Gardevoir ex is weak to Fire. Burning Darkness scales up as your opponent takes prize cards and can one-shot Gardevoir ex reliably from mid-game onwards.
How to play this matchup
Attack early with smaller attackers to force them to take prizes and inflate your Burning Darkness damage
Pidgeot ex searches Boss's Orders every turn to target damaged Kirlia or Ralts
Keep your own bench clean to prevent their Zacian V from having easy targets
Pidgeot ex's Quick Search finds Boss's Orders every turn to target key Gholdengo pieces. Burning Darkness hits for consistent damage and Charizard ex can take prizes before Gholdengo's lock becomes oppressive.
How to play this matchup
Use all your Items before their first attack if possible
Quick Search for Boss's Orders every turn to disrupt their Gimmighoul bench
Rare Candy plus Charizard ex on turn 2 is the dream, prioritise this line
Froslass Munkidori relies on small spread damage accumulation. Charizard ex sets up too fast for spread to matter, and Burning Darkness cleans up the entire board before they can take enough prizes.
How to play this matchup
Rush to set up Charizard ex before their spread builds momentum
Boss's Orders for Froslass itself, removing the spreader clears their main strategy
Infernal Reign on evolution gets 3 Energy attached, you can attack on the same turn you evolve
Phantom Dive kills Charmanders on the bench before Charizard ex can evolve. The prize race is very difficult to win once bench damage stacks up on your evolution pieces.
How to navigate this matchup
Try to keep only one or two Charmander on the bench at a time
Nest Ball for Charmander sparingly and try to evolve as quickly as possible to reduce bench time as a basic
Manaphy does not block Phantom Dive as it targets all benched Pokemon
