Standard Deck Tech: Chien-Pao ex

With the recent release of Scarlet & Violet: Paldea Evolved, I'll discuss the decks which refer to the "Treasures of Ruin Pokémon".

To give you all some context: in Paldea, there are these legendary creatures from the Pokémon world which, according to local legends, were responsible for the destruction of that continent. They were fed by their ill-intent towards humanity, due to a tyrannic king who used them as a source of war power, until, after wars in the region, these four creatures were finally sealed.

And with this scene set, today we'll discuss Chien-Pao, which is marked by the hatred of the soldiers which were killed during the wars in the region, where this energy gathered around the local snowfall and molded itself in the shape of this Pokémon, in Paldea's history.

Decklist

Chien-Pao ex: The Star of the Deck

This Pokémon has a very simple attack which consists of discarding the water energies linked to your Pokémon to cast its damage; it doesn't matter the amount of energy, be them 2 energy cards, 4 energy cards, or even 6 energy cards. Your own imagination is the limit to reach the damage needed to take down the opponent.

Discarding 6 energies is more than enough to take down the whole metagame, as you'll be dealing 360 damage (60 x 6), considering the highest-HP Pokémon will be registered as 340-health Pokémon, such as, for instance, Skeledirge ex sv2 37 and in the future Venusaur ex sv2a 3.

To recover the energies discarded by the attack's effect, we use Superior Energy Retrieval sv2 189.

Ice Rider Calyrex-V & Ice Rider Calyrex VMax

Ice Rider Calyrex-V

Calyrex-V is useful only as a base to prepare its V-Max form, which is what interests us, but it can be useful at certain points in the game, considering that, if you use the Glacial Lance attack twice, this way losing 4 water energies, you can use Superior Energy Retrieval sv2 189 to repair your losses.

Ice Rider Calyrex VMax

Here we have the interesting part of the deck. Discarding up to two energies attached to it, you can deal 250 damage for just two energies (10 from the base damage + 240 from the two energies being discarded), allowing you to save your deck's water energies, so you can attach them to other Pokémon.

And, by attacking this way twice, losing 4 energies, we can use Superior Energy Retrieval sv2 189 to retrieve them.

Suicune-V

With basic math, we practically have virtually 220 damage with Suicune V EVS 31, considering the metagame values the use of many Pokémon in play, which the most you can have in your bench - so you'll always have 100 damage on each board, not to mention we have Ice Rider Calyrex VMAX CRE 46 as a damage partner.

With both working together in synchrony in the deck, that hurts a lot the opponent's game plan - and, having in mind that Suicune-V's energization is done with two energies, it's quite easy to set it up.

Recursive Pokémon

- Baxcalibur sv2 60 has Super Cold, which allows you, during your turn, to mobilize your water energies from your hand to your Pokémon in any way you'd like.

It is basically a recycling of old Blastoise PLS 137's mechanic - from its Deluge ability, with the same effect.

- Radiant Greninja ASR 46 has its ability Concealed Cards, which allows you, during your turn, to discard an energy card from your hand to draw two cards from the top of your deck, as a strong "draw power" resource to speed up your resources.

Trainer Cards

Supporters

- Professor's Research (Professor Sada) sv1 189 is useful as your "draw power": discard your hand and draw 7 cards.

- Irida ASR 147 is useful for two effects: search for a water Pokémon and get an Item card from your deck.

It's worth stressing that, with the rework of the Item and Tool cards in the Scarlet & Violet set, Tools got their own classification, not being able to be "cheated out" as they are in the same group as "Item" cards anymore.

As the most important card in the deck, it is with it that you'll be able to create the base evolution for Frigibax sv2 58, using Rare Candy PGO 69 to evolve it to a Baxcalibur sv2 60 - setting up our combo pieces as soon as possible!

Boss's Orders (Ghetsis) sv2 172 is useful to pull a particular Pokémon on your opponent's board to deal the damage to victory, speeding up the Prize Cards draw.

It is a very useful card when you combine its use to utilize Chien-Pao ex sv2 61, dealing finishing damage, as it can reach over 280 points of damage onward very easily.

- Iono sv2 185 is extremely powerful, as it's the mix of the effects of its predecessors N FCO 105 and Marnie SSH 169 together: you and your opponent shuffle your hands and place them at the bottom of the deck. Afterward, you'll both draw cards from the top of your deck equal to the amount of prize cards you have in the game, as in, each game of each player.

Items which Favor your Game's Set-up

- Pokégear 3.0 sv1 186 is a useful item to filter the 7 cards on the top of your deck: you can search for any Supporter card, reveal it, and like so, place it in your hand.

- Escape Rope BST 125: your opponent will choose a Pokémon from the bench which will be moved to the Active position, and, afterward, you'll do the same with your Pokémon. The opponent will be the first to swap (and, if there's no Pokémon on the bench to swap, they won't need to).

- Ultra Ball sv1 196 is useful to look for any Pokémon, evolution or basic, common or ultra-rare, as long as you fulfil the requirement of discarding two cards in your hand to play it.

- Nest Ball sv1 181 is useful to look for a basic Pokémon in your deck and place it directly on the bench.

- Battle VIP Pass FST 225 is useful to be played only on your first turn in the game: look for two basic Pokémon in your deck and then place them directly on board.

When this card becomes expendable after the first turn of your turn to play, it will be an excellent tribute with the use of Superior Energy Retrieval sv2 189, which demands you discard two cards from hand to have its effect.

- Choice Belt BRS 135 is a tool which, when equipped to a Pokémon, deals 30 extra damage against the opponent's Active Pokémon as long as it's a V type (be it V, VMax, VStar or VUnion).

That's good to complement Suicune V EVS 31's damage, which can go from 220 to 250 against the opponent's V Pokémon; just as it can be useful for Ice Rider Calyrex VMAX CRE 46, whose attack Max Lance goes from 250 damage to 280 with the boost of this tool, this way being able to take down all the VStar Pokémon in the Standard format.

Stadium

Calamitous Snowy Mountain sv2 174 is useful to place 2 damage counters to all basic Pokémon in play (yours and the opponent's) which are not water type and which, in case, are energized by a basic energy card from the player's hand.

To sum up, it is useful to help you deal your finishing blows, placing some damage counters early on against your opponent, and which, in case they try to energize some of their basic Pokémon which aren't water type, they'll get these counters, which can be useful eventually to close out some takedowns.

Advantages

- Fire type decks.

- Our deck isn't concerned with the Eletric type, which is usually what you'd think of, but the deck's main attackers are represented by the Ice archetype (which fits in the water type), which are represented by the weakness of the steel archetype.

Disadvantages

- Decks with Ting-Lu ex sv2 127, as it has the role of locking down abilities, such as Baxcalibur sv2 60's, which is this deck's engine.

It is a deck which has "almost" the same feel as Keldeo-EX BCR 49's and Blastoise BCR 31's prime, only, unlike using the stacked water energies to hoard more damage, here you do the opposite: you discard energies from your hand to deal more damage.

The deck is very dependent on Baxcalibur, and, without it, the deck literally dies, which is bad, as it is a low-health Pokémon.

Our second struggle is Ting-Lu ex sv2 127, which can control Pokémon which use abilities, except the ex. And, as Baxcalibur uses its ability to spin the deck, the opponent may catch that and use Hawlucha sv1 118 to use their damage counters and focus on them and their evolution line, that if they don't use Radiant Alakazam SIT 59 to get this damage through, hindering our game plan.

See you next time!