Deck builds you can download and paste into TCG Live

Every deck below comes with the real decklist, in the exact text format Pokemon TCG Live's deck importer takes. Copy it or download the file, hit Import Deck in the client, paste, done. The same 60 cards is a legal deck in the paper game too, because they are the same game.

The format these decks are legal in

Format: Standard
Legal marks: HIJ and any newer ones. Look at the bottom corner of the card.
Rotated out: G no longer legal.
In force since: March 26, 2026 in Pokemon TCG Live, April 10, 2026 at in-person events. The two dates are genuinely different and the digital one came first.

Source: Pokemon.com, 2026 Pokemon TCG Standard Format Rotation Announcement, read August 16, 2026. Rotation is announced by Pokemon and it changes, so treat this as correct as of that date rather than forever. Every list on this page was drawn through Limitless's own Standard filter for this rotation, so the decks are format legal because of where they came from, not because we checked them card by card.

How to get one of these into the game, and actually play it

Copy the list. Pick a deck below, open Show the raw import text, and hit Copy the list. Download the .txt instead if you would rather keep it.
Import it. In Pokemon TCG Live, open Decks, choose Create a Deck, then Import Deck. Paste into the box and confirm. New to the client? Start here.
Expect it not to be playable yet, and do not take that as an error. Live will only let you use a deck that holds exactly 60 cards, has at least one Basic Pokemon, breaks no format or ban rules, and contains only cards you own. Miss any of those and it shows a warning saying which, and you cannot set the deck as active until you fix it. A freshly imported top-tier list almost always fails on that last one.
Fill the gaps with Trade Credits. Credits can only be spent while making or editing a deck, which is why there is no shop to go to. Open the deck, choose Edit Deck, and filter to the card you need. If you own no copies at all it will not show up until you change the Show Cards filter, and that one setting is what makes people think the card is missing from the game. Then select Available, pick the variant, and select Exchange. Use the + button for more than one copy and finish with Confirm Exchange.
Take the plain version every time. Exchanging is final and cannot be refunded, and a fancy variant plays exactly the same as the ordinary one. Credits spent on the pretty copy are credits you no longer have for the card you still need.
Set it active and play. Once the deck is valid the warning clears, you can make it your active deck, and it is legal in the format it was built for. The same 60 cards is a legal paper deck too, because it is the same game.

The .txt files hold the decklist and absolutely nothing else, no header and no credit line, because the importer reads everything you paste and a stray line is how an import fails. Deck rules and the crafting sequence are Pokemon's own, from their TCG Live support articles, read August 24, 2026.

What "most played" means here, exactly

These are the most played decks, ordered by share of the recorded field. That is a different claim from "the best decks", which is not something this site can source, so it is not a claim made anywhere on this page. Match win rate is printed next to each deck because leaving it out would be its own distortion, but it never sets the order.

Most played. Mega Excadrill, 7.75% of the field, wins 49.7% of its matches.
Best record. Dragapult, 54.14% of its matches, on 6.88% of the field.

Every deck below, its share of the recorded field across and its match win rate up. The rule is an even record. The most played deck in the sample loses more than it wins, and the best record belongs to a deck that is not the most played. 7 of the 18 are under the rule. That is why the list is ordered by share and says so: how many people bring a deck and how often it wins are two measurements, and this is what they look like side by side. Neither axis is a ranking of how good a deck is, which is not something this site can source.

Measured by Limitless TCG across 354 tournaments, 25,782 players and 58,299 matches, filtered to Standard, 2026 rotation, Pitch Black era, read August 16, 2026. These are online tournaments played in Pokemon TCG Live on Limitless's own play platform, the kind community organizers run for booster-code prizes. They are not Regionals, not Internationals and not the World Championships, and nothing here is a paper result. That is the honest description of the sample, and it happens to be the right sample for this page, because the question is what to build and play in the client.

The 18 most played decks

Each one shows the highest placing list of that deck in the sample, dated and credited to the player who registered it. Lists collected run July 18, 2026 to August 16, 2026. Numbered in order of share. Limitless's own table also carries an "Other" bucket, which would sit eleventh: it is everything too rare to name rather than a deck, so it is left out here and the rest are numbered straight through.

Mega Excadrill

The list below is Pedro Eugenio Torres's, 3rd of 909 at WORLDS OF DOOM! 2026! DAY ONE! on August 15, 2026, 7 - 0 - 1.

Pokémon 19

Trainer 23

Energy 18

18 Metal Energy MEE 8

Show the raw import text

Pokémon: 19
4 Beldum TEF 113
4 Metang TEF 114
1 Metagross CRI 61
4 Drilbur PBL 46
2 Mega Excadrill ex PBL 65
2 Genesect ex BLK 67
1 Fezandipiti ex ASC 142
1 Mega Skarmory ex POR 55

Trainer: 23
4 Team Rocket's Petrel DRI 176
4 Lillie's Determination MEG 119
1 Boss's Orders MEG 114
1 Kieran TWM 154
4 Buddy-Buddy Poffin TEF 144
4 Jumbo Ice Cream PFL 91
2 Pokégear 3.0 SVI 186
1 Switch MEG 130
1 Ultra Ball MEG 131
1 Hero's Cape TEF 152

Energy: 18
18 Metal Energy MEE 8

Deck builds you can download and paste into TCG Live

The format these decks are legal in

How to get one of these into the game, and actually play it

What "most played" means here, exactly

The 18 most played decks

Pokémon 19

Trainer 23

Energy 18

Pokémon 17

Trainer 35

Energy 8

Pokémon 20

Trainer 35

Energy 5

Pokémon 23

Trainer 29

Energy 8

Pokémon 20

Trainer 32

Energy 8

Pokémon 21

Trainer 28

Energy 11

Pokémon 24

Trainer 30

Energy 6

Pokémon 19

Trainer 33

Energy 8

Pokémon 23

Trainer 28

Energy 9

Pokémon 26

Trainer 27

Energy 7

Pokémon 24

Trainer 27

Energy 9

Pokémon 19

Trainer 27

Energy 14

Pokémon 17

Trainer 33

Energy 10

Pokémon 21

Trainer 31

Energy 8

Pokémon 16

Trainer 34

Energy 10

Pokémon 20

Trainer 26

Energy 14

Pokémon 21

Trainer 26

Energy 13

Pokémon 12

Trainer 40

Energy 8

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