“Scarlet ex” and “Violet ex” Sets Officially Revealed!

[Water Pokémon Master]

The official Japanese TCG website has officially revealed Scarlet ex and Violet ex! As posted before, the sets will feature a total of 156 cards (before secret rares).

The set’s first cards were revealed two days ago in an official YouTube video, but now the video has been set to private. Apparently Pokemon didn’t mean to publish it that early, which explains why the official site didn’t post the cards until now. Today’s news is thus the official-official announcement. (Strangely, the Worlds announcement that...

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[TheNidoKing]

Pros:
-The new energy cards look great
-Return to the mid 2010s EX art style

Cons:
-MASSIVE power creep…330hp EX that only gives up 2 prize cards is insane. I remember when Zapdos/Moltres/Articuno Tag Team was 300hp and people lost it over how huge that was. VMAX territory was 300hp+ and they at least gave up 3 prize cards
-English Elite Trainer boxes probably won’t get those neat damage counters or special condition markers

All in all I’m excited for the new series. Time for something new!

 

[Nixa]

Honestly while I do wish the powercreep would calm down like most others i'm also not super upset over Magnezone's insane HP for a 2 prizer since I mean even GXs could 2 shot that but that might just be because i'm still relatively new to the TCG and only started with battle styles release lol

 

[N's Rhyperior]

You have no choice, mate. Power Creep is there to stay. Nothing you can do abt it. HP gonna be high, so does the damage.

As for the cards, same as before, they still suck.

 

[N's Rhyperior]

New era means new rulings, meaning some older cards that will stay next rotation, will gonna lose its use or devaluing it

 

[N's Rhyperior]

New era means new rulings, meaning some older cards that will stay next rotation, will gonna lose its use or devaluing it

 

[Polaris]

I'm not worried about the stage 2 blimps, yeah they have high HP but that's kind of the point; stage 2s have rarely seen play in the TCG because they require so much longer to establish and make your deck less consistent. Having high HP like is really necessary for making them playable.

 

[Polaris]

Oooh, I like the new energy designs and poison counter!

 

[hervul]

Powercreep makes old cards obsolete, which translate to people needing to acquire new cards (which equals more sales). Although powercreep is hated by players, it's a good marketing strategy for The Company.

 

[Yaginku]

"Pokemon with this Terastal effect don’t take damage from attacks when they’re on the Bench."
Are we sure this isn't just Arcanine's "Terastal Effect"? It would be really weird if this was genuinely an effect for each Terastal Pokemon, as it's quite minor.

 

[sonicjms]

I honestly don't think a stage 2 2-prizer having 330hp is that much power creep, it's a VMAX stated Pokemon with more setup required either needing an extra turn or dedicating slots and needing in hand a rare candy

 

[dineinunes]

Powercreep makes old cards obsolete, which translate to people needing to acquire new cards (which equals more sales). Although powercreep is hated by players, it's a good marketing strategy for The Company.

People need to acquire new cards even without power creep since rotation is a thing.

 

[Yaginku]

Powercreep makes old cards obsolete, which translate to people needing to acquire new cards (which equals more sales). Although powercreep is hated by players, it's a good marketing strategy for The Company.

This is commonly used as an excuse ("uwu we have to"), but in reality it's just an unintended design failure. Broken cards get printed. Banning these cards or scaling back the power is an admission of guilt, and both the companies and players don't like that. So you print stronger cards to make it "the new normal".
I can recall a few times where games rightfully scaled the power back, and clueless players complained because they've invested, either monetarily or mentally, into some broken game piece. Mid players get very attached to broken mechanics, because they allow them to get an easy advantage over newcomers.

 

[Mimikeon]

In the article you need to make a small correction: the originals were Pokemon-ex, and the new ones are Pokemon ex.

 

[N's Rhyperior]

I love the designs of the ex cards. They're technically in full art, but the bottom part was shadowy covered by the background. Like, I can see Miraidon's legs from the bottom

 

[N's Rhyperior]

I love the designs of the ex cards. They're technically in full art, but the bottom part was shadowy covered by the background. Like, I can see Miraidon's legs from the bottom

 

[Diego Lima]

Pros:
-The new energy cards look great
-Return to the mid 2010s EX art style

Cons:
-MASSIVE power creep…330hp EX that only gives up 2 prize cards is insane. I remember when Zapdos/Moltres/Articuno Tag Team was 300hp and people lost it over how huge that was. VMAX territory was 300hp+ and they at least gave up 3 prize cards
-English Elite Trainer boxes probably won’t get those neat damage counters or special condition markers

All in all I’m excited for the new series. Time for something new!

The way you phrase it you makes it seem like it's just a Vmax or Tag Team that gives up less prizes, it's not. Being a stage 2 is an obvious hindrance to be considered in a comparison. Also, "at least they gave up 3 prize cards", that was a bad thing, not a good one, is what made the games so stupidly short and uninteresting. At this point I'm seeing people complain about powercreep just because. This era is an obvious move in the right direction compared to the SW&SH era: more variety in the multiprizers (being there are basics, stage 1s and stage 2s), the return of evolution mattering (really powerful stage 2s), added layers of complexity (ancient trait-like mechanic which for some reason they insist in implying is just built-in bench barrier, when it is obviously just the case for this particular card), etc. We're fine, actually we're more than fine, this era is gonna be a good one.

 

[hervul]

People need to acquire new cards even without power creep since rotation is a thing.

That's in competitive Standard format. I've got some SuMo decks at home that are unplayable if I want to play casual against anyone with a SwSh deck.

 

[TheRainmaker]

Stage 1 and 2 ex Pokemon are a lot bigger than we give them credit for, especially post rotation.

Choice Belt doesn't affect them making 280 HP and 330 HP on stage 1 and 2 ex's respectively much bigger than on V's, Galarian Zigzagoon and Leon are rotating, and without Shady Dealings very few if any decks will run Quick Shooting. Lugia loses Powerful Colorless and Yveltal + Aurora, Regis cannot uptrade against stage 2 ex's and even some stage 1 ex's, and without a new damage modifier Radiant Charizard doesn't hit key numbers against ex's. Only Mew and Kyurem Palkia decks can still threaten OHKO's on stage 2 ex's, and Giratina and Hisuian Zoroark can for stage 1's.

Even though these ex's we've seen haven't been the most impressive, the meta shift will be interesting indeed.

 

[FilpACoin]

Here I was thinking ex might be a chance for them to start reigning HPs in again, but nope. I looked at 220HP, though "Oh yeah, that was normal on a stage 1 in Sun & Moon," and it was on a basic.
220 HP on a basic
280 HP on a stage 1
330 HP on a stage 2
In addition to the numbers getting ridiculous (we're starting to reach past in-game level 100 HPs), I really wish they'd at least find more creative ways of making the most recent sets the most meta-relevant ones.