SM10a \'GG End\' Mini-Set in April

Scoop

Literally a sheep
Member
I can't wait for the flood of complaints with the revelation of Tag Switch about how Tag Teams are somehow ruining the game and are the most toxic thing to EVER come out in the TCG. Same kind of deal how people complained SO much about how King K Rool was "broken" and then got his best tools nerfed. Thanks for that, because he was never broken in the first place, and honestly? I don't think Tag Teams are either, at least by my definition of broken. If you want an example of broken, look at the old Shiftry NXD/FOGP combo, or ANYTHING that could lock you out or win a game CONSISTENTLY on turn one. There's a reason they just banned Maxies. That would have been broken.
 

Lord Goomy

Got Goomies?
Member
I can't wait for the flood of complaints with the revelation of Tag Switch about how Tag Teams are somehow ruining the game and are the most toxic thing to EVER come out in the TCG. Same kind of deal how people complained SO much about how King K Rool was "broken" and then got his best tools nerfed. Thanks for that, because he was never broken in the first place, and honestly? I don't think Tag Teams are either, at least by my definition of broken. If you want an example of broken, look at the old Shiftry NXD/FOGP combo, or ANYTHING that could lock you out or win a game CONSISTENTLY on turn one. There's a reason they just banned Maxies. That would have been broken.
I agree that the words “broken,” “toxic,” and “cancer” are being used willy-nilly and we should probably stop using them to describe Zoroark as cancer (I did that once) but there is no denying that almost all Tag Teams are stupidly powerful.
Celesaur is pretty impossible to kill.
Pikarom ends the game in 3 turns.
Mimigar hits upwards of 200 per turn for 2 energy (with Omastar).
Okay, Lati@s isn’t that good.
Eeveelax hits 240 for possibly one supporter against evolutions.
Buzzmosa ends the game in one attack. (Hard, but still.)
Reshizard just does massive damage.
Double Muk is actually pretty balanced.
Marshchamp isn’t that good either.
Greninjark does 510 by turn 3.
Lucario/Melmetal is okay.
Gardeon is instant cancer. Read more to see why.
Gardeon is almost instant cancer. It basically uses Acerola to cheat the game. Now that, even by your definitions, is pretty cancerous.
 

Scoop

Literally a sheep
Member
I agree that the words “broken,” “toxic,” and “cancer” are being used willy-nilly and we should probably stop using them to describe Zoroark as cancer (I did that once) but there is no denying that almost all Tag Teams are stupidly powerful.
Celesaur is pretty impossible to kill.
Pikarom ends the game in 3 turns.
Mimigar hits upwards of 200 per turn for 2 energy (with Omastar).
Okay, Lati@s isn’t that good.
Eeveelax hits 240 for possibly one supporter against evolutions.
Buzzmosa ends the game in one attack. (Hard, but still.)
Reshizard just does massive damage.
Double Muk is actually pretty balanced.
Marshchamp isn’t that good either.
Greninjark does 510 by turn 3.
Lucario/Melmetal is okay.
Gardeon is instant cancer. Read more to see why.
Gardeon is almost instant cancer. It basically uses Acerola to cheat the game. Now that, even by your definitions, is pretty cancerous.

Sure, they are powerful, but a lot of them are not without their weakness.

Celebi/Venusaur is tanky and hard to kill, but it's slow, and Blacephalon or an early game Absorption GX (in expanded especially) can tear right through it.
Pikachu/Zekrom is easily the best of the bunch and it shows with insane tournament results. I've dabbled in standard and expanded builds of it and I do agree that it's a very strong card. Ending the game in three turns though? From my experience I haven't gotten it that way yet, it's usually slower to me than Expanded Buzz. The deck doesn't have GLARING weaknesses but it is beatable if you can catch it in time.
Gengar/Mimikyu does the damage but its dark weakness can be pretty rough for it. Getting Omastar out does boost it, but without Maxies anymore how often is that going to happen? If it can consistently lock the opponent out of items then I'll concede that it's incredibly powerful, but otherwise it's going to rely a lot on random chance, and your opponent using their items wisely. I'd argue Trashalanche is a better effect than it.
Eevee/Snorlax is eaten up by Buzzwole, but it does benefit from being tanky. I just feel like a lot of things can take it out, i.e. full bench+banded Zoroark.

The others I'm yet to see how they fare, but I do think that all of them do have their weaknesses and it shows in a lack of tournament results besides Pikarom. I'd like to see how a lot of these fare. There's a lot I want to try out, like Charizard/Reshiram, which is a better Ho-Oh in a lot of ways. I want to try them out because they seem fun, honestly.

Now, could you explain to me more in depth about what Gardy/Sylveon does with Acerola? I'd like to hear more about this because I haven't been much paying attention to it (I didn't think much of it when it came out I don't think).
 

Raigetsu

Lightning Trainer
Member
Oh please, oh please let it being Raichu/Alolan Raichu TAG Team. I need that. My favorite Pokemon <3
 

Lord Goomy

Got Goomies?
Member
Sure, they are powerful, but a lot of them are not without their weakness.

Celebi/Venusaur is tanky and hard to kill, but it's slow, and Blacephalon or an early game Absorption GX (in expanded especially) can tear right through it.
Pikachu/Zekrom is easily the best of the bunch and it shows with insane tournament results. I've dabbled in standard and expanded builds of it and I do agree that it's a very strong card. Ending the game in three turns though? From my experience I haven't gotten it that way yet, it's usually slower to me than Expanded Buzz. The deck doesn't have GLARING weaknesses but it is beatable if you can catch it in time.
Gengar/Mimikyu does the damage but its dark weakness can be pretty rough for it. Getting Omastar out does boost it, but without Maxies anymore how often is that going to happen? If it can consistently lock the opponent out of items then I'll concede that it's incredibly powerful, but otherwise it's going to rely a lot on random chance, and your opponent using their items wisely. I'd argue Trashalanche is a better effect than it.
Eevee/Snorlax is eaten up by Buzzwole, but it does benefit from being tanky. I just feel like a lot of things can take it out, i.e. full bench+banded Zoroark.

The others I'm yet to see how they fare, but I do think that all of them do have their weaknesses and it shows in a lack of tournament results besides Pikarom. I'd like to see how a lot of these fare. There's a lot I want to try out, like Charizard/Reshiram, which is a better Ho-Oh in a lot of ways. I want to try them out because they seem fun, honestly.

Now, could you explain to me more in depth about what Gardy/Sylveon does with Acerola? I'd like to hear more about this because I haven't been much paying attention to it (I didn't think much of it when it came out I don't think).
Gardevoir Sylveon’s second attack, Kaleidostorm, does 150 damage and moves all of your energy on the board around anywhere you like. You start with a 260HP Gardeon. If it’s going to take damage next turn, you move the energy from the active to one of your benched Gardeon with no damage on it. When your opponent hits it, but doesn’t OHKO it (because nothing OHKO’s Tag Teams), you simply Acerola and scoop it up. Now, your opponent can’t kill it, or, if you play the deck correctly, can’t take Prizes at all as you continue to hit 150 turn after turn, continuously moving energy to healthy Gardeon and scooping the old ones up. It’s pretty toxic. Check out the google video on why it’s doing so good, he’d probably explain it much better than I did.
 

Scoop

Literally a sheep
Member
Gardevoir Sylveon’s second attack, Kaleidostorm, does 150 damage and moves all of your energy on the board around anywhere you like. You start with a 260HP Gardeon. If it’s going to take damage next turn, you move the energy from the active to one of your benched Gardeon with no damage on it. When your opponent hits it, but doesn’t OHKO it (because nothing OHKO’s Tag Teams), you simply Acerola and scoop it up. Now, your opponent can’t kill it, or, if you play the deck correctly, can’t take Prizes at all as you continue to hit 150 turn after turn, continuously moving energy to healthy Gardeon and scooping the old ones up. It’s pretty toxic. Check out the google video on why it’s doing so good, he’d probably explain it much better than I did.

OK, I can definitely see that being really strong, especially in expanded with Aromatisse and VS seeker shenanigans. I wonder, if it takes to be a top tier deck, if there'll be another wave of metal support, akin to how it was after Gardevoir-GX was dominant across the game.
 

Wechselbalg

brb
Member
What's so fun about ReshiZard? It's probably the least interesting out of all the TTGX cards. It's basically just Kiawe->attack->Welder onto your other ReshiZard->Invasion->Switch->attack. Rinse and repeat. Maybe sometimes use a Guzma instead of Invasion+Switch if Dawn Wings gets shut off.
 

The Almighty Bidoof

Just your everyday MtF trans Bidoof worshipper
Member
Anyone notice something about Tag Switch? It features [L] and [P] energy. The types of A-Raichu. Maybe we'll get dual types? Also, Rai/Rai should prolly have first impression to synergize with Drifblim
 

FacepalmMaster

1 2 3 5 6 7 8 9
Member
Creatures has chosen to hide the corner of Drifblim’s artwork
*Facepalms*
Creatures have chosen to hide the corner of Drifblim’s artwork
 

Flygonite

Meta/budget player
Member
I don't think Tag Team Cards are cancer in practice, but sure in game theory. Let's be honest in that printing cards that can end the game in so little turns or with a single attack (looking at you Buzz/Pheromosa) are nothing short of stupid. Many of the tag teams are balanced by their setup being admittedly slow and/or specific (Fossils for Gengar/Mimikyu, setting up a Life Forest/Shaymin for Celebi/Venusaur, Metal Frying Pan/Scizor GX for Lucario/Melmetal), but they can become broken just by the release of some little support - Pikarom for example, whose setup is so fast that a turn 3 Full Blitz and a turn 5 Tag Bolt GX are pretty much killing any unlucky bastard bench.

Now the game becomes a matter of how good your deck is at both disrupting the opponent strategy AND setting up your own bench, and by virtue of the best GX pokemon only needing some energy attachments to be menaces, it becomes a bit of a one-sided battle for non tag team decks.
 

Wechselbalg

brb
Member
I don't think Tag Team Cards are cancer in practice, but sure in game theory. [...] but they can become broken just by the release of some little support - Pikarom for example, whose setup is so fast that a turn 3 Full Blitz and a turn 5 Tag Bolt GX are pretty much killing any unlucky bastard bench.

This is pretty much on point. When Pikarom was first revealed, most people were like "oh this is not difficult to KO" or "well, Max Elixir rotates so this is going to be too slow" etc., but then we got all the insane [L] support and other [L] type Pokemon that complemented Pikarom's weaknesses and now we have a deck that is quite difficult to lose with, unless you're playing against something that was made specifically to counter it.

Another good example is the upcoming Reshizard, which in a vacuum should be a terrible card, but simply because it's a basic with a huge amount of HP and insane type support it's actually going to become a viable archetype.

The worst offenders are always going to be the tag teams with an "I win button" GX attack though, like Pikarom, Gardeon or Buzzmosa.

Tag Teams should have been "high risk high reward" 1-of tech cards, similar to Eevee&Snorlax, Gengar&Mimikyu or even Magikarp&Wailord.
 

Laurier_Ex

Ninja master
Member
Personally I am very happy about seeing all these basic TTGX being released and will surely enjoy expanded format a lot. My deck gets stronger every time the meta shifts towards basic centrist deck and every good basic pokemon (if not too energy expensive) has the potential to boost my deck. I have more and more options to tech with each card. Frankly, none of these Tag team-Gx scares my deck in expanded. I can tech an answer to any of them and OHKO them. I will make a Ninja TTGX box that can counter them all if it comes down to it ;).
 

braywing

Aspiring Trainer
Member
Oh nice that Drifblim is a pretty cool idea, mostly run latias and latias though so escape bird gets the job done for me already but will defiantly be an interesting tech to play with in other decks :)
 

DM_nightshade

Aspiring Trainer
Member
the problem is they have way to much health for a basic.... it's not like if you can counter it before it evolve.... wth acerola , max potion , super scoop up, a combination of 2 tag team in play may be an instant game over as they are impossible to one-hit without their weakness. I Don't like it either and I hope Pokemon,co. had enough of overboosted Health pokemon for the next gen.
 
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