Standard Standard Fire Deck (Volcanion, Volcanion-EX, Flareon-EX)

[MeijiHawkeye]

I'm just getting back into the game recently and I'm trying my hand at a standard deck for an upcoming event. I was hoping to get some feedback from you experts here and some advice on how to improve my deck.

Thanks!

Pokémon (12)
1 Shaymin EX (ROS)
4 Volcanion (STS)
3 Volcanion EX (STS)
3 Flareon EX (GEN)

Trainers (36)
4 Ultra ball
4 Vs Seeker
4 Trainer's Mail
3 Fighting Fury Belt
2 Professor's Letter
1 Float Stone
1 Escape Rope
1 Switch
1 Energy Recycler
3 Scored Earth
4 Professor Sycamore
3 N
2 Lysander
1 Fisherman
1 Hex Maniac
1 Pokemon Ranger

Energy (12)
12 Fire

Strategy:
The Strategy is to use Volcanion (R) to power up both Flaron and Volcanion EX into one hit KO's of your opponents pokemon. You have a few ways to get energy into the discard pile (Sycamore, Ultra ball), and then Volcanion can bring the energy out using his first attack. Flareon lets you move the energy around so ideally on turn 2 you can have three fire energy on Flareon and start pounding. (I.e. fire energy on volcanion, ultraball a flareon, put two energy onto benched pokemon with volcanion, turn 2 play a fire energy on flareon then move one with flareon's ability). You can use Volcanion-EX's ability to also power up flareon for the kill.

Some of the problems I've had with this on PTCO are:

• Retreating my initial Volcanion - I often don't want to waste energy playing his retreat cost. It may make more sense to get rid of escape rope and put 2 switches into the deck.
  
• Too much energy in one basket. It's easy to get caught off guard by an opponent who OHKO's Flareon after you get 4-5 energy on him. This was okay back when blacksmith was available to power up the next in line but is more harmful now.
• Ability shut down. I haven't run into Garbador yet but I am dreading Flareon EX and Volcanion EX losing their abilities. I'm still searching for something to shut that off.

Right now I have 2 Shaymin in my PTCGO version but only one physical Shaymin so that is limiting that decision (for now).

Thanks for any feedback and ideas!

 

[TuxedoBlack]

Nice list. A few comments:

• 1 Ninja Boy is quite helpful in replacing 1 Basic, in play Pokémon with another Basic Pokémon from your deck. I've used Ninja Boy to save wounded EX Poké and denied opponents 2 prizes.... Lol. Consider replacing 1 Trainer's Mail with a Ninja Boy. Ninja Boy also can scoop up a benched Shaymin EX and put it back into your deck for possible reuse later too.
• I run 4 Volcanion in order to just maximize my chances of starting with 1. Consider replacing 1 Trainer's Mail with another Volcanion.
• Lastly, I run only 1 Shaymin EX in all of my tournament decks, and have found that's fine as long as I have "strong" (i.e., 8 - 10 Supporters) card-draw support.

 

[WastedSkyPirate]

Hi @MeijiHawkeye

Nice list - Volcanion is looking good for the new format and beyond.

A couple of comments:

• I've found Scorched Earth to be a bit unnecessary. It's a good Stadium for sure but it creates a bit of a conflict between discarding Energy for Scorched Earth and discarding Energy for Steam Up. The vast majority of the time, you'll be wanting to Steam Up as many times as you can during your turn. Instead Parallel City looks more and more like the best Stadium for the new format as it's the only way to get Pokemon off your board outside of attacks like Sky Return. Furthermore, it's Mega Rayquazza's worst nightmare!
• 3 Flareon-EX feels excessive. I find it's a decent backup attacker but, without Blacksmith, you rely on Volcanion for Energy acceleration and I doubt you'll be able to (or need to) set up 3 Flareon-EX in a game.
• I think you definitely need more switching cards. I'd be tempted to run 2 Float Stone, 2/3 Escape Rope and 1/0 Switch. As you mentioned, you're weak against Garbodor, so any card that gives you a chance to pull it into the active spot should be considered - Escape Rope is one of those cards and it gives you another switching option.

 

[MeijiHawkeye]

Thanks for both of these suggestions I'll be sure to try them out. I hope Ninja Boy is fixed on PTCGO soon so I can test him out.

I agree Flareon x3 is probably overkill, so I'll drop him and a scored earth for a few switching options (escape rope and float stone). I'll test this for a bit and then test swapping scorched earth out as well. Thanks!

 

[TuxedoBlack]

• I've found Scorched Earth to be a bit unnecessary.

Although it may overlap Steam Up from discarding energy, one still does not need to use Scorched Earth for card-drawing purposes; but it is a nice option to have. Secondly, what other other counter-Stadium would you suggest? Just having Scorched Earth to remove an opponent's Stadium is still quite helpful.

 

[LightningCloud224]

Although it may overlap Steam Up from discarding energy, one still does not need to use Scorched Earth for card-drawing purposes; but it is a nice option to have. Secondly, what other other counter-Stadium would you suggest? Just having Scorched Earth to remove an opponent's Stadium is still quite helpful.

I agree with you on this. The scorched earth is the preferable stadium. Similar to vileplume decks, you want to run 3-4 for turn 1 consistency. It also lets you accelerate a fire to the discard pile under ability lock, thereby reducing the impact to the early volcanion setup.

 

[WastedSkyPirate]

@TuxedoBlack @LightningCloud224

Yeah, I'm on the fence.

As I say, it's definitely a good Stadium and the list I've been testing runs 4 Scorched Earth! However, I've just not found myself using it as often as I thought I might. Meanwhile, the utility of Parallel City is really appealing - you can discard your vulnerable Shaymin-EX / Hoopa-EX, reduce your opponent's damage or reduce their bench space depending on the match up.

Perhaps a mix of Scorched Earth and Parallel City would be best - I'd go for 2/1 or 2/2 but it'll be worth playing around with.

 

[jessalakasam]

I personally like Sky Field as my Stadium I reccomend using it also maybe run 1-2 Hoopa