Infernape ex – Space-Time Smackdown
Date Reviewed: February 8, 2025
Ratings Summary:
Standard:
Expanded:
Limited:
Ratings are based on a 1 to 5 scale. 1 is horrible. 3 is average. 5 is great.
Reviews Below:
Otaku
Note: Though it pains me to admit, I made some mistakes in yesterday’s review of Lucario (A2 092, 170). I’ve made corrections to it, and wanted any who read it before then to know.
The ninth best Pokémon of Space-Time Smackdown is Infernape ex (A2 029, 181, 197)! It’s a Stage 2 (F) Pokémon ex that evolves from Monferno, which in turn evolves from Chimchar. Infernape ex has 170 HP, (W) Weakness, zero Retreat Cost, and one attack. “Flare Blitz” costs (R)(R) and does 140 damage, while discarding all (R) Energy attached to the Pokémon using it. There are three versions of Infernape ex currently available; one at the ♦♦♦♦ rarity, and two at the ★★ rarity.
As a Pokémon ex, Infernape ex is worth an extra point when KO’d, and has to deal with anti-ex effects1. As Infernape ex made our countdown, yes, it has been appropriately compensated for these things. The same goes for being a Stage 2; they take the most time and resources to get into play, but Infernape ex has enough going for it to still be worth using. We’ll discuss our options for Chimchar and Monferno a little later in the review.
Being a (R) Type is good. In terms of exploiting Weakness, 62 out of 64 (G) Pokémon and 14 out of 15 (M) Pokémon are (R) Weak.2 Most of these Pokémon are already withing OHKO range, there are a few semi-competitive or outright competitive Pokémon getting OHKO’d due to Weakness3, before we consider combos. The only [R] support remains Moltres ex (A1 047, 255, 274; Promo-A 025). There are also now two cards with anti-[R] effects4; even if they prove competitive, these effects will only make things slightly harder for Infernape ex.
Even for a Stage 2 Pokémon ex, is 170 HP good. It takes more than a minimum extra heavy attack to OHKO Infernape ex before Weakness or combos. (W) Weakness is one of the more dangerous ones. There are still multiple high performing, competitive (W) decks. Palkia ex (A2 049, 182, 204, 206) hits for 150 with its second attack, so the Weakness enables a OHKO. There are also some combo-based OHKOs and 2HKOs made easier due to the Weakness. Infernape ex has a free Retreat Cost. This is the absolute best; unless its Asleep or Paralyzed, Infernape ex can retreat.
Infernape ex has no Ability, and only one attack, so it needs to be pretty great. For only (R)(R), Flare Blitz does 140 damage but you’ll have to discard all (R) Energy attached to Infernape ex.5 Is it really worth it? Looks like, based on results. The damage will OHKO most Pokémon in the cardpool, and thanks to (R) Weakness, there’s a little under 20 targets that survive. If you can tack on a Giovanni, it drops to less than a dozen, but it’s only fair then to recognize that your opponent could attach a Giant Cape and now there’s almost 40 Pokémon you can’t OHKO.
Now it’s time to address the lower Stages. We only have one option for each: Chimchar (A2 027; Promo-A 040) and Monferno (A2 028). Both are (R) Pokémon with (W) weakness, Retreat Cost (C), and one attack priced at (R). Chimchar a 60 HP Basic that can use “Scratch” to do 20 damage. Monferno is a Stage 1 with 80 HP, who can use “Fiery Punch” to do 30 damage. Both are more fragile than I’d like, but still playable. They’re even able to attack easily; the damage isn’t much but is enough to setup (or finish) 2HKOs with their final Evolution.
What to run with Infernape ex? The Energy costs on the entire line means your not automatically doomed when you open with Chimchar. We don’t have enough Trainer support to reliably survive and evolve in time to reach Infernape ex, but I wanted to plant a seed in case that changes in the future. You’re also not going to want to run another Stage 2 line, or something that can’t work without a non-(R) Energy source. Yes, this means I was considering Magnezone (A2 053), and that I want to allow hope this could change in the future.
Moltres ex (A1 047, 255, 274; Promo-A 025) is the obvious choice for a reason. The same reason it appeared in all the lists I sampled. “Inferno Dance” is the only (R) Energy acceleration available, even if it can be rather flippy. If it comes down to it, Moltres ex can act as a decent secondary attacker, especially when you want something that isn’t (W) Weak. Mind its (C)(C) Retreat Cost, however. Speaking of obvious, besides staples like Poké Ball and Professor’s Research, Cyrus, Giant Cape, and Pokémon Communication were in most lists.
As was Dawn, but she warrants some elaboration. Flare Blitz may discard all Energy attached to the attacking Infernape ex, but if you’ve got even one additional (R) Energy attached to something on your Bench, Dawn can be used to push it forward to an Active Infernape ex, so that your manual Energy attachment can ready (or re-ready) Flare Blitz. It can also be nice due to Inferno Dance; that attack attaches zero, one, two, or three total (R) Energy to your Benched (R) Pokémon. You can spread it out, instead of piling it all on just one target.
Plenty of lists didn’t add anything beyond Trainers and Moltres ex, but most would add something else. Some went with a Stage 1 attacker, like Arcanine ex (A1 041, 254) or Volcarona (A1a 014; Promo-A 028). These were just 1-1 lines, probably because the deck couldn’t accommodate any more. Arcanine ex is (was?) a decent Stage 1 (R) attacker in its own right, and doesn’t need to discard Energy to do it. Volcarona does discard (R)(R) when it attacks, but can do 80 damage to either your opponent’s Active, or one of their Benched Pokémon. Which means both can setup 2HKOs, or OHKO smaller targets.
A little more inline with how I’d approach things, some decks opted for additional Basic Pokémon.
I saw Chatot (A1 062) for setting up, a Magmar (A1a 012) since it’s a mini-Infernape ex, Rotom (A2 062, 164) for a single Energy (L) attacker, and Spiritomb (A2 104, 172) for easy damage spread. Perhaps the most interesting was Giratina (A2 078, 167). While it has a chunky Retreat Cost of (C)(C)(C), its Ability zeroes out its Retreat Cost when you have at least one Energy attached to it. Use it as a meatshield and a pivot Pokémon, and Dawn can even let you re-purpose the lone Energy you attached to Giratina.
Rating:
We’re still relatively early in the life of Space-Time Smackdown. The bottom of the countdown was actually difficult to determine, because I wanted something that played a significant role in a deck that was both competitively successful and sufficiently played. Lots of decks had great records… from the one small event where someone ran them. Infernape is here for checking all three of those boxes, as well as not overlapping with other picks that made the countdown.
It’s about the whole package with Infernape ex. It’s a promising deck I don’t expect to become top tier, but that I do think will remain borderline competitive. If any aspect of Infernape ex, or even the metagame, were less favorable, Infernape ex wouldn’t have made this countdown. It only beat Lucario because you can’t have an Infernape ex deck without Infernape ex… and I misread how well Rampardos (A2 089)/Lucario had been performing.
1The only example of this at the time of writing is Tauros (A1a 060); it’s “Fighting Tackle” attack costs (C)(C)(C) and does 40 damage, but does an extra 80 (so 120) when used against an opponent’s Active Pokémon ex.
2Unique Pokémon cards; cards with multiple printings still only count as “one” for these numbers.
3Bastiodon (A2 114), Dialga ex (A2 119, 188, 205, 207), Exeggutor ex (A1 023, 252), and Melmetal (A1 182).
4Piloswine (A2 032) and Mamoswine (A2 033, 160) have an Ability that reduces the damage they take from attacks made by (R) or (W) Pokémon by 30.
5If Flare Blitz is copied by another Pokémon, it would have to discard all (R) Energy attached to itself (if any).
We would love more volunteers to help us with our Card of the Day reviews. If you want to share your ideas on cards with other fans, feel free to drop us an email. We’d be happy to link back to your blog / YouTube Channel / etc. 😉 Click here to read our Pokémon Card of the Day Archive. We have reviewed nearly 5000 Pokémon cards over the last 25 + years!
