In one of the most shocking outcomes in the history of the Pokémon TCG World Championships, Fernando Cifuentes of Chile used an Iron Thorns ex deck on his way to the 2024 world title and became just the second player from South America to claim the biggest prize in the game. What makes this even more astonishing is the fact that prior to Worlds, the Iron Thorns ex deck had hardly any tournament achievements to its name; its only notable result to date had been a 10th-place finish in the hands of Taiji Maruyama at Champions League Aichi in April 2024.

Strategy

It may seem rather strange that a deck with just four Pokémon cards—four copies of the titular card from Crimson Haze [SV5a]—could end up winning it all at Worlds. That being said, there’s “a method to the madness”. A key part of this disruption-based deck’s strategy revolves around Volt Cyclone, Iron Thorns ex’s sole attack. Volt Cyclone moves an Energy card from the attacking Iron Thorns ex to one of the other Iron Thorns ex cards on the Bench, allowing for multiple such cards to be set up rapidly.

Another key card of this deck is Future Booster Energy Capsule from Future Flash [SV4M]. This card is ideal for pivoting as it nullifies Iron Thorns ex’s otherwise massive retreat cost of four Energy cards, making it especially useful in situations when the Active Iron Thorns ex card might not be able to attack. As an added bonus, Future Booster Energy Capsule adds 20 extra damage to what’s ordinarily inflicted by Volt Cyclone.

The combination of Eri from Wild Force [SV5K] and Technical Machine: Devolution from Ancient Roar [SV4K] is also vital to this deck’s tactical approach. Both cards are crucial to the deck’s disruptive capabilities; Eri for its discarding of Item cards from the opponent’s hand and Technical Machine: Devolution, as its name suggests, by devolving the opponent’s Pokémon to potentially set up KO’s. This combination is particularly potent against any deck that makes heavy use of Rare Candy from Violet ex [SV1V] by leaving the opponent without a way to re-evolve the devolved Pokémon.

Price

The cumulative cost of all the cards in an Iron Thorns ex deck is at least 4,430 JPY (~US$30).

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