The Arcanine ex Moltres ex deck recently made second place in Pokemon Pocket tournament with over 600 players! It’s an off-meta Fire-type deck that heavily relies on Arcanine ex as its main win condition.
It’s not a deck that has seen much success, so it’s interesting to see player make it work in the current meta! I grabbed the list they used in the tournament so I’ll go over it and how the deck operates!
Arcanine Moltres Decklist
2 Growlithe A1 39
2 Arcanine ex A1 41
2 Moltres ex A1 47
1 Aerodactyl A1 210
2 Giovanni A1 223
2 Professor's Research P-A 7
1 Sabrina A1 225
2 X Speed P-A 2
2 Poké Ball P-A 5
2 Potion P-A 1
1 Old Amber A1 218
1 Red Card P-A 6How to Play
Early Moltres ex
Moltres ex is a Basic type Pokemon, so you have a 50% chance of drawing him your starting hand. You want Moltres ex in the Active spot as early as possible, attach a Fire Energy on him to activate Inferno Dance. Inferno Dance is ramp ability, letting you flip 3 coins and for each Heads, you can attach a Fire Energy to your Benched Fire Pokemon.
If you start with Growlithe in the Active spot, you can use X-Speed to retreat it and get Moltres ex to the Active spot. Once your Arcanine ex is in play, you can retreat Moltres ex to prevent opponents from knocking him out easily and rely on Arcanine ex to carry the game. Potion’s 20 HP healing is useful here to ensure Moltres ex isn’t knocked out easily.
Arcanine ex Carry
Arcanine ex is a Stage 1 Pokemon, so you’ll need Growlithe to evolve it and from there you can start pushing early damage on the opponent. The has 150 HP, which isn’t too bad, but that 150 damage will drop as you go for attacks.
For 3 Energy, you can activate Arcanine ex‘s Inferno Onrush and start dealing 120 damage. It can get knock outs, but will need two hits on high health Pokemon. However, Inferno Onrush has a downside, as every time you activate it, Arcanine ex will self damage for 20.
This can put you in awkward situations, making it easier for opponents to knock Arcanine ex out. You also will need Potion on Arcanine ex if he’s at 20 HP so it doesn’t knock it self out.
Aerodactyl can be a win condition with Primal Wingbeat attack. You’re relying on a coin flip, if you hit heads, you can shuffle the opponent’s Active Pokemon into their deck. You won’t get a match point, but if you remove one of the opponent’s win conditions, you can put them behind in the game and give Arcanine ex and Moltres ex the time to carry the game.
Since Aerodactyl is a Stage 1 Pokemon, you have to evolve it from Old Amber. However, Old Amber isn’t a Basic Pokemon, so you aren’t lowering the odds of drawing Moltres ex and Growlithe in the early game.
Other Pokemon
Rapidash can join early into the game and start attacking with Fire Mane, dealing 40 damage to the opponent’s Active Pokemon. Rapidash only needs 1 Fire Energy to attack, so you don’t have to commit too much to it.
Arcanine ex Moltres Weaknesses
- If you don’t have Moltres ex in the Active spot as early as possible,
- Arcanine ex‘s Inferno Onrush attach will self damage your Pokemon, so it can put him in range for opponent’s to knock out.
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