Chien-Pao ex Deck List — *Illus. PLANETA Mochizuki*

Since its release in the legendary Pokemon pack, Paldea Evolved, the Chien-Pao ex deck has proven its staying power as one of the best decks in the Pokemon standard format.

That being said, the deck itself has “evolved” drastically since its initial release. Today, it is jammed packed with powerful cards that make it more deadly than ever.

Below, we’re going to get into some of the basics of how this deck works and give you some tips on strategy, as well as a detailed deck list based on the deck that finished in the top sixteen at Pokemon TCG’s most exlusive tournament: The Pokemon World Championships.

Chien-Pao ex Deck – Basic Strategy

Because Chien-Pao ex is a basic attacker, you don’t need to worry too much about getting him into play turn one. There are plenty of cards to help with that. Instead, it’s vital that you get two Frigibax into play turn one. This way you can evolve it using Rare Candy turn two and start taking knockouts.

Additional cards that you need to prioritize re Bidoof and Palkia V. Of the two, Bidoof is more important. This card adds an incredible amount of consistency into your deck, and as you will see many cards work with it to help you pull whatever you need from your deck when you need it most.

How to play Chien-Pao ex: step-by-step

Although Chien Pao ex is a basic Pokemon that doesn’t need to evolve to attack, playing Chien-Pao ex is more similar to playing an evolve deck than an aggro deck like Roaring Moon ex or something like that. This is because Chien Pao ex is virtually useless without Baxcalibur in play.

Ideally you would go first so that you can get your bench built up. To help you achieve this, you have plenty of tools at your disposal including Buddy-Buddy Poffin, Nest Ball, and Ultra Ball.

1. Bidoof is a vital draw engine

Although Baxcalibur is your most vital supporting Pokemon, Bibarel can be similarly necessary as its the main thing keeping your hand refreshed. Luckily because of Fezandipiti ex now being included in this deck it’s not the only thing helping you get more cards. But assuming you want to come out ahead you aren’t necessarily going to be able to take advantage of Flip the Script which only works after your opponent takes a knockout.

Much of this deck’s consistency is based around having a Bidoof in play. Cards like Ciphermaniac’s Codebraeking, for example, are literally only included because you can pull the searched cards directly into your hand with Bibarel, maximizing its efficiency.

2. Palkai VSTAR gives you back-up energy acceleration and attack power

There’s been a lot of back-and-forth about the best way to build Chien-Pao ex since the deck debuted. That being said, I think this version that includes Palkia VSTAR is certainly the strongest. Not only does Palkia come in handy as a secondary attacker, it helps you get around the total reliance on Baxcalibur as Star Portal can also accelerate energies in a pinch.

That being said, you really can’t solely rely on Star Portal because you will need to be accelerating additional energies. So try to get those Frigibax benched early so you can evolve them later!

3. Start accelerating energies onto your Pokemon

Like any good competitive deck, Chien-Pao ex has multiple ways to accelerate energies onto your Pokemon. First off, Chien-Pao ex has a powerful Shivery Chill ability that lets you search for two water energies from your deck. That’s not going to be enough to KO most of the Pokemon you’ll be facing but it’s a good start.

Combine that with Superior Energy Retrieval and Earthen Vessel to ensure you have the energies in hand you need to get your Chien-Pao ex ready to OHKO anything out there.

Again, Palkia VSTAR’s Star Portal can be clutch here, adding additional energies that you can use to take knockouts via Hail Blade.

Take knockouts with Chien-Pao ex and secondary attackers when necessary

Chien-Pao ex has the strongest attack out of anyone you’re going to be running in your deck. That being said, there might be times when it is more advantageous to use a different attacker. For example, you can use Radiant Greninja to take multiple KOs in a turn, or Palkia VSTAR when you either want to survive an attack or would rather not discard energies.

Leverage Iron Hands ex

Speaking of secondary attackers, don’t foret about Iron Hands ex.

Iron Hands comes in handy to get ahead in the prize race. Play Earthen Vessel into your lightning energy for a manual attachment to Iron Hands ex while using Baxcalibur to accelerate the remaining water energies.

Probably the most tricky play you’re going to have to pull off is the Earthen Vessel into Iron Hands ex for the extra prize card. Try saving Iron Hands ex for the maximum effect – that means use him against a two-prizer whenever possible.

Cards like Lumineon V and Squawkabilly ex are weak to lightning and commonly used in decks making them ideal targets.

That being said, Iron Hands ex is also great against single prize decks like Ancient Box as it gives you an opportunity to stay ahead in the prize race.

The Iron Bundle play can be a game changer

Lastly, it’s worth mentioning Iron Bundle. This card can serve a number of use cases, but one of the most important is the fact that Chien-Pao ex really needs to be taking two prizes each turn. There are some scenarios when you might get away without that, but the fact is Chien-Pao’s HP isn’t strong enough to ensure it will survive a turn, meaning your opponent could easily get ahead in the prize race if you don’t manage to take a two prize knockout.

What does that have to do with Iron Bundle and Hyper Blower?

I find Hyper Blower the most helpful in switching out single Prize Pokemon my opponent is using to shield their benched Pokemon with. This way you don’t have to play a Boss’s Orders or anything like that just to get to the more advantageous knockout.

Chien-Pao ex — *16th Place World Championships 2024 - Lucas Xing*

Pokémon: 17
2 Frigibax PAL 57
1 Frigibax PAF 17
2 Baxcalibur PAL 60
2 Bidoof CRZ 111
2 Bibarel BRS 121
2 Chien-Pao ex PAL 61
1 Origin Forme Palkia V ASR 39
1 Origin Forme Palkia VSTAR ASR 40
1 Radiant Greninja ASR 46
1 Iron Hands ex PAR 70
1 Fezandipiti ex SFA 38
1 Iron Bundle PAR 56
Trainer: 34
4 Irida ASR 147
1 Ciphermaniac's Codebreaking TEF 145
1 Iono PAL 185
1 Cyllene ASR 138
4 Superior Energy Retrieval PAL 189
4 Buddy-Buddy Poffin TEF 144
4 Nest Ball SVI 181
4 Ultra Ball SVI 196
3 Rare Candy SVI 191
2 Super Rod PAL 188
1 Night Stretcher SFA 61
1 Earthen Vessel PAR 163
1 Hisuian Heavy Ball ASR 146
1 Prime Catcher TEF 157
2 PokéStop PGO 68
Energy: 9
8 Water Energy SVE 3
1 Lightning Energy SVE 4

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Chien-Pao ex Deck – Key Cards

Prime Catcher is a powerful ACE SPEC card used by many decks to gain an edge over their opponents. It’s power lies in its ability to switch out your opponent’s active Pokemon for one on their bench. Because this deck runs a Prime Catcher, it doesn’t bother with Boss’s Orders – instead using other powerful supporters.

This is especially handy given the fact that you will often need to play an Irida in order to get the combination of Rare Candy and Baxcalibur into your hand. You won’t have the luxury early in the game to slap down a Boss’s Order’s anyways.

If you won’t be using Irida you will be using one of the other supporters to add valuable cards into your hand (like Prime Catcher).

The idea, however, is that Chien-Pao ex will just fight its way through whatever comes its way rather than bother with switching Pokemon to the bench.

Buddy-Buddy Poffin

Buddy-Buddy Poffin is ideal in this deck, letting you get your main support line set up quickly and easily. Getting two Frigibax onto your bench as early as possible can be a huge advantage and makes it harder for your opponent to snipe them before you have a chance to evolve them into Baxcalibur. Bidoof, another important Pokemon for your draw engine, can also be brought out with Buddy-Buddy Poffin. Essentially, your main board can be set up with just one or two of these cards.

How to Counter Chien-Pao ex Deck

If you’re looking for ways to counter Chien-Pao ex, there are a few ways to do it. While Chien-Pao ex is an incredibly well rounded deck, its main weakness lies in its reliance on Baxcalibur for energy acceleration. This means that in many cases, your opponent must rely on Irida to get what they need to evolve into this Stage 2 Pokemon.

This means that of all the decks on the top tier, this deck is the least likely to take out your benched Pokemon with a strategic Boss’s Orders.

Take out Frigibax early

The weakness in relying on Baxcalibur is twofold, meaning that to get there, your opponent is forced to bench an extremely weak basic Pokemon a turn before it can get its basic Pokemon – Chien-Pao ex – to attack. This gives you time to disrupt your opponent by taking out the Frigibax either with a bench sniping attack or a strategic Boss’s orders.

Using a Boss on a basic one-prize Pokemon may not always be a strategic move against all decks, but if your opponent manages to only field one Frigibax, taking it out early is well worth it.

Take Out the Bench If Your Opponent Doesn’t Have Manaphy

Chien-Pao is a crucial deck to play Manaphy in. But if your opponent isn’t running one, or if its prized, you can quickly gain the upper-hand by taking out your opponent’s bench. This is especially the case if you have a card that lets you attack multiple Pokemon in a turn.

Ultimately, Chien-Pao’s weakness lies in its inability to function on its own, requiring a plethora of supporting cards to make it work. While this may be the case for most decks, the other top tier decks can usually handle things with their main attacker once it gets setup. Chien-Pao, however, requires support the entire game through, so taking out that support line is crucial for victory against it.

Remember Bidoof can’t be damaged by attacks on the bench

While it’s really handy to take out your opponent’s bench when playing against Chien-Pao ex, it’s also important to remember that Bidoof doesn’t take damage from attacks. It’s better to wait until its evolved into a Bibarel if your plan is to attack it on the bench.

Chien-Pao ex matchup guide

Chien-Pao ex is a well-rounded deck with a good spread of matchups. Let’s look into some of the key ones below.

Regidrago VSTAR – a mixed bag

Regidrago VSTAR is not the greatest matchup nor the worst. On the one hand, you can scale your Hail Blade attack to get through Regidrago’s defenses. On the other hand, Regidrago can use Kyurem’s attack to penetrate your defenses. This deck doesn’t run a Manaphy so if your opponent comes out the gate really fast they could take out your Frigibax before you are able to respond. In this scenario, Palkia VSTAR is a vital card to keep around to help keep your Chien-Pao ex powered up and ready to go.

Charizard ex – Favorable

Chien-Pao ex has a favorable matchup against Charizard ex. You have plenty of weapons at your disposal to use against that deck, including using Radiant Greninja to take two prizes in a turn or Iron Hands ex to stay ahead of the prize race. Chien-Pao ex is fully capable of taking KOs against Charizard ex in a single attack, getting through Charizard ex’s biggest advantage which is its high HP stat.

Iron Thorns ex – mixed

Iron Thorns ex shuts off your Chien-Pao ex’s Shivery Chill ability but it doesn’t stop your supporting single prize Pokemon (except for Radiant Greninja). Assuming you don’t brick on the first turn, Bidoof can go a long way in ensuring you come out on top against Iron Thorns ex.

Chien-Pao ex Deck List and Guide (Worlds Top 16)

Chien-Pao ex Deck – Basic Strategy