Firebox

COOKING WITH THE CROC

🔥🐊

This is my first really competitive take on Skeledirge ex, mixing a lot of different ideas - the old Turbo Zard/Entei, the meme Skeledirge/Entei, plus some inspiration from the Zard/Dragapult deck - to create a versatile and flexible firebox deck.

The concept here is that you don't necessarily NEED to set up any of the engines for this deck to work - and this is one of the reasons why you can play only 2 copies of each basic and zero stage1s for the Zard and

COOKING WITH THE CROC

🔥🐊

This is my first really competitive take on Skeledirge ex, mixing a lot of different ideas - the old Turbo Zard/Entei, the meme Skeledirge/Entei, plus some inspiration from the Zard/Dragapult deck - to create a versatile and flexible firebox deck.

The concept here is that you don't necessarily NEED to set up any of the engines for this deck to work - and this is one of the reasons why you can play only 2 copies of each basic and zero stage1s for the Zard and Dirge evolines without getting punished - but all of them have a lot of sinergy with each other, allowing you to do some pretty sick and unexpected combos. With some practice, you should be able to adapt your gameplan according to the deck you are facing. This is still a work in progress, but I'll start playing this in my local competitive meta from this week onwards, so expect some feedback on it's viability and good/bad match ups, as well as some adjustments in the list.

*Pros:

- You do have access to a "shred" attack with Skeledirge ex.

- Both Entei-V and Charizard-ex can hit key numbers [220~240] early on, if buffed by Skeledirge ex ability.

- Charizard ex solves the energy acceleration needs of Entei-V and Skeledirge ex, but the Exp. Shares and the Magma Basin should help too.

- Entei-V can turbo attack T1 going second. The most consistent way to do so is starting with a pivot in the active spot, than "Arven > Forest Seal Stone > Magma Basin" to accelerate a discarded energy to a benched Entei-V, than using a Switch/Rescue Board/Scoop Up Cyclone to retreat your pivot if it's not the Mew ex, which has a zero retreat cost.

- Tatsugiri, Fuecoco and Charmander can become single prize attackers to knockout other low HP single prizers, when buffed by Skeledirge ex ability. If you want to rely a little more on this feature of the deck, you could and should replace the Hisuian Heavy Ball or a Nest Ball for a Super Rod or any other card that gives you access to extra Charmanders/Fuecocos.

- Even Lumineon-V, Mew ex and Radiant Greninja can attack if they need to, mainly through Exp. Share + Charizard ex energy acceleration.

- Scoop Up Cyclone is my AceSpec of choice here, so you can remove your Lumineon-V or Mew ex from the bench, or "save" a wounded Charizard/Skeledirge ex. These plays could win you the prize race, if your opponent can't respond to them. It's also a good answer in some scenarios, when playing against control decks. Still, you could go for Prime Catcher or Unfair Stamp as your AceSpec, if you want to.

- You can theoretically hit for 5 different weaknesses. In practice though, the only relevant ones here are the fire and darkness weaknesses, maybe metal, but that's still good enough, right? 

- Losing to a Skeledirge ex deck in a competitive match is just sad >>>>> EMOTIONAL DAMAGE ACHIEVED! 🤠

*Cons:

- A little vulnerable to single prize decks, mainly Ancient Box, problably your worst nightmare in the current meta.

- A little vulnerable to control decks.

- Much harder to play than it seems. Involves a lot of crucial decision making.

- Big learning curve, if you want to master the best ways of playing this deck in each possible scenario.

- Still a work in proggress, that definitely needs to be refined.

I hope you liked this deck concept, and give it a try!🐊