It's rare these days for a deck to be as good as the Blacephalon deck is without the main focus being around a VMAX or GX card. However, this Ultra Beast pushes the boundaries of the Fire-Type as a whole.

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Blacephalon is one of the most explosive Pokemon in the game, allowing for incredibly high damage that can catch your opponent off guard. Since Fire-type decks have access to so much Energy recovery, it's easy for Blacephalon to repeatedly do tons of damage with its Fireball Circus attack. Even its weaker Blazer attack is useful for being able to see what your Prize Cards are.

Jirachi

jirachi cards from team up set

Jirachi is one of the most played cards in the entire game, and one the Blacephalon deck very much appreciates. The biggest draw to Jirachi is in its Ability Stellar Wish. This allows you to look at the top 5 cards of the deck and put a Trainer card from there into your hand if it's your Active Pokemon and it falls asleep afterward.

Even though you will rarely ever attack with Jirachi, its ability is more than worth making room for. Blacephalon decks especially appreciate it, since many of the Trainer cards it runs is what makes the deck as good as it is.

Talonflame V

pokemon tcg talonflame both arts

In Pokemon, hand manipulation is incredibly important. That is why so many decks run cards that mulligan their hand in order to get the cards they want quickly. Talonflame V is one of these and is especially useful since it allows you to mulligan on your first turn.

In Pokemon, you can't use Supporter cards on turn one. However, Talonflame V's Fast Flight allows you to discard your hand and draw 6 cards. This lets you draw into Energy recovery as well as various Pokeballs to get your key Pokemon.

Energy Retrieval

pokemon tcg energy retrival both arts

The Blacephalon deck will have you constantly discarding Energy in order to use their attacks. It's the main gimmick of Fire-types as a whole. As such, cards that recover Energy are incredibly important.

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And that's why Energy Retrieval is so good for the deck. It's a simple card, letting you add two Energy cards from the discard pile to your hand. Since Blacephalon is constantly discarding from the hand, you want a constant stream of Energy cards being added to it. An Energy Retrieval usage guarantees your Blacephalon will do a minimum of 100 damage.

Quick Ball

pokemon tcg quick ball both arts

Quick Ball is a staple in almost every deck, but it's especially good in the Blacephalon deck. To use Quick Ball, you need to discard a card, and then it will allow you to search out any Basic Pokemon from your deck and add it to the hand.

Despite being an Ultra Beast card, Blacephalon is still a Basic Pokemon and searchable with Quick Ball. Even if you're not searching out for Blacephalon since you have it in hand already, you can still search out for plenty of other useful Pokemon.

Cramorant V

pokemon tcg cramorant both arts

Cramorant V is a fantastic utility Pokemon with a fantastic move. Its Beak Catch lets you search for up to 2 cards and put them into your hand. There's no other restriction on it, making it so good.

Cramorant V also has a good amount of health and a low Retreat Cost of only 1 Energy. This means you can use its attack to search out two cards, then retreat to put in a more powerful Pokemon. Cramorant V lets you pick out any cards you want, and allows you to pick out cards that will help whatever hand you have.

Reshiram & Charizard-GX

pokemon tcg reshiram and charizard both arts

Reshiram & Charizard-GX are the "Plan B" of the Blacephalon deck. This Tag Team card has plenty of powerful moves that synergize with the Blacephalon strategy perfectly. Outrage does more damage the more damage counters it has.

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Flare Strike will do a devastating 230, at the cost of not being able to use the attack again the next turn. Its GX attack, Double Blaze does 200, and if it has 6 Fire Energy instead of the 3 needed to use it, it will do 300 damage instead. Since you won't be using many other GX moves, Reshiram & Charizard-GX are the perfect use for it.

Giant Hearth

pokemon tcg giant hearth both arts

Giant Hearth is one of the best Stadium cards for Fire-type decks. In the Blacephalon deck in particular, it's fantastic. The deck wants a lot of Fire Energy cards in its hand, something that Giant Hearth does to great effect.

By discarding 1 card, you get to add 2 Fire Energy cards to the hand. While the opponent can use this effect to, this will only come up if they're playing a Fire-type deck themselves. It can constantly recycle cards easily, so the discard effect isn't one that's too big of a deal.

Switch

pokemon tcg switch both arts

What is one of the oldest cards ever made, Switch is still a fantastic card all these years later. Switch has an incredibly simple effect, allowing you to swap your Active Pokemon with one of your Benched ones without needing to pay the Retreat Cost.

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With Pokemon, certain Pokemon being knocked out can cause trouble, especially since they can sometimes have your Pokemon give your opponent 3 Prize Cards should that happen. Being able to Retreat without using Energy cards saves your Energy as well, especially good since Retreat Costs can be very high for strong Pokemon.

Fire Crystal

pokemon tcg fire crystal both arts

Fire Crystal is one of the most important cards for a Blacephalon deck to run. Since Blacephalon is going to be dumping a lot of Fire Energy cards, being able to recover them from the discard pile is incredibly important.

Fire Crystal lets you grab 3 Fire Energy cards from the discard pile and add them to the hand. The only downside is it has to be exactly 3, meaning you can't use it unless those conditions are met. It can be a bad card to get early on, however, one of the best to get once Fire Energy is in the discard pile.

Welder

pokemon tcg welder both card versions

Welder is perhaps one of the greatest cards ever printed. It gives a giant boost to any Fire-Type deck. Welder lets you attach 2 Fire Energy cards from your hand to a Pokemon then draw 3 cards.

Not only does this give you a massive boost in Energy presence on the field, but its second effect puts it over the edge. While putting Energy down, the 3 card draws replace all the cards played on the field to break even in hand advantage. Welder offers an insane boost in advantage to whoever uses it, and is a must-run in any Fire deck, Blacephalon included.

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