Gholdengo Joltik Box, sometimes known as simply Gholdengo Joltik (Japanese: サーフゴーバチュルSurfugo Bachuru or バチュルサーフゴーBachuru Surfugo), is a Pokémon Trading Card Gamedeck archetype that was mainly played in the 2025-26 season of the Standard format. The archetype is a combination of the Joltik Box and Gholdengo ex archetypes, utilizing the fast-paced setup of the former with the draw power and infinite damage potential of the latter.
Gholdengo Joltik Box earned a dark-horse first place victory at the TCG Seniors Division of the 2025 Pokémon World Championships, played by Fuguan Liao from China. The archetype has since boomed in popularity.
Gholdengo Joltik Box aims to combine the strengths of the Gholdengo ex and Joltik Box archetypes. The former archetype is known for its powerful "Coin Bonus" draw Ability and "Make It Rain" attack, while the latter archetype has the burst Energy acceleration with the "Jolting Charge" attack and can positively uptrade into evolving low-HP Basic Pokémon by using Iron Hands ex's "Amp You Very Much" attack. When these two archetypes are combined, they also cover each other's weak points: Gholdengo ex can often be hampered by single-Prize decks that do not have a clean 2-2-2 Prize map, while Joltik Box decks often struggle to maintain its strategy in the late game due to the archetype's general lack of a draw engine.
The Gholdengo Joltik Box archetype has the same early game plan as regular Joltik Box: using Joltik's "Jolting Charge" on the player's first turn to power up attackers such as Iron Hands ex and chase down specific evolving Basic Pokémon, taking an early Prize card lead. At the same time, the player sets up their Gholdengo ex on the board during the early- and mid-game as a draw engine. In the late game, Gholdengo ex can swoop in to take the final Knock Outs on the opponent's Pokémon ex with its "Make It Rain" attack.
Joltik - Joltik's "Jolting Charge" attack lets the player search their deck for up to 4 Basic Energy cards — 2 (Grass) and 2 (Lightning) — and attach them to their Pokémon in any way they like. This attack is key in powering up various attackers listed below:
Iron Hands ex - Iron Hands ex has the "Amp You Very Much" attack, which deals 120 damage and has the player take 1 additional Prize card if the attack Knocks Out the opponent's Pokémon. This allows the player to target their opponent's low-HP Basic Pokémon and take Knock Outs on them, while still taking 2 Prize cards as if they Knocked Out a Pokémon ex. If a Pokémon ex has a Lightning-type Weakness, using "Amp You Very Much" on it allows the player to take 3 Prize cards, halfway to winning the game. In a pinch, Iron Hands ex can also use its "Arm Press" attack for 160 damage.
Pikachu ex - Its "Topaz Bolt" attack does 300 damage (at the cost of discarding 3 Energy from it), which can one-shot various Basic and Stage 1 Pokémon ex. It also has the "Resolute Heart" Ability, which prevents it from being Knocked Out by damage if its HP is full.
Gholdengo ex - The deck's draw engine and other main attacker, Gholdengo ex's "Coin Bonus" Ability lets the player draw a card, or 2 cards if the Gholdengo ex is in the Active Spot, allowing the player to gather enough cards to make full use of their deck. Its "Make It Rain" attack costs 1 (Metal) Energy and deals 50 damage for each Basic Energy card the player discards from their hand. By amassing as many Basic Energy cards in the hand, the player may do any number of damage and Knock Out any opposing Pokémon.
Gimmighoul - While there are multiple Gimmighoul cards that the player can choose from, Gimmighoul from Surging Sparks is the most popular choice due to its "Minor Errand-Running" attack, which allows the player to search their deck for 2 Basic Energy cards. This helps to thin the player's deck and ensures they have the bare minimum of Energy cards needed to launch Gholdengo ex's attack next turn, especially if they are unable to use "Jolting Charge" on their first turn.
Miraidon ex - Its "Tandem Unit" Ability allows the player to put up to 2 Lightning-type Pokémon from their deck directly onto their Bench. This lets the player set up Joltik and a Lightning-type attacker to power up. This card's utility is less prominent in Gholdengo Joltik Box decks compared to regular Joltik Box.
Genesect ex - Its "Metallic Signal" Ability lets the player search for up to 2 Metal-type Evolution Pokémon cards from their deck, which includes Gholdengo ex itself.
Latias ex - Its "Skyliner" Ability nullifies the Retreat Cost of all the player's Basic Pokémon in play, providing the Gholdengo Joltik Box archetype with great mobility.
Buddy-Buddy Poffin - Places two Basic Pokémon with 70 HP or less onto the Bench, which is useful on the first turn to set up Gimmighoul or Joltik on the player's board.
Nest Ball - Useful for searching and benching Basic Pokémon that cannot be searched with Buddy-Buddy Poffin, such as Iron Hands ex.
Superior Energy Retrieval - This card lets the player retrieve up to 4 Basic Energy cards from their discard pile, but only if the player discards 2 other cards from their hand first. Since Gholdengo ex attacks by discarding Basic Energy, Superior Energy Retrieval card is crucial as a way to constantly return the Energy to the player's hand.
Levincia - Allows the player to recover up to 2 Basic (Lightning) Energy cards from their discard pile, essentially functioning as another Energy Retrieval.
Earthen Vessel - At the cost of discarding another card from the player's hand, this card searches up to 2 Basic Energy cards from the deck. This card is useful to guarantee that the player pulls off the "Jolting Charge" attack as early as their first turn.
Air Balloon - This card reduces the Retreat Cost of the Pokémon it is attached to by 2. When attached to Gholdengo ex, whose Retreat Cost is 2, it allows the Gholdengo ex to retreat freely, which is crucial since Latias ex's "Skyliner" Ability does not work on it.
Bravery Charm - Adds +50 to the maximum HP of the Basic Pokémon it is attached to. Useful to buff the HP of the Basic Pokémon in the archetype such as Joltik or Iron Hands ex.
Prime Catcher - The ACE SPEC card of choice for most Gholdengo Joltik Box decks, this card allows the player to switch an opponent's Benched Pokémon to the Active Spot, as well as switching their own Active Pokémon with 1 of their Benched Pokémon. This lets the player target specific Pokémon on the opponent's Bench in order to Knock Out certain important Basic Pokémon or to preserve a 2-2-2 Prize card map.
Brock's Scouting - Allows the player to search their deck for up to 2 Basic Pokémon or 1 Evolution Pokémon, and put them into their hand. This is very useful to guarantee a turn 1 "Jolting Charge" on Iron Hands ex, even more so than Miraidon ex's "Tandem Unit" as it doesn't take up additional space on the player's Bench.
Arven - Searches the deck for an Item card and a Pokémon Tool card, such as an Earthen Vessel and an Air Balloon.
Boss's Orders - Switches in 1 of the opponent's Benched Pokémon into the Active Spot. Typically used to chase down and Knock Out a 2-Prize Pokémon ex.
Professor Turo's Scenario - Can be used to return a damaged or low-HP Pokémon ex to the hand without losing Prize cards, allowing the player to remove liabilities such as Genesect ex or Fezandipiti ex. Also useful to "retreat" an active Iron Hands ex if Latias ex is not in play.
Team Rocket's Petrel - Allows the player to search their deck for any Trainer card and put them into their hand. Unlike Arven, this card can also be used to search for Stadium cards such as Levincia.
Pokégear 3.0 - Allows the player to look at the top 7 cards of their deck and add a Supporter card they find there into their hand. This card can be used to guarantee an Arven, Brock's Scouting, or Boss's Orders in their hand.
The following cards can be used in Gholdengo Joltik Box decks in place of certain cards included in the above lists.
Galvantula - A single-prize Grass-type attacker that is useful to target Pokémon ex with a Grass-type Weakness. When the conditions for both its "Compound Eyes" Ability and "Shocking Web" attack are satisfied, this card can deal upwards of 180 damage, or 360 damage when multiplied for Weakness.
Crispin - Allows the player to search their deck for up to 2 Basic Energy cards of different types, put 1 of them into their hand, and attach the other one onto their Pokémon. In a pinch, this card can be used to accelerate Energy cards onto attackers such as Gholdengo ex or Pikachu ex.
Tool Scrapper - Allows the player to remove up to 2 Pokémon Tool cards from their or their opponent's Pokémon. This card is primarily used to remove Pokémon Tools from an opponent's Genesect as mentioned above.
Night Stretcher - This card lets the player put a Pokémon or Basic Energy card from their discard pile into their hand. Useful to recover cards such as Gholdengo ex or a Basic Energy card to boost the "Make It Rain" damage output.
Penny - An alternative to Professor Turo's Scenario, this card allows the player to put 1 of their Basic Pokémon and all attached cards into their hand. Although this card doesn't work on the Stage 1 Gholdengo ex, it crucially doesn't force the player to discard all non-Pokémon cards (such as Energy) attached to the Pokémon that is put into the hand.
Precious Trolley - An alternative ACE SPEC card to Prime Catcher, this card allows the player to put as many Basic Pokémon from their deck onto their Bench, allowing them to set up all the Basic Pokémon they need such as Joltik, Gimmighoul, Iron Hands ex, Pikachu ex, and Genesect ex.
(Grass) and 2 
(Lightning) — and attach them to their Pokémon in any way they like. This attack is key in powering up various attackers listed below:
(Metal) Energy and deals 50 damage for each Basic Energy card the player discards from their hand. By amassing as many Basic Energy cards in the hand, the player may do any number of damage and Knock Out any opposing Pokémon.
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