Flareon Engine

How to read this file.

This is your tournament deck. All 60 cards are in here, one at a time.

The game words live in the table rules. Most of them you already know from Fire Force; the ones in the big-card words — ex, Rule Box, Tera, ACE SPEC — are the ones that make this deck different, and those matter.

Then each card has its own page. Every card page has the same parts:

General use — what the card is for. Plain and short. If you only read one part, read this one.
Pairing — the other cards that work well with this one. These are links. Click them and you can follow a combo around the file.
Strategy — the deeper stuff. When to play it, when not to, and the tricks people miss.
Evolution (Pokémon only) — where the card sits in its family.

The little table on each card page just copies the numbers off the real card, so you can check something fast.

At the end is Game Plans. That's the good part. The card pages teach you the pieces. The Game Plans teach you how to win.

The Thesis

Flareon ex is not an attacker that happens to find Energy. It is an Energy engine that happens to hit for 130.

Read what that doesn't say. It doesn't say Fire Energy. It says Basic Energy — any type, any two, attached to anyone you like. Every attack is also a double Energy attachment.

Three things follow, and they shape the whole deck:

You are never Energy-screwed. The attack finds Energy from the deck, which is why 13 Energy is enough.
The engine can pay for off-type attacks. That is what the three Water are really for, and it is what makes Rainbow DNA possible at all.
130 for two Energy is fine damage on its own. You are not paying extra for the engine.

The second pillar is Tera, on every eeveelution ex:

A benched Flareon ex is untouchable, which is game plan 4. And Tera switches on the third piece: Noctowl's Jewel Seeker, two searched Trainers every time one evolves, which is game plan 3.

Deck List

Pokémon (16)

Qty	Card	Set	Number	Reg
4	Eevee	Prismatic Evolutions	074	H
2	Eevee ex	Prismatic Evolutions	075	H
3	Flareon ex	Prismatic Evolutions	014	H
4	Hoothoot	Stellar Crown	114	H
3	Noctowl	Stellar Crown	115	H

Trainers — Supporters (15)

Qty	Card	Set	Number	Reg
4	Lillie's Determination	Mega Evolution	119	I
4	Crispin	Stellar Crown	133	H
3	Boss's Orders [Ghetsis]	Mega Evolution	114	I
2	Gwynn	Pitch Black	078	J
2	Dawn	Phantasmal Flames	087	I

Trainers — Items (15)

Qty	Card	Set	Number	Reg
4	Buddy-Buddy Poffin	Temporal Forces	144	H
4	Ultra Ball	Mega Evolution	131	I
3	Switch	Mega Evolution	130	I
3	Night Stretcher	Shrouded Fable	061	H
1	Pokegear 3.0	Black Bolt	084	I

Trainers — Tool & Stadium (1)

Qty	Card	Set	Number	Reg
1	Sparkling Crystal	Stellar Crown	142	H

Energy (13)

Qty	Card	Set	Number	Reg
10	Basic Fire Energy	Mega Evolution Energies	002	—
3	Basic Water Energy	any	—	—

16 + 15 + 15 + 1 + 13 = 60. ✓

Pokémon

Eeveex4

Set: SV: Prismatic Evolutions
Number: 074/131
Type: Colorless
HP: 50
Stage: Basic
Weakness: Fighting ×2
Retreat: 1
Ability: Boosted Evolution — as long as this Pokémon is in the Active Spot, it can evolve during your first turn or the turn you play it.
Attack 1: Reckless Charge 30 — this Pokémon also does 10 damage to itself.

Evolution

eevee → flareon ex

General use

Eevee is the fast start, and Boosted Evolution is the whole reason.

Normally you play a Basic, wait a turn, then evolve it. Eevee doesn't wait. Play it into the Active Spot and you can put Flareon ex on top of it the same turn — even on turn one.

That's a 270 HP attacker on the board before your dad has done anything.

Pairing

Flareon ex — the only thing you want Eevee to become.
Buddy-Buddy Poffin — fetches two Eevee out of your deck for free. They land on the Bench though, so read the Strategy below.
Ultra Ball — grabs the exact Eevee you need.
Night Stretcher — pulls a knocked-out Eevee back out of the discard pile.

Strategy

The trap is the Bench. Boosted Evolution says Active Spot, and it means it. An Eevee sitting on your Bench is a normal Eevee: you have to wait a full turn to evolve it.

So the Eevee you're going to evolve right now has to come from your hand, into the Active Spot. Buddy-Buddy Poffin puts Pokémon on the Bench, so Poffin is for your spare Eevee and your Hoothoot, not for the one you want to grow immediately.

50 HP is nothing. Almost anything your dad plays knocks out an Eevee, and his Chaotic Pain can do it on your Bench too. That's fine, because you're not planning to leave it there. You play it, you evolve it, and by the time he gets a turn it's a Flareon ex.

Don't attack with it. Reckless Charge does 30 and hurts itself for 10. On a 50 HP Pokémon that's a third of its life for almost no damage. If you're attacking with Eevee, something went wrong three turns ago.

Eevee exx2

Set: SV: Prismatic Evolutions
Number: 075/131
Type: Colorless
HP: 200
Stage: Basic
Weakness: Fighting ×2
Retreat: 1
Prizes given up: 2
Ability 1: Rainbow DNA — this Pokémon can evolve into any Pokémon ex that evolves from Eevee if you play it from your hand onto this Pokémon.
Ability 2: 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).
Attack 1: Coruscating Quartz 200

Evolution

eevee ex → flareon ex

General use

Eevee ex is the tough version of Eevee. 200 HP instead of 50.

It does not have Boosted Evolution, so it can't evolve the turn you play it. What it gives you instead is a body that takes most decks two hits to remove.

It also has Tera, the same Ability as Flareon ex. On your Bench, attacks do zero damage to it. Most decks can't pick off an Eevee ex while it waits. Your dad's deck can, because his Chaotic Pain places damage counters instead of doing damage; see His answer to Tera.

Use plain Eevee when you want speed. Use Eevee ex when you have a turn to spare and you'd rather not lose anything.

Pairing

Flareon ex — what Rainbow DNA turns it into.
Ultra Ball — the only reliable way to find it. It's too big for Buddy-Buddy Poffin.
Switch — retreat cost 1 is cheap, but Switch is free.
Sparkling Crystal — Eevee ex is a Tera Pokémon, so the Tool is allowed to go on it.

Strategy

It is worth 2 Prize cards. A 200 HP Pokémon feels safe, and then your dad lands two Chaotic Pains on it and takes a third of the game for it. Big is not the same as safe when the prize is doubled.

Buddy-Buddy Poffin cannot find it. Poffin only fetches Basics with 70 HP or less. Eevee ex has 200. Ultra Ball is your search card for this one.

Flareon exx3

Set: SV: Prismatic Evolutions
Number: 014/131
Type: Fire
HP: 270
Stage: Stage 1 (from Eevee)
Weakness: Water ×2
Retreat: 2
Prizes given up: 2
Ability: 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).
Attack 1: Burning Charge 130 — search your deck for up to 2 Basic Energy cards and attach them to 1 of your Pokémon.
Attack 2: Carnelian 280 — during your next turn, this Pokémon can't attack.

Evolution

eevee → flareon ex

General use

This is the whole deck. Everything else exists to get a Flareon ex out and keep it attacking.

Burning Charge is the card. It does 130 damage — and then it goes and finds two more Energy out of your deck and attaches them anywhere you like. You attack and you build up at the same time, every single turn.

130 knocks out your dad's small Pokémon, not his big ones. Gastly, Toxel, Haunter, and Chansey all go down in one hit, with no Leon, no set-up, and no coin flips. His ex Pokémon have 250 to 350 HP, so each one takes two or three hits. The numbers to remember has all of them.

Pairing

Eevee — the fast way to get here, on turn one.
Eevee ex — the tough way to get here.
Sparkling Crystal — makes Burning Charge cost one Energy instead of two.
Crispin — hands you the Fire Energy to start the engine.
Switch — pulls a hurt Flareon ex back to the Bench, where Tera makes it untouchable.
Noctowl — its Ability only works if you have a Tera Pokémon in play. Flareon ex and Eevee ex both count.

Strategy

Tera is the best Ability in the deck, and it only works on the Bench. While a Flareon ex is benched, attacks do zero damage to it. Not reduced. Zero.

Against most decks, that means the only Pokémon they can attack is whichever one is in your Active Spot.

Your dad's deck is the exception. His Gengar ex's Chaotic Pain doesn't do damage. It places 13 damage counters, and Tera can't stop counters. So against your dad, a benched Flareon ex is safe from Void Gale, Chain-Crazed, and Return, and it is not safe from Chaotic Pain.

So the pattern is: build on the Bench, step forward, hit, step back. Attack with one Flareon ex, and when it gets low, Switch it to the Bench and bring up a fresh one. Against most decks the hurt one is now completely safe.

Against your dad, step back only with more than 130 HP left. A Flareon ex with 130 or less dies to one Chaotic Pain wherever it sits. If it is going to die anyway, let it swing one more time.

Free Energy every turn adds up fast. Burning Charge attaches 2 Energy on top of the 1 you attach by hand. That's 3 Energy a turn while you're also doing 130 damage. Put them on the Flareon ex sitting on your Bench, so your next attacker is already loaded before it ever steps out.

Carnelian costs , and your deck has no Lightning Energy. So normally you can't use it at all.

Unless you have Sparkling Crystal attached. It takes 1 Energy off the cost, of any type. Drop the Lightning and Carnelian costs — one Fire, one Water. That you can do, and Burning Charge can go and fetch you the Water.

Even then, think before using it. 280 damage looks amazing, but "this Pokémon can't attack next turn" means you give your dad a completely free turn. In a deck where losing a Flareon ex costs you 2 Prize cards, a free turn is exactly what he wants.

Two Burning Charges do 260 across two turns and never skip. Against most Pokémon that's almost the same damage with none of the risk. Use Burning Charge.

Your dad's Gengar ex is the exception. It has exactly 280 HP, so two Burning Charges leave it alive at 20, and Carnelian knocks it out in one hit. See Gengar ex, his closer.

Hoothootx4

Set: SV07: Stellar Crown
Number: 114/142
Type: Colorless
HP: 70
Stage: Basic
Weakness: Lightning ×2
Resistance: Fighting −30
Retreat: 1
Attack 1: Triple Stab 10× — flip 3 coins. This attack does 10 damage for each heads.

Evolution

hoothoot → noctowl

General use

Hoothoot has one job: be a Hoothoot so it can become a Noctowl. That's it. It never attacks and it never wins you a game by itself.

You have 4 because Noctowl's Ability is the best draw engine in the deck, and you can't have a Noctowl without a Hoothoot underneath it first.

Pairing

Noctowl — the only reason Hoothoot is in the deck.
Buddy-Buddy Poffin — 70 HP exactly, so Poffin can fetch it. That's not a coincidence.
Gwynn — Hoothoot has no Rule Box, so a spare one is perfect Gwynn fuel.

Strategy

Bench them early and bench more than one. Every Hoothoot on your Bench is a Noctowl you can evolve later, and each evolution is two free Trainer cards. Holding Hoothoot back in your hand is holding back your own draw engine.

70 HP is the magic number for Buddy-Buddy Poffin. Poffin fetches Basics with 70 HP or less, and Hoothoot is exactly 70. So one Poffin can grab an Eevee and a Hoothoot in one go, for free, without using your Supporter.

Don't attack with it. Triple Stab flips 3 coins for 10 each. On average that's 15 damage. Your dad's smallest Pokémon has 70 HP.

Noctowlx3

Set: SV07: Stellar Crown
Number: 115/142
Type: Colorless
HP: 100
Stage: Stage 1 (from Hoothoot)
Weakness: Lightning ×2
Resistance: Fighting −30
Retreat: 1
Ability: Jewel Seeker — once during your turn, when you play this Pokémon from your hand to evolve 1 of your Pokémon, if you have any Tera Pokémon in play, search your deck for up to 2 Trainer cards and put them into your hand.
Attack 1: Speed Wing 60

Evolution

hoothoot → noctowl

General use

Noctowl is your draw engine, and it doesn't work like a normal one.

Most draw cards give you random cards. Jewel Seeker lets you pick the exact two Trainers you want out of your whole deck. Need a Boss's Orders to finish the game? Go get it. Need a Switch to escape? Go get it.

The catch is in the wording: it only fires the moment you evolve a Hoothoot into it, and only if you have a Tera Pokémon in play. Both Flareon ex and Eevee ex are Tera, so that part is almost always true.

Pairing

Flareon ex — a Tera Pokémon, which is what switches Jewel Seeker on.
Eevee ex — also Tera, so it turns Jewel Seeker on too. Even a benched one counts.
Hoothoot — has to be on your Bench first.
Boss's Orders — the best thing to go and fetch when you're close to winning.
Sparkling Crystal — if you haven't drawn it yet, Jewel Seeker can go find it.

Strategy

You have 3 Noctowl, so you get 3 uses. Don't waste them. The most common mistake is evolving every Hoothoot the moment you draw a Noctowl. That burns all three uses early, when you don't need anything specific.

Save one. Keep a Hoothoot on the Bench and a Noctowl in your hand, and evolve it on the turn you actually need a card. That's not a draw engine any more — that's a card that says "go get any two Trainers in my deck."

Check the Tera condition first. You need a Flareon ex or an Eevee ex somewhere in play. If both are gone, Jewel Seeker does nothing. Evolve the Hoothoot anyway if you need the HP, just don't count on the cards.

100 HP is real. Noctowl can hold the Active Spot for a turn while you set up behind it. Speed Wing does 60, which is 10 short of a Gastly or a Toxel.

Against your dad, Noctowl is a secret finisher. It isn't a Pokémon ex, so his Mega Gengar ex can't shrink the Prizes it takes, and if it finishes a Gengar ex and his coin comes up heads, he only gets 1 Prize for it. When one of his Pokémon is down to 60 HP or less, let Noctowl take it. Mega Gengar ex shrinks your Prizes explains why.

Trainers — Supporters

Lillie's Determinationx4

Set: ME01: Mega Evolution
Number: 119/132
Type: Trainer — Supporter

General use

This is your reset button. Bad hand? Shuffle the whole thing away and draw a fresh 6.

The important part is that it shuffles, it doesn't discard. Nothing is lost. If you shuffle away a Flareon ex, it goes back into your deck where Ultra Ball can find it again.

Pairing

Ultra Ball — play your Ultra Balls first, then Lillie's. Balls turn junk into the card you want; Lillie's throws everything away either way.
Noctowl — Jewel Seeker is free and happens before your Supporter. Use it first so you know what you still need.

Strategy

Play it on turn one whenever you can. If you still have all 6 Prize cards, Lillie's draws 8 instead of 6. That bonus only exists before anyone has knocked anything out, so it's a first-turn card. Two extra cards for free is a lot.

Empty your hand before you play it. Every card you were holding gets shuffled away. So play your Items first, attach your Energy first, evolve first — then Lillie's, then attack. Follow The Turn Checklist and this happens automatically.

Crispinx4

Set: SV07: Stellar Crown
Number: 133/142
Type: Trainer — Supporter

General use

Crispin gets your engine started. It finds Energy in your deck and puts one of them straight onto a Pokémon — that attachment doesn't use up your one-per-turn attachment.

So on a Crispin turn you can attach two Energy: one by hand, one from Crispin.

Pairing

Flareon ex — Crispin gets you to Burning Charge a turn earlier, and after that Burning Charge does the finding for you.
Basic Water Energy — the reason those 3 Water cards are in the deck at all.

Strategy

"Different types" is a rule, not a suggestion. You can't grab two Fire. You must take one Fire and one of something else, and the only something else you own is Water. So the real result of Crispin is: one Fire Energy, plus one Water Energy.

Usually: attach the Fire, keep the Water. Early on you're playing Crispin to get Burning Charge online, and that wants Fire.

But hold on to that Water. If you have Sparkling Crystal on a Flareon ex, one Fire plus one Water is exactly what Carnelian costs. Crispin can hand you both halves of a 280-damage attack in a single card.

It's a turn-one and turn-two card. Once a Flareon ex is attacking, Burning Charge finds 2 Energy every single turn for free, and Crispin becomes the weakest Supporter in your deck. Play it early, then stop.

Boss's Orders [Ghetsis]x3

Set: ME01: Mega Evolution
Number: 114/132
Type: Trainer — Supporter

General use

Boss's Orders reaches past whatever your dad is hiding behind and drags out the Pokémon you actually want to knock out.

This is how you finish games. He hides a hurt Gengar ex on the Bench; you drag it out and finish it.

Pairing

Flareon ex: 130 damage knocks out his Gastly, Toxel, Haunter, or Chansey in one hit. His ex Pokémon need two or three.
Noctowl — Jewel Seeker can go and find a Boss's Orders on the exact turn you need it.

Strategy

Save them for Prize cards, not for fun. You only have 3. Each one should be the difference between taking a Prize and not taking one.

Count first. Before you play it, work out whether 130 actually knocks out the thing you're dragging. Against your dad it does for his small Pokémon. His ex Pokémon have 250 to 350 HP, so drag one out only when it's already hurt, or when you can hit it two turns in a row.

The best thing to drag out of his deck is Blissey ex. It costs 4 Energy to retreat, so it gets stuck, and it's worth 2 Prizes even when his Mega Gengar ex is in play.

He has a Boss's Orders too, but his real answer to Tera is Chaotic Pain. See Beating Dad's Lucky Haunt. A Flareon ex on your Bench is safe from his attacks that do damage. It is not safe from his damage counters.

Gwynnx2

Set: ME05: Pitch Black
Number: 078/084
Type: Trainer — Supporter

General use

Gwynn turns spare Pokémon into cards. Discard two, draw six.

The words "don't have a Rule Box" are doing all the work here. That means Gwynn can discard your Eevee, Hoothoot, and Noctowl. It cannot discard Flareon ex or Eevee ex.

Pairing

Hoothoot — you have 4 and you rarely need all of them. Best Gwynn fuel in the deck.
Night Stretcher — gets a discarded Pokémon straight back. Gwynn isn't really throwing them away.

Strategy

Six cards for two you weren't using is a great deal. Late in the game you'll be holding a spare Hoothoot and a spare Eevee that will never be played. That's a 6-card Gwynn.

Check the Rule Box before you plan around it. If your hand is a Flareon ex and an Eevee ex, Gwynn draws you nothing. It is a dead card in that hand. Play Lillie's Determination instead.

Discard up to 2. You can discard just one and draw 3, if that's all you can spare.

Dawnx2

Set: ME02: Phantasmal Flames
Number: 087/094
Type: Trainer — Supporter

General use

Dawn reaches into your deck and pulls out a whole evolution line at once. In this deck that means an Eevee and the Flareon ex it grows into, both into your hand, off one card.

Your deck has no Stage 2 Pokémon in it at all. That's fine. You are allowed to find fewer cards than a card asks for, so you take the two that exist and shuffle.

Pairing

Eevee and Flareon ex — the Basic and the Stage 1. This is the pair Dawn is in the deck for.
Hoothoot and Noctowl — the other legal pair. Take these when what you're missing is the draw engine, not the attacker.
Ultra Ball — Ultra Ball finds the same Flareon ex but charges you 2 cards out of your hand. If you have Dawn, play Dawn and keep the Ultra Ball for later.

Strategy

This is a setup card, so it is at its best on turn one or two. Buddy-Buddy Poffin fills your Bench with Basics. Dawn does the other half: it hands you the Eevee and the thing it evolves into, so your next turn is already decided.

You only get one Supporter a turn, and you only have 2 Dawn. Playing Dawn means not playing Lillie's Determination. Early, when you know exactly which card you're missing, Dawn wins. Later, when you just need more cards, Lillie's wins.

Dead late. Once your board is built, Dawn finds you two Pokémon you already have in play. If it's still in your hand at that point it's Gwynn fuel, not a play.

Trainers — Items

Buddy-Buddy Poffinx4

Set: SV05: Temporal Forces
Number: 144/162
Type: Trainer — Item

General use

Two Pokémon out of your deck, onto your Bench, for free, without using your Supporter for the turn. This is the best Item in the deck.

The usual grab is one Eevee and one Hoothoot. Both are 70 HP or less. Both are things you want on the Bench.

Pairing

Hoothoot — exactly 70 HP, so Poffin can always fetch it.
Eevee — 50 HP, also fine.
Noctowl — Poffin puts the Hoothoot down; Noctowl evolves it next turn for two free Trainers.

Strategy

It cannot find Eevee ex. 200 HP is way over the limit. Use Ultra Ball for that.

It's free, so play it early. There is almost never a reason to hold a Poffin. Bench bodies are what this deck runs on.

Ultra Ballx4

Set: ME01: Mega Evolution
Number: 131/132
Type: Trainer — Item

General use

Ultra Ball finds any Pokémon in your deck. Not "a Basic," not "70 HP or less." Any of them. Flareon ex, Eevee ex, Noctowl, whatever you need.

The price is discarding 2 cards from your hand first.

Pairing

Eevee ex — the only card in the deck that can find it.
Flareon ex — when you need a second one right now.
Night Stretcher — gets back a Pokémon you discarded to pay for the Ball.
Lillie's Determination — play your Ultra Balls first, then Lillie's.

Strategy

Pay with cards you can get back. A spare Hoothoot is the best discard in the deck — you have 4, you need maybe 2, and Night Stretcher can fetch one back anyway. A spare Basic Energy is fine too, since Burning Charge pulls Energy from your deck, not your hand.

Never pay with your last Flareon ex. Obvious when you read it here, easy to do at the table when you're rushing.

Order matters. Ultra Ball first, Lillie's Determination second. If you do it the other way round you shuffle away the cards you were going to pay with.

Switchx3

Set: ME01: Mega Evolution
Number: 130/132
Type: Trainer — Item

General use

Switch moves your Active Pokémon to the Bench and brings up whoever you want, for free — no Energy, no retreat cost.

In most decks Switch is a small convenience card. In this deck it's a defensive weapon, because of Tera.

Pairing

Flareon ex — Switch a hurt one back to the Bench and attacks can't touch it any more. This is the best card interaction in your deck.
Noctowl — Jewel Seeker can go and find a Switch when you're stuck.

Strategy

Switch beats Confusion. A Special Condition goes away the moment a Pokémon leaves the Active Spot. Plenty of tournament decks Confuse or Paralyze your Active Pokémon, and a Confused Flareon ex is a coin flip away from doing nothing all turn.

Switching out clears it instantly, and unlike retreating it costs no Energy.

Switch turns a hurt Flareon ex into a safe one, against most decks. Your Flareon ex is at 40 HP and about to die. Switch it to the Bench. Now Tera means it takes zero damage from attacks. It's still hurt, but they can't finish it unless they have a Boss's Orders.

Against your dad, it doesn't work that way. His Gengar ex's Chaotic Pain places 130 worth of damage counters on any of your Pokémon, Bench included, so a Flareon ex at 40 HP dies on the Bench too. Against him, Switch is for bringing up a fresh attacker, not for hiding a hurt one.

Three copies is not many. Don't burn one just to reposition. Save them for Special Conditions and for saving a Flareon ex.

Night Stretcherx3

Set: SV: Shrouded Fable
Number: 061/064
Type: Trainer — Item

General use

Night Stretcher reaches into your discard pile and takes one thing back. A Pokémon or a Basic Energy — you choose when you play it.

It's why discarding to Ultra Ball and Gwynn doesn't really hurt.

Pairing

Ultra Ball — pay with a Hoothoot, take the Hoothoot back later.
Gwynn — same trick, two cards at a time.
Flareon ex — when your dad knocks one out, this is how you get it back.

Strategy

Getting a knocked-out Flareon ex back is the big one. He spent a whole turn and two of your Prize cards removing it. Night Stretcher puts the card back in your hand for free. You still need an Eevee to evolve, but the hard part is back.

One card at a time. Not "a Pokémon and an Energy." One or the other.

Basic Energy only. Your deck only has Basic Energy, so this never actually limits you.

Pokegear 3.0x1

Set: SV: Black Bolt
Number: 084/086
Type: Trainer — Item

General use

Pokegear looks 7 cards deep and gives you a Supporter out of them.

It's an Item, so it's free. Play it first, see which Supporter it finds, then play that Supporter in the same turn.

Pairing

Lillie's Determination — the one you want most often. Pokegear turns a turn with no Supporter into a 6-card draw.
Crispin — when the problem is Energy rather than cards.
Boss's Orders — you only run 3, so this is a fourth copy on the turn a Prize card is sitting on his Bench.

Strategy

This is your insurance card. The turn where your hand has no Supporter in it is the turn you lose the game. There are 13 Supporters in your deck, so 7 cards off the top will usually contain one.

Usually, not always. If it whiffs, you've lost nothing but the card. Play it early in the turn so a miss still leaves you time to do something else.

One copy on purpose. It doesn't do anything by itself. Two Pokegear in one hand is one wasted card.

Trainers — Tool & Stadium

Sparkling Crystalx1

Set: SV07: Stellar Crown
Number: 142/142
Type: Trainer — Pokémon Tool

General use

Attach it to a Flareon ex and Burning Charge costs one Fire Energy instead of two.

That doesn't sound huge until you count turns. Without it you need two Energy before you can attack. With it you need one, which means you can attack a full turn earlier.

It goes on any Tera Pokémon, and you have two kinds: Flareon ex and Eevee ex.

Pairing

Flareon ex — the usual home. Makes Burning Charge cost one Energy.
Eevee ex — also Tera, so also a legal target.
Noctowl — Jewel Seeker can go and find this exact card.

Strategy

Attach it to a Flareon ex on the Bench. Tera means a benched Flareon ex can't be attacked, so the Tool can't be knocked off with it. Attach it to your next attacker, not your current one.

It only works on Tera Pokémon. You cannot put it on Noctowl, Hoothoot, or plain Eevee. Flareon ex and Eevee ex are your only two targets.

Energy

Basic Fire Energyx10

Set: MEE: Mega Evolution Energies (any Fire Energy works)
Number: 002
Type: Energy — Basic

General use

The Energy that actually runs your deck. Burning Charge costs — one Fire, plus one of anything. Both of those can be Fire.

Pairing

Flareon ex — Burning Charge searches your deck for more of these every time you attack.
Crispin — finds one and attaches it for free.
Night Stretcher — pulls one back out of the discard pile.

Strategy

Ten Energy in 60 cards sounds low. It isn't. Most decks need to draw their Energy. You go and fetch yours: Burning Charge finds 2 every turn, Crispin finds 2 more, and Night Stretcher recycles them. You will almost never be stuck without Energy after turn two.

Attach to a benched Flareon ex whenever you can. Tera protects it while it loads up. By the time it steps into the Active Spot it's already ready to attack.

Basic Water Energyx3

Set: any
Type: Energy — Basic

General use

Water does two jobs in this deck, and neither one is obvious.

Job 1: it makes Crispin work. Crispin makes you take two Basic Energy of different types. With only Fire in the deck, Crispin would only ever find one card.

Job 2: it pays for the big attacks, but only with Sparkling Crystal. Carnelian and Coruscating Quartz both cost Fire Water [L], and you own no Lightning. Sparkling Crystal takes off 1 Energy of any type. Take off the Lightning and both attacks cost — one Fire, one Water.

Pairing

Crispin — the card that needs a second Energy type to exist.
Sparkling Crystal — turns Water from a spare card into attack fuel.
Flareon ex — Burning Charge searches Basic Energy, not Fire Energy. It can go and fetch you a Water.

Strategy

Only 3 of them, so don't waste one. Attaching a Water to a Pokémon that will never use Carnelian is a wasted attachment. Fire is almost always the right attach.

Let Burning Charge find the Water instead. It searches your deck for any 2 Basic Energy and attaches them wherever you like. So the real line is: attack with Burning Charge, use it to place a Water on the Flareon ex wearing Sparkling Crystal, and now Carnelian is armed for next turn.

Game Plans

1. The Two-Energy Engine

This is your deck's main plan. If you only learn one thing, learn this.

Flareon ex's Burning Charge does two things at once:

Burning Charge  [R][C]
  1. 130 damage.
  2. Search your deck for 2 Basic Energy.
     Attach them to ANY 1 of your Pokemon.

Most attacks just do damage. This one pays for your next attack while it's doing it.

Count the Energy you gain in a turn:

Where it comes from: How much
Your normal attachment from hand: 1
Burning Charge: 2
Total per turn: 3

You spend two Energy to attack. You gain three. You get further ahead every single turn.

130 is a good number against your dad, not a magic one. It knocks out his Gastly, Toxel, Haunter, and Chansey in one hit. His Okidogi ex (250), Gengar ex (280), Blissey ex (300), and Mega Gengar ex (350) take two or three. That's why the engine matters so much: every hit also loads your next attacker, so you can keep hitting every turn until the big ones fall.

Compare that to your Fire Force deck, where you had to build up Leons in the discard pile just to reach 150. Here you start at 130 with no Leons and no set-up.

2. Turn One, Flareon

The best possible start, and the one rule that ruins it.

Eevee's Boosted Evolution lets it evolve the turn you play it. That breaks the normal rule, and it's how you get a 270 HP attacker down before your dad has done anything.

1. Play EEVEE into the ACTIVE SPOT.  (from your hand!)
2. Evolve it into FLAREON EX.        (same turn - Boosted Evolution)
3. Buddy-Buddy Poffin -> Eevee + Hoothoot onto the Bench.
4. Attach a Fire Energy.
5. Lillie's Determination -> draw 8. (you still have all 6 Prizes)

Next turn you attach one more Fire and Burning Charge for 130.

If you have Sparkling Crystal, attach it. Burning Charge then costs one Fire instead of two, and you can attack on turn two with a single Energy attachment.

3. Jewel Seeker Is Your Real Draw Engine

Noctowl doesn't draw you cards. It hands you the exact cards you name.

Jewel Seeker fires when you evolve a Hoothoot into a Noctowl, as long as a Tera Pokémon is in play. Flareon ex and Eevee ex are both Tera, and one of them is nearly always on your board.

You get 2 Trainer cards of your choice out of your deck.

You have 3 Noctowl. That's 3 uses in the whole game. The mistake is spending them all in the first two turns because you happen to have the cards in hand.

Instead, keep a Hoothoot benched and a Noctowl in hand. Now you're holding a card that says "at any time, take any two Trainers from my deck." That's not a draw engine, that's a toolbox.

Best things to go and get:

Situation: Fetch
You can win this turn if you reach his Bench: Boss's Orders
You're Confused and stuck: Switch
You still haven't seen your ACE SPEC: Sparkling Crystal
Your Flareon ex got knocked out: Night Stretcher
You need a Pokémon, not a Trainer: Ultra Ball — Jewel Seeker only takes Trainers, so take the Ball and let it find the Pokémon

4. The Bench Is a Fortress

This is the exact opposite of your old deck's biggest problem.

In your Fire Force deck, Charmanders sat on the Bench getting picked off for three turns while you tried to build a Charizard. Every one of them was a free Prize card for dad.

Now look at Tera:

Zero damage. Not less. Zero. A benched Flareon ex can't be hurt by Void Gale, by Chain-Crazed, or by any other attack that does damage. Eevee ex has the same Ability, so a 200 HP Eevee ex waiting on your Bench is safe from them too.

So the whole shape of your game changes:

Build on the Bench. Load Energy onto a benched Flareon ex where nothing can touch it.
Step forward. Move it into the Active Spot and attack for 130.
Step back when it's hurt. Switch it to the Bench. Now it's safe again, damage and all.
Send out the fresh one you were loading the whole time.

Three Switch plus three Night Stretcher makes that a real rotation, not a dream.

Tera stops damage from ATTACKS. It does not stop damage counters, and your dad's deck places a lot of them.

Chaotic Pain. His Gengar ex's attack places 13 damage counters (130) on any one of your Pokémon. Placing counters isn't doing damage, so Tera does nothing. A healthy Flareon ex lives through two of them. A hurt one doesn't, and neither does a Hoothoot, a Noctowl, or an Eevee.
Risky Ruins. His Stadium puts damage counters on your Basic Pokémon when you bench them. That's a Stadium effect, not an attack, so Tera does nothing about it, not even on an Eevee ex, which is a Basic and does get hit. It skips Flareon ex and Noctowl only because those are Stage 1.

The rule to remember: an attack can't damage your benched Flareon ex. Damage counters can. Against your dad, the fortress has a door, and game plan 7 shows where it is.

5. The Prize Race Changed

Read this one twice. It's the biggest difference between this deck and your old one.

In your Fire Force deck, every Pokémon on both sides was worth 1 Prize card. Perfectly fair trades. Knock one out, take one Prize, six knockouts each way.

That is not how this deck works.

Pokémon: Prizes it gives your dad
Eevee: 1
Hoothoot: 1
Noctowl: 1
Flareon ex: 2
Eevee ex: 2

Your dad's Lucky Haunt has big Pokémon too:

His Pokémon	Prizes you take	With his Mega Gengar ex in play
Gastly, Toxel, Haunter, Toxtricity	1	0
Chansey	1	1
Gengar ex, Okidogi ex	2	1
Blissey ex	2	2
Mega Gengar ex	3	2

That last column is his Mega Gengar ex's Ability. While it is in play, even sitting on his Bench, every Darkness Pokémon your Pokémon ex knock out gives you one Prize fewer. Your Flareon ex and Eevee ex are both Pokémon ex. Mega Gengar ex shrinks your Prizes has the whole story.

What that actually means

He needs 3 knockouts to win.   (3 x 2 Prizes = 6)
You need 6 Prizes, and with his Mega down,
his little Pokemon are worth 0 to your Flareon ex.

He needs only three good turns. You need more, and his Mega makes every one of yours count for less. That's the trade you made for a 270 HP attacker that finds its own Energy.

How to win the race anyway

Take Prizes early, before his Mega lands. Burning Charge knocks out a Gastly, a Toxel, a Haunter, or a Chansey in one hit, and while there's no Mega in play each one is a full Prize. Boss's Orders drags them out.

Take the Prizes the Mega can't shrink. Chansey and Blissey ex aren't Darkness Pokémon, so they always pay full. Noctowl isn't a Pokémon ex, so its knockouts always pay full too.

Knock out the Mega when you can do it in two turns. It's worth 2 Prizes, and every knockout after it is full price again.

Never let him have a free knockout. Every Flareon ex that dies is two turns of your work handed back. Against most decks, Switch it out before it dies. Against your dad, remember that Chaotic Pain reaches the Bench, so a Flareon ex with 130 HP or less isn't safe anywhere.

Know his numbers. Void Gale does 230, a Poisoned Okidogi ex does 260, Blissey ex's Return does 180, and Chaotic Pain places 130 anywhere. A healthy Flareon ex at 270 lives through any one of them. Any two of them finish it, except two Chaotic Pains, which leave it at 10.

Your small Pokémon are worth 1 Prize, and that's useful. If something has to die, better it's a Hoothoot than a Flareon ex. Letting him knock out a Noctowl costs you one Prize and buys you a turn.

6. Reading Your First Hand

Turn one decides a lot of games. Here's how to play it.

Step 1: Do you have a Basic Pokémon?

If not, you mulligan — show your hand, shuffle it back, draw 7 more. Your dad draws 1 extra card. It's just a do-over.

Your Basics are Eevee, Eevee ex, and Hoothoot — 10 of them in 60 cards. You'll mulligan a bit less often than with your old deck.

Step 2: What do you play?

Your hand has…: Do this
Eevee + Flareon ex: Play Eevee Active, evolve immediately. Best possible start.
Buddy-Buddy Poffin: Play it. It's free. Grab an Eevee and a Hoothoot.
Eevee ex, no plain Eevee: Play it Active. It can't evolve this turn, but 200 HP holds the spot fine.
Hoothoot but no Eevee: Bench the Hoothoot, play Ultra Ball or Lillie's to dig for an Eevee.
All 6 Prizes still out: Lillie's Determination draws 8 instead of 6. Do it.
Crispin: Good turn-one Supporter if you don't need Lillie's. Free Energy attachment.
Sparkling Crystal: Attach it to your Flareon ex right away.

Step 3: Attach your Energy

Fire, onto whatever is attacking soonest. Usually the Active Flareon ex.

Step 4: Remember the turn-one rules

If you went first, you cannot attack. Set up instead.
Boosted Evolution does work on turn one. That's the whole point of it.
There is no Rare Candy in this deck, so none of that turn-one Candy trouble exists any more.

7. Beating Dad's Lucky Haunt

Know the other side and you'll see plays coming.

His deck is mostly Darkness Pokémon, plus a Chansey and a Blissey ex, which are Colorless. Nothing in it is Water, so your Flareon ex's Water Weakness never comes up. Nothing in it is Fighting, so your Eevee ex's Fighting Weakness never comes up either. Everything he does to you is just the number on the card.

That's the good news. The bad news is that his deck was built to beat big Pokémon, and Flareon ex is a big Pokémon.

The numbers to remember

What you do to him:

His Pokémon	HP	Burning Charge (130)	Carnelian (280)
Gastly	70	KO	KO
Toxel	70	KO	KO
Haunter	100	KO	KO
Chansey	120	KO	KO
Toxtricity	140	10 short	KO
Okidogi ex	250	two hits	KO
Gengar ex	280	three hits	KO, exactly
Blissey ex	300	three hits	plus one Burning Charge
Mega Gengar ex	350	three hits	plus one Burning Charge

What he does to you:

His attack	Damage	Your Flareon ex (270 HP)
Chaotic Pain, from Gengar ex	130, as damage counters, on any of your Pokémon	lives at 140; two of them leave it at 10
Void Gale, from Mega Gengar ex	230	lives at 40
Chain-Crazed, from a Poisoned Okidogi ex	260	lives at 10
Return, from Blissey ex	180	lives at 90

Nothing he has knocks out a healthy Flareon ex in one hit. Every one of them gets close, though, and almost any second hit finishes the job. A Flareon ex that grew from an Eevee hit by his Risky Ruins starts at 250, and a Poisoned Okidogi ex's 260 knocks that one out in one hit.

His answer to Tera is Chaotic Pain

This is the most important thing in this whole section.

Tera stops damage from attacks. His Gengar ex's Chaotic Pain doesn't do damage. It places 13 damage counters on 1 of your Pokémon, Active or Bench, and Tera has nothing to say about that.

So against your dad, the Bench is not a fortress.

A hurt Flareon ex on your Bench is not safe. If it has 130 HP or less left, one Chaotic Pain knocks it out right there, and he takes 2 Prizes.
A healthy one is. Two Pains are 260, and a Flareon ex has 270. Keep loading your next attacker on the Bench like always.
Your Eevee (50), Hoothoot (70), and Noctowl (100) die to one Pain, anywhere. Each one is a Prize for him, and he likes shooting your Noctowl engine. Bench the ones you're about to use, not all four Hoothoot at once.
Eevee ex (200) takes two Pains.

If a hurt Flareon ex is going to die anyway, let it swing one more time. A Flareon ex that dies attacking took something with it. A Flareon ex that dies hiding on the Bench took nothing.

He has a Boss's Orders too, but only one. Chaotic Pain is the card that beats Tera.

Mega Gengar ex shrinks your Prizes

His Mega Gengar ex usually sits on his Bench and doesn't attack. It doesn't need to. Its Ability, Shadowy Concealment, says that when one of his Darkness Pokémon is knocked out by damage from an attack by your Pokémon ex, you take 1 fewer Prize card.

Flareon ex and Eevee ex are both Pokémon ex. So while that Mega is in play:

You knock out	Normally	With his Mega in play
Gastly, Toxel, Haunter, Toxtricity	1	0
Gengar ex, Okidogi ex	2	1
Mega Gengar ex itself	3	2
Chansey	1	1
Blissey ex	2	2

Read that first row again. With the Mega in play, knocking out a Gastly with a Flareon ex gets you nothing.

Three ways around it:

Knock out the Mega. 350 HP is three Burning Charges, or one Burning Charge and one Carnelian. Drag it out with Boss's Orders when you can hit it two turns in a row, because if he pulls it back with AZ's Tranquility it heals 80. Once it's gone, every knockout is full price again.
Take the Pokémon it doesn't cover. Chansey and Blissey ex are Colorless, not Darkness, so they always pay full.
Finish with Noctowl. Noctowl isn't a Pokémon ex, so its knockouts always pay full. Speed Wing does 60. When one of his Pokémon is down to 60 HP or less, Switch a Noctowl in and let it take the Prizes.

Okidogi ex, his early attacker (250 HP)

If your dad goes second, he can attack on his very first turn. Okidogi ex's Poisonous Musculature pulls two Energy out of his deck onto it and Poisons it on purpose, and a Poisoned Okidogi's Chain-Crazed does 260 the next turn.

260 leaves your Flareon ex at 10. It survives, unless it already has 20 on it from Risky Ruins.
Two Burning Charges knock it out. 130 + 130 is 260, and it only has 250. Poison also hurts it 10 between every turn, so it's usually less. Carnelian does it in one.
Make it move. Once Okidogi ex leaves the Active Spot, the Poison goes away and Chain-Crazed drops to 130. It costs 3 Energy to retreat, so he'd rather not.
With his Mega in play, it's worth 1 Prize to your Flareon ex, and 2 to your Noctowl.

Gengar ex, his closer (280 HP)

Gengar ex is the Pokémon that throws Chaotic Pain. Two more things about it.

It has an Ability called Fainting Spell. When a Gengar ex is knocked out by an attack, your dad flips a coin. Heads, the Pokémon that knocked it out is knocked out too, and he takes Prizes for it.

So pick what finishes it:

How you knock it out	Prizes you take (Mega in play)	If his coin is heads
Carnelian for 280, in one hit	1 (2 with no Mega)	he knocks out your Flareon ex: 2 Prizes for him
Two Burning Charges (260), then Noctowl's Speed Wing for the last 20	2, always	he knocks out your Noctowl: 1 Prize for him

The Noctowl way is slower, and it's worth more. Carnelian is the fast answer when his Mega isn't in play yet, and it leaves that Flareon ex unable to attack next turn, so have a fresh one ready behind it.

Watch for 20 damage already on it. His Toxtricity loads Energy onto his Bench and puts 2 damage counters on whatever it loads. A Gengar ex carrying that 20 falls to two Burning Charges.

Blissey ex, the one to drag out

Blissey ex has 300 HP and sits on his Bench moving his Energy around with an Ability called Happy Switch. It's the best Boss's Orders target in his deck, for two reasons:

It's always worth 2 Prizes. It's Colorless, so his Mega Gengar ex can't shrink it.
It gets stuck. It costs 4 Energy to retreat, so once you drag it out it stays there unless he spends a Switch or an AZ's Tranquility on it.

300 HP is three Burning Charges, or two and a Noctowl Speed Wing (130 + 130 + 60 = 320).

His annoying cards

Card	What it does	What you do
*Chaotic Pain*	130 as damage counters on any of your Pokémon, Bench too	Don't hide hurt Pokémon. Keep healthy ones loaded.
*Shadowy Concealment*	Your ex knockouts on his Darkness Pokémon pay 1 fewer Prize	Knock out the Mega, take Blissey ex and Chansey, and finish with Noctowl.
*Fainting Spell*	Coin flip when his Gengar ex is knocked out; heads, your attacker goes too	Finish a Gengar ex with Noctowl when you can.
Risky Ruins	20 damage to each Basic you bench during a turn	You have no Stadium to replace it, so just accept it. It hits Eevee, Eevee ex, and Hoothoot, never Flareon ex or Noctowl. Play Poffin before it hits the table.
Boss's Orders	Drags your benched Pokémon into the Active Spot	He runs one, and his Team Rocket's Petrel can go find it.
Neo Upper Energy	One card pays for a whole Chaotic Pain or Void Gale	A Gengar ex can attack the turn it shows up. Don't count on a turn to get ready.

8. Mistakes That Will Cost You The Game

The specific traps in this deck. Read this one twice.

Playing Eevee to the Bench and expecting to evolve it. Boosted Evolution only works in the Active Spot. This is the number one mistake with this deck.

Using Buddy-Buddy Poffin to find the Eevee you want to evolve now. Poffin puts them on the Bench. Same mistake, one step earlier.

Trying to use Carnelian or Coruscating Quartz without Sparkling Crystal. Both cost Lightning and your deck has none. With the Crystal attached, drop the Lightning and both cost Fire Water ; without it, they are not options.

Leaving a hurt Flareon ex in the Active Spot. At 230 HP or less, his Mega Gengar ex's Void Gale finishes it. That's 2 Prize cards you handed over for free. Switch it out, and against your dad remember that the Bench only protects it from attacks, not from Chaotic Pain.

Hiding a Flareon ex with 130 HP or less on the Bench against your dad. Chaotic Pain finishes it there. Swing with it instead.

Benching every Hoothoot you draw against your dad. Chaotic Pain knocks out a Hoothoot or a Noctowl anywhere, for a Prize each. Bench the ones you're going to evolve soon.

Knocking out his Gastly with a Flareon ex while his Mega Gengar ex is in play. That's zero Prizes. Hit something the Mega doesn't cover, or finish with Noctowl.

Evolving all three Noctowl at once. You only get 3 Jewel Seeker uses in the whole game. Save one for when you actually need a specific card.

Forgetting Jewel Seeker is free. Evolve before you play your Supporter, so you know what you still need.

Playing Lillie's Determination with a good hand. It shuffles everything away. Play your Items first.

Playing Lillie's before your Ultra Balls. You just shuffled away the cards you were going to pay the Ball with.

Playing Gwynn holding only ex cards. Gwynn can only discard Pokémon without a Rule Box. Flareon ex and Eevee ex both have one, so that Gwynn draws you zero cards.

Attaching Sparkling Crystal to a Noctowl. It only goes on a Tera Pokémon. Flareon ex and Eevee ex are your only two.

Playing two Supporters in one turn. Not allowed. One per turn.

Attacking, then trying to do other stuff. Attacking ends your turn. Do everything else first.

9. The Turn Checklist

Stick to this order and you'll stop forgetting things.

1. DRAW your card.
2. ITEMS       - Poffin, Ultra Ball, Switch, Night Stretcher.
3. ENERGY      - attach 1 from your hand.
4. EVOLVE      - Eevee -> Flareon ex, Hoothoot -> Noctowl.
                 JEWEL SEEKER fires here. Take your 2 Trainers.
5. TOOL        - attach Sparkling Crystal if you have it.
6. SUPPORTER   - only ONE. Lillie's? Crispin? Boss's Orders?
7. ATTACK      - Burning Charge. This ENDS your turn.

Why this order? Because every step tells you something about the next one. Evolving a Noctowl at step 4 might hand you the Boss's Orders you play at step 6. If you play the Supporter first, you'll pick the wrong one.

Step 4 is where this deck is different from your old one. In Fire Force, Battle Sense was the free thing you always forgot. Here it's Jewel Seeker. Same habit, different card: do the free thing before the thing you only get once.

The single most common mistake in this whole game is attacking too early in your turn. Attack last. Always.

Honest Weaknesses

Every deck gives something up. Know yours before your opponent finds them.

Three knockouts and it's over. Flareon ex and Eevee ex give up 2 Prize cards each, and they are the only Pokémon that win you games. The Prize Race Changed is the manual; the summary is that you cannot afford a single free knockout.

Water Weakness ×2. Nothing in your dad's Lucky Haunt is Water, so you will never feel this at home. A tournament room is different. One Water deck across the table and your 270 HP attacker takes double, which means medium attacks knock it out in one hit. When you see Water Energy on their side, keep the rotation tight and never leave a hurt Flareon ex in front.

Eevee ex is Weak to Fighting ×2. A Fighting deck removes it almost on contact. Your dad's Lucky Haunt has no Fighting Pokémon, so you meet this one at tournaments, not at home. Against Fighting, plain Eevee is the safer start even though it is slower.

Damage counters go through Tera. Tera stops damage from attacks. Effects that place counters skip it entirely. Your dad's Risky Ruins taxes your Basics as they arrive, and his Gengar ex's Chaotic Pain puts 130 straight onto your "untouchable" Bench. His lantern deck's Dusknoir and Froslass do the same. Against those decks the fortress has no walls, so win fast instead of slow.

Your ex knockouts are worth less against a Mega Gengar ex. Its Shadowy Concealment takes a Prize off every Darkness Pokémon your Pokémon ex knock out, and both of your attackers are Pokémon ex. Mega Gengar ex shrinks your Prizes has the ways around it.