Charizard ex is Back on Top Thanks to Dusknoir

Charizard ex just might be back and badder than ever thanks to a powerful new Pokemon card revealed in Shrouded Fable, Dusknoir.

Charizard ex players are pretty excited about this new card because Charizard ex as a meta deck has declined lately in popularity. With a meagre 5% share of the meta, it seems that people have finally gotten Charizard ex fatigue.

However, that’s all going to quickly change thanks to a new and powerful Charizard ex build.

In this deck list and guide, we’ll be diving into how Dusknoir boosts Charizard ex, and what makes it so strong.

Charizard ex Deck list with Dusknoir

Deck credit: Mike Pianka

• Charizard ex deck list

  Pokémon: 22

  4 Charmander PR-SV 47

  1 Charmeleon PAF 8

  3 Charizard ex OBF 125

  2 Pidgey OBF 162

  2 Pidgeot ex OBF 164

  2 Duskull SFA 18

  1 Dusclops SFA 19

  1 Dusknoir SFA 20

  1 Bidoof CRZ 111

  1 Bibarel BRS 121

  1 Lumineon V BRS 40

  1 Rotom V LOR 58

  1 Radiant Charizard CRZ 20

  1 Manaphy BRS 41

  Trainer: 32

  4 Arven OBF 186

  2 Boss's Orders PAL 172

  2 Iono PAL 185

  1 Professor Turo's Scenario PAR 171

  4 Ultra Ball SVI 196

  4 Rare Candy SVI 191

  4 Buddy-Buddy Poffin TEF 144

  2 Super Rod PAL 188

  2 Counter Catcher PAR 160

  1 Unfair Stamp TWM 165

  1 Pal Pad SVI 182

  1 Nest Ball SVI 181

  1 Lost Vacuum LOR 162

  1 Forest Seal Stone SIT 156

  1 Defiance Band SVI 169

  1 Collapsed Stadium BRS 137

  Energy: 6

  6 Fire Energy SVE 2

Perhaps one of the best things about playing Charizard ex for new players is that it’s not a hard deck to pick up. Unlike more aggressive decks that have to totally nail a complicated series of opening moves, with Charizard ex you’re looking for virtually the same setup ever game – Pidgeys and Charmanders on board. Some players will fully ignore running Bibarel while others find it helpful for consistency.

However you play it, though, you just want to make sure to have enough pieces in play that you will have something to attack with, and something to search with, on turn two when this deck starts getting going.

As this guide is more focused on the Dusknoir upgrade, I won’t spend too much time going over the Charizard ex basics. For that information, you can see the already existing Charizard ex deck guide.

Let’s look at Dusknoir and how it works in favor of Charizard ex.

Dusknoir gives you extra KO capabilities beyond the active Pokemon

One issue Charizard ex decks have always had is the fact that it’s a deck that doesn’t spread damage. However, Dusknoir gives you a way to deal with that. By being able to drop 120 damage on any Pokemon, suddenly you can start taking more than one KO in a turn, opening up a lot of different plays. This, of course, makes Charizard ex stronger as a deck as it will be able to respond to more situations favorably.

Next, Charizard ex is realistically one of the few decks that can withstand a Dusknoir Cursed Blast because it doesn’t get hurt much by losing a prize. Indeed, losing a prize to your opponent only serves to bolster Charizard ex’s Burning Darkness attack.

That being said, you don’t want to give too many prizes over to your opponent, so there’s really no need of running more than one Dusknoir.

Charizard ex with Dusknoir is going to be one of the decks to watch in competitive play right now due to this incredible, natural synergy. Indeed, this card serves to make this deck pretty scary good. It may not be unstoppable, but it is powerful and will help Charizard ex once again rise to the top of the meta.