Hi there. In this Pokemon TCG post, I present an alternative deck. It is a Festival Lead deck. In the global environment, Festival Lead is not a great competitive deck but it is a budget deck that can cause some upsets and has some good matchups.
In Japan with their post-rotation metagame without dominance of Gardevoir ex, Gholdengo ex, Charizard ex decks, Festival Lead is now a competitive archetype. Most of the G regulation cards in Japan are out of standard play and Festival Lead decks did not lose a lot of key cards.
Note: This post is long.
Topics
- Core Cards & Attackers
- ACE SPEC Choices
- Sample Decklists
- Advantages
- Disadvantages
- Variations & Other Cards
- Closing Notes
Core Cards & Attackers
Dipplin & Festival Grounds Stadium
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Festival Grounds as a stadium has an okay effect. Any Pokemon with Energy attached recovers from Special Conditions and is not affected by Special Conditions. Special Conditions include Asleep, Poison, Paralysis and Confusion.
Dipplin is the main attacker in the Festival Lead archetype. The Do The Wave attack requires 1 Grass Energy to deal 20 damage for each of your Benched Pokemon. A full bench of 5 Pokemon results in 100 damage.
The Festival Lead ability allows Dipplin to attack twice in one turn only if the Festival Grounds Stadium is in play. If the first attack Knocks Out your opponent's Active Pokemon then you have the option to attack again after the opponent selects a new Active Pokemon. Being able to attack twice in one turn is very unique and powerful. (Once you attack, your turn ends after.)
Thwackey
Thwackey is a powerful support Pokemon in this deck archetype. If the Active Pokemon has the Festival Lead ability, then you can use the Boom Boom Groove ability to search for any 1 card from your deck into your hand. This effect does stack meaning that multiple Thwackeys with this ability can be used.
Thwackey is very similar to Pidegot ex and its Quick search ability. In Japan, Pidgeot ex and G cards are no longer in the standard format. This makes Thwackey a super powerful search engine.
Goldeen & Seaking
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Goldeen on its own is not a great attacker. It does have the Festival Lead ability that enables Thwackey to search cards from the deck.
Seaking is the evolved form of Goldeen. This also has the Festival Lead ability and its Rapid Draw attack is decent. One of any Energy type to deal 60 damage and draw 2 cards. If you attack twice with this then you card deal 120 damage and draw 4 cards!
As Seaking is a Water type, it does have a type advantage against Fire Pokemon which are somewhat rare.
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Brave Bangle Tool & Shaymin
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Brave Bangle is a very good Tool card for non-Pokemon ex attackers. This tool adds 30 more damage when it attacks an opponent's Active Pokemon ex. As Dipplin and Seaking can attack twice with Festival Grounds in play, Brave Bangle adds 60 more damage (30 x 2).
Shaymin is a defensive Support Grass Basic Pokemon. In Japan, Mega Starmie is a top deck (one week in of post-rotation format) there that can hit the bench for 50 damage. Shaymin protects the bench from damage of attacks to non-Pokemon ex.
Bug Catching Set & Buddy Buddy Poffin
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Buddy Buddy Poffin is a staple card that searches up 70HP or under Basic Pokemon from the deck to Bench.
Bug Catching Set is very good for Grass themed decks. It is not a direct search card. However, you can put up to 2 of any combination of Grass Pokemon and Basic Grass Energy to your hand from the top 7 cards of the deck.
ACE SPEC Choices
Precious Trolley
Precious Trolley is a good ACE SPEC card that works best in the early game. A turn 1 Precious Trolley lets you fill your Bench with any amount of Basic Pokemon from deck to Bench. (Max 5 Pokemon on the Bench)
Maximum Belt
Maximum Belt provides a more powerful attacking option for those who want more firepower.
Unfair Stamp
As the attackers in the Festival Lead deck are weak single prize Pokemon, Unfair Stamp makes as an ACE SPEC choice. Punish the opponent and their hand for taking a Knockout on 1 of your Pokemon.
Secret Box
Secret Box does require 3 cards in hand for the discard cost. This ACE SPEC card lets you search for 1 Item Card, 1 Supporter Card, 1 Tool Card and 1 Stadium card from deck to hand. The Stadium search from Secret Box is very good as it is difficult to search for Stadium cards in general.
As Secret Box is a very useful ACE SPEC card, the availability of this card is low. Plus the price is high compared to the other ACE SPEC choices.
Sample Decklists
Although this deck is not super popular at the moment, there are some decklists with okay results at large regional tournaments.
Rank 133 out of 2270 - Toronto Regional January 2026
Pokémon: 21
4 Applin TWM 17
3 Dipplin TWM 18
4 Grookey TWM 14
3 Thwackey TWM 15
1 Rillaboom TWM 16
2 Goldeen TWM 44
1 Seaking PRE 21
1 Rellor TEF 23
1 Rabsca TEF 24
1 Psyduck ASC 39
Trainer: 33
4 Arven OBF 186
3 Lillie's Determination MEG 119
2 Boss's Orders MEG 114
1 Iono PAL 185
1 Lana's Aid TWM 155
1 Kieran TWM 154
1 Black Belt's Training JTG 143
3 Bug Catching Set TWM 143
2 Pokégear 3.0 SVI 186
1 Precious Trolley SSP 185
1 Buddy-Buddy Poffin TEF 144
1 Night Stretcher SFA 61
1 Counter Catcher PAR 160
1 Switch MEG 130
1 Pal Pad SVI 182
2 Brave Bangle WHT 80
1 Air Balloon BLK 79
1 Vitality Band SVI 197
1 Technical Machine: Evolution PAR 178
4 Festival Grounds TWM 149
Energy: 6
6 Grass Energy MEE 1
This deck contains many staple cards as well as core cards for the Festival Lead deck. There are some unusual cards in this list. Rabsca is for protecting your Pokemon against Bench hitting attacks and damage counter placement effects from attacks from stuff like Dragapult ex.
The ACE SPEC of choice here is Precious Trolley.
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The one Rillaboom is unusual. I think it is for facing Cornerstone Ogerpon ex. The Cornerstone Ogerpon ex does wall off the attackers. Rillaboom fixes this.
The one Psyduck is for facing against Dusknoir threats.
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Rank 180 out of 2344 - Birmingham Regional in UK January 2026
Pokémon: 20
4 Applin TWM 17
3 Dipplin TWM 18
3 Grookey TWM 14
3 Thwackey TWM 15
2 Goldeen TWM 44
2 Seaking PRE 21
1 Rellor TEF 23
1 Rabsca TEF 24
1 Psyduck ASC 39
Trainer: 34
4 Arven OBF 186
3 Lillie's Determination MEG 119
2 Boss's Orders MEG 114
1 Iono PAL 185
1 Lana's Aid TWM 155
1 Black Belt's Training JTG 143
1 Kieran TWM 154
3 Bug Catching Set TWM 143
3 Pokégear 3.0 SVI 186
1 Switch MEG 130
1 Buddy-Buddy Poffin TEF 144
1 Pal Pad SVI 182
1 Night Stretcher SFA 61
1 Counter Catcher PAR 160
1 Precious Trolley SSP 185
2 Brave Bangle WHT 80
1 Technical Machine: Evolution PAR 178
1 Vitality Band SVI 197
1 Air Balloon BLK 79
4 Festival Grounds TWM 149
Energy: 6
6 Grass Energy MEE 1
This decklist is not much different that the list before. I do notice that there is no Rillaboom in this list. What replaces the Rillaboom is a second Seaking.
Advantages
Grass As A Good Typing
Grass is still a good typing as Marnie's Grimmsnarl ex decks are still around along with some N's Zoroark ex decks. In theory, Dipplins should give an overwhelming prize trade for you.
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Being Able To Attack Twice
Being able to attack twice as a Festival Lead provides a unique aggression against opponents. There is potential to do two knockouts from two attackers if the opponent has 70 HP or less Pokemon.
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Thwackey Search Engine Is Super Powerful
Thwackey's search engine with a Festival Lead Active Pokemon is very powerful. The card you get from the deck does not need to be revealed (which is important). Get any card you want given the board state.
Disadvantages
Attackers Are Weak With Less Than 100 HP
The attackers in this deck are do not have much HP. These single prize attackers are glass cannon attackers in a way.
Dusknoir Threats
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Decks with Dusknoir are very capable of dealing multiple knockouts in their turns. Even though they sacrifice a Dusclops or a Dusknoir for a knockout, they can remove attackers or key support Pokemon on your side.
Dragapult ex Threats
Dragapult ex decks will remain a top deck for a while. The six damage counters placement do present a threat to your 40 HP Applins. The combination of Dragapult ex and Dusknoirs can easily do 2 or 3 Knockouts.
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Closing Notes
In the Phantasmal Flames/Ascended Heroes format, the Festival Lead deck is not very competitive. Once rotation hits and the G cards go away then a lot of good decks in the metagame go away. Many decks will lose key cards but Festival Lead decks do not lose much.
The core cards for this deck are fairly inexpensive and should be fairly easy to find. This deck's gameplay is fairly simple while having good aggression and lines of play. A young kid could consider this as a first deck. Experienced players could use this deck too if they like the attackers and play style.