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Paradox Rift caused a revolution in thePokemon TCG.This expansion introduced the Ancient and Future Pokemon, a system that, pretty much like the battle styles of the Sword & Shield era, is intended to create a lot of variety in the meta rather than seeing the same three or four decks at the top.
One of the cards added in Paradox Rift was Iron Valiant ex, which had several problems upon release trying to find the ideal teammate, until Entei V and Medicham V arrived and fit like a glove. These three cards create a powerful deck that can stall your opponent with little effort.
Iron Valiant ex Decklist
Here’s a list of all the cards you’ll use in this deck:
Squawkabilly ex PAL (x1)
Double Turbo Energy ASR (x2)
Iron Valiant Ex Key Cards
These are the cards that you’ll use the most when using this deck:
Iron Valiant ex
Iron Valiantis one of the protagonists of this deck. It’s a Psychic-type card with220 HP, an ability, and an attack. Its ability isTachyon Bits, which, if Iron Valiantmoves from the bench to the Active Spot, allows you to puttwo damage counters(equal to 20 damage) onany of your opponent’s Pokemonyou like.
Its attack isLaser Blade, which costs three Energy Cards anddeals 200 damage, butyou can’t use it in the next turn.Both move and ability are set toforce Iron Valiant to pivot back and forthwhile dealing damage and debilitating your opponent from the get-go.
Nonetheless,Iron Valiant alone can’t finish the job; it needs a strong partner that gives the coup-de-grace to win the match. Here’s when Entei V makes its appearance.
Entei V And Magma Basin
Entei Vis a card that has been around in the meta for a while. It’s a bulky card (with230 HP) that is excellent because of its ability and attack. Its ability isFleet-Footed, which lets youdraw a cardfrom your deckif Entei is in the Active Spot.It’s simple yet very effective.
Entei V’s attack isBurning Rondo, whichdeals 20 damage plus 20 for each Pokemon on the bench, both yours and your opponent’s. Entei can potentiallydeal 220 damage, which, combined with Iron Valiant’s Tachyon Bits, is enough to defeat any big threat orcut your opponent’s advanceduring the first few turns.
It’s fair to say that Entei V’s damagewill depend on your opponent’s bench, so you won’t always deal the same damage. It all depends on whether your opponent uses several Pokemon on their bench. You’llcompensate for the lack of damage by pivoting with Iron Valiant.
But here’s when things get fun, as Entei V will be played alongsideMagma Basin, a stadium card that canlet you attach a Fire-type Energy Card to Entei(or any Fire-typebenchedPokemon) but at the same time, you mustput two damage counters on it.
With this in mind, if you manage to pull a Magma Basinin turn one(you’ll have the tools to do it)and discard a single Fire-type Energy Card(you’ll also have tools to do that), then you canattack with Entei V at turn one, which is pretty harmful to decks that need to evolve their Pokemon to start attacking.
You can increase your Entei V’s HP by attaching aBravery Charmto it.
Switch, Switch Cart & Future Booster Energy Capsule
A vital part of Entei and Iron Valiant’s strategy isswitching constantly, which usually eats your resources. Both theSwitchand theFuture Booster Energy Capsulewill help you to switch Pokemonwithout discarding Energy Cards.
The Switch lets youswitch your active Pokemon, and the Future Booster Energy Capsule, whenattached to Iron Valiant, lets youswitch it for free.TheSwitch Cartdoes the same as the Switch, but it’llalso heal 30 HP from the Pokemon you sent to the bench.
Radiant Charizard
Another card that will be more than happy to be on a deck alongside Entei and Iron Valiant isRadiant Charizard, which has an attack namedCombustion Blast, which requiresfive Energy Cardsto attack anddeals 250 damage.
The thing is that Radiant Charizard also has an ability namedExcited Heart, which makes Combustion Blastcost an Energy Card lessfor each Prize Cardyour opponent has already takenduring the match.
Ideally, you’ll play Radiant Charizardwhen you are behind in the matchas, otherwise, it’s very hard to charge it and attack.
Medicham V
Medicham Vis a very good card that has an attack namedYoga Loop, whichcosts two Colorless Energy Cards(which you can quickly charge with a Double Turbo Energy). Yoga Loop lets youput two damage counterson one of your opponent’s Pokemon. If youKnock Outyour opponent’s Pokemon with that damage,you can have another turn.
If you manage to use Yoga Loop successfully on the first few turns,you can leave your opponent in big trouble, as you’ll beclaiming two or more Prize Cardsin quick succession. This can be lethal for your opponent if you do it in turn two, and your opponent has to evolve their Pokemon to progress in the match.
If you get an extra turn with Yoga Loop,you can’t use Yoga Loop in that turn.
Squawkabilly ex
Squawkabilly exis a support card that will help you a lot if you start the match with a poor handor want to draw more cardsafter using your first hand. This is because Squawkabilly has an ability namedSquawk and Seize, which canlet you discard your hand and draw six cards.
you’re able to’t use this card more than once on your first turn or use it after your first turn.
You can also use Squawk and Seize tosend an Energy Card to the discard pile,so you can attack with Entei in your first turn, only if you pull another Fire-type Energy as well.
Professor’s Research And Colress’s Experiment
This deck only needs a card-drawing system, so here it is. It consists ofProfessor’s Research and Colress’s Experiment.
Professor’s Researchlets you discard your hand and draw seven cards.It’s like Squawkabilly’s Squawk and Seize, but in this case, you may use it whenever you want. On the other hand, Colress’s Experimentlets you draw five cards and put three of them in your hand.The other two will head to the infamous Lost Zone.
This deckdoesn’t use the Lost Zone, so don’t worry. Justbe careful with what you send there, as those cards will be unusable for the rest of the match.
Battle VIP Pass
This deckuses only Basic Pokemon, so having aBattle VIP Passon your deck is a great idea. With this card, you may draw two Basic Pokemon, but youcan only play it on your first turn.Ideally, you want todraw it with Squawkabilly’s Squawk and Seize, so you can easily draw Entei, Iron Valiant, or Medicham.
Earthen Vessel
TheEarthen Vesselis a great card as you can use it todiscard a cardand, at the same time,draw two Energy Cards from your deck.For example, you can use this card tosend an Energy Card to the discard pileand get another Energy Cardto set on Entei, then use Magma Basin to attach that extra Energy Card to Entei and attack.All on turn one.
Town Store And Forest Seal Stone
This deck uses many tools, but sometimes,you can get stuckby not getting the tools you need. If this is the case, you must use theTown Store.
With Town Store, once per turn, you cansearch for a tool cardand put it in your hand. With this, you can draw the likes of Future Booster Energy Capsule, Bravery Charm, or the best of the three,the Forest Seal Stone.
The Forest Seal Stoneuses the VSTAR Powerto let yousearch your deck for a card you likeand put it in your hand. Of course, if you do this, prioritize drawing cardsthat will immediately affect the match.You have a single shot using this, as it won’t work afterward.
Iron Valiant Ex Deck Strategy
This deck is based ondrawing several Iron Valiant Excards and putting them on the bench. At the same time, you mustget Entei V to attackas soon as possible. The Iron Valiant cards will start bydealing bits of damage with Tachyon Bits, but be aware that you need to switch them, so try to get all the resources you need first. Then,Entei will appear to deal the rest of the damagenecessary to Knock Out your target.
Alternatively, you may calculate damages soMedicham V has chances to hop on and use Yoga Loop, so you win an extra turn to keep attacking.
That’s the target of this deck; it’s not complicated butrequires you to be precisewhen using Squawkabilly, Professor’s Research or Colress’s Experiment.
Iron Valiant ex Deck Common Threats
There are no foolproof decks, and Iron Valiant is not the exception. The main problem of this deck is that it doesn’t leave you much spaceto add a reliable card-drawing engine, so you are exposed to bad luck, which is common in this game.
Aside from that,Mew VMAXis a difficult hurdle to avoid, as this deckdoesn’t have a good way to defeat it fastenoughto avoid getting hit by it. The only way would be toadd a Drapion V(from Lost Origin) as a counter. The good thing is that Mew VMAXis not as common as you might think, so you can just avoid using this card.
