Blastoise & Piplup-GX 253 — what does this card actually do?
This card has 270 HP, a top attack printed at 150 damage and a Grass weakness.
Water · Basic TAG TEAM GX · Cosmic Eclipse · measured against 20,444 cards on file — card data read July 28, 2026
What does Blastoise & Piplup-GX 253 do in a game?
Blastoise & Piplup-GX 253 is a Water Pokémon card with 270 HP, printed as Basic TAG TEAM GX.
Its strongest attack, Splash Maker, is printed at 150 damage for 3 Energy — 50 damage per Energy card.
Because of the Grass weakness, any Grass attack printed at 135 damage or more removes it in a single turn.
Blastoise & Piplup-GX 253Cosmic Eclipse
Blastoise & Piplup-GX 253 performance summary
270 HP · Water · Basic TAG TEAM GX · retreat 3 · Grass weakness ×2
as of July 28, 2026
damage per Energy card, among cards whose cheapest attack costs 3
Strongest on Hit points — top 4.4% of the archive. Weakest on Retreat lightness — bottom 16.8%.
Each spoke is this card's place among every card in the archive that prints that figure. Further out is stronger — retreat and attack cost are shown as lightness, so a cheap card reaches outward. Counted July 28, 2026.
| Measure | Percentile | Printed value |
|---|---|---|
| Hit points | 95.6% | 270 HP |
| Top printed damage | 90.0% | 150 damage |
| Energy efficiency | 88.9% | 50 per Energy |
| Retreat lightness | 16.8% | 3 Energy |
| Attack cost lightness | 17.4% | 3 Energy |
2 attacks printed on the card. The badge is the Energy it asks for.
Among the 17,290 cards in every card in the archive that carry printed HP, this one is number 611 at 270 HP.
Blastoise & Piplup-GX 253270 HPPrinted HP
The ceiling of this archive is 380 HP — 110 HP above this card.
Mega Emboar ex 273380 HPWhat stands out on Blastoise & Piplup-GX 253
- Hit points 270 HP puts it in the 240~280 band, where 3.3% of 17,290 cards with printed HP sit.
- Energy It returns 50 damage per Energy card against 34.7 for cards whose cheapest attack costs 3.
- Weakness A Grass attack printed at 135 damage or more removes it in a single turn.
Blastoise & Piplup-GX 253 at a glance
- What it is. A Water Pokémon card with 270 HP printed as Basic TAG TEAM GX, printed in Cosmic Eclipse.
- What it can do. 2 attacks printed on the card, the strongest at 150 damage for 3 Energy.
- What it fears. A Grass weakness at ×2, which means 135 printed damage is enough to remove it.
- What it costs to move. 3 Energy to retreat, discarded from the card itself.
- Where it can be played. Unlimited and Expanded only.
- What this page does not claim. Deck lists, tournament results and win rates are not published here, because the card files this site reads do not contain them.
What do the attacks on Blastoise & Piplup-GX 253 cost, and what do they hit for?
The card prints 2 attacks. The strongest asks for 3 Energy and returns 150 damage, which is 50 damage for every Energy card attached.
| Attack | Energy cost | Cards of Energy | Printed damage | Damage per Energy | Effect |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Splash Maker | 2 Water + 1 Colorless | 3 | 150 | 50 | You may attach up to 3 Water Energy cards from your hand to your Pokémon in any way you like. If you do, heal 50 damage from those Pokémon for each card you attached to them in this way. |
| Bubble Launcher-GX | 2 Water + 1 Colorless | 3 | 100+ | 33 | Your opponent's Active Pokémon is now Paralyzed. If this Pokémon has at least 3 extra Water Energy attached to it (in addition to this attack's cost), this attack does 150 more damage. (You can't use more than 1 GX attack in a game.) |
Retreating costs a further 3 Energy, discarded from this card, and that cost is paid on top of anything in the table.
What each attack asks a deck to attach before it can be used, drawn as the symbols printed on the card.
One Energy card attaches per turn, so the number of symbols is also the number of turns the attack waits.
Why one of these damage figures carries a symbol
A number on a Pokémon card is not always the number that lands.
- Bubble Launcher-GX is printed as 100+, so the printed number is a floor — the attack deals at least that much, and the sentence beside it says what adds to it.
How does Blastoise & Piplup-GX 253 compare with every other card?
Each bar below is the whole archive cut by one printed figure, with the band this card falls into marked. A number on its own says nothing about whether it is high or low — the shape of the archive does.
The ceiling of this archive is Mega Emboar ex at 380 HP — every bar here is measured against it.
This card prints 270 HP, which is 71% of that ceiling.
Every figure in this panel is counted the same way: from the card files this site reads, read July 28, 2026, over the 17,290 cards that print an HP figure. Each bar is measured against the tallest HP in the archive, 380 HP.
17,290 cards in the archive carry a printed HP figure. This one has 270 HP.
Cards in the 240~280 band typically print 158 damage and ask 2 Energy to retreat.
| Group | Share | Value |
|---|---|---|
| ~70 | 38.6% | 6,669 cards |
| 80~120 | 33.1% | 5,725 cards |
| 130~180 | 15.5% | 2,679 cards |
| 190~230 | 6.6% | 1,148 cards |
| 240~280 — this card | 3.3% | 567 cards |
| 290~330 | 2.4% | 412 cards |
| 340+ | 0.5% | 90 cards |
16,246 cards print damage on at least one attack. The highest on this card is 150.
Cards in the 130~180 band typically have 198 HP and ask 2 Energy to retreat.
| Group | Share | Value |
|---|---|---|
| ~30 | 42.7% | 6,938 cards |
| 40~60 | 22.0% | 3,566 cards |
| 70~120 | 21.8% | 3,535 cards |
| 130~180 — this card | 9.0% | 1,461 cards |
| 190~250 | 3.8% | 621 cards |
| 260+ | 0.8% | 125 cards |
17,262 cards have at least one attack with an Energy cost. The cheapest on this card asks 3 Energy.
Cards whose cheapest attack costs 3 typically have 153 HP and print 104 damage.
| Group | Share | Value |
|---|---|---|
| 0 | 1.8% | 304 cards |
| 1 | 54.4% | 9,392 cards |
| 2 | 26.4% | 4,565 cards |
| 3 — this card | 14.7% | 2,533 cards |
| 4 | 2.4% | 421 cards |
| 5 | 0.3% | 47 cards |
17,240 cards carry a retreat cost. This one costs 3 Energy to retreat.
Cards with a retreat cost of 3 typically have 150 HP and print 99 damage.
| Group | Share | Value |
|---|---|---|
| 0 | 5.3% | 914 cards |
| 1 | 49.3% | 8,503 cards |
| 2 | 28.6% | 4,926 cards |
| 3 — this card | 12.6% | 2,168 cards |
| 4 | 4.2% | 729 cards |
That is where Blastoise & Piplup-GX 253 stands highest on HP — number 21 of 601 cards in GX cards. Cut the archive a different way and the answer moves, which is what the bars below are for.
- Hit points 270 HP
middle half 60–130 HP - Top printed damage 150 damage
middle half 20–90 damage
- Lowest to highest printed in the archive
- Middle half of the archive
- This card
Each row is stretched from the lowest printed figure to the highest, so the two rows are not on one shared scale — read each row on its own.
Open the group this card falls into
Back to summaryIs Blastoise & Piplup-GX 253 efficient for the Energy it asks for?
Printed damage on its own says nothing — a 150 damage attack that needs 3 Energy and one that needs two are different cards. Dividing one by the other puts every attack on the same scale.
Each bar is what cards asking that much Energy typically print, divided by the Energy they ask for. The number beside the bar is that figure.
Cards whose cheapest attack costs 3 typically return 34.7 damage per Energy card. This card returns 50.
| Group | Share | Value |
|---|---|---|
| 1 Energy | 49.0 | 49 damage typical |
| 2 Energy | 32.5 | 65 damage typical |
| 3 Energy | 34.7 | 104 damage typical |
| 4 Energy | 27.8 | 111 damage typical |
| 5 Energy | 41.8 | 209 damage typical |
| Blastoise & Piplup-GX 253 — this card | 50.0 | 150 damage for 3 Energy |
Further right is a costlier attack, further up is a harder-hitting one, so the cheap and heavy corner is top left. The size of a grey dot is how many cards sit at that Energy cost.
| Group | Typical printed damage | Damage per Energy card | Cards in this group |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cheapest attack costs 0 Energy | 45 | — | 304 |
| Cheapest attack costs 1 Energy | 49 | 49 | 9,392 |
| Cheapest attack costs 2 Energy | 65 | 33 | 4,565 |
| Cheapest attack costs 3 Energy | 104 | 35 | 2,533 |
| Cheapest attack costs 4 Energy | 111 | 28 | 421 |
| Cheapest attack costs 5 Energy | 209 | 42 | 47 |
| Splash Maker | — | 50 | — |
| Bubble Launcher-GX | — | 33 | — |
Where this sits once the archive is cut by damage instead
The bars above cut the archive by what an attack asks for. Cut the same archive by what an attack prints and the groups come out differently — the damage ranges on record are gathered on one page, which is where a figure like 150 is read as high or low rather than merely large.
Is Blastoise & Piplup-GX 253 strong for a TAG TEAM card?
TAG TEAM cards are built large to begin with, so measuring this one against the whole archive mixes up what the mechanic gives it with what the card itself gives it. Measured inside its own group, the two come apart.
The group is every TAG TEAM card in the archive — 130 of them. Each figure is compared with what that group typically prints, not with the archive as a whole.
What does being a Water card do for Blastoise & Piplup-GX 253?
Type decides two things at once — which cards take double damage from this one, and which cards deal double to it. Both are read from the weakness printed on each group, not from a rule of thumb.
17,249 cards carry an energy type. The note under each name is the weakness printed most often on that group.
| Group | Share | Value |
|---|---|---|
| Psychic | 13.5% | 2,335 cards |
| Water — this card | 14.1% | 2,435 cards |
| Colorless | 12.6% | 2,173 cards |
| Fire | 9.1% | 1,574 cards |
| Fighting | 10.9% | 1,884 cards |
| Lightning | 8.8% | 1,520 cards |
| Grass | 13.8% | 2,387 cards |
| Metal | 5.4% | 925 cards |
| Darkness | 7.2% | 1,249 cards |
| Dragon | 3.1% | 530 cards |
| Fairy | 1.4% | 237 cards |
Read from the weakness printed on each group. The first row is this card; the rest are groups that most often print a Water weakness.
What being a Water card is worth
Groups that most often print a Water weakness: Fire (1,574 cards). Against those, this card's printed damage counts double. Going the other way, Water cards are themselves most exposed to Grass.
What knocks out Blastoise & Piplup-GX 253 in one hit, and what does it knock out?
Weakness doubles the damage a Grass attack deals to this card, so the bar it has to clear is 135 printed damage rather than 270.
Meganium140 damage140 damage becomes 280 against this card
Blastoise & Piplup-GX 253270 HPWhy this card was picked to stand opposite
Of the 134 cards in the archive that can remove Blastoise & Piplup-GX 253 in a single attack, this one clears the bar by the smallest margin — 140 printed damage against a bar of 135. Anything printed higher removes it just as surely, so this is where the line actually sits, and this print is legal in Standard play today.
Read from the weakness printed in the lower-left corner of the card.
| Card | Set | HP | Printed damage | After weakness |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Flapple VMAX (19) | Battle Styles | 320 | 250 | 500 |
| Flapple VMAX (164) | Battle Styles | 320 | 250 | 500 |
| Mega Venusaur ex (3) | Mega Evolution | 380 | 240 | 480 |
| Mega Venusaur ex (155) | Mega Evolution | 380 | 240 | 480 |
| Mega Venusaur ex (177) | Mega Evolution | 380 | 240 | 480 |
| Decidueye ex (12) | Perfect Order | 320 | 240 | 480 |
270 HP against a Grass ×2 weakness means any Grass attack printed at 135 damage or more is enough. 134 cards in the archive clear that bar.
280 HP
Arcanine ex [32]
280 HP
Arcanine ex [224]
280 HP
Charizard VSTAR [19]
280 HP
Charizard VSTAR [18]
280 HP
Charizard VSTAR [174]
280 HP
Charizard VSTAR [SWSH262]
1,648 cards in the archive are weak to Water and sit inside the damage this card can deal. Point at a card to see it full size.Tap a card to open its page.
What has to be in play before Blastoise & Piplup-GX 253 can be?
Blastoise & Piplup-GX evolves from an earlier stage, so the whole line has to be built before this card reaches the field.
- It is not the end of the line either — Prinplup evolves from this card, so a deck can keep going past it.
- The line runs 2 stages, so the first card has to be in play 1 turn before this one can be.
- Every print in the line shares Pokédex number 009.
Every print of a stage is counted, not just the one shown in the chain above, so the bar is the ceiling that stage has reached rather than one card from it.
What can you use instead of Blastoise & Piplup-GX 253?
Every card below asks a deck for the same kind of slot, so the comparison is between what they print, not what they cost.
| Card | Set | HP | Top damage | Retreat |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Magikarp & Wailord-GX | Team Up | 300 | 180 | 4 |
| Blastoise & Piplup-GX | Cosmic Eclipse | 270 | 150 | 3 |
| Slowpoke & Psyduck-GX | Unified Minds | 250 | 40 | 2 |
| Slowpoke & Psyduck-GX | Unified Minds | 250 | 40 | 2 |
| Slowpoke & Psyduck-GX | Unified Minds | 250 | 40 | 2 |
| Slowpoke & Psyduck-GX | Unified Minds | 250 | 40 | 2 |
This card itself is 270 HP, 150 top damage and 3 retreat, and every card here is Water like it.
Back to summaryWhich other cards share the Pokémon behind Blastoise & Piplup-GX 253?
Every card below carries the same Pokédex number as this one, so they are the same Pokémon printed as different cards — different stages, different mechanics and different names all sit in this group.
100
Blastoise [2]
100
Blastoise [4]
140
Blastoise [137]
270
Blastoise & Piplup-GX [215]
70
Dark Blastoise [3]
110
Blastoise δ [2]
120
Blastoise [1]
100
Blastoise [36]
100
Blastoise [37]
180
Blastoise-EX [142]
100
Blastoise [2]
70
Dark Blastoise [4]
330
Blastoise ex [200]
240
Blastoise-GX [218]
120
Blastoise [2]
270
Blastoise & Piplup-GX [214]
270
Blastoise & Piplup-GX [38]
70
Dark Blastoise [20]
220
M Blastoise-EX [102]
130
Blastoise [2]
140
Blastoise [31]
220
M Blastoise-EX [30]
220
M Blastoise-EX [18]
160
Blastoise [25]
140
Blastoise [16]
220
M Blastoise-EX [22]
330
Blastoise ex [184]
240
Blastoise-GX [35]
180
Blastoise-EX [17]
150
Radiant Blastoise [18]
180
Blastoise-EX [XY30]
180
Blastoise-EX [29]
220
Blastoise V [SWSH101]
180
Blastoise-EX [21]
330
Blastoise ex [30]
170
Blastoise [17]
37 cards in the archive share this Pokédex number (#009). The badge on each card is its printed HP, the figure under the name is its hardest printed attack, and the name sits under the picture. Point at a card to see it full size.Tap a card to open its page.
What was printed next to Blastoise & Piplup-GX 253 in Cosmic Eclipse?
A card is met inside a set, not on its own, and the number on it is the order that set gave it. The cards either side are the ones a collector actually turns past to reach this one.
170
Steelix [247]
150
Stoutland [248]
270
Venusaur & Snivy-GX [249]
240
Vileplume-GX [250]
270
Charizard & Braixen-GX [251]
210
Volcarona-GX [252]
270
Solgaleo & Lunala-GX [254]
170
Oricorio-GX [255]
240
Flygon-GX [256]
200
Alolan Persian-GX [257]
280
Arceus & Dialga & Palkia-GX [258]
270
Reshiram & Zekrom-GX [259]
These are the cards numbered either side of #253 in Cosmic Eclipse. The badge on each card is its printed HP. Point at a card to see it full size.Tap a card to open its page.
Which rules apply to Blastoise & Piplup-GX 253, and where can it be played?
Two kinds of rule meet on one card — the sentence printed on the card face, and the rulebook clauses that apply because of what the card carries.
The rule printed on this card
“TAG TEAM rule: When your TAG TEAM is Knocked Out, your opponent takes 3 Prize cards.”
Prize cards your opponent takes when it is knocked out
Every knockout carries the opponent 3 steps closer to winning, and that is the cost of putting this card on the field whatever it cost to buy.
| Clause | What the rulebook says | Cards it applies to | Share of the archive |
|---|---|---|---|
| Weakness | Some Pokemon have Weakness or Resistance to Pokemon of certain types, marked in the lower-left corner of the card. | 16,744 cards | 81.9% |
| Retreat | Retreat your Active Pokemon (only once per turn). | 17,244 cards | 84.3% |
| Energy per turn | You can attach Energy just once each turn! | 17,180 cards | 84.0% |
Counted across 20,444 English cards. A clause applies to this card because the card carries the property the clause names, not because we judged it to.
| Format | Status | What that means |
|---|---|---|
| Standard | Not listed | This card is not listed for this format |
| Expanded | Legal | Can be played in this format |
| Unlimited | Legal | Can be played in this format |
Read from the format list recorded with the card. Formats rotate on a schedule set by the organiser, and that schedule is not published on this page.
Where this card can be played
This card is legal in Unlimited and Expanded play. It was released on November 1, 2019.
Blastoise & Piplup-GX 253 in depth — what these figures add up to
Three readings of the same card, side by side: what it costs to get going, where it sits among the cards it will be compared with, and what takes it off the field.
What it asks a deck for
- Its hardest attack, Splash Maker, needs 3 Energy attached. Energy attaches once a turn, so that attack waits 3 turns from an empty card.
- That works out at 50 damage for every Energy card attached.
- Moving it out of the active spot costs 3 more Energy, discarded from the card itself.
Where its HP stands, cut four ways
What actually removes it
- A Grass attack printed at 135 damage removes it in a single turn — that is the bar, not its 270 HP.
- 134 cards in the archive clear that bar.
- Going the other way, it removes 1,648 cards in one attack.
Blastoise & Piplup-GX 253 card record
| Hit points | 270 HP | Type | Water |
|---|---|---|---|
| Weakness | Grass ×2 | Retreat cost | 3 Energy |
| Card type | Basic TAG TEAM GX | Pokédex number | #009 |
| Set | Cosmic Eclipse | Card number | 253 of 236 |
| Series | Sun & Moon | Released | November 1, 2019 |
| Rarity | Rare Rainbow | Illustrator | 5ban Graphics |
| Tournament legality | Unlimited and Expanded only | ||
| Printed rule | TAG TEAM rule: When your TAG TEAM is Knocked Out, your opponent takes 3 Prize cards. | ||
Read from the printed card face, the set listing and the official format list.
What does Blastoise & Piplup-GX 253 cost?
This page is about what the card does. The figure below is the one number worth carrying across, read on August 14, 2026.
Blastoise & Piplup-GX 253 — frequently asked questions
How much damage does it take to knock out Blastoise & Piplup-GX 253?
What is the strongest attack on Blastoise & Piplup-GX 253?
What is the retreat cost of Blastoise & Piplup-GX 253?
What does the + after the damage on Bubble Launcher-GX mean?
Can Blastoise & Piplup-GX 253 be played in a tournament?
What does the rule on Blastoise & Piplup-GX 253 mean?
Does this page say how good Blastoise & Piplup-GX 253 is in a deck?
Where these card facts come from
Card facts are read once from openly published card files and do not change between readings — a printed card cannot gain HP. The places below are where the same information can be checked. Last updated: July 28, 2026 — the counts and rankings on this page were taken from the card files read on that day.
Primary official source
First-party official sources — the body that issues the data itself, such as a government agency, a statutory register or a rights holder publishing its own records.
Industry source
Second-party sources — marketplaces, trade associations, research institutes and companies that compile data about the market.