Slaying the Dark Dragon — Countering Charizard ex’s Dominance
Hey everyone! It’s Charlie and I’m happy to be back with another article. I recently competed in the Orlando Regional Championships, where I played an Ancient Box list inspired by the list in my last article focused on [card name=”Roaring Moon” set=”Temporal Forces” no=”109″ c=”name”][/card] and [card name=”Koraidon” set=”Temporal Forces” no=”119″ c=”name”][/card]. It was only one card different from Jake Ewart’s 2nd place list (I included three [card name=”Ultra Ball” set=”Paldean Fates” no=”91″ c=”name”][/card] instead of the [card name=”Lost Vacuum” set=”Lost Origin” no=”162″ c=”name”][/card]) and felt quite strong and powerful throughout the tournament. However, we saw Liam Halliburton take Jake down in the finals with a [card name=”Charizard ex” set=”Obsidian Flames” no=”125″ c=”name”][/card] list only one card different from Tord Reklev’s EUIC winning list. Some may think after watching that match that Charizard ex is favored into Ancient Box, but the matchup is much closer to 50-50 in practice (Jake took down Luke Morsa 2-0 in Top 8). It would have been quite a bold call to go into Orlando with a deck that had a bad Charizard matchup after its EUIC dominance, and I think Jake, myself, and other players of the deck proved that Charizard is very beatable.
However, this begs the question: is Charizard so strong that it’s nearly impossible to counter? As someone who loves to play hard counter decks to top meta threats, it’s a bit odd I’d choose something with only a 50-50 matchup into the deck that would clearly be the #1 most popular choice among players that weekend. My answer to that question is what I’ll be exploring in this article: how do we slay the nearly infallible beast that is Charizard ex?
Analyzing Charizard ex
[cardimg name=”Charizard ex” set=”Paldean Fates” no=”234″ align=”right” c=”none”][/cardimg]
Charizard ex is an absolute enigma of a card: incredibly high HP, a strong typing and generally good Weakness, and an extremely efficient attack that gets stronger as the game progresses. [card name=”Radiant Charizard” set=”Pokemon GO” no=”11″ c=”name”][/card] was one of the best Charizard cards ever the moment it came out, but Charizard ex almost immediately blew it out of the water. Why has this card become such a dominant force in the meta that has now won all four major events in the BRS-TEF format?
Raw Strength
As I alluded to earlier, Charizard ex is simply unmatched in raw power by any other Pokemon in the game. Nothing else has such a strong combination of stats in a convenient package like Charizard does, giving you the freedom to fill the rest of your deck with powerful support like [card name=”Pidgeot ex” set=”Obsidian Flames” no=”164″ c=”name”][/card] and [card name=”Bibarel” set=”Brilliant Stars” no=”121″ c=”name”][/card]. Built in Energy acceleration? Check. Damage scaling as your opponent takes Prizes making 300 an incredibly reachable number? Check. All you really need is a way to get one Charizard up and one support Pokemon up, and your deck is pumping out huge damage from one of the highest HP Pokemon ever. There are ways to try and combat this, namely immunity like [card name=”Mimikyu” set=”Paldean Fates” no=”37″ c=”name”][/card] has or not taking Prizes to reduce their damage, but that directly contradicts your most common win conditions.
Powerful Support
Once [card name=”Arven” set=”Scarlet and Violet” no=”166″ c=”name”][/card] became the main engine that powered Charizard ex, we had a backbone that could reliably set up Pidgeot ex alongside your Charizard ex, which pushed the deck over the top. Quick Search is a ridiculous Ability and gives you access to basically any play you could imagine, with its only weakness being only getting you one card. Fear not though; Bibarel is here to save the day! Tord’s list included both Pidgeot and Bibarel, letting you fill your hand up to five cards before using Quick Search and enabling basically any combo imaginable. In a format without [card name=”Path to the Peak” set=”Chilling Reign” no=”148″ c=”name”][/card], defending against both Bibarel and Pidgeot at the same time is just impossible. Talk about tough to disrupt!
Counters to its Counters
Charizard ex’s biggest weakness in the last format wasn’t Grass-type Pokemon, it was [card name=”Snorlax” set=”Pokemon GO” no=”55″ c=”name”][/card] Control decks! Since Charizard was forced to play multiple liabilities like [card name=”Manaphy” set=”Brilliant Stars” no=”41″ c=”name”][/card] and [card name=”Jirachi” set=”Paradox Rift” no=”126″ c=”name”][/card], Control had an easy win condition right in front of them if they could pick it out with [card name=”Erika’s Invitation” set=”151″ no=”160″ c=”name”][/card] or [card name=”Echoing Horn” set=”Chilling Reign” no=”136″ c=”name”][/card]. But nowadays, Charizard lists are very prepared for this strong archetype and now claim to have a favorable matchup against them. Inclusions like double [card name=”Professor Turo’s Scenario” set=”Paradox Rift” no=”171″ c=”name”][/card] and a [card name=”Team Yell’s Cheer” set=”Brilliant Stars” no=”149″ c=”name”][/card] give you access to potentially quad Turo and triple [card name=”Boss’s Orders” set=”Rebel Clash” no=”154″ c=”name”][/card] plays in the same game, which is almost always more than enough to defeat these concepts. Pair that with the fact C0ntrol can struggle into some of the other meta decks and can barely afford to play more counters for Charizard and you have a formidable beast that may find its toughest matchup to be the mirror match.
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Rotation of its Gatekeepers
Two of the biggest threats of the last format got major nerfs with rotation, those being [card name=”Gardevoir ex” set=”Paldean Fates” no=”29″ c=”name”][/card] and [card name=”Giratina VSTAR” set=”Lost Origin” no=”131″ c=”name”][/card] of course. While both decks are still good, they’re extremely different than their pre-rotation counterparts, chiefly due to cards like [card name=”Kirlia” set=”Chilling Reign” no=”60″ c=”name”][/card] and [card name=”Gardevoir” set=”Chilling Reign” no=”61″ c=”name”][/card] for Gardevoir ex, and [card name=”Path to the Peak” set=”Chilling Reign” no=”148″ c=”name”][/card] for Giratina no longer legal in Standard format. Mirage Step gave Gardevoir a way to consistently set up almost every single game, while Shining Arcana Gardevoir was your main attacker and the best way to OHKO a Charizard without needing extra steps like [card name=”Bravery Charm” set=”Paldea Evolved” no=”173″ c=”name”][/card] for a [card name=”Drifloon” set=”Scarlet and Violet” no=”89″ c=”name”][/card], so losing those made it much harder to keep the strong matchup Gardevoir once had against Charizard ex. For Giratina, the loss of the Stadium made the powerful [card name=”Roxanne” set=”Astral Radiance” no=”150″ c=”name”][/card] + Path to the Peak combo impossible, which was by far the best way to threaten Charizard in the end game. The past format’s two most powerful decks got significantly weaker and Charizard lost basically nothing (plus gained stuff like [card name=”Buddy-Buddy Poffin” set=”Temporal Forces” no=”144″ c=”name”][/card] for good measure), which quickly proved to be the reason why we have a new king.
I think these are the biggest factors behind Charizard ex’s success, but it also checks lots of the other metrics you want to see in a meta-defining powerhouse. It’s able to go down to a completely single-Prize board at the end of a game with [card name=”Radiant Charizard” set=”Pokemon GO” no=”11″ c=”name”][/card] dealing big damage, can act like a control / midrange deck with manipulative Supporters like [card name=”Eri” set=”Temporal Forces” no=”146″ c=”name”][/card] and recovery Pokemon like [card name=”Regieleki” set=”Astral Radiance” no=”51″ c=”name”][/card], and is also just generally skill-intensive at the highest level. It kind of amazes me how Charizard was able to get this good this fast, but when a deck list this good is found this fast, a format’s development can accelerate quickly around this powerful archetype.
What Do We Do Now?
At this point we need to try and find a solution to the problem in front of us: [card name=”Charizard ex” set=”Paldean Fates” no=”234″ c=”name”][/card] is broken! I don’t think Charizard is at the level of [card name=”Lugia VSTAR” set=”Silver Tempest” no=”139″ c=”name”][/card] right at release where that deck could tech for any possible counter and was so dominant you could succeed with decks that only countered Lugia (see my [card name=”Articuno” set=”Silver Tempest” no=”36″ c=”name”][/card] / [card name=”Inteleon” set=”Sword and Shield” no=”58″ c=”name”][/card] deck from 2022 Toronto Regionals), and other decks in the meta have proven to be at similar power levels, so the solution can’t be a pure hard counter that beats nothing else. In a diverse meta, we need something that can stand on its own first and take advantage of Charizard’s few big weaknesses.
Reinventing Control for Modern Charizard Lists
Since Control has had a strong matchup against Charizard ex in the past, maybe we’ll be able to adjust it to regain that advantage! The key strategy to beat Charizard in the past was to focus on Retreat lock, but with access to so many Professor Turo’s Scenario now, this isn’t nearly as powerful as it once was. One new idea has been including [card name=”Klawf ex” set=”Obsidian Flames” no=”120″ c=”name”][/card] as a huge wall that the opponent is forced to attack into and lose one of their Energy in the process. Since you can heal Klawf over and over with [card name=”Penny” set=”Scarlet and Violet” no=”183″ c=”name”][/card] and Professor Turo’s Scenario, eventually Charizard will run out of Energy and you can deck them out. They have a bit of counterplay to this, namely playing Boss’s Orders four times (enabled by Team Yell’s Cheer), [card name=”Prime Catcher” set=”Temporal Forces” no=”157″ c=”name”][/card] once, and finding one more way to take a Prize like putting five Energy onto [card name=”Radiant Charizard” set=”Crown Zenith” no=”20″ c=”name”][/card] to OHKO the Klawf at the end of the game. This is extremely difficult though, and we’ve seen Klawf ex in newer Control lists as the new way to deal with the king. There are probably some other ways Charizard has to play around this, like constantly recovering [card name=”Super Rod” set=”Paldea Evolved” no=”188″ c=”name”][/card] in the Regieleki build, but that has its own weaknesses like Eri + [card name=”Counter Catcher” set=”Paradox Rift” no=”160″ c=”name”][/card] to lock a Pokemon in the Active Spot. All in all, Klawf is a new tool for Control decks to maybe beat Charizard by running them out of Energy instead of locking a useless Pokemon in the Active Spot, which opens up a lot of options for deckbuilding that weren’t there before.
Let’s Use Grass Types!
Charizard ex of course has an Achilles heel: it is Darkness-type, making it weak to Grass-type Pokemon! While there isn’t a very strong deck in the mainstream right now that can attack with single-Prize Grass types efficiently (by far the best way to beat Charizard if you ask me), we have a few alternative options that give you a fighting chance. Temporal Forces of course brought us [card name=”Iron Leaves ex” set=”Temporal Forces” no=”25″ c=”name”][/card], which is a very powerful attacker especially in Lost Box decks. Future Box decks have also started to include Iron Leaves and a few Grass Energy to put a band-aid on their very bad Charizard matchup, but we really haven’t seen this strategy pan out at a major event yet. One innovation that I want to talk about for the rest of the article is a deck I played against in round 15 of Orlando and my friend João Pedro Medeiros Zambrano played alongside his testing group at Sao Paulo Regionals: [card name=”Espathra ex” set=”Paldean Fates” no=”6″ c=”name”][/card]!
[decklist name=”Espathra ex” amt=”60″ caption=”” cname=”Manaphy” set=”Brilliant Stars” no=”41″][pokemon amt=”22″]3x [card name=”Espathra ex” set=”Paldean Fates” no=”6″ c=”deck2″ amt=”3″][/card]3x [card name=”Flittle” set=”Scarlet and Violet” no=”100″ c=”deck2″ amt=”3″][/card]3x [card name=”Xatu” set=”Paldean Fates” no=”26″ c=”deck2″ amt=”3″][/card]3x [card name=”Natu” set=”Paldean Fates” no=”25″ c=”deck2″ amt=”3″][/card]2x [card name=”Banette ex” set=”Scarlet and Violet” no=”88″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card]1x [card name=”Banette” set=”Lost Origin” no=”73″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]3x [card name=”Shuppet” set=”Scarlet and Violet” no=”87″ c=”deck2″ amt=”3″][/card]1x [card name=”Cleffa” set=”Obsidian Flames” no=”80″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Radiant Alakazam” set=”Silver Tempest” no=”59″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Spiritomb” set=”Paldea Evolved” no=”89″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Manaphy” set=”Brilliant Stars” no=”41″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card][/pokemon][trainers amt=”27″]4x [card name=”Professor’s Research” set=”Celebrations” no=”23″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]4x [card name=”Iono” set=”Paldea Evolved” no=”185″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]2x [card name=”Boss’s Orders (Ghetsis)” set=”Paldea Evolved” no=”172″ c=”deck2″ divide=”yes” amt=”2″][/card]4x [card name=”Buddy-Buddy Poffin” set=”Temporal Forces” no=”144″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]4x [card name=”Ultra Ball” set=”Paldean Fates” no=”91″ c=”deck2″ amt=”4″][/card]3x [card name=”Capturing Aroma” set=”Silver Tempest” no=”153″ c=”deck2″ amt=”3″][/card]2x [card name=”Super Rod” set=”Paldea Evolved” no=”188″ c=”deck2″ divide=”yes” amt=”2″][/card]1x [card name=”Rigid Band” set=”151″ no=”165″ c=”deck2″ amt=”1″][/card]1x [card name=”Hero’s Cape” set=”Temporal Forces” no=”152″ c=”deck2″ divide=”yes” amt=”1″][/card]2x [card name=”Pokémon League Headquarters” set=”Obsidian Flames” no=”192″ c=”deck2″ amt=”2″][/card][/trainers][energy amt=”11″]11x [card name=”Psychic Energy” set=”HeartGold and SoulSilver” no=”119″ c=”deck2″ amt=”11″][/card][/energy][/decklist]This definitely isn’t a card that I thought would be good at first glance, but a strong Charizard ex matchup can take you a long way, so let’s get into what makes Espathra ex strong!
Espathra ex’s Strengths
[cardimg name=”Espathra ex” set=”Paldean Fates” no=”214″ align=”right” c=”none”][/cardimg]
Espathra ex’s Dazzling Gaze Ability makes the opponent’s Active Pokemon’s attacks cost one extra Colorless Energy when Espathra ex is in the Active Spot. This may not seem like a lot at first glance, but can absolutely make or break a game. [card name=”Charizard ex” set=”Paldean Fates” no=”234″ c=”name”][/card] relies on its efficiency and most lists only play six copies of Fire Energy (some include one [card name=”Mist Energy” set=”Temporal Forces” no=”161″ c=”name”][/card] as well), so its only attack costing one additional Energy is a big difference from only requiring two Fire Energy. Also, Espathra’s Psy Ball attack does 30 damage + 30 more damage for each Energy attached to both Active Pokemon, which means a Charizard with three Energy attached will be OHKO’d by an Espathra with only two Energy. Combine this with Tool cards like [card name=”Rigid Band” set=”151″ no=”165″ c=”name”][/card] that forces Charizard ex to hit 300 damage and [card name=”Hero’s Cape” set=”Temporal Forces” no=”152″ c=”name”][/card] to push your HP up to a whopping 360 HP, and you have a quite difficult attacker to deal with. When it comes to other decks, you have more tricks up your sleeve as well. Decks like Ancient Box and some Lost Box lists that mainly use Basic Pokemon as their main attackers must deal with [card name=”Pokémon League Headquarters” set=”Obsidian Flames” no=”192″ c=”name”][/card] increasing their attack cost even more, which slows down their game plan a lot. You also have a [card name=”Banette ex” set=”Scarlet and Violet” no=”88″ c=”name”][/card] line to severely disrupt decks like [card name=”Chien-Pao ex” set=”Paldea Evolved” no=”61″ c=”name”][/card] that rely on powerful Item cards to get their [card name=”Baxcalibur” set=”Paldea Evolved” no=”60″ c=”name”][/card] into play and recover their Energy to attack, making that matchup very easy to deal with. Overall, Espathra ex is a strong deck with a good game plan into most things, checking the “real deck” box before even looking at its Charizard matchup.
Card Choices
This deck list is very close to the list that succeeded in Brazil this past weekend and I didn’t make significant changes since I know this is well-optimized, but I’ll go ahead and explain some of the card choices below.
Three Espathra ex
I know four [card name=”Flittle” set=”Scarlet and Violet” no=”100″ c=”name”][/card] was considered at some point, but you don’t need an army of Espathra to play the match and you often use Banette in the early game anyways, so three Flittle and three Espathra ex feels like a fine split here. I’d consider the fourth copy of Flittle only after [card name=”Jirachi” set=”Paradox Rift” no=”126″ c=”name”][/card] was included for Lost Box, but you don’t even use Espathra that much in that matchup so there’s never really a reason to have more.
Three Xatu
This Pokemon is an incredibly underrated draw engine, bringing back Underworld Door from [card name=”Shadow Rider Calyrex VMAX” set=”Chilling Reign” no=”75″ c=”name”][/card] into the Standard format so soon. The fact you have Energy acceleration and draw in one support Pokemon is unmatched and combined with both Flittle and [card name=”Cleffa” set=”Obsidian Flames” no=”80″ c=”name”][/card]’s free Retreat, you have lots of pivot options to abuse [card name=”Xatu” set=”Paldean Fates” no=”152″ c=”name”][/card]’s Clairvoyant Sense. Since you never really need more than two Xatu in play at a time, I think the three Xatu and three [card name=”Natu” set=”Paldean Fates” no=”151″ c=”name”][/card] line is correct, but a fourth copy of Natu might not be bad if you want to ensure you get them down early. Luckily [card name=”Buddy-Buddy Poffin” set=”Temporal Forces” no=”144″ c=”name”][/card] comes to the rescue here and can be played after turn 1!
Two Banette ex and One Banette
The list I played against in the Orlando Regional Championships only had a two [card name=”Shuppet” set=”Scarlet and Violet” no=”87″ c=”name”][/card] and two [card name=”Banette” set=”Lost Origin” no=”73″ c=”name”][/card], but I think the third copy of Shuppet is specifically strong here because it’s nice to lead it going second and get a 50% chance at Item locking your opponent on turn 2. You also have access to Banette from Lost Origin to recover a Supporter card of choice from the discard p, which is a nice auxiliary benefit in the matchups where Banette ex isn’t as good.
One Cleffa
This Pokemon is here as another nice free Retreat pivot that’s useful in the early game; as Tord showed in his Charizard ex list, drawing up to seven cards in a free attack is quite good and can get you out of a bind pretty consistently.
One Spiritomb
This Pokemon is obviously nowhere near as good as it was in a [card name=”Mew VMAX” set=”Fusion Strike” no=”114″ c=”name”][/card] dominated format, but [card name=”Spiritomb” set=”Paldean Fates” no=”158″ c=”name”][/card] here to turn off [card name=”Rotom V” set=”Crown Zenith” no=”45″ c=”name”][/card]’s Instant Charge in both Charizard ex lists and Control decks, giving you time to setup a win condition before they gain a ridiculous card advantage. Control is the much more important application now since they can use Instant Charge almost every turn and amass a huge hand; if you turn this off and start hitting with Banette ex, they usually struggle to do much.
One Radiant Alakazam
[cardimg name=”Radiant Alakazam” set=”Silver Tempest” no=”59″ align=”right” c=”none”][/cardimg]
This is one of my favorite Radiant Pokemon and makes an appearance here as part of your anti- Chien Pao ex strategy. Once they run low / run out of Energy, you can lock either Baxcalibur or [card name=”Bibarel” set=”Brilliant Stars” no=”121″ c=”name”][/card] in the Active Spot and hit it over and over with [card name=”Radiant Alakazam” set=”Silver Tempest” no=”59″ c=”name”][/card]’s Everlasting Darkness while you move the damage counters away with Alakazam. This will eventually KO them of course, but you have at least 10 turns to do this before needing to play Boss again, and it’s not like they can do much once you KO the Active anyways. Radiant Alakazam is awesome in this deck and can help you take advantage of early Banette ex damage as well when you’re just short of a big KO with Espathra.
One Manaphy and No Jirachi
The addition of [card name=”Manaphy” set=”Crown Zenith GG” no=”GG06″ c=”name”][/card] is of course to defend against the terrifying [card name=”Radiant Greninja” set=”Astral Radiance” no=”46″ c=”name”][/card], but why did I choose to omit Jirachi in this deck list when we play four Basic Pokemon with only 30 HP? The main reason behind this choice is that using [card name=”Sableye” set=”Lost Origin” no=”70″ c=”name”][/card] is a very difficult task when you’re likely Item locking your opponent for a large part of the game. This deck also includes Pokemon League Headquarters to make using Lost Mine harder. If you have Espathra ex in the Active Spot and this Stadium card in play, Sableye needs three Energy to use Lost Mine! I think this choice is fine the more that I think about it, but if new Turbo Lost Box lists find reliable ways to use Lost Mine on turn 2, Jirachi might need to be included so you don’t lose three Prizes so fast.
One Rigid Band and One Hero’s Cape
The two tools of choice here are both defensive; Rigid Band is an interesting one since it pushes Charizard ex to need 30 more damage for an OHKO. This is most relevant when you’re at four Prize cards and they’re dealing 240 damage; they can use [card name=”Defiance Band” set=”Scarlet and Violet” no=”169″ c=”name”][/card] to reach 270 damage and get a KO: but not with Rigid Band! If they have [card name=”Lost Vacuum” set=”Lost Origin” no=”162″ c=”name”][/card] this won’t work, but needing Defiance Band, Lost Vacuum, and a new Charizard with three Energy attached all in one turn is a tall order for any list. Hero’s Cape can help you defend against [card name=”Maximum Belt” set=”Temporal Forces” no=”154″ c=”name”][/card] as well and pushes you to 360 HP, incredibly important in matchups like Ancient Box where they can chill for a long time and start hitting 260 damage consistently near the end of the game. I think both of these are strong in the deck and Hero’s Cape is likely the better ACE SPEC over Prime Catcher.
Conclusion
While [card name=”Charizard ex” set=”Obsidian Flames” no=”125″ c=”name”][/card] is obviously a behemoth in the current format, it’s absolutely not invincible! New strategies will continue to pop up and players will find more ways to deal with the big Darkness-type Pokemon as the format develops. Today I showed off a couple of the best ideas right now, including [card name=”Espathra ex” set=”Paldean Fates” no=”6″ c=”name”][/card], a cool new concept that takes a favorable matchup into Charizard and can stand on its own against everything else too.
Thank you so much for reading! As always, feel free to reach out to me on X (@C4_TCG) or leave a comment in the Subscriber’s Hideout and I’ll do my best to answer them. Thanks again and I’ll see you guys in the next one!
– Charlie
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