Cinderace ex

What Cinderace ex looks like when you open the box

Across the 9 lists we counted, this deck runs 16 to 22 Pokémon, 21 to 32 Trainers and 8 to 23 Energy. Its attacks are paid for in Fire.

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

Look at the Energy: 8 to 23 out of 60, when half the 132 decks we track run 11 or fewer. This one carries more than most, and you feel it at the table — it wants to load up a big Pokémon and swing hard, even if that means drawing a spare Energy now and then.

It takes a while to set up. Cinderace 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: 21 to 32 cards out of 60, against a median of 31 across the 132 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 3 to 20 Items you can play all of in the same turn.

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

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

Cinderace ex is in all 9 lists, 2 copies of it. Its attack Garnet Volley costs 3 Energy (Fire, Fighting and Darkness) and has no damage number printed next to it. That is why you will not find it in the attacker table lower down, which sorts by printed damage. Everything it does lives in its text: « This attack does 180 damage to 1 of your opponent's Pokémon. (Don't apply Weakness and Resistance for Benched Pokémon.) »

How Cinderace ex actually wins

Cinderace ex attacks with Flare Strike for 280. It needs 3 Energy, 1 Fire and 2 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 use Flare Strike."

The cost of Flare Strike decides your first few turns. You only get to attach one Energy a turn, and that attack asks for 3. On your own attachments alone, your first real swing lands on turn 3. Except you are not on your own. Crispin, which the list runs 2 of, looks at the top of your deck and attaches the Energy it finds there. That is where this deck buys its turns, and it is the first thing to look for in your opening hand.

Good news on mobility: Cinderace ex retreats for free. You get it back to the Bench without discarding a single Energy, and you can still attack in the same turn. An attacker that comes and goes like that walks out of almost any mess.

Cinderace ex carries the "ex" suffix, and your opponent takes 2 Prize cards instead of one when Cinderace 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 Cinderace exStage 2	320	Flare Strike	280		Water ×2	0

The core: the 3 cards every list runs

These 3 cards appear in all 9 lists, without a single exception. That is 9 of the 60 slots. The other 51 are decided player by player.

Look at how those 9 slots break down: 4 Trainers, 2 Pokémon, 3 Energy. Nothing stands out in that split. What sets this deck apart is how thick its core is: 9 of the 60 slots are the same for everybody, when half the 132 decks we track fix 26 or more. This one leaves more room than most, and two players can build it very differently.

3 of those 3 cards do not sit at the same count from list to list: Cinderace ex (2 to 4), Lillie's Determination (1 to 4) and Fire Energy (2 to 10). Add those spreads up and you get 13 copies the 9 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 Cinderace ex	SCR 28	Pokémon	leaves
1–4	Close Lillie's Determination	MEG 119	Trainer	stays
2–10	Fire Energy	MEE 2	Energy	stays

The 98 cards that change from list to list

98 cards fight over the 51 slots that are left: 7 above three lists in four, 72 below one in four, and the percentage on each row says how many players took it.

The most agreed on first: Poké Pad at 89 %, Rare Candy at 89 % and Darkness Energy at 89 %, plus 4 more above 75 %. Add those to the core and you have the common build.

The dividing line runs through Night Stretcher, at 56 %: 5 of 9 players took it, 4 put something else there. The ones who run it bring 2 copies. Right at the bottom of the table, Dunsparce (2 lists out of 9) and Terapagos ex (2 lists out of 9).

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
89 %8/9	Close Poké Pad	1–4	POR 81	Trainer
89 %8/9	Close Rare Candy	1–4	MEG 125	Trainer
89 %8/9	Darkness Energy	2–5	MEE 7	Energy
89 %8/9	Fighting Energy	1–3	MEE 6	Energy
78 %7/9	Close Scorbunny	1–4	SCR 26	Pokémon
78 %7/9	Close Raboot	1–4	MEG 27	Pokémon
78 %7/9	Close Crispin	1–3	SCR 133	Trainer
67 %6/9	Close Fezandipiti ex	1	ASC 142	Pokémon
67 %6/9	Close Buddy-Buddy Poffin	2–4	TEF 144	Trainer
67 %6/9	Close Ultra Ball	1–4	MEG 131	Trainer
67 %6/9	Close Boss's Orders	1–3	MEG 114	Trainer
56 %5/9	Close Night Stretcher	1–2	ASC 196	Trainer
44 %4/9	Close Scorbunny	1–3	MEG 26	Pokémon
44 %4/9	Close Meowth ex	1–2	POR 62	Pokémon
44 %4/9	Close Black Belt's Training	1–3	JTG 143	Trainer
44 %4/9	Close Dawn	1–3	PFL 87	Trainer
44 %4/9	Close Energy Recycler	1–2	DRI 164	Trainer
44 %4/9	Water Energy	1–4	MEE 11	Energy
33 %3/9	Close Cinderace	3–4	MEG 28	Pokémon
33 %3/9	Close Dudunsparce	1–3	TEF 129	Pokémon
33 %3/9	Close Terapagos	2–3	SSP 161	Pokémon
33 %3/9	Close Munkidori	1–2	TWM 95	Pokémon
33 %3/9	Close Budew	1–2	ASC 16	Pokémon
33 %3/9	Close Drayton	2–4	SSP 174	Trainer
33 %3/9	Close Special Red Card	1	CRI 82	Trainer
33 %3/9	Close Neo Upper Energy	1	TEF 162	Energy
22 %2/9	Close Dunsparce	1–3	JTG 120	Pokémon
22 %2/9	Close Terapagos ex	1–3	SCR 128	Pokémon
22 %2/9	Close Dunsparce	1–2	TEF 128	Pokémon
22 %2/9	Close Dusknoir	1–2	PRE 37	Pokémon
22 %2/9	Close Duskull	2	PRE 35	Pokémon
22 %2/9	Close Raboot	2	SCR 27	Pokémon
22 %2/9	Close Dusclops	1	PRE 36	Pokémon
22 %2/9	Close Area Zero Underdepths	2	SCR 131	Trainer
22 %2/9	Close Hilda	1–2	WHT 84	Trainer
22 %2/9	Close Lucky Helmet	2	TWM 158	Trainer
22 %2/9	Close Air Balloon	1	ASC 181	Trainer
22 %2/9	Close Blowtorch	1	PFL 86	Trainer
22 %2/9	Close Hero's Cape	1	TEF 152	Trainer
22 %2/9	Close Judge	1	POR 76	Trainer
22 %2/9	Close Rosa's Encouragement	1	POR 84	Trainer
22 %2/9	Close Team Rocket's Watchtower	1	DRI 180	Trainer
22 %2/9	Metal Energy	2–4	MEE 16	Energy
22 %2/9	Psychic Energy	2	MEE 13	Energy
11 %1/9	Close Froakie	4	CRI 20	Pokémon
11 %1/9	Close Blaziken ex	3	JTG 24	Pokémon
11 %1/9	Close Empoleon ex	3	PFL 70	Pokémon
11 %1/9	Close Frogadier	3	CRI 21	Pokémon
11 %1/9	Close Lapras ex	3	SCR 32	Pokémon
11 %1/9	Close Piplup	3	PFL 27	Pokémon
11 %1/9	Close Torchic	3	DRI 40	Pokémon
11 %1/9	Close Combusken	2	DRI 41	Pokémon
11 %1/9	Close Cornerstone Mask Ogerpon ex	2	TWM 112	Pokémon
11 %1/9	Close Gastly	2	PFL 54	Pokémon
11 %1/9	Close Greninja ex	2	TWM 106	Pokémon
11 %1/9	Close Haunter	2	PFL 55	Pokémon
11 %1/9	Close Mega Absol ex	2	MEG 86	Pokémon
11 %1/9	Close Mega Gengar ex	2	PFL 56	Pokémon
11 %1/9	Close Mega Greninja ex	2	CRI 22	Pokémon
11 %1/9	Close Bruxish	1	SSP 49	Pokémon
11 %1/9	Close Ditto	1	30C 115	Pokémon
11 %1/9	Close Dudunsparce ex	1	JTG 121	Pokémon
11 %1/9	Close Gengar	1	POR 50	Pokémon
11 %1/9	Close Lillie's Clefairy ex	1	JTG 56	Pokémon
11 %1/9	Close Morpeko ex	1	PBL 55	Pokémon
11 %1/9	Close Patrat	1	CRI 70	Pokémon
11 %1/9	Close Pecharunt	1	SVP 149	Pokémon
11 %1/9	Close Prinplup	1	PFL 28	Pokémon
11 %1/9	Close Psyduck	1	ASC 39	Pokémon
11 %1/9	Close Spiritomb	1	MEG 87	Pokémon
11 %1/9	Close Wellspring Mask Ogerpon ex	1	TWM 64	Pokémon
11 %1/9	Close Jumbo Ice Cream	4	PFL 91	Trainer
11 %1/9	Close Team Rocket's Petrel	4	DRI 176	Trainer
11 %1/9	Close Pokégear 3.0	3	SVI 186	Trainer
11 %1/9	Close Salvatore	3	TEF 160	Trainer
11 %1/9	Close Cyrano	2	SSP 170	Trainer
11 %1/9	Close Morty's Conviction	2	TEF 155	Trainer
11 %1/9	Close Potion	2	POR 83	Trainer
11 %1/9	Close Surfer	2	SSP 187	Trainer
11 %1/9	Close Briar	1	SCR 132	Trainer
11 %1/9	Close Brock's Scouting	1	JTG 146	Trainer
11 %1/9	Close Ciphermaniac's Codebreaking	1	TEF 145	Trainer
11 %1/9	Close Energy Search Pro	1	SSP 176	Trainer
11 %1/9	Close Lacey	1	SCR 139	Trainer
11 %1/9	Close Secret Box	1	TWM 163	Trainer
11 %1/9	Close Sparkling Crystal	1	SCR 142	Trainer
11 %1/9	Close Wally's Compassion	1	MEG 132	Trainer
11 %1/9	Close Xerosic's Machinations	1	SFA 64	Trainer
11 %1/9	Grass Energy	2	MEE 9	Energy
11 %1/9	Lightning Energy	2	MEE 12	Energy
11 %1/9	Close Nitro Fire Energy	2	CRI 86	Energy
11 %1/9	Close Shadowy Darkness Energy	2	PBL 83	Energy
11 %1/9	Close Growing Grass Energy	1	POR 86	Energy
11 %1/9	Close Ignition Energy	1	WHT 86	Energy
11 %1/9	Close Legacy Energy	1	TWM 167	Energy
11 %1/9	Close Magnetic Metal Energy	1	CRI 85	Energy
11 %1/9	Close Mist Energy	1	TEF 161	Energy
11 %1/9	Close Rocky Fighting Energy	1	POR 87	Energy

The most common Cinderace ex list, all 60 cards

Here they are in full, ready to build. 9 slots come from the core, the cards all 9 lists run. The remaining 51 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 21 more cards to reach 60. The whole thing comes to 18 Pokémon, 29 Trainers and 13 Energy.

One thing to know before you build it: the 9 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 9 of the 9 lists carry one. Take Neo Upper Energy, 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: 18
2 Cinderace ex SCR 28
2 Scorbunny SCR 26
1 Raboot MEG 27
1 Fezandipiti ex ASC 142
2 Scorbunny MEG 26
1 Meowth ex POR 62
4 Cinderace MEG 28
3 Dudunsparce TEF 129
2 Terapagos SSP 161

Trainer: 29
4 Lillie's Determination MEG 119
4 Poké Pad POR 81
4 Rare Candy MEG 125
2 Crispin SCR 133
4 Buddy-Buddy Poffin TEF 144
4 Ultra Ball MEG 131
2 Boss's Orders MEG 114
2 Night Stretcher ASC 196
1 Black Belt's Training JTG 143
1 Dawn PFL 87
1 Energy Recycler DRI 164

Energy: 13
3 Fire Energy MEE 2
3 Darkness Energy MEE 7
3 Fighting Energy MEE 6
4 Water Energy

Total Cards: 60

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

You need 101 different cards to cover every version of this deck, 3 of which nobody argues about. The rest is where lists differ from one another, and that is where you have room to choose.

All 9 lists bring an ACE SPEC, and that is where they part ways: 3 took Neo Upper Energy, 2 took Hero's Cape and 1 took Energy Search Pro. The flex table shows you all 6. 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 Neo Upper Energy and watch what the others do with theirs before you switch.

Then there is time. 1 of the 3 core cards carries the letter H, the one that goes at the next rotation: Cinderace ex. The core table marks it. In copies, that is 2 of the 9 slots the core fills. Which day it lands, we do not know yet.

What Cinderace ex struggles against

The attackers in this deck are Weak to Water, so they take DOUBLE damage from that type. 22 of the 132 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 19 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 22 decks out of the 132 we track. The other 110 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.