The Pokemon Sun and Moon trading card game launch started with the release of three themed decks. The highlight of this article is the Roaring Heat themed deck. The featured Pokemon of this deck is Incineroar, who sports an impressive bulk and massive damage. In fact, the overall theme of this deck is aggressive attacking and never giving your opponent a chance to breathe. With Roaring Heat, your opponent will be overwhelmed by your high powered offense!
Roaring Heat Card List
As usual, let’s start by listing the cards in the deck:
Pokemon (28)
- Roggenrola x 2
- Boldore x 2
- Torkoal x 2
- Makuhita x 2
- Litten x 4
- Torracat x 3
- Incineroar x 2 (One holographic)
- Crabrawler x 2
- Passimian x 2
- Sandygast x 2
- Palossand
- Stufful x 2
- Bewear x 1
- Oranguru x 1
Trainers (12)
- Potion
- Nest Ball x 2
- Ultra Ball
- Timer Ball x 2
- Energy Retrieval
- Big Malasada
- Professor Kukui
- Lillie
- Hau x 2
Energy (20)
- Fighting x 9
- Fire x 11
This deck does have filler Pokemon, but not to the degree as other themed decks. Makuhita and Crabrawler have high energy cost moves with little benefit and serve as perfect Ultra Ball discards. To a lesser extent Passimian can be used as Ultra Ball fodder but he does have the useful attack Fling, which lets you attack your opponent’s bench. But the featured Pokemon of Roaring Heat, Incineroar, really captures the feel of the deck well.
At first glance you can immediately see the power behind this evolutionary line. Litten is your standard two energy basic, but with a fairly high 70 HP. Torracat steps it up and gains the powerful Flamethrower move. However the featured Pokemon is Incineroar for a very good reason. From top to bottom this Pokemon exudes power. Sporting an impressive 160 HP bulk (that’s the same as some Basic EX Pokemon!), Incineroar was meant to be on the battlefield. Fire Fang is a decent filler move, it provides 30 damage and the burn status for just two energies. But the real power is with Darkest Lariat.
Incineroar’s signature move, if you’re very lucky, can provide massive damage. If you flip two heads, that’s 200 damage, enough to KO essentially every non-Mega Evolved Pokemon there is. Even with one heads, 100 damage is nothing to scoff at. This card perfectly captures Incineroar’s drive to find strong opponents, and he can potentially be an EX sweeper with the right amount of luck.
Notable Pokemon
Similar to the Forest Shadow themed deck, this deck has a large amount of notable Pokemon who support Incineroar. First is Roggenrola, who deserves special mention. He has one move, Smack Down, which is a two energy and 20 damage move. However, the special thing about this move is that if you use it against anything with a Fighting type weakness, it will do an additional 50 damage. That is massive! A two energy investment and 70 damage return can put you ahead of the game. Even his Stage 1 Evolution Boldore has Rock Hurl, which does 50 damage and ignores Fighting resistance for a three energy price tag.
Next is our good friend Torkoal. Most fire themed decks will feature some form of Torkoal, and Roaring Heat is no different. This version of Torkoal provides constant pressure from just two energy. This is because at one energy he can provide a constant burn status effect with Singe. Once he gets another energy, Body Slam does 50 damage with a chance to paralyze. And behind a hefty 110 HP bulk, this allows Torkoal to be a nuisance at worst and a threat at best.
Finally on this list of notables we have Sandygast. While this Pokemon does not have the most impressive bulk or moves, he does have a nifty move with Shore Up. This allows you to attach an energy from the discard pile to Sandygast. Attaching two energy in one turn is a useful ability, and should never be sold short. This allows Sandygast to build himself up for his evolution, while you still build up your bench.
Truly Amazing Pokemon
I like to finish the Pokemon section with a list of Pokemon included in Roaring Heat who can be impactful in not just this deck, but others as well. To me, these Pokemon are Bewear, Palossand and Oranguru.
Bewear provides a crushing amount of damage in Superpower. At just three energy cost, you hit with a base 80 damage. Then, you are given the option to add 40 more damage, for a total of 120, at the cost of doing 20 damage to yourself. Bewear also has a nice 130 HP bulk, which gives you plenty of opportunities to take advantage of Superpower’s bonus. This Pokemon is capable of sweeping an unprepared bench and can clinch a few prize cards for you.
Remember that Sandygast that we kept attaching multiple energies per turn to? Well, his State 1 Evolution, Palossand is the fruit of our labors. Palossand has a 130 HP, and an amazing ability in Wall of Sand. Wall of Sand provides a blanket 20 damage reduction to Palossand, which allows him to function as a decent wall. Building up four energies to use Absorb Vitality is not too difficult, thanks to Sandygast’s Shore Up. Absorb Vitality does a mediocre 50 damage, but heals Palossand for the same amount of damage done to the opponent. If you attacked a Pokemon with a Fighting weakness, hello sweet 100 health heal!
Lastly we have my favorite card in the Pokemon card in Roaring Heat, Oranguru. His ability, Instruct, can be devastating in the early game. With Oranguru on your bench you will always have cards in your hand to fuel your attacks. To top it off, Oranguru also has the excellent move, Psychic. This three energy cost move does 60 base damage, plus an additional 20 for each energy attached to your opponent’s active Pokemon. This allows Oranguru to sweep benches and cripple opposing EX Pokemon.
Trainer Cards
Roaring Heat and Forest Shadow share the same trainer card list, and both are typical for themed decks. Potion, Energy Retrieval and Ultra ball are all here, with Ultra Ball once again being critical for pulling the Pokemon you need. This deck also includes the new Timer and Nest Balls, which are interesting spins on Pokeball mechanics.
With the Timer Ball, you have to flip two coins. For each heads that you get, you can select an Evolution Pokemon from your deck to put in your hand. Roaring Heat has a wide amount of Stage 1 Pokemon to pick from, all of them contribute to a match in multiple ways. Timer Ball can make or break your turn, so good luck on that coin flip.
Nest Ball allows you to search for any Basic Pokemon, and put it on your Bench. Remember how awesome I kept sayiing Oranguru was? Oranguru is a Basic Pokemon, and there is just one in the deck. Nest Ball makes it possible to pull Oranguru out at a clutch moment to replenish some of your hand. Of course you don’t have to use Nest Ball on Oranguru, that’s just one of the many useful Basic Pokemon in Roaring Heat.
The new Professor card, Professor Kukui, feels like he was made for this themed deck. Drawing two cards is always helpful, but then you also do an additional 20 damage this turn. This fits the theme of Roaring Heat to the letter. That extra 20 boosted damage can help all of your Pokemon overwhelm the opponent and maintain pressure.
Hau and Lillie are the other new Supporter cards, but they function like cards we have seen before. Hau is our new “Draw 3 Cards” Supporter, and Lillie allows us to draw extra cards up to six in your hand. However if it is your first turn, Lillie allows you to draw up to eight cards instead, giving you card advantage over your opponent.
Conclusions
In summary, the Roaring Heat deck relies on overwhelming force and constant pressure to crush your opponents. In the Sun and Moon games, Incineroar was considered to be the high offense starter, and this deck really brings that feeling to the card game. Roaring Heat is not as consistent as Forest Shadow, but that is mostly due to being dual energy. However, with a little bit of luck you can get a winning set up in most of your matches. There are no clear leads, but Torkoal is a good starting point. Keep your opponent burned and get in a lucky paralysis or two to put you in a good position. Use Oranguru to keep cards in your hand. If you have the attached energy to Sandygast, Palossand can be an effective wall once you evolve.
When you are ready to start dishing out damage, play aggressively with Bewear and Superpower. Bewear has 130 HP, so you will get plenty of chances to dish out 120 damage per turn. And of course, with Incineroar do not be afraid to use Darkest Lariat. The damage ceiling is too high to avoid using it. With a two coin flip, you have a 25% chance to do 200 damage, 50% chance to do 100 damage, and a 25% chance to do 0 damage. If you like those odds, then don’t be afraid to use Darkest Lariat with reckless abandon.
All in all the Roaring Heat deck is amusing to play with. Unfortunately, I don’t know if any of these cards will make it past the Theme format, though Oranguru seems like he would be useful to have in most decks. Drawing cards is rarely ever a bad thing, and being able to fill an empty hand is useful in most instances. What are your thoughts on Roaring Heat? Do you love the aggressive play style this deck supports? Which Pokemon are your favorite in this deck? I would love to hear your thoughts about it in the comments below.
The rest of the Sun and Moon cards launch on February 3, 2017. Until then, I’ll see you trainers on the battlefield!
