I’m Luke Summerhayes, and I love Reshiram.
The image of the yin yang, a circle with white and black halves embracing, each containing a little of the other, is well-known worldwide. Most of us can comprehend a small part of the meaning – interconnectedness and all things containing a little of their opposite. That’s only the tip of the iceberg, however.
The Yin Yang represents Taoism, a philosophy which has existed since at least 300 BC, sometimes described as a religion. Taoism describes the duality but also singularity of all things; energy and matter are separate, yet one can be the other, and both need eachother. Though the Tao is a universal higher force, it is not usually personified like, say the Abrahamic god. The Tao is the way, and by embracing the flow and living in harmony, we can succeed.
Reshiram, a white-colored fire and dragon type Pokémon represents the yang, though it also subverts it. Yang is light, though it cannot be considered good and evil. Yang is an active force on the world – hence Reshiram’s fire typing.
Black
This Pokémon appears in legends. It sends flames into the air from its tail, burning up everything around it.
White
When Reshiram's tail flares, the heat energy moves the atmosphere and changes the world's weather.
Black 2
This legendary Pokémon can scorch the world with fire. It helps those who want to build a world of truth.
White 2

ANDY
This destructive power is on display when one visits Unova’s desert region; a desolate waste left behind by Reshiram in a previous form. Located on the southern part of Unova’s central island, very close to the former site of the world trade center, many have speculated that Reshiram, with its jet-engine like tail, is supposed to represent the 9/11 tragedy.
Sword
Flames spew from its tail as it flies through the sky like a jet airplane. It's said that this Pokémon will scorch the world.*
Shield
According to myth, if people ignore truth and let themselves become consumed by greed, Reshiram will arrive to burn their kingdoms down.*

This might sound like a ridiculous theme on which to base a Pokémon, and I agree. I don’t believe Reshiram and Zekrom’s tails are supposed to resemble jet engines at all. Reshiram is the fire and Zekrom the electricity of an old turbine, burning coal to create electrical power. A perfect example of Yin and Yang, and even appropriate to the location; the area of Unova where the Relic castle now stands lines up with the location of the real-world Pearl Street Junction – the very first power station of Thomas Jefferson.
While Reshiram does have great destructive power, it’s never been able to make the best use of it on the competitive scene. It lacks the speed to use its power effectively when other legendaries like Kyogre and Groudon are around, and the fifth Generation never had a competitive format with legendaries allowed and the limited Unova pokédex.
Reshiram. One of the cards that forever changed the Pokemon TCG. The start of today’s idea of the “Big Basic” format.

The first card to feature Reshiram came out in Black & White base set. It had an impressive 130 HP. The likes of such being on a Basic hasn’t been seen since Base Set Chansey. Even worse, Reshiram had attacks that made it worth using.

The first attack was Outrage and cost only two Colorless Energy. Outrage did a base 20 damage but did 10 more for each damage counter on it. Perfect if you need it to take hits while you power it up or use it at the end of the match for massive damage output.

Reshiram also had the Blue Flare attack that does 120 damage but also made you discard two Fire energy. The attack cost for Blue Flare was three energy.

So how do you get three energies on Reshiram? That depends on when.

When Reshiram first came out, it saw a lot of play with Typhlosion from HeartGold & SoulSilver. Typhlosion from this set had the Afterburner PokePower. This PokePower allows you once per turn to attach a Fire energy from your Discard to one of your Pokemon. It will then put one damage counter on the Pokemon that the Fire energy was attached to.

This was perfect for Reshiram who wanted some damage counters on it for Outrage. Two damage counters on Reshiram would allow Reshiram to knockout 30 HP Baby Pokemon who were popular to use back then. Though, three Fire energy allows Reshiram to attack on turn two with Blue Flare. This strategy helped Christopher Ken take the Senior Division World Championship title in 2011. The deck was commonly known as Reshiphlosion.

Wait! Reshiram get to be in two 2011 World Championship Decks?

Yes.

Enters Twinboar. Instead of using Typholsion for energy acceleration, Emboar from Black & White was used.

Emboar had the Inferno Fandango ability. This ability allows you to rain fire energy from your hand. Literally. You can attach as many Fire energy from your hand to your Pokemon however you want. So you can attach them to Reshiram for turn two Blue Flare. If you need to hit harder then Magnezone from Triumphant could use Lost Burn to discard Fire energy into the Lost Zone. There was also Rayquaza & Deoxys Legend to help take extra prizes. Though, this ragtag team of Pokemon helped Reshiram get two Championships in 2011.

Reshiram would see several reprints during the Black & White era to the point that it could have seen play during the XY era. Though, it didn’t have the same glory that it had back when it was first released. Reshiram would try to team up with just Emboar once Typholosion rotated but it was never the same.

Still, Reshiram always seems to appear when groundbreaking meta changes happen in the TCG. This time as Charizard & Reshiram GX with 270 HP from 2019’s Unbroken Bonds set.

Plenty of HP to simply allow Charizard & Reshiram GX to take hits. Just so you can dish it back out with the very same Outrage attack that Reshiram had in 2011.

Still, if you use the Welder Support card to attack two Fire energy plus another energy attachment then for four energy you can use Flare Strike for 230 damage.

You may not be able to attack next turn with Flare Strike. Though, you could use Chairzard & Reshiram’s GX attack, Double Blaze GX.

This attack cost three Fire energy to do 200 damage. If you had three extra Fire energy attached then it will do 300 damage. Perfect to remove anything from play because nothing was going to survive that attack.

And history repeats itself again. Once again Reshiram takes two World Championships in 2019. In the Masters Division, Henry Brand takes the title using a deck dubbed Perfection. Mewtwo & Mew GX was the star of the deck but Charizard & Reshiram GX would provide support from the Discard to offer Mewtwo & Mew GX the chance to copy it’s Flare Strike attack.

Though, if you want to see Charizard & Reshiram GX as the star then you will want to check out the 2019 Seniors World Champion deck, Fire Box. A combination of Welder and other cards, Charizard & Reshiram was able to attack with no worries.

Reshiram always finds its way into meta defining moments. Perhaps it will once again in 2025 with N’s Reshiram on the horizon. Only time will tell if this card will shake the meta for the third time.

Reshiram and Zekrom are often criticized for being busy designs – people love to accuse them of looking like Digimon. Personally, I love Digimon, and slowly learning that each part of the design ties so nicely into lore and themes, I lose any time I may have had for such an argument.

Original music for Luke Loves Pokémon is by Jonathan Cromie. Artwork is by Katie Groves. Funding is provided by listeners at Patreon. If you enjoy this podcast and want to check out other shows by me and my friends, head to podcastiopodcastius.org.
I love hearing from listeners! Get in touch about upcoming Pokémon on twitter or facebook at LukeLovesPKMN or Bluesky at PodcastPodcast. Drop a comment if you’re watching the video, or a review on apple podcasts or spotify. Coming up are Zekrom and Landorus, so please get in touch about those or any other monsters.
Even if you don’t feel like doing any of that, thank you so much just for listening.
I love Reshiram. And remember, I love you too.