Knockout strategy
Knocking out your opponent's Pokémon is how you win. But which Pokémon you knock out, and in what order, decides most games before either side runs out of prizes.
A quick refresher
A Pokémon is knocked out the moment damage on it meets or exceeds its HP. Everything attached — energy, tools — goes to the discard pile. The player who landed the knockout takes a prize card.
Not every knockout pays the same:
- A normal Pokémon → 1 prize card
- A Pokémon marked ex → 2 prize cards
- A Mega Pokémon → 3 prize cards
So one knockout on an ex is worth two on a normal Pokémon. Taking out a Mega is worth three. That math is the whole game.
Picking the right target
Once your attacker is ready, you're not just asking "can I knock this out?" — you're asking "which knockout actually moves me closer to winning?" Five things to weigh on every attack:
1. Prize cards remaining
Your prize count is the clock. If you're sitting at 2 prizes, knocking out one Mega wins on the spot. Read both prize stacks every turn — the right play at 6 prizes is often the wrong play at 2.
2. What's on their Bench
If their Active is the only Pokémon they have in play, knocking it out wins the game — no Bench means no replacement. Even when the Bench isn't empty, what's on it matters: a benched ex is two prizes you can chase later, and a benched setup Pokémon (think Pidgeot ex, Bibarel) might be the engine keeping their deck running. Take that out and their hand quietly stops working.
3. Energy and tools on the Active
A loaded Active — three energy and a tool — represents turns of investment. Knock it out and all of that hits the discard. Knock out an empty support Pokémon next to it and you've traded a prize for none of their resources. Hunt the attackers carrying setup.
4. Abilities on the board
Some Pokémon are dangerous without ever attacking. Pidgeot ex searches their deck every turn from the Bench. Munkidori moves damage around for free. Abilities only work while the Pokémon is in play, so knocking out a 1-prize support piece can shut their whole engine off — worth more than the prize card itself.
5. What you give back
Your attacker is a target too. If you have to use your Mega to take a 1-prize knockout, you've spent a 3-prize Pokémon on a 1-prize return — and they get to swing back at something worth way more than what you took. Save your big hitters for big targets when you can.
Single-prize decks
This is why single-prize decks — decks built around non-ex attackers only — stay competitive even when ex Pokémon hit harder card-for-card. If every Pokémon you put on the board is worth 1 prize, your opponent has to land six knockouts to win. Meanwhile, you can take ex Pokémon for 2 each and Megas for 3.
How this shapes deckbuilding
You're not just picking the strongest cards. You're picking attackers whose math works against the popular decks. Dexter's archetype matching helps with that — once you can see what the meta runs, you can plan which knockouts you'll be chasing, and which of yours your opponent will be after.
Next lesson, we'll switch gears and look at how a deck is actually written down — and how to start reading deck lists the way Dexter does.