Hello everyone. This is Elena from Gaia Storm TCG and welcome to another article here in CCG. Since Welder entered the format a year ago (Unbroken Bonds), fire type decks have been a constant menace in the metagame.  Pair that up with a good attacker and you have all the ingredients for cooking a perfectly competitive deck. That is the case with Centiskorch VMAX. True that it might not be the most played deck in every tournament but it is for sure a popular choice because of its modulable damage and its aggression. Let’s some keys of its success.
One of the first attributes is its capacity to deal damage with ease. Centiskorch VMAX is a very powerful Pokémon that, for two colorless energies, deals a base 40 damage plus 40 for every fire energy attached to it and then auto-attaches one energy from the discard pile. Considering you’ve probably played a Welder and then attached one more energy manually, Centiskorch is doing 160 damage, enough to kill in two shots even other VMAX Pokemon. But if we make some numbers, we see that Centiskorch can become even deadlier as the game progresses. With 6 energies attached, Centiskorch is able to take down every Tag Team Pokémon in the format (for example Arceous, Dialga & Palkia or Pikachu Zekrom tag Team) and when the count gets to 8, it can virtually defeat anything the opponent might have. And yes, you might be thinking that committing 8 energies to one single Pokémon is not the easiest ask in the world, but that leads me to my second point…
Centiskorch can accelerate energies counting with many different ways of doing so. Apart from the well-know 4 copies of Welder (that can become more with Eldegoss V), Centiskorch decks tend to run Unbroken Bond’s Volcanion. By choosing to go second in every game they play, the priority is getting a Volcanion in the active spot, attaching an energy, using Welder to power up a benched Centiskorch and then declaring the attack, charging other two fire in the process. So just in one turn, you already have 4 energies in your soon-to-be Centiskorch VMAX. 8 energies don’t seem too far away, do they?
The other thing I like about the deck is the possibilities it has to include certain cards that expands the possibility of the strategy. I’ve already mentioned that Volcanion is a logical partner but there are some versions that run a Green engine because it has better access to healing and the LT Surge combo which opens strong comebacks in the form of double Welder in a single turn. However, if you want to stick to the Volcanion build, there are different options you can consider when it comes to the Pokémon lineup: Jirachi for consistency; Heatran GX, Cramorant and Ninetales V for more attacking flexibility; Zigzagoon for placing more damage counters on the field, Giratina for discarding opponent special energies… Some versions have even decided to run a couple of Heat Energy to make Centiskorch live longer and surviving more attacks.
So, all in all, what is clear is that Centiskorch VMAX is undoubtedly one of the strongest cards from the Darkness Ablaze set. It has a very solid strategy behind which relies on the power of Welder. If you are still unsure of what to play this format but are a big fan of aggressive decks, look no more and get your playset here at CCG! Thanks for reading!