The Rise of Iron Thorns ex
Hello PokeBeach readers! Isaiah here, and I am happy to be writing another article for you!
Last time, I discussed one of my favourite decks that emerged from the North America International Championships (NAIC), Regidrago VSTAR, and how it went from being a relatively weak archetype for the first year and a half of its existence to possibly the best deck heading into the upcoming World Championships in Hawaii. As I briefly mentioned in my previous article, the new addition of Kyurem in Shrouded Fable may be enough to propel the deck to the top of the format.
However, Regidrago VSTAR is not the only card that had an impressive and unexpected performance at NAIC. Iron Thorns ex also blew away my expectations. Following the success of Lugia VSTAR at the Japan National Championships the weekend before NAIC, I expected to see Iron Thorns ex pop up a bit more as a possible tech card in a variety of decks. My expectation for this idea went up significantly when Andrew Hedrick told me he was going to be playing an Iron Thorns ex in his deck list the night before we flew to the tournament. Of course, Andrew would go on to win the tournament, and Iron Thorns ex would claim its first International title at the first one it was ever Standard format legal for.
I think Iron Thorns ex was never expected to see much significant success when it was announced, but it has instead turned into one of the most powerful cards in the game. In this article, I want to examine why this is the case, as well as two decks that are able to take greater advantage of the card than Andrew’s Turbo Lost Zone deck was able to.
What Lead To Iron Thorns ex Being So Good?
When Iron Thorns ex was revealed, I distinctly remember the community being very split about the strength of this card. A lot of people thought the card was going to be unfair and broken, possibly warping the meta around itself. I think some people may have even claimed it would be the best card in Twilight Masquerade, but I guess those people may not have seen Legacy Energy, Bloodmoon Ursaluna ex, or Teal Mask Ogerpon ex yet. The other side of the community felt that the card was fairly underpowered, citing that the card might have a place in a quad Iron Thorns ex deck (more on that later!) and maybe as a Lugia VSTAR tech at best.
It was the latter group that was initially more correct, seeing that the card’s low damage output made it underwhelming as an attacker, and moving it out of the Active Spot with its Retreat Cost of four could be a nightmare without playing Future Booster Energy Capsule. As we approached the inevitable release of Twilight Masquerade, it seemed almost everyone had forgotten that Iron Thorns ex even existed. I remember mentioning the card to a friend of mine while we were testing for NAIC, and they said that they did not even know that it was a real card. The card had faded off into obscurity almost entirely, but little did we know, a powerhouse was lurking in the shadows, just waiting for the right moment. Its moment finally arrived at the biggest North American event of all time.
This concludes the public portion of this article.
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