When I first saw Gouging Fire ex ahead of Pokemon Temporal Forces releasing I felt like this would be a powerful card. Despite seeing some promising success early on, including winning a regional in Asia, Gouging Fire ex has largely fallen off the meta.

While that’s too bad for such a strong card, it’s good news for anyone who wants to take advantage of this powerful and underrated deck. When decks are less largely played in the meta, players know less what to expect when playing against them. This gives you a leg up on the competition.

In this deck list and guide, I’ll be taking you through the Gouging Fire ex deck list I used to climb the Pokemon TCG Live ladder to the coveted Arceus League in just one week.

*Updated June 20, 2024

Gouging Fire ex deck list

Pokémon: 8
1 Squawkabilly ex PAL 264
1 Munkidori TWM 95 PH
2 Entei V CRZ-GG 36
1 Flutter Mane PR-SV 97
1 Delphox V LOR 173
3 Gouging Fire ex TEF 38
1 Radiant Greninja ASR 46
1 Mew ex PR-SV 53
Trainer: 16
4 Switch Cart ASR 154
1 Penny SVI 252
2 Energy Switch SVI 173 PH
3 Earthen Vessel PAR 163
3 Trekking Shoes CRZ 145
1 Hisuian Heavy Ball ASR 146
2 Boss's Orders PR-SW 251
2 Magma Basin BRS 185
4 Professor Sada's Vitality PAR 170
2 Iono PAF 80
1 Maximum Belt TEF 154
4 Ultra Ball CRZ 146
1 Forest Seal Stone SIT 156
4 Nest Ball SVI 181
1 Bravery Charm PAL 173
2 Magma Basin BRS 144
Energy: 3
1 Basic {D} Energy Energy 15
8 Basic {R} Energy Energy 10
3 Jet Energy PAL 190
Total Cards: 60

Why play Gouging Fire ex?

Of course, given Gouging Fire ex is a rogue deck in the Pokemon TCG, you’re going to want to know the reason for playing this deck. Apart from the fact that it has done well in Asia, there are several aspects of Gouging Fire ex that make it a compelling deck to play in the current format. Let’s break these down into a few key advantages this deck has when compared with other decks.

Gouging Fire ex is highly aggressive

I started playing Entei V as a primary attacker back when Brilliant Stars came out. For those of you who have been playing since Evolving Skies, you might remember when Suicune was a top deck in the format. When Entei V came out, it had some strong advantages versus that other legendary dog, including a higher HP stat (when that was unheard of from basic Pokemon) and it paired well with Magma Basin for energy acceleration.

Gouging Fire ex is like the Scarlet and Violet version of the legendary dogs from Sword and Shield in regards to aggressiveness, capable of taking KOs as quickly as turn one.

While being highly aggressive won’t always be a huge advantage (it doesn’t help you a ton against Charizard ex, for example) it can certainly help you take the lead early on in many matchups.

Gouging Fire ex benefits from insane energy acceleration

People seem to forget that fire has a ton of support from an energy acceleration standpoint. Right now, people use fire energy almost reluctantly. They’ll use it to power up their Dragapult ex, or they’ll use it in tandem with Charizard ex’s ability. But they don’t really want to lean into it too heavily, and haven’t wanted to since the start.

This Gouging Fire ex deck, however, takes full advantage of the many ways to accelerate Fire energy, meaning whether you are attacking with Gouging Fire ex or Entei V, you always have a way to get a turn one KO.

Gouging Fire ex plays well against other top meta decks

Gouging Fire ex does well against the other top decks in the meta right now. It has some better matchups than others but it’s certainly competitive with anything you are going to come up against, with its most notable weakness being against Charizard ex. With that deck seeing considerably less play currently, however, that’s less of an issue, and this deck build certainly has answers to it.

Gouging Fire ex is consistent

Finally, Gouging Fire ex is a very consistent deck. Its easy to set up, and doesn’t require just a few cards to get it right. Often all you need when getting your board set up is a Nest Ball or Ultra Ball and you can get things rolling.

Gouging Fire ex pace of play

Gouging Fire ex is an aggressive deck, so you’re going to want to do your best to get it set up as early as possible. Often, your very longest turn will be your first one where you are taking advantage of Squawkabilly’s “Squawk and Sieze” ability to dig through your deck. Indeed, that card is so vital to this deck’s strategy that some Gouging Fire ex players run two copies of Squawkabilly to ensure they get the ability off in the first turn.

I find that the combination of Heavy Ball and Squawkabilly works fine for me, however, and I rarely can’t find Squawkabilly when I need it.

Get as many fire energies into your discard as possible

One of the first things you are going to want to do when playing Gouging Fire ex is to get as many fire energies as possible into your discard early on. This deck doesn’t really benefit from having fire energies in the deck itself but instead benefits from having a ton of energies in the discard. This way you can accelerate them onto your Pokemon using Magma Basin and Sada’s Vitality.

Before using Squawkabilly’s once-per-game ability, I’ll usually attempt to load up my hand with energies via Earthen Vessel.

To Squawk or not to Squawk

However you do it, you’ll almost always want to use Squawk and Seize on turn one. That being said, there are some key times when you don’t want to use the ability, and knowing when that is important and honestly hard to explain in a blog post. You’ll have to play the deck a lot to get a feel for when to use the ability and when not, but in general, if you have what you need in your hand to get a turn one KO, you might want to think twice about discarding it all with Squawk and Seize.

The other time you might want to think twice about using the ability is when you have multiple Sada’s Vitality in your hand. This card is vital to the deck’s success, so you really don’t want to discard more than one in your first hand if you can help it.

Knowing when to use Squawk and Seize and when not to is one of the most vital aspects of this deck, as is how to sequence it so you make sure you make most of the resources you have in your hand before discarding them. How you sequence your opening turn and the decisions you make will often dictate wether you have the steam to win the game or not.

Who do I attack with turn one?

Another difficult decision you’ll face in this deck is which Pokemon you should attack with turn one. Because of how good this deck is at accelerating energies, and also because you have Energy Switch, you actually have three options for your first turn attacker. You can attack with Entei V, Gouging Fire ex, or even Delphox V. Below, I’ll take a moment to dive into each of these attackers and the situations when you would choose them.

Entei V is your pinch hitter

Entei V is your easiest attacker to get off. Thanks to Magma Basin and Jet Energy, all you need is to accelerate an energy with Magma Basin, attach a Jet and he’s good to go. This is even easier and more reliable if you went first as you can simply promote your Entei V to the Active spot, attach an energy, and attach another energy the following turn.

Entei V helps ensure you get a turn one attack off without fail, which is why I play two copies of it in my deck. However, against many decks it won’t be the right play as it has trouble taking OHKOs against anything bigger than a single Prize Pokemon.

Against decks with low HP basic Pokemon, Entei V is going to be your best first attacker.

Gouging Fire ex is your strongest attacker

If you can see that you’ll have what you need to get Gouging Fire ex’s attack off your first attacking turn, then this Pokemon is a strong option to power up right away. It’s capable of taking OHKO against any basic Pokemon and with the right damage modification can take OHKOs against even the biggest Pokemon out there in the meta.

Delphox V

You are rarely going to want to open your game with Delphox V but on limited occasions getting a turn one Delphox V attack off can ace the game for you. This is very difficult to do because the moment you bench Delphox V your opponent is going to search for a Manaphy to put on the bench. While this can be helpful in forcing your opponent to waste a search card on a Manaphy, typically I like to hold onto Delphox V until I can play it, power it up, and use its attack all in the same turn, something which requires a lot of moving parts to pull off.

Of course, your opponent will just bench a Manaphy in a best of two game anyways once they see your Delphox, so this move works better in Best of One or when Playing Pokemon TCG Live.

Damage modifiers are essential to victory

Gouging Fire ex does very, very well against other Basic Pokemon decks that don’t rely on high powered evolution Pokemon and often can outpace them to victory. That being said, because of the power of Evolution Pokemon in the current format, you’re going to need to get damage modifiers in place to help you out in specific matchups.

The biggest damage modifier this deck has at its disposal is the Maximum Belt Tool. Maximum Belt makes it possible for Gouging Fire ex to take OHKOs against powerful Pokemon ex even when they have an HP increasing Tool against, and also helps it reach the likes of Gardevoir ex in a single hit.

Meanwhile, you’ll need some additional damage beyond Maximum belt to take OHKOs against many evolution Pokemon. That’s where Munkidori comes in handy. I use Munkidori’s “Adrena-Brain” ability to move the damage I’ve incurred from Magma Basin over to my opponent’s Pokemon, making it easier to get those OHKOs that really help this deck excel.

Switch cards enhance this deck’s strategy

Because you’re going to have your Pokemon on the bench often to accelerate energies with Magma Basin, you are going to want to make sure you have plenty of switch cards around to get your powered up Pokemon into the active spot.

Luckily, there’s no real shortage of switch cards in the game right now and this deck runs many of them, including your trusty Switch Cart and Jet Energy.

Radiant Greninja adds vital draw support

When choosing which Radiant Pokemon to put into this deck, it was a hard choice between Radiant Greninja and Radiant Charizard. In reality, both are solid options that would likely fair well in this deck. However, Radiant Greninja is the clear better choice thanks to its ability to get those energies into your discard while helping you reach the cards you need to play more consistently. Radiant Greninja’s well-loved ‘Concealed Cards’ ability enables you to discard one energy card (basic or special) to draw two cards.

Gouging Fire ex matchup guide

We’ve established how this aggressive deck works now in general. However, if you are going to win big Pokemon TCG events or climb the ladder online to the top, it’s going to take more than knowing how to play this deck in general. You also are going to need to know how to play against the other top decks out there in the format. Below, I’m going to outline the key strategies you need to keep in mind when playing Gouging Fire ex competitively in the field right now.

Against Charizard ex

Charizard ex is your toughest matchup partly because it doesn’t care if you get out the door swinging with KOs because it will just come up from behind and OHKO your Pokemon anyways. Meanwhile, its tough to take OHKOs against Charizard ex.

In this matchup, it is vital that you start getting your Munkidori set up early in the game, even as early as turn one. If your opponent is playing the Clefa in their deck that lets them draw extra cards, use that to your advantage to take two knockouts in a single turn. You do this via Magma Basin and Munkidori. Accelerate energies two turns in a row with Magma Basin then shoot that damage over via Munkidori for an extra KO.

Meanwhile, there’s no easy way through Charizard ex. You’re going to have to battle him down with both Munkidori and Maximum Belt. The only real “advantage” here that you have is that Gouging Fire ex is more consistent than Charizard ex. If you can take out its Pidgey early on you also gain an upper hand as they will have trouble keeping up with your pace of play without Pidgeot's deus ex machina card search ability in play.

Raging Bolt ex

Raging Bolt ex is a favorable matchup for you simply because you have a type advantage against Ogerpon ex, meaning you can use Entei V to knock it out easily. Still, it’s easy to get behind in the prize race against Raging Bolt ex, and who wins generally comes down to who takes the first two-prize knockout. For this reason, you’re going to want to field a starter in your active spot. This isn’t full proof as they can gust it away with Iron Bundle if they are playing that card. Still, don’t give away the free two-prize KO if it can be in any way avoided.

I typically focus on getting rid of the Ogerpon ex over Raging Bolt as that’s the card that really makes this deck work.

Against Lost Zone Box and Giratina

Your main advantage here is having access to Flutter Mane. If you field a Flutter Mane and leave it at that early on, that can often mean taking the win. Against Lost Box specifically, Penny is a huge advantage. Use her to eliminate whatever damage they are able to do with Cramorant early on and get ahead of the prize race.

Meanwhile, against Giratina VSTAR the main thing is going to be getting Munkidori set up so you always have the damage you need to take OHKOs and win.

Against Gardevoir ex

Of course, we need to talk about the best Pokemon deck right now: Gardevoir ex. This is a very, very tough matchup, but it is winnable. You’ll need to go above and beyond, however, and winning this usually means either depleting their draw support by taking out Kirlia or getting a well placed two KO turn in via Delphox V.

The one nice thing about playing against Gardevoir ex is that you can take an OHKO against Gardevoir ex with Maximum Belt on your Gouging Fire ex.

Another strong play here is to use your Munkidori to limit the number of damage counters your opponent can place onto their basic attackers, or take easy KOs without attacking after they’ve maxed their little Pokemon out with damage.

Dragapult ex

Dragapult ex is a tricky deck to play against but not a terribly bad matchup for Gouging Fire ex. It’s neither particularly difficult or easy. The main problem is Dragapult ex is just out of reach for your Gouging Fire ex with Maximum Belt, forcing you to use both of your damage modifiers to take it out. However, you also can survive Dragapult ex’s attack with your Pokemon, assuming it doesn’t have a Defiance Band or your Pokemon aren’t damaged with hits from Magma Basin

Where I often find Dragapult ex’s biggest weakness is lies in energy acceleration. Dragapult ex doesn’t have the greatest energy acceleration so if you an catch your opponent off guard without the energy it needs, or KO the one that is powered up when one isn’t, you can pull ahead quickly. That strategy doesn’t work against every deck but it does against Dragapult ex depending on which build they are using.

All said and done, I love Gouging Fire ex. It’s a fun deck to play, and a powerhouse in its own right. I’m sure in the current varied meta we will see it getting more traction at competitive levels of play.

Gouging Fire ex Deck List and Strategy Deep Dive