How does Puppy Pile work?The central strategy of "Puppy Pile" is to have multiple cards with the "Puppy Pile" ability in your hand to deal massive damage quickly. The concept revolves around the attack of the same name, Puppy Pile, found in Basic Pokémon such as Growlithe, Rockruff, Fidough, Yamper, and Lillipup.Costing only two energy, this attack deals damage based on the number of Pokémon with the same attack you have in play and in your hand. In other words, the more puppies you accumulate, the harder you hit, easily reaching 160 damage if you have 8 puppies, for example.Besides the low energy cost, the deck has a strategic advantage because its Pokémon deal significant damage but yield only one Prize Card to the opponent when knocked out. Since the list does not use ex or Mega Pokémon (which grant more points when defeated), the opponent must knock out three of your Pokémon separately to win the match.To ensure consistency in keeping multiple puppies in hand, the Puppy Loving Girl card is indispensable, as it allows you to look at the top cards of your deck and pull every Pokémon with "Puppy Pile" directly into your hand.Now that we have covered the general Puppy Pile strategy, let's analyze three different versions of this archetype, each with a different focus. Let's get to it!3 Puppy Pile DecksPuppy Pile + Flame Patch + Bounded Field by LuckycadThis version focuses on faster aggression, using the Bounded Field Stadium as its centerpiece. The goal is to leverage the wide variety of puppy types (Fire, Fighting, Electric, etc.) to apply weakness damage to the opponent.Strategy and Key Cards- Bounded Field: The stadium doubles attack damage when hitting the opponent's weakness (applicable to both sides). With this multiplier, the deck can deal an incredible 280 damage in a single hit, dealing with some metagame threats easily due to their weakness.- Growlithe + Flame Patch: Since primary attackers like Growlithe and Yamper have low HP and are easily knocked out, the Flame Patch item is very useful for accelerating the game. It allows you to use fire energies that have been discarded directly onto the active Pokémon, provided it is a Fire-type, meaning your Growlithe. This ensures the deck can respond after losing an attacker.It is interesting to start with a non-fire attacker and prepare the field for when it gets knocked out, then move Growlithe to the active spot, use the Patch, and attack again.Puppy Pile + Magby + Arcanine ex by GodzlyThis variation uses tools that improve deck stability early in the game while offering a backup plan for difficult moments.Strategy and Key Cards- Magby: When you lose the coin toss and must go first (when you cannot attack), Magby steps in to generate energy, preventing the deck from stalling.- Arcanine ex: While other versions rely 100% on the Puppy Pile attack, this list keeps Arcanine ex as a backup plan to deal heavy damage. It serves to deal damage and finish off opponents if the main Puppy combo is interrupted.Like the first list, this one uses the Growlithe and Flame Patch combo (which also works for Arcanine ex) and Bounded Field, surprising opponents who underestimate the puppies' low initial power before they take doubled damage.Puppy Pile + Starting Planes + Small Balloon by spragels PocketPuppy Pile is fun and focuses on the cost-benefit of using common cards to topple meta decks, but it often struggles with consistency. After several tests, this third approach proposes some changes focused on mobility and durability.Strategy and Key Cards- Starting Planes instead of Bounded Field: Realizing that the weakness multiplier from Bounded Field was rarely the deciding factor for a knockout (since the base damage accumulation is already very high, reaching 200 damage), this version brings the Starting Planes Stadium. The focus shifts to increasing your puppies' HP, ensuring more survival on the board.- Small Balloon: Including the Small Balloon tool allows for a quick retreat early in the game. This prevents a crucial Pokémon that lacks attached energy from getting stuck in the active spot, vulnerable to the opponent's attacks.- Draw cards: This deck relies heavily on a robust draw engine with Copycat, Professor, and Poké Balls, in addition to the ever-present Puppy Loving Girl, to keep your hand full.Matchups for Puppy PileTo pilot Puppy Pile well, you need to understand how it interacts with the strongest decks in the current format:- Against "Sleep" decks (Milotic ex / Darkrai / Mega Altaria ex): Decks focused on putting the opponent to sleep are the meta's biggest villains, but Puppy Pile has some tools against them.Fidough, which has a zero retreat cost, or the Balloon tool card allows you to retreat a Pokémon and bring in a fresh attacker in the same turn.In the worst-case scenario, your puppy will faint, and you will have already set up another.- Against Grass decks (Butterfree / Venusaur): This is a favorable matchup. Since your deck's main damage dealer is Growlithe (Fire-type), you naturally hit these decks' weakness.If you are using the version with the Bounded Field Stadium, the damage is multiplied, making the process even easier.- Against fast acceleration decks: Here, it is a race against time. Puppy Pile needs to draw cards very quickly to keep up with the absurd damage these "heavy" decks deal in the opening turns.Pros and Cons of Puppy PileThe advantage is that your Pokémon only give up one prize card, which can buy you some time. The archetype is quite explosive and deals quick damage if you fill your hand rapidly.However, despite being explosive, the deck has clear weaknesses. The main one is that, since the Puppy Pile attack counts the Pokémon in your hand, cards that force you to shuffle your hand back into the deck (like Red Card or Mars) are devastating. A single Red Card at the wrong moment can drop your damage from 200 to 40 instantly.Furthermore, the deck needs to draw many Basic Pokémon quickly. If you have a poor opening turn without access to Puppy Loving Girl or draw cards (like Professor's Research), the puppies become easy targets with low HP on the field, allowing the opponent to dismantle your deck before your strategy gets going.Decks that deal damage to your bench are also dangerous. Since puppies have low HP, sniper attacks or attacks that spread damage can knock out multiple Pokémon at once.Strategic TipsPiloting this deck requires math and planning every turn:- The base cost to knock out most Pokémon in the format requires about 6 to 8 puppies between your field and hand (120 to 160 damage). It is essential to calculate the opponent's active Pokémon's HP every turn to know exactly how many puppies you need to reveal.- Do not fill your bench if it is not necessary. If you put all your puppies into play, you will have nothing left in your hand. Furthermore, if the opponent knocks out a puppy on the bench, you lose damage multipliers. Keep puppies in your hand whenever possible, putting them into play only to prepare them as substitute attackers.- Flame Patch only attaches energies from the discard pile to the active Fire Pokémon. Therefore, you must anticipate when your active Pokémon will faint, ensure there is fire energy in the discard pile, and have a Growlithe ready on the bench to receive that energy on the following turn when it becomes the active Pokémon.That's all for now. See you next time!
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