lets you Item-lock the opponent on your first turn and land Lillie's Determination for 8. It also brings Rampaging Thunder online a turn earlier. Budew-less "straight Zoroark" lists like Liam Halliburton's at Worlds take the first-player plan instead; if you want to go first, cut Budew.
Build. The post-Chaos Rising version: Transformation Tome fixes poor early boards and Secret Box holds the ACE SPEC slot.
How the deck wins
The loop is draw, accelerate, copy, boost, knock out, pivot, then again.
benches N's Zorua on turn 1, Lillie's Determination refills the hand (6 cards, or 8 while you still have 6 prizes), and every Zoroark thereafter Trades: discard 1, draw 2. With 2 to 4 Zoroark in play you see most of your deck every turn, which is why the list runs 4 Zorua and 4 Zoroark and can afford 1-of tech Pokémon. Poké Pad sits next to Ultra Ball because it fetches the non-Rule-Box pieces (Zorua, Budew, Munkidori) without a discard, while Cyrano grabs up to 3 Pokémon ex at once. Meowth ex and Tatsugiri are there to find a Supporter on the turns Trade does not.
Accelerate
Trade fills the discard with Darkness Energy, and N's PP Up puts it back on a Benched N's Pokémon. Night Joker costs [D][D], and PP Up returns Energy from the discard, so 8 Energy is enough. Note that PP Up cannot power Pecharunt ex; it is not an N's Pokémon.
Copy
Night Joker copies any Benched N's Pokémon's attack, so the N's bench is an attack toolbox:
N's Zekrom's Rampaging Thunder does 250 to the Active and is the primary target. Its Shred (70, ignores effects on their Active) is how you damage Crustle through Mysterious Rock Inn. Every logged list runs Zekrom; dropping to 1 copy to open a tech slot is common.
N's Darmanitan's Flamebody Cannon does 90 to the Active and 90 to a Benched Pokémon, then discards all Energy from the attacker. PP Up returns that Energy, so the line repeats. N's Darumaka usually stays in hand until the turn you need it (see the Tome lines).
N's Zorua's Scratch (20) is real chip damage when nothing else is ready.
Boost
The base 250 becomes a one-shot with Binding Mochi (+40 while the attacker is Poisoned), Black Belt's Training (+40 to an Active ex), and Munkidori's Adrena-Brain (move up to 3 damage counters from your Pokémon to theirs). The full stack is 250 + 40 + 40 + 30 = 360, a one-shot on Dragapult ex (320) and Mega Excadrill ex (340). Plan the stack before you commit your Supporter. With 280 HP, most decks leave damage on Zoroark for Adrena-Brain to send back.
gusts the target; Yveltal's Clutch keeps it from retreating so you can line up the KO a turn later. Fezandipiti ex's Flip the Script draws 3 after they take a KO. Late, Pecharunt ex's Irritated Outburst (60 per prize they have taken) is real cleanup.
Pivot
Rampaging Thunder locks the attacker out of attacking next turn, and because Night Joker copied it, the lock lands on the Zoroark that swung. N's Castle (N's Pokémon have no Retreat Cost) and Pecharunt ex's Subjugating Chains (switch a Benched {D} Pokémon in and Poison it) are the two ways to clear it and swing again; the next section is about that. This is also why the list runs 2 Binding Mochi: Mochi only works on a Poisoned attacker, so the poison pivot is built into the reset.
(play 2 at once) swaps a Basic in play with a Basic from the discard, and attached cards, damage counters, Special Conditions and turns in play carry over. It is the deck's setup tool and its bad-opener repair; it gets its own section below.
's Itchy Pollen locks Items on turn 1. Special Red Card (only when they are at 3 prizes or fewer: they shuffle their hand to the bottom and draw 3) is the deck's one piece of hand disruption, a late-game timer rather than part of a lock. The ACE SPEC slot goes to consistency: Secret Box discards 3 to search an Item, a Tool, a Supporter and a Stadium, which is Boss's Orders, Binding Mochi and N's Castle in one card.
Rampaging Thunder carries a cost: "During your next turn, this Pokémon can't use attacks." Night Joker copies the attack, so the lock lands on the Zoroark that swung, not on Zekrom. The mid-game is about clearing that lock every other turn.
Two ways to reset:
N's Castle plus a second Zoroark. With N's Castle in play, N's Pokémon retreat for free. Retreat the locked Zoroark, promote a second Zoroark that N's PP Up has already powered, and attack the same turn.
Pecharunt ex's Subjugating Chains. Once per turn, switch a Benched {D} Pokémon into the Active; it becomes Poisoned. This clears the lock and turns on Binding Mochi at the same time, so the fresh Zoroark swings for 290 immediately.
This is why the deck runs 4 Zoroark and 2 Binding Mochi. The attacking Zoroark is a per-turn resource, and Mochi's +40 only works on a Poisoned attacker, so the poison pivot is built into the reset.
(play 2 copies at once) swaps a Basic from your discard pile with a Basic in play. The key rule: attached cards, damage counters, Special Conditions, and turns in play stay on the new Pokémon. That makes it both a setup tool and a board-fix tool.
Convert a liability into a single prize. Play Meowth ex, Fezandipiti ex, or Pecharunt ex early for their Abilities, then Tome them off the board into a single-prize Pokémon once they have done their job. You keep the cards and deny the opponent an easy two-prize target.
Fetch the attacker you need from the discard. Trade dumps cards, and Tome reaches into that discard pile. Bring a Zekrom or Darmanitan back the turn you need its attack instead of waiting to draw it.
Immediate evolution. A Meowth ex or Tatsugiri that has sat on the bench for a turn is a spent Basic. Tome it out for a Zorua from the discard: the turns in play carry over, so that Zorua evolves into Zoroark the same turn. The same trick turns a used-up Basic into a Darumaka that evolves to Darmanitan immediately.
Only commit Darmanitan when you use it. Darumaka on the bench invites the opponent to blank that slot with a Shaymin. With Tome you can keep Darumaka in hand, and if they have already answered your bench, Tome pulls it back out.
Strategy Note: neither player below ran this exact 60. Piper Lepine's list was a 2-2 Darmanitan build with N's Reshiram alongside a single Zekrom, no Transformation Tome, and Janine's Secret Art. Liam Halliburton's was a tech-heavy "straight Zoroark": no Darmanitan line, no Budew, no N's Castle, 4 Team Rocket's Watchtower, and 2 Judge. The lessons transfer; the exact card counts do not.
Piper Lepine vs Jaden (Zoroark mirror)
Piper's build leans harder on Darmanitan than this list does, but every line below is available to this list too.
Itchy Pollen first. Piper opened the mirror with Budew's Itchy Pollen to Item-lock Jaden's setup turn. The mirror is decided in the first two turns, and denying Buddy-Buddy Poffin and Ultra Ball is how you win it.
Flamebody Cannon as the mirror-breaker. Piper used it on an Active Munkidori (Darkness-weak, so 90 becomes 180 and a KO) while the 90 snipe landed on a benched Zoroark, setting up a clean 250 Rampaging Thunder KO without needing Pecharunt. The discarded Energy is not a real cost, since N's PP Up returns it to a Benched N's Pokémon. The catch: a single-prize KO leaves your two-prize Zoroark exposed on their 2-2-2 prize map, so take it when the follow-up KO is already lined up.
Deny Munkidori its ammunition. Adrena-Brain moves damage counters from the opponent's own Pokémon onto yours, so any damage you leave on their board is fuel. When you have a choice of where excess damage lands, put it on the Pokémon you are knocking out so their side is left clean. This is general Munkidori counterplay, not a mirror-only trick, and it matters less once they already have 30 or more sitting on the board.
Free retreats enable the poison pivot. With N's Castle up, Jaden retreated a powered Zoroark and used Subjugating Chains to bring it back to the Active, now Poisoned, so its Binding Mochi swing did 290. That is the reset chain in practice.
Special Red Card is a timer. Piper held it until Jaden was at 3 prizes, then shuffled away his combo pieces the turn before her winning swing. Save it for the turn it actually breaks their hand.
Liam Halliburton (N's Zoroark) vs Christian Dior Fria (basic box)
Liam's build traded the Darmanitan line for a heavier disruption package. The ideas carry over even where the specific cards do not.
Liam Halliburton vs Christian Dior Fria, Worlds 2026 Day 1. Watch on YouTube
Stadium control wins the matchup. Liam ran 4 Team Rocket's Watchtower, which shuts off Colorless Abilities: Mega Kangaskhan's Run Errand and Meowth ex's Last-Ditch Catch, the two ways basic box draws cards. Christian was effectively stuck for two turns. Basic box is still a bad matchup on the numbers (38% over 73 logged games), which is exactly why Liam spent four slots on it. If your local meta is full of ability-draw decks, that tech is how you make the matchup playable.
Do not burn the ACE SPEC when the opponent is already stuck. On a Judge-disrupted board, Liam held Secret Box instead of discarding his hand to tutor. The pressure was already on, so he kept the recovery option for when he needed it.
Pass when the line is not there. Liam was one card short of a 290 Rampaging Thunder plus Binding Mochi swing and passed, holding N's PP Up rather than forcing an attack that would leave him exposed. Trade means you rarely have to force.
Chip damage sets up the KO. Against a Mega Kangaskhan, Liam used Zorua's Scratch (20) rather than a big swing, putting it in range of a later Binding Mochi or Black Belt's Training KO.
Sequence Trade before the swing.Lillie's Determination for 8, then multiple Trades, then the one Night Stretcher he needed to recover an attacker and take his final two prizes.
Matchup cheat-sheet (real data)
PokeDojo's matchup baselines track N's Zoroark against 115 opponent archetypes. Win rates below are from tournament logs (format window labelled TEF-POR, last updated August 2026). The most-played and most-lopsided matchups:
Tough. Their Metal attacker out-trades you; rely on the modifier stack to clear 340 and on Clutch to control the Active.
Festival Lead
325
33.5%
Bad. Dipplin swings into your Grass weakness and their engine out-draws you. Item lock with Budew, or go over the top with Darmanitan's snipe.
Alakazam Dudunsparce
278
42.4%
Powerful Hand places 2 damage counters per card in their hand, so a 14-card hand is a dead Zoroark for one Energy. Alakazam is Darkness-weak on 140 HP: a copied Shred (70 ×2) is an exact KO, and Special Red Card cuts them to 3 cards. Kill Alakazams and keep their hand small.
Close. Seek Inspiration copies whatever they stack on top of their deck: Kyurem's Trifrost (110 to three of your Pokémon) wipes single-prize bench sitters for 3 prizes, and Metagross's Metallic Hammer hits the Active for 300. Slowking is Darkness-weak on 120 HP, so a copied Flamebody Cannon KOs the Active Slowking and snipes a Slowpoke in one attack. A Shaymin (Flower Curtain) tech shuts off the Trifrost line.
Bad matchup. Draconic Buster does 260, so any 20 of chip or a modifier turns Zoroark into a one-shot; keep your attackers clean and force trades you can win.
Even. Freezing Shroud puts a counter on every Ability Pokémon each Checkup, which is your whole bench; Adrena-Brain turns that chip back into their problem.
Basic box
73
38.4%
Unfavored. Their ability draw outpaces Trade; Watchtower (see Liam's list) is the answer if you expect it.
Ogerpon Meganium Hydrapple
76
35.5%
Bad. Grass weakness, and Hydrapple ex heals 30 every turn it attaches; anything short of a one-shot gets undone.
Worst on record. Grass weakness, and Rumbling Bees takes a Zorua for a single Energy; small sample, but treat it as a real problem.
Strategy Note
Strategy Note: most of these games predate Chaos Rising, so they were played with earlier Zoroark builds, not the Transformation Tome list above. Matchup numbers drift as the meta shifts. *The mirror reads 50% by symmetry; the raw sample (284 games) sits at 49.3%, indistinguishable from a coin flip at that sample size. The deck's best matchups are the slower ex builds (Mega Chandelure, Mega Greninja, Dhelmise) and its worst are the Grass and one-shot decks (Festival Lead, Beedrill ex, Cynthia's Garchomp). If your local meta skews the wrong way, lean into the tech slots below.
Tech options
The list keeps the 60 tight. When the meta calls for it:
Ruffian. Discard a Tool and a Special Energy from one opposing Pokémon. Tord ran one at NAIC; it is the answer to Hero's Cape on Crustle and a way to strip Binding Mochi and other defensive Tools.
Shaymin (Flower Curtain). Prevents attack damage to your Benched Pokémon without a Rule Box. Shuts off Slowking's Trifrost line, Wellspring Mask Ogerpon ex's 120 Torrential Pump snipe out of basic box, and Marnie's Grimmsnarl ex's Shadow Bullet chip. (Note that Flower Curtain only prevents damage. It does not stop placing damage counters, like Dragapult ex's Phantom Dive or Dusknoir's Cursed Blast.)
More Yveltal or a second Pecharunt. Lean further into the stall and pivot plan in slower metas.
Practice plan
Goldfish the reset chain. Play the turn cycle alone: Trade down, N's PP Up, Rampaging Thunder, then reset with N's Castle retreat or Subjugating Chains and swing again. Get the rhythm to muscle memory.
Memorize the one-shot numbers. Know which ex each modifier unlocks from the 250 base, and which you can one-shot without spending your Supporter.
Practice the Worlds lines. Rebuild the Liam Halliburton and Piper Lepine board states from the Piloting section and play them out. Passing when uncertain, Watchtower before attacking, and Special Red Card timing are the decisions that win.
Ladder reps. Play 10+ TCG Live Standard games and log each in the PokeDojo Workshop with the opponent's archetype. The matchup dossier is how the numbers above were built.
Review the bad matchups. Festival Lead, Cynthia's Garchomp, and the Grass decks (Beedrill, Ogerpon Meganium) hurt. Watch one or two replays of each, find the single turn you could have won, then adjust the tech slots.
