GLC Deck - Knight in Shining Armarouge

This is my best fire list, the Armarouge makes life so much easier. I was skeptical about taking out other cards for it, but it's earned its spot. The deck is built to be as consistent as possible, and has several supporters that draw from the top to pair with Magcargo, including Avery to punish opponents from over benching since we don't play Parallel City. The card also pairs well with Heatmor since you can potentially turn a 6 pokemon board into a two pokemon board with Avery and Exciting Flame. Armarouge is the standout card. It's a huge enabler. Before, I didn't like to use Magma Basin to place damage on my attackers, but with Armarouge, I don't mind, since the damage can go on it, keeping my attackers healthy. Armarouge can also pivot with air balloon, unlike the other support pokemon. I often found myself unable to take big KOs with Entei before, but now I can relatively easily get all the energy onto it for a big OHKO. Instances where Castform attacks and is gusted around can also be avoided. If there's no stadium for a follow-up attack, those energy can be placed on a different attacker. Pokemon like Charizard and Magcargo also can't be stranded as easily, as you can now attack or retreat with them instead. I have also been able to win games by establishing a Heatmor and moving 6 energy to it and attacking without Zard. I thought Armarouge was bad, or at least worse than salazzle, but I'm pleased to see it's not. The cards I'm now thinking of adding are mainly just Revive or Klara. The only pokemon recovery right now are stretcher and rod, and some games you may want to recycle an evolution line and a basic attacker multiple times. The cards I'm considering cutting are the Arcanine line, as the cards are okay, but don't get much use. It's nice to have the acceleration in games where support pokemon have trouble getting established, but otherwise I don't use them often.