30th Celebration: The Gholdengo Deck Explained

One of the wildest cards from the anniversary set 30th Celebration gets its own deck: Gholdengo. Its attack takes two Prize cards at once, but only if you have exactly 30 cards in your hand. The deck is built to get you there.

The card: Gholdengo 108/128

Gholdengo 108/128 from Pokémon 30th Celebration
Gholdengo 108/128 from the 30th Celebration set.
  • Stage 1, evolves from Gimmighoul, 130 HP, Metal type
  • Zelebrieren (German card name) for one Metal Energy: If you have exactly 30 cards in your hand, you take 2 Prize cards. Then you shuffle your hand back into your deck.
  • Dreifachschmetterer for one Metal Energy: flip three coins, 50 damage for each heads.

Gimmighoul 081/128 also comes from 30th Celebration. It is a Psychic Pokémon, so it fits the rest of the deck.

The main attacker: Alakazam

Alakazam 056/132 from Mega Evolution
Alakazam 056/132 turns a big hand into big damage.

Until Gholdengo strikes, Alakazam (Mega Evolution 056/132) does the fighting. Its attack Mächtige Hand costs one Psychic Energy and puts 2 damage counters on your opponent's Active Pokémon for each card in your hand. Ten cards in hand means 200 damage. Alakazam and Kadabra both have the Ability Psychic Draw: when you play them from your hand to evolve, you draw 3 cards (Alakazam) or 2 cards (Kadabra).

How the deck fills the hand

  • Seltsamer Zeitmesser (Mega Evolution 128/132): You return the Evolution cards of a Psychic Pokémon to your hand. That lets you evolve Alakazam again and draw again.
  • Dudunsparce (Prismatic Evolutions 080/131): Its Ability Angsthasenabzug draws 3 cards once per turn. Then you shuffle Dudunsparce and all attached cards back into your deck.
  • Lillie's Determination: You shuffle your hand into your deck and draw 6 cards, or 8 if you have exactly 6 Prize cards remaining. Best played right at the start.
  • Telepathic Psychic Energy (Perfect Order 088/088): When you attach it from your hand to a Psychic Pokémon, you put up to 2 Basic Psychic Pokémon from your deck onto your Bench.
  • Fezandipiti ex draws 3 cards when one of your Pokémon is Knocked Out, and Tatsugiri finds a Supporter card in the top 6 cards while it is in the Active Spot.
Dudunsparce 080/131 from Prismatic Evolutions
Dudunsparce draws three cards every turn.
Seltsamer Zeitmesser 128/132 from Mega Evolution
Seltsamer Zeitmesser makes Psychic Draw repeatable.
Telepathic Psychic Energy 088/088 from Perfect Order
Telepathic Psychic Energy builds the Bench.

The plan in three steps

First you set up Abra, Kadabra and Alakazam and draw as many cards as possible. Then Alakazam attacks with Mächtige Hand, and you draw exactly as many cards as the opponent's Pokémon needs. As soon as your hand reaches 30 cards, you switch Gholdengo in and take two Prize cards at once with Zelebrieren.

The complete deck list

Pokémon: 27

  • 4x Abra (Mega Evolution)
  • 4x Kadabra (Mega Evolution)
  • 3x Alakazam (Mega Evolution)
  • 3x Gimmighoul (30th Celebration)
  • 2x Gholdengo (30th Celebration)
  • 4x Dunsparce (Journey Together)
  • 4x Dudunsparce (Prismatic Evolutions)
  • 1x Fezandipiti ex (Shrouded Fable)
  • 2x Tatsugiri (Twilight Masquerade)

Trainer cards: 26

  • 4x Lillie's Determination (Mega Evolution)
  • 4x Lacey (White Flare)
  • 3x Lucia (Phantasmal Flames)
  • 3x Tara (Stellar Crown)
  • 2x Tracys Unterstützung (Twilight Masquerade)
  • 4x Buddy-Buddy Poffin (Prismatic Evolutions)
  • 3x Seltsamer Zeitmesser (Mega Evolution)
  • 2x Poké Pad (Perfect Order)
  • 1x Super Rod (Prismatic Evolutions)

Energy cards: 7

  • 4x Telepathic Psychic Energy (Perfect Order)
  • 2x Basic Metal Energy
  • 1x Basic Psychic Energy

Is the deck worth it?

The Gholdengo deck is a fun deck with a real plan. Reaching 30 cards in hand is hard, but Alakazam wins plenty of games without Gholdengo, because every card you draw adds damage. The Gimmighoul and Gholdengo core are regular cards from 30th Celebration, the rest comes from current sets. More decks from the anniversary set are in 30th Celebration: The Solgaleo Deck Explained, everything about the set in 30th Celebration: Everything you need to know.

Questions about individual cards in the list? Write to us via the contact form or join our Discord.

Source: PokeZentrum, October 25, 2026. Card texts taken from the scans of the German cards; card and attack names without a confirmed English name are kept in German. Two additions to the source: after Zelebrieren you shuffle your hand back into your deck, and Tatsugiri only uses its Ability from the Active Spot. The source text lists Fezandipiti ex from Ascended Heroes, the deck list from Shrouded Fable. This article follows the list.

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