They say good things come in threes, but Ogerpon ex takes it up a notch in the Pokémon TCG: Scarlet & Violet—Twilight Masquerade expansion. Four awesome Ogerpon ex are featured, and each one of its iconic masks brings a unique strength to battles.

To get a better look at each of these powerful Pokémon, we’ve brought together four incredibly talented players and deck-builders to show how they would unlock Ogerpon’s various skills. Read on to discover how you can use Ogerpon ex in your collection the next time you’re ready to play!

Teal Mask Ogerpon ex is clearly one of the best cards from Scarlet & Violet—Twilight Masquerade. Its Teal Dance Ability may seem simple, yet its effect of allowing you to attach 1 Grass Energy from your hand to Teal Mask Ogerpon ex and then draw a card is incredibly powerful. Cards that allow you to attach extra Energy cards to Pokémon are frequently some of the best in the Pokémon TCG. It’s rare when a Basic Pokémon can do this as an Ability.

I’ve seen many different types of decks already taking advantage of Teal Mask Ogerpon ex. The most popular pairing at the recent North America International Championships was with Raging Bolt ex. However, I decided to write about a pairing for Teal Mask Ogerpon ex that has received less attention but I think has great synergy—Toedscruel ex, with Kricketune. Here is my list:

Toedscruel ex is a card I have been fascinated by since it came out last year. It is a Grass type—hitting Charizard ex for Weakness—and it can do the 280 HP needed to KO Pokémon like Arceus VSTAR and Giratina VSTAR. On top of that, its incredible Protective Mycelium Ability prevents effects of attacks from hitting your Pokémon that have Energy attached. It just so happens that another popular Pokémon from Scarlet & Violet—Twilight Masquerade, Dragapult ex, relies on a similar effect to place damage counters.

Powering Toedscruel ex’s Colony Rush attack is where Teal Mask Ogerpon ex comes in. With three Teal Mask Ogerpon ex in play, getting Energy on three of your Pokémon can be easy. With your regular attachment per turn and an Energy Switch, you can quickly get to attacking for 240 to 280 damage.

I’ve also thrown in a regular Toedscruel from Scarlet & Violet—Paradox Rift. It is mainly there for its Slime Mold Colony Ability, which prevents your opponent from using cards like PokéStop, Energy Retrieval, and Superior Energy Retrieval that could really hurt certain decks.

I also wanted to be able to attack effectively with Teal Mask Ogerpon ex while building up to the Toedscruel ex attack. One limitation of Teal Mask Ogerpon ex is its 210 HP—relatively low for a Pokémon ex. I was quickly finding myself Knocked Out by Charizard ex and Miraidon ex when I attacked with Teal Mask Ogerpon ex. That brought me to Kricketune. Every festival needs music, and Kricketune’s Swelling Tune Ability sets the melody by giving each of your Grass-type Pokémon an additional 40 HP. That’s like giving all of your Pokémon a Bravery Charm at once! But because Bravery Charm can be negated with Lost Vacuum or Jamming Tower, Swelling Tune is even more effective as the only real way to quiet Kricketune is a Knock Out. I’d gladly have my opponent target Kricketune while I continue to build my powerful Pokémon ex.

Most of the Trainers in the deck are typical ones in today’s Standard format, but I’ll highlight a few. Bug Catching Set is one of my favorite cards in Scarlet & Violet—Twilight Masquerade. Finding two things with one Item card feels very good. You almost always find two valid targets for Bug Catching Set since more than half this deck is Grass-type Pokémon and Basic Grass Energy.

The Stadiums are probably the most flexible spots in the deck. I’ve chosen a Lost City mainly so my opponents can’t use Radiant Charizard against me twice. Jamming Tower is another new card from Scarlet & Violet—Twilight Masquerade that turns off Pokémon Tools. This can be useful to stop your opponent from using Forest Seal Stone, Maximum Belt, and Bravery Charm, among other cards.

Overall, playing Teal Mask Ogerpon ex is just as festive as its art implies. Kick off the summer with this very fun Pokémon card!

Stéphane says: Ross is a legendary deck-builder, so it’s no surprise that he came up with a cool deck around Teal Mask Ogerpon ex! I really like the synergy between Teal Mask Ogerpon ex and Toedscruel ex. However, I’m a bit worried that the deck lacks draw power, which could limit its consistency, even if we’re accounting for the Teal Dance Ability. I wonder if adding a Pokémon like Rotom V with Forest Seal Stone could improve the deck’s chances. I also wonder if this could be the right place to play the new Secret Box ACE SPEC card! It doesn’t have an effect as unique as Prime Catcher, but it could help in finding situational cards like Boss’s Orders and Lost City. Could this be the right place for the card?

Tord says: I thought you would be hard pressed to find a better pairing than Raging Bolt ex for Teal Mask Ogerpon ex, but Toedscruel ex certainly seems like it is making a solid argument for itself here with this unique take from Ross. What I find especially fascinating is how strong Toedscruel ex’s Ability is against Dragapult ex, a new card that has received a lot of attention recently.

The strongest attacks in the game typically come with some sort of disadvantage, such as having to discard Energy attached to the Pokémon or not being able to attack on the following turn. Toedscruel ex might be slightly slower than other Pokémon, but there is no such downside to its attack, and it looks like it will be hard to stop as soon as the board is established. Teal Mask Ogerpon ex really allows Toedscruel ex the chance to shine.

Xander says: I like how Ross focuses on Toedscruel ex and Kricketune, two overlooked Grass-type Pokémon, rather than Raging Bolt ex. I’ve tried to make Toedscruel ex work in the past, but Teal Mask Ogerpon ex seems to be the missing puzzle piece enabling its success. Opposing decks will have a hard time Knocking Out these bulky Pokémon because of their defensive Abilities.

One direction I’d have gone would have been to include a 1–1 line of a Grass-type Pokémon VSTAR. Leafeon VSTAR and Hisuian Lilligant VSTAR have auxiliary Abilities that can be useful in a pinch. Plus, they aren’t easy targets since you’d already have Teal Mask Ogerpon ex in play. However, including these does have an opportunity cost, so perhaps the simpler approach is better.

Hearthflame Mask Ogerpon ex has two attacks: Wrathful Hearth, which does more damage the more Ogerpon is damaged; and Dynamic Blaze, which does 140 damage—or 280 damage to an Evolution Pokémon, at the cost of discarding all attached Energy. Wrathful Hearth is not an attack you can base a deck around, as there’s no easy way to damage Hearthflame Mask Ogerpon ex enough to make the attack worth it. However, Dynamic Blaze is more promising—280 damage is the perfect number to one-hit Knock Out popular Evolution Pokémon, such as Giratina VSTAR, Lugia VSTAR, Banette ex, and Arceus VSTAR. Add a Maximum Belt and you reach 330 damage, which lets Ogerpon Knock Out Stage 2 Pokémon ex like Charizard ex, Gardevoir ex, and Dragapult ex.

That's a good start, but questions remain. How do we accelerate Energy to Hearthflame Mask Ogerpon ex throughout, especially since it has to discard its Energy in order to do the full 280 damage? And how do we deal with Basic Pokémon like Miraidon ex, Raging Bolt ex, Radiant Charizard, etc., who aren’t Knocked Out by Dynamic Blaze?

I believe that the best way to answer these questions is to fit Hearthflame Mask Ogerpon ex in an Arceus VSTAR deck, using the combination of Magma Basin and Armarouge for Energy acceleration. Arceus VSTAR can put Fire Energy on the board thanks to Trinity Nova, and we can then use Armarouge to move these Energy cards to Ogerpon ex, allowing it to attack. We can also use Magma Basin every turn to get Energy back from the discard pile, again moving it to Ogerpon ex. This also solves the issue of how to deal with Pokémon that Hearthflame Mask Ogerpon ex isn’t effective against—we can simply use other Pokémon for these situations, since Armarouge allows us to move Energy easily between our various Pokémon.

Here’s the deck I have built:

I included a variety of attackers in the deck to deal with various situations. Gouging Fire ex is the perfect answer to high-HP Basic Pokémon, doing enough damage to Knock Out even Bloodmoon Ursaluna ex. Delphox V can take out two Pokémon in one turn, and it is perfect against support Pokémon like Kirlia, Drakloak, and Bibarel. Mew ex can copy the opponent’s attack, which can be used to bring down Giratina VSTAR with its own Lost Impact, or copy Radiant Greninja’s Moonlight Shuriken to Knock Out a pair of Comfey against a Lost Zone deck. It’s also a strong support Pokémon thanks to its free retreat and its Restart Ability.

Radiant Heatran is the perfect Pokémon to accelerate Energy to with Magma Basin, since it makes great use of the damage counters: after two uses of Magma Basin, it does 280 damage, and 420 with one more use. Remember, though, that you can only use Magma Basin once per turn, so in order to get the best use out of Radiant Heatran, you need to make sure it’s on the Bench at least one turn before you can attack with it.

Finally, there’s Armarouge ex, which can benefit from the high amount of Energy we play. It’s not a good idea to put all our Energy on the same Pokémon, since we lose it all if it gets Knocked Out, but Armarouge ex’s Crimson Armor makes it hard to take it out in one hit. Beware of one-hit Knock Out attacks like Roaring Moon ex’s Frenzied Gouging, though!

With all these options, this deck has an answer to everything, so if you can get the right attackers at the right time, you should have a blast playing it!

Ross says: Stéphane’s deck really brings the heat! The variety of big attacks present in his deck could certainly make any opponent sweat. I’m particularly intrigued by the inclusion of Radiant Heatran. That card has felt underplayed compared to its attack power.

The typical problem with decks that have “too many options” is that they just don’t function consistently enough. Adding a Hisuian Heavy Ball to find the attacker you need is one change I’d consider. If this deck can overcome consistency issues without cards like Bibarel and Radiant Greninja though, I could see it being very competitive. Perhaps Hearthflame Mask Ogerpon ex is the spark these “fire box” types of decks have needed!

Tord says: I think Stéphane solved the heavy Energy requirement issue from Hearthflame Mask Ogerpon ex beautifully in this build. The Arceus VSTAR / Armarouge pairing tends to end up with an abundance of Energy cards on the field, and now there is another great way to take advantage of that. As a Basic Pokémon, I think doing potentially 280 damage for only three Energy is the current highest number we ever had in the game, only rivaled by Gouging Fire ex, which funnily enough is also included. The 20 extra damage that Hearthflame Mask Ogerpon ex provides in comparison is such a game changer against Pokémon VSTAR, but also against Stage 2 Pokémon ex (with the use of Maximum Belt, as Stéphane mentioned).

Xander says: Stéphane and I went in a similar direction with our Arceus VSTAR variants. Because of Armarouge’s complementary Ability, Stéphane can make great use of Hearthflame Mask Ogerpon ex—the other Fire-type attackers too in the right situation. One great upside to Armarouge variants is that the combination of its Ability and Magma Basin can power up an Arceus VSTAR in one turn. Normally, these decks need to gain an Energy attachment on the first turn to use Trinity Nova on the second turn.

One interesting package you could include is Munkidori plus Luminous Energy. The damage from Magma Basin is useful on Radiant Heatran, but perhaps not as much on your other Pokémon. With this combo, you can attach Luminous Energy to Munkidori and then move it to your Active Pokémon. Remember that Luminous Energy becomes a Colorless Energy if you also have Double Turbo Energy attached!

The new Wellspring Mask Ogerpon ex might look difficult to use at first glance, but I think it’s a perfect fit together with Lugia VSTAR and Archeops. This duo has been a strong contender ever since its release in the Sword & Shield—Silver Tempest expansion. Thanks to Lugia VSTAR’s Summoning Star Ability, Archeops can enter the battlefield immediately and use its powerful Primal Turbo Ability to attach multiple strong Special Energy cards from the deck to your Pokémon.

My deck list:

One of the new Special Energy cards, Legacy Energy, is a game changer for Lugia VSTAR and gives cards such as Wellspring Mask Ogerpon ex a chance to shine. After the last rotation, there wasn’t a good Special Energy option left for this deck to provide something other than Colorless Energy.

The Torrential Pump attack gives you the option of shuffling 3 Energy cards back into your deck for the reward of doing 120 additional damage to a Benched Pokémon. This has great utility in this deck: the Legacy Energy can be shuffled back and reused later with the help of Archeops’s Primal Turbo Ability. This attack reminds me of a previous partner for Lugia VSTAR, Amazing Raikou and its Amazing Shot attack, which was an excellent option against low HP single-Prize Pokémon. Unlike Raikou, shuffling the Energy cards back into the deck before the Pokémon get Knocked Out is a pretty big advantage in general, especially since many of the other attackers in this list require a lot of Energy.

But it’s not only the Torrential Pump attack that requires our attention—Wellspring Mask Ogerpon ex’s Sob attack is also extremely powerful. We have seen multiple instances of a similar attack being used to singlehandedly win games by preventing a harmless Pokémon from retreating until the opposing player ran out of cards. Mawile with its Tempting Trap attack can lock a Pokémon in the Active Spot virtually forever if the opponent does not have any more switching cards.

You might say that the difference between Sob and Tempting Trap is that Sob is doing damage right away—eventually the Pokémon stuck in the Active Spot will get Knocked Out. If you can use a Double Turbo Energy cleverly, you can turn the damage reduction to your advantage and reduce Sob’s damage output to zero, which leaves you with the perfect retreat lock.

While I think this strategy is fragile and should only be used as a last resort, I have no doubt that it could steal a lot of games from the grasp of defeat if used at the right moment.

Some other cool new inclusions from the Scarlet & Violet—Twilight Masquerade expansion are Carmine, Jamming Tower, and Bloodmoon Ursaluna ex. With Carmine, Lugia VSTAR decks now have something to do on the first turn of the game, and it offers another way to discard Archeops immediately without having to worry about a potential Iono disrupting the hand. Jamming Tower is great to disrupt opponents’ Pokémon Tool cards, especially Technical Machine: Evolution, which is very popular right now. Much like Radiant Charizard, Bloodmoon Ursaluna ex is a cost-effective attacker: its Blood Moon attack gets easier to use as the game goes on.

It’s also important to mention that Legacy Energy enables Lumineon V to once again swim away with Aqua Return, which means it can use its Luminous Sign Ability again later in the game. Finally, the deck now has access to Iron Hands ex and its Amp You Very Much attack, one of the strongest in the game. This combined with Cinccino’s Special Roll attack makes for a powerful deck with a lot of options.

Even if Wellspring Mask Ogerpon ex does not end up attacking every game, just the fact that it is an additional option that needs to be respected could be valuable enough in itself. Its presence means the opponent more than likely will need to prioritize getting Manaphy onto their Bench to protect themselves. I urge you to try the deck out yourself—it is a lot of fun!

Ross says: The legend has come back to life! Lugia VSTAR is truly revitalized with the five new Scarlet & Violet—Twilight Masquerade cards Tord has in his list, each playing a distinct role in the deck.

Of all of these, I believe Wellspring Mask Ogerpon ex is the chosen one to really elevate Lugia VSTAR’s game. As Tord highlights, Wellspring Mask Ogerpon ex brings three new elements to Lugia VSTAR’s attack options: being able to hit two Pokémon at once (not seen since Amazing Raikou rotated a year ago); the retreat lock; and the conservation of Energy cards by shuffling them back into the deck. All that power in one card! Don’t be sad, Ogerpon, you can make a difference! I’m tempted to even play multiple copies of Wellspring Mask Ogerpon ex since there is no Super Rod or any other way to get it back in the list.

Stéphane says: Tord showcased a fairly classic Lugia VSTAR list, which I agree is currently the best place for Wellspring Mask Ogerpon ex. Legacy Energy and—to a lesser extent—Carmine and Jamming Tower make Lugia VSTAR a force to be reckoned with, and Ogerpon ex is one reason why it’s such a threat. Until now, Lugia VSTAR lacked good, consistent ways to attack the Bench. With Wellspring Mask Ogerpon ex around, many decks will need to get their Manaphy onto the Bench to counter it.

Tord explained how Wellspring Mask Ogerpon ex’s Sob attack could also win games, but I want to highlight the synergy with Torrential Pump. You force the opponent to play Manaphy, which is the perfect target to trap with Sob against decks with few /switching cards, like Gardevoir ex. Diabolical!

Xander says: Wellspring Mask Ogerpon ex is a great addition to the Lugia VSTAR / Archeops archetype. Legacy Energy enables both it and Iron Hands ex to shine, providing new options to the previously Colorless-type focused build.

I really like how Wellspring Mask Ogerpon ex provides an additional means of taking two Prize cards in a single turn. One option is to Knock Out a Pokémon V or Pokémon ex with Lugia VSTAR or Cinccino. Iron Hands ex leads to an answer against lower-HP Basic Pokémon, and Wellspring Mask Ogerpon ex doubles up in that department with the added touch of reusability. Shuffling in Legacy Energy allows you to use Iron Hands ex later, potentially steamrolling the game out of control. It’s now more important than ever to use Lugia VSTAR’s Summoning Star Ability to bring two Archeops into play on the second turn of the game, and Carmine improves that probability by giving you a draw option on the first turn. I’m excited to see how Lugia VSTAR performs at upcoming events!

Cornerstone Mask Ogerpon ex is the sturdiest of the four. Its Cornerstone Stance Ability prevents all damage from attacks done to it by Pokémon with an Ability. On top of this Ability, Cornerstone Mask Ogerpon ex can use Demolish to attack for solid damage, hitting through any effects that may otherwise block the damage. This Pokémon can both put up a wall and break through an opponent’s defenses.

Though the Cornerstone Stance Ability can completely dominate against certain archetypes, most decks have at least one attacker without an Ability. A suitable pairing would be a Pokémon that can handle these opposing Pokémon effectively. One card that comes to mind is Arceus VSTAR, as Trinity Nova can do sufficient damage while empowering another attacker on the Bench. Aerodactyl VSTAR is a perfect additional attacker; it also uses Fighting Energy and can dominate Lugia VSTAR decks that are vulnerable to a quick Ancient Star.

This deck aims to exert early pressure with Arceus VSTAR before transitioning into attacking with Aerodactyl VSTAR. With Relicanth in play, you can use Aerodactyl V’s Rock Crush to discard an Energy from the opponent’s Active Pokémon. Pair this with Crushing Hammer to further weaken their attacking power.

Jamming Tower is our new Stadium of choice because many decks rely on the Arven engine with Forest Seal Stone and Technical Machine: Evolution. Unlike Lost Vacuum, Jamming Tower can proactively shut these off, preventing the opponent from getting immediate use on the turn they retrieve it with Arven.

For matchups where most of the opponent’s attackers have Abilities, consider targeting the attacking Pokémon without Abilities. As the game progresses, you can attach Energy to Cornerstone Mask Ogerpon ex while stalling with Crushing Hammer, Aerodactyl V’s Rock Crush, and Scoop Up Cyclone. At the final hour, Iono and Cornerstone Mask Ogerpon ex can sweep an opponent’s board if they are ill-equipped.

One niche that Cornerstone Mask Ogerpon ex fills is dealing with other defensive Pokémon. Mimikyu from Scarlet & Violet—Paldea Evolved cannot be damaged by Pokémon ex or Pokémon V because of its Safeguard Ability. Unfortunately for Mimikyu, Cornerstone Mask Ogerpon ex can Demolish through Safeguard, mitigating one of this deck’s original weak points.

While Cornerstone Stance may seem foolproof, remember that there are ways to bypass it. Your opponent may try to avoid Cornerstone Mask Ogerpon ex, instead targeting Pokémon on your Bench to take their remaining Prize cards. Another strong card they may play is Canceling Cologne, which shuts off Cornerstone Stance, leaving it vulnerable to all attacks. This could give the opponent the turn they need to Knock Out Cornerstone Mask Ogerpon ex. Finally, Cornerstone Stance does not prevent effects of attacks—placed damage counters and Special Conditions—but you can attach Mist Energy to protect it from effects of attacks too.

Cornerstone Mask Ogerpon ex makes a great third attacker for Arceus VSTAR / Aerodactyl VSTAR, proving useful against certain Pokémon offensively and defensively. Its Ability pairs nicely with the simple, disruptive strategy of removing an opponent’s Energy and Benched Pokémon through Crushing Hammer and Boss’s Orders. It may leave your opponent frustrated!

Ross says: Like with Stéphane and Tord’s decks, Xander has made a smart choice by placing his Cornerstone Mask Ogerpon ex into a deck with multiple attack options. Fighting is a type that always struggles to power up attacks that cost multiple Energy. When you look at Cornerstone Mask Ogerpon ex’s cost to attack with Demolish, the natural choice is indeed a deck that plays Fighting Energy and Double Turbo Energy, and I think Xander has correctly identified Arceus VSTAR / Aerodactyl VSTAR as the best deck that utilizes those Energy cards.

Arceus VSTAR decks have often struggled with effects like Mimikyu’s Safeguard Ability, sometimes having to rely on luck with Bibarel’s Tail Smash! Cornerstone Mask Ogerpon ex’s Demolish attack does cover this important vulnerability of Arceus decks.

Stéphane says: I remember when Xander was advocating for Aerodactyl VSTAR in Mew VMAX a year and a half ago, so it feels like a throwback that he built another deck list featuring it. And for the same reason too—countering the terrifying Lugia VSTAR!

I like the creativity at play here, notably the use of Radiant Tsareena and Scoop Up Cyclone as help against Dragapult ex. I’m a bit worried about the low number of draw Supporters, and I’d probably add a couple of those before using Crushing Hammer…but then again, I was never a big fan of Crushing Hammer.

As for the synergy with Cornerstone Mask Ogerpon ex, I can see how it works within this deck to deal with some of its weaknesses, like Mimikyu. Be careful though—if you use Aerodactyl VSTAR's Ancient Star, your opponent’s Pokémon V will lose their Abilities and be able to hit Cornerstone Mask Ogerpon ex!

Tord says: One of the main issues I noticed with Cornerstone Mask Ogerpon ex is that it’s relatively slow. Not only because charging up with Energy can take some time, but also because its lower damage output means longer matches. I think using Aerodactyl VSTAR with Crushing Hammer is an excellent idea to effectively solve both of these issues. It buys you time to manually attach to it while simultaneously chipping away at the high-HP threats of the opponent. Then Cornerstone Mask Ogerpon ex can clean up in the later stages of the game. Arceus VSTAR attacking for 200 damage is also an excellent way to soften up just about any Pokémon for a future Knock Out from Cornerstone Mask Ogerpon ex. Similar to Wellspring Mask Ogerpon ex, I think just the fact that the card is in the deck forces the opponent to play in a more suboptimal way, just so they have a way around it if you decide to unleash its powers.

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