The Future of Fire: Centiskorch VMAX and Charizard VMAX

[cardimg name=”Welder” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”214″ align=”right” c=”none”][/cardimg]

Ever since the release of Unbroken Bonds, [card name=”Welder” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”214″ c=”name”][/card] has been a consistently dominant card in Standard. There can be a legitimate argument made that Welder is one of the most powerful Supporter cards of all time. The Energy acceleration it provides is unmatched by other Trainer cards, and because Welder allows you to draw more cards at the same time (unlike, say, [card name=”Mina” set=”Lost Thunder” no=”211″ c=”name”][/card]), it provides that Energy acceleration without substantially impacting consistency on the turn following its use. Fire type Pokemon have been strong recently, but not overwhelmingly so compared to other types — the difference is that Welder allows Fire decks to outspeed, and thus outperform non-Fire decks. Welder-based decks have been a consistent fixture in tournament results since its release — during the 2020 season, it won both International Championships, as well as the 2019 World Championships — and it looks to continue to be a dominant card in the future. Looking forward into 2021, there’s no reason to think that Welder decks are going anywhere. The biggest difference will be in which Pokemon utilize Welder. [card name=”Reshiram and Charizard-GX” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”20″ c=”name”][/card] and [card name=”Mewtwo and Mew-GX” set=”Unified Minds” no=”71″ c=”name”][/card] have been the traditional big Basic partners for the Supporter, but both are rather lackluster when compared to Pokemon VMAX. Luckily for fans of the Fire type, the upcoming Darkness Ablaze set has not one, but two powerful Fire-type VMAXes included, in Charizard VMAX and Centiskorch VMAX. Both are fairly similar, quite powerful, and should be able to make a competitive splash right away. In this article, I’ll be going over both of them, including the pros and cons of each, the early decklists that I have found success with, and a guide to approaching various matchups. In addition, you’ll be able to find out which of the two I ultimately think will have more success (and why)!

To start, let’s take a look at the cards themselves.

Card Comparison and Strategy

At its most basic, the strategy for playing Centiskorch VMAX and Charizard VMAX is the same: you want to use Welder to accelerate Energy onto your VMAX, then use that VMAX’s high-damage attack to take a OHKO on whatever gives you the most Prizes. The biggest difference between these two decks has to do with the difference in how the two VMAXes’ high-damage attacks work. In the Centiskorch VMAX deck, the flexible damage output of G-Max Centiferno means that a Centiskorch player can tailor their Energy attachments to match what they are playing against. When playing Centiskorch, you’ll want to determine how much Energy you’ll need to get a OHKO against what you’re playing, and power up your Pokemon accordingly. If you’re playing against a deck whose attackers top out at 200 HP, for instance, you won’t need to attach more than four Fire Energy to any one Centiskorch VMAX; likewise, if you’re playing against another VMAX deck, you’ll need to decide between attempting to attach seven Fire Energy to a single Centiskorch VMAX (something which, while it isn’t necessarily difficult in this deck, is a quite large devotion of resources), or aiming for 2HKOs with smaller Energy attachments.

In contrast, Charizard VMAX is far less flexible in its damage output, which does lend itself to a slightly different strategy. For Charizard VMAX, the goal isn’t to power it up massively one time like with Centiskorch, but rather, to be able to power it up over and over again. Against high-HP Pokemon such as VMAXs, Charizard’s lower Energy requirement for OHKOs makes it easier to transition from one Charizard to another. However, against lower-HP Pokemon, Charizard’s one-size-fits-all approach to damage means that it will have a higher Energy requirement in comparison to Centiskorch VMAX.

The other differences between these two are somewhat minor, but can still be important. One is the HP; the ten extra HP that Charizard VMAX has can come into play, as it means that a boosted [card name=”Zamazenta V” set=”Sword and Shield” no=”139″ c=”name”][/card] will need three attacks to KO it, as opposed to two, and it can also be quite relevant in the Fire match, as it means that Centiskorch VMAX will need an additional Energy to achieve a OHKO. The Energy cost of Charizard VMAX’s attacks is also relevant; the Colorless requirement for some of them allows this deck to play some non-Fire Energy if it so desires. In the decklists below, you’ll see how that can come into play.

Decklists

Centiskorch VMAX List

Here is the Centiskorch VMAX list I’ve been using. Shout out to Jac Carter for putting together the initial build that we used in testing — this list isn’t terribly far off from that first draft!

[decklist name=” bug” amt=”51″ caption=”” cname=”Jirachi” set=”Team Up” no=”99″][pokemon amt=”16″]3x Centiskorch V (Darkness Ablaze)2x Centiskorch VMAX (Darkness Ablaze) 2x [card name=”Volcanion” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”25″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]4x [card name=”Jirachi” set=”Team Up” no=”99″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]2x [card name=”Dedenne-GX” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”57″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]1x Crobat V (Darkness Ablaze)1x [card name=”Eldegoss V” set=”Rebel Clash” no=”19″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Heatran-GX” set=”Unified Minds” no=”25″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card][/pokemon][trainers amt=”28″]4x [card name=”Welder” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”189″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]3x [card name=”Boss’s Orders” set=”Rebel Clash” no=”154″ c=”deck2″ divide=”yes” amt=”3″][/card]4x [card name=”Quick Ball” set=”Sword and Shield” no=”179″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]4x [card name=”Pokémon Communication” set=”Team Up” no=”152″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]4x [card name=”Switch” set=”Sun and Moon” no=”132″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]4x [card name=”Scoop Up Net” set=”Rebel Clash” no=”165″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]1x [card name=”Reset Stamp” set=”Unified Minds” no=”206″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Pal Pad” set=”Sword and Shield” no=”172″ c=”deck2″ divide=”yes” amt=”1″][/card]3x [card name=”Giant Hearth” set=”Unified Minds” no=”197″ c=”deck2″ divide=”yes” amt=”3″][/card][/trainers][energy amt=”16″]13x [card name=”Fire Energy” set=”Burning Shadows” no=”167″ c=”deck2″ amt=”13″][/card]3x Heat R Energy (Darkness Ablaze)[/energy][/decklist] 

Pokemon: 3-2 Centiskorch VMAX, 2 Volcanion, 4 Jirachi, 2 Dedenne-GX, 1 Crobat V, 1 Eldegoss V, 1 Heatran-GX

This deck sports a nice, compact Pokemon line as far as attackers go, which allows it to play plenty of support Pokemon. Since you rarely need to attack with more than one Centiskorch VMAX, I’ve opted to play only a 3-2 line, though this can admittedly get troublesome if one is prized. The four Jirachi, the Dedenne-GX, and the Crobat V are all included so that you can find Welder as quickly as possible, and Eldegoss V provides a way to recover it off of [card name=”Quick Ball” set=”Sword and Shield” no=”179″ c=”name”][/card] if necessary — an excellent option in a format with [card name=”Reset Stamp” set=”Unified Minds” no=”206″ c=”name”][/card]. Volcanion is only useful when going second, but the advantage you gain from being able to use Flare Starter on turn one is so large, that it is worth including a second copy to help ensure that you can use it, even if one Volcanion is prized. Between Flare Starter, attachment for turn, and a single Welder, you can get enough Energy on a Centiskorch VMAX to OHKO an opposing Tag Team as early as turn two — add a second Welder to that mix, and it can OHKO any Pokemon in the game! Given how tough it is to OHKO Centiskorch VMAX itself, you can easily follow up the first KO with another one, while powering up a second attacker. Alternatively, the Centiskorch player can then easily pivot to the only Pokemon I haven’t mentioned yet: [card name=”Heatran-GX” set=”Unified Minds” no=”25″ c=”name”][/card]. Since Centiskorch VMAX not only soaks up a ton of Energy, but also powers itself up further with its attack, it combos perfectly with Hot Burn GX. An excellent play here is to power up the Centiskorch, take a big KO with it, then, if the opponent damages the Centiskorch, switch enough Energy to take another KO onto the Heatran GX, and attack with that. In most cases, this will leave a decent amount of Energy on the damaged Centiskorch VMAX, so that if the Heatran-GX then gets KO’d, the Centiskorch VMAX itself can act as a finisher. Heatran GX can also get some surprise knockouts, since it will take one less Energy to get those Knock Outs against high-HP Pokemon. For any Energy amount over four, Heatran-GX is a more efficient attacker than Centiskorch VMAX; this can be relevant against Pokemon such as Eternatus VMAX or Charizard VMAX (Hot Burn requires seven Fire Energy for the OHKO, instead of eight).

Supporters: 4 Welder, 3 Boss’s Orders

As Welder decks in the past have proved, you don’t need anything other than Welder itself as a draw Supporter, and now that we have Crobat V in addition to [card name=”Jirachi” set=”Team Up” no=”99″ c=”name”][/card] and [card name=”Dedenne-GX” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”57″ c=”name”][/card], finding Welder is easier than ever. [card name=”Eldegoss V” set=”Rebel Clash” no=”19″ c=”name”][/card] helps further, and it makes it so not as many spots in the deck need to be dedicated to Boss’s Orders.

Items: 4 Quick Ball, 4 Pokemon Communication, 4 Switch, 4 Scoop Up Net, 1 Reset Stamp, 1 Pal Pad

With the exception of the Reset Stamp and [card name=”Pal Pad” set=”Sword and Shield” no=”172″ c=”name”][/card], every Item in this deck can be thought of as being dedicated to the turn one Flare Starter play, and the turn two Centiskorch VMAX after that. Quick Ball is a given, but the use of Pokemon Communication as the second Pokemon-finding item is due to the balance it provides between finding the Centiskorch VMAX, and everything else. [card name=”Evolution Incense” set=”Sword and Shield” no=”163″ c=”name”][/card] could be used in the spot, but it would be useless after you found the VMAXs. [card name=”Great Ball” set=”Sword and Shield” no=”164″ c=”name”][/card] isn’t as reliable as [card name=”Pokémon Communication” set=”Team Up” no=”152″ c=”name”][/card], particularly since this deck often needs one particular card (such as the VMAX), as opposed to a generic Pokemon. So, Pokemon Communication gets the spot; it might not be the obvious pick with only 15 Pokemon, but it is the best one. Pokemon Communication also combos quite well with [card name=”Scoop Up Net” set=”Rebel Clash” no=”165″ c=”name”][/card], as you can pick up something useless like a Jirachi, and then turn it into something useful, like a Centiskorch VMAX. The Reset Stamp is a must-have for when games don’t go so well at the beginning, as well as in the ADP matchup; since many opponents will try to beat Centiskorch not by attacking it, but by gusting around it, you can use Reset Stamp to push them off of Boss’s Orders, and thus buy yourself another valuable turn.

Energy: 13 Fire Energy, 3 Heat Fire Energy

Sixteen Energy seems to be a nice middle ground for this deck; not so many that they become overwhelming, but also enough to where you will consistently have them for Welder. The three Heat Fire Energy have the added HP bonus, which is quite nice against the mirror match, or other decks that might aim to OHKO Centiskorch VMAX. It isn’t quite as helpful against decks with lower damage output, as this Centiskorch list doesn’t contain any way to heal the Centiskorch, and most of that style of deck will go for a strategy of targeting the Bench Pokemon, as opposed to the Centiskorch VMAX itself. Heat Fire Energy does have a downside too, in that it can’t be attached with Welder, hence why I haven’t included four of them in this list. While they are nice, the added Welder consistency is even better!

Charizard VMAX List

This list is based upon the above Centiskorch VMAX list, as the strategies for the two decks are quite similar. Here is what I’ve been using:

[decklist name=” zard” amt=”51″ caption=”” cname=”Jirachi” set=”Team Up” no=”99″][pokemon amt=”16″]3x Charizard V (Darkness Ablaze)2x Charizard VMAX (Darkness Ablaze) 4x [card name=”Jirachi” set=”Team Up” no=”99″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]2x [card name=”Dedenne-GX” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”57″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]2x [card name=”Galarian Zigzagoon” set=”Sword and Shield” no=”117″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″]1x [card name=”Volcanion” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”25″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]1x Crobat V (Darkness Ablaze)1x [card name=”Eldegoss V” set=”Rebel Clash” no=”19″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Volcanion” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”25″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card][/pokemon][trainers amt=”28″]4x [card name=”Welder” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”189″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]2x [card name=”Boss’s Orders” set=”Rebel Clash” no=”154″ c=”deck2″ divide=”yes” amt=”3″][/card]4x [card name=”Quick Ball” set=”Sword and Shield” no=”179″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]4x [card name=”Pokémon Communication” set=”Team Up” no=”152″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]4x [card name=”Switch” set=”Sun and Moon” no=”132″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]4x [card name=”Scoop Up Net” set=”Rebel Clash” no=”165″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]1x [card name=”Reset Stamp” set=”Unified Minds” no=”206″ c=”deck2″ divide=”yes” amt=”1″][/card]3x [card name=”Giant Hearth” set=”Unified Minds” no=”197″ c=”deck2″ divide=”yes” amt=”3″][/card][/trainers][energy amt=”16″]13x [card name=”Fire Energy” set=”Burning Shadows” no=”167″ c=”deck2″ amt=”13″][/card]3x [card name=”Triple Acceleration Energy” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”190″ c=”deck2″ amt=”3″][/card][/energy][/decklist] 

Overall, both lists are rather similar; most of the counts in this list are the same, for the exact same reasons as in the Centiskorch VMAX list. The Volcanion + Jirachi package is excellent for both of these decks, as both want to accelerate Energy and find Welder as quickly as possible. The Charizard VMAX list naturally includes a few cards to benefit Charizard VMAX specifically, such as [card name=”Triple Acceleration Energy” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”190″ c=”name”][/card], [card name=”Galarian Zigzagoon” set=”Sword and Shield” no=”117″ c=”name”][/card], and [card name=”Vitality Band” set=”Sword and Shield” no=”185″ c=”name”][/card]. The Galarian Zigzagoon and Vitality Band are necessary to allow Charizard VMAX to OHKO opposing VMAXes, whereas the Triple Acceleration Energy gives an extra little acceleration boost so that you can use Charizard VMAXs attacks a touch faster. Triple Acceleration Energy also makes the discarding effect of G-Max Wildfire easier to handle, since you can opt to discard the Triple Acceleration Energy alone as your two discarded Energy. To make room for the Triple Acceleration Energy, I’ve cut the Heat Fire Energy, since Charizard VMAX’s extra 10 HP makes it a bit less important. This also allows me to keep the number of basic Fire Energy the same, and thus the deck has the same Welder consistency as the Centiskorch list. This list is also missing certain cards that the Centiskorch VMAX list was better able to take advantage of, such as Heatran-GX. In the case of Heatran-GX, Charizard VMAX is notably worse, in that since it discards Energy as part of its attack, the typical Charizard VMAX field doesn’t have enough Energy to fully take advantage of Hot Burn GX. Finally, a Volcanion, a Boss’s Orders and a Pal Pad was cut to make the final bit of room for the Galarian Zigzagoon and the Vitality Band; those aren’t great cuts, as they do make the deck slightly more inconsistent, but they do leave the remainder of the deck intact.

Coalossal / Charizard VMAX

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[cardimg name=”Coalossal” set=”Rebel Clash” no=”107″ align=”right” c=”none”][/cardimg]

Since Charizard VMAX’s attack can utilize Colorless Energy as part of the attack cost, it is possible to use it in conjunction with an Energy accelerator Pokemon, as opposed to Welder on its own. Since Coalossal recovers from the discard pile, and G-Max Wildfire discards Energy, the two Pokemon seem to be a perfect match. While I haven’t found this build to be nearly as consistent as the Charizard VMAX-only build, it is a good bit stronger in the late-game. a [card name=”Coalossal” set=”Rebel Clash” no=”107″ c=”name”][/card] greatly mitigates the deck’s susceptibility to [card name=”Reset Stamp” set=”Unified Minds” no=”206″ c=”name”][/card], since Tar Generator makes it so that you won’t need to constantly find Energy to reattach. Coalossal can also make the transition from one Charizard VMAX to a second one substantially easier; between Tar Generator, Welder, and an attachment, you can fully power up a Charizard VMAX in a single turn. This build also allows you to utilize other Fighting type attackers, such as [card name=”Sandaconda V” set=”Rebel Clash” no=”108″ c=”name”][/card], to make OHKOing Eternatus VMAX easier. The major downside of Coalossal is finding the space to include it; you somehow have to fit in a 2-0-2 line, along with two [card name=”Rare Candy” set=”Sword and Shield” no=”180″ c=”name”][/card]. In addition, the Supporter consistency becomes a bit awkward, since you have to remove some Fire Energy to include some Fighting Energy, in order to fully take advantage of Tar Generator. I’ve still found Welder to be a necessary Supporter, even in the Coalossal build, and the space issue makes it so that you can’t simply include additional Supporters. Overall, the result of adding in the Coalossal line is that you sacrifice a great amount of early-game consistency, in exchange for much better late-game consistency. If you like the idea of “running hot” at an event, or hate the idea of losing to Reset Stamp, then this build may suit you better. Here is my “C&C” Coalossal / Charizard VMAX List:

[decklist name=”coal zard” amt=”51″ caption=”” cname=”Jirachi” set=”Team Up” no=”99″][pokemon amt=”17″]3x Charizard V (Darkness Ablaze)2x Charizard VMAX (Darkness Ablaze) 4x [card name=”Jirachi” set=”Team Up” no=”99″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]2x [card name=”Rolycoly” set=”Rebel Clash” no=”105″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]2x [card name=”Coalossal” set=”Rebel Clash” no=”107″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]1x [card name=”Dedenne-GX” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”57″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Galarian Zigzagoon” set=”Sword and Shield” no=”117″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x Crobat V (Darkness Ablaze)1x [card name=”Volcanion” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”25″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card][/pokemon][trainers amt=”28″]4x [card name=”Welder” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”189″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]2x [card name=”Boss’s Orders” set=”Rebel Clash” no=”154″ c=”deck2″ divide=”yes” amt=”3″][/card]4x [card name=”Quick Ball” set=”Sword and Shield” no=”179″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]4x [card name=”Pokémon Communication” set=”Team Up” no=”152″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]4x [card name=”Scoop Up Net” set=”Rebel Clash” no=”165″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]2x [card name=”Switch” set=”Sun and Moon” no=”132″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]2x [card name=”Vitality Band” set=”Sword and Shield” no=”185″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]2x [card name=”Rare Candy” set=”Sword and Shield” no=”180″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card] 1x [card name=”Reset Stamp” set=”Unified Minds” no=”206″ c=”deck2″ divide=”yes” amt=”1″][/card]3x [card name=”Giant Hearth” set=”Unified Minds” no=”197″ c=”deck2″ divide=”yes” amt=”3″][/card][/trainers][energy amt=”15″]10x [card name=”Fire Energy” set=”Burning Shadows” no=”167″ c=”deck2″ amt=”10″][/card]3x [card name=”Fighting Energy” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”169″ c=”deck2″ amt=”3″][/card]2x [card name=”Triple Acceleration Energy” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”190″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card][/energy][/decklist] 

Matchups

Zacian V / ADP

Both Centiskorch VMAX and Charizard VMAX are capable of squaring up with [card name=”Zacian V” set=”Sword and Shield” no=”138″ c=”name”][/card] / [card name=”Arceus and Dialga and Palkia-GX” set=”Cosmic Eclipse” no=”156″ c=”name”][/card], though it is still a tough matchup. Much of this matchup comes down to the opening coinflip, as well as whether or not either player misses a turn of attacking what they need.

In the early game, what you’ll want to do is to try and explode early in terms of Energy acceleration, so that you can OHKO their Arceus & Dialga & Palkia GX on the turn following their use of Altered Creation GX, so that they can’t accelerate Energy with Ultimate Ray. For Charizard VMAX, that means getting a Charizard VMAX into play with five Energy. For Centiskorch VMAX, that means getting a Centiskorch VMAX into play with six Fire Energy. In both cases, life is much easier when going second, as you can then use Welder and Volcanion to put an extra five Energy into play. After you get the OHKO on their ADP, things will go pretty quickly — one of you will win the game in two turns. Luckily, Zacian V is rather easy to KO thanks to Weakness, so even if your VMAX does get Knocked Out, it is easy to get a retaliation KO. If you’ve managed to get two V Pokemon into play early, then you’ll want to make sure to evolve the second one (so that it isn’t an easy Prize target), and then start powering it up.

When going first, however, getting a turn-two OHKO on ADP is considerably more difficult. For Charizard VMAX, it can be done by attaching to Charizard V on turn one, then using Welder plus either attaching a Triple Acceleration Energy or using Tar Generator on turn two. For Centiskorch VMAX, it is impossible; even with Welder plus an attachment, you’ll only be able to get to four Energy (or 200 damage). In this scenario, one thing you can do with Centiskorch is to use Boss’s Orders to KO a Zacian V, since two Energy is enough with Weakness to do so. Then, the following turn, you can either repeat the process, and target whichever Pokemon was powered up with Ultimate Ray or use Welder to power up enough to OHKO ADP. This plan works great if the opponent attempts to go around your VMAX with Boss’s Orders, though runs into difficulties if they attack your VMAX head-on, as you won’t have a reliable way to power up a second attacker beyond a single Welder. Even so, that Welder is still enough to allow a second attacker to OHKO a Zacian V, so if the opponent isn’t using an alternate attacker such as [card name=”Milotic V” set=”Rebel Clash” no=”43″ c=”name”][/card], you can still manage to win. If your hand isn’t set up to pull off that move, or if you’re playing Charizard VMAX (which can’t effectively do it, due to the lack of a two Energy OHKO), then you’ll want to retreat back, and try to set up your board as best you can. In that scenario, you will necessarily need them to miss a KO turn, so you’ll need to use Reset Stamp so as to hopefully get lucky and cause them to not draw into Boss’s Orders.

An important thing in this matchup is to avoid using more than one of Dedenne-GX or Crobat V. If you only put down one, then your opponent will need three attacks to win (either a VMAX 2HKO + a Boss’s Orders KO, or three Boss’s Orders KOs), whereas if you put down two, they’ll only need two attacks, which is almost impossible to match, even when going second. If you end up playing against a more generic GX / V deck, then your strategy will end up being the same as in this matchup, with the difference being that you’ll have an extra turn in most cases, and thus can fully take advantage of the Dedenne-GX + Crobat V combo.

Eternatus VMAX

Just as ADP represents a test for the speed of these decks, Eternatus VMAX represents a test to their damage output. At 340 HP, Eternatus VMAX is the hardiest Pokemon that you will be likely to encounter in Standard — and it comes with the added trouble of being fast, consistent, and hard-hitting. Where the Fire decks have an advantage is that while Eternatus VMAX might hit hard, both Centiskorch VMAX and Charizard VMAX hit even harder — hard enough to potentially get a OHKO. In this matchup, Centiskorch VMAX and the Coalossal Charizard build have distinct advantages over the non-Coalossal Charizard VMAX build, as they can obtain OHKOs against Eternatus VMAX with much greater ease.

The OHKO is the trick to winning this matchup. Your goal is to force your opponent to use at least four attacks to win, while, if you get the OHKO on a VMAX, you will only need three. To get to the OHKO, Centiskorch VMAX requires eight Fire Energy to be attached. When going second, this can be achieved via Flare Starter + two Welder. If things are going well, you can theoretically pull this off as early as turn two —if you do, you will almost always win. If you get the turn one Welder, but not the second, then you’ll want to use Boss’s Orders to KO one of the opponent’s Crobat V, and take advantage of G-Max Centiferno’s Energy recovery; this gets you a needed KO, and sets up G-Max Centiferno to where it can take a OHKO the following turn. From there, you’ll only need to KO the weakest Pokemon on their field, often a non-V that can be KO’d for only two Energy. If you go first, things are trickier, as the most you’ll be able to attack for is 200, and even that is only if you use Welder instead of Boss’s Orders. The good news is that your opponent won’t have been able to evolve on their first turn, so you’ll still either get a Knock Out, or damage an Eternatus V to the point that you’ll be able to easily KO it if it evolves.

From that point, what you should do depends entirely on how your opponent approaches the match — specifically, whether they decide to attack your Centiskorch VMAX, or use Boss’s Orders to attack around it. If they go around it, then you can easily continue to power up your Centiskorch VMAX. If you had taken a Prize on turn two, then you’ll want to use Boss’s Orders to bring up and KO a Crobat V. By doing so, you’ll only need three more Prizes to win, which you’ll get by OHKOing an Eternatus VMAX; since you should have six Energy attached at this point, reaching the mark to do so is easy, at it requires only a Welder, or using Heatran-GX (which can get a KO for seven Energy). If they decide to attack into your Centiskorch, then you’ll want to start considering alternate attackers. This is a potentially great time to go into your Heatran-GX, since it can OHKO the opposing Eternatus VMAX that turn, thus forcing your opponent to have some Energy acceleration to continue to attack — if they miss that, then you should win. Alternatively, you can start powering up a benched Centiskorch, and aim to 2HKO their Eternatus VMAX. Remember, if they’ve attacked the Centiskorch, they haven’t taken any Prizes yet, and will still need three more attacks to win, whereas you’ll only need two following the first hit on their Eternatus (the one to finish off the damaged VMAX, and then a second attack that OHKOs a multi-Prize Pokemon). To win with Centiskorch, the key is to be adaptable, and plan ahead with your Energy attachments so that you constantly stay ahead of them.

For Charizard VMAX, things are a bit trickier. To get a OHKO, you’ll need a Vitality Band, plus three pecks from Galarian Zigzagoon. When going second, the same initial strategy applies — use Welder and Flare Starter to flood your field with Energy, so that you can G-Max Wildfire with ease. You typically don’t want to use Galarian Zigzagoon unless you have to, lest your opponent decides to attack with a different Eternatus VMAX, or worse, plays healing. Since healing is thankfully lacking in this format, you can actually pull off the OHKO a turn after attacking, by targeting whichever Eternatus VMAX you attacked with Headbutt Tantrum. From there, you can try and go after another Eternatus VMAX, or try to attack twice against non-VMAX targets to win.

Like with Zacian V and two-Prize decks, the Eternatus VMAX matchup should be your go-to blueprint for taking on any other generic VMAX decks, as well as the mirror match. The same general strategy applies, except things will likely be a bit easier, since no other VMAX has as much HP.

Vikavolt V

Vikavolt V is a somewhat difficult matchup to evaluate, since it isn’t entirely clear what exactly a post-rotation Vikavolt V deck will look like. The good news is that post-rotation Vikavolt V loses a good number of tricks that makes it dangerous in the UPR-DAA format; the turn-one attack odds diminish greatly without [card name=”Thunder Mountain Prism Star” set=”Lost Thunder” no=”191″ c=”name”][/card], and without [card name=”Electropower” set=”Lost Thunder” no=”172″ c=”name”][/card], it doesn’t have the variable burst damage to be truly dangerous. Still, Item-locking effects are powerful, and based on the past history of those effects, there is no doubt that a competitive Vikavolt V deck will be a nuisance for a long time to come. So, while this matchup isn’t nearly as important to learn as the two above it, it is still worth noting for the future.

Even if we don’t know exactly what the Vikavolt V lists will look like, there are a few disruption options that they are likely to contain. For any control deck to work, it has to successfully stop the opponent from attacking, and in general, there are two main paths to attack disruption: Energy denial, and Special Conditions. In Standard, Energy denial consists of [card name=”Crushing Hammer” set=”Sword and Shield” no=”159″ c=”name”][/card], [card name=”Team Yell Grunt” set=”Sword and Shield” no=”202″ c=”name”][/card], and [card name=”Giratina” set=”Unified Minds” no=”86″ c=”name”][/card]’s Dimension Breach, as well as a few more obscure options that are less likely to be utilized. To stop Energy denial, the strategy is fairly simple for a Welder deck — attach more Energy! Now that [card name=”Articuno-GX” set=”Celestial Storm” no=”31″ c=”name”][/card] and [card name=”Lugia-GX” set=”Lost Thunder” no=”159″ c=”name”][/card] are out of the format, there isn’t any way for a control deck to punish a player that loads up their Pokemon with a ton of Energy. One thing that the control player can do, however, is to use Boss’s Orders to bring up a Pokemon that can neither attack nor retreat, so when playing against Vikavolt V, you’ll want to limit your Bench to only attacking Pokemon. In general, this means only your V/VMAX — no Jirachi, Dedenne-GX, Crobat V, or Volcanion. Cards such as [card name=”Galar Mine” set=”Rebel Clash” no=”160″ c=”name”][/card] and [card name=”Wondrous Labyrinth Prism Star” set=”Team Up” no=”158″ c=”name”][/card] can make things even more difficult, so you want to give your opponent as few options as possible. This is one area where Centiskorch VMAX has a distinct advantage over Charizard VMAX, in that its attack recovers Energy, as opposed to discarding them. While Coalossal might be able to give Charizard VMAX a nice way to win, remember that you’ll need Rare Candy to get it into play — and you can’t play Rare Candy when locked out of Items! As far as Special Conditions go, [card name=”Koga’s Trap” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”177″ c=”name”][/card] and Yell Horn are both incredibly obnoxious, particularly if you’re going with the small-field strategy that you’ll want to use against Energy denial. Against these, don’t hesitate to attack when Confused; even if you flip tails, Vikavolt V’s damage output still isn’t strong enough to be too much of a threat. Other Pokemon such as [card name=”Garbodor” set=”Rebel Clash” no=”118″ c=”name”][/card] can be used to add on Poison; when used in conjunction with Galarian Zigzagoon, the Vikavolt player can even ensure that the Active Pokemon will get KO’d from Poison when going back into the Vikavolt players turn, thus allowing them to afflict the new Active with the same Confusion + Poison combo. Quite noxious, and yet another reason not to Bench too many non-attacking Pokemon! A way around the Special Condition obnoxiousness is to attack your opponent with the non-evolved V, as opposed to the VMAX. That way, you can still do damage and take knockouts, but you’ll also always have the option to evolve and remove those Special Conditions if necessary. Do be aware of the danger of hand disruption when using this strategy, but it is certainly worth considering based on the situation. Finally, Centiskorch V has another, unorthodox strategy: it can use Heat Radiation to knock off the Vikavolt player’s Energy, and try to run them out of Energy to then disrupt their attacks! This can be pretty useful early on, as it also makes it so that Centiskorch VMAX requires one fewer Energy to get a KO, and, if you can keep using it consistently enough, you can delay the game long enough to where your field will be full of Energy, to the point that the Vikavolt player won’t have a reliable path to victory.

Which Deck Is Best?

All three of these decks are rather solid, and I could see each of them seeing play in the post-rotation meta. But of the three, which is the best? Coalossal and non-Coalossal Charizard VMAX is a bit of a toss-up as to which is better — it’s a tough call between which is better as far as early- and late-game consistency. Given the speed of the other top decks in the format (ADP and Eternatus VMAX), I would likely opt for better early-game consistency, but there are arguments you could make for either side. In any case, however, I believe that Centiskorch VMAX is better than either of them, and thus the best deck of the three.

Compared to the Charizard decks, Centiskorch VMAX is simply more reliable. It’s less susceptible to hand disruption, less susceptible to Energy denial, and much tougher to stop once it’s set up. Once you get a Centiskorch VMAX fully powered up, it doesn’t matter how many Reset Stamp or [card name=”Marnie” set=”Sword and Shield” no=”169″ c=”name”][/card] your opponent uses; even if they drop your hand to zero cards, if they can’t deal with the Centiskorch VMAX, they will lose. Charizard VMAX, on the other hand, does need additional pieces at every stage of the game; even in the Coalossal build, it still needs Galarian Zigzagoon and Vitality Band to take out VMAXs. The streamlined nature of Centiskorch allows it to use more useful tech cards as well — Heatran-GX and Heat Fire Energy, for instance. Matchup-wise, Centiskorch is more resilient, and the advantages it has in that regard outweigh its weaknesses. So, if I had to pick one of these decks to focus on, Centiskorch VMAX would be it. Even so, I recommend giving all of them a try!

That brings us to the end of this article — as always, if you have any questions, don’t hesitate to ask! You can either comment below, message me directly, or ask all of our writers in our PTCG Subscriber’s Hideout! Best of luck at any events you find yourself participating in, and stay safe!

Thanks for reading!

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