CHARIZARD EX FOR WORLDS FORMAT

 

Hi, everyone! It’s great to be back with another article for you. In this article, I will be detailing the most hyped deck for the tournament: Charizard ex/Dusknoir! This deck gained a very key tool from Shrouded Fable, and it’s sure make Charizard a top contender once again! Without further ado, let’s take a look at the list!

 

3 Charmander MEW 004

1 Charmander SVP 047

1 Charmeleon PAF 008

3 Charizard ex OBF 125

2 Pidgey MEW 016

2 Pidgeot ex OBF 164

2 Duskull BRS 060

1 Dusclops SFA 019

1 Dusknoir SFA 020

1 Manaphy BRS 041

1 Rotom V LOR 058

1 Lumineon V BRS 040

1 Radiant Charizard PGO 011

1 Fezandipiti ex SFA (N/A)

4 Arven

2 Iono

2 Boss’s Orders

1 Professor Turo’s Scenario

4 Buddy-Buddy Poffin

4 Ultra Ball

4 Rare Candy

2 Counter Catcher

2 Nest Ball

2 Super Rod

1 Lost Vacuum

1 Pal Pad

1 Unfair Stamp ACE SPEC

1 Defiance Band

1 Forest Seal Stone

1 Collapsed Stadium

6 Fire Energy

 

Firstly, I want to say I do miss Bibarel in this deck very much. Its replacement, Fezandipiti ex, allows you to draw 3 cards once per turn if one of your Pokémon was knocked out during your opponent’s last turn. While Bibarel let you draw until you had 5, Fezandipiti’s draw is on top of what’s already in your hand, allowing you to draw more cards even if you have unburnable dead cards in hand. Due to the rampant popularity of Dragapult ex going into worlds, it’s hard to try to justify putting it back in the deck, especially because it’s an easy target for two Phantom Dives. Even though Fezenditiy is a two prizer, it’s harder to knock out in this current meta full of bench-snipers, so it’s a more consistent draw support and easier to get into play than Bibarel. The other upshots of Fezandipiti ex are that its attack costs 3 colourless Energy to use and snipes 100 damage to any of your opponent’s Pokémon, as well as having only a 1-retreat cost. This allows you to power up Fezandipiti ex with Charizard ex’s Infernal Reign Ability, attaching 3 Fire Energy from your deck when evolving it to any of your Pokémon. This opens up a wide variety of plays, including finishing off a Pokémon sitting on the Bench to end the game without needing a Boss’s Orders, or even stalling a Pokémon Active and just hitting the Bench to set up numbers.

 

 

Now let’s get to the best addition of the deck: Dusknoir! The Dusknoir and Dusclops from Shrouded Fable are sure to be some of the biggest impacts to the format. The Dusclops allows you to place 5 damage counters on one of your opponent’s Pokémon during your turn. The only drawback is that Dusclops knocks itself out when you use this Ability. Dusknoir has the exact same Ability, except you get to place 13 damage counters instead! These Abilities finally give Charizard ex decks the much-needed flexibility it’s been after. There are a few scenarios that give this combination merit:

1. Versus most VSTAR decks, they will usually take 1 Prize on one of your little guys before you can attack them. For this situation, your Charizard is currently hitting for 210 damage. With the addition of Dusclops, we get to use its Ability to put 5 damage counters on the attacking VSTAR Pokémon, forcing your opponent to take another Prize. This allows your Charizard ex to hit for 240 damage, getting the KO. At this point, your opponent will be “up” in the Prize race, as they then have the next opportunity to take a knockout, but going up against a fully loaded Charizard usually means their only response is to swing into it. Your next turn will usually result in your gusting something else Active for another 2 Prizes. (It’s important to note that using the Dusknoir line does not trigger your own Unfair Stamp, because it’s not a Pokemon being knocked out on your opponents turn!)

 

2. You can use Dusclops in the mirror match if you are forced to go first to KO a 50HP Pidgey they may be playing. A consideration for this list is whether or not to use 60HP Pidgey. My reasoning is that I’d rather be able to use Call for Family on the 50HP Pidgey so I do not immediately lose the game, which can be useful more often than just making sure my Pidgey does not get KO’d by these niche scenarios. It is really the players’ choice on this one, and both choices are pretty reasonable. To get back on track, this then allows your Charizard to KO one of their Charmanders, letting you go 2 Prizes up in the mirror match before your opponent, speeding up the game and applying a ton of pressure very early. Since your Charizard would then be able to hit for 210 damage, you can also use this opportunity to KO a Rotom V that may be on the Bench. Also in the mirror match, if your opponent’s Charizard has taken a KO before yours has had a chance to swing, you can use Dusknoir (using a Rare Candy) to put the 13 damage counters on your opponent’s Charizard, then letting your Charizard take an effective one-hit KO. You can also swing into their Charizard for 210 (because they’ve KO’d a one-prizer), and then use Dusknoir later in the match to clean it up! This is an effective strategy to “Iono-proof” yourself, meaning if your opponent plays an Iono, you will not draw less cards, reducing your odds of bricking. This will also pressure your opponent’s Pidgeot ex—they cannot effectively KO a one-prizer the following turn, as that means your response should be to use Defiance Band+ gust to KO their Pidgeot!

3. Versus Lugia VSTAR, you can use the same technique I mentioned earlier to KO Lugia VSTAR. The other technique to focus on is knocking out their Archeops. This has always been a viable strategy if they’re not applying pressure with Cinccino, however, you didn’t really have a great way to answer Cinccino until now! Dusknoir allows you to put 13 damage counters on the Cinccino, knocking it out, and then also allows you to gust an Archeops in the same turn to be able to really lock down the board. Doing this essentially means your opponent will not be able to accelerate enough Energy into play to be able to deal with your threats fast enough and you will not outpace them. Even though Dusknoir gives them a Prize, the amount you slow them down should mean they will have a much harder time answering any of your threats.

Put simply, Dusknoir is an incredibly effective tool that Charizard now uses to be able to take multiple KOs in a turn. This is what Charizard has always been lacking and being able to open this line of play means it has become one of the most hyped decks for the World Championships and is one of my serious contenders for the tournament.

The last thing I want to touch on is the contested choice: Do I play Prime Catcher or Unfair Stamp? (Hero’s Cape is not good, don’t play it. It’s not worth it—there are too many Lost Vacuums around for it to be good.) Prime Catcher is a great choice, colloquially known as probably the best ACE SPEC in the current Standard format. Being able to use Iono and gust a Pokémon to KO it and reset your opponent’s hand can leave their board in shambles, allowing you to clean up much easier. Unfair Stamp is basically the other side of the same coin, it allows you to play Boss’s Orders in tandem with it to also try to disrupt their board to a similar effect. However, the key difference is that if your opponent takes 1 Prize, their board is usually not completely built up perfectly. This allows you to play Unfair Stamp and reset them to 2 cards. Whereas, if you use Iono, they would be put to 5 cards, is much easier to rebuild from. Being able to brick them earlier in the game means there’s more fluff cards in their deck that they can dead draw. This is why I do prefer to play Unfair Stamp. I do not believe one is more correct over the other—it’s simply a matter of opinion and which way you would prefer to play the deck. If you decide to play Prime Catcher, I do believe Roxanne is required to play in the deck. Playing Roxanne is effectively your Unfair Stamp replacement. Charizard ex thrives on being able to reset your opponent’s hand to basically nothing. The caveat with this is that using Roxanne is much slower and uses your Supporter for turn.

Charizard ex has had its ups and downs in the metagame since its release. I believe this is going to be another uptime for it with the new tools at its disposal. This list is the exact one I’ve been testing for World’s and will continue to build upon it in the days coming. If you have any questions about Charizard ex or any other decks in general, I’m always open to chatting about decks, matchups, etc.! Don’t forget to inquire about coaching! Spots are limited and first come, first serve, and you can get personalized 1-on-1 sessions where we can work on skills to take your game to the next level!

 

 

 

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