Arcanine ex Deck Strategy – Pokemon TCG Standard

May 24

Several competitive archetypes came out of Pokemon Scarlet and Violet. Arcanine ex wasn’t one of them. But in reality, it should be. Arcanine ex is actually a very strong Pokemon, and with plenty of ample support for fire type, and very few water decks in play, it’s a competitively viable deck. You just have to build it right.

Arcanine ex Deck – Basic Strategy

Arcanine was always one of my favorite Pokemon, and it was a powerhouse in its own right in the original base set. It’s nice seeing this Pokemon having the ability to hit for 250 damage with just three fire energy. Getting three fire energy actually isn’t very challenging to do. There’s a surprising amount of support for fire type Pokemon.

However, a lot of this support came out back in earlier expansions when water decks like Palkia, Ice Rider, and Suicune dominated the meta. Today, thanks to the high presence of electric decks, there isn’t a single water deck on the list of most competitive decks. This means you can play Arcanine competatively without fearing for much of a counter.

That being said, one very prominent card happens to be Radiant Greninja, and that card certainly counters Arcanine. However, even with the type advantage, you’re looking at only 180 damage, which is manageable. In some ways, the weakness here might actually play in your favor, forcing your opponent to give more attention to your Arcanine than the benched OHKOs they could’ve taken.

Arcanine ex Deck List

2 Arcanine ex SVI 32
4 Mew CEL 11
2 Rapidash SIT 22
1 Delphox V LOR 173
2 Ponyta SIT 21
1 Lumineon V BRS 40
2 Growlithe SVI 31
3 Entei V BRS 22
1 Radiant Charizard PGO 11
4 Trekking Shoes ASR 156
4 Magma Basin BRS 144
1 Raihan EVS 152
2 Escape Rope BST 125
1 Forest Seal Stone SIT 156
3 Professor's Research CEL 23
1 Klara PR-SW 302
2 Boss's Orders PR-SW 251
1 Energy Search SVI 172
4 Nest Ball SVI 181
3 Ultra Ball BRS 150
1 Energy Switch SSH 162
1 Choice Belt BRS 135
1 Judge FST 235
3 Switch SVI 194
8 Fire
2 Gift

Arcanine ex Deck Advanced Strategy

Okay, so we’ve talked about the basic strategy and the deck list. Now let’s get into some more advanced, turn-by-turn stuff. To play Arcanine ex well, you’re going to want to save powering him up for second. It’s a lot easier to start dishing out damage with Entei V than it is to get those three energies onto Arcanine. You can get your Entei V powered up pretty early on however thanks to a wide range of cards to support it, meaning you can start powering up Arcanine quickly with Magma basin while your Entei V is doing the heavy lifting.

When to power up Arcanine first

That being said, Arcanine can do 280 damage turn two. However, it takes quite a bit to pull this off. It can pretty reliably pull off a turn two 250 damage attack though. All you need is to have gone first, attached an energy, and then you can take knockouts against anything in play, thanks to Magma Basin. this deck makes all of that fairly easy with plenty of draw support, the ability to pull Trekking Shoes via Mew, and plenty of mobility cards (switch, scoop up net).

Let’s break it down into a few steps.

Start with Mew from celebrations in the starting position.
Pull the items you need and get Entei onto the bench. You’ll also need a Ponyta (this will come in handy later) and preferably a Growlithe.
Start dishing out damage with your Entei to setup later game knockouts, or just take the knockouts with Entei. In the current format, Entei is perfectly capable of taking knockouts against any basic out there.
Get Ponyta ready to evolve so you can start using Rapidash’s ability which allows you to discard a fire energy and then your fire Pokemon do 30 more damage. Voila. Now Arcanine is hitting for 280 which is basically the requirement in the current meta.
With a second Ponyta in play, you can even hit Pokemon with 310 health, making Arcanine a very powerful attacker indeed.
With plenty of damage taken, you can start taking key knockouts with Delphox V (assuming there’s no Manaphy in play). This can be handy when opponents switch Pokemon out, or to take two prize cards against single prize decks.

Arcanine ex Deck – Techs to Consider

This deck list works pretty well as is, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t room for customization. One tech I’ve been trying out is to use Penny instead of Klara. I’ve not found Klara to be a ton of use in battle. Meanwhile, Penny can make it a pain for your opponent as she can act as a scoop up net to any basic Pokemon in play. Entei V often tanks attacks and lasts another turn, so you can nullify your opponent’s advantage.

Energy Switch

Energy Switch can be super effective either in setting up your Delphox V, Arcanine ex or in getting energies onto your main attacker from your bench via Magma Basin.

Gift Energy

This deck needs to work fast if at all. That’s why you need a lot of draw cards, Mew, and Entei V to help get things going early. Gift energy helps keep that momentum going. It won’t work on Arcanine ex, but it can be handy to attach to your Entei V or Delphox V when you know a knockout is coming.

Raihan

Although it’s seeing less play than it used to, Raihan is an absolute must in this deck. It makes it possible to get some very cool plays off that otherwise wouldn’t be possible, and I’ve seen it work particularly well with Forest Seal Stone.

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