Charizard ex (TCG)

Charizard ex is a Pokémon Trading Card Game that was mainly played in the 2023-24 and 2024-25 seasons of the . The deck's strategy revolves around and its ability to quickly distribute Energy thanks to its Infernal Reign Ability, allowing it to deal large amounts of damage early in the game. Charizard ex was a strong archetype upon release, finishing first in the 2023 San Antonio Regionals and 2024 European International Championships, and being the most used deck archetype in Day 2 of the 2023 Peoria and San Antonio regionals. As of May 1, 2024, Charizard ex is the most used deck archetype in the 2024-25 Standard format.
==Strategy==
Charizard ex decks focus on punishing decks that take multiple turns to set up, hoping to overwhelm teams with powerful attacks as early as turn two. This deck's goal is to set up a Charizard ex as quickly as possible, using its Infernal Reign Ability upon evolution to be able to attach the Energy needed so it can deal 180 damage as early as the second turn. In order to get Charizard ex evolved as early as turn 2, Item cards like and are used to get Charmander on the bench, and can be used to grab either a or in order to evolve. Supporting Charizard ex is Pidgeot ex, whose Quick Search Ability allows for the player to place one card from their deck into their hand, further improving consistency. Other supporting Pokémon such as , , and help increase the likelihood of the deck drawing the cards it needs to evolve Charizard ex.
To further prevent the opponent from being able to set up their deck, cards such as and can bring the opponent's key Pokémon in the Active Spot to disrupt their set-up, and disruption cards like can disrupt the opponent's hand. These disruption cards, combined with the threat of Charizard ex's powerful attack, places significant pressure on the opponent in the early game.
In the mid and late game, Pidgeot ex is a powerful due to its Quick Search Ability, helping prevent the deck from bricking while helping set up other Charizard ex on the Bench. As Charizard ex's Burning Darkness attack does increased damage the less Prize cards the opponent has remaining, Charizard ex remains a very threatening force in the mid to late game, dealing enough to OHKO many Pokémon V.
==Key cards==
===2024-25 Standard format===
* - The deck's primary attacker, Charizard ex's Burning Darkness attack deals 180 damage for only Energy, and deals 30 more damage for each Prize card the opponent has taken, making Charizard ex's attack even more powerful later on in the game. Additionally, its Infernal Reign Ability allows for three Energies to be attached to any Pokémon, helping accelerate Energy development. Charizard ex's type also grants it favorable matchups against and , both of which are weak to it.
* - Quick Search allows the player to search their deck for one card every turn and place it in their hand, greatly improving consistency by guaranteeing that the player can get a card of their choice every turn. Pidgey (Obsidian Flames 162) was used initially as the Basic Pokémon for it, later to be superseded by Pidgey (151 16) for the setup acceleration it provides.
* - It has the Instant Charge Ability, which lets the player draw 3 cards, adding more resources that the player can work with on later turns. While the Instant Charge Ability immediately ends the player's turn, this is not an issue in the first turn, as the player wouldn't be able to attack anyway. Both Rotom V and Lumineon V can also use , which lets the player use its VSTAR Power to search any card they want.
* - When placed from the player's hand onto the Bench, Lumineon V's Luminous Sign allows the user to search their deck for a Supporter card, helping to further add consistency.
* - Manaphy's Wave Veil Ability protects the Bench from the opponent's attacks, protecting frail Pokémon like Charmander and Pidgey.
* - Similar to Manaphy, Jirachi's Stellar Veil Ability protects the Bench from damage counters being placed as the result of a Basic Pokémon's attack, notably improving the deck against from the powerful archetype.
* - Charmeleon from the expansion has the Flare Veil Ability, which protects it from all effects of attacks, including ones that place damage counters such as the aforementioned Sableye in Lost Box archetypes.
* - Places two Basic Pokémon with 70 HP or less onto the Bench on the first turn, useful for guaranteeing a Charmander and Pidgey on the Bench to Rare Candy later. This card replaces , which had rotated out of the Standard format as of the 2024-25 season.
* - This card is able to evolve Charmander or Pidgey directly into Charizard ex or Pidgeot ex, respectively, as early as turn 2, which greatly speeds up deck development.
* - Helps guarantee that Charizard ex or Pidgeot ex will be in the hand in order to play Rare Candy, as well as grabbing Lumineon V and other support Pokémon into the hand.
* - Allows the player to recycle Pokémon and Energy cards from their discard pile back into their deck.
* - Searches the deck for an Item card and a Pokémon Tool card, which is very useful in grabbing a Rare Candy along with a Pokémon Tool.
* - This card forces both players to discard Pokémon from their Bench until they both have 4 remaining. It can be used to remove the player's own Benched Rotom V or Lumineon V from play in the late game, to prevent the opponent from taking an easy Knock Out on either of them.
===2023-24 Standard format===
* - Mew's Mysterious Tail Ability allows the player to search for an Item card in the top 6 cards of the deck, which is useful for getting cards such as Rare Candy and Ultra Ball into the hand faster.
* - Places two Basic Pokémon onto the Bench on the first turn, useful for guaranteeing a Charmander and Pidgey on the Bench to Rare Candy later, as well as getting useful support Pokémon like Rotom V, Manaphy, and Jirachi.
==Typical decklist==
===Azul Garcia Griego's 1st place decklist (San Antonio Regionals, 2023)===
===Tord Reklev's 1st place decklist (European International Championships, London, 2024)===
==Possible tech cards==
The following cards can be used in Charizard ex decks in place of certain cards included in the above list.
* - A powerful late-game card that can OHKO many Pokémon V as a single-Prize card attacker with Combustion Blast.
* - A useful way to gain consistency against hand disruption cards such as and .
* - Can draw one extra card with its Fleet-Footed Ability and can deal up to 220 damage with its Burning Rondo attack.
* - Can deal 120 damage to a benched Pokémon with its Mystical Fire attack.
* - On the first turn of the game going second, this card serves a similar purpose to Rotom V, drawing more cards with its Grasping Draw attack so that the player has more resources to work with on the next turn. Notably, unlike Rotom V, this card has a Retreat Cost of 0, and only gives up 1 Prize card when Knocked Out.
* - Counter to decks
* - Useful for placing Pokémon V and Basic Pokémon directly onto the bench.
* / - Common switching cards that can help counter the effects of disruption cards such as and . Note that Escape Rope is not legal in the Standard format as of the 2024-25 season.
* - Can be used to return a damaged Pokémon ex to the hand without losing Prize cards, and if used on Charizard ex can allow for another use of Infernal Reign.
* - Useful for increasing Charizard ex's damage by 30 when behind in Prize cards.
* - Can be used to accelerate the evolutions of Charmander, Pidgey, and Bidoof in the early game.
* :
** 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, allowing Charizard ex to take easy 2-Prize Knock Outs and kickstart the Prize race.
** adds an additional 50 damage to Charizard ex's Burning Darkness attack, allowing it to do 230 damage in the early game. This Knocks Out most Basic Pokémon ex, such as , , and .
** adds 100 HP to Charizard ex when attached, giving it a massive maximum HP of 430. This can be used with cards like to further deny the opponent any Knock Outs.
Category:Deck archetypes