Pokémon TCG: Expanded - 5 Decks with Charizard & Leon (Vivid Voltage + Upgrades)

Greetings!

Today, we'll revisit one of the best "baby" Charizards ever released: Charizard VIV 25, from Vivid Voltage. It deals 50 damage for each Leon VIV 154 in your discard pile, so it can deal up to 300 damage!

Charizard: The Main Star

Its ability, Battle Sense, lets you look at the top 3 cards in your deck, pick 1, and add it to your hand. Then, you'll discard the other 2.

Ideally, you should discard 2 Leon VIV 154 with this ability so that you can deal more damage with Charizard VIV 25's main attack.

Speaking of which, Royal Blaze deals 100 base damage plus 50 damage for each Leon VIV 154 in your discard pile. So, if you use 4 copies of him in your deck and put all of them in your discard pile, you'll deal 200 extra damage with this attack. This means you can deal 300 damage with just 2 Basic Fire Energy sv3 230!

Fezandipiti ex: The Most Critical Recursive Pokémon

This Pokémon from Scarlet & Violet replaced Oricorio-GX CEC 95, which was very popular in Expanded in the past because of its ability, Dance of Tribute. It draws 3 cards if one of your Pokémon is knocked out by enemy damage in the previous turn.

Fezandipiti ex SFA 38 is its natural successor because its ability, Flip the Script, does the same. However, it also stands out for its attack.

Oricorio-GX CEC 95 was an easy target because it gives the opponent 2 Prize cards for knocking it out. Its attack also needs many energies ((P)(C)(C)), while Fezandipiti ex SFA 38's attack only needs 3 colorless energies. This makes it a lot more practical, as you can easily attach any type of energy to it and just use its attack.

Furthermore, it also goes really well with Welder UNB 189a, which lets you attach 2 Basic Fire Energy sv3 230 from your hand to a Pokémon and also draws 2 cards. As such, all you need is a third basic energy in your hand to use Fezandipiti's attack.

1st List

This deck centers around knocking out all the Pokémon VMax in Expanded.

If you can get your Charizard VIV 25 to deal 300 damage with 4 Leon VIV 154 in the discard pile, all you need then is Radiant Hawlucha ASR 81. Its ability makes your Pokémon deal 30 extra damage to Pokémon VMax as long as it is on your bench. This way, you'll be able to deal the damage you need to knock out every Pokémon VMax in Expanded.

Other recursive Pokémon in this list are Budew PRE 4, which prevents your opponent from using items on the next turn, Cleffa PR-SV 37, which draws up to 6 cards, and Mew UNB 76, which prevents your opponent from dealing "sniper" damage, like with Kyogre SHF 21 and Greninja VUnion. However, it doesn't protect your bench from "spread" damage like Dragapult ex PRE 73's, Dragapult VMAX RCL 93's, Mimikyu VMAX BRS 69's, Dusclops PRE 36's, and Dusknoir PRE 37's, or Mewtwo VUnion's.

Trainers

The most relevant cards in this list that attach energies or get them from your deck are Welder UNB 189 and Blacksmith FLF 88.

► Welder UNB 189 lets you attach up to 2 Basic Fire Energy sv3 230 that are already in your hand to your Pokémon. If you do, you can then draw 2 extra cards. You can use this on any Pokémon, not just Fire Pokémon.

► As for Blacksmith FLF 88, it recycles 2 Basic Fire Energy sv3 230 from your discard pile and lets you attach them to one of your Fire Pokémon in play.

2nd List

This deck centers around reusing basic Fire energy in your discard pile. You'll mainly do this with Victini SIT 23's first attack, Assisting Flame.

It deals 20 damage and also lets you attach energies to one of your benched Pokémon. It is very efficient against Budew PRE 4, which has become increasingly more popular in control decks as of late.

Trainers

What really stands out in this list is Raihan EVS 152, which you can use if one of your Pokémon was knocked out in the previous turn.

It might only let you attach 1 basic energy in your discard pile to a Pokémon, but it also lets you look for any card in your deck and get it. This way, you can filter through your cards and make sure you can play your main strategies down the line.

This Raihan EVS 152 / Victini SIT 23 strategy also plays a few great stadiums, such as Scorched Earth PRC 138 and Heat Factory ◇ LOT 178.

► To use Scorched Earth PRC 138, you need to discard a basic Fire energy. Then, you'll draw 3 cards.

3rd List

This list uses the same main strategy as our first. In particular, it uses Radiant Hawlucha ASR 81 to deal 30 extra damage to Pokémon VMax. It also plays Victini SSP 21, whose ability makes your evolved Fire Pokémon deal 10 extra damage.

If you can get Charizard VIV 25 to deal 300 damage with 4 Leon VIV 154 in your discard pile, Victini SSP 21 will make sure it knocks out everything in its way.

Furthermore, there's a trick you can use with Leon VIV 154: if you play it on your turn, it lets you deal 30 extra damage to your opponent's active Pokémon. With Victini SSP 21 on your bench, you could deal up to 340 damage with a single strike!

Trainers

This version stands out for its Mela sv4 167, which you can play if one of your Pokémon was knocked out in the previous turn.

If you manage to use it, it lets you attach 1 Basic Fire Energy sv3 230 to any Pokémon in play and then draw until you have 6 cards in your hand.

4th List

This list is a bit more aggressive. It centers around Charizard VIV 25 and discarding 4 copies of Leon VIV 154 so that Charizard can deal 300 damage as fast as possible. It also uses VS Seeker PHF 109 to recycle 1 Leon VIV 154 so that you can use its effect to deal 330 damage.

Trainers

The main star in this list, besides Mela sv4 167, is Carmine PRE 103, which lets you discard cards in your hand to draw new ones.

Unlike Professor's Research, you can use Carmine PRE 103 on the first turn and ignore the main Pokémon TCG rule that states we "can only use supporters when we're second to play on our first turn". Like so, you can start discarding Leon VIV 154 straight away, even if Carmine PRE 103 only gives you 5 cards instead of Professor's Research's 7 cards.

But, to fix that, this list also plays Battle Compressor Team Flare Gear PHF 92. It'll let you filter and discard up to 3 copies of Leon VIV 154.

Furthermore, if you're losing the game, you can use Defiance Band sv1 169, which lets you deal an extra 30 damage. With all of these cards, including Leon VIV 154, you can deal up to 360 damage, which is ideal if you have more Prize cards remaining than your opponent.

5th List

This is the "slowest" list out of all five in this article because it relies on many stage 1 support Pokémon.

The main one is Cinccino SSH 147. Its ability, Make Do, draws 2 cards if you discard 1 from your hand. You must use this card to discard at least 1 Leon VIV 154 so that your Charizard VIV 25 can deal more damage.

Another highlight is Rabsca TEF 24. Its ability, Spherical Shield, makes your benched Pokémon immune to enemy effects and damage. In other words, it protects your bench against sniper and spread damage.

Trainers

The card that stands out the most is Hyper Aroma TWM 152, the ACE SPEC that lets you evolve up to 3 stage 1 Pokémon from your deck. This is great in this strategy and sets this particular list apart from the others, as they prefer Computer Search BCR 137 or Secret Box TWM 163.

It also plays Battle Compressor Team Flare Gear PHF 92 so that you can discard 3 Leon VIV 154 straight away.

Finally, because this deck plays many low-HP "baby" Pokémon and their evolution lines, it is a bit fragile. The answer for that was Defiance Band sv1 169, which will let you deal 30 extra damage. This way, you'll deal over 330 damage and knock out the most resilient enemy Pokémon.

Pros

This entire archetype can easily deal a lot of damage for just two Fire energies. It also plays many cards to get those energies, like Welder UNB 189a, Mela sv4 167, and Blacksmith FLF 88, which are very common in this type of list.

You'll have many recursive Pokémon for the most various situations, including "baby" and Rule Box Pokémon. Among them, Fezandipiti ex SFA 38 could attack every once in a while, as it deals 100 damage and could knock out anything Charizard VIV 25 can't.

It fares pretty well against the most powerful decks in Expanded, including decks with TAG TEAM-GX, Pokémon VMax, Pokémon VStar, Pokémon VUnion, and Pokémon ex (from Scarlet & Violet), often knocking them out with a single strike.

This archetype could even knock out Mega Evolution's Mega Pokémon ex with two attacks, as long as your opponent doesn't play heals like Max Potion GRI 128 and Wally's Compassion MEG 132.

Cons

However, this strategy is a bit slow, as it often involves stage 2 Pokémon. So, you'll need to set up fast. Any delays could compromise the entire strategy and the Prize card race.

Water decks are big problems because these are Fire lists that don't play any cards or special energies that neutralize this weakness.

"Single prize" Water decks, like Kingdra, represent nearly certain death. That applies to both Kingdra and Gyarados TEU 30.

Drednaw SCR 44 lists are also an issue because its ability protects it from any attack that deals over 200 damage.

Water decks that deal a lot of damage with just a few energies, like Origin Forme Palkia VSTAR ASR 40 and Suicune V EVS 31, are complicated opponents.

Mewtwo & Mew-GX UNM 71, alongside Glaceon-EX FCO 20's second attack, is troublesome, as it prevents evolution Pokémon from dealing damage.

Dragonite V with ADP is also a problem.

Finally, control decks that limit your bench slots, like Glimmora ex sv3 123, or decks with Avery CRE 130, are difficult.

This deck was a favorite of mine in the old TCG Online (before TCG Live came out). It easily rivaled tough lists, like VMax and TAG TEAM-GX.

At the time, I played Snorlax VIV 131 to draw cards as an alternative to Tropical Beach PR-BLW BW28, which was inaccessible to many players.

Its weak spot was that it was vulnerable to "stall" strategies. They'd frequently pull Snorlax VIV 131 into the active spot (usually with Echoing Horn CRE 136). As this list didn't have space for Switch, the opponent could easily win this way. This changed when Scarlet & Violet gave us Cleffa PR-SV 37. It still sees play today as a card draw tool, as our first list shows.

Another important addition was Carmine PRE 103. It allows us to renew our hand without relying on Supporters, who are so often limited by the rules. That way, we can avoid delays that could compromise our decisive turns.

Finally, Mela sv4 167 is also crucial, both to attach energies and to draw cards. It can deal with disruptive cards like Judge FST 235, N FCO 105, Marnie CPA 56, and Iono sv2 185.

Without a question, this is one of the best "baby" Pokémon lists for Expanded. It holds a special place in my heart and has always been versatile. As more cards come out, it gains new possibilities.

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

Thank you for reading, and see you next time!