How To Play The Infernape And Moltres ex Deck In Pokemon TCG Pocket

The Time-Space Smackdown expansion in Pokemon TCG Pocket has truly shaken up the meta with its various powerful cards, bringing a new wave of support for existing decks and, of course, a lot of cool new combinations that weren’t possible before.

Many of these new decks will go back and give a new purpose to older cards, such as is the case for Moltres ex, who found a new home in the Infernape ex decks. Serving a very similar niche as Nintendo’s favorite child, Charizard, the blazing monkey is a new alternative for Fire deck enjoyers to blow up the competition.

Sample Decklist

With so few Pokemon on the deck, your other cards are all focused on getting them onto the field as soon as possible, as well as supporting them in multiple ways. Sabrina is a staple in basically every deck, being essential to close out a match, and Giant Cape will help you not be defeated that easily.

Dawn is the biggest star here. Energy flexibility opens lots of doors for decks, but Energy-hungry cards like Infernape enjoy it the most. After hitting (and possibly knocking out) someone in your previous turn, you can move one energy from Moltres on your bench and add your turn energy to your main attacker to ensure another knockout.

Alternative Cards

It’s quite hard to replace any of the cards here, as the deck depends on pretty much everything listed above. But if you don’t have all the cards just yet, you can always improvise with something else.

Giant Cape’s main goal is to avoid 1-hit knockouts, but you can add Potions instead. It technically does the same thing (“blocking” 20 damage), and it’ll be slightly better against Darkrai decks. It does come at the cost of being an easier target for Palkia decks, though. In the same vein, Rocky Helmets can be given to either Moltres (during setup) or Infernape itself.

Cyrus is another powerful card added in Time-Space Smackdown, and it can replace one of your Sabrinas if you want. But since this deck isn’t much about spreading damage, this is more of a preference than a must. If you don’t want to play two Sabrinas, you can slot in a Giovanni. He can help you hit some key numbers to bring down some big bosses in the meta, but remember that Giant Cape still exists, and it can ruin your plans for good.

Lastly, you can always slot in X Speed/Leaf for free Retreats. While Infernape already has it for free, Moltres has a cost of 2 Energy. Having extra energy on the fiery bird is a common strategy (as we’ll explain below), but saving them is always good.

Deck Strategy

The deck revolves around a very well-known strategy: Lead with Moltres ex and use its Inferno Dance to charge up Chimchar. Once you get Infernape on the field, bring it in and start collecting some knockouts with its powerful attacks.

It’ll probably remind you of Genetic Apex Charizard ex, since both cards work the same way. Infernape is an alternative to good old Zard, with no retreat cost as its biggest advantage, but having less damage in exchange. This makes swapping between your Infernapes easy if you get two of them in the field, and they’re easier to build too.

Moltres has enough HP to take a few hits, and the addition of Tools in Time-Space Smackdown enhances this aspect even further. It also serves as a backup plan for attacks if you take longer than expected to get Infernape out. An ideal starting hand consists of Moltres, Chimchar, Giant Cape, Monferno, and Infernape. Cards like Pokemon Communication, Poke Ball, and Professor’s Research are welcome, as always.

Pokemon Communication should always be used on cards you already have on the field. If you have a Monferno on your bench and draw another one, it’s best to use Communication on it rather than evolving another Chimchar.

During an ideal second turn, you should evolve to Monferno and use Inferno Dance to charge it up, but if you have more than one benched Pokemon, your priorities are slightly different.

The main trick for this deck is spreading your Energy correctly. Inferno Dance can generate lots of Energy, so you don’t need to funnel it all into one Infernape. As long as it enters the field with at least one Energy, you can use your turn Energy to make it attack. Infernape discards all Energy attached to it when it attacks, so more than 2 is always a waste.

The Energy priority list is the following:

• 1 Heads, 2 Tails: Chimchar
• 2 Heads, 1 Tails, One for Chimchar, one for Moltres
• 3 Heads: One for Chimchar, two for Moltres.

The three Heads scenario ensures that both Pokemon can attack during the next turn if needed. Moltres has the bigger Energy costs, so he’s a priority in this case. If you have two Chimchars instead, one of them gets two Energies. Never add three Energy to Chimchars, unless you plan on retreating before evolving into Infernape.

Your turn Energies should be fed to your active Moltres so they can use Heat Blast. Otherwise, just use it to retreat. After Infernape attacks once, retreat it or use Dawn to take one Energy from a benched Pokemon. Combine it with your turn Energy and you’re able to attack once again.

Reaching the perfect scenario is easier said than done, but an Infernape with the right setup will easily bring down any slightly slower decks. 140 is the exact HP for many popular Ex cards, and you can always bring a Giovanni for those that exceed that amount.

Matchups And Counters

Infernape is a great pick for some decks in the current format, but will equally struggle against others. Some of its matchups are easy to predict, but you might get caught off guard by some of them.

Dialga Ex

With a natural advantage against Steel, Infernape can one-shot Dialga as soon as it hits the field. However, it needs to have a Giant Cape to survive a second Dialga coming from the bench. Moltres can also two-shot Dialga if you need it. However, there’s a chance that Dialga has a Giant Cape itself, and you’ll need a Giovanni to one-shot it. Otherwise, you’ll have to find some window to damage it first, then secure a win with a Sabrina/Cyrus against a weaker target later.

Palkia Ex

Palkia is much harder to face. It starts attacking with a single Energy, and Manaphy/Misty can quickly boost it to an attacking position. Not to mention the Bench damage, which makes you an easy target for a Cyrus. Giant Cape will be your only chance of surviving a one-shot, but if you don’t run Giovanni, you’ll always need to two-shot it. The good news is that if Misty fails, you have a much more consistent chance of setting up before Dialga, giving you an easy lead. Be careful with Vaporeon, though.

Darkrai Ex

Infernape can take a Darkrai out in one single hit, but the problem lies after that. Magneton is often paired with it, and it’ll quietly charge up Energy in the background before it becomes Magnezone, taking you out by surprise. You can’t defeat Darkrai before Turn 5 at the earliest, which allows it to spread enough damage on your Pokemons by then.

Magnezone also has an advantage against Moltres, so it’s a bigger problem than it seems. Taking Magneton out early can be game-changing, but make sure you bring some Giant Capes, as Darkrai will always damage you for free.

Celebi Ex

While it’s another one-shot matchup, Celebi can still hit you for a lot, so you gotta be quick against it. Using Sabrina to take down Snivy/Servine with Moltres is a good way to shut it down before it becomes a problem, as Infernape can take out Celebi later even if it carries a Giant Cape.

Other Matchups

Most other matches are more of the classic competition for setting up first. Water decks in general can be a problem, but Starmie, Articuno, and Lapras can all be taken out in one hit. Yanmega ex can be one-shot as well. Its most common partners are Exeggutor and Dialga, whose weakness to fire allows you to one-shot them too.

However, you might face problems against non-Ex decks if you’re slow on setting up, such as Dragonite or Garchomp. Mewtwo ex is also a threat, too, but it’s arguably slower than you, especially if it misses Mystical Slabs.