How to Beat Tera Charizard ex in the Pokemon TCG!

Tera Charizard ex is strong and wildly popular, particularly in the realm of Pokemon Trading Card Game Live. Here are some ways you can overcome one of the most common and challenging match-ups in the current Obsidian Flames meta!

[@InThirdPerson]

One extra tidbit I missed in the video is that certain Pokemon can block Charizard's attack, such as Mimikyu from Paldea Evolved and Vulpix VSTAR after it hits Snow Mirage.

[@stephenhirlehey7477]

Just played 6 matches and all my opponents were running dark type charizard , I’m ready to quit

[@user-uj9ez3xz2p]

Hello Sir, this kind of content is GREAT. Seriously, you are givin real keys to understand the metagame and that is very, very interesting. You could do this concept for other top tiers Match ups (would be very interested to have a video on how to beat Mew for example), and you could also do different metagame videos with a ppt support (for example: "tiers list updates of the month", etc.). That's gold for us, thanks a lot!

[@InThirdPerson]

Really glad you find value in this type of content! Will see what I can do to make more stuff like this in the future.

[@jokur3]

12:41 Hi there, that is actually me. Thank you for showcasing my deck design. Your instinct is correct. It plays more as a Mew DTE build with the FS energy to beat Spiritomb and for Accelgor. The Accelgor with Super Reflective Glasses or 2x Tablets will KO a Charizard ex. Actually early in the tournament I used Shelmet + 3x Power Tablets and the Super Reflective Glasses OHKO a Charizard ex. I am not sure if this is Mew's answer in OBF but it was fun playing and looking at people's reactions to it.

[@InThirdPerson]

Thanks for the insight on your deck design! I stumbled on the list from a tweet from a Japan-based Twitter account and couldn’t find any attribution.

[@Number1SethRollinsFan]

I hate that pest! My best battle against it has been Espartha ex to stop it from attacking, as my opponent doesn't notice the ability and doesn't realize they need a 3rd energy on Charizard ex to attack it. Then as long as I have lots of energies on Espartha ex, I can one shot it, due to its weakness. I just recently fought a deck that I only saw 1 of it and I was running Machamp Vmax/Gengar. I guarded 50 damage with a Rock Chest Plate and Lake Acuity. He used Lost Vacuums, but I kept drawing into them because I use Purrloin and Greninja and Falkner for draw. With even just 1 Purrloin and my Greninja, I'm drawing 4 cards. Then because I have Lake Acuity out, I draw 4 more cards with Falkner. That's 8. I had 1 prize card left, but he couldn't 1 shot my Machamp Vmax. Then, I dug out my Boss's orders to pluck up something with low HP off his bench because I knew I couldn't 1 shot his Charizard ex. It was crazy because my Boss's orders were all deep in my deck. I thought they were all prized. I run 3 Boss's Orders and 4 Pal Pads. Thanks for the Path to Peak tip and your other tips. Sadly, Flaaffy is getting rotated next month on that really hurts Lighting Decks. I know we still have Electric Generator, but I hate Gamble Cards. I love Dynamotor because it's guaranteed Lightning Energy accel. I remember Eels back in the day with Dynamotor and now Dynamotor is being rotated again!

[@MichaelJones-sx8dw]

Playing Zard so far in person at 2 locals, admittedly small sample, but strong players. Out of 9 games, I have dropped just 1 against LZ Tina, and that was to a rough first 2 turns, ended up wining the next 2 games agains LZ Tina, and then Miraidon, Arc Pile amd Urshi/Intel. I play 4 Magma Basin and use Radiant Heatran. Heatrann is so strong right now, and can easily one show those leaf attackers. Very great video btw!

[@mamposteria]

Unfortunately Path to the Peak has now been phased out of Standard Format :[ I think a Spiritomb (I don’t remember the expansion) could replace it? Adding on to the strategies with some new cards, Teal and Cornerstone Ogerpon ex have a chance against Charizard ex because Teal Ogerpon is very easy to energise and is super-effective against Darkness PKMN, and Cornerstone Ogerpon blocks attacks of PKMN with abilities. I think I’ll build a deck with either of those Ogerpon plus the Mimikyu from Paldea Evolved (I actually once made a Charizard-user rage-quit by blocking Burning Darkness with it, LOL) and Gardevoir ex.

[@4myzelf]

Interesting take, aside from the shaymin tech and grass decks, most of the decks aren't really bad match ups to me but good video though, makes me think of other options and what to watch out for in my own zard deck

[@draco_was_already_taken]

A lot of ppl talk about how the path to the peak counters charzard but Pidgeot ex can discard a stadium or if u searched for a lost vacuum last turn it could work too but if they get path to the peak before than it becomes a problem

[@InThirdPerson]

While Pidgeot can discard Path, it’s far from an ideal solution. - As you’ve pointed out, if Path drops before your Pidgeot is set up, you’re in big trouble. And odds are your initial priority is to set up Charizard, so early Path is especially disruptive - Under Path, you still have to build up a Pidgeot, attach energy, and attack. At that point, you did bump Path, but burned a whole turn bot building Charizard while only doing 100-120 damage, which usually isn’t enough to move the needle. - Path only gets removed at the end of your turn, unlike a stadium or Lost Vacuum that can be played during your turn, allowing you to get the most out of your turn. after the Pidgeot attack, your opponent can simply play another Path, further pushing the game out of reach. Out of desperation and if you’re already set up, sure Pidgeot might be better than nothing. However, its far from an ideal counter, especially against an early Path. It’s not enough to nullify Path as a counter. Almost every deck that has a winning record against it in Limitless tournaments runs Path and Charizard just isn’t going to gave the answer every time and Pidgeot simply isn’t enough to tip the scales at a macro level.

[@parkerstrain7362]

I’m very very new to Pokémon tcg (I’ve been playing for three days) and the only thing I’ve been playing is lunatone mewtwo that came with the game slightly varied so I don’t run out of deck space 😅

[@nickmcbrearty1895]

Love this stuff, Jett!

[@InThirdPerson]

Thank you!

[@Renwa82]

I love it when they evolve Char Ex first without setting anything else up first. Super easy to take him out in that situation. All in all, when they're not just hitting everything perfect Charizard EX is very beatable.

[@Adam-ef6ij]

amazing conetent! def looking forward to more videos :D

[@InThirdPerson]

Thanks for watching!

[@iamaxlrose1720]

Hope to get an advice from you

[@JacobKreutzer]

I've been playing a Meowscarada EX/Vespiquen EX deck. It's not the most consistent, but it's been a lot of fun and does tend to fair well against Charizard

[@InThirdPerson]

I was planning on covering Meowscarada again once its Deluxe ex Battle Deck comes our in late September, but Charizard mania may push up my timeline.

[@qtAlexx_YT]

ZoroBox with Scovillian hits charizard ex for 180+ weakness so 360 which one shots it AND scovillian is a 1 prize

[@TheRedfire21]

Starmie v has been great vs Charizard ex in my palkia deck. Path to the peak is still MVP tho.

[@InThirdPerson]

If they’ve loaded enough energy onto their Pokemon, Starmie can absolutely smash a Charizard in a way that Palkia by itself can’t. Thanks for the suggestion!

[@Ejb5154]

Poor Palkia lol. I have a rough time against it unless I tank the Charmanders with Greninja before they can set up.

[@susanoproductions4912]

I just play Torterra from brillian stars

[@iamaxlrose1720]

Hi sir. I saw your video of how to beat charlizard ex. What if I am playing zoroark V deck. What can I add in to beat charlizard ex? Any advice sir? Hope you can advice. Currently I am playing with ,4/4 v and vstar zoroark, 1) ZaptosV, 1) luminion, 1) Drapion, 1) Radiant heatran, 2) 2/2 bidooff, 2) Gengar, and 1) dunsparce.

[@InThirdPerson]

While I haven't played that match and haven't played Zoroark VSTAR in about a year, I think that match is pretty awful for Zoroark. Charizard can start one-shotting Zoroarks once you've taken 3 prizes and maybe even earlier depending on how you've spread out your damage. Meanwhile, you have no way of one-shotting Charizard. Zoroark's options for teching for Charizard are pretty bad and it's probably just going to be an auto-loss most of the time. That said, maybe consider: - Path to the Peak. Will slow down Charizard but then you can't use Gapejaw Bog to get damage on your own board. Not ideal. - Tech in a grass attacker like Serperior VSTAR. Serperior can be charged up with one Double Colorless and one grass energy and can take out two Charizards before they can knock out one Serperior. But this is awkward to set up and bad in pretty much every other match-up. Would not recommend but maybe something to think about. - Cheren's Care can put a damaged Zoroark into your hand and allow you to bring in a fresh Zoroark to attack. If you can Cheren's Care multiple times and take out 2 Charizards before they've taken 2 prizes, you might be able to slip by with a win. But this is also tough to combo over the course of multiple turns. Also, not sure what value Zapdos V brings to Zoroark VSTAR at this point, especially with Arceus and Pokemon V in general waning in popularity. Would probably replace that with something else. No one really plays Zoroark outside of Japan, but I do see a few updated Zoroark lists from Japan. Maybe this could help: twitter.com/pokeca_book/status/1701016924837310822?s=20 twitter.com/pokeca_book/status/1695082916441911489?s=20

[@iamaxlrose1720]

@@InThirdPerson thank you for your advice will consider adding in grass Pokémon if needed too. But looking stvtge current meta region completion and Japan champion league games not alit of ppl are using charlizard. So I feel zoroark still quite powerful deck. zoroark can OHKO provide with 2 basic energy + justified gloves. If able to set up quick. Just thought to ask expert like you to see if I can add in other or change other cards to make it better. As I am also using 1 choice belt and 1 justified gloves.. should I put 2 justified gloves instead?

[@InThirdPerson]

One thing to keep in mind is that the IRL competitive meta is not the same as the online competitive tournament meta and it’s definitely not the same as the PTCGL ranked/casual meta. Regardless of how it fares in major tournaments, Charizard will be the most popular deck played on PTCGL because the best free battle pass deck is always the most popular deck. Your tool choice will depend on how badly you want to tech for the Charizard match vs. matchups featuring Pokemon V. Justified Gloves does get you the OHKO on Charizard if you can get the right energy on. Good call! Another thing to consider. If you come up short, Gengar with 1 psychic energy could finish off a Charizard with damage on it.

[@iamaxlrose1720]

@@InThirdPerson ya I am actually talking ABT real live deck competitive instead of ptcg live ...

[@BrawlManiac18]

I’m playing Rapid Strike Inteleon Urshifu and I’m finding it a hard matchup. I’m usually too late to double gunner a potential pidgey or charmander, and or I don’t have an radiant alakahzam or Medicham on my bench to push the knockout. I am running a Cheryll for a potential heal but I’m not running Lumineon and instead Squakabilly. Do you have any advice for this matchup? Is it just to be aggressive and be fast for me to gain an advantage?

[@paulopaixao9648]

I will be honest. I'm playing Turbo LZ and I find these Cahrizard ex matchups really hard. Maybe I should swap Artazon for Path or Pokestop for Path, exclude a rozzane and include Iono. Any ideas?

[@primetimexcmw2293]

gawd I can't wait for charzard to be banned or limited

[@InThirdPerson]

Almost certain that Charizard won’t get banned before it’s scheduled rotation in 2026. Pokemon have not banned cards in Standard format in many years and just in my time playing, Charizard is very strong for its time, but not as strong as other decks I’ve seen in the last few years that did not get banned. Mew VMAX during Fusion Strike was leagues above its competition and Lugia VSTAR during Silver Tempest is arguably the most broken deck of all-time and neither got banned. To put it i to perspective, Charizard right now currently has a meta share of 13.82% in Limitless tournaments with a win rate of 49.72% play.limitlesstcg.com/decks?rotation=2023&set=TEF But at the peak of their powers, Mew VMAX during Fusion Strike had a meta share of 18.04% and a win rate of 52.62%. play.limitlesstcg.com/decks?rotation=2022&set=FST Lugia during its Silver Tempest apex had a meta share of 19.64% and a win rate of 51.78% Both were more popular and won more than Charizard, and no action was taken. Lugia fell off a cliff due to rotation a few months later, so no action was taken there. As for Mew, Pokemon tried their best to give players counters such as Mightyena, Drapion, and Spiritomb. Those worked to…varying degrees. Sableye sort of got countered this way as well with Jirachi’s ability acting as a hard counter to Sableye. If Pokemon feels there is truly a problem, they’ll start giving players more viable answers to Charizard. We sort of got that with Iron Leaves ex, but it’s not nearly as splashable as something like Drapion or Spiritomb. I personally would like to see a viable grass deck that is good against anything and not just Charizard. We haven’t had a good grass deck since Leafeon VMAX.

[@johnyuddin6766]

Great video!

[@InThirdPerson]

Thanks for watching!

[@miguelespinal2889]

Im pretty new to competitive Pokemon TCG and seeing this Tera Charizard EX over and over becomes really annoying and my Mew Vmax deck is great but its annoying when the opponent can get their Charizard in like one or two turns with rare candy before I can even blink, will definitely try different decks though.

[@InThirdPerson]

Mew is a stronger deck overall and will likely continue to be more popular and more successful in the competitive scene. However, in the world of PTCGL where Charizard is free, the popularity of Charizard makes it tough for psychic decks. Your best bets in that match-up are Path to the Peak and maybe even the Accelgor line to one-shot Charizard.

[@miguelespinal2889]

@@InThirdPerson Yeah thank you for the suggestions in the video, I’m quickly learning path to the peak is a must in any deck to counter Tera Charizard.

[@27Kosta]

How does attacking Charizard work vs this---> Tera: As long as this Pokémon is on your Bench, prevent all damage done to this Pokémon by attacks (both yours and your opponent’s). I am new trying to teach my son , any help would be great ty .

[@InThirdPerson]

Some attacks can do damage to Pokemon on the bench, such as Radiant Greninja’s Moonlight Shuriken. The Tera effect prevents Charizard from being hit by DAMAGE when it is on the bench. it can still get hit when it’s in the active. However, other attacks such as Sableye’s Lost Mine drop DAMAGE COUNTERS, which the Tera effect does not prevent. They both ultimately deal damage but the way in which they do so matters, especially if Pokemon or other effects are in play that prevent DAMAGE (like Manaphy or Tera Pokemon) or DAMAGE COUNTERS (like Jirachi). Hope that helps!

[@27Kosta]

@@InThirdPerson TYVM!!

[@sjoerdjuxta]

nice vid thanks

[@oberonthemystic3752]

Why does nobody talk about lost box Dragonite? It seems to work great countering counterMETA that plays in most tournaments. On top of that, it can include sky seal for Arceus or Tina. it has Raikou which can snatch away 1-1 lines of Pidgeot easily and hit Charizard with Iono/ Roxanne K.O.s. It's like everyone forgot about this deck. Can you try to play it against the META? it looks like good counterMETA to me.

[@InThirdPerson]

At the time I recorded this, Charizard had a record of 26-25 vs. Lost Box, which includes the Dragonite variant. I was focusing on decks it had losing records against. As of right now, Lost Zone Box now has a winning record vs. Charizard. play.limitlesstcg.com/decks/charizard-ex/matchups/?format=standard&rotation=2023&set=OBF The reasons you’ve outlined are likely why the match is now favoured for Lost Box, but I didn’t have the data to prove that point at the time I made the video. It’s still early and things could flip again, but on paper, I could see a world where Lost Box Dragonite could have an edge vs. Charizard.

[@oberonthemystic3752]

@@InThirdPerson There are a lot of things Sable + Dragonite will hit. If you plan on playing a sky seal box, you end up getting KOs not just on arc, but rather on many other decks that run rampant in the META. Zard can be hit and K.O.'d by Sableye + Dragonite too (8 on zard, 4 on another, K.O. with dragonite to place 4 on the other zard the turn later(The zard with 4) and put 8 on anything you wish to K.O. Like manaphy. Apart from that, teching another boss will almost force you to draw into it by turn 4-5 at the very most, where you can boss + K.O. pidgeot played in zard with Raikou. That turn, or the turn after, you can sableye to take down any more pidgey that they set up. You may even consider teching path here to combo Iono + Path + K.O. to stop zard and pidgeot.

[@TnD12754]

I've tried Toedscruel its fun until you don't get any energies in hand while running 13 or more lol.

[@swrodgon]

I run a version with forrestress ex, but it’s still pretty awkward if you don’t have enough benched stuff to attach to once you blow up to up your colony damage.

[@storymaster23]

Run zard with lunatone and solrock. 4 paths and shut down other zards.

[@InThirdPerson]

🌶️

[@GazerBeam2k]

Spdiops ex will now have his time

[@InThirdPerson]

I've been seeing a lot of Spidops in casual matchmaking lol! Is that you?

[@GazerBeam2k]

Viva La Spi!!!

[@fjdcyc]

The game it's now broken

[@JustJerryPodcast]

Now how does a charizard deck counter that and the leafeon decks lol

[@InThirdPerson]

Tech in a fire attacker like Entei V and hope it’s enough!

[@markevinlagsac3252]

It's BDIF or at least top tier. Saying Charizard is not top tier is dilutional.

[@InThirdPerson]

It’s certainly a strong deck and I’m happy that it gives players another option to work with. However, there’s a fair amount of data to back up the point that Charizard is probably not BDIF and may even have to argue for its place in the top tier. Let’s start with the match up chart on Limitless, which compiles match-up data and now has more data than when I recorded the video. play.limitlesstcg.com/decks/charizard-ex/matchups/?format=standard&rotation=2023&set=OBF Not including itself, Charizard has losing records to 6 out of the top 10 decks. For funsies, I’ll disregard Gardevoir in this data set, as Gardevoir technically has a winning record vs. Charizard but only by 1 win. Win rates vs. - Giratina: 37.29% - Chien-Pao: 27.10% - Lost Box: 44.33% - Arc Tina: 27.47% - Miraidon Flaaffy: 32.79% - Arceus: 37.93% IMO, it’s hard to call a deck top-tier when it loses to 6 out of the other 9 most popular decks in tournament play. Conversely, let’s do the same exercise for Giratina VSTAR play.limitlesstcg.com/decks/giratina-lz-box/matchups/?format=standard&rotation=2023&set=OBF Not including itself, Giratina has winning records against 6 of the top 10 decks: Win rates vs. - Charizard: 61.02% - Chien-Pao: 56.36% - Gardevoir: 51.77% - Arceus Giratina: 56.20% - Miraidon Flaaffy: 53.85% - Arceus: 63.01% Even among its “bad” match-ups, the only real bad match-up with a win rate under 40% is Lost Box. Zooming out a bit, let’s look at the overall records for the top 10 decks on Limitless: play.limitlesstcg.com/decks While Charizard is the 2nd most popular deck, it also has the 2nd worst win rate. At 45.04%, it only has a better record than “Other”. You actually have to scroll all the way down to 17th to see that Arceus Duraludon is the first non-Other deck to have a worse overall win rate than Charizard. It’s still early and maybe we as a community haven’t seen the ceiling for what a Charizard deck can be. We also haven’t had any major IRL tournaments yet with Obsidian Flames legal and things could change then. However, using the tools available to us to assess how well these decks do in tournament play, the data currently suggests that the deck isn’t ready for the throne just yet.

[@swrodgon]

I really don’t get how Gardy is a bad matchup, the only times I lose is if I get a shit start (which can doom pretty much any deck matchup). You ohko anything in the deck handily, they need 9 psychics on the soon to be rotating one to achieve a one shot which isn’t easy to achieve except late game. By then you’ve had ample opportunity to boss up their Gardy ex to just ruin them since they’re overly reliant on getting one set up and using the others for cheap attacks. Giratina vstar is annoying, but you can easily slap on a vengeful punch to one and KO it with your follow up one as long as you’re down by 2 prizes.

[@swrodgon]

But yeah, overall Path to the Peak is the best answer until it rotates honestly, their whole game is based on accelerating with the ex. Shut it down and force them to attach the chump way and you should have enough time to hopefully get your deck running against them.

[@InThirdPerson]

Since the time of recording, more tournament matches have been played and Charizard now has a bit of a lead (59 wins, 54 losses, 4 ties). play.limitlesstcg.com/decks/charizard-ex/matchups/?format=standard&rotation=2023&set=OBF With all of these, the data set was still a bit short. We’ll have a better idea with time, but yeah I agree that Charizard can mess up Gardevoir pretty bad with a Boss KO to their Gardevoir ex.

[@Renwa82]

I'm so bored of these Charizard matches. They play the same donk over and over

[@shinyocelot04archive]

Charizard has made it incredibly difficult for me to play anything that isn't anti Charizard. Good thing I picked up the Meowscarada ex deluxe deck since that's probably the only card that effectively deals with Charizard that isn't Path or Lost Zone.

[@pugilat123456]

Just a stupid pokemon