Charizard ex, also known as “The Big Bad”, “Fire Lizard”, “Public Enemy #1”, and “The Best Deck in The Format”. Yes, you heard right. Charizard is currently the best deck in the standard format, and it has proven so time and time again in major tournaments, globally. Charizard along with its brilliant partner Pidgeot ex were both introduced in the Scarlet and Violet set known as Obsidian Flames. Ever since their debut, this deck has made waves, big enough waves that the current meta is centered around beating it.
This deck has made various 1st place finishes and top-eight placements in multiple regional tournaments. Its biggest performance was at EUIC in London this year in April, where one of the best players in the world Tord Reklev not only piloted Charizard to the top, winning the international tournament, but also revolutionized the deck and made it even better than what it was originally. After his win at EUIC with his refined list, many other players have flocked to this version and performed extremely well with it. Here are a few tournaments where Charizard ex has reigned supreme:
EUIC 2024, London – 1st Place Charizard ex (Click to View)
Philippines Championships 2024 – 1st Place Charizard ex (Click to View)
Regional Orlando, Florida – 1st Place Charizard ex (Click to View)
Deck List Showcase
Charizard Pidgeot CAD 112.97 - USD 82.79
Pokemon:
4 Charmander - OBF
1 Charmeleon - PAF
3 Charizard ex - PAF/OBF
2 Pidgey - MEW 151
2 Pidgeot ex - OBF
1 Radiant Charizard - Crown Zenith
1 Bidoof - Crown Zenith
1 Bibarel - Brilliant Stars
1 Rotom V - Crown Zenith
1 Lumineon V - Brilliant Stars
1 Cleffa - OBF
1 Manaphy - Brilliant Stars
1 Jirachi - PAR
Trainers:
3 Arven - OBF
3 Iono - PAL/PAF
2 Boss's Orders - PAL
2 Professor Turo's Scenario - PAR
1 Roxanne - Astral Radiance
1 Team Yell's Cheer - Brilliant Stars
4 Rare Candy - PAF
4 Buddy Buddy Poffin - TEF
4 Ultra Ball - PAF
1 Nest Ball - PAF
2 Super Rod - PAL
1 Counter Catcher - PAR
1 Prime Catcher - TEF
1 Lost Vacuum - Crown Zenith
1 Forest Seal Stone - Silver Tempest
1 Choice Belt - PAL
1 Defiance Band - SVI
1 Collapsed Stadium - Brilliant Stars
Energy:
6 Fire Energy
Allow me to start by saying that this list you see was improved and refined by Tord Reklev. Tord is simply a genius. The way he built this new and improved Charizard deck is just perfect. This deck can now select what draw support it wants depending on the matchup, and the same thing applies to its damage-modifying cards. If you want to deal 30 more damage to Pokémon V’s and VSTARS, you can choose to do so with Choice Belt. You can also do 30 more damage with Defiance Band if you’re behind on prizes.
You can choose how you want to go about the card draw. In most cases, you can start with Cleffa in the active and use its attack to draw more cards at the end of your turn, and let it die instead of a Pidgey or Charmander. If you’re going against a single prize deck like Ancient Box for example, you’d probably rather use Bibarel and Pidgeot ex as your main draw engine throughout the match, instead of Rotom and Pidgeot.
The main reason for choosing one over the other is because you want your opponent to take one less prize instead of two. Rotom V and Lumineon V can be a liability in some matches, but now with this version, you can choose how you navigate and manipulate the prize race. These kinds of choices make all the difference during a match. Aside from those, there are some other key cards such as Professor Turo’s Scenario and Roxanne. Two cards that can end games when played at the right time. Turo can be used to heal a heavily damaged Charizard, denying your opponent a future knockout.
Roxanne is a situational card that makes both you and your opponent shuffle your cards back into your deck. Your opponent draws two, and you draw six. You can only use Roxanne once your opponent has three or fewer prize cards left; a well-timed Roxanne can cripple your opponent's chances of closing out the game.
Lastly, this deck is packed with lots of ways to gust/swap out your opponent’s Pokémon, by using two Boss’s Orders, Counter Catcher, and the infamous ACE-SPEC Prime Catcher. Whether Charizard is falling behind or wants to stay ahead, it has the tools to do so at any time.
How To Play Charizard
As to how this deck plays, it’s fairly simple. You basically just want to get both Charizard and Pidgeot up and running as fast as possible to deal big damage with Charizard’s ‘Burning Darkness’ attack. As the game goes on and your opponent takes more prize cards Charizard will inevitably deal insane amounts of damage, making it easy to take out anything in one shot. It will be able to deal 330 damage when your opponent has taken five prize cards.
The damage that Charizard does isn’t the only thing that makes this fire lizard a massive threat. With a bulky 330HP, and being able to accelerate fire energy onto itself using the ‘Infernal Reign’ ability, this card alone has everything it needs to get itself going as soon as it evolves from Charmander via rare candy. Let's not forget our friend Pidgeot Ex, the other half that completes this beast of a deck as we know now.
Pidgeot ex is the backbone of the deck, the main draw engine that puts the pieces together. With Pidgeot’s ability ‘Quick Search’ you can search for any card you want in your deck. This means that if you want to knock out an upcoming threat, you can do that through Pidgeot; by searching for Boss’s Orders as an example.
To get set up fast and apply pressure, you’re going to want to get your Charmander and Pidgey on the board using Buddy Buddy Poffin. You want them out on turn one so you can evolve them ASAP. This deck utilizes two powerful Pokémon V supporters; those being Rotom V and Lumineon V. Rotom V becomes very handy when you want to draw extra cards in the early game using its ‘Instant Charge’ ability. Lumineon V is another reliable card that can help you find a supporter card in a pinch when you need it. The deck runs four copies of Ultra Ball, making it easy to find these two.
What’s even better about these two is that they can use the Forest Seal Stone tool and activate its VSTAR Power, which lets you search for any card in your deck, similar to Pidgeot ex, except it’s a one-use card. I’m sure you can tell already that this deck has a lot of draw power and has a very common theme of finding whatever you need whenever you want. Once you get your pieces together, the deck just plows through everything it faces.
If you want to learn the ins and outs of this Charizard deck, watch this video. The legend himself Tord Reklev goes over his choices for building the deck the way he did. This video was provided by James Cox. Another well-known competitive player within the Pokemon TCG Community.
Conclusion
There’s a reason why Charizard Ex is the best deck in the format. The reason is that it doesn’t have a deck that counters it entirely or beats it entirely. Overall, it just has favorable matchups in every deck. There are still ways to beat Charizard, but other decks have to take extra steps or add different cards to give it a better fighting chance.
Whether you are a new player to the TCG, a veteran, or a returning player, Charizard Ex is a very solid and powerful deck to build. Keep in mind that by building and playing this deck, you will have a target on your head as other players try their hardest to counter it. Another thing to note is that since the new set- Twilight Masquerade- has been released, it has yet to be determined whether there will be a new deck that puts Charizard in its place and takes the #1 spot, or if it will remain the best. Time will tell. Until then, it’s the best deck right now.
