Tsareena ex (TCG)

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Tsareena ex
Tsareena ex and Vanilluxe Types used Major cards Tsareena ex, Vanilluxe, and Hisuian Braviary Era 2023-2024

Tsareena ex was a Pokémon Trading Card Game deck archetype played in the 2023-2024 season. The deck's strategy revolved around Tsareena ex, which could use its Icicle Sole attack, which costs only 1 Energy, to put damage counters on one of the opponent's Pokémon until its remaining HP is 30, and Vanilluxe to prevent those Pokémon from attacking at all. Hisuian Braviary was used to finish the opponent's Pokémon and take many Prize cards at once.

Strategy

Panic Mask

Battle VIP Pass is a card vital to the setup of many decks, including this one. It is recommended to have Bounsweet on the Bench when the first turn ends. Rotom V provides an Ability to draw cards on the turns when the player's Pokémon won't attack: using the Ability causes the player to draw 3 cards and end their turn.

When turn 2 starts, the goal is to use Irida to search the player's deck for a Tsareena ex and a Rare Candy, or another Item card if that player already has a Rare Candy. If the player already has a Tsareena ex in their hand, they can use Arven instead to search their deck for a Panic Mask, which can be used for early pressure by stopping all damage from Pokémon that have 40 HP or less remaining. Then, they would use that Rare Candy to evolve a Bounsweet into Tsareena ex, attach an Energy to it if it doesn't have one already, attach a Panic Mask to it, and, if it is in the Active Spot, use Icicle Sole on one of the opponent's Pokémon, preferably the Active Pokémon if it has any Energy attached.

Later on, the player would want to put Vanilluxe into play, which would prevent all Pokémon with 40 HP or less from attacking at all. The player can deal the finishing blow with Hisuian Braviary's Eerie Cry attack, which puts 3 damage counters on each of the opponent's Pokémon that already has any damage counters on it. Because of that, it is possible for the player to take all six Prize cards in one turn. Hisuian Braviary is advantaged by not requiring any Energy to use Eerie Cry. This is bypassable by the opponent healing their Pokémon, which can be prevented with Dyna Tree Hill.

Bibarel serves as a draw engine for late game, while Manaphy stops any damage done to the player's Bench. Despite the official player's guide included in the Paradox Rift Elite Trainer Box stating otherwise, Jirachi cannot stop damage counters from being placed by Tsareena ex due to the latter being a Stage 2 Pokémon.

Key cards

Dyna Tree Hill

• Tsareena ex - This card has the Icicle Sole attack, which only costs and sets the HP of one of the opponent's Pokémon to 30 by putting damage counters on it. For , the player could also easily Knock Out Fire-type Pokémon by using the Trop Kick attack. Due to the Tera trait, it can't be damaged by attacks while on the Bench.
• Steenee - This card is sometimes necessary to prevent the strategy from being irreversibly disrupted by the opponent's Technical Machine: Devolution.
• Vanilluxe - Its Ability prevents the opponent's Pokémon with 40 HP or less from attacking.
• Irida - Searches for both Item cards and key Pokémon, like Tsareena ex or Vanilluxe.
• Arven - Similar to Irida, but can search for Panic Mask instead.
• Battle VIP Pass - Vital for first-turn setup, can be used as discard material after that.
• Panic Mask - Despite there being Vanilluxe in this deck, this card is included for early pressure. The way it works is that it prevents all damage from being done by the opponent's Pokémon with 40 HP or less remaining.
• Rare Candy - Included due to the abundance of Stage 2 Pokémon, allowing to put them into play far more easily.
• Counter Catcher - Provides a way of switching in a Pokémon to the Active Spot, preferably one with a high Retreat Cost.
• Rotom V - Early-game draw engine, to be used on turns when the player can't attack.
• Forest Seal Stone - Included due to the presence of Rotom V, can accelerate execution of this strategy by allowing the player to search their deck for any card once per game.
• Hisuian Braviary - This Pokémon's Eerie Cry attack costs no Energy and puts 3 damage counters on each of the opponent's Pokémon that already has any damage counters on it.
• Dyna Tree Hill - Prevents Pokémon from being healed.
• Bibarel - Late-game draw engine.
• Manaphy - Prevents Benched Pokémon from being damaged by attacks.

Typical decklist

Irida

The deck list appearing below is not official; it is meant to represent an average build of the archetype, not specifically constructed for any regional metagame. Being that this is merely an archetype, a player may wish to change any part of this deck when building their own version.

Quantity	Card	Type	Rarity
4×	Bounsweet
1×	Steenee
3×	Tsareena
2×	Bidoof
2×	Bibarel
2×	Vanillite
2×	Vanilluxe
1×	Rufflet
1×	Hisuian Braviary
1×	Rotom
1×	Manaphy
4×	Rare Candy	I
4×	Ultra Ball	I
3×	Battle VIP Pass	I
2×	Nest Ball	I
2×	Counter Catcher	I
1×	Escape Rope	I
1×	Super Rod	I
1×	Artazon	St
1×	Pokémon League Headquarters	St
1×	Dyna Tree Hill	St
4×	Iono	Su
4×	Irida	Su
2×	Arven	Su
1×	Thorton	Su
2×	Panic Mask	PT
1×	Forest Seal Stone	PT
6×	Grass Energy	E	—

Possible tech cards

Toy Catcher

The following cards are often used in Tsareena ex decks in place of certain cards included in the above lists.

• Toy Catcher - provides a way of switching in Pokémon that have 50 HP or less remaining. At times, it is more versatile than Counter Catcher because it works regardless of either player's number of remaining Prize cards.
• Cheryl - All of this deck's attackers don't have high Energy costs for their attacks, so Cheryl is a safe option to heal them fully.
• Venomoth - If used after Tsareena ex's attack, then it can Knock Out a Pokémon targeted by Tsareena ex and lock Item card usage for one turn.
• Meowscarada ex - Allows the player to discard a Grass Energy card from their hand in order to put 3 damage counters on one of the opponent's Benched Pokémon.
• Brute Bonnet and Ancient Booster Energy Capsule - This 2-card combo allows to inflict Poisoned on the opponent's Pokémon with its Toxic Powder Ability.
• Radiant Hisuian Sneasler - Combines well with Brute Bonnet. Its presence in the field makes the opponent's Pokémon to have 2 more damage counters put on them due to the Special Condition Poisoned, allowing Tsareena ex to effectively OHKO the opponent's Pokémon without doing any real damage.
• Crobat - Rarely used attacker due to the high attack cost and Stage 2 overhead. Despite this, its attack allows to Knock Out a Pokémon from 30 HP, yielding 2 more Prize cards for it.
• Mimikyu VMAX and Acerola's Premonition - A 2-card combo that can put many damage counters on the opponent's Pokémon. Mimikyu VMAX can use the Ominous Numbers attack to place 4 damage counters, or 13 if the player uses Acerola's Premonition. Not frequently used due to Roaring Moon ex countering it.
• Elekid - Can be optionally used to score finishing hits without having to attach any Energy, and also has no Retreat Cost.
• Jirachi - Optionally used to counter Sableye and Medicham V.
• Zarude V - Can put 30 damage on one of the opponent's Benched Pokémon while also damaging their Active Pokémon. This isn't used often due to the presence of Manaphy on many decks.
• Path to the Peak - Disables Abilities on all Pokémon that have a Rule Box, which impedes some popular strategies.

This article is part of Project TCG, a Bulbapedia project that aims to report on every aspect of the Pokémon Trading Card Game.