Pokémon TCG: Expanded Deck Tech - Ethan's Typhlosion (Battle Compress Combo!)

Greetings, Pokémon community!

Now that Destined Rivals is here, let's divert our attention to Expanded and explore this Ethan list as well as some new strategies and combos. If you're a Pokémon fan, then you already know Ethan was one of the protagonists in the Johto era.

This time, we'll use Battle Compressor Team Flare Gear PHF 92 to discard our Ethan's Adventure DRI 165, so it's a big part of our strategy. Our goal is to get as much as we can from Typhlosion's Buddy Blast, that is, to deal as much damage as we can with it.

Let's see how the deck itself works.

Decklist

Structure

Ethan's Typhlosion

This entire strategy centers around its first attack, Buddy Blast, which deals more damage for each Ethan's Adventure DRI 165 in your discard pile. In fact, it deals 60 extra damage for each copy of this Supporter in your discard pile, so it can deal, at most, 240 extra damage. Considering it also deals 40 base damage, you can deal up to 280 damage with it.

How Do We Discard Our Ethan's Adventures As Fast As Possible?

Our plan is simple: we'll use Battle Compressor Team Flare Gear PHF 92 to get any 3 cards we want from our deck and then discard them.

This card is what makes this deck quite aggressive early on and lets us deal a lot of damage on later turns too. The real advantage is that we'll be able to disrupt our opponent's game plan incredibly fast and finish the match before they can answer us. That is, as long as we evolve our Cyndaquil into Typhlosion.

Recursive Pokémon

"Baby" Pokémon

► Rapidash SIT 22's ability lets us discard 1 Basic Fire Energy sv3 230 from our hand to deal 30 extra damage to the opponent's active Pokémon with our Fire Pokémon. With it, Typhlosion's attack, which usually deals up to 280 damage, will deal up to 310 damage.

► Ninetales TEU 16's ability is similar to Boss's Orders (Ghetsis) sv2 172, but it forces us to discard 2 Basic Fire Energy sv3 230 from our hand.

► Mew UNB 76 will protect our Benched Pokémon from "sniper" attacks. However, it can't protect them from "spread" attacks.

Pokémon ex

Fezandipiti ex SFA 38 is essential, as its ability, Flip the Script, draws 3 cards if one of our Pokémon was Knocked Out by enemy attacks on the opponent's last turn.

Trainers

"Set-Up" Supporter

This Supporter is essential. It filters and gets Ethan's Pokémon from our deck for us, as well as Basic Fire Energy sv3 230. However, our main game plan is actually discarding it with Battle Compressor Team Flare Gear PHF 92 to deal even more damage with Typhlosion's attack.

Supporter to Attach Energies and Filter Cards

We can only use this card if one of our Pokémon was Knocked Out on the previous turn. Its first effect lets us recycle a basic energy from our discard pile and attach it to one of our Pokémon. As such, it is a great way to attach energies to Typhlosion.

Its second effect lets us draw any card from our deck, so, with it, we can set up strategies with pinpoint precision without relying on luck to draw the cards we need.

Supporter to Get Items and Tools

We'll use this Supporter to get Buddy-Buddy Poffin PRE 101 and set up our bench. We can also get a tool with it, like Technical Machine: Evolution sv4 178, which we'll then use to evolve two Pokémon at the same time.

Items to Get Pokémon

Item to Evolve Pokémon

We'll use Rare Candy PGO 69 to evolve Cyndaquil directly into Typhlosion. With it, our stage 2 Pokémon won't be too slow.

Item to Get Trainers

Item to Discard Cards

Items to Recycle Other Cards

Ordinary Rod SSH 171 recycles Pokémon and basic energies from our discard pile. It lets us pick up to 2 copies of each or both, so, in total, we can get 4 cards with it.

VS Seeker PHF 109 also recycles a Supporter from our discard pile. With it, we'll be able to reuse the best cards in our strategy.

Fire Crystal UNB 173 recycles up to 3 basic Fire energies from our discard pile, so it's essential, particularly after we use Rapidash's and Ninetales' abilities.

Tool

Stadiums

Giant Hearth UNM 197 lets us filter 2 Basic Fire Energy sv3 230 from our deck if we also discard one card from our hand. Ideally, we must discard Ethan's Adventure DRI 165 with it.

Heat Factory ◇ LOT 178 draws 3 cards for us if we also discard a Basic Fire Energy sv3 230 from our hand.

ACE SPEC

This ACE SPEC is a great choice because it lets us evolve support Pokémon, like Rapidash SIT 22 and Ninetales TEU 16, quite fast. It is also a practical way to evolve Cyndaquil into Quilava.

Pros

This list is very effective against ultra rare Pokémon (VStar, TAG TEAM-GX), which usually have 270 to 280 HP. It can Knock them Out with a single strike, in fact.

It can also Knock Out Pokémon ex or similar with two attacks in a row.

Cons

However, it relies heavily on Fezandipiti ex SFA 38 to draw cards and is vulnerable against fast, aggressive decks, like Iron Hands ex PRE 31, or control decks that use Stadiums like Glimmora ex sv3 123.

Arceus & Dialga & Palkia-GX CEC 156 decks, like this one, are also a problem.

Then it struggles against Iron Hands ex PRE 31 because it is fast and aggressive and spread decks like Dragapult ex PRE 73 and Dragapult VMAX RCL 93.

Finally, it doesn't perform that well against Mewtwo & Mew-GX UNM 71 because of Glaceon-EX FCO 20's second attack, which prevents evolution Pokémon from dealing damage.

This deck is cheap and accessible, so it's a great option if you have just begun playing Expanded matches.

If you plan your strategies well and learn each card carefully, you'll be able to set up incredible turns and explore the full potential of the old and new cards in this list.

What do you think? Tell us your thoughts in our comment section below.

Thank you for reading, and see you next time!