The challenge for this deck will be the high Energy cost of Charizard
VSTAR’s attacks, but that’s where the new Stadium card Magma Basin comes into play. Not
only does it give us an additional Energy attachment per turn, it also
activates Explosive Fire’s extra damage. Drawing Magma Basin early and keeping
it in play will be the key to winning games with this deck. It is by far the
most important piece in finding success, and many of the other cards in the
list are chosen specifically to work well in combination with it.
Another Pokémon that synergizes perfectly with Magma Basin
is Moltres, and it
happens to be a great partner for Charizard VSTAR, too! Even with access to an
extra Energy attachment, it takes more than one turn to get Charizard VSTAR
ready to attack. In the meanwhile, we can use Moltres to either take out low-HP
Pokémon or set up bigger Knock Outs. Its 90 damage, plus 230 from Charizard
VSTAR’s Explosive Fire attack, adds up to 320, which covers most of the Pokémon
in the game.
Magma Basin only works with Benched Fire-type Pokémon, which
is why the deck needs to include a lot of cards that allow us to switch in and
out of the Active Spot. Air Balloon
is perfect for this deck because all of our Pokémon have a Retreat Cost
of 2 or less. I’ve also included two Switch
for some extra mobility. With both Air Balloon and Switch in the deck,
we should rarely have trouble using Magma Basin with the correct Pokémon.
Mew fits
rather well into strategies that include a lot of switching options. We need a
Pokémon to have in the Active Spot while attaching Energy to our attackers on
the Bench, and Mew fulfils that role while providing a nice consistency boost
with its Mysterious Tail Ability. It’s also the ideal Pokémon to open with at
the start of the game. Mew might not be completely essential, which is
why we see only two copies of it in the list, but it very much helps in
smoothing out the deck’s consistency.
Rounding out our Pokémon lineup are two Crobat V and one Lumineon V. These are the two
support Pokémon that can turn any “Ball” Item card into a fresh hand, making
them immensely important for the deck to function consistently. In particular, Crobat
V is great because it allows us to draw extra cards on top of using a Supporter
for the turn, which makes it more likely to find the Magma Basin we need.
Since Magma Basin attaches Energy cards from the discard
pile, our deck needs to be able to easily discard those Energy cards. Two great
cards that allow us to do so—and also work perfectly with our support Pokémon
lineup—are Ultra Ball and
Quick Ball. Another
option to discard cards is, of course, Professor’s Research, the best draw card in the deck.
Besides Professor’s Research, there are multiple good Supporter
cards you could fit into the deck. I’ve decided to include Zinnia’s Resolve, which is yet
another card that can get Fire Energy into the discard pile. Most decks at the
moment like to have a lot of Pokémon in play, so Zinnia’s Resolve usually
allows us to draw a nice number of cards. It’s also a Supporter card that doesn’t
completely replace our hand, which is important when we have multiple copies of
Magma Basin in hand that we want access to on future turns.
In addition, I play two Marnie,
which is just a generically good draw Supporter that provides some hand
disruption, an aspect that should not be underrated even if it isn’t part of
the deck’s main strategy.
One problem with Magma Basin is that it’s very predictable.
You get one extra Energy per turn, which is great—but if that’s all you’re
using, it’s pretty easy for your opponent to know when you’re going to attack.
That’s why we have one Raihan in
the deck. With this secondary extra attachment, it’s possible to surprise the
opponent with an unexpected Star Blaze, or alternatively, it’s a good way to
regain tempo when falling behind a bit. Raihan is also the only card in the
deck that can directly search for Magma Basin, which can be hard to find
sometimes—even at four copies. Keep in mind: Lumineon V can search for Raihan
in the right moment, so even though there’s only a single copy in the list, this
Gym Leader isn’t as difficult to find as he might seem!
As you might have noticed, the deck includes a very high
count of Boss’s Orders.
We don’t necessarily need all of them in a game, but drawing one at the right
moment can be the difference between a win or a loss, which is why I think
playing four is justified. This deck has a very efficient damage output,
provided you are targeting the right Pokémon. Moltres is excellent at dealing
with small single-Prize Pokémon, while Charizard VSTAR can take out Pokémon V
with Explosive Fire and Pokémon VMAX with Star Blaze. Ideally, it’s possible to
win in just three attacks!
Lastly, we need to be playing a lot of Energy cards to
efficiently use Magma Basin and power up all our attackers. With only one
additional Energy per turn, it’s crucial to not miss our regular attachment. In
addition to all the basic Fire Energy, Heat Fire Energy is a great card for this deck. Attaching it
to a Charizard VSTAR will offset the disadvantage of putting 2 damage counters
onto it with Magma Basin, getting it back up to 280 HP. It might not seem like
much, but can make all the difference!
Overall, this is a pretty simple deck list, but has a lot of
in-game options, making it enjoyable to play. It’s incredibly reliant on
drawing the Magma Basin, which is a big downside, but when things go well,
Charizard VSTAR is a powerhouse that is more than capable of keeping up with
many of the game’s top decks!
Pokémon VSTAR are the exciting centerpiece of the new Sword
& Shield—Brilliant Stars expansion, and what might be most remarkable
is that Charizard isn’t the center of attention for once! While Arceus
VSTAR might be getting all the attention coming out of the set’s launch, Charizard VSTAR has its own flame
to light. As is Charizard’s legacy in the Pokémon TCG, Charizard VSTAR is a
bulky attacker that can pack quite a punch. All of the Pokémon VSTAR feature an
unheard of amount of HP for a two-Prize Pokémon, and Charizard VSTAR is no
exception with its 280 HP. This bulkiness is hard to argue with, which alone is
enough to make any Pokémon VSTAR interesting to think about.
When thinking about building a deck, I always like to
consider the weaknesses the strategy might face. Charizard VSTAR is immensely
interesting for its high HP and high-damage attacks, but in order to use those
attacks, it needs a lot of Energy. Like I’ve discussed in previous Triple Play
articles, solving Energy acceleration is one of the most important parts of
constructing a new deck. There are a few possible approaches to consider: First,
we could pair Charizard VSTAR with cheaper attackers such as Moltres to buy time while attaching
the needed Energy cards to come in and make quick work of opposing Pokémon with
Explosive Fire. Alternatively, we could look for Trainer-based Energy
acceleration to get things rolling, as has fueled so many successful decks in
the past.
Unfortunately, the Standard format leaves us with Magma Basin as the only
significant accelerant of Fire-type Energy, so we have to leave that to
Stéphane’s exploration of Expanded, below. Robin’s deck explored the ancillary
attacker route, so that leaves us with the last choice: Pokémon-based
acceleration! In this case, we’re offered an assist from Coalossal, from back in Sword
& Shield—Rebel Clash, which has some useful synergy with the
aforementioned Magma Basin. Both fuel your Pokémon with Energy from the discard
pile, which is really useful: you can count on getting Energy back when you
discard it to pay for Ultra Ball,
Quick Ball, or other
draw cards. With 11 Energy cards in your deck to discard, getting them back into
play when you need them is important. There’s a long tradition of cards
designed to fetch Energy from the discard pile—Malamar
from Sun & Moon—Forbidden Light and Eelektrik from Black & White—Noble
Victories are just two popular examples that have been used to retrieve
discarded Energy as fuel for the fire.
Let’s take a look at how Coalossal can help Charizard VSTAR rise to the occasion:
Source: Pokemon
