The Volcarona and Arcanine ex Deck is a Offensive Fire Deck featuring Volcarona from the Mythical Island Set in Pokemon Trading Card Game Pocket (PTCG Pocket). Read on for the complete list of cards in this deck, basic information on the deck, how to play the deck, and optimal matchups for it!

Related Decks

Volcarona and Arcanine ex Deck Guide

Deck Evaluation

Ace Pokemon						Tier Ranking
Volcarona Mythical Island (A1a)			Arcanine ex Genetic Apex (A1)
						Energy Type(s)
						F2P Friendly?
						❌
						Deck Difficulty
						★★
Deck Strengths
Can deal high damage with only 1 evolution line, even against other ex Pokemon. Volcarona can reliably snipe your opponent's Benched Pokemon, making it so benching becomes a liability.
Deck Weaknesses
Weak to Water-type decks Low durability

Best Meta Decks Tier List

List of Cards

Volcarona and Arcanine ex Deck List
Pokemon Cards
Growlithe ×2				Arcanine ex ×2				Moltres ex ×2				Larvesta ×2
Volcarona ×2
Trainer Cards
Giovanni ×2				Pokemon Flute ×2				Leaf ×1				X Speed ×1
Poke Ball ×2				Professor's Research ×2

Deck Building Guide

Packs Required for Volcarona and Arcanine ex Deck

Pack	Featured Card

How to Play Volcarona and Arcanine ex Deck

How to Play Volcarona and Arcanine ex Deck
Core Combos and Interactions Starting Hand Deck Strategies Game Phases

Volcarona and Arcanine ex Deck Core Combos and Interactions

Primary Attacker	Bench Sniper	Description
Arcanine ex	Volcarona	・Arcanine ex can reliably deal 120 damage at the cost of doing 20 damage to itself. ・Volcarona's Volcanic Ash lets it do 80 damage anywhere on the board. This synergizes with Pokemon Flute, allowing you to repeatedly KO a low-HP Pokemon.

Best Starting Hand

Best Starting Hand

Evolution cards are good to have inhand, as the deck has multiple ways to search for Basics such as Poke Ball and Professor's Research.

Other Good Starting Cards

Recommended Starting Hand

Moltres ex is the deck's best starter, as it can ramp our Benched Pokemon for only one Energy. Leaf lets us be more efficient with our Energy, making it so we don't discard any whenever we retreat.

Best Cards Tier List

Volcarona and Arcanine ex Deck Strategies

Charizard ex Deck Strategies
Moltres ex Ramp Arcanine ex Offense Volcarona's Volcanic Ash

Strategy 1: Moltres ex Ramp

Moltres ex Ramp

Moltres ex is your ideal start. Use Inferno Dance to ramp Energy onto your Benched Growlithe and Larvesta and evolve them whenever possible. Use Professor's Research to dig for more Charmander, Poke Ball or Volcarona!

Strategy 2: Arcanine ex Offense

Once Arcanine ex is set up, retreat Moltres ex and attempt to take multiple points with Arcanine ex's Inferno Onrush.

Strategy 3: Volcarona's Volcanic Ash

It is ideal to load Volcarona up with multiple Energy so that it's able to use Volcanic Ash consecutively. This strategy synergizes with Pokemon Flute, making it so you can KO the same Pokemon again the following turn.

Game Phases

Early Game

Key Card(s) Required
Step	Description
1	Start with Moltres ex if you can, and ramp your Benched Pokemon with Inferno Dance.

Mid-Game

Key Card(s) Required
Step	Description
1	Evolve your Benched Pokemon and continue ramping with Moltres ex.

Late Game

Key Card(s) Required
1	Use Leaf to retreat Moltres ex and send out either Arcanine ex or Volcarona.
2	Use Arcanine ex to damage your opponent's Active Pokemon, and Volcarona to snipe Benched Pokemon.
3	Use Pokemon Flute to bring back a Basic Pokemon you knocked out last turn to knock it out again with Volcarona's Volcanic Ash.

Volcarona and Arcanine ex Deck Best and Worst Matchups

Best Matchups

Deck	Commentary
Celebi ex Decks	Type: ・Can trade damage favorably because of its type advantage over Grass.

Worst Matchups

Deck	Commentary
Starmie ex Decks	Type: ・Can quickly outspeed Moltres ex's setup and eventually get to your Benched Pokemon.
Pikachu ex Decks	Type: ・Can quickly outspeed Moltres ex's setup by hitting it for super-effective damage, and eventually get to your Benched Pokemon.

Overall Consistency

This deck's consistency relies heavily on Moltres ex's Inferno Dance flipping favorably as both Arcanine ex and Volcarona make use of lots of Energy. It is best to always start with Moltres ex, otherwise try to attach Energy and always attack with your evolutions on turn 3.

Volcarona and Arcanine ex Deck F2P & Substitutes

Volcarona and Arcanine ex Deck Card Substitutes

Card	Explanation
Giovanni	・ Giovanni helps you reach 130 damage with Arcanine ex, which is an important HP benchmark. This lets it OHKO Starmie ex and Mew ex.

Pokemon TCG Pocket Meta Guide

Volcarona and Arcanine ex Deck Other Viable Options

Card	Possible Cuts
Arcanine	・Swapping out Pokemon Flute for a non-ex Arcanine gives the deck a non-ex option.

F2P Volcarona and Arcanine ex Deck List

F2P Volcarona and Arcanine ex Deck List
Pokemon Cards
Growlithe x2	Arcanine x2	Larvesta x2	Volcarona x2
Moltres ex x1
Trainer Cards
Leaf x2	Professor's Research x2	Potion x2	Poke Ball x2
X Speed x1	Sabrina x2

Moltres ex is an important part of any Fire deck's success because the ramp it provides is too valuable. Try to fit at least one if you have it. Non-ex Arcanine can take the place of Arcanine ex if you don't have access to Arcanine ex, while Volcarona and Leaf should still be slotted in when available.

Pokemon TCG Pocket Beginner's Guide

Pokemon TCG Pocket Related Guides

Deck Building Guide

All Deck Tier Lists

Deck Articles

Meta Decks

Best Meta Decks
Mewtwo ex	Celebi ex and Serperior	Pikachu ex
Gyarados ex and Greninja	Vaporeon and Articuno ex	Volcarona and Arcanine ex
Scolipede and Weezing	Starmie ex and Articuno ex	Arcanine ex
Blaine	Pikachu ex and Raichu	Gyarados ex and Vaporeon
Pidgeot ex	Charizard ex	Aerodactyl ex and Primeape
Exeggutor ex	Lt. Surge	Dragonite
Alakazam and Jynx	Mew ex and Weezing	Golem

Off Meta Decks

Articuno ex	Venusaur ex	Dragonite and Weezing
Lapras ex	Greninja	Mewtwo ex and Weezing
Marowak ex	Primeape	Venusaur and Weezing
Arbok Lock	Zapdos ex	Blastoise ex
Gengar ex	Machamp ex	Wigglytuff ex
Melmetal	Koga	Omastar and Articuno ex
Kingler and Articuno ex	Frosmoth	Lapras ex and Butterfree
Poliwrath	Tentacruel and Greninja	Victreebel and Exeggutor ex
Gengar ex and Golbat	Persian and Mawile	Lickitung and Primeape
Exeggutor ex and Alakazam	Frosmoth and Articuno ex	Gyarados
Centiskorch and Moltres ex	Grapploct	Cinccino and Weezing
Brock	Kabutops	Aerodactyl and Dragonite
Eeveelutions and Ditto	Lickitung	Articuno
Zapdos	Moltres	Venusaur
Charizard	Blastoise

Rental Decks

All Rental Decks
Venusaur ex Rental Deck	Charizard ex Rental Deck	Blastoise ex Rental Deck
Pikachu ex Rental Deck	Mewtwo ex Rental Deck	Machamp ex Rental Deck
Nidoking and Nidoqueen Rental Deck	Kanto Fossils Rental Deck	Koga Rental Deck
Brock Rental Deck	Blaine Rental Deck	Lt. Surge Rental Deck

Starter Decks

All Starter Decks
Pinsir Starter Deck	Rapidash Starter Deck	Sandslash Starter Deck