Standard Fire Energy Recycling (Pyroar / Charizard EX / Delphox EX)

[FoxFire]

Pokémon:

• 2 Entei - Ancient Origins 15
• 2 Charizard EX - XY29 Promo
• 2 Delphox EX - XY19 Promo
• 3 Litleo - Flashfire 19
• 3 Pyroar - Flashfire 20
• 2 Houndoom - Breakthrough 21

Trainers/Supporters/Stadiums:

• 2 VS Seeker
• 4 Ultra Ball
• 4 Professor's Letter
• 2 Tierno
• 2 Professor Sycamore
• 2 Pokemon Center Lady
• 2 Pokemon Fan Club
• 2 Lysandre
• 2 Skyla
• 4 Blacksmith
• 2 Scorched Earth

Energy:

• 4 Burning Energy
• 4 Double Colorless Energy
• 10 Fire Energy

Strategy:

Pretty basic concept - throw Fire Energy into the discard pile while getting some effect from it via Ultra Ball or Scorched Earth, use Blacksmith to attach it to Fire 'Mon with expensive attacks to hit hard quickly. Pyroar deals with Regice and that stupid Resistance Blizzard attack, as well as stalling against enemy EXs. Most of the rest of the Trainers are basic utility (draw, healing, searching). I have, on occasion, managed to fully energize a Delphox, Charizard, or Entei on the second turn.

The first run with the deck, I tried using Battle Compressors, but the deck seemed very inconsistent. This version is better, but still sometimes seems to stall out, getting off to a really fast start and getting me down to 1 or 2 prizes before running out of steam. I also, for obvious reasons, have problems with cards like Lugia EX, Yveltal EX, and Mega Mewtwo Y where the more energy is out there, the harder they hit; they can usually one-punch my heavy hitters, and Mega Mewtwo Y can still hit Pyroar.

I'd like to add some Energy/Tool removal to the deck, but I've no idea what to cut, and if there's a good way to deal with the Lugia/Yveltal/Mega Mewtwo Y weakness. Any suggestions appreciated, thanks in advance. Oh, if it matters, this is for the Online game.

 

[neophenx]

First off, the deck lacks focus and uses a lot of lackluster cards that you have better options for. Second, the deck has way too much energy. A strong energy core in the current game seems to run eight to twelve energy depending on what the deck needs. I ran a pretty successful Charizard EX (FlF Combustion Blast)/Entei (AOr 14 Combat Blaze) for a couple months in store tournaments, making top for almost every week. The deck ran 3 Charizard, 4 Entei and 2 Shaymin. And yes, the Shaymin was NEEDED for the deck. What would have been draw supporters needed to be taken out for Blacksmith, of which I ran 3 instead of a full 4 line. And yes, Battle Compressor was needed to make the deck consistent. A turn-one Combustion Blast was almost vital to gaining an early lead, and with 8-Fire/4DCE I pulled it off enough. Entei helped set up two-hit-KO's and made favorable prize trades with non-EX decks, along with a couple Target Whistle cards to keep its power up when the opponent wasn't willing to help.
Your draw line is weak, with only two Sycamore and two Tierno. You're better off with four Sycamore.
Fan Club is nearly moot since you're going to draw and Ultra Ball Pokemon enough with Sycamore and Shaymin.
A personal preference, but I take Trainers' Mail over Skyla for the item factor.
Three to Four VS Seeker is standard in almost any deck. Plus, Battle Compressor can search Supporters when you have a turn-1 VS Seeker in hand.
Professor's letter is nice, but you're more often attaching DCE from hand, so a 1-of is enough, with one Energy Retrieval to grab a couple extra when needed late game.
Pyroar can be a nice tech, and it might be different in your area but a lot of people aren't phased by Intimidating Mane anymore. Between megas and Hex Maniac, it pretty much gets run over in the long run.
With a bit more focus, and less Pokemon/energy, you should have room to get a little more techy (My Charizard/Entei only had 9 Pokemon and 12 energy, LOTS of room for control). A one-of Enhanced Hammer and Team Flare Grunt were nice to have on hand, and at the time I played it there was a local player who used a full-fledged Pyroar deck that caused me to run two Hex Maniac. Once he switched decks, I cut to one.
And finally, where's your Muscle Band? The extra 20 from Muscle Band gives Charizard a one-hit-KO against Lugia, Giratina, non-mega Manectric, Gengar, and stops people from dropping Head Ringer on your Zard.
Finally, the Houndoom. Houndoom is a great mega, but if you're using it to just recycle energy, you're feeding prizes to your opponent while doing insignificant damage. Fire decks generally hit hard and fast, using supporters to set up so the attacks can do their job.
The weakness to Mewtwo-Y, Lugia and Yveltal is something that's better left to Entei. Again, AOr14, not 15. Some of those players like to drop Sky Field, which is to that Entei's advantage. I once landed a one-hit KO against Tyrantrum EX with Entei. A full Skyfield bench of 8, plus Muscle Band, was 180 damage. Even in a regular game, a full bench of 5 and no muscle band = 120 damage for Entei, an OHKO to Shaymin, making every Shaymin an opponent plays a liability. And while only giving up a single prize in exchange, the game tips to your favor when you learn which attacker to focus on in which situation.

Hope it helps. I'll be rebuilding my charizard soon. Been needing to start winning the prize packs from the local store tournaments again.