Scarlet & Violet—Journey Together Triple Play revealed for Mamoswine ex, Salamence ex, Blaziken ex – Pokémon Blog

I have naturally included some other Stage 2 Pokémon, as they are the source of our damage output. Pidgeot ex is a great Stage 2 Pokémon to have on our Bench. It allows us to find any card from our deck and, unlike Mamoswine ex, provides the deck with a much-needed pivot: it has a Retreat Cost of 0, which definitely shines beside Mamoswine ex’s massive 4 Retreat cost.

Garganacl is a card we rarely see in decks, but I think it’s a perfect fit here. Getting the second Energy attachment on Mamoswine ex could prove troublesome, especially if you ever miss a hand attachment. With Garganacl’s Energizing Rock Salt Ability, we can attach additional Energy—and even get a bit of healing in the process! This is great against decks that spread damage counters across the board, like Dragapult ex.

Getting Stage 2 Pokémon in play is still something that takes at least two turns to do, even with Rare Candy, so Luxray is added to the deck so that its Swelling Flash Ability can serve as an instant damage booster for Rumbling March. Thanks to the inclusion of Reversal Energy, we can even attack with Luxray if the situation calls for it.

Fezandipiti ex cannot evolve into a Stage 2 Pokémon, but its draw power is helpful and its status as an easy-to-play Basic Pokémon makes it too good of a card not to include. We don’t really need more than four Stage 2 Pokémon on the Bench anyway, so we can afford the Bench space.

At first, setting up all these Evolutions might look like a daunting task. Luckily, we have a few things going for us to make it more doable.

Swinub already has one of the best setup attacks in the game, Call for Family, which can grab any two Basic Pokémon and put them on the Bench. This is a great backup plan should we miss out on our preferred setup strategy, which is using Arven to find Precious Trolley and Technical Machine: Evolution. With this combo, you could potentially fill the entire Bench and instantly evolve Piloswine and Pidgeotto. From there, if you can evolve one of them, you can use either the Mammoth Hauler Ability or the Quick Search Ability to search out other Stage 2 Pokémon. Think of the deck like a snowball rolling downhill: it might need a little push to get going, but it’s impossible to stop once it picks up speed.

I chose to include four copies of Arven because it’s the best Supporter for finding Precious Trolley and Technical Machine: Evolution at the start of the game. Iono and Professor’s Research were added for their strong independent card draw and disruption.

Budew is a very popular card in the current format. As such, I went with four Mamoswine ex and one Jacq instead of an Item card like Ultra Ball. This is important for drawing into these cards naturally and not being forced to rely on Item cards to search them out. You can never go wrong with including a few copies of Boss’s Orders either: they aid in targeting down the most important Pokémon on the other side.

The mobility options in this deck are threefold—Switch, Professor Turo’s Scenario, and Big Air Balloon—and each card has a specific purpose. On the off chance that Precious Trolley is stuck in your Prize cards, Switch can be searched for with Arven in the early game to move into Swinub. Professor Turo’s Scenario is slower but can have a huge impact on a game as it can effectively be used to heal a damaged Pokémon and make the opponent work even harder to Knock Out a Mamoswine ex. Big Air Balloon makes our Stage 2 Pokémon more mobile, which is great as both Mamoswine ex and Garganacl have Retreat Cost of 4. Plus, giving Arven an extra Tool is nice.

When playing this deck, I recommend going second if you get the chance to choose. That gives you access to Call for Family, Supporters to find Precious Trolley, and even Technical Machine: Evolution. Going first and then immediately getting Item locked by an opposing Budew can pose problems for the setup. As a small countermeasure—and to have a Stadium card present—Pokémon League Headquarters can make Budew slightly more difficult to use should you be able to find it early. It’s also a great card against some aggressive decks built around Basic Pokémon.

Stéphane says: I love Stage 2 Pokémon, so I enjoy any deck that will try to set up multiple copies of them. It’s always nice to see a deck that features cards that I’ve never seen used before, like Garganacl and Big Air Balloon.

There’s not much I’d change in Tord’s deck list, but I do want to point out that for decks with so many Stage 2 Pokémon—especially if some have evolved via Rare Candy—a well-placed Technical Machine: Devolution from the opponent could spell disaster. If that card is popular, I’d probably recommend adding a Mist Energy to protect at least one Pokémon from Devolution.

Ross says: Tord’s deck looks very solid, with a lot of search power between Mamoswine ex and Pidgeot ex’s Abilities. I might’ve liked to see a few more ways to find those first Stage 2 Pokémon, like more copies of Jacq or Ultra Ball. I feel like the Pokémon League Headquarters could be cut if it’s primarily for Budew: you won’t be able to search for it on turn one with any of your cards.

Stéphane Ivanoff

When I first saw Salamence ex, my first thought (I’m an Expanded format enjoyer, after all) was that it would work very well as a tech attacker in a Regidrago VSTAR deck. Of course, that’s not an option in the Standard format, as Regidrago VSTAR is among the many cards left behind in the 2025 rotation.

But if you like Salamence ex anyway, can you still play it?

Yes! In addition to having no Weakness (unless the opponent plays Lillie’s Clefairy ex…), Salamence ex has two excellent and complementary attacks. Dragon Impact will Knock Out any Pokémon that’s not a Stage 2 Pokémon ex, and Wide Blast will do 50 damage to all the opponent’s Pokémon. And now that Manaphy from Sword & Shield—Brilliant Stars has left the format, there’s no card that opponents could easily include to prevent this damage.

While both attacks are useful, Wide Blast is Salamence ex’s main appeal. Other Pokémon can do high amounts of damage to the opponent’s Active Pokémon, but few can spread damage as effectively as Wide Blast. It also has the lower Energy cost of the two attacks.

That said, a requirement of 3 Energy is still a hefty one, especially considering that Salamence ex is a Stage 2 Pokémon and there’s no Double Turbo Energy to help pay the cost. To help power it up, I recommend using Charizard ex, whose strength has been proven time and time again. Charizard ex can give Salamence ex the Energy needed for its initial attacks. Then, if Salamence ex gets Knocked Out, Charizard ex can step into the attacking role, since its Burning Darkness attack does more damage the more Prize cards the opponent has taken.

Here’s a deck list using this approach:

Salamence ex

Pokémon (19)

• 2Salamence ex 114/159 
• 1Shelgon 113/159 
• 3Bagon 112/159 
• 2Charizard ex 125/227 
• 1Charmeleon 8/91 
• 3Charmander 4/165 
• 1Dudunsparce ex 121/159 
• 2Dudunsparce 129/162 
• 3Dunsparce 156/193 
• 1Fezandipiti ex 38/64 

Energy Cards (7)

• 6Basic Fire Energy
• 1Basic Water Energy

Trainer Cards (34)

• 4Arven
• 2Boss’s Orders (Ghetsis)
• 2Iono
• 2Mela
• 1Artazon
• 4Buddy-Buddy Poffin
• 4Rare Candy
• 4Ultra Ball
• 2Counter Catcher
• 2Super Rod
• 2Technical Machine: Evolution
• 1Counter Gain
• 1Earthen Vessel
• 1Night Stretcher
• 1Technical Machine: Devolution
• 1Unfair Stamp

In addition to Charizard ex, I’ve chosen to add Mela and Counter Gain as ways to help attack earlier. Charizard ex is also a Stage 2 Pokémon, so we won’t always have it available at the same time as Salamence ex, especially in the early part of the game. Instead, we can use these other options to give Salamence ex additional Energy or to reduce its Energy cost so that it can use Wide Blast earlier (or Dragon Impact, since there is 1 Water Energy in the deck as an option).

In order to get these Evolution Pokémon in play, we need set up cards. Arven is the best option here, as it can find either Rare Candy to evolve Bagon and Charmander directly into Salamence ex and Charizard ex, or Technical Machine: Evolution (especially on the first turn, going second) to evolve Basic Pokémon into their Stage 1 forms. To help with the setup, I’ve added Dudunsparce to the deck—it can help draw cards with its Run Away Draw Ability.

Here’s the kind of play pattern you can do with these cards: Say you go second and start the game with Charmander. You can use Arven to search for Buddy-Buddy Poffin and Technical Machine: Evolution. Then play the Buddy-Buddy Poffin for Bagon and Dunsparce, and attach the Technical Machine: Evolution and an Energy to Charmander and use Evolution to evolve into Shelgon and Dudunsparce.

On the next turn, you can use Dudunsparce’s Run Away Draw to draw cards. If you can find Charizard ex, Rare Candy, and Salamence ex (or ways to search for them), you can use Wide Blast as early as turn two! Even if your Charmander is Knocked Out and you don’t have another one on the Bench, it’s still possible to use it by attaching an Energy with Mela, another from the hand, and a Counter Gain to Salamence ex. Fezandipiti ex can also help you draw more cards.

Once your attackers are in place, your game plan will depend on what your opponent is doing. If they’re using a deck full of big Basic Pokémon ex, then you should try to take Knock Outs on them with Wide Blast and Burning Darkness to take your Prizes two by two. If they’re playing Evolution Pokémon, you can try to Knock Out their low-HP Pokémon with Wide Blast, which can give you Prizes and limit their setup. If they manage to evolve their Basic Pokémon, you still have a powerful option. Using Wide Blast a couple times followed by Technical Machine: Devolution to devolve all the opponent’s Pokémon to their previous lower-HP stage can KO them instantly! Try that against a field full of Gholdengo ex.

You might wonder about the Dudunsparce ex I added in. If we’re already including the Dudunsparce Evolution chain, why not use a copy of the Pokémon ex as well? Tenacious Tail is a pretty effective attack against decks that play many Pokémon ex. For example, the Tera Box deck uses big Basic Pokémon as attackers, powered by Crispin and Teal Mask Ogerpon ex plus Energy Switch. You can use Charizard ex against them, but it will be Knocked Out by Teal Mask Ogerpon ex. Salamence ex can take a Knock Out with Dragon Impact, but it will then be Knocked Out itself by Lillie’s Clefairy ex. Dudunsparce ex, on the other hand, is harder to Knock Out since no Pokémon in that deck hits it for Weakness.

Finally, I chose Unfair Stamp as my ACE SPEC. It’s a strong card that can help change the course of a game and fits well in a deck using multiple Stage 2 Pokémon, which will usually give up a Prize or two before it can start attacking. It’s also a way to turn our main Supporter Arven into a draw effect. Hero’s Cape would also be a valid option. There are very few ways to get rid of Pokémon Tools in the Standard format, so most decks don’t bother. Hero’s Cape can increase Salamence ex’s survivability and let it use Wide Blast even more—and it can make Charizard ex a nightmare to deal with in the late game.

Salamence ex may not be the card to play if you want quick victories, but you’ll have many options to climb back even if you’re behind. Don’t give up!

Tord says: I really like the combination of Salamence ex and Charizard ex. It’s similar in concept to the pretty successful Charizard ex and Dragapult ex deck, which also pairs Charizard ex with a powerful dragon that can spread damage around the board. As far as engines go, I think I would have preferred Pidgeot ex as a partner over Dudunsparce. We have strong cards to get our Stage 2 Pokémon established in this list already with the Technical Machine: Evolution, Rare Candy, and Arven. I am a little biased because I just really love the Quick Search Ability.

The count of some of the other card inclusions also looks great: two Super Rod, two Boss’s Orders, and two Counter Catcher is a recipe for success in Stage 2 variants. I’m excited to try this deck out!

Ross says: I’m intrigued by Stéphane’s inclusion of Dudunsparce and particularly the new Dudunsparce ex. It’s cool that this Pokémon’s Evolution chain now brings card draw and attack options. I’ll certainly be thinking about what other decks would benefit from this combination.

Ross Cawthon

Energy acceleration—ways to attach more than one Energy card per turn—has always been an important tactic in successful Pokémon TCG decks. Thanks to its Seething Spirit Ability, the popular new Blaziken ex can utilize that tactic. While Blaziken ex can attach only one extra Energy per turn, it has the strengths of being able to attach any type of Basic Energy, and it attaches from the discard pile to boot.

Typically, cards that accelerate Energy from the discard pile are among the best: they are “stable,” while cards in one’s hand can be disrupted by an opponent’s Iono or Unfair Stamp. The challenge with using Blaziken ex will be that it is a Stage 2 Pokémon, the hardest kind of Pokémon to put into play.

To maximize Blaziken ex’s potential, I focused on Pikachu ex. This card has a phenomenal attack of 300 damage for a relatively modest 3 Energy—and it’s a Basic Pokémon. The downside of Pikachu ex is that using it can be complicated: it needs three different Energy types to attack, those Energy cards must then be discarded, and you’ll need a quick way to re-attach those Energy to attack multiple times in a row. Blaziken ex seems to perfectly counter those two downsides with its Ability.

Here is the list I went with:

Blaziken ex

Pokémon (21)

• 3Blaziken ex 24/159 
• 2Combusken 23/159 
• 3Torchic 22/159 
• 3Noctowl 115/175 
• 3Hoothoot 114/175 
• 2Pikachu ex 57/191 
• 1Cornerstone Mask Ogerpon ex 112/167 
• 1Fan Rotom 118/175 
• 1Fezandipiti ex 38/64 
• 1Squawkabilly ex 169/193 
• 1Wellspring Mask Ogerpon ex 64/167 

Energy Cards (9)

• 2Basic Grass Energy
• 2Basic Lightning Energy
• 2Basic Metal Energy
• 1Basic Fighting Energy
• 1Basic Fire Energy
• 1Basic Water Energy

Trainer Cards (30)

• 4Arven
• 3Iono
• 2Boss’s Orders (Ghetsis)
• 1Jacq
• 1Area Zero Underdepths
• 1Gravity Mountain
• 4Buddy-Buddy Poffin
• 4Nest Ball
• 2Earthen Vessel
• 2Rare Candy
• 2Ultra Ball
• 1Night Stretcher
• 1Rescue Board
• 1Sparkling Crystal
• 1Technical Machine: Evolution

The main Pokémon support I picked for Blaziken ex and Pikachu ex was Noctowl. In any deck with Tera Pokémon, Noctowl’s Jewel Seeker Ability is very powerful. You can use one card (Noctowl) to find your usual two-card combo of Rare Candy and Jacq (or Ultra Ball) to get a Blaziken ex into play. Fan Rotom with its Fan Call Ability is a great way to find multiple Hoothoot and a Noctowl on turn one. Fezandipiti ex and Squawkabilly ex are cards found in many decks that rely on Abilities to help you draw cards and execute your strategy.

I added a few “tech” Pokémon attackers for different matchups as well. While Pikachu ex is great for taking down big-HP two-Prize Pokémon ex, it’s not as efficient of an attacker against small-HP single-Prize Pokémon. It also can be stopped by popular “wall” Pokémon, like Farigiraf ex, Cornerstone Mask Ogerpon ex, and Mimikyu, which all have Abilities that will prevent Pikachu ex from damaging them. To address these situations, I’ve added Wellspring Mask Ogerpon ex and Cornerstone Mask Ogerpon ex.

Early in a game, when you’re facing small-HP Pokémon like Dreepy, Charmander, or Gimmighoul, 300 damage from Pikachu ex isn’t needed. A better option is Wellspring Mask Ogerpon ex’s Torrential Pump attack, which can take out two of these small Pokémon at once! Wellspring Mask Ogerpon ex has become a much stronger card in the Standard format now that Manaphy from Sword & Shield—Brilliant Stars has rotated out—it’s now much more difficult to protect Benched Pokémon.

The best attacker against the “wall” Pokémon is Cornerstone Mask Ogerpon ex, as damage from its Demolish attack isn’t impacted by effects on your opponent’s Pokémon. We are able to power up all of these different attackers due to Blaziken ex’s Seething Spirit Ability being able to attach any type of Basic Energy card.

When choosing Trainers, I focused on a lot of ways of finding the Pokémon we need. Arven, Buddy-Buddy Poffin, Jacq, Nest Ball, and Ultra Ball all find our Pokémon. Iono is a good draw card early and is generally better than Professor’s Research in Stage 2 decks. Professor’s Research often requires you to discard a Stage 2 Pokémon or a Rare Candy when you are missing the other piece, but Iono will keep those resources in your deck to be found later with Noctowl’s Jewel Seeker Ability.

Relying on Arven to find Buddy-Buddy Poffin, I looked for Pokémon Tool cards that would also benefit the deck. I decided on Sparkling Crystal to help with attacks, Technical Machine: Evolution to help with the setup, and Rescue Board to help with retreating. I considered playing Grand Tree as my ACE SPEC to easily get Blaziken ex, but the fact that Arven can find Sparkling Crystal made me go with it instead. Sparkling Crystal makes the attacks of all our Tera Pokémon options easier to power. I have two Combusken to facilitate using Technical Machine: Evolution, as well as two Rare Candy to have multiple options in getting to Blaziken ex. If you start the game going second, a turn one Technical Machine: Evolution can be very powerful. If you go first, Rare Candy is the only way to get Blaziken ex into play on turn two.

Earthen Vessel finds the various Energy we need. Night Stretcher can recover Pokémon or Energy. Boss’s Orders can be found when needed with Noctowl to Knock Out a key Pokémon. I included two Stadiums for use in different situations: Area Zero Underdepths is great in Tera Pokémon decks. This deck doesn’t really need an enormous Bench, but playing one Area Zero Underdepths allows us to play more Hoothoot and Noctowl. If it gets countered, that’s OK—we can discard Pokémon with Abilities we can no longer use, like previously used Noctowl or Squawkabilly ex. The Gravity Mountain is an offensive card to help Pikachu ex Knock Out Pokémon with more than 300 HP like Dragapult ex, Gardevoir ex, or Charizard ex.

Finally, I have included a whopping six different Energy types! With Blaziken ex and Earthen Vessel, it isn’t too hard to find any of them early or late in the game. While you shouldn’t be attacking often with Blaziken ex, one Fire Energy allows you to do so in cases in which you want to attack with a Pokémon with a lot of HP, particularly if your opponent has a way to deal with Pikachu ex’s protective Resolute Heart Ability.

This deck gives you a lot of options. You’re able to play tons of different cards thanks to the flexibility of Blaziken ex’s Ability, which lets you attach Basic Energy, and Noctowl’s Ability, which lets you find Trainers in your deck. Give it a try and see what other options might work in it!

Tord says: The Noctowl engine is currently my favorite way of playing Pokémon in the Standard format, so I really like the choice here. I also think the cards complement each other really well and have good synergy. Pairing Blaziken ex with Pikachu ex to recover its Energy after a strong attack is clever, as is using Pikachu ex to activate Noctowl.

In my experience with the Noctowl engine, I think having two Fan Rotom is amazing. Not only can you avoid Prizing issues but you can also open with it naturally more often. Blaziken ex as a card seems to have a lot of potential, and I’m excited to try out a lot of different partners with this card—maybe even Mamoswine ex!

Stéphane says: The combination of Blaziken ex and Pikachu ex makes a lot of sense, and Noctowl is of course perfect in this kind of deck. I think I’d build the deck a little differently though. Technical Machine: Evolution doesn’t have good synergy with Noctowl, and Arven, while good, is not the best in a deck that already has Noctowl to search for specific cards. Instead, I’d like to play a full 4-4 Noctowl line, some situational Supporters like Professor Turo’s Scenario or even Penny (to heal Pikachu ex after it has attacked); at least one Professor’s Research for when you really want a lot of cards (and a way to discard Energy in hand); and probably a full four Ultra Ball to search for Noctowl more easily in the absence of Arven. I’m not saying that a build using these ideas would definitely be better, but many consistency cards (Lumineon V, Forest Seal Stone, Kirlia, Rotom V…) have rotated out of the Standard format, and Noctowl is arguably the best engine that remains, so I think any deck that can use it should try to get the maximum effect from it!

Tord Reklev is a contributing writer for Pokemon.com. He is a longtime player from Norway, playing the game since he was 6 years old. In becoming Champion at the 2022 Latin America International Championships, Tord is the first player to win all four International Championships and complete the Grand Slam. Outside of the game, he is a student and enjoys playing tennis. You can find him at most big events and can follow him on X at @TordReklev.

Stéphane Ivanoff is a contributing writer for Pokemon.com. A longtime Pokémon fan, he has played the Pokémon TCG competitively since 2010 and is a former National Champion, seven-time Worlds competitor, and the 2018 and 2019 North America International Champion in the Masters Division. He studied mathematics and has a degree in Probability and Statistics, but he says that doesn’t help his game as much as you’d think! You can follow him on X @lubyllule.

Ross Cawthon is a longtime player, starting to play tournaments in 2000. He is the only player to compete in all 20 Pokémon TCG World Championships, finishing as a finalist in 2005 and 2011, and a semifinalist in 2016. He is known for creating many new “rogue” decks over the years. Ross has a Ph.D. in astrophysics and studies dark energy (not to be confused with Darkness Energy cards).

Source: Pokemon.com and The Pokémon Company International