EX FireRed & LeafGreen

By Carl Chavez

Now that the 112 cards of EX FireRed & LeafGreen have arrived, it's time to give a big "welcome back" to many of your favorite Pokémon! From the humble Shellder to the mighty Charizard ex, you'll now be able to use even more of your favorites in your battles! Some of these Pokémon bring group-based techniques into your strategies. Others modify the normal rules of Special Conditions, and some of them have strange but useful abilities. Not only are some classic Pokémon back again, but some classic Trainer cards are back as well. What new strengths have the cards in EX FireRed & LeafGreen brought to the Pokémon TCG?

The Big Three
Three of the most popular Stage 2 Pokémon ever are now Pokémon-ex! Their size, power, and abilities allow them to dominate the flow of any match. Venusaur ex and Blastoise ex are good team players, and Charizard ex is unmatched on its own. One of them is sure to fit your playing style!

EX6_Exp Symbol Taken on their own merits, Venusaur ex's attacks are impressive. Its Pollen Hazard attack can Poison, Burn, and Confuse an opponent, and its Solarbeam attack can do 90 damage. However, Venusaur ex's Energy Trans Poké-Power is the most useful piece of its arsenal. Energy Trans allows you to move Grass Energy to and from any of your Pokémon! Energy Trans gives you the flexibility to move your Grass Energy cards to any Pokémon that need them. You can even move around Special Energy cards like Double Rainbow Energy or Multi Energy when the rules on the cards allow it!

Blastoise ex is similar to Venusaur ex in that it has a great attack and a versatile Poké-Power. Blastoise ex's Hyper Whirlpool attack does 80 damage, and it may also drain the Defending Pokémon of its Energy cards, so it can't counterattack! Meanwhile, Blastoise ex's Energy Rain Poké-Power will allow you to attach multiple basic Water Energy cards from your hand to your Pokémon in one turn, at the cost of adding a little bit of damage to them. If you mix a Blastoise ex with cards like Energy Search or Team Magma/Aqua Conspirator, your hand can contain a lot of Energy pretty quickly. The resulting storm will sweep away your opponent's team!

Charizard ex is one of the most powerful Pokémon cards ever released! Charizard ex's Burn Down attack does 200 damage, which is enough to Knock Out any Pokémon! Even better, Burn Down ignores ANY and EVERY possible defense that the Defending Pokémon has, whether it is a Poké-Body, a Pokémon Tool like Buffer Piece, Metal Energy, Resistance... ANYTHING! You can even Knock Out Pokémon that are normally immune to attacks by Pokémon-ex, such as Wobbuffet, Ninetales, and the new Dewgong. The only way a Pokémon could reduce the damage would be if its attack could put a damage-reducing effect on Charizard ex, and no Pokémon like that is currently available (and it probably wouldn't have enough HP to survive, anyway...). Burn Down does have one major drawback: it requires you to discard five Energy attached to Charizard ex. That's not as bad as it sounds, though: first of all, there are ways to attach more than one Energy card to Charizard ex, such as Venusaur ex or Blastoise ex. Second, Charizard ex has a second attack, Slash, that does 50 damage, so you don't have to use Burn Down all the time.

Help Is On The Way!
There's often strength in numbers, and with certain Pokémon in EX FireRed & LeafGreen, having lots of similar Pokémon can make your team stronger! With these Pokémon, each one of your teammates can help the others.

If you've ever seen an angry hive of bees, you'll already recognize the value of multiple Beedrills.