Mega Charizard Y ex took charge in the latest Pokémon Trading Card Game Pocket expansion, Crimson Blaze, with a ferocious attack that shows us why it’s called the Flame Pokémon. This Mega Evolution Pokémon ex takes time to heat up, but once it’s prepared, it’ll sweep opposing Pokémon away.
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2× Charmander (Shining Revelry) |
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2× Charmeleon (Crimson Blaze) |
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1× Mega Charizard Y ex (Crimson Blaze) |
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2× Entei ex (Secluded Springs) |
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1× Torkoal (Eevee Grove) |
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2× Professor’s Research (Promo) |
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2× May (Mega Rising: Mega Blaziken) |
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1× Sabrina (Genetic Apex: Charizard) |
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1× Mars (Space-Time Smackdown: Palkia) |
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2× Poké Ball (Promo) |
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2× Flame Patch (Mega Rising: Mega Blaziken) |
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1× Repel (Extradimensional Crisis) |
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1× Rocky Helmet (Space-Time Smackdown: Palkia) |
Game plan: Mega Charizard Y ex is the star of this deck, and the other cards included all help to set up the Flame Pokémon on the Bench. Being a Stage 2 Pokémon that requires 
Energy to attack poses a challenge, but it’s worth overcoming for its Crimson Dive attack, which does an incredible 250 damage—enough to Knock Out almost any opponent in a single blow.
Entei ex kicks things off as a tank to absorb attacks. While in the Active Spot, its Legendary Pulse Ability draws one card at the end of each turn. Most games, you’ll be able to get two Energy onto Entei ex and use its Blazing Beatdown attack, which can stoke the flames of an early lead.
If Entei ex is Knocked Out and its Energy is discarded, don’t worry—Flame Patch can retrieve that Energy from the discard pile and attach it to your Active Pokémon.
Another means of Energy acceleration in this deck is Charmeleon’s Ignition Ability. When you play Charmeleon from your hand to evolve one of your Pokémon, you may take a Energy from your Energy Zone and attach it to your Active Pokémon. Regardless of whether you utilize Charmeleon’s Ability to power up Entei ex in the early game or to get Mega Charizard Y ex ready to blaze the battlefield, it provides great utility from a Stage 1 Pokémon.
This deck includes a fairly standard array of Supporters, except for May, who tends to be less common. May is very helpful in getting the right Pokémon out of your deck at the right time—whether that’s drawing Basic Pokémon early on or Charmeleon and Mega Charizard Y ex later. However, keep in mind that to use May, you must have another Pokémon in your hand to shuffle back into your deck. Timing is key: you’ll want to avoid playing Pokémon onto the Bench until you need to.
Like all strategies that utilize Pokémon ex, it’s necessary to figure out how to handle an opposing Oricorio. The Dancing Pokémon’s Safeguard Ability prevents all damage done to it by attacks from opposing Pokémon ex, so Torkoal’s included in this deck as an attacker to circumvent it. Torkoal’s Flamethrower attack does 70 damage—enough to knock Oricorio out—and discards one Energy, helping set up a future use of Flame Patch. Repel and Sabrina are both effective in disrupting the Dancing Pokémon, too.
We hope you’re ready to ignite the battlefield with Mega Charizard Y ex’s fiery might, Trainers!
