It’s the BDIF For a Reason — Advanced Tips For Playing Charizard ex

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As the Temporal Forces format began in the west, Charizard ex was completely dominating. The deck was projected to be good, but it exceeded all expectations by winning at EUIC, Orlando, Perth, and São Paulo with several other strong finishes in addition to the victories. Charizard requires a bit of setup and doesn’t hit too hard in the early game, but the card is just too broken. Charizard has tons of HP, deals plenty of damage (especially in the late game), and is very difficult to counter. Grass-type decks are uncommon due to a lack of good attackers, and most Grass-type Pokemon trade evenly into Charizard at best. Ability lock is left high and dry after the rotation of Path to the Peak, so there is very little standing in Charizard’s way. Charizard is generally very powerful, and as a result it is able to...

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Is charizard still gonna be BDIF even with dragapult?
It probably will be, but not as dominant as it is now- but likely not because of dragapult. Charizard should have a decent matchup into dragapult because it can hit harder and also already plays counters to spread. Charizard’s real fear will be Ogerpon ex, if it’s any good.
 
It probably will be, but not as dominant as it is now- but likely not because of dragapult. Charizard should have a decent matchup into dragapult because it can hit harder and also already plays counters to spread. Charizard’s real fear will be Ogerpon ex, if it’s any good.
I had to pull up a Charizard list to make sure you weren't mistakenly referring to Jirachi (Which only protects from basics). You're referring to Professor Turo's Scenario (Which also helps against Stall) and Collapsed Stadium, right?
 
See, I think the issue is Pokemon players still dont know how to innovate outside of what a person did to win. When Tord won with Zard, running a list similar to what I'm running, EVERYONE at my league showed up with his list and were complaining about it. As a Zard main, I can tell you people are wrong about this deck being BDIF. Yes its strong but that is because Zard is good at beating big basics, which people are still playing since BW on.

The main issue here is skill. Like I said, pokemon players rather wait to see what wins and just play that. I will say Pokemon players are more skilled than Yugioh players since we have to at least build our decks and read cards but I still see all too often players doing what someone else did.

People who dont play Zard have no idea how often you need to choose between Pidgeot or Charizard early on and how fast a stable board just becomes bricked if you lose Pidgeot because of all the free Gust effects that exist on top of always feeling like you're one turn too slow. Prizing techs in a match just means you lose if you start slow, which happens often. I'd had games where I never get a Charizard out or Pidgeot and when I do, it just gets killed instantly by an instant kill move or any of the decks that sat on large hands because you bricked and they can KO anything with the energy dump decks.

I guess Im not sure what people are struggling with against the deck. You can turn off Counter catcher by not killing manders or pidgey early but it really seems like turbo players complaining that big dragon is a big dragon. Im glad to see a playable stage two thats not a support mon or Gardevoir.
 
See, I think the issue is Pokemon players still dont know how
The main issue here is skill. Like I said, pokemon players rather wait to see what wins and just play that. I will say Pokemon players are more skilled than Yugioh players since we have to at least build our decks and read cards but I still see all too often players doing what someone else did.
You have it backwards.

Pokemon players don't build decks, they just netdeck what wins because everything is affordable. Only top players stay ahead of the curve with deckbuilding and often times, it gets to a point where it is only a couple of cards.

In yugioh, deckbuilding is essential for even the smallest local event. Not knowing how many disruptions you mathematically need and which of those need to rotate in/out of main side deck is a deckbuilding complexity pokemon isn't even close to having.

Deckbuilding in pokemon is very forgiving as the game isn't frenetic and usually you can spare a few turns, in yugioh a poor opening means scoop phase. Bad ygo players blame the game usually, but their #1 sin is poor deckbuilding.

Also, yugioh has actual player interaction and not limited interaction like pokemon does. In pokemon, you can stop playing attention during your opponent's turn, go to bath and just check everything in the board, number of cards in hand and what's in the discard pile before he attacks and you are good.

In yugioh, you have to play close attention to your opponent because he can interact with you at any point of either player's turn which makes the game much more complex and requires more skill. Outplaying an opponent is way too complex for the average player in modern yugioh; pokemon 2024 is much more comparable to 2005 yugioh in terms of skill and startegy (skill is gradually winning card advantage to develop a better board than the opponent).

Moreover, the cost of top tier is actually a barrier for meta representation in ygo as people are often forced to play something else, which forces them to deckbuild better or they will get demoslished; also naturally limits netdecking in smaller locals. And don't even get me started in the insane sequencing Yugioh needs: pokemon sequencing is really basic.

Also, the "read card" comment is quite ignorant. Yugioh cards are insanely text intesive, because they have multiple effects and restrictions. A 40 card yugioh deck has comparable text to 10 60 card decks in pokemon. Just knowing your deck well, is comparable to knowing the full pokemon gauntlet in a diverse meta.

In pokemon you can read the cards in game, in yugioh, you have to memorize them, which is far more difficult.

Yugioh is way more complex and skill intensive than pokemon in pretty much every regard; game is actually having refreshing issues becasue of how complex it is (that's why rush duel and duel links formats were created).

Pokemon is a game whose main difficulties are finding the balance between early/ late game consistency and the widest toolkit available to compensate towards the lack of side deck. No wonder Andrés Torres which is a top yugioh player that casually plays pokemon could qualify to pokemon worlds by just playing a few events and has even been close to topping regionals and he doesn't play pokemon a whole lot.
 
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have you ever played league of legends? well, this charizard deck = playing garen. no brain involved compared to most decks
 
For reference, this is a standard yugioh card text:

During the Main Phase, if your opponent Normal or Special Summoned 5 or more monsters this turn (Quick Effect): You can Tribute as many face-up monsters on the field as possible, and if you do, Special Summon this card from your hand, then Special Summon 1 "Primal Being Token" (Rock/LIGHT/Level 11/ATK ?/DEF ?) to your opponent's field. (This Token's ATK/DEF become the combined original ATK/DEF of the Tributed monsters.) You can only use this effect of "Nibiru, the Primal Being" once per turn.

There are like 5 pokemon cards in just a single ygo text.

have you ever played league of legends? well, this charizard deck = playing garen. no brain involved compared to most decks
Lol no

Charizard is one of the most complex decks in the game atm. Anyone can play candy pidgeot/candy zard (and apparently not even that), but that doesn't mean you are playing the deck properly; you are just executing card's text and that only works vs subpar players with subpar decks.

Charizard mirror match is incredibly skillful. It needs you to keep track of pretty much every resource while trying to not die to stuff like Devo or Eri. Stuff like Lugia is easy to play, stuff like miraidon is easy to play, future/ancient are easy to play, etc. Because the options are limited, you just gotta make sure you get your basic option turn over turn. Zard achieves end games drastically different every MU and pretty much every game.

That's without even getting started on control zard variants, which are incredibly complex (Like Tord's Stockholm deck).

You should stop playing bad decks.
 
I had to pull up a Charizard list to make sure you weren't mistakenly referring to Jirachi (Which only protects from basics). You're referring to Professor Turo's Scenario (Which also helps against Stall) and Collapsed Stadium, right?
I have seen this mistake very often. so many times people forgets that Jirachi won't stop damage counters from Dragapult because it's not basic
 
Charizard mirror match is incredibly skillful. It needs you to keep track of pretty much every resource while trying to not die to stuff like Devo or Eri. Stuff like Lugia is easy to play, stuff like miraidon is easy to play, future/ancient are easy to play, etc. Because the options are limited, you just gotta make sure you get your basic option turn over turn. Zard achieves end games drastically different every MU and pretty much every game.
Competitive Pokemon players really execute something that is completely standard in other TCGs and consider that "incredibly skillful".
The funny part is most of that resource intensity comes from the fact you're playing mirror 90% of the time, so these little differences in deck composition and choices start having an impact. Outside of that, any current Standard deck is the most degenerate and simplistic way you can play a game of Pokemon TCG.
 
Is charizard still gonna be BDIF even with dragapult?
It will share a spot together. Dragapult excels at disrupting Charizard's early game setup turns because itself can reasonably set up and hit faster, but as this article also mentioned, if you let Charizard stabilize, it WILL inevitably take over the game from you.
Charizard is one of the most complex decks in the game atm.
That's a reach if I ever see one. I will concede that in mirror matches, but in non-mirrors, even against the 2nd BDIFs, you mostly just turn on cruise control after one Zard/Pidgeot.
 
Any charizard player who thinks it's gonna remain bdif after Twilight Masquerade becomes legal is on some copium. Lugia/Dragapult especially get some real good answers.

Sure it's strong but the current meta fits it perfect. It's more a right place right time type thing. Also no quick searching for boss every turn does not make a deck skillful.
 
You have it backwards.

Pokemon players don't build decks, they just netdeck what wins because everything is affordable. Only top players stay ahead of the curve with deckbuilding and often times, it gets to a point where it is only a couple of cards.

In yugioh, deckbuilding is essential for even the smallest local event. Not knowing how many disruptions you mathematically need and which of those need to rotate in/out of main side deck is a deckbuilding complexity pokemon isn't even close to having.

Deckbuilding in pokemon is very forgiving as the game isn't frenetic and usually you can spare a few turns, in yugioh a poor opening means scoop phase. Bad ygo players blame the game usually, but their #1 sin is poor deckbuilding.

Also, yugioh has actual player interaction and not limited interaction like pokemon does. In pokemon, you can stop playing attention during your opponent's turn, go to bath and just check everything in the board, number of cards in hand and what's in the discard pile before he attacks and you are good.

In yugioh, you have to play close attention to your opponent because he can interact with you at any point of either player's turn which makes the game much more complex and requires more skill. Outplaying an opponent is way too complex for the average player in modern yugioh; pokemon 2024 is much more comparable to 2005 yugioh in terms of skill and startegy (skill is gradually winning card advantage to develop a better board than the opponent).

Moreover, the cost of top tier is actually a barrier for meta representation in ygo as people are often forced to play something else, which forces them to deckbuild better or they will get demoslished; also naturally limits netdecking in smaller locals. And don't even get me started in the insane sequencing Yugioh needs: pokemon sequencing is really basic.

Also, the "read card" comment is quite ignorant. Yugioh cards are insanely text intesive, because they have multiple effects and restrictions. A 40 card yugioh deck has comparable text to 10 60 card decks in pokemon. Just knowing your deck well, is comparable to knowing the full pokemon gauntlet in a diverse meta.

In pokemon you can read the cards in game, in yugioh, you have to memorize them, which is far more difficult.

Yugioh is way more complex and skill intensive than pokemon in pretty much every regard; game is actually having refreshing issues becasue of how complex it is (that's why rush duel and duel links formats were created).

Pokemon is a game whose main difficulties are finding the balance between early/ late game consistency and the widest toolkit available to compensate towards the lack of side deck. No wonder Andrés Torres which is a top yugioh player that casually plays pokemon could qualify to pokemon worlds by just playing a few events and has even been close to topping regionals and he doesn't play pokemon a whole lot.
See, I play Yugioh as well as my main game and with archetypes, you dont need to do much. You just run your core and hand traps. I dont even bother reading or learning about other archetypes because there are so many of them. I play Floowandereeze and my goal is to resolve Harpie's Feather Storm so I dont have to read my opponent's cards and try to interrupt where I can or think I can but more card text doesnt mean skillful. You side for going first or second in a game where you want to go first and that isnt a real choice. Pokemon players dont have this blueprint for archetypes, like Yugioh does, which makes Pokemon (at a basic level) a more skillful game because Pokemon doesnt have named archetypes. We still need to make the cards work. Pidgeot just make a very bricky deck more consistent and the skill from Pidgeot depends on how you build your deck.

In my experience, yugioh players lose because they dont use archetypes or chose a bad one that loses in standby. Im not saying yugioh isnt a skillful game, Im saying Yugioh does more hand holding than Pokemon does.
 
You have it backwards.

Pokemon players don't build decks, they just netdeck what wins because everything is affordable. Only top players stay ahead of the curve with deckbuilding and often times, it gets to a point where it is only a couple of cards.

In yugioh, deckbuilding is essential for even the smallest local event. Not knowing how many disruptions you mathematically need and which of those need to rotate in/out of main side deck is a deckbuilding complexity pokemon isn't even close to having.

Deckbuilding in pokemon is very forgiving as the game isn't frenetic and usually you can spare a few turns, in yugioh a poor opening means scoop phase. Bad ygo players blame the game usually, but their #1 sin is poor deckbuilding.

Also, yugioh has actual player interaction and not limited interaction like pokemon does. In pokemon, you can stop playing attention during your opponent's turn, go to bath and just check everything in the board, number of cards in hand and what's in the discard pile before he attacks and you are good.

In yugioh, you have to play close attention to your opponent because he can interact with you at any point of either player's turn which makes the game much more complex and requires more skill. Outplaying an opponent is way too complex for the average player in modern yugioh; pokemon 2024 is much more comparable to 2005 yugioh in terms of skill and startegy (skill is gradually winning card advantage to develop a better board than the opponent).

Moreover, the cost of top tier is actually a barrier for meta representation in ygo as people are often forced to play something else, which forces them to deckbuild better or they will get demoslished; also naturally limits netdecking in smaller locals. And don't even get me started in the insane sequencing Yugioh needs: pokemon sequencing is really basic.

Also, the "read card" comment is quite ignorant. Yugioh cards are insanely text intesive, because they have multiple effects and restrictions. A 40 card yugioh deck has comparable text to 10 60 card decks in pokemon. Just knowing your deck well, is comparable to knowing the full pokemon gauntlet in a diverse meta.

In pokemon you can read the cards in game, in yugioh, you have to memorize them, which is far more difficult.

Yugioh is way more complex and skill intensive than pokemon in pretty much every regard; game is actually having refreshing issues becasue of how complex it is (that's why rush duel and duel links formats were created).

Pokemon is a game whose main difficulties are finding the balance between early/ late game consistency and the widest toolkit available to compensate towards the lack of side deck. No wonder Andrés Torres which is a top yugioh player that casually plays pokemon could qualify to pokemon worlds by just playing a few events and has even been close to topping regionals and he doesn't play pokemon a whole lot.
This is all cool, but if Pokemon didn't require much skill then you couldn't see the same players topping every event (especially given the events have over a thousand players). The fact you do means that there's enough space for players skill to determine if they're good or bad, and if that can be achieved without making the game overly complex and painfully annoying to play and learn, then this is actually an example of a very well-designed game. So you may be right about the differences between YuGiOh and Pokemon (I wouldn't know), but your description makes me feel less interested in YuGiOh. Complexity in itself is not compelling, but if it's you're thing than cool.
 
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It probably will be, but not as dominant as it is now- but likely not because of dragapult. Charizard should have a decent matchup into dragapult because it can hit harder and also already plays counters to spread. Charizard’s real fear will be Ogerpon ex, if it’s any good.
There’s no way it’s still bdif. If pult can easily tm devo and wipe your board, and Zara doesn’t love any on the new decks either. Its still good for sure, but I highly doubt it will come close to what its been in this format
 
Competitive Pokemon players really execute something that is completely standard in other TCGs and consider that "incredibly skillful".
The funny part is most of that resource intensity comes from the fact you're playing mirror 90% of the time, so these little differences in deck composition and choices start having an impact. Outside of that, any current Standard deck is the most degenerate and simplistic way you can play a game of Pokemon TCG.
This is insulting and hyperbolic, at best. To be honest, saying you're playing mirrors 90% of the time is closer to lying than to hyperbole because of how ridiculous it is.
 
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