Charizard & Braixen-GX: A Brilliant Flare in the Meta & LAIC Predictions

Welcome back to another article here on the PoTown Store! I hope you guys are liking the new addition of Cosmic Eclipse as much as I am! In this article, I am going to be talking about the best ways to build a deck around one of my favorite cards in the new standard format, Charizard & Braixen GX from the set I just mentioned, Cosmic Eclipse. What makes Charizard & Braixen so special? It has an amazing attack called Brilliant Flare. At a hefty cost of 4 fire energy, it definitely pays off that negative aspect by dealing 180 damage and can search for any 3 cards from your deck. Brilliant Flare is such a powerful search attack and it leaves a lot of room for creativity on how you want to best abuse the attack. The tech options are endless and the deck can jam pack a lot of obscure cards/counts due to the guaranteed search to have them exactly when you want it. You can use the card in many different styles of decks, including a tech in Greens Zard, a tech in Ability Zard and its own deck using a Green’s Exploration engine with control cards such as Jessie & James and Chip Chip Ice Axe. With the first International Championships coming up at the end of this week, these are the most expected ways players attending the event will use Charizard & Braixen GX. Later on, I will be giving a meta prediction of what the top 5 decks I expect to see perform well at LAIC this weekend. But for now, here are my current lists for all 3 decks, and why they are good going into the 2019 Latin American International Championships in Brazil. 

4 Volcanion UNB

2 Reshiram & Charizard GX UNB

1 Charizard & Braixen GX COE

1 Mega Lopunny & Jigglypuff GX COE

4 Green’s Exploration

4 Welder

2 Cynthia & Caitlin 

2 Mallow & Lana

1 Lt. Surge’s Strategy

4 Pokegear 3.0

4 Acro Bike

4 Custom Catcher

3 Tag Call

3 Reset Stamp

3 Fire Crystal

2 Fiery Flint

1 Switch

3 Power Plant

1 Heat Factory

11 Basic Fire

What once was a favorite deck to the community, Green’s Reshiram & Charizard GX is definitely still a top contender going into the new format. The deck gains a couple helpful new tools in Tag Call, Cynthia & Caitlin, and Charizard & Braixen GX that give it a huge increase in consistency and power. The deck also now has access to Mega Lopunny & Jigglypuff GX which is another OHKO potential card for certain matchups outside of Reshiram & Charizard GX’s Double Blaze GX attack, which is exactly what the deck was missing in the last format. Usually in a fresh new format, the combo of Reset Stamp and Power Plant will continue to be as strong as ever as players put in new powerful Pokemon GX draw support such as Silvally GX and Oricorio GX. Minimizing their draw power while also decreasing their hand size has proven to be very successful in the last format and will continue to do so as long as the combos are in the game. Reshiram & Charizard GX is a deck I expect to have a big impact on the format going into LAIC as players are going to underestimate its power and potential going into the event.

4 Jirachi TEU

3 Dedenne GX UNB

2 Vulpix TEU

2 Ninetales TEU

1 Larvesta COE

1 Volcarona GX COE

1 Reshiram & Charizard GX UNB

1 Charizard & Braixen GX COE

1 Heatran GX UNM

1 Turtonator DRM

1 Victini Prism Star DRM

4 Welder

4 Pokemon Communication

3 Cherish Ball

3 Switch

2 Escape Board

2 Pokegear 3.0

2 Fire Crystal

1 Pal Pad

3 Giant Hearth

1 Heat Factory

17 Basic Fire Energy

Ability Zard was once undisputedly the BDIF of last format that eventually fell off due to its level of inconsistency in missing crucial Welder turns, it’s susceptibility to reset stamp, and it’s bad matchup to Mewtwo & Mew GX Box that may make a comeback coming into the new format. This deck is back to take names once again because of its ability to constantly pressure your opponent's board with Ninetales TEU ability “Nine Temptations” as well as add on additional damage to your opponent’s Pokemon with the new inclusion of Volcarona GX. Volcarona GX was a huge card for this deck because Reshiram & Charizard GX caps at 230 with its Flare Strike attack which isn’t enough damage to knock out big 270 HP+ opposing Tag Team Pokemon. With Volcarona-GX being a new inclusion, you can easily set up numbers with its ability to reach numbers that weren’t possible before. The deck also gains access to the new Charizard & Braixen GX which is a great attacker/set up Pokemon as you can put up a 270 HP attacker that deals out an impressive 180 damage using the effect of its attack to search for a Welder for next turn and other pieces you may need. Ability Zard is a dismissed archetype that could make a big comeback at LAIC thanks to the new cards that came out of Cosmic Eclipse.

4 Volcanion UNB

3 Charizard & Braixen GX COE

1 Weezing HIF

4 Green’s Exploration

4 Welder

2 Jessie & James

1 Lt. Surge

1 Cynthia & Caitlyn

1 Mallow & Lana

4 Pokegear 3.0

4 Custom Catcher

3 Great Potion

2 Choice Helmet

2 Reset Stamp

2 Chip-Chip Ice Axe

2 Fire Crystal

2 Fiery Flint

2 Tag Call

2 Choice Helmet

1 Switch

3 Power Plant

1 Heat Factory

11 Basic Fire Energy

In one of the more interesting decks to come out of Cosmic Eclipse, Charizard & Braixen control is a new archetype that is built similarly to Greens Zard except you have Charizard & Braixen GX’s incredible attack which gives the deck a lot of more powerful options. A powerful combo this deck is built to pull off to slow down your opponent as much as possible is the Reset Stamp + Jessie & James (with or without Weezing ) including Chip-Chip Ice Axe which is also seen in the popular Oranguru/Pidgeotto Control deck. Since you can search for any 3 cards, powerful combos like this can exist as you can easily find the multiple card combo without stressing all of your resources. While also controlling your opponent's hand, Charizard & Braixen dishes out a powerful 180 damage which is good enough for either a one shot or a two shot on every Pokemon in the game right now. The deck’s strong strategy gives it an upper hand in the meta going into LAIC and not only should you respect it, you should look forward to as it is a very entertaining deck to watch. Because of the card’s versatility, it can have a lot of interesting creative options and techs that make the deck even more exciting to watch. This is currently my favorite deck in the new format and would be the deck I would take to LAIC if I could attend the event. I did take the list shown above to a win-a-box tournament 2 weeks ago and I ended up winning the whole event. I really enjoyed the deck’s intense thought process and decision making as it allowed me to have to think ahead and predict what my opponent might try to do the following turn. Charizard & Braixen is a deck that will do very well with its time here in the Pokemon TCG, and it is just getting started.

Going into the first big international tournament of the year, all eyes are on the impact the new set, Cosmic Eclipse, will have on the meta from last format. With Cosmic Eclipse being the biggest set in Pokemon history, there are a lot of great cards to come out that change the format we’ve become quite familiar with since this format has not changed very much since Worlds. Some archetypes in Oranguru/Pidgeotto Control get a lot better while some get a lot worse like Malamar decks with the addition of Cosmic Eclipse. With that being said, here are my current predictions for the top 5 decks in no particular order, that will do the best at LAIC this weekend, and why.

Despite it being an already quite toxic deck in the game right now, Pokemon decided to include Bellelba & Brycen-Men in Cosmic Eclipse that gives nothing but a clear advantage for the popular control deck. The card allows for Oranguru/Pidgeotto Control to actively mill the top cards of your opponent's deck which makes it easier to keep the hand lock and to win games before time is called. If you think that's bad, then you would be even more upset that Pidgeotto can now mill the top 6 cards of your deck a turn thanks to Lt. Surge’s Strategy while also using Chip-Chip Ice Axe to keep you from drawing any cards you may need to re-enter into the attacking phase. The deck has reached a quite literal “broken phase”, and I would not be surprised if Pidgeotto won the whole tournament. 

The new legendary Tag Team has one of the best GX attacks the game has ever seen. With just a water and metal attached to it, you apply the effect of adding 30 extra damage to any attack you use, and the effect of getting to take an extra prize on every knockout you take. You can power up this GX attack on the first turn thanks to the new supporter card N’s Resolve which discards the top 6 cards of your deck and attaches any basic energy cards to your benched dragon Pokemon discarded in that way. This allows games to go by very fast as ADP (short for Arceus, Palkia, Dialga) takes prizes faster than any deck in the format and has a decent energy accelerator in N’s Resolve. Naturally, this deck shreds one prize decks such as Malamar as you can win in 4 turns which isn’t enough time for Malamar or any other one prize deck to come back and win. ADP’s base attack being similar to Pikachu & Zekrom’s Full Blitz attack is another reason why this deck is great as you can charge up additional attackers on your bench to start attacking with after your active ADP gets knocked out. These additional attackers include another ADP, Keldeo GX, or Mega Lopunny & Jigglypuff GX since they best synergize with ADP’s metal and water energy attack requirements. Keldeo GX provides a great attacker into any GX based deck as it’s Pure Heart ability either forces them to attack with a non GX attacker or try and get Power Plant to stick to even attack into it with their own GX Pokemon. ADP can also abuse the powerful stadium card Chaotic Swell which makes your opponent’s stadiums practically useless to them and makes it a lot harder for your opponent to even put down stadium cards like Power Plant. ADP is a threat to a lot of popular decks in the format and I expect the game's best deck builders to abuse the card the most at LAIC. 

The last format’s BDIF is still good again despite the release of Mimikyu from Cosmic Eclipse that can shut off all abilities on Pokemon with damage on them. The deck still functions in this meta because Mimikyu isn’t really a big enough threat to refocus the decks strategy since Malamar is the only deck it really fits in and Malamar is not even all that great due to its terrible matchups to ADP/any GX based deck that plays Mallow & Lana which can easily heal a majority of the two shot damage Malamar decks dish out. Mewtwo is still great because it is still the most versatile deck in the format and can deal with a lot of situations some decks can’t even come back from. Mewtwo also has a good matchup against Oranguru/Pidgeotto Control and ADP which are looking like the two biggest decks going into LAIC. Mewtwo doesn’t really gain any new fantastic attackers, but cards like Chaotic Swell, Oricorio GX, Mega Lopunny & Jigglypuff GX, and Tag Call give the deck a great boost in its consistency and deck building options. Mega Lopunny & Jigglypuff GX is a great attacker that can surprise your opponent out of nowhere as well as provide as an alternative OHKO threat. Mega Lopunny not only helps Mewtwo, but it also hurts it since Mewtwo relies on multiple Dedenne GX to draw through the deck as well as Mewtwo being a GX itself. If you play around Mega Lopunny accordingly by either not benching too many GX Pokemon or with a well-timed Tag Purge from Latios GX, then it’s not too much of an issue, but it is always something to keep in mind when playing a heavy GX based deck like Mewtwo & Mew GX Box. I overall think Mewtwo will still perform to high standards at LAIC and that people who have written it off due to the release of Mega Lopunny & Jigglypuff GX and Mimikyu will be proven wrong. This would be my secondary choice at LAIC if I were to attend the event. 

The deck that this article was mostly based around is looking like a top contender so far here in the new standard format. With the deck’s endless creative options, I expect many top deck builders in the game to abuse the card to an unforeseen strategy or a similar control strategy I have been working with so far. I won’t go into too much detail about the deck since the first half of the article was all about Charizard & Braixen GX, but I will say I expect this deck to perform decently at LAIC and that it should not be overlooked as an archetype. I hope the hype lives up for this card and that it takes home the first-place LAIC trophy!

The Ultra Beast duo that never seems to really go away is looking like it’s in a great position once again. With the release of Cosmic Eclipse, decks that Blacephalon GX struggled with last format in Pikachu & Zekrom and Malamar aren’t as good as they were. Since the decline in play of those decks and with the increase in play of Oranguru/Pidgeotto Control, Mewtwo & Mew GX Box and ADP, Blacephalon GX could easily become one of the best decks in the format. The only issue Blacephalon GX has right now is its inconsistent early game, Keldeo GX in NagQuag/ADP and the potential for Pikachu & Zekrom and Malamar to make an unexpected showing at LAIC. The deck doesn’t get any new tools to work with out of Cosmic Eclipse except for a potential usage of Island Challenge Amulet which is a great addition against Tag Team GX based decks that already OHKO your Blacephalon GX. With that tool attached, you can skew the prize trade in your favor at appropriate times during the game. Overall, Blacephalon GX/Naganadel has a chance to shine once again in this new format and should be considered as one of the best decks going into LAIC. 

I am very excited for the LAIC tournament starting this Friday as I can’t wait to see what all the top players from around the world decide on what the best deck is in this new format. I’m hoping to see some great matches this weekend and hopefully we’ll get to see some Charizard & Braixen control decks on the stream. If you too are excited about LAIC, their stream is being broadcasted by the Official Pokemon Company on Twitch, and they will start the stream on Friday, November 15th, at 6 AM central standard time. Let me know in the comments to this article what deck you think will be crowned the first international champion of the 2020 season!

Thanks as always for reading another article here on Po Town! I hope this article proved to be helpful in it’s focus on Charizard & Braixen GX, as well as a quick insight into what to expect at LAIC this weekend. Best of luck to all players attending LAIC especially to my fellow Nerd Rage Gaming teammates: Alex Schemanske, Jonathan Croxton, and Michael Catron. Thanks again for reading and I’ll see you next time for another article here at PoTown!