Entei V Deck List Ft. Iron Valiant

I’m excited to write about this deck because it’s an update on an Entei V deck we first wrote when Entei V first came out back in brilliant stars.

Today, the way people are playing Entei V looks very different than it did when it first came out. Back then, people didn’t yet know what the best way to build the deck would be.

It’s found its way into some competitive decks, especially most recently with Charizard ex. However, Entei V didn’t find widespread acclaim until just recently. It’s big breakthrough happened at the Latin American International Championships where a creative and powerful Entei V deck took second place.

In this Entei V deck list and strategy guide, we’ll be taking a look at the mechanics that really make this deck sing, and some tips to help you get started piloting it to your own tournament victory!

*Updated November 28, 2023 to the latest, most poweful Entei V deck yet!

Deck list credits to 2nd Place LAIC 2023–24, São Paulo - Noah Sawyer

• Pokemon (11)

  Pokémon (11)

  4 Entei V BRS 22

  4 Iron Valiant ex PAR 89

  1 Radiant Charizard CRZ 20

  1 Medicham V EVS 83

  1 Squawkabilly ex PAL 169

• Trainer (40

  4 Professor's Research SVI 189

  3 Colress's Experiment LOR 155

  2 Boss's Orders PAL 172

  4 Battle VIP Pass FST 225

  4 Switch Cart ASR 154

  4 Escape Rope BST 125

  4 Switch SVI 194

  3 Nest Ball SVI 181

  1 Earthen Vessel PAR 163

  1 Lost Vacuum CRZ 135

  2 Future Booster Energy Capsule PAR 164

  2 Forest Seal Stone SIT 156

  1 Bravery Charm PAL 173

  1 Technical Machine: Devolution PAR 177

  4 Magma Basin BRS 144

• Energy (9)

  5 Fire Energy 2

  2 Double Turbo Energy BRS 151

  2 Jet Energy PAL 190

Entei V Deck List Broken Down by Card Type

Entei V Deck List – Basic Strategy

Entei V has been an underrated card since it was released. He’s a basic Pokemon V with 230 HP making him out of reach for a lot of attacks. And yet, thanks to powerful fire energy acceleration cards like Magma Basin, he can pretty reliably get an attack out turn one. Of course, there are some caveats to that, given to take significant knockouts against opposing Pokemon, you’ll need a significant number of Pokemon on your bench. Your opponent will also need a pretty full bench to reach higher numbers, as Entei V’s Burning Rondo attack does 20 more damage for each benched Pokemon in play (both yours and your opponent’s).

Entei V

Entei V is the strongest of the legendary dogs right now thanks to awesome energy support and an incredibly strong HP.

Market Price: $9.48

Of course, to help you make those numbers more favorable, you have Iron Valiant ex. Iron Valiant isn’t used to attack in this deck. Its simply there for its powerful ability that enables you to place two damage counters on any of your opponent’s Pokemon. You can use Iron Valiant to either clear out your opponent’s benched Pokemon while Entei V handles the big KOs, or to whittle away your opponent’s active Pokemon’s HP to put it more within reach of Entei V’s Burning Rondo.

Iron Valiant ex

Iron Valiant ex places damage counters on opponent’s Pokemon strategically with its Tachyon Bits ability.

Market price: $7.04

While you won’t be attacking with Iron Valiant ex, that doesn’t mean Entei V is this deck’s only attacker. In fact, you have several options when it comes to attackers. This deck leverages Radiant Charizard effectively, making it possible for you to take OHKOs late game.

Apart from Radiant Charizard, this decks strongest attacker is the versatile Medicham V. Medicham V possesses the unique and powerful Yoga Loop attack. Basically, it lets you put two damage counters on an opponent’s Pokemon. If you happen to take a knockout with that attack, you get an extra turn. And that’s huge. Indeed, in a game as tight as competitive Pokemon matches, it’s often enough to completely cinch the game if you get an entire extra turn to take knockouts, accelerate energies etc.

Medicham V

Yoa Loop is one of the most unique and strategically advantageous attacks in the game, granting you an entire extra turn if you manage to KO a Pokemon with it.

Switch Cards are Vital to Success

This deck runs plenty of switch cards, which actually really bolsters Entei V’s effectiveness. One of the biggest issues I’ve found when trying to build other decks around Entei V is that in order to accelerate an extra energy onto him to get a turn one attack in, you need to first have him on your bench. Then, you need to somehow to get him into the active spot to take advantage of Fleet Footed and to attack. But if you don’t run a lot of switch cards, it can be hard to do this reliably.

This deck sidesteps that issue by running an incredible total of twelve switch cards. Not only does this help make your Entei V more mobile, of course it helps you get plenty of damage out there with Iron Valiant ex’s Tachyon Bits ability.

Devolution is an Interesting Tech

Lastly, this deck runs one copy of Devolution. Devolution can be a crazy powerful tech against popular decks that run Rare Candy right now. By using it, you can really mess with your opponent’s strategy, putting their hard work in evolving Pokemon with Rare Candy to waste. Often, this attack alone is enough to singlehandedly demolish decks like Charizard ex, Chien-Pao ex, or even Gardevoir ex.