Volcanion-EX Water Box Partner Ideas

[Dracul Kuro Hemming]

So, I was watching Youtube, something I do a lot trying to find new deck ideas. One of the lists I saw someone playing against was interesting. It was a basic Volcanion-EX deck, capable of essentially OHKO or THKO by using Volcanion-EX as the Attacker. However, instead of the standard Fire support, he went with Water Support, using Water Energy for Articuno as an extra attacker and free retreat via Water Energy. I was curious if anyone had a general idea of what I would put in a deck to make this. Unfortunately the guy didn't look at his list after the match so I have to go a lot off of memory if I want to give this a fun try.

 

[bbninjas]

An interesting idea here! I'm not sure if it'd be as strong as a fire box because you're not making as much use of the Ability, as well as general clunkiness if you're trying to attack with Volcanion-EX. Anyways, the attackers you put in your deck would depend on the format you're planning on using the deck in. If I was building the deck for Standard, I'd probably look into Glaceon-EX and White Kyurem FCO combos, Palkia-EX for the acceleration and Manaphy-EX for support. Regice AOR and Articuno AT also would be nice inclusions. I'd definitely look at making a defensive variant, with Fighting Fury Belt and Rough Seas.

 

[TuxedoBlack]

I have not seen nor heard of this particular deck. But given that it was a Water-based Pokémon deck, I concur with @bbninjas that the following Pokémon cards were most likely incorporated into the deck: Articuno (as mentioned, probably a secondary attacker), Manaphy EX (for free retreat), Rough Seas (counter Stadium and healing relief), and Palkia EX that can play the dual role of being the main attacker or supporting other Pokémon with energy-attachment acceleration.

However, I do not see any synergy between the "pure" Water Pokémon and Volcanion EX. Further, Volcanion EX's Ability is VERY strong and that Ability would not be leveraged to your advantage in a Water-box type deck... Water Pokémon decks can stand on their own, as well as Volcanion EX decks. Both are quite strong. Certain Water decks (e.g., P Kyogre EX and Articuno-Manaphy-Palkia) have already been "battle-tested" and are well-proven to work well; on the other hand, Volcanion EX is still being "battle-tested" now. The good news, IMO, is this Pokémon will be ranked high in the deck tiers - just returned from playing in 2 LCs and I was quite surprised how well my Volcanion EX deck performed (thanks MIMitch), even against Primal Kyogre EX.

Any other insights you could share about how Volcanion EX was so effective in that Water deck?