The Return of Afterburn

Hey SixPrizes! My name is Tyler Morris, and I am a relatively new player in the scene of competitive Pokémon TCG. Like many players my age, I started when the game first came out when I was younger but eventually fell out of it for a while. About a year ago, I found my old cards and some friends and I decided to start playing again. From that point on, I’ve been hooked just like I was in my youth!

In my short time playing, I have had a few decent placings (to me at least): a 2nd place at the Cornelius, NC City Championship and a top 16 at NC States. I have had a lot of help getting started and have been learning fast because of this great community. I can’t stress how much I appreciate the knowledge I have gained from great players like the Sabelhaus brothers and many others.

With the upcoming release of Plasma Freeze, most of the hype revolves around Deoxys-EX and Thundurus-EX. However, I would like to delve a little deeper into an interesting card this set presents us with: Chandelure.

For those not familiar with the card, take a look:

chandelure-plasma-freeze-plf-16
The Return of Afterburn

This is not the first time Chandelure has had potential to be a card worthy of tournament play. Many of us remember Chandelure NVI from last year’s format. This one functions much differently, however: its “Flare Navigate” Ability is reminiscent of Typhlosion Prime’s “Afterburner” Poké-Power, but this time it is even more consistent.

While Typhlosion Prime was able to attach a R Energy from the discard to one of your Pokémon, Chandelure searches the deck. This is an incredible boost in consistency for an Ability such as this, meaning that you don’t have to worry about discarding R Energy before using it.

Before I discuss the different options for this deck, let me present you all with the list I have been experimenting with:

Pokémon – 14

4 Litwik BLW Promo BW27

1 Lampent NVI

4 Chandelure PLF

3 Bouffalant DRX

1 Reshiram BLW

1 Reshiram-EX

Trainers – 35

4 Professor Juniper

4 N

3 Skyla

2 Colress

 

4 Pokémon Catcher

4 Hypnotoxic Laser

4 Rare Candy

3 Ultra Ball

3 Super Rod

1 Switch

1 Computer Search

 

2 Virbank City Gym

Energy – 11

7 R

4 Double Colorless

Card Explanations

4 Litwick BLW Promo BW27

litwick-black-white-promos-bw27-no-watermarkpokemon-paradijs.com
Time to come out of the binder!

When looking for the right Litwick to use, it is important to consider why you are choosing a certain version over another in terms of what the deck is trying to accomplish. This deck aims to get multiple Chandelure up in order to abuse Flare Navigate multiple times in one turn.

This Litwick allows us to use Call for Family on the first turn, aiding our goal of building up multiple Chandelures for use during the game.

1 Lampent NVI

I use one Lampent NVI in the list because I have found that it serves two purposes. The first is that it is very useful to Luring Light up something to try to buy a turn, such as a Darkrai that doesn’t have energy on it or perhaps a Deoxys-EX sitting on the bench.

The second use is that when the object of our setup is to get more than one Chandelure onto the field, having one copy of the Stage 1 Evolution helps to alleviate your reliance on Rare Candy.

3 Bouffalant DRX, 1 Reshiram BLW, 1 Reshiram-EX

This deck is built around the premise of using non-EX attackers to ruin the Prize trade for your opponent. Through my testing, I have found that Bouffalant is extremely potent in today’s metagame and gives trouble to a variety of decks with its “default Eviolite” and solid damage. Bouffalant is really what makes your Blastoise/Keldeo matchup somewhat winnable. If you are able to hit a Gold Breaker on turn 2, you are more than likely off to a great start.

Reshiram is included for the simple and effective Fire attacker, and Reshiram-EX gives the deck the ability to Knock Out Blastoise in one hit. All of these attackers make good use of Hypnotoxic Laser and Virbank, allowing Reshiram and Bouffalant to land a nice 150 total damage with relative ease. This amount of damage coming from a non-EX attacker can put tremendous pressure on the opposing Pokémon.

As a bonus, Reshiram-EX can be brought out at the right moment in order to take out an opposing EX in one shot along with a Laser and Virbank.

Only 7 Fire?

Seven R Energy may seem low for a deck that uses an attacker that discards them, but once Chandelure is up, you don’t have to worry about drawing into them — you just search them out. Super Rod also offers great energy recovery, essentially being the same as a buffed-up Energy Retrieval given that you have Chandelures on your field.

7 Fire is also acceptable with such a heavy focus on Bouffalant, as most of the time you will make use of Double Colorless Energy to power him up. It is not uncommon to have a Gold Breaker ready to go on a whim.

Alternate Attacking Options

Because Chandelure offers a more viable means of attaching R Energy every turn, let’s examine some of the obvious and not-so-obvious partners that could work with it.

White Kyurem-EX BCR

white kyurem ex boundaries crossed 103Initially deemed unplayable by the majority of the competitive community, this White Kyurem-EX gets a lot better when paired with Chandelure PLF. Firstly, its Dragon-typing greatly reduces its vulnerability to the ever-popular Keldeo-EX. Secondly, its second attack, Ice Burn, shells out an impressive 150 damage along with Burn status.

I think White Kyurem-EX could be a great attacker when backed by Flare Navigate and Hypnotoxic Laser, because even if you don’t have a Virbank Gym up, a Laser with normal poison damage and a burn flip going your way will still result in that magic 180 damage.

White Kyurem-EX PLS

Perhaps possessing a little more synergy with Chandelure, the White-Kyurem-EX from Plasma Storm can actually make use of the damage counters placed on him from Flare Navigate. It still has the same Dragon-typing as the White Kyurem-EX from Boundaries Crossed which gives it that same advantage over Keldeo-EX. White Inferno may make your opponent weary of attacking into it if they can’t take it out in one shot.

Also, while I would not pass up the boost in consistency that Computer Search brings to the deck, but Crystal Edge could be a fun card to experiment with, turning this White Kyurem into something much like its brother, Black Kyurem. White Kyurem-EX BCR only discards 2 for 200 damage, while its counterpart from Plasma Storm can reach even crazier levels of damage with White Inferno.

Chandelure NXD

This is a card that hasn’t seen much play since the occasional inclusion in certain decks last format (usually involving Mew Prime), but can be an interesting tech in this deck. With EX’s being so prevalent in our format, 180 damage is a number that needs to be met often. This Chandelure’s Flame Burst attack is cheap and has the ability to set up multiple EX’s for knock outs by Bouffalant or Reshiram later on in the game.

Colorless Attackers

registeel-ex-dragons-exalted-drx-122pokemon-paradijs.comAny attacker that can make use of any type of energy to attack has the potential to work well with Chandelure. Among these are Tornadus-EX, Mewtwo-EX, and even Registeel-EX.

Tornadus-EX gives the deck the ability to donk since it already plays Double Colorless Energy and Virbank City Gym. A turn 1 Blow Through along with a Litwick or two on the bench is a very strong start.

Mewtwo-EX is a colorless attacker that offers more ability to donk along with Tornadus-EX and can be used to fight off opposing Deoxys-EX. An added bonus is that if your opponent tries to engage you in a Mewtwo war, you will likely have the upper hand in returning KOs, given that you are ahead in prizes (and if you aren’t, Bouffalant can apply pressure to the Prize trade to help you gain a lead).

Registeel-EX, while seemingly a strange inclusion, can serve the same purpose as Chandelure NXD with its Triple Laser softening up targets for Bouffalant and Reshiram to eat up later. Registeel has a lofty 180 HP and an uncommon Weakness, allowing it to wreak havoc early in the game before being taken out.

Other Considerations

Because Chandelure damages the Pokémon that it attaches energy to, some sort of healing card would fit nicely in this type of deck. Max Potion would be great in conjunction with Super Rod, making it very easy to heal a Pokémon, then Super Rod the energy back to the deck and once again Flare Navigate it to the appropriate attacker. There may even be some use in Potion, which negates a turn of poison damage from Hypnotoxic Laser or a couple of Flare Navigations.

A single Plasma Ball could be useful to search out a Chandelure in the clutch, and could also be useful if a Plasma attacker (Heatran-EX, if we get it?) is deemed “good” alongside it.

Lugia-EX/Snorlax PLS

lugia ex plasma stormpokechampion.tumblr.comAnother version of this deck could be centered around certain high-energy attackers such as Lugia-EX and Snorlax from Plasma Storm. Both of these Pokémon can take advantage of Double Colorless Energy as well as Flare Navigate to quickly satisfy their energy requirements.

If these Pokémon were to be used, I would recommend using Colress Machine over the Hypnotoxic Lasers and a healing option instead of the Virbank gyms.

Heavy Reshiram-EX

The deck can follow the path of Zekrom-EX in eels, which was used sporadically throughout States as a means of allowing Eel decks to score 1HKOs on EX’s by hitting 180 damage after a Virbank and Laser.

This deck can function the same way, but be wary when going up against a deck that easily scores 1HKOs (Blastoise, Rayquaza), that it is not necessarily as easy for you to hit the Knock Out as it is for them. This is the reason why I prefer Bouffalant to hit for a threatening amount of damage while also keeping you ahead in the prize race.

In Conclusion

Chandelure is quite an interesting card and could find a niche in our current metagame. Klinklang has been a popular deck during the BLW–PLS format, maybe just enough to warrant the uprising of some Fire types. We also cannot be sure about what future formats hold, but fire could become a very useful type once Virizion-EX and Genesect-EX hit the scene. Only time will tell!

Thanks for reading,

Tyler Morris

Reader Interactions

23 replies

  1. Michael Slutsky

    Interesting choice going for Bouff as your main attacker over Reshiram. Multiple Flare Navigations (or whatever it’s called, who really GAFs) is going to be troublesome because it reduces the overall effectiveness of Bouffer.

    All in all though, fun article to read.

    • Tyler Morris  → Michael

      The reason I like Bouff more than Reshiram is because the deck plays DCE, so it’s possible to only need 1 flare each turn along with a DCE to have a new attacker ready if needed. It’s not easy having more than one Chandelure up at once so discarding energy every turn can be troublesome, though Resh is really good against Deoxys.

      • Mark Hanson  → Tyler

        I would agree with your premise. Chandy’s support attackers need to be stable on their own. Chandy should just help a deck that can hold its own without her. You shouldn’t rely on stage 2 acceleration when you don’t have to. Just use it as a way to bump yourself one turn ahead!

  2. jet9855

    Great article I’m defiantly going to test this deck out once plasma freeze comes out!

    i knew about the Gencect-EX card coming out but i didn’t see this Virizion-EX. Looking at virizions attack and ability, this card was made for Gencect decks and this is the perfect counter.

  3. Zach

    Your list is lacking search balls and switchs/escape ropes/float stones. This deck cannot afford the space to run lasers. -1

    • jet9855  → Zach

      He has 3 ultra balls. but yes he does need more switches i always run 2 N since it’s not good late game card. -2 Ns +2switches.

      • Grant Manley  → jet9855

        Dude, you’re suggesting 11 supporters, that’s waaay to low, even the amount he has (13) is a little low. Also @ Tyler, I would definitely do this: -1 Switch, -1 Catcher, -1 Lampent (I’m going to get some hate here with Catcher) and +1 Keldeo EX, +2 Float Stone. Keldeo/Float Stone is the handiest thing in this format especially for a deck with a lot of Catcher bait. (Everything has 2 retreat or more!) 4 Catcher is good but Stage 2 decks don’t usually have room for the 4th and I don’t think Lampent is needed.

        • jet9855  → Grant

          i disagree with taking out the lampent you defiantly need it for consistency getting out the chandalure. also putting in a keldeo would be good before Gencect EX. his ability lets you catcher a pokemon when you attach a plasma energy and his attack for 100 damage will onko a keldeo even with a eviolite. keldeo will just be a sitting duck for Gencect.

        • Grant Manley  → jet9855

          Yeah, I know what Genesect does and it’s obviously good against Keldeo, big whoop. However, we’re talking about the upcoming format, not one 4 months away. You really don’t need Lampent imo. It’s nice, but not a necessity. There’s already 4 Rare Candies and the deck’s only going to set up 2-3 Chandys per game. Also, @ Tyler, I think the Ace Spec should MOST DEFINITELY be Dowsing Machine, for the reason it is in Blastoise and Klinklang decks. Stage 2s don’t need much speed, and the T2 Bouffalant is going to be stupidly common without Comp Search, and the inherent power and flexibility late-game that Dowsing Machine provides should prove far superior in testing. Also, with the tight space, you’ll often want that 4th Catcher (If you take one out like I suggested), that 3rd Virbank, that 5th Candy (probably not very often on that one), that 3rd Float Stone, or that fourth Super Rod.

        • jet9855  → Grant

          your right the keldeo would be good for the deck now and it would help the deck. your also right about the lampent. and i see your reasoning for the dowsing machine. thank you for disscusing this with me its been fun.

  4. lordnexigram

    New player here too! When does rotation take place? I’ve been wary of deck ideas because I don’t know the what and when of Rotation.

      • Geordan Duffy  → Jake

        Your friend REALLY needs to go see a mental hospital if he thinks Pokemon is going to rotate mid season. All the theories about mid season rotation are completely fan-fiction, stupid, unproven, cannot be backed up and is most likely to be 99.9999999999999% wrong and 100% stupid

  5. Guest

    Nice article dude I’ve been thinking about Chandy as well. I’ll see you at BR’s. BTW I’m the kid in Seniors with Tommy and Kyle.

  6. Bryan Ward

    ReshiPhlosion was one of my favorite decks of all time. I’m glad to see someone else is excited for Chandelure! Another thing I was thinking about was a single Psychic Chandelure, to place some extra damage without attacking. Bring him up after a KO or something, and you get 30 free damage. This of course, is assuming you either attach a float stone directly to it, or you use Keldeo/Float. You just might not want to use it against a Darkrai deck…

      • Bryan Ward  → jet9855

        It’s not quite the same when it’s an attack instead of an ability. Unless I’m fighting Garbodor, I’d take rather use an ability than waste an attack.

  7. Tiago Soares

    Hi, i’ve developed a list of this deck before i saw this article, surprisingly alike this one but with a few changes: 4 litwick, 3 chandelure (flare navigate), 1 chandelure (cursed shadow), 2 Reshiram ex, 1 reshiram (blure flare), 1 mewtwo ex, 2 keldeo ex, 1 entei ex (1hko virizion ex & genesect ex with no drawbacks plus fetches 1 fire energy from the discard pile when your chandys are dead),(15 pokes), 4 juniper, 3 colress, 2 N, 1 Bianca, 2 skyla, 3 catchers, 2 ultra balls, 1 plasma ball, 1 level ball, 3 super rod, 2 eviolite (so reshi ex only does 30 to itself), 2 float stone, 1 max potion, 1 scramble switch (enables easy max potion plus surprise effect), 2 Pokemon center (-20 damage from reshi ex recoil with Keldeo/float, plus mewtwo free charge from deck with flare navigate), 4 rare candy, (34 trainers), 9 fire energy, 2 DCE (steadier flow), (11 energies). what do you think?

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