Pokémon TCG: Ninetales - Top 10 Best Cards

In this article, we'll show you the 10 strongest and most interesting Ninetales in Pokémon TCG - considering cards from the Wizards of the Coast era until today.

In today's article, we'll focus on Ninetales, one of the most beautiful Pokémon according to many fans. Additionally, this Pokémon is known for its majesty and because it references a creature from Japanese mythology - the Kyuubi.

Please note that we aren't considering the Alola version, Alolan Ninetales, because there aren't enough of them to write a whole top 10 just for them.

10 - Ninetales (Sword/Shield: Rebel Clash)

This Ninetales wants its opponents to have lots of "bad statuses", and we'll definitely make that happen in any way we can.

If we do so, this Pokémon will stand out because its first attack, Hex, will deal 30 + 90 damage.

In Expanded, we have several Pokémon we can use to combo with Ninetales RCL 25, such as Ariados AOR 6, Butterfree FST 3, and Trainers like Hypnotoxic Laser PLS 123.

9 - Ninetales (Heart Gold/Soul Silver: Base Set)

This Pokémon was released in the Heart Gold & Soul Silver block. Its biggest strength is its ability, Roast Reveal, which allows you to discard a Fire energy card from your hand to draw 3 cards, which makes it an excellent Pokémon.

8 - Ninetales (X/Y: Primal Clash)

Available in Expanded, this Pokémon's ability prevents both players from using any Stadiums in play, which is excellent against opponents that use cards like Ultra Necrozma CEC 164 with Silent Lab PRC 140, for instance.

7 - Ninetales (Sword/Shield: Fusion Strike)

This is a more recursive Ninetales, and, this time, it benefits your own Pokémon: it discounts the cost of your Pokémon's attacks by two colorless energy cards as long as they have any Fire energy cards attached. These Pokémon can be of any type - they only need to have at least one Fire energy card attached.

This allows us to play several combos with other Pokémon like Emboar PR-BLW BW21, which moves Fire energy cards from your hand to your Pokémon, and thus guarantees you this discount.

6 - Ninetales (Sun/Moon: Team Up)

While this Pokémon was extremely powerful when it was active in Standard, it is still incredibly strong in Expanded and even in other game modes.

Its ability allows you to discard two Fire energy cards from your hand and pull one Pokémon from your opponent's bench into the active position, as a sort of Boss's Orders RCL 154!

In Sun/Moon's Standard, many players used Ninetales TEU 16 with Custom Catcher LOT 171, which made the Fire archetype rather aggressive.

Now, in Expanded, Ninetales TEU 16 has become crucial to complement more damage-heavy attackers like Charizard VMAX PR-SW SWSH261 and Charizard ex sv3pt5 6.

If you want to check out a deck with this Ninetales and other decks with Pokémon from set 151, click here.

5 - Ninetales (Black/White: Dragons Exalted)

This version of Ninetales is more powerful than the version on our tenth spot.

Its ability, Bright Look, is a sort of built-in Boss's Orders RCL 154 - if you evolve a Vulpix into a Ninetales in your hand this turn, you can pull a Pokémon from your opponent's bench into the active position.

As for its attack, Hexed Flame, it deals damage according to how many special statuses the enemy Pokémon has. Considering it can account for up to three out of all five special statuses (Confused, Burned, and Poisoned), you can deal up to 20 + 150 damage (50 for each status), and deal 170 damage with a single attack!

And, if we use Supereffective Glasses ASR 152, we'll triple this value and deal 510 damage!

The best recursive Pokémon to play with this combo is Butterfree FST 3.

4 - Ninetales (X/Y: Evolutions)

This Pokémon is a reprinted version of Ninetales BS 12.

Their attacks deal different amounts of damage, considering the most recent version had to match up to more recent cards, and thus improved significantly. We can use it in Expanded.

3 - Ninetales "BREAK" (X/Y: Evolutions)

In our third spot, we have Ninetales' BREAK version, which is a stronger version of this Pokémon. Ninetales BREAK EVO 16 stands out because of its attack: it deals 10 + 60 damage for each Fire energy card you discard with it.

The most efficient combo to maximize the damage this Pokémon deals is to look for all the Fire energy cards in our deck with Fiery Flint DRM 60a and Giant Hearth UNM 197. As recursive Pokémon, we can use Emboar PR-BLW BW21 to move these Fire energy cards in our hand to Ninetales, and Charizard PGO 10 to double them.

2 - Ninetales ex (Scarlet/Violet: Obsidian Flames)

In second place, we have Ninetales' "ex" version, which was released on the Scarlet & Violet block.

The interesting thing about this card is its attack, Mirrored Flames, which deals damage based on the number of cards each player has. They need to have the same number of cards in their hands for you to deal 80 + 140 damage, which will be 220 damage.

To deal this damage, we need to play cards like Judge FST 235 and Copycat EVS 143 if we consider Expanded.

1 - Ninetales V (Sword/Shield: Rebel Clash)

In our very first place, we have Ninetales' "V" version, which earned this spot because of its attack, Nine-Tailed Shapeshifter - this Ninetales V can basically choose any attack from your opponent's active Pokémon and copy it!

And the best thing about it? You don't need to do anything the enemy Pokémon requires, not even pay its energy cost: you'll simply copy and deal the same amount of damage it does.

However, be careful: it might be efficient, as you don't need to meet its requirements, but it does exactly what is described in the enemy attack you copied.

Ninetales (Black/White: Legendary Treasures)

Its attack tells us that, if this Ninetales has an energy card attached that has the same type as the enemy Pokémon, it'll deal 50 + 40 damage.

As it is a stage 1 Pokémon, an evolution, one of the energy cards that can activate this effect is Reversal Energy sv4 266, if you're losing the game, as it can be a "flexible energy card" against your opponent.

Ninetales (Diamond/Pearl: Mysterious Treasures)

And, finally, our final Pokémon earned a spot in our list because of its ability, Color Shift: this Ninetales can pick any Pokémon on your opponent's board and copy their types.

The cards from the Diamond/Pearl era aren't available in Expanded - this is why I only added this card as an honorable mention. However, this Ninetales' ability was incredibly strong, and could, maybe, return in the future in a "reprint".

What did you think of this list? What would your top 10 best Ninetales list look like? Tell us your thoughts in the comment section.

Thank you for reading! See you next time.