With the Venusaur Drop event kicking off in Pokémon TCG Pocket, players are leaving no stone unturned to get through the event’s solo battles and grab all the new promo cards by grabbing victories.
But, winning all of these battles is easier said than done, as these bouts are of increasing difficulty. The tougher battles feature the formidable Venusaur EX, and beating this tanky card (190 HP + 30 DMG healing) is proving to be a real challenge for even seasoned TCG veterans.
Obviously, beating an OP set of cards requires taking advantage of the said deck’s weaknesses, and in this case, you need to play with Fire!
Now, while you mayyyy pull off a win or two with a budget Fire deck, you absolutely need the best you can from the Fire department to ensure maximum wins, no matter which deck you face.
So, here’s the best Fire deck to burn through Venusaur EX’s bulk and healing, and grab wins on the go!
- Moltres EX is the driving force, the fuel of this deck and we are using two cards to increase the likelihood of drawing it as early as possible. With just one Fire Energy, it runs Inferno Dance, which gifts Fire Energy to your Benched Pokémon based on the number of heads you get on flipping a coin thrice. So, it’s possible to devote 2-3 Energy to your Charmander or Growlthe, having their evolutions ready to go in no time!
- Moltres EX is also pretty tanky at 140 HP and can stall until it gets enough successful Inferno Dance to have Charizard EX or Arcanine EX blazing hot in your Bench.
- Charizard EX is the showstopper, boasting the hardest-hitting attack in the current meta, Crimson Storm (200 DMG). This insane attack can OHKO any card but its penchant for OHKOing a full 190 HP Venusaur without even requiring Giovanni, is the mantra of this deck. It’s the only Pokémon capable of doing this to Venusaur EX.
- Arcanine EX cannot OHKO Venusaur EX and also takes 20 DMG to itself on using Inferno Onrush. That said, it can deal 150 DMG to VenuEX with Giovanni, and leave it a sitting duck for Charizard or even Moltres if it has 3 Energy to use Heat Blast.
- Sabrina is essential to switch out the opponent’s Active Spot to something weaker and KO them.
- Pokédex is extremely underrated in general, and super useful for this deck. By finding out whether Charizard or Arcanine is upcoming, you know whether to devote Moltres’ free Energies to Charmander or Growlithe. If you don’t see them, use Poké Ball to shuffle and draw a card.
- Potion to bypass Arcanine’s self-damage from Inferno Onrush.
- X Speed to make Moltres’ retreats to Charizard or Arcanine EX easier.
- The objective is to get Moltres to the Active Spot, give as much Energy as possible to Charmander/Growlithe with Inferno Dance spams, and switch to Charizard/Arcanine all set to sweep.
- If you come across Kangaskhan too much, consider handing Energy to Moltres to use the 70 DMG Heat Blast.
- Ideally, you should prioritize building Charizard EX on your Bench as Crimson Storm one-shots anything and everything in the meta.
- Don’t forget that using Crimson Strom discards 2 Energy, so if Moltres is able to hang on for a while, fill its plate with as much Energy as possible so that it can keep spamming Crimson Storm.
- Eliminating an EX card gives you 2 points. So, you’ll technically have to beat any regular card and one Venusaur EX to win in the Advanced and Expert decks. The Beginner and Intermediate decks don’t have VenuEX and are quite easy to beat even though you’d need to eliminate 3 different cards.
- While building Charizard EX on the Bench, if Active Spot Moltres’ HP is running low, switch it to Growlithe and sacrifice it (Growlithe, not Arcanine) if necessary. You can easily grab all points with Charizard. So, hold off evolving Growlithe until you see fit or find Arcanine EX easier to use than CharEX.
- While using Inferno Dance continuously, don’t forget to also attach the Energy gained during your turn to wherever you see fit. Many players end their turn after using Inferno Dance but forget to attach the turn’s free Energy!
All the best for winning solo battles and quickly grabbing all Promo cards from the Venusaur Drop event!
