Hi there. I have a Pokemon TCG deck profile post here. This is based on the physical card game.
The deck I present is Ethan's Typhlosion.
Topics
- Key Cards
- Sample Decklist
- Deck Variations
- Gameplay & Strategies
- Advantages
- Disadvantages
- Closing Notes
Key Cards
Ethan's Adventure
Ethan's Adventure is a powerful search Supporter card for Ethan's Pokemon. You search your deck for up to 3 in any combination of Ethan's Pokemon and Basic Fire Energy cards, reveal them and put them into your hand. (Then shuffle deck)
Ethan's Quilava
Ethan's Quilava as an attack is okay. One Fire Energy to deal 40 damage from its Combustion attack.
The Bonded by the Journey ability is very good. Once during your turn you may search your deck for 1 Ethan's Adventure card, reveal it and put it into your hand. (Then shuffle deck.)
Ethan's Typhlosion
The main attacker is Ethan's Typhlosion. This Stage 2 Fire Pokemon has 170HP, two retreat cost and Water weakness.
Steam Artillery second attack does not see much competitive play. It deals 160 damage from 2 Fire Energy and 1 Colourless Energy.
The Buddy Blast first attack is very good. For one Fire Energy you can deal up to 280 damage. The damage is 40 base damage plus 60 times the number of Ethan's Adventure in your discard pile. Having 3 Ethan's Adventure in the discard deals 220 damage which is pretty good. Having all 4 Ethan's Adventure cards in the discard yields 280 max damage.
Drakloak
With Team Rocket's Watchtower out, Dudunsparce looks bad as a draw engine. Drakloak is a good alternative draw engine now.
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The Dragon Headbutt attack is okay at 1 Fire Energy and 1 Psychic Energy to deal 70 damage. Its Recon Directive ability is good. You look at the top 2 cards of your deck. Choose 1 of the 2 and put it into your hand. The other (unchosen) card goes to the bottom of your deck. Look at 2 then pick one. This is better than draw 1 card Pokemon like Dodrio and the new Rapidash.
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Victini
When Victini was first released, it saw no competitive play. It has a niche use now. Victini provides a 10 damage boost for evolved Fire Pokemon. There are a few cases where you need 10 extra damage for a one hit Knockout. That extra 10 damage is useful going from 220 to 230 damage against 230HP Basic Pokemon.
Arven & Technical Machine: Evolution
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Arven is a modern staple card now. Searching for an Item card plus a Tool card is really good. Evolution decks should run Arven with Technical Machine: Evolution to get fast evolutions from Ethan's Cyndaquil to Ethan's Quilava.
Shaymin
In the early game, your Benched Pokemon are weak and vulnerable. Having a Shaymin in the deck serves as an option just in case the opponent has Bench hitting Pokemon.
With Shaymin in play, Pokemon without a Rule Box take no damage on the Bench from bench hitting attacks. (Damage counter placements bypass Shaymin.)
Gravity Mountain
Gravity is a niche Stadium card. It sometimes appear in certain decks. The effect of this Stadium is simple. Stage 2 Pokemon have 30 less HP.
Because Ethan's Typhlosion has a max damage of 280, it is not enough to one hit 320 HP Dragapult ex or 330HP Dark Tera Charizard ex. Combine Gravity Mountain and Victini for the one hit knockout combo. (2 Victini versus Charizard ex)
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Secret Box ACE SPEC
Secret Box is the ACE SPEC of choice for this deck. Discard 3 cards from hand to search for 1 Item Card, 1 Supporter Card, 1 Tool Card and one Stadium card.
There are not many Stadium search cards so Secret Box can be useful for searching out Gravity Mountain. The search power from Secret Box is too good to ignore. Use Secret Box to find the pieces you need for setup and/for finding Ethan's Adventure.
Sample Decklist
The Ethan's Typhlosion deck that I present has no Pokemon ex. This is a single prize version of Ethan's Typhlosion with the Drakloak draw engine.
Decklist
Pokémon: 19
1 Shaymin DRI 10
4 Ethan's Cyndaquil DRI 32
4 Ethan's Quilava DRI 33
3 Ethan's Typhlosion DRI 34
1 Victini SSP 21
3 Dreepy PRE 71
3 Drakloak TWM 129
Trainer: 35
4 Ethan's Adventure DRI 165
4 Buddy-Buddy Poffin PRE 101
1 Counter Catcher PAR 160
2 Earthen Vessel PAR 163
2 Night Stretcher SFA 61
2 Rare Candy SVI 191
1 Redeemable Ticket JTG 156
1 Secret Box TWM 163
1 Super Rod PAL 188
3 Ultra Ball PAF 91
1 Artazon PAF 76
2 Gravity Mountain SSP 177
3 Arven SVI 166
2 Boss's Orders PAL 172
2 Iono PAL 185
1 Lana's Aid TWM 155
2 Technical Machine: Evolution PAR 178
1 Vitality Band SVI 197
Energy: 6
6 Fire Energy SVE 2
Deck Variations
Other Ethan's Typhlosion decks may run one Budew, two Victini or have a Fezandipiti ex.
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Two Victinis may be used to boost 20 damage for Ethan's Quilava or Ethan's Typhlosion. The Victinis do take up bench space though when you could another Drakloak or Ethan's Typhlosion.
Fezandipiti ex is a staple card that lets you draw 3 cards whenever one of your Pokemon are Knocked out during your opponent's last turn. Drawing 3 cards outside of a Supporter card is pretty powerful. The drawback is that it is a vulnerable 2 Prize Pokemon on the Bench.
In my decklist, I use 2 Gravity Mountain. Reducing 30 HP on Stage 2 Pokemon is pretty important to me. Stage 2 Pokemon is one main weak matchup for this deck.
Secret Box is the ACE SPEC of choice. It is one of few cards that can search for a Stadium card. This card is expensive in the Destined Rivals format. In the Toronto area, the price of this is 25 CAD. It used to be much cheaper at around 3 to 5 CAD a year ago. Alternatives to Secret Box could be Unfair Stamp, Maximum Belt or maybe Neutralization Zone.
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Gameplay & Strategies
This deck is mainly a setup deck. You setup multiple Ethan's Cyndaquils and Quilavas and work your way up to Ethan's Typhlosion for attacking. Setting up Drakloaks from Dreepy is good too for draw support.
You want to race to getting 4 Ethan's Adventure in the discard pile to reach the maximum 280 damage for Ethan's Typhlosion.
To recover Pokemon and Fire Energy from the discard pile, you have Super Rod, Night Stretcher and the supporter card Lana's Aid.
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This deck has a good amount of firepower so you want to take knockouts on Pokemon ex. The ideal Prize map is 2-2-2. That is knockout 3 Pokemon ex for 2 Prize Cards each.
Gravity Mountain + Victini is needed for more firepower to deal with 320 Dragapult ex, 310 HP Gardevoir ex or 330 HP Charizard ex. Knocking out these high HP Pokemon is easier said than done.
Advantages
Ethan's Typhlosion can reach 220 damage or 280 damage (4 Ethan's Adventure in discard) for 1 Fire Energy. This is pretty powerful for a single prize Pokemon even though it is a stage 2 Pokemon.
Search for 1 Ethan's Adventure Supporter card from your Ethan's Quilava. The Quilava has a strong search ability.
As this deck is a single prize deck, you really make your opponent work for the win against you.
Favourable matchups against Raging Bolt ex decks, Joltik box decks and Gholdengo ex decks (hit for weakness).
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Building this deck should not be too difficult. Many of the cards in this deck are inexpensive. Only the ACE SPEC Secret Box card is pricey.
Disadvantages
It can take a bit of time to get Ethan's Typhlosion into play as well as dealing 220 damage. Having 3 Ethan's Adventure in the discard makes Ethan's Typhlosion deal 220 damage. Four in the discard turns the damage into 280.
There are times when your hand sucks in terms of early game setup. The deck can fall apart this way.
Facing against Stage 2 Pokemon like Dragapult ex, Grimmsnarl ex, Gardevoir ex and Charizard ex is difficult but not impossible. Gardevoir ex matchup is not too bad, Grimmsnarl ex matchup is okay but facing agaisnt Dragapult ex and Charizard ex is difficult if they get lucky with an early Rare Candy.
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If you don't have Drakloak in play, this Ethan's Typhlosion deck is vulnerable to hand disruption from Iono.
Closing Notes
Ethan's Typhlosion is an good deck to start with. The deck's gameplay is quite simple and it has good firepower against most decks. The hard matchups are against Stage 2 Pokemon like Gardevoir ex, Dragapult ex and Charizard ex. Because of these harder matchups, this deck is good but far from a top 5 deck.
The cards for this deck should be relatively easy to find. Price points for most of the pieces should be low. The most expensive card is the ACE SPEC Secret Box card. This ACE SPEC card got really popular as of late.
Give this deck a try and see how you like it.