There can’t be a Pokémon Trading Card Game without a viable Charizard deck, and luckily for those of you playing Pokémon TCG Pocket, a Charizard ex deck that’s pretty strong is available.
Granted, even though it’s popular, it doesn’t make it one of the greatest decks. That honor is still reserved for Starmie ex and a few others. Still, Charizard ex is a great deck to run if you enjoy the deck or want to play something different.
The best Charizard ex Pokémon TCG Pocket decklist
With Charizard ex, you mainly want to lead with Moltres ex to play setup. You aren’t going to be able to win in the early game, as you mainly want to set up for late to mid-game fights instead. With Moltres, you mainly want to use its first move, Inferno Dance, to stack Fire Energy on your Charizard ex-line cards in the backline.
By doing so, you can set up enough Fire Energy early so that when you can evolve your Charmander into Charizard, it has enough Energy to fire off Crimson Storm attacks without worrying about getting your Energy count back up. At 200 damage, Crimson Storm is the strongest move in the game currently and kills off everything you can come against.
That’s why setting up as many Fire Energy cards as possible is essential, as the move uses two Fire Energy cards each time. The more Energy you can set up early, the quicker you can destroy your opponent’s Pokémon.
Explaining the picks
Most of the Trainer and Item cards don’t need much explanation. Poké Ball and Professor’s Research are vital to finding the cards you need, while Sabrina can screw up your opponent’s early game setup while you are trying to find the cards you need. It almost acts like a stall deck, biding your time and hoping you can draw the cards you need for that late-game victory.
X Speed is a great way to get the Moltres out of there to bring the Charizard ex in once you have all the Energy you need, and Red Card acts as a way to get rid of your opponent’s hand potential to keep stalling them further down the line.
Some decks have also been bringing in other Fire-type cards like Rapidash or Arcanine to offer something early on as alternative playstyles, but it’s really down to you what you want to do with the deck and how you want to play it.
The major flaws and weaknesses of Charizard ex
You are pretty limited in what you can do with the deck. If you can’t get Moltres ex out to set up your backline first or draw into the cards you need to evolve your Charmander, you’re a sitting duck. The deck is also RNG reliant as you’re praying for good coin flips with Moltres ex’s move to get the Fire Energy you need.
There is no way to search for your Charizard either with the cards currently in-game, and like with other Stage 2 decks like Venasaur, it comes down to how lucky you are and praying your opponent doesn’t Red Card you when you have a good hand.
You won’t be able to hold off the early game against stronger decks like Pikachu ex and Starmie ex, especially as your deck is weak in both of these types. We recommend playing Charizard ex more for fun than competitive play.
