Ho-Oh EX – A Look at the Fiery Phoenix

pokemon.theirstar.comHello SixPrizes! You probably don’t recognize my name here, and that’s because this is my first article for the site. My name is Joe Lewis and I am a Senior from California.

Yeah, yeah, I know what you’re thinking. “Oh wow, he’s a Senior, he sux!” I recognize and accept that Seniors is a much easier age division than Masters to succeed in, but I still think I can give you guys some decent content. So, without further ado, on to the article!

For those of you who don’t know, Cities is in full swing now and through various sites, we can easily look at what’s winning and what’s popular. When choosing a deck for your Cities, you usually have two deck options.

  1. One of the popular and established decks, such as Darkrai or Blastoise.
  2. A deck meant to counter the popular decks.

When looking at what has been winning, we see three obvious front runners. Blastoise/Keldeo, Tornadus/Aspertia City Gym/Mewtwo/Landorus, and Darkrai/Hydreigon/techs. Yes, Darkrai/Hydreigon doesn’t have many wins, but it holds the second highest amount of top 4’s, so you have to expect to see it.

The fact that these three completely different decks are winning means that it’s hard for a single deck to counter all of them.

Take this example. Landorus is great against Darkrai/Hydreigon, a popular deck right now, but really struggles against Blastoise/Keldeo, another popular deck right now.

However, it just so happens that there is a deck that can effectively fit enough different Pokémon to counter the entire format. In fact, it thrives on having multiple types of Energy. You guessed it – Ho-Oh!

Countering the Top Three

Looking at these three decks, we can look at what counters them in order to build an effective Ho-Oh list.

Blastoise/Keldeo

pokemon-paradijs.comThis deck is incredibly threatening to Ho-Oh, as you really can’t use Ho-Oh in this matchup. It’s two free Prizes for your opponent because of the Water Weakness. However, Blastoise/Keldeo struggles against Tornadus EX for a number of reasons.

First, a T1 Blow Through for 60 on a Squirtle doesn’t happen all the time, but when it does, the Blastoise player is at a heavy disadvantage. Without Blastoise, the deck falls apart, as relying on manual attachments to fuel Keldeo is a surefire way to lose.

Another plus to playing Tornadus EX is Aspertia City Gym gets rid of Tropical Beach, with is a card that has been gaining popularity in Blastoise/Keldeo recently. Mewtwo EX is also strong against Blastoise/Keldeo, as it can stop a Keldeo with 5+ Energy on it from ripping through your entire deck. Just be wary of enemy Mewtwos.

Sigilyph is good in this matchup too, as it forces your opponent to attack with Blastoise or Keldeo BCR 47, if they even play it. Blastoise can run non Pokémon-EX to counter Sigilyph, but not being able to attack with Keldeo-EX or Mewtwo EX is never fun.

Bouffalant DRX is also good in this matchup, as it creates an uneven Prize exchange with you coming out on top.

Finally, Shaymin EX is also strong against Blastoise/Keldeo, as it is one of the few Pokémon that can hit Keldeo and Blastoise for Weakness. A late game N coupled with a well-timed Revenge Blast spells doom for the Blastoise/Keldeo player.

Darkrai/Hydreigon

pokemon-paradijs.comLike Blastoise/Keldeo, Darkrai/Hydreigon struggles against cards that can KO its support Pokémon early in the game. Tornadus EX is that card. From turn 1, it can 1HKO Deinos like there’s no tomorrow.

The Ho-Oh player can also easily run Terrakion NVI to eat Darkrai for breakfast. Darkrai/Hydreigon relies on using Max Potion to keep Darkrais alive indefinitely, so the ability to deal 180 damage for the 1HKO is absurdly strong.

Bouffalant DRX is also a helpful player in this matchup, as just like against Keldeo, the ability to 2HKO EXs while being 2HKO’d in return unevens the Prize exchange in your favor.

Finally, Landorus-EX is a good Pokémon in this matchup, especially if your opponent runs the Dark-type Deinos. Of course, those aren’t as common nowadays, but being able to hit a Darkrai for 60 and a Deino on the bench for 30 puts your opponent on a 1 turn clock to evolve their Pokémon.

Tornadus/Aspertia/Mewtwo/Landorus

trollandtoad.comThis deck is a little harder to counter because none of the Pokémon in the deck share a Weakness. However, there are a few Pokémon you’ll want in this matchup.

First, a Tornadus EX of your own is good to take advantage of your opponent’s Aspertia City Gym. Tornadus EX also has a Resistance to Landorus-EX, meaning Hammerhead is no longer a threat to you.

Bouffalant DRX is also helpful, 2HKOing everything in their deck while your opponent must have a lot of resources to achieve the 1HKO. Against your opponent’s Mewtwo EXs, you obviously have a Mewtwo EX of your own.

Finally, Sigilyph is helpful in this matchup. If your opponent doesn’t see it coming, it can really grind their deck to a halt.

Ho-Oh is a deck that can really fit anything. It’s not restricted by Energy types, as it runs a ton, and can charge attackers out of nowhere. When building a Ho-Oh deck, you need to run enough cards to counter whatever you think you will see, but not so much that you become inconsistent.

Luckily, (or unluckily) there are only three main decks we need to counter. (Of course, this all depends on your meta, so feel free to factor in more decks.) Last format, we could get away with running Mewtwo EX and Terrakion NVI as our only attackers, but sadly this is not the case anymore.

Main Attackers

Now, Ho-Oh has an endless amount of possibilities in terms of attackers, but I’m going to list the main ones.

Mewtwo EX

This card is incredibly powerful. It prevents giant Mewtwos on your opponent’s side of the field from ruining your day, and can attack T1. It is also helpful against Keldeo-EX that has a ton of Energy on it.

You can also just say YOLO and invest all your Energy on it for a hail mary sweeper. If you’re considering a Ho-Oh deck, you need a couple of these.

Tornadus EX

This card has gained more popularity with the release of Landorus-EX and Aspertia City Gym. Tornadus EX is very good in Ho-Oh decks because it walls Landorus-EX due to Resistance and can be a total deck with Eviolite and Aspertia City Gym.

It can also be swinging T1 for 60 damage, with is exponentially helpful against Hydreigon and Blastoise variants. KOing Squirtles and Deinos T1 can cripple those decks.

I would highly recommend considering Tornadus EX if you expect to see Landorus, Hydreigon, and/or Blastoise.

Terrakion NVI

This card has been great since its release. Not so much because of the attacks, but the typing. Now, Terrakion is still public enemy #1 to Darkrai EX. A Retaliate or Land Crush to the face is just so devastating.

You’ll need PlusPowers or Tool Scrappers to disable Eviolites though. Terrakion can completely turn the game around with a single attack against Darkrai.

Sigilyph DRX

pokemon-paradijs.comLike Terrakion, this card rises and falls in popularity depending on what is doing well at the moment. Luckily, just about every tier 1 deck right now is running on mainly Pokémon-EX. Take Blastoise/Keldeo.

In order to KO a single Sigilyph, they need to build up 5 Energy (assuming Eviolite) on a Blastoise, only to take a single Prize. You can then respond with a Mewtwo and your opponent has just lost 5 Energy and their Energy acceleration. Sounds good to me!

Bouffalant DRX

Like Sigilyph, Bouffalant is another card that will rise and fall in popularity depending on the popularity of Pokémon-EX. Bouffalant is a card with 100 HP, an Eviolite hidden in an Ability, and an attack that does 120 damage to EXs. Like Tornadus, Bouffalant can take advantage of Aspertia City Gym.

In fact, with Eviolite and Aspertia City Gym, Bouffalant gets 3HKO’d by Night Spear, only to give up 1 Prize in return. Bouffalant’s power lies in going toe to toe with EXs, while they give up 2 Prizes to your one, creating a favorable Prize exchange for you.

Shaymin EX

This card usually isn’t seen too often in Ho-Oh, but it can be deadly if you play it right. Shaymin EX really improves your late game power, and is especially deadly against Blastoise/Keldeo. The reason is after they have taken 2 Prizes, Shaymin 1HKOs everything in their deck except Mewtwo. However, you have your own Mewtwos, so that isn’t too much of a problem.

When playing Ho-Oh against Blastoise/Keldeo, your best bet is to N them down to 3 or 4 cards, then KO the active Keldeo-EX. Of course, this isn’t perfect as they can respond with a Mewtwo EX, but usually the N down to a low number of cards ensures that they won’t be able to have enough energy.

Landorus-EX

Landorus-EX is a strong card in Ho-Oh, but it faces stiff competition against another Fighting type, Terrakion NVI. Landorus-EX gives you great early game pressure through Hammerhead. Landorus is especially useful against Eelektrik variants, as you are able to KO 3 Tynamos in 2 turns, starting from turn 1.

Landorus is also good against Darkrai, as hitting the active for 60 and hitting a bench for 30 is great. However, I would say Terrakion NVI is probably your best bet against Darkrai EX.

Regigigas-EX

This card is seldom seen in Ho-Oh, but it can be deadly if you play it right. For 3 C Energy, it does 60 damage, or 80 with a 20 damage recoil. This is great at KOing Sableyes, Squirtles, or Deinos starting T2.

Applying that kind of pressure early on really puts your opponent on a clock to evolve their Pokémon, or in Sableye’s case, there’s really nothing they can do. Additionally, the recoil can be negated by Eviolite.

Now, Regigigas’s first attack is good and all, but the second attack is truly beautiful for this format. With Eviolite and Aspertia City Gym, your opponent needs to deal 220 damage to 1HKO Regigigas.

So, they have to resort to 2HKOing it. In order to achieve the 2HKO, they need to effectively deal 120 damage per attack.

This alone is not an easy feat, but if they can do that, Regigigas swings with its second attack for 170 damage, which is enough to KO any non-Pokémon-EX, and with PlusPower, the range of Pokémon KO’d is expanded to include each and every Pokémon-EX.

Additionally, you can choose to use Giga Power with a 20 damage recoil to essentially bypass Eviolite and Aspertia City Gym on your opponent’s side of the field.

Meloetta BCR

trollandtoad.comNow, this Pokémon was hyped a bit when Boundaries Crossed came out as a Mewtwo EX counter. However, we all found out that Mewtwo EX itself still counters Mewtwo the best. I’m not suggesting Meloetta as a Mewtwo counter. No, I’m suggesting this as a Sigilyph DRX counter.

Sigilyph is a card that recently gained a lot of popularity, and a quad Sigilyph deck even won a Regional Championship! Through testing, I have found normally Ho-Oh decks really struggle against quad Sigilyph decks. You can use Bouffalant DRX, but Enhanced Hammer really hurts, and Bouffalant fails to 2HKO a Sigilyph with Eviolite.

Terrakion works as well, but it fails to 1HKO through Eviolite, and constantly building up the necessary energy to KO 4 Sigilyph is near impossible when they run 4 Crushing Hammer.

Meloetta is the perfect Sigilyph counter. It 1HKOs Sigilyph, regardless of Eviolite, and only costs a single Energy, so Crushing Hammer isn’t a problem. A single one of these can turn the game around against Quad Sigilyph, so I would definitely look into Meloetta if Sigilyph is big in your area.

While Mewtwo admittedly counters itself better, Meloetta can be used to stop a rampaging Mewtwo, which is a plus.

The Energy

pokemon-paradijs.comThe Energy for Ho-Oh can be a little tricky. My rule of thumb is 4 Double Colorless, then I add the rest of the Energy depending on what alternate attackers I’m playing. Usually, I want 4 of any given type if I’m running 2 or more of that attacker.

For example, I’d run 4 F Energy if I’m running 2 Terrakion NVI. Next, I usually have a backup attacker such as Sigilyph DRX or Shaymin EX, so I usually add two Energy of that type. Finally, the rest of the assorted energy can be added in counts of one depending on how much room you have.

A little thing to note is you can play mind games with your opponent depending on what random Energy you throw in. For example, G Energy bluffs Shaymin EX, F Energy bluffs Terrakion NVI, etc.

This may seem minor, but it can actually seriously change how your opponent plays, or at the very least get into their head.

Decklists

Now, the part you’ve all been waiting for, the decklists.

Standard Ho-Oh

Pokémon – 11

3 Ho-Oh EX
3 Mewtwo-EX NXD
2 Terrakion NVI
1 Bouffalant DRX
1 Sigilyph DRX
1 Regigigas-EX

Trainers – 36

4 Professor Juniper
4 N
4 Bianca
2 Skyla

 

4 Pokémon Catcher
4 Switch
4 Energy Switch
4 Ultra Ball

2 Eviolite
1 Max Potion
1 Tool Scrapper
1 Energy Search

1 Computer Search

Energy – 13

4 Double Colorless
4 F
2 P
1 G
1 L
1 D – Basic

pokemon-paradijs.comIt’s strange to call any Ho-Oh list “standard,” but if I had to choose one, this would probably be it. It runs a well balanced mix of attackers, and I would probably go with this one if you have no idea what the metagame will look like. Regigigas-EX is just a good attacker, and if your opponent can’t Knock it Out in one shot, it can become a real nuisance.

Other than that, the attackers are fairly standard. Against Blastoise/Keldeo, Regigigas is a good tank to throw in the Active Spot. It can KO Squirtles T2, and can 1HKO a Keldeo after getting Secret Sworded.

Sigilyph and Mewtwo EX are helpful, as Sigilyph can wall the opponent if they can’t charge up a Blastoise or non EX Keldeo, and Mewtwo EX is helpful against Keldeos with a lot of energy on them.

Anti-Blastoise

Pokémon – 11

3 Mewtwo-EX NXD

2 Ho-Oh EX
2 Bouffalant DRX

2 Sigilyph DRX
1 Shaymin EX
1 Terrakion NVI

Trainers – 37

4 Professor Juniper
4 N
4 Bianca
2 Skyla

 

4 Pokémon Catcher
4 Switch
4 Energy Switch
4 Ultra Ball

3 Eviolite
1 Max Potion
1 Tool Scrapper
1 Energy Search

1 Computer Search

Energy – 12

4 Double Colorless
3 P
2 G
2 F
1 D – Basic

pokemon-paradijs.comThis list is designed to beat Blastoise/Keldeo, although it’s still a tough matchup. It runs Bouffalant to trade evenly with Keldeo-EX, Mewtwo to beat giant Mewtwos and Keldeos, and Sigilyph to wall them. Shaymin EX is a great late game finisher as well.

If I had to choose one Pokémon that is the most deadly to Blastoise/Keldeo, I would probably choose Sigilyph. Blastoise/Keldeo can only use Blastoise to attack, which is incredibly inefficient and annoying for them.

After they’ve spent a ton of resources on Blastoise or non EX Keldeo to Knock Out Sigilyph, you can respond with Mewtwo EX, or if it’s later in the game, Shaymin EX and an N. If you N them down to three cards or less, it becomes incredibly hard for your opponent to get the necessary Energy to Knock Out Shaymin EX.

Against Darkrai variants, Bouffalant DRX is a solid attacker that can go toe to toe with Darkrai. A Terrakion NVI out of nowhere is also powerful. If you want, you can just put Terrakion on the bench with a single energy while you continue attacking with something else.

This makes your opponent think twice about KOing something. They could also just target the Terrakion. If they do, you can either use a Switch and continue attacking with Bouffalant, or drop another Fighting and use Energy Switch to Land Crush.

Anti-Darkrai

Pokémon – 11

3 Ho-Oh EX
2 Mewtwo-EX NXD
2 Terrakion NVI

2 Landorus-EX
1 Bouffalant DRX
1 Sigilyph DRX

Trainers – 37

4 Professor Juniper
4 N
4 Bianca
2 Skyla

 

4 Pokémon Catcher
4 Switch
4 Energy Switch
4 Ultra Ball

2 Tool Scrapper

2 Eviolite
1 Max Potion
1 Energy Search

1 Computer Search

Energy – 12

4 Double Colorless
4 F
2 P
1 G
1 L

pokemon-paradijs.comThis list is designed to beat Darkrai variants. Obviously Terrakion is incredibly powerful against Darkrai, as Retaliate can 1HKO Darkrai out of nowhere. 2 Tool Scrapper instead of 1 is included because Eviolite on Darkrai really reduces the power of Terrakion.

Landorus-EX can be used as early game pressure. 60 Damage on an active Darkrai and 30 to the bench adds up extremely quickly.

As you can probably tell, this list doesn’t have a stellar Blastoise matchup. You’re pretty reliant on Ho-Oh, and Keldeo hits Landorus for Weakness. Your best bet against Blastoise is to use Bouffalant and Sigilyph to disrupt them and try to weaken their setup.

After they build up a giant Keldeo, come in with Mewtwo and N to ensure they don’t hit any more Energy.

Tornadus Focus

Pokémon – 10

3 Tornadus EX

2 Ho-Oh EX
2 Mewtwo-EX NXD
2 Bouffalant DRX
1 Sigilyph DRX

Trainers – 39

4 Professor Juniper
4 N
4 Bianca
2 Skyla

 

4 Pokémon Catcher
4 Switch
4 Energy Switch
4 Ultra Ball

2 Eviolite
1 Max Potion
1 Tool Scrapper
1 Energy Search
1 PlusPower

1 Computer Search

 

2 Aspertia City Gym

Energy – 11

4 Double Colorless
2 P
1 G
1 L
1 F

1 R

1 D – Basic

pokemon-paradijs.comThis list is designed to take advantage of Tornadus EX. It aims to apply pressure with Blow Through turn 1, while tanking with Aspertia City Gym and Eviolite.

This list is less reliant on Ho-Oh, as you can keep attacking with Tornadus EX while manually building up attackers on the bench. Ho-Oh is mainly there to speed the process up, or to build up surprise attackers out of nowhere.

This list is powerful against setup decks such as Blastoise or Hydreigon, because KOing 60 HP Basics T1 is devastating. Against Blastoise/Keldeo, you want to start with Tornadus EX and take quick Prizes on Squirtles while building up Mewtwo EX, Bouffalant DRX, or Sigilyph DRX on the bench. This ensures that once Tornadus EX goes down, you will have a response to whatever your opponent used.

Conclusion

Well, that’s it for this article. I hope you enjoyed getting a better understanding of Ho-Oh EX, and hopefully you will be able to see the versatility of Ho-Oh EX in the future. The ability to charge up literally anything out of nowhere is incredibly strong and should not be overlooked.

I hope to see you all soon!

Reader Interactions

9 replies

  1. Alex Hedge

    You say Tornadus is key to winning against 2 of the 3 mentioned “big” decks, while in most of your builds no Tornadus are included. If Tornadus is the MVP in those matchups, I find it funny how you fail to include them, even in your “Anti-Blastiose” variant.

    • Joe Lewis  → Alex

      While Tornadus EX is a great card to deal with those decks, it’s not absolutely needed. It’s one way to handle those matchups, but the other way is to focus on countering whatever they throw at you with Shaymin EX, Terrakion, Sigilyph, etc. In oder for Tornadus to really be effective, you usually need 3 so you can get a quick attack as early as possible. You also need a couple of stadiums. Then, it just gets to the point where all the other lists are Tornadus driven. Tornadus driven Ho-oh lists are fine variants, but other variations of the deck are still strong contenders. The anti-blastoise build doesn’t try to attack as early as possible. Instead, it aims to counter the opponent’s attackers using Sigilyph, Mewtwo, Bouffalant, and Shaymin. Also, I think you may have misinterpreted what I was saying on Tornadus EX against Hydreigon and Blastoise. I said it’s a great card in that matchup, not the key to winning the matchup. There are other ways to beat those decks. Tornadus EX is the key to those matchups if you’re running a Tornadus variant of the deck.

  2. James Poole

    Land Crush to the face… beautiful quote. Excellent article demonstrating attacking strategies against the best cities performers.

  3. Mario Solis

    My beef of this would be the Sigilyph points made. Sigilyph isn’t that good against Darkrai/Hydreigon due to the fact that Hydreigon KO’s it. Also, Meloetta isn’t really a perfect Sigilyph counter. For it to successfully KO a Sigilyph, it has to have at least 2 energy, which will most likely, depending on the player, have a psychic and a DCE attached. They can easily catcher KO Meloetta. I think, like Mewtwo, Sigilyph is the perfect Sigilyph counter honestly. Meloetta is okay too, but it still falls to Mewtwo.

    • Joe Lewis  → Mario

      What you would do against Quad Sigilyph is drop a surprise Meloetta when your opponent doesn’t see it coming. Ideally, you’re using it to get a crucial KO on a Sigilyph when your opponent least expects it. The problem with using your own Sigilyph is it takes 3 energy and also dies to Sigilyph, whereas Meloetta only takes one energy, so its easier to drop in one turn. Your opponent can still cather Sigilyph on the bench for an OHKO if you’re charging it up. The problem with countering psychic Pokemon is they get countered by what they are countering.

  4. Sam Vernooy

    I thought I was the only one who used Regigigas >_>

    Great article. Ho-Oh is one of my favorite decks, and it’s kinda tricky to pull off just right, and lists can very so drastically, so it’s nice to see some one else’s take on it. In fact, your “standard” list is quite similar to mine.

    • Joe Lewis  → Júnio

      Well, it depends on the variant you’re running and the variant your opponent is running. As a rule though, try to manage your bench so Empoleon is left 3HKOing your EX’s. It’s not an easy matchup, as Ho-oh can only be really used for clutch, as it is easily KO’d by Empoleon due to weakness.

Leave a Reply

You are logged out. Register. Log in.