Hunga

Oh no! Rotation in sight
Member
How quick the TCG returned to basic EX with strong attacks.... I hope every New Gen that the game will get a rework thanks to that rediculious power creep.
 

ECHOxLegend

All-Seeing Trainer
Member
I glad the draw support 2 prize is so nerfed, it'll be fun to finally have a format after all these years where its not a no-brainer to auto include that.

Iono is defacto the best Supporter for comeback/draw to date and only loses to N if you happen to have 1 part of whatever combo you are diggin for in hand already, which if you are losing, probably not. Its also far superior if you aren't even looking for a combo but just one card and you have a ginormous dead draw hand while stalling.

Ice Kitty is your basic beach water strategy from the stone age, simple but fun so no surprises there.
Mud Deer is more my style with "screw you specifically" and damage counter spread, both my favorite mechanics, but I wouldnt call it stronk out the gate.

The artists can try their darndest but no amount of talent in the world can make the Baxcalibur line look cool, an ironic tragedy for an ice Pseudo. Good thing its just Blastoise and therefore useful by default.

The alternate arts are interesting mechanically but ultimately weak, but thats okay since they do their job as collector bait really well. Also Raichus look like its floating for some reason.

Fire Fish is mill and setup, name a more iconic duo, albeit pretty boring IMO.

Same old, same old with the support items, nothing fancy.

A safe and simple set by all means, nothing crazy unless ...
Wo-Chien pops off, which would make sense considering its the best legendary of the new quad, but who knows, they might try to do some black + fire bull with Charizard and Wo-Chien ... again!
 

CxEriK

Aspiring Trainer
Member
wait, you just have to have it in your hand to activate it?!?!!!
Cause that seems busted
I mean, you can have it in play, either on your bench or active spot, by a nest ball or VIP pass or something else, to activate this ability. Even start with it. I can sense there would be plays of this card, 1-of of course, in decks that demand high consistency.
 

cardgjammer

Aspiring Trainer
Member
Frigibax/Arctibax/Baxcalibur - good thing I left these since they are nah gud. Use powerful cards or basics. 3/3/3

Nacli/Naclstack/Garganacl - ... 3/3/3

In what situation you'll pull this out? That's tad slow process in a fast-paced meta
How about in combination with Irida for both the stage 2 and rare candy?

If it wasn't for Irida, then I'd agree, but until block f is on rotation year, as well as a card that can get a pokemon plus candy to ease the problem...
 

Nirvanna21

Mew.
Member
Assuming everything goes well with the base set of this series, I will definitely be interested in the next set. It all comes down to whether or not opening packs as an experience has scaled with the price increase; otherwise, I will be shifting to only buying singles.
 

Diego Lima

Aspiring Trainer
Member
Dedene GX is back, how very exciting....
Said no one

First of all, it's no Dedenne, second, yes, having this type of effect is better than basically losing a game turn 1 because you bricked. We're going into a format with much more stage 2s, setup is going to be even more important than it is now, the game needs this type of effect.
 

Diego Lima

Aspiring Trainer
Member
Rabsca's "Revival Prayer" is insane, right?

Nah. It's not worth clogging your already tight deck space with a stage 1 line just to cheat a random stage 2 or whatever into the bench. Why jump through those hoops? Just play the stage 2 line naturally, having candy and the stage 2 is probably more consistent (and again, more space efficient) turn 2 than bothering with that.
 

Diego Lima

Aspiring Trainer
Member
This is one positive in this card selection. No broken staple Supporter cheat Pokemon. That said, this is just the second set and I expect it to come soon.

I don't know, the restraint they had when designing Squawkabilly makes it pretty clear to me that they're slowly but surely toning things down, and now we'll have Lumineon and Squawkabilly in the format already, that's all we need in their eyes I think. I don't know what makes you think they'd have that type of restraint only to after a few sets make another one of these types of mons, but stronger, only to invalidate this one, it doesn't make any sense.
 

Diego Lima

Aspiring Trainer
Member
Wait! Does ting lu have 0 resistence to lightning???! Since when did we remove lightning resistence?

It's been quite a while since resistance has stopped mattering entirely. I can't even remember the last card I saw that had resistance.
 

Diego Lima

Aspiring Trainer
Member
Chi-Yu is a beautiful card. A shame it's a pretty meh card. 190hp on a 2 prizer it's pretty bad unless it's doing crazy things for you. Having to accelerate at least one energy into it to use it's attack turn one, then having to use Armarouge to move the energy into the mon you're actually using to attack is just too much work. Of course the 100 damage poke is relevant, but I just don't see it.

So Baxcalibur Chien-Pao is the reason they'll reprint Superior Energy Retrieval, got it. It's the "archetype handed on a platter" of the set. Irida is what will hold the deck together and make it consistent enough to be at least a contender, it just gets the stage 2 and candy turn 2, it's great. Having metal weakness is pretty good in the upcoming formats, as there's nothing of note in the type up to that point. Palkia will probably be a part of the deck, and if more and more good water types get printed, rain dance toolbox type decks could be a thing.

Ting-Lu looks pretty underwhelming, not stopping exs is huge, and 150 for 3 fighting energies is mad rough in this day and age. And if you think ending your turn with Koraidon to accelarate into hitting 150 the next turn spells success, think again.

Squawkabilly is great, not only does it bring a much needed effect back, it does so in the most balanced, restrained way they've ever done. It's also brilliant that they made it in a way as to work with Nest Ball and VIP or if it ends up being your starting mon. And I didn't see anyone mention it, but its attack is actually relevant, it's amazing that if you go second, not only can you use it's ability, but also have an attack that many decks could care about. Great choices from the design team, and it looks pretty cool as well. 10/10

Having Super Rod again is cool. Some decks will still use Miriam along with this, make no mistake people.

Charm of Courage is nice. Having these types of "basics hp buffing" tools is always cool.

Iono. Basically N. I see so much debate about if it's better or worse than N, and the answer is: neither. Some people seem to really think putting the cards on the bottom is somehow more damaging to your hand than shuffling it back. That's because people played too much against Marnie and they tend to remember much more the times they got screwed by it, than the times it exchanged their dead hands for a new good one. This is the same thing, there is no way in which one is better than the other, it's all up to chance, if you have a dead hand, you're glad it's going to the bottom, if you have a good one, you're not, it's as simple as that. Great card to have, most definitely the biggest staple of the new gen so far.
 
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FireLizard

A man who knows nothing about proportions.
Member
Is anyone talking about how crazy can be Rabsca in standard?
I mean look at its attack.
 

Clam

Almost decent
Member
So Baxcalibur Chien-Pao is the reason they'll reprint Superior Energy Retrieval, got it. It's the "archetype handed on a platter" of the set. Irida is what will hold the deck together and make it consistent enough to be at least a contender, it just gets the stage 2 and candy turn 2, it's great. Having metal weakness is pretty good in the upcoming formats, as there's nothing of note in the type up to that point. Palkia will probably be a part of the deck, and if more and more good water types get printed, rain dance toolbox type decks could be a thing.

Those water type decks are really fun to play with. I think Chien-Pao is probably going to be what I play once it comes out. I really like that Chien-Pao has the ability that makes it a little more fun than just being practically just a beatstick. Overall, I just really like this set, especially after the disappointment of Triplet Beat. The set just seems so fun to play with and has so many cool ideas in it!

Although, I don't like Lono.
 

Clam

Almost decent
Member
Is anyone talking about how crazy can be Rabsca in standard?
I mean look at its attack.

I don't know how I feel about it yet. Setting up stage 2 ex's sounds crazy but at the same time I don't know if people are going to find a reaction to the card that is effective enough to basically shut it down or if it will simply be a strong card that nobody will know what to do about.
 

Diego Lima

Aspiring Trainer
Member
Is anyone talking about how crazy can be Rabsca in standard?
I mean look at its attack.

It's because people know better. You shouldn't be attacking with Rabsca turn 2, to put Gardevoir ex into play, you should be candying into Gardy turn 2 and attacking with that or with the single prize one. It's not worth the deck space, nor the payoff.
 

TCG legend

Aspiring Trainer
Member
It's because people know better. You shouldn't be attacking with Rabsca turn 2, to put Gardevoir ex into play, you should be candying into Gardy turn 2 and attacking with that or with the single prize one. It's not worth the deck space, nor the payoff.
Oh yeah that makes sense
 
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