All You Need To Know About Build and Strategy
As a card in isolation, Iron Thorns ex doesn’t look like a threat to dethrone the meta’s top decks. Its HP isn’t huge, and its attack falls short of other top options across the landscape. In fact, when images of Iron Thorns ex first began to circulate prior to the launch of Twilight Masquerade, the TCG community was split.
Some players thought it would fade into obscurity following release, while others saw the potential of the Electric-type attacker. The latter group were proved correct; the paradox Pokémon from the future can be utterly devastating in the meta.
Since release, it has earned acclaim among the very top ranks, with Fernando Cifuentes of Chile winning the 2024 Pokémon TCG World Championships using an Iron Thorns ex deck. This, among other competition performances, has only enhanced the reputation of the Tyranitar variant.
Now, with its very own archetype, it sees a fair amount of play time. But why exactly?
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Deck List
The Iron Thorns ex archetype is about disrupting your opponent’s style of play and stalling out to prevent them from implementing their strategy. It’s not the gung-ho, destroy with power type of play you get with Charizard ex or Raging Bolt ex. However, it can be brilliantly effective.
Notably, the deck has merit against a selection of cards which frequently feature in the favoured builds across the meta: Squawkabilly ex, Pidgeot ex, and Lugia VSTAR’s weakness to electric mean they all need to be careful of being zapped. And this only strengthens Iron Thorns ex’s position.
A huge complement of Trainer cards means this deck is equipped to thrive in such match ups, while also keeping a savvy store of options to combat potentially challenging counters. What does this look like then…
Deck contents:
4 x 
4 x 
3 x 
3 x 
3 x 
2 x 
4 x 
4 x 
4 x 
2 x 
2 x 
3 x 
3 x 
7 x 
4 x Deck Strategy
If the introduction to Iron Thorns ex didn’t throw up enough curveballs, then it’s time for one more. Based on the championship-winning build, this deck composition is unique because it only includes FOUR actual Pokémon (yes, you read that right). This means there will be the occasional mulligan to start the game.
Unsurprisingly, those four Pokémon are Iron Thorns ex. Iron Thorns ex is so brilliantly powerful because of its OP ability, Initialization, which is conducive to stalling your opponent out. As long as Iron Thorns ex is in the active spot, Initialization stops the abilities of Pokémon with a Rule Box, except for future Pokémon. Rule Box Pokémon include ex, VSTAR and Radiant cards.
For example, if facing up against a typical Charizard ex deck, Pidgeot ex's Quick Search and Charizard ex’s Infernal Reign will both be shut off. Here, the ability comes into its own, complementing many of the deck’s Trainer cards and preventing your opponent from playing to their fullest.
We’ll get to the Trainer cards shortly, but not before looking at how Iron Thorns ex deals damage. Its attack, Volt Cyclone, does 140 damage at the cost of one Lightning Energy and two Colourless Energy. When used, you must move an Energy card from Iron Thorns ex to one of your benched Pokémon (which will obviously be an Iron Thorns ex too).
Volt Cyclone isn’t an attack with massive output, so to maximise its effectiveness, you’ll want to ideally go first in the match, accelerate energy as quickly as possible, and then boost the attack’s power with other cards from your deck. The obvious ones here, as is the case with many decks, are the use of Boss’s Orders and Prime Catcher, which gusts out Pokémon from your opponent’s bench that you can pick off.
That’s where Trainer cards such as Energy Loto come into play. Energy Loto lets you look at the top seven cards of your deck, reveal an Energy card you find there and put it into your hand. This is just one suitable way of searching out those Lightning Energy cards. The Item card, Earthen Vessel, is the second neat way of finding Energy cards; in exchange for discarding one card from your hand, you can search out two Energy cards and add them to your hand. Technical Machine: Turbo Energize is the third adept way of accelerating Energy into play. The Pokémon Tool lets you search your deck for up to two Basic Energy cards and attach them to your Benched Pokémon in any way you like – a nice way to prepare should your active Pokémon get knocked out.
But what if you’re struggling to find your Iron Thorns ex when drawing cards or using Supporter cards like Professor’s Research? After all, you have limited options, and you don’t want to lose by having no Pokémon in play. That’s where Techno Radar comes in, which lets you search your deck for up to two future Pokémon and add them to your hand, however, you must discard a card to play it. Play this once, and you’ll be pretty much in business.
Once you’re set up, it’s time to focus on disruption, and there are several cards to help. For example, Crushing Hammer lets you flip a coin, and if it lands on heads you may discard an Energy from your opponent’s Pokémon. You also have Iono, which can help you disrupt your opponent’s hand, and Pokémon Catcher, which can force your opponent to switch into the active spot too.
A key card in the disruption strategy is Canceling Cologne as it is necessary to counter Mimikyu. Mimikyu's Safeguarding ability prevents all damage done by ex and V Pokémon, which effectively shuts Iron Thorns ex off from dealing any damage. Canceling Cologne is the counter as it shuts off your opponent’s active Pokémon’s ability until the end of your turn – just long enough to OHKO it with Volt Cyclone.
Finally, onto the Stadium card in this setup, Lost City. It may seem slightly odd, but Lost City is here to prevent your opponent from recycling any cards out of the discard pile. That ‘once it’s gone, it’s gone’ idea really helps to hammer home the disruption strategy. And you can search out Lost City using Colress's Tenacity too, making it that little bit easier.
Deck Upgrades
If you’re looking to upgrade the Iron Thorns ex build and keep the same strategy, you’ll only be looking to swap out Trainer cards for new options that offer greater benefit.
Shoulder Fable’s Colress's Tenacity is a neat option to support your Energy acceleration needs and get Lost City into play. This Supporter card lets you search your deck for a Stadium card and an Energy card, reveal them, and put them into your hand.
Another option is introducing the Pokémon Tool, Handheld Fan, released as part of Twilight Masquerade. The card says that if the Pokémon it’s attached to is in the active spot and is damaged by an attack from your opponent's Pokémon, you can move an Energy from the attacking Pokémon to one of your opponent's benched Pokémon. Again, this is a good option to shake your opponent’s gameplay up.
However, there’s also the option of pivoting slightly into the future thorns archetype, which blends Iron Thorns ex with Iron Crown ex and Miraidon. It’s not as successful as the traditional build, but it's more of a fun variant that spreads your ability to deal out damage. For example, Iron Crown ex's can add some sniping ability to the build with its attack, Twin Shotlets. Twin Shotlets does 50 damage to two of your opponent’s Pokémon. And beyond this varied attacking strength, Iron Crown ex can also boost the attacking capabilities of Iron Thorns ex with its ability, Cobalt Command, which adds an extra 20 damage to any other future Pokémon’s attacks. It’s one to consider or maybe play around with.
Ultimately, the Iron Thorns ex is a quirky deck that is well-entrenched in the current meta, sitting alongside Raging Bolt ex, Charizard ex, Regidrago VSTAR and Lugia/Archeops at the time of writing. Though the game moves quickly, and with new sets such as Stellar Crown and Surging Sparks introducing new cards, players will adjust and innovate. Will you be looking to find new cards to add to an Iron Thorns ex deck? How would you tweak this build?
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