Hi there. In this Pokemon TCG post, I feature Greninja ex (Fighting tera type) from the Japanese expansion Crimson Haze. This card will appear internationally as a part of the Twilight Masquerade Pokemon TCG expansion in May 2024.
Greninja ex
There were two Greninja exs in the past that were Water type. Even though you can evolve with relative ease with the support of Irida and Rare Candy, both the cards were not very good attackers. With this Fighting Tera type Greninja ex you have some good attacking options.
This Greninja ex is a Stage 2 Pokemon with a respectable 310 HP. This card has no abilities and comes with two interesting attacks. Its first attack does cost one Water energy for a sizeable 170 damage. The effect of the first attack is quite broken if you ask me. You can search for any card and add it to your hand. Having a one energy cost attack that does 170 damage is crazy but having a card search effect as well is insane. The second attack costs one water energy and two colourless energy. After discarding two energy you can do 120 damage to two of the opponent's Pokemon (including those on the opponent's bench).
Provided that the opponent does not have something like Manaphy available on their bench. Greninja ex's second attack is quite powerful as you can knockout two Pokemon and potentially gain two, three, four or more prizes. (You can potentially gain five or 6 prizes if the opponent has a VMAX or two in play but I think that would be super rare in this FGH regulation format.)
Combo Ideas
- Irida or Arven to search for Rare Candy to evolve from Froakie to Greninja ex
- Palkia VSTAR to accelerate Water Energy to Froakie or Frogadier before evolving to Greninja ex
- Maybe Salavatore to evolve from Froakie to Frogadier to Greninja ex in the same turn as Greninja ex has no ability.
- Use first attack to search for Double Colourless Energy to use the second attack in the next turn.
- Use first attack to search for Boss's Orders or even Counter Catcher for endgame wins.
- Combo Boss's Orders on Iron Hands ex to knock it out for weakness plus hit for 120 damage on second Pokemon with second attack.
- Possibility to run a second type other than Water with Greninja ex. Both attacks require one water energy.
Pros
- An effective and cost efficient first attack with card search. Pretty powerful
- Fighting type is very nice against Arceus V, Arceus VStar, Iron Hands ex, Electric types and Bloodmoon Ursaluna from the same set.
- One retreat cost is fairly low.
- Second attack allows for hitting benched Pokemon
- 310 HP can withstand a lot of attacks (except for one hit knockout attacks)
Weaknesses
- As it is Fighting type and not Water, you cannot really use Irida to search for Greninja ex.
- It does have Psychic weakness which may not be too bad as Gardevoir ex did take a hit from April 2024 rotation. Do watch out for Mew ex.
- Iono and hand disruption is very popular in this format. The one card you search for may not be used.
- Lack of one hit knockouts on popular Vs, VStars, Stage 1 and 2 Pokemon exs
- Costly drawback in second attack with discarding two energy.
Deck Ideas
These deck ideas are mostly from Pokecabook.com in Japan. It is a Japanese website that feature decklists that either win a small tournament or have higher placements in larger local tournaments (League Cup, 32 to 64 players).
Greninja ex with Pidgeot ex
Since Charizard ex decks usually run Rare Candy along with Pidgeot ex, it would make sense to have Greninja ex along with Pidgeot ex.
The two Stage 2 evolution lines of Greninja and Pidgeot ex do compliment each other. A common play is to evolve the Pidgey to Pidgeot ex with Rare Candy. Once the Pidgeot ex is on the field you can use Pidgeot's Quick Search ability to get any card like a Rare Candy. The second Rare Candy can be used to evolve the Froakie into Greninja ex for a second evolve.
Greninja ex with Palkia VSTAR
A natural secondary attacker choice that uses Water Energy with Greninja ex would be Origin Forme Palkia VSTAR. Palkia VStar is a very good attacker that can do up to 260 damage if both benches are full. It's Star Portal VSTAR ability allows for Water energy accleration from the discard pile (once per game).
There is no Pidgeot ex so the draw engine would be Bibarel as shown in this deck list example.
Greninja ex with Charizard ex (Umm because why not and Charizard ex is too good)
Charizard ex in the post rotation format (F, G, H regulation marks) is pretty popular because Charizard ex has high damage in the late game along with Fire Energy acceleration. The deck is now more flexible without Path to The Peak disrupting abilities of Rule Box Pokemon.
With added flexibility in the deck, they can add stuff like Greninja ex to the mix. As energy requirements are not high, you can mix Fire and Water energies as seen in this deck list. I am not sure how this deck plays out in practice.
Chien Pao ex with 1-1 Froakie & Greninja ex
With this one it looks like a standard Chien Pao deck with a 1-1 line of Froakie and Greninja ex. It looks like Iron Hands ex is replaced by Greninja ex as the secondary attacking option. Since Chien Pao decks use Rare Candy anyways for setting up Baxcalibur, it would make sense to have Greninja ex as an attacking option.