Chien-Pao ex is THRIVING Post-Rotation! Arguably the BEST DECK?! - (Pokemon TCG Deck List + Matches)

[@elijahbrock7676]

He had all the necessary tools to KO the Manaphy and yet he gave in to the masculine urge to overwin against the charizard deck

[@booboodabooboo]

manaphy : pls! Have mercy on me. Chien pao : don't worry baby boo. Not you. Stay right back there. Charizard : noooooo

[@InThirdPerson]

If I’m not taking KO-ing Charizard, why are we even making this video lol :P

[@tenjiechin]

I just got back into the game yesterday and this was the first deck I picked up bc I just like water/ice. And my god it's EVIL and is a great transition from yugioh

[@Hallionati]

Exactly the same story here!

[@elfyar5786]

i am just on my way to do the same

[@Acelyn-]

I just did the exact same thing lol

[@gymmmpapi]

Lmao same

[@confuzzlld]

Where do you pick up the deck from? IRL or in game? I find that in game I didnt have all cards needed for the deck. (Very new)

[@emmanuelruiz1515]

I just started playing this weekend and picked chien Pao as my deck and had no idea what to use the greninja for. Thanks for the guide!!

[@InThirdPerson]

Radiant Greninja is the GOAT! Pokemon put out stats a while back and it’s literally the most played Pokemon in Pokemon TCG Live.

[@Lugiarizard1996-ew9pk]

I gotta say, I love C pao , and your video!

[@InThirdPerson]

Thank you!

[@robbowantsadonna]

Your channel is awesome. Required viewing for beginners looking to level up their games with some big time decks. Thanks!!

[@lburwell99]

What would be the first 2 cards you'd drop if I wanted to add a couple switches? I just played 5 rounds with this deck online. They main thing that felt lacking was some sort of gusting. No bosses and no switches. Mainly the lack of switches felt kind of rough. If I want to get Chien-Pao off the bench, the only option is retreating. Couple times I felt stuck. My 2nd game my only basic in opening hand was Iron Hands. I just kind of had to wait for them to set up their Lugia and eventually knock him out to them fianally get Chien Pai in the active. Although somehow I got him back into play with super rod and got 2 kos on single prize targets with him for 4 prizes and won the game lol.

[@Black_RoseGaming]

Thats one off the reasons this deck really needs prime catcher, you can try to swap iron bundle

[@dead-uwu]

i'm smth of a cancelling cologne enjoyer myself

[@InThirdPerson]

Cancelling Cologne is great in Chien-Pao!

[@tdddxn1144]

In your experience, do you prefer this version over the Chien Paon - Palkia version?

[@InThirdPerson]

The problem with Palkia is that it’s an easy Iron Hands target. Iron Hands can one-shot Palkia for 3 prizes.

[@charlestonson2200]

Iron Hands is the better option, Palkia is a bit too bricky in a deck that can already brick. I ran Palkia V for a long time and was losing too much so I switched it to the Iron Hands build because you have so many options to deal with your opponent’s Pokemon. Iron Hands, Radiant Greninja or Chein-Pao can net you at least 2 prize cards depending on the game state.

[@gameboidrew]

How are you doing against ancient box decks though? They've been crushing me or I sneak a win. I have an almost identical deck to you RN, but I am thinking of running Palkia again and to have a beefier attacker alternative. Sacrifice one nest and one ultra... another thought is future booster tool for Iron hands? BTW really love your videos dude!!!!

[@gameboidrew]

Also note on palkia: I would just avoid playing it when I know someone has iron hands...

[@InThirdPerson]

Based on Limitless matchup data, Ancient Box is Chien-Pao’s 2nd worst matchup with a win rate of only 33%: play.limitlesstcg.com/decks/chien-pao-baxcalibur/matchups/?format=standard&rotation=2023&set=TEF That matchup is inherently bad, as Chien-Pao needs to burn a ton of resources for each single-prize KO while they can ramp up to taking one-shots on Chien-Pao pretty quickly. If you think you can find the tech to fix that match up, feel free to hit the lab! However, keep in mind that almost every deck has good matchups and bad matchups by design, regardless of how much you try to tech for it. And also keep in mind that specifically teching for a matchup can potentially hurt you in all the others… Sometimes people take a long time to find answers to bad matchups. Tord sort of solved the Snorlax matchup for Charizard recently with the advent of Turo and Team Yell’s Cheer. But other times, there really isn’t an answer and it’s best to just tune the deck for its most common matchups. I think the latter is where the community is at with Chien-Pap vs. Ancient Box.

[@gameboidrew]

@@InThirdPerson really appreciate this analysis, thanks man!

[@atiwich1999]

That double heads on the cylene was mad

[@williamwei7899]

my favorite deck, it’s hella fun 😍. a question: I assume we prefer to go second because can use Irida to find poffin, but which matchup you’d prefer to go first?

[@BimDoesStuff]

every matchup. save irida for finding bax you are almost always finding a frigi turn one going first

[@williamwei7899]

@@BimDoesStuff almost always meaning 3xFrigibax, 3xpoffin, 3xNest Ball, 3xUltra Ball lol

[@BimDoesStuff]

@@williamwei7899 ?

[@BimDoesStuff]

@@williamwei7899 in the starting hand orr...

[@charlestonson2200]

I personally want to go first with it, so I can attack on my next turn assuming I have a way to get Bax out.

[@notwinter809]

Yknow I play a modified chien pao deck and use some other cards and such and am pretty new to the game and I win a lot when it comes to playing in standard mode and I came to the conclusion myself that chien pao was good and only use videos like this as a suggestion to cards I should use

[@nolansfunadventures4392]

question: would it be fine if i added candice to chien-pao? otherwise would it be good adding it in?

[@InThirdPerson]

Candice is actually a bad card. There will be times when it doesn’t get you the right pieces or any pieces at all. Because of the variability, Candice sees 0 play in competitive decks. Checking the Limitless database, Candice has appeared in a total of 1 tournament deck with a 103rd place finish. limitlesstcg.com/cards/SIT/152/decklists Meanwhile, another water staple, Irida, has a track record a mile long in large part because you’re guaranteed to get a water Pokemon and an item card. limitlesstcg.com/cards/ASR/147/decklists Supporter cards are incredibly powerful in the Pokemon Trading Card Game and you really want to make sure you get a lot of value from them every time you play one, whether it’s Irida for a water Pokemon and item, Professor’s Research for discarding your hand and drawing 7 new cards, or Boss’s Orders to gust an opposing bench Pokemon into the active. All of these effects have little variability associated with their effects. Candice’s effect will certainly win you games here-and-there, but it will lose games for you too. Based on its lack of play competitively and from my time using it, the risk associated with the card makes it not worth including.

[@nolansfunadventures4392]

thanks

[@Ahlax]

why do you have two baxcalibur? you can use the hero power repeatedly which just one of them

[@InThirdPerson]

If they knock out Baxcalibur and you don’t have an option to get another one ready, you won’t be able to attack.

[@Norrygan]

I dont have Iron Hands, any suggestions for a replacement? Im think about mew ex.

[@InThirdPerson]

There is no other card in the format that does the specific thing that Iron Hands is good at (taking an extra prize from a KO). You can put in other secondary attackers like Crown Zenith Kyogre or Wellspring Mask Ogerpon, but they won’t do what Iron Hands would and probably won’t give you equivalent value in that spot.

[@Lockon_Stratos]

I just got into pokemon tcg a couple weeks ago. Already made an Ancient Toolbox deck, and I'm working on making Charizard EX, Espathra EX, and maybe Chien-Pao. Is Iron Hands EX essential to Chien-Pao?

[@InThirdPerson]

There are a few players who don’t run Iron Hands in their lists. But almost every competitive list and the most successful ones at major tournaments do run Iron Hands. It’s great for giving you another avenue for taking multiple prizes on a turn against smaller single-prize Pokemon. You can use Limitless for reference on what how Chien-Pao players are building their decks with (or without) Iron Hands: play.limitlesstcg.com/decks/chien-pao-baxcalibur?format=standard&rotation=2023&set=TEF

[@charlestonson2200]

Yes, play Iron Hands EX. I was skeptical at first, I was playing the Palkia V variant but Iron Hands EX can really be a game changer literally. I’ve won games only using Iron Hands and Radiant Greninja as attackers.

[@caliraisedexotics]

I got a buddy building a chin-pao Palkia deck that I need to build a counter deck for..please help 😓

[@InThirdPerson]

Ancient Box destroys Chien-Pao pretty badly. Chien-Pao doesn’t have many good answers against big basic single-prize decks (that can also one-shot Chien-Pao towards the mid-to-late game). Here’s my guide on Ancient Box! kzbin.info/www/bejne/gpumZ6eeaZymZsUsi=wdS9TsHxfy57HBeJ

[@whiplashgaming9053]

It's Not, It's a Good Deck, But I have a deck that Destroys it! I call it the Psylock Deck! And it doesn't knock out everything!