Blaziken ex

What Blaziken ex looks like when you open the box

Across the 38 lists we counted, this deck runs 16 to 24 Pokémon, 28 to 37 Trainers and 7 to 13 Energy. Its attacks are paid for in Fire.

On results pages and on stream you will see it written « blaziken-ex-jtg ». Every card named in that label turns up in the tables below, which is what makes it a fair name for the deck.

The bit they tack on the end, « JTG », is a set code: Journey Together. They spell it out because several cards share that name, and this deck plays that particular printing.

Look at the Energy: 7 to 13 out of 60, when half the 126 decks we track run 11 or more. This one is lean. It lives on cheap attacks and leans on Trainers to find the right Energy at the right moment rather than stockpiling it.

It takes a while to set up. Blaziken ex is a Stage 2 Pokémon: you put down the baby, you evolve it, and then you evolve it again. Three cards stacked before anything attacks. That is what the hardest-hitting decks cost you, and it is also where they crack — a fast opponent can bury you before the line is standing.

Look at the Trainers: 28 to 37 cards out of 60, against a median of 31 across the 126 decks we track. Inside that, 8 to 16 Supporters, and the rule there is strict — one a turn, even if you are holding three. The 10 to 20 Items you can play all of in the same turn. It also brings up to 4 Stadiums, and 88 of the 126 decks we track bring that many or more. Only one Stadium sits on the table at a time: the one you play sends the one already there to the discard pile.

What Tools and Stadiums do — the two Trainer families we skipped here — and why the Energy count says so much: how to read a deck list.

What the card in this deck's name actually does

Blaziken ex gives this deck its name. Here is what is written on it.

Blaziken ex is in all 38 lists, 3 copies of it. Its Ability is called Seething Spirit, and here is what is printed on it, word for word: « Once during your turn, you may attach a Basic Energy card from your discard pile to 1 of your Pokémon. »

How Blaziken ex actually wins

Blaziken ex attacks with Smolder-sault for 200. It needs 2 Energy, 1 Fire and 1 Colorless attached, and it has 320 HP. And the number is not everything the card says. There is one more line printed under the attack, and it is the one everybody skips: "During your next turn, this Pokémon can't attack."

The cost of Smolder-sault decides your first few turns. You only get to attach one Energy a turn, and that attack asks for 2. On your own attachments alone, your first real swing lands on turn 2. Except it charges itself. Blaziken ex, which the list runs 3 of, has an Ability called Seething Spirit: it digs Energy out of your discard pile and puts it back on one of your Pokémon. An Ability costs you nothing: not your attack, not your card for the turn. That is where this deck buys its turns, and it is the first thing to look for in your opening hand.

Here is the detail that quietly loses games. To pull Blaziken ex back to the Bench you have to discard 2 Energy attached to it. Retreating does not cost you your turn, you can step back and still swing right after. What it costs you is the 2 Energy you spent 2 turns attaching, and you start that climb again from nothing. Pack a card that moves it for free, or send it up knowing it stays up.

Blaziken ex carries the "ex" suffix, and your opponent takes 2 Prize cards instead of one when Blaziken ex falls. They need 6 to win: 3 well-placed knockouts on that card beat you, where it would take 6 anywhere else on your Bench.

The attackers in the deck's core, with their best attack, its cost and their Weakness

Pokémon	HP	Attack	Damage	Cost	Weakness	Retreat
Close Blaziken exStage 2	320	Smolder-sault	200		Water ×2	2

The core: the 1 cards every list runs

These 1 cards appear in all 38 lists, without a single exception. That is 3 of the 60 slots. The other 57 are decided player by player.

Look at how those 3 slots break down: 0 Trainers, 3 Pokémon, 0 Energy. Pokémon dominate, which is unusual: this deck needs bodies on the board, and it depends on any single attacker less than it looks.

1 of those 1 cards do not sit at the same count from list to list: Blaziken ex (2 to 4). Add those spreads up and you get 2 copies the 38 lists do not agree on, inside the core itself.

What "3 to 4" means in the copies column, what the "TWM 130" code under each name is for, and why we count dozens of lists instead of one: how to read a deck list.

The cards present in every list counted, with the number of copies

Copies	Card	Printing	Kind	Rotation
2–4	Close Blaziken ex	JTG 24	Pokémon	leaves

The 147 cards that change from list to list

147 cards fight over the 57 slots that are left: 9 above three lists in four, 120 below one in four, and the percentage on each row says how many players took it.

The most agreed on first: Lillie's Determination at 97 %, Boss's Orders at 95 % and Fire Energy at 95 %, plus 6 more above 75 %. Add those to the core and you have the common build.

The dividing line runs through Blaziken, at 50 %: 19 of 38 players took it, 19 put something else there. The ones who run it bring 1 copy. Right at the bottom of the table, Mega Kangaskhan ex (9 lists out of 38) and Judge (9 lists out of 38).

Why a card at 45 % is not a bad card, and what order to buy all this in: how to read a deck list.

The cards some lists run and others don't, most common first

Lists running it	Card	Copies	Printing	Kind
97 %37/38	Close Lillie's Determination	2–4	MEG 119	Trainer
95 %36/38	Close Boss's Orders	1–4	MEG 114	Trainer
95 %36/38	Fire Energy	1–12	MEE 2	Energy
92 %35/38	Close Torchic	2–4	DRI 40	Pokémon
92 %35/38	Close Combusken	1–3	DRI 41	Pokémon
92 %35/38	Close Ultra Ball	1–4	MEG 131	Trainer
87 %33/38	Close Night Stretcher	1–4	ASC 196	Trainer
84 %32/38	Close Rare Candy	1–4	MEG 125	Trainer
82 %31/38	Close Poké Pad	1–4	POR 81	Trainer
71 %27/38	Close Air Balloon	1–3	ASC 181	Trainer
66 %25/38	Close Special Red Card	1	CRI 82	Trainer
58 %22/38	Close Buddy-Buddy Poffin	1–4	TEF 144	Trainer
53 %20/38	Close Fezandipiti ex	1	ASC 142	Pokémon
53 %20/38	Close Lillie's Clefairy ex	1–2	JTG 56	Pokémon
53 %20/38	Close Meowth ex	1–2	POR 62	Pokémon
50 %19/38	Close Blaziken	1	DRI 42	Pokémon
47 %18/38	Close Munkidori	1–3	TWM 95	Pokémon
45 %17/38	Darkness Energy	1–5	MEE 7	Energy
42 %16/38	Psychic Energy	1–6	MEE 13	Energy
37 %14/38	Close Reshiram ex	1	WHT 20	Pokémon
37 %14/38	Close Crispin	1–4	SCR 133	Trainer
34 %13/38	Close Dawn	1–3	PFL 87	Trainer
29 %11/38	Close Colress's Tenacity	2–4	SFA 57	Trainer
29 %11/38	Close Battle Cage	1–2	PFL 85	Trainer
26 %10/38	Close Latias ex	1	SSP 76	Pokémon
26 %10/38	Close Shaymin	1	DRI 10	Pokémon
26 %10/38	Close Grand Tree	1	SCR 136	Trainer
24 %9/38	Close Mega Kangaskhan ex	2–4	MEG 104	Pokémon
24 %9/38	Close Judge	1–4	POR 76	Trainer
24 %9/38	Fighting Energy	1–10	MEE 14	Energy
21 %8/38	Close Solrock	2–3	MEG 75	Pokémon
21 %8/38	Close Lunatone	2	MEG 74	Pokémon
21 %8/38	Close Fighting Gong	4	MEG 116	Trainer
21 %8/38	Close Team Rocket's Petrel	1–4	DRI 176	Trainer
21 %8/38	Close Prism Tower	1–2	CRI 80	Trainer
21 %8/38	Close Switch	1–2	MEG 130	Trainer
21 %8/38	Close Prism Energy	1–4	ASC 216	Energy
18 %7/38	Close Okidogi	2	TWM 111	Pokémon
18 %7/38	Close Pecharunt	1	SVP 149	Pokémon
18 %7/38	Close Hero's Cape	1	TEF 152	Trainer
18 %7/38	Close Lillie's Pearl	1–2	JTG 151	Trainer
18 %7/38	Close Xerosic's Machinations	1	SFA 64	Trainer
16 %6/38	Close Fennekin	2–4	CRI 11	Pokémon
16 %6/38	Close Braixen	1–4	CRI 12	Pokémon
16 %6/38	Close Delphox	2–3	CRI 13	Pokémon
16 %6/38	Close Dudunsparce	2–3	TEF 129	Pokémon
16 %6/38	Close Genesect	1–2	SFA 40	Pokémon
16 %6/38	Close Budew	1–2	ASC 16	Pokémon
16 %6/38	Close Brock's Scouting	1–3	JTG 146	Trainer
16 %6/38	Close Hilda	1–4	WHT 84	Trainer
16 %6/38	Close Secret Box	1	TWM 163	Trainer
16 %6/38	Close Unfair Stamp	1	TWM 165	Trainer
16 %6/38	Water Energy	2–7	MEE 3	Energy
13 %5/38	Close Dunsparce	2–3	JTG 120	Pokémon
13 %5/38	Close Moltres	1	PFL 14	Pokémon
13 %5/38	Close Tatsugiri	1–2	TWM 131	Pokémon
13 %5/38	Close Dusk Ball	4	SSP 175	Trainer
11 %4/38	Close Wally's Compassion	1–3	MEG 132	Trainer
11 %4/38	Close Area Zero Underdepths	2	SCR 131	Trainer
11 %4/38	Close Nighttime Mine	2	ASC 197	Trainer
11 %4/38	Close Energy Retrieval	1–2	SVI 171	Trainer
8 %3/38	Close Sneasel	4	ASC 44	Pokémon
8 %3/38	Close Weavile	3	ASC 45	Pokémon
8 %3/38	Close Maractus	1–2	JTG 8	Pokémon
8 %3/38	Close Mega Delphox ex	2–3	PBL 8	Pokémon
8 %3/38	Close Ninetales	1–2	CRI 9	Pokémon
8 %3/38	Close Flutter Mane	1	TEF 78	Pokémon
8 %3/38	Close Iron Crown ex	1	TEF 81	Pokémon
8 %3/38	Close Wellspring Mask Ogerpon ex	1–2	TWM 64	Pokémon
8 %3/38	Close Ciphermaniac's Codebreaking	1–3	TEF 145	Trainer
8 %3/38	Close Powerglass	3	SFA 63	Trainer
8 %3/38	Close Lumiose City	1–2	POR 77	Trainer
5 %2/38	Close Drakloak	4	TWM 129	Pokémon
5 %2/38	Close Dreepy	4	TWM 128	Pokémon
5 %2/38	Close Abra	2	TWM 80	Pokémon
5 %2/38	Close Alakazam	2	TWM 82	Pokémon
5 %2/38	Close Dusknoir	2	PRE 37	Pokémon
5 %2/38	Close Oricorio ex	2	PFL 18	Pokémon
5 %2/38	Close Vulpix	2	MEG 19	Pokémon
5 %2/38	Close Dragapult ex	1	TWM 130	Pokémon
5 %2/38	Close Kadabra	1	MEG 55	Pokémon
5 %2/38	Close Mega Absol ex	1	MEG 86	Pokémon
5 %2/38	Close Regice ex	1	ASC 48	Pokémon
5 %2/38	Close Academy at Night	1–2	SFA 54	Trainer
5 %2/38	Close Energy Search	1–2	POR 72	Trainer
5 %2/38	Close Lisia's Appeal	1–2	SSP 179	Trainer
5 %2/38	Close Lively Stadium	2	SSP 180	Trainer
5 %2/38	Close Risky Ruins	2	MEG 127	Trainer
5 %2/38	Close AZ's Tranquility	1	CRI 76	Trainer
5 %2/38	Close Deluxe Bomb	1	SCR 134	Trainer
5 %2/38	Close Kieran	1	TWM 154	Trainer
5 %2/38	Close Team Rocket's Watchtower	1	DRI 180	Trainer
5 %2/38	Close Enriching Energy	1	SSP 191	Energy
3 %1/38	Close Hoothoot	3	SCR 114	Pokémon
3 %1/38	Close Mega Zygarde ex	3	POR 47	Pokémon
3 %1/38	Close N's Zoroark ex	3	JTG 98	Pokémon
3 %1/38	Close N's Zorua	3	JTG 97	Pokémon
3 %1/38	Close Noctowl	3	SCR 115	Pokémon
3 %1/38	Close Bastiodon	2	PBL 62	Pokémon
3 %1/38	Close Dunsparce	2	TEF 128	Pokémon
3 %1/38	Close Duskull	2	PRE 35	Pokémon
3 %1/38	Close Mega Diancie ex	2	PFL 41	Pokémon
3 %1/38	Close Pikachu ex	2	SSP 57	Pokémon
3 %1/38	Close Spectrier	2	ASC 98	Pokémon
3 %1/38	Close Vulpix	2	CRI 8	Pokémon
3 %1/38	Close Chien-Pao	1	SSP 56	Pokémon
3 %1/38	Close Cornerstone Mask Ogerpon ex	1	TWM 112	Pokémon
3 %1/38	Close Dusclops	1	PRE 36	Pokémon
3 %1/38	Close Eevee	1	30C 116	Pokémon
3 %1/38	Close Emboar	1	WHT 13	Pokémon
3 %1/38	Close Espeon	1	30C 69	Pokémon
3 %1/38	Close Eternatus	1	SSP 141	Pokémon
3 %1/38	Close Fan Rotom	1	SCR 118	Pokémon
3 %1/38	Close Mega Charizard X ex	1	PFL 13	Pokémon
3 %1/38	Close Mega Charizard Y ex	1	ASC 22	Pokémon
3 %1/38	Close Mew ex	1	30C 66	Pokémon
3 %1/38	Close Oricorio	1	SSP 26	Pokémon
3 %1/38	Close Patrat	1	CRI 70	Pokémon
3 %1/38	Close Rabsca	1	TEF 24	Pokémon
3 %1/38	Close Rellor	1	TEF 23	Pokémon
3 %1/38	Close Team Rocket's Mimikyu	1	DRI 87	Pokémon
3 %1/38	Close Team Rocket's Persian ex	1	DRI 150	Pokémon
3 %1/38	Close Umbreon ex	1	30C 92	Pokémon
3 %1/38	Close Yveltal	1	MEG 88	Pokémon
3 %1/38	Close Pokégear 3.0	4	SVI 186	Trainer
3 %1/38	Close Crushing Hammer	3	POR 71	Trainer
3 %1/38	Close Blowtorch	2	PFL 86	Trainer
3 %1/38	Close Carmine	2	TWM 145	Trainer
3 %1/38	Close Jamming Tower	2	TWM 153	Trainer
3 %1/38	Close Jumbo Ice Cream	2	PFL 91	Trainer
3 %1/38	Close Morty's Conviction	2	TEF 155	Trainer
3 %1/38	Close Sacred Charm	2	PFL 93	Trainer
3 %1/38	Close Accompanying Flute	1	TWM 142	Trainer
3 %1/38	Close Firebreather	1	PFL 89	Trainer
3 %1/38	Close Haban Berry	1	PRE 111	Trainer
3 %1/38	Close Larry's Skill	1	PRE 115	Trainer
3 %1/38	Close Light Ball	1	ASC 191	Trainer
3 %1/38	Close Neutralization Zone	1	SFA 60	Trainer
3 %1/38	Close Prime Catcher	1	TEF 157	Trainer
3 %1/38	Close Redeemable Ticket	1	JTG 156	Trainer
3 %1/38	Close Sacred Ash	1	DRI 168	Trainer
3 %1/38	Close Scoop Up Cyclone	1	TWM 162	Trainer
3 %1/38	Grass Energy	2	MEE 1	Energy
3 %1/38	Lightning Energy	2	MEE 4	Energy
3 %1/38	Metal Energy	2	MEE 8	Energy
3 %1/38	Close Mist Energy	1	TEF 161	Energy
3 %1/38	Close Neo Upper Energy	1	TEF 162	Energy

The most common Blaziken ex list, all 60 cards

Here they are in full, ready to build. 3 slots come from the core, the cards all 38 lists run. The remaining 57 come from the table just above, working down it: the cards the most players chose, each at its most common copy count, until the total lands on 60.

This list is nobody's list in particular. It takes, slot by slot, what the most people played, under the guardrails a judge would hold you to: never more than four copies of a card, and one ACE SPEC. Behind the core it took 26 more cards to reach 60. The whole thing comes to 17 Pokémon, 34 Trainers and 9 Energy.

One thing to know before you build it: the 38 lists we counted are all from players who came in the top twenty of their tournament. Nobody publishes the lists of the players who lost. So what you have in front of you is what the players finishing near the top bring most often.

One thing to fix before you play: there is no ACE SPEC card in these 60. Players split that slot so many ways that none of their cards climbed high enough to get in, and 37 of the 38 lists carry one. Take Grand Tree, the most chosen, and drop a card from the bottom of the table to make room.

The text under the table is the one the game expects: copy it, paste it into the deck manager, and the list builds itself.

Why we only read lists from players who came in the top twenty of their tournament, and what that changes about every percentage on this page: how to read a deck list.

Pokémon: 17
3 Blaziken ex JTG 24
4 Torchic DRI 40
2 Combusken DRI 41
1 Fezandipiti ex ASC 142
1 Lillie's Clefairy ex JTG 56
1 Meowth ex POR 62
1 Blaziken DRI 42
1 Munkidori TWM 95
1 Reshiram ex WHT 20
1 Latias ex SSP 76
1 Shaymin DRI 10

Trainer: 34
4 Lillie's Determination MEG 119
2 Boss's Orders MEG 114
4 Ultra Ball MEG 131
2 Night Stretcher ASC 196
3 Rare Candy MEG 125
4 Poké Pad POR 81
1 Air Balloon ASC 181
1 Special Red Card CRI 82
4 Buddy-Buddy Poffin TEF 144
3 Crispin SCR 133
1 Dawn PFL 87
3 Colress's Tenacity SFA 57
2 Battle Cage PFL 85

Energy: 9
4 Fire Energy MEE 2
2 Darkness Energy MEE 7
3 Psychic Energy

Total Cards: 60

How many different cards Blaziken ex needs, and how long it will last

You need 148 different cards to cover every version of this deck, 1 of which nobody argues about. The rest is where lists differ from one another, and that is where you have room to choose.

37 of these 38 lists bring an ACE SPEC, and that is where they part ways: 10 took Grand Tree, 7 took Hero's Cape and 6 took Secret Box. The flex table shows you all 10. You are allowed ONE ACE SPEC card in your whole deck, so a single copy covers it whatever it costs. New to this deck? Take Grand Tree and watch what the others do with theirs before you switch.

Then there is time. 1 of the 1 core cards carries the letter H, the one that goes at the next rotation: Blaziken ex. The core table marks it. In copies, that is 3 of the 3 slots the core fills. Which day it lands, we do not know yet.

What Blaziken ex struggles against

The attackers in this deck are Weak to Water, so they take DOUBLE damage from that type. 20 of the 126 decks we track attack in exactly that type.

Concretely, here is what is waiting for you: Latias ex / Mega Kangaskhan ex (Wellspring Mask Ogerpon ex), Mega Greninja ex and Marnie's Grimmsnarl ex / Froslass, plus 17 more decks. The table below takes them one at a time, and those are the lists you practise against first before an event.

This table counts one thing, Weakness, and that comes to 20 decks out of the 126 we track. The other 106 do not attack into yours, and this table says nothing about them. You will still run into them.

Going the other way, your attackers are Fire, and 29 of the decks we track have an attacker Weak to one of those: Slowking, Mega Excadrill ex and Teal Mask Ogerpon ex / Meganium / Hydrapple ex, among others. That is you doubling, for once. Second half of the table.