About six months ago, I did an analysis on attacks from my opponents. I recorded how much damage they did (if any) to the active Pokemon, and if the attack included an effect that negatively impacted my side of the board. I decided to replicate that study during the month of September. This way we can all have an objective gauge of where the meta is at and get an idea of what to expect in this new Standard format.
Ground rules are pretty much the same as last time:
- All of the matches were played between September 1st and 30th on PTCGO in the Standard format.
- I recorded how much damage was done to the active Pokemon only. If damage was done to benched Pokemon, that specific amount was not recorded or added into the total amount of damage done.
- Damage from abilities was not recorded, although damage from Special Conditions was.
- Weakness and resistance were removed from the amount of damage recorded. For instance, if a Water Pokemon did 200 damage to a Fire Pokemon, it was recorded as 100 damage.
- If a
Pokemon’s attack included an effect that negatively impacted the other side of the board, that was recorded as an effect. For example, Espeon GX’s Psybeam was included as an effect; Sylveon GX’s Magical Ribbon did not count as an effect. Effects recorded for purposes of this study include (but are not limited to) Poison, Paralysis, Sleep, Confusion, Energy Discard, Burn, discarding cards from hand or deck, or returning Pokemon to your hand or your deck. - An additional category I added to this analysis that was not present in the prior analysis was whether or not an attack was “enhanced.” Common examples of enhancements included Choice Band or Professor Kukui.
Here are the high level statistics generated from this study. The following statistics include ALL data:
- The average damage done to the active Pokemon was 84.14.
- There were 1044 attacks for a grand total of 87,840 damage.
- The median damage done to the active Pokemon was 80.
- 7% of attacks did damage to a benched Pokemon.
- 13% of attacks had a negative impact on the opponent.
- 16% of attacks were enhanced.
The following statistics include ONLY attacks that did damage to an active Pokemon. If an attack did zero damage to the active, it was excluded from the following calculations:
- The average damage done to the active Pokemon was 99.36
- There were 884 attacks for a grand total of 87,840 damage.
- The median damage done to the active Pokemon was 90.
- 4% of attacks did damage to a benched Pokemon.
- 10% of attacks had a negative impact on the opponent.
- 16% of attacks were enhanced.
Here is a list of the top fifty Pokemon by average amount of damage per attack with no minimums:
| Charizard GX | 240.00 | 5 |
| Alolan Golem | 200.00 | 1 |
| Pikachu EX | 190.00 | 2 |
| Minior | 190.00 | 1 |
| Darkrai | 180.00 | 1 |
| M Charizard EX | 175.00 | 2 |
| Necrozma GX | 170.00 | 9 |
| Golisopod | 165.00 | 2 |
| Xerneas Break | 160.00 | 5 |
| Gardevoir GX | 154.86 | 74 |
| Typhlosion | 152.50 | 4 |
| Vikavolt | 150.00 | 1 |
| Darkrai GX | 150.00 | 5 |
| Ho-Oh GX | 150.00 | 7 |
| Volcanion EX | 148.57 | 7 |
| Lycanroc GX | 145.00 | 4 |
| Tapu Koko GX | 142.61 | 23 |
| Ho-Oh EX | 140.00 | 2 |
| Incineroar GX | 137.50 | 4 |
| Metagross GX | 133.43 | 35 |
| Gallade | 133.33 | 9 |
| Darkrai EX | 131.74 | 23 |
| Gyarados EX | 130.00 | 1 |
| Mew EX | 130.00 | 1 |
| Ninetales Break | 130.00 | 1 |
| Zoroark | 130.00 | 7 |
| Salazzle GX | 126.00 | 5 |
| M Blastoise EX | 120.00 | 1 |
| M Scizor EX | 120.00 | 1 |
| Lapras GX | 120.00 | 10 |
| Solgaleo GX | 115.00 | 6 |
| Marshadow GX | 114.00 | 5 |
| Golisopod GX | 112.69 | 26 |
| Toxapex GX | 112.50 | 8 |
| Garbodor | 112.38 | 21 |
| Flareon EX | 110.00 | 2 |
| Talonflame Break | 110.00 | 2 |
| Raikou | 110.00 | 1 |
| Turtonator GX | 108.95 | 19 |
| Coballion | 105.00 | 2 |
| Granbull | 105.00 | 2 |
| Passimian | 105.00 | 6 |
| Tapu Bulu GX | 101.47 | 34 |
| Lapras | 100.00 | 1 |
| Crabominable | 100.00 | 2 |
| Garchomp | 100.00 | 3 |
| Gardevoir EX | 100.00 | 1 |
| Oranguru | 96.67 | 6 |
| Zygarde EX | 95.71 | 7 |
| Delphox Break | 95.00 | 4 |
And here is a list of the top fifty Pokemon by average amount of damage per attack with a five attack minimum:
| Charizard GX | 240.00 | 5 |
| Necrozma GX | 170.00 | 9 |
| Xerneas Break | 160.00 | 5 |
| Gardevoir GX | 154.86 | 74 |
| Ho-Oh GX | 150.00 | 7 |
| Darkrai GX | 150.00 | 5 |
| Volcanion EX | 148.57 | 7 |
| Tapu Koko GX | 142.61 | 23 |
| Metagross GX | 133.43 | 35 |
| Gallade | 133.33 | 9 |
| Darkrai EX | 131.74 | 23 |
| Zoroark | 130.00 | 7 |
| Salazzle GX | 126.00 | 5 |
| Lapras GX | 120.00 | 10 |
| Solgaleo GX | 115.00 | 6 |
| Marshadow GX | 114.00 | 5 |
| Golisopod GX | 112.69 | 26 |
| Toxapex GX | 112.50 | 8 |
| Garbodor | 112.38 | 21 |
| Turtonator GX | 108.95 | 19 |
| Passimian | 105.00 | 6 |
| Tapu Bulu GX | 101.47 | 34 |
| Oranguru | 96.67 | 6 |
| Zygarde EX | 95.71 | 7 |
| Gengar | 94.00 | 5 |
| Kommo-O GX | 92.50 | 8 |
| Solgaleo | 90.00 | 6 |
| M Alakazam EX | 88.00 | 5 |
| Mew | 88.00 | 5 |
| Alolan Muk GX | 87.50 | 8 |
| Alolan Ninetales | 86.00 | 15 |
| Lucario | 85.00 | 6 |
| Tapu Lele GX | 83.29 | 73 |
| Greninja Break | 81.25 | 8 |
| Tauros GX | 79.17 | 24 |
| Alolan Ninetales GX | 75.41 | 37 |
| Kingdra | 72.50 | 8 |
| Glaceon EX | 70.00 | 7 |
| Lurantis GX | 68.46 | 13 |
| Heracross | 68.00 | 5 |
| Drampa GX | 65.87 | 46 |
| Noivern GX | 64.00 | 5 |
| Scizor EX | 62.00 | 5 |
| Greninja | 61.82 | 11 |
| Espeon GX | 56.67 | 45 |
| Sylveon GX | 50.00 | 20 |
| Volcanion | 48.70 | 23 |
| Talonflame | 41.90 | 21 |
| Yveltal | 40.00 | 11 |
| Tapu Koko | 29.17 | 12 |
A list of Pokemon that attacked me the most and how many times they attacked me (minimum 10 attacks):
| Gardevoir GX | 74 |
| Tapu Lele GX | 73 |
| Drampa GX | 46 |
| Espeon GX | 45 |
| Alolan Ninetales GX | 37 |
| Metagross GX | 35 |
| Alolan Vulpix | 35 |
| Tapu Bulu GX | 34 |
| Golisopod GX | 26 |
| Tauros GX | 24 |
| Tapu Koko GX | 23 |
| Volcanion | 23 |
| Darkrai EX | 23 |
| Garbodor | 21 |
| Talonflame | 21 |
| Sylveon GX | 20 |
| Turtonator GX | 19 |
| Alolan Ninetales | 15 |
| Lurantis GX | 13 |
| Diancie | 13 |
| Tapu Koko | 12 |
| Houndoom EX | 12 |
| Greninja | 11 |
| Yveltal | 11 |
| Lapras GX | 10 |
Here is a running total by percentage of damage done to the active Pokemon:
| Amount of Damage | Frequency | Running Total | Amt, of Dmg. | Freq. | Running Total | Amt. of Dmg. | Freq. | Running Total |
| 0 | 15% | 15% | 110 | 2% | 66% | 220 | 0% | 97% |
| 10 | 2% | 17% | 120 | 6% | 72% | 230 | 1% | 98% |
| 20 | 6% | 23% | 130 | 5% | 77% | 240 | 1% | 99% |
| 30 | 6% | 29% | 140 | 2% | 79% | 250 | 0% | 99% |
| 40 | 5% | 34% | 150 | 7% | 86% | 260 | 0% | 99% |
| 50 | 5% | 39% | 160 | 4% | 90% | 270 | 0% | 99% |
| 60 | 6% | 45% | 170 | 1% | 91% | 280 | 0% | 99% |
| 70 | 3% | 48% | 180 | 3% | 94% | 290 | 0% | 99% |
| 80 | 7% | 55% | 190 | 1% | 95% | 300 | 0% | 100% |
| 90 | 3% | 58% | 200 | 1% | 96% | |||
| 100 | 6% | 64% | 210 | 1% | 97% |
The number of zero attacks is the most frequent quantity of damage done to the active Pokemon, with 80 and 150 the next most frequent. Just by eyeballing this, you can see that the vast majority of attacks do less than 160 damage, and very, very few attacks do more than 210 damage.
In conclusion, I hope that this analysis provides you with valuable information to think about. I hope that you can use this information to help you better understand the game. Again, all of this data is from matches played on PTCGO, and I understand that PTCGO is not the same as playing in a major tournament. I am finding that about half of the matches I play on PTCGO are against “meta” decks. Whether you’re an IRL player or a player who exclusively plays online, this analysis provides at least a basic framework to help you improve your win percentage in the Pokemon Trading Card Game.
