Charizard ex

Intro + Notable Placings

• 4th, 5th at World Championships 2025 (1 Secret Box build)

• 8th at Regional Monterrey

Charizard ex uses the best search engine in the format, Pidgeot ex, to string together multi-card combos and take all the uncertainty out of drawing into game-winning Boss's Orders. It had always been a good deck since the card's release in OBF, probably even the best deck in the format at certain times in its lifespan. However, Budew from PRE brought it back down to earth. Item lock meant you couldn't get away with the greedy 2-0-2 Pidgeot ex line any more, and had to play slower setup cards like Jacq, Arven, and Technical Machine: Evolution. Nevertheless, Charizard ex continued to put up respectable placings, taking 2 slots in the Top 8 of Worlds 2025.

Game Plan

You'll want to play an Arven as soon as you can, searching for Buddy-Buddy Poffin + Technical Machine: Evolution/Air Balloon. Get TM: Evo if you have an Energy in hand and the required Stage 1s in your deck, and use Evolution to evolve two of your Benched Basics. If not, get Air Balloon as the Pokémon Tool instead, and Cleffa off of Buddy-Buddy Poffin. Use Air Balloon to retreat your starter into Cleffa, play Ultra Ball to search for Stage 2s (holding on to Rare Candy if you have it), then use Grasping Draw to refill your hand.

This deck has three Evolution lines, and two of them are pretty thin (there is only 1 Pidgeotto and 1 Dusclops), which can interfere with TM: Evo. Assuming nothing is Prized, you'll usually prioritize getting Pidgeot ex out first, then Charizard ex, then work on building up a second Charizard ex or Dusclops/Dusknoir after that. Pidgeot ex pays for itself with Quick Search right after you get it down, and will continue to generate value throughout the game.

The turn after you play that first Arven, you should be set up to get a Stage 2 into play. If you used TM: Evo, you'd have two Stage 1s, so you just need to find Stage 2s (with Ultra Ball, Arven for said Ultra Ball, Jacq, or Iono as the last resort) to play onto them. If you used Cleffa, your goal is to find Rare Candy (searchable with Arven) to turbo into said Stage 2s. 

Charizard ex can find the Energy for its attack with its own Ability, so you do not need to worry about conserving manual Energy attachments for it. Do check your deck before you play the second Charizard ex though; if you're low on Fire Energy, you might have to use a Super Rod to get some back into the deck.

Attackers

Charizard ex is your main attacker. Out of all the meta Stage 2s, it has the highest HP at 330, beating out Dragapult ex's 320 and Gardevoir ex's 310. Burning Darkness is quite weak early-game, but Maximum Belt or Dusclops/Dusknoir can supplement it.

Chi-Yu is your secondary attacker. It's a 1-Prizer, 1HKOs Gholdengo ex and Teal Mask Ogerpon ex, and damages walls like Cornerstone Mask Ogerpon ex or Crustle, which Charizard ex wouldn't be able to touch.

Fezandipiti ex can become a surprise attacker, as Charizard ex accelerates the same amount of Energy needed for its attack.

Pidgeot ex is not commonly used for its attack, but there are times when it makes sense. Against Festival Lead for example, attacking with Charizard ex would just result in them revenge killing you as it gets hit for Weakness, but if you attack with Pidgeot ex, it can take out their Dipplin and Festival Grounds, forcing them to find more pieces before they can swing back. Pidgeot ex survives two Brave Bangle-boosted Do the Waves.

First or Second?

This deck is comfortable going either first or second, but second is preferred since you get to use a Supporter on T1. Going first lets you play Arven → Rare Candy/Ultra Ball + Maximum Belt and have a Charizard ex hitting for 230 damage on T2. Going second lets you play Arven → Buddy-Buddy Poffin + Technical Machine: Evolution/Air Balloon T1.

ACE SPEC

Maximum Belt. This fixes Burning Darkness's low early-game damage output. If your opponent has taken 1 Prize, Belt-boosted Burning Darkness does 260 to opposing ex's, enough to KO them if they're Gholdengo ex, Raging Bolt ex, or non-attacking support Pokémon.

Secret Box is an alternative, though you cannot make as good use of the discard as Gardevoir ex.

Other Options

• Munkidori + Luminous/Darkness Energy: This counters opposing Munkidori and synergizes well with Charizard ex's high HP, tanking a hit and sending 30 damage back.

• Ethan's Pichu: A tech attacker that can KO certain Pokémon efficiently (no Energy required, and only gives up 1 Prize). On its own, it KOs Budew, Cleffa, and Joltik. With Maximum Belt, it KOs Squawkabilly ex, Wellspring Mask Ogerpon ex (with Dusclops assisting), and Cornerstone Mask Ogerpon ex (with Dusknoir assisting).

• Gouging Fire ex: Beats Cornerstone Mask Ogerpon ex. Can also be used as an early-game attacker if your opponent hasn't taken enough Prizes to put themselves into Charizard ex's KO range.

• Brock's Scouting: Lets you continue building your board if you get Item locked.

• Professor Turo's Scenario: Lets you escape retreat locks, or replay Charizard ex.

• Energy Search + 2nd Technical Machine: Evolution: This makes for a more reliable T1 Evolution. If you have Buddy-Buddy Poffin in hand but no Energy, Arven can get Energy Search + TM: Evo to complete the combo. Energy Search can also get Darkness Energy for Munkidori. Energy Search is preferred over Earthen Vessel, as you don't need to hit manual attachments beyond the first for TM: Evo when Charizard ex can accelerate Energy from the deck.

• Nest Ball: Converts the Item search from Arven into Fezandipiti ex, Chi-Yu, or Munkidori.

• Professor's Research, Pal Pad, Defiance Band, Mesagoza: 1-ofs if you use Secret Box as your ACE SPEC instead of Maximum Belt. Defiance Band replaces Maximum Belt as your damage-boosting Pokémon Tool.

Tips

• Charmander has a Stadium-discarding attack. If, for some reason, you're not attacking with Cleffa or Technical Machine: Evolution, you can use Blazing Destruction to remove Artazon and deny your opponent a Basic search or even a Fan Rotom attack.

• Charmeleon MEW can 1HKO Budew for 1 Energy with Combustion.

• Infernal Reign only triggers when Charizard ex is played from hand, so don't use Technical Machine: Evolution to evolve your Charmeleons.

• You do not have to attach 3 Energy with Infernal Reign every time. In fact, it's often correct to attach just 2 to Charizard ex itself if you don't need the 3rd for an immediate retreat or same-turn Technical Machine: Evolution from your Active. Attaching a 3rd Energy to a Pokémon that you know you're going to use for attacking down the line can help thin the deck so you're less likely to draw into a Fire Energy that you don't need, but if this leaves you with only 1 Fire Energy left in the deck, your opponent can Boss or snipe that Pokémon and force you to spend a Super Rod to get an Energy back into the deck for the next Infernal Reign.

• Sometimes you can use Infernal Reign and attach 2 Energy to Charizard ex, but attack with Technical Machine: Evolution instead of Burning Darkness. If it's not in your interests to attack with Burning Darkness into your opponent's Active Pokémon, play it slow and use TM: Evo to build up your board instead. Building a Dusclops/Dusknoir should open up better attacking opportunities anyway: Cursed Blast can chip, turn on Counter Catcher, and boost Burning Darkness by 30.

• Dusclops/Dusknoir can be used to feed your opponent a Prize if they're at 3, putting them at 2 so you can use Briar. If they're already at 2, you can play Briar first, then pop Dusclops/Dusknoir; putting them down to 1 Prize will not remove Briar's effect.

Dusknoir + Briar can win you the game when you're behind 4 Prizes to your opponent's 2. Play Briar, pop Dusknoir to KO a 1-Prizer (going down to 3-1), then KO a 2-Prizer with Charizard ex to take your last 3 Prizes.

• If you have the option of using either Boss or (Arven for) Counter Catcher, you'll want to go with Counter Catcher if you would be even or ahead on Prizes after attacking. If you're very far behind in Prizes and your only route to victory is Counter Catcher + Briar next turn, use Boss this turn and save Counter Catcher for next turn.

• Against decks with Mew ex (or Team Rocket's Mimikyu), be careful of going down to 1 Prize against them. If you do, a copied Burning Darkness will 1HKO Charizard ex. If they have Munkidori, they can KO Charizard with copy attacks when you're at 2 Prizes, using Adrena-Brain for 30 damage before attacking.