The Infernal Reign of Charizard ex
Hello everyone! While Charizard ex recently gained a big boost in power by including the Dusknoir line from Shrouded Fable, it has still been struggling to make a big impact in the metagame thanks to the presence of Regidrago VSTAR. Even with the poor Regidrago VSTAR matchup, I have enjoyed playing Charizard ex in this format and have taken it to several League Cups where I have only lost to Regidrago VSTAR players. When playing these tournaments, I based my list initially off the one that Tord Reklev played at the World Championships — I included Technical Machine: Evolution, Thorton and the Bibarel line.
I really like the inclusion of the Bibarel line in Charizard ex decks right now, even though it is currently very uncommon to include it. Being able to utilize single-Prize Pokemon is very important for this deck, so having a way to draw cards that happens to also be a single-Prize Pokemon allows you to remove your Pidgeot ex from play, not give up the two Prize cards, and still retain some draw power for if you get hit with an Iono. I did play Technical Machine: Evolution at my first few League Cups, but later removed it in favor of the Rotom V engine. Technical Machine: Evolution was nice, however it was hard to pull off as you had no way of searching out your Energy to fulfill the Tool’s attack cost. Additionally, you would need to open a very specific combination of cards to use Technical Machine: Evolution, as you often needed Arven and an Energy, as well as having something for a future turn so that you didn’t need to use Cleffa‘s Grasping Draw. The Rotom V engine also gives you a reason to play Nest Ball, making it easier to find Fezandipiti ex and Radiant Charizard. However, I still like including Bibarel even when you have the Nest Ball and Rotom V engine, as it is still very strong even without Technical Machine: Evolution making it easier to get into play.
One of the most interesting cards that Tord Reklev decided to include in his deck for the World Championships is Thorton. This Supporter card gives you so much freedom with your board, as you don’t need to have Charmander or Pidgey in play in order to evolve into their Stage 2 that turn. It also lets you significantly cut down on your Charizard ex line, before including Thorton you had to play a very thick Charizard ex line, but with Thorton you can cut down on your Charmander as you don’t need two in play at all times. Thorton also acts as a way to control your board, as you can turn your Rotom V, Lumineon V or Fezandipiti ex into a Radiant Charizard.
This concludes the public portion of this article.
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