Expanded Deck Tech: Charizard VMax (Fire Box)

Hello everybody. I'm Rodrigo, bringing news about the Pokémon TCG and its vast media. And today, I will show you a little bit of the Expanded format, where your imagination with deck building possibilities are endless, as they are cards from the Black/White block expansions (from 2011) to the present day.

And with that, I'm going to bring you some suggestions with decks from Kanto's starters: Venusaur, Charizard and Blastoise.

Today, we'll talk about Charizard-VMax.

Charizard Expanded Decklist

With that, we have the main attacker, whose Pokémon's HP is very high and lasting, in addition to being the most aggressive starter of the three.

The first attack, Claw Slash, for three colorless energies deals 100 base damage, which is ridiculous for a VMax evolution of this size, especially speaking of Charizard!

Coming in with his second attack, G-Max Wildfire, for three fire energies and two colorless, deals 300 damage and discards two energies in the tribute cost. How wonderful to see that amount of damage and show the potency of a true Charizard!

It's a great damage output because, in addition to destroying the VStar Pokémon and getting a bit closer against the VMax (that's because Pokémon Tag Team, GX and EX in the format turn to dust in front of it), we have two Pokémon to help that can increase its damage, Incineroar UNB 29; and we have another Pokémon to double the cost of fire energies, Charizard PGO 10.

Recursive Pokémon

Here is the most delicate part of the deck for having only one copy of its basic forms, be it Litten, Charmander and Larvesta. So, the ideal is to put them on the field as fast as possible to have a quick setup, allowing Charizard-VMax to attack without burning too much energy at the cost of G-Max Wildfire and still guarantee the additional damage, and again considering 4 Evolution Incense SSH 163 and 4 Rare Candy CES 142 for this process.

The ideal line here is Charmander for Charizard; and Litten for Incineroar, and we'll explain.

- Charizard PGO 10 has its ability Burn Brightly, which makes basic fire energies worth two energies at the same time, making it easier to tribute the cost of the Pokémon's attacks.

That is, assuming the Charizard-VMax uses the attack G-Max Wildfire that needs 5 energies (three fire and two colorless) to deal the 300 damage, simply having 3 energies with it, with the Charizard PGO 10 in play, discarding only one fire energy, is paying both energies of the tribute cost!

- Incineroar UNB 29 has its Strong Cheer ability, which causes your Pokémon to deal 30 more damage (before applying weakness and resistance). This ability cannot be used more than once in the same turn.

With Charizard V DAA 19 we have its two attacks, Claw Slash and Fire Spin, respectively 80 damage and 220 at the cost of discarding two energies from it; and then with the increased damage from Incineroar, now Claw Slash does 110 damage and Fire Spin does 250 damage!

And of course, on the Charizard VMAX DAA 20, the main card here, we have his two attacks, Claw Slash and G-Max Wilfire, respectively 100 damage and 300 at the cost of discarding two energies from him; and then with the Incineroar damage added, now the G-Max Wildfire does 330 damage!

- Volcarona SLG 13 has its ability Heat Cyclone, which practically has the effect of a Boss's Orders RCL 154 built into a skill, that is, saving the cost of a Trainer Supporter card of a Boss's Orders being able to use others in the deck like Welder and Blacksmith, for example.

Trainer Cards

- Kiawe BUS 116a is the fire energies accelerator in a single card. You search the deck for 4 fire energies and attach it to one of your Pokémon you choose, and if you do, your turn ends.

This card is only good for turn 1 on your second turn or turn 2, as it makes you lose the turn.

- Welder UNB 189a is the best energizer in the deck, as it attaches two fire energies from your hand to one of your Pokémon and if you do, draws 3 cards from the top of the deck.

It's almost mandatory for a fire-type archetype to have this card, as it guarantees dynamic power up and very generous Draw Power.

- Blacksmith FLF 88 is the second-best energizer in the deck as it attaches two fire energy from the discard pile to one of your fire Pokémon, it's usually good to avoid Deck Out.

- Fiery Flint DRM 60a has the tribute of discarding two cards from your hand to search for 4 fire energies and put them in your hand.

And needless to say, this card is just for the Welder UNB 189a combo to power up your fire Pokémon.

- Fire Crystal UNB 173 fetches 3 fire energies from the discard pile and puts them in your hand. And again, you can do the Welder UNB 189a combo to power up your fire Pokémon.

- Trainers' Mail ROS 92 is an item card that makes you search the top 4 cards of your deck for any Trainer-type card, choose one of them, reveal it to your opponent and put it in your hand, and then, shuffle your deck.

- Rare Candy CES 142 is used to advance the evolution of a basic Pokémon soon to stage 2.

- Evolution Incense SSH 163 is used to search your deck for a card of a Pokémon evolution, working alongside Rare Candy for recursive Pokémon.

- Heat Factory ◇ LOT 178 is a Draw Power in the game, where you Tribute by discarding a fire energy to draw 3 cards. So using Fire Crystal UNB 173 to recycle the fire energies, you can create this synergy with these cards.

- Giant Hearth UNM 197 serves to search for two fire energies in the deck, making the tribute of discarding a card from your hand as a requirement.

And of course, having Welder UNB 189a on the same turn, you can power up your Charizard VMax immediately, yet with the benefits of Draw Power as well.

Advantages

We have an advantage against grass Pokémon due to the weakness.

This is a very aggressive deck that can face any expanded format deck with brutality (either EX, GX, Tag Team GX, V, VMax, VStar, VUnion, etc), being difficult to be stopped if the setup of Incineroar UNB 29, Charizard PGO 10 and Volcarona SLG 13 is done; and even if there is the absence of one of them, which may not be present, he still manages to respond very well using Kiawe BUS 116a and Welder UNB 189a as Charizard power-up pillars.

Disadvantages

We have issues with the 1-1 line in the deck, which can be a problem not to speed up as fast as possible, and of the three, the most complicated is Charizard PGO 10, as it's the most important to be built due to its recursive ability.

Hand control decks that reduce your card draw power can be tricky, as Welder guarantees such draws, control decks that use Judge FST 235, Marnie SSH 169 , and late-game control cards like Roxanne ASR 150 can be an issue

Avery CRE 130 is your biggest threat as it can force you to discard your Pokémon on the bench, being able to sacrifice your recursive Pokémon.

And obviously, water decks that are faster to attack with low-energy and Single Prize, like Gyarados TEU 30, Dewgong LOR 34 and/or Politoed LOR 32.

It's an excellent deck, aggressive, and of course with my favorite archetype, especially with Charizard!

If you assemble all recursive Pokémon, you have extra damage with Incineroar, double energy with Charizard, and you can pull your opponent's Pokémon from the bench into active position with Volcarona, and that makes that deck become a tractor on top of your opponent. I had personally assembled it in tournaments I participated in, and I confess that it is efficient, and of course, having only the problem of setting up the recursive Pokémon.

And so, I would like your opinion with my deck assembly. What are your expectations? What would you change to improve it?

You are welcome to leave a comment below!

Until next time!