Charizard ex is still a heavy hitter in Pokémon TCG Pocket

If you are feeling overwhelmed by all the decks and cards in Pokémon TCG Pocket, a Charizard ex deck could be a great place to start.

The developers of Pokémon TCG Pocket released Charizard ex as part of Genetic Apex booster packs when the game launched in the fall of last year. Since then, we’ve gotten several expansions that have introduced strong cards like Arceus ex, Dakrai ex, and Sudowoodo (if you can believe that).

Charizard ex isn’t the most “meta” deck, meaning it’s not the strongest option out there, but it’s a solid set if for those looking for a starting point. The rest of this article will explain how to use a Charizard ex deck and how to build one.

How to use Charizard ex deck in Pokémon TCG Pocket

Charizard ex is a fire-type stage 2 Pokémon that has 180 HP and a retreat cost of two energy. It has a weakness to water-type Pokémon and can use two attacks: The move Slash does 60 damage and requires three energy and Crimson Storm does 200 damage and requires four energy. Each time you use Crimson Storm, you must detach two energy from Charizard.

This might seem obvious, but you’ll need Charmander and Charmeleon cards so that you can evolve them into Charizard ex. Besides those two, Moltres ex is essential to any Charizard ex deck. This card has an one-energy attack called Inferno Dance that allows you to flip three coins and a attach a fire energy to your benched pokémon for each heads you flip. (You can get a maximum of three energy from this attack.)

To play a Charizard ex deck, passively build up Charmander/Charmeleon/Charizard ex by using Moltres ex. Just play Moltres ex, which is a basic Pokémon with 140 HP, to tank some attacks and use Inferno Dance to juice up Charizard ex with energy.

Switching Pokémon will be key in this deck, and you might have to switch between different Moltres ex or swap Charizard in. Because of this, adding Item and Supporter cards like X Speed, purchasable from the Shop and Leaf, from the Mythical Island expansion, can help you manage your active Pokémon. Other cards, like Giant Cape from the Space-time Smackdown expansion, can help you manage damage by beefing up either Moltres (if your coin flips are bad) or Charizard ex.

Why go with this deck? Both Charizard ex and Moltres ex have been out since the start of the game. Unlike newer cards, it’s possible that you already have these cards, especially given there are several different versions of Charizard ex you can pull. Its Crimson Storm can knock out some of the strongest Pokémon out now so you can still pull out some wins against high-powered decks.