Charizard ex – Shining Revelry
Date Reviewed: April 13, 2025
Ratings Summary:
Ratings are based on a 1 to 5 scale. 1 is horrible. 3 is average. 5 is great.
Reviews Below:
Otaku
Charizard ex (A2b 010, 080, 108) is a Fire-Type Stage 2 Pokémon ex that evolves from Charmeleon. It has 180 HP, (W) Weakness, Retreat Cost (C)(C)(C), and two attacks. For (R), Charizard ex can use “Stoke” to attach three (R) Energy to itself, from your Energy Zone. The second attack, “Steam Artillery”, costs (R)(R)(R)(C)(C) and hits the opponent’s Active for 150 damage. The baseline version of Charizard ex is a ♦♦♦♦, but there are two different ★★ versions as well.
Being a Pokémon ex means giving up an extra point when KO’d, plus Meowscarada (A2b 007, 073), Red (A2b 071, 090), Sudowoodo (A2a 036, 079), and Tauros (A1a 060) do extra damage to Pokémon ex. As a Stage 2, you might have to worry about the Ability on Aerodactyl ex (A1a 046, 078, 084) preventing your Active Pokémon from evolving, but mostly it means having to run two lower Stages, and safely evolve from them, to reach Charizard ex.
The only (R) support is Moltres ex (A1 047, 255, 274; P-A 025), which is used for Energy acceleration via its first attack, “Inferno Dance”. It might be redundant, due to Stoke, but you can’t use Stoke until you evolve so Moltres ex is probably still helpful. There are two Pokémon1 with anti-(R) effects, but they’ve yet to prove competitive. Almost every (G) and (M) Pokémon are (R) Weak, which allows Charizard ex to OHKO all of them – before damage reducing effects – except Venusaur ex (A1 004, 251).
Charizard ex has 180 HP, only bested by Venusaur ex’s 190 HP. While this is not OHKO proof, it’s pretty close. (W) Weakness is one of the reasons it is “almost”; we have many good (W) attackers, and those none do 160 base damage, that’s where Red (and Charizard ex’s (W) Weakness) make the difference. Charizard ex’s Retreat Cost of (C)(C)(C) is just high enough that Leaf (A1a 068, 082) can’t zero it out. An active Charizard ex is usually staying an Active Charizard ex.
Stoke is a good attack, but it may very well be more of an insurance policy than anything else. Remember that fantastic 180 HP? It’s still probable 2HKO against competitive once they’ve got a decent setup… and since Charizard ex can’t hit the field before your third turn, there’s a good chance your opponent has that setup by the time you can Stoke.
Thanks to Charizard ex’s second attack, surviving to score the 2HKO is difficult… but most of the competitive decks are likely to have a backup attacker that can do the deed. Speaking of the second attack, Steam Artillery is a good, solid attack. Yes, it is very expensive, but it does 150 damage without any costs or conditions. 150 seems to be the magic number when it comes to OHKOing Basic Pokémon ex.
Now let’s talk Charmander, Charmeleon, (baby) Charizard, and the other Charizard ex. They’re all still (W) Weak, Fire Types. Both options for Charmander Basic Pokémon with 60 HP, Retreat Cost (C), and an attack that costs (R). Charmander (A1 033, 230, P-A 032) can use its “Ember” attack to do 30 damage, but then you have to discard a (R) Energy from itself. Charmander (A2b 008, 099) can do 20 damage with it’s “Combustion”. Normally, I’d want the 30 to shoot for donks, but losing that Energy can really slow you down, so use whichever you prefer.
Both Charmeleon are Stage 1 Pokémon that evolve from Charmander, have 90 HP, a Retreat Cost of (C)(C), and one attack. Charmeleon (A1 034) can use “Fire Claws” for (R)(R)(C) to do 60 damage. For (R)(R), Charmeleon (A2b 009, 100) can use Combustion to do 40 damage. I recommend Charmeleon (A2b 009, 100); though it does 20 less damage, if you have to attack with Charmeleon, you’re probably in at least a bit of a pinch, and doing well to have (R)(R) attached, let the three Energy needed for Fire Claws.
Charizard (A1 035) is a Stage 2 with 150 HP, Retreat Cost (C)(C), and the attack “Fire Spin”2. For (R)(R)(C)(C), Fire Spin does 150 damage, but it also forces Charizard to discard (R)(R) from itself. Doing 150 damage without giving up two points, why isn’t this being played? Because of Charizard ex (A1 036, 253, 280, 284). It’s baby Charizard, but better. Still a Stage 2 with (W) Weakness and Retreat Cost (C)(C), but with 180 HP and two attacks. “Slash” is the same as the Fire Claws attack from Charmeleon (A1 034), but “Crimson Strike” is Fire Spin plus 50 damage. 200 in one attack OHKOs virtually everything in the game right now.
Charizard ex (A1 036, 253, 280, 284) is competitive. Moltres ex is your preferred opener, building up Charmander, then Charmeleon, and – if it still isn’t ready – Charizard ex (A1 036, 253, 280, 284). Moltres ex usually gets KO’d while doing this, but the goal is to prep for back-to-back Crimson Storms. Most decks can’t OHKO Charizard ex (A1 036, 253, 280, 284), but there’s a risk they can take out Charmander or Charmeleon before it evolves, Moltres ex before it attaches enough Energy, or otherwise sabotage the setup. Baby Charizard needs the same setup, so you’ll still want to open with Moltres ex, which will still usually be KO’d while doing it’s just. Meaning, being worth a single point (instead of two) is no longer an advantage.
I’ve sometimes run baby Charizard as a backup in this deck, because I only own one version of this Charizard ex (and none of today’s version). It’s possible to run up to two copies of both baby Charizard and the older Charizard ex in the same deck. This could improve the reliability of your setup, but this is a Stage 2 deck: you’re usually having to sacrifice some other important card that aids in setting up, or covers some other essential function of the deck. A better Meowscarda match-up probably isn’t worth it. I mean, Red can’t increase the damage done to baby Charizard by 20… but it usually doesn’t have to, since baby Charizard has 30 fewer Hit Points.
What about Charizard ex (A2b 010, 080, 108)? Some folks are using it alongside one Charizard ex (A1 036, 253, 280, 284). You can only have a combined total of two cards named “Charizard ex”, so if you run both, you’re limited to one of each. Why? It’s a solid fallback plan or alternate strategy. Stuck evolving into Charizard ex ASAP, because Moltres ex was a no-show or you flipped mostly (or all) “tails”? Bring in today’s Charizard ex, Stoke, and maybe you can still get your deck going.
Or maybe it is just people who don’t own two copies of Charizard ex (A1 036, 253, 280, 284) but do have at least one copy of the new version. That might sound crazy, especially for tournaments, but I know I’ve been doing something similar in Ranked Mode. Not all the time, but some of the time, and using baby Charizard ex alongside my lone copy of Charizard ex (A1 036, 253, 280, 284). Though it can help when I face an anti-ex deck, as soon as I get another Charizard ex (either of them), baby Charizard is out.
Rating: 3/5
The score might be a bit generous, again. To begin with, I haven’t used this deck myself, but having faced it… yeah, sometimes being able to do 150 HP twice in a row, only failing to if your opponent can OHKO 180 HP or flips enough “heads” on Team Rocket Grunt (A2b 072, 091). If you’ve got both, may as well give it a try. Probably not at a tournament or in Ranked, but after testing elsewhere, then maybe in those places as well.
1Piloswine (A2 032) and Mamoswine (033, 160).
2Does anyone else ever see this attack name, then get the theme song from Disney’s “TaleSpin” cartoon stuck in their head. Except instead of singing “TaleSpin”, you sing “Fire Spin”? That’s… probably just a “me” thing.
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