Battle Decks - N’s Zoroark ex

Hi, it’s Finn from Card Fiends here. This is my first blog post for the company. I’m thirteen years old and have been playing Pokémon cards for about two years now. I’ve also competed in a few tournaments at Dark Sphere and I am starting to enjoy competitive play.

Today, we’ll be taking a look at the new Zoroark deck that’s starting to see some play. These cards are from the Journey Together set, released after rotation, and it’s quite a powerful and unique deck in the current format.

N's Zoroark ex

N’s Zoroark ex

The first card to look at is N’s Zoroark ex, and before I get into the details, let’s check out its stats. N’s Zoroark ex is a Stage 1 Pokémon with 280 HP, which is pretty average for an ex card. It’s weak to Grass, has no resistance, and a retreat cost of two Energy.

The most exciting part of this card is probably its ability, Trade, which lets you discard a card from your hand once during your turn and draw two cards. This gives you a built-in draw engine. It's the same ability that Zoroark-GX had from Sun & Moon: Shining Legends back in 2017, which was one of the strongest Pokémon battle decks at the time.

But its attack is also really strong. Its attack, Night Joker, costs two Darkness Energy and lets you choose one of your benched N’s Pokémon’s attacks and use it. This attack is both cheap and very versatile.

Let’s now take a look at the two main Pokémon that Zoroark will usually copy

N's Reshiram

N’s Reshiram

N’s Reshiram is probably the card that Zoroark will copy the most. It’s a Basic Pokémon with 130 HP, no Weakness or Resistance, and a retreat cost of two.

Its first attack, Powerful Rage, costs one Fire and one Lightning Energy. It does 20 damage for each damage counter on N’s Reshiram. Zoroark usually uses this attack after taking a hit, allowing it to deal massive damage if it’s been hurt enough.

Its second attack, Virtuous Flame, costs two Fire, one Lightning, and one Colorless Energy, and deals a straight 170 damage. This is Zoroark’s main offensive option and will be used a lot to deal consistent high damage.

N's Darmanitan

N’s Darmanitan

Another Pokémon Zoroark can copy is N’s Darmanitan. It’s a Stage 1 Pokémon with 140 HP, a Water Weakness, no Resistance, and a retreat cost of three.

Its first attack, Backdraft, does 30 damage for each Energy card in your opponent’s discard pile. This attack will rarely be used by Zoroark, since it depends a lot on how your opponent plays.

However, its second attack, Flamebody Cannon, does 90 damage to the active Pokémon. If you discard all Energy from Darmanitan, you also do 90 damage to one of your opponent’s benched Pokémon. Zoroark can use this to knock out smaller 70 HP basics before they evolve or to soften up big ex Pokémon for a later Virtuous Flame.

I’m really looking forward to playing this deck over the coming weeks and I think it’s going to be a strong option in the meta. Below is a video of LittleDarkFury playing the deck, and I’ll be back soon with another blog post about battling!