'Alter Genesis,' 'High Class Pack 2019' Sets Announced for Japan!

You could use Tapu Lele SM7b and attach a Fairy Charm to achieve automatic confusion from the bench.

Thanks. I knew there was a consistent way to spread confusion, and io and behold, Tapu Lele synergizes incredibly with Slurpuff. If you include ULP Magearna you can also attach the relevant fairy charm to Slurpuff, providing a 2-way disruption. I heavily dislike Breloom because of the reliance on the sleep mechanic, and therefore Slumber Forest, and therefore easily losing to something like Escape Board - Fairy is going to be a really relevant weakness come Cosmic Eclipse, with the BDIF probably being ReshiZekrom, people teching Naganadels and Naganadel/Guzzlord, and decks using the creation trio too. The deck having a control angle with the fairy charms, and also having the option to stall it out with A-Ninetales and Wondrous Labyrinth makes it a more appealing anti-meta archetype to build for me, unlike Breloom that relies on hax and having its game plan go uninterrupted.
 
  • Sunkern/Sunflora - 2-turn stuff but the atk is worth trying! 3/3
  • Lileep/Cradily - works as a bench-sitter with Koga being used. 3/3-4
  • Kricketot/Kricketune - Delelewooop!! I mean 130 for 1 energy is nice, that's it. 3/3
  • Rowlet/Dartrix/Decidueye - still don't like the second atk. Snipe 80 for CC is fine but underpowered for me. 3,3/3/3
  • Buzzwole - good with Beastite. It gets better. 4 Geodudes
  • Larvesta/Volcarona-GX - Forget the atks, the ability makes atks not close to KO into being close to KO. 3/4
  • Litleo/Pyroar - ehh?! 2-3/2-3
  • Alolan Vulpix/Ninetales - better Vulpix after we lose the bacon one. But the Ninetales is cool with Rotom. Searching it and dumping the tool makes a problem. 4/3-4
  • Snorunt/Glalie - not interested. 2/2
  • Spheal/Sealeo/Walrein - trainer lock? I give it a go. 3,3/3/4
  • Ducklett/Swanna - Shame no Choice Band. 2/2
  • Black Kyurem - shame it's expensive. 2-3 Geodudes
  • Chinchou/Lanturn - I don't like it. Its an opponent-friendly card. 2/2-3
  • Togedemaru - ehh?! 1 Geodude
  • Woobat/Swoobat - there could be good and bad on Swoobat. It depends on you what. 3/3
  • Golett/Golurk - did I say before that the AC is payable with Welder? Yes. But use Pal Pad to get it back so no Supporters in the discard. Play only 4 Welder in your deck. 3/3-4
  • Skrelp/Dragalge - 100 Poison Dmg for 1 energy on a non-GX? Ok. 2/3-4
  • Cosmog/Cosmoem/Solgaleo/Lunala - 3,3/2/3-4, 3-4
  • Nosepass/Probopass - I am not interested. 2/2
  • Trapinch/Vibrava/Flygon-GX - Hits numbers but its still a Stage 2. 3,3/3/3-4
  • Anorith/Armaldo - oh boy. Hitting 220-280 for 2 energy but being reliant to Pokemon Research Lab makes me don't like it. But Poke Doll could help. 3/3-4
  • Rockruff/Lycanroc - hitting the number we wanted. 4/4
  • Alolan Sandshrew/Sandslash - Still short for Gardeon KO. 3/3-4
  • Sandygast/Palossand - after the rotation happens, 3 cards are straight up unplayable which are Machamp (DP), Hydreigon (DRM), and Palossand-GX (CES) (I don't count the Ditto*. In my criteria, to make the card playable, you must put a playset of it in play), we can finally play the GX because we have Sandygast now. Palossand is fine. 3/3-4
  • Flabebé/Floette/Florges - Hand Distruption at its best. 3,3/3-4/3-4
  • Swirlix/Slurpuff - 110 for Y, yes. Need to confuse? Run Koga, dude. 3/3-4
  • Eevee/Sylveon - decent atkr. 3/4
  • Arceus & Palkia & Dialga GX - Free CB plus Extra prize on the GX atk. Count me in. 4 Geodudes
  • Naganadel & Guzzlord GX - Tanky and does a decent dmg. 4 Geodudes
  • Drampa - still not a fan. 3 Geodudes
  • Jangmo-o/Hakamo-o/Kommo-o - Turn 2 Kommo-o? Can be. But 180 for 2 using a U-Turn Board, Its fine for me. 3,3/4/3-4
  • Ultra Necrozma - nuts in Expanded. In standard, this finished the game. 4-5 Geodudes
  • Mega Lopunny & Jigglypuff GX - This could bust TTGX but MewMew can use it anyway. As to itself, 1 Welder and manual attachment could be a cool one. 4 Geodudes
  • Aipom/Ambipom - 120 for CC, not new for me. Aipom could distract your top deck. 4/3-4
  • Teddiursa/Ursaring, Rufflet/Braviary - Ehh?! 2/2,2/2
  • Helioptile/Heliolisk - Zapdos counter. 2/4
  • Tag Call - searches Tag Teams could make the format go wrong. 4-5 Geodudes
  • Island Challenge Amulet - Prize Stall. 4-5 Geodudes
  • Chaos Vortex - perfect counter to the prevailing Stadium Wars. STADIUM WARS!!! 5 Geodudes well, the card itself do nothing
  • Beastite - make UBs better again!!! 4 Geodudes
  • Cynthia & Caitlin - Good. 4
  • Guzma & Hala - Good for searching. 4
  • Mallow & Lana - Good for healing. 4
  • Red & Blue - Utterly nuts. 5
 
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Cradily line: The ability is nice in a meta with limited switch options and Dust Island.
Kriketune line: Carefree Concert looks like a viable attack in Grass decks.
Decidueye line: Tracking Shoot is an interesting attack.
Buzzwole: Awesome finisher in Grass decks.
Volcarona GX line: Scorching Bomb can bring back the more offensive version of Reshiram and Charizard but I would also see this being a deck on its own.
Black Kyurem: Awesome non-GX attacker in Water and Arceus decks.
Dragalge line: Poison Culture is an interesting move even if it requires Koga's trap to poison the defender in the first place.
Oricorio GX: Can be a nice one-off in non-GX Malamar variants.
Flygon GX line: Similar to Dragonite GX from SM11.
Lycanroc line: Nice counter to Pokémon GX decks with a spacial focus on Zoroark GX.
Alolan Ninetales line: I would love to see this being a decent deck on its own.
Florges line: Nice disruptive abilities.
Arceus & Dialga & Palkia GX: Altered Creation can be the basis of a deck focused on Dragon and Water Pokémon. It also has build in acceleration and can utilize N's Resolve.
Naganadel & Guzzlord GX: I would see this card as a tech in Darkness decks and Ultra Beast decks.
Drampa: Nice non-GX attacker in Altered Creation decks.
Kommo-o line: Seems to be the first viable Kommo-o deck since we received Kommo-o in the TCG.
Ultra Necrozma: Great cleaner in Ultra Best and Ultra Malamar decks and in expanded it can be the focus of it's own deck with either Garbodor or Alolan Muk.
Mega Loppunny & Jigglypuff GX: Nice counter to a Pokémon GX focused meta but can be played around.
Tag Whistle: a stable four-off in Tag Team decks.
Island Challenge Amulet: Nice with Dedenne GX and Naganadel GX when using Stinger.
Beastite: Great addition to the Ultra Beast arsenal.
Cynthia & Caitlin: Underated card that helps out Welder decks a lot.
Mallow & Lana: Nice addition to Gardevoir & Sylveon decks.
Red & Blue: Nice boost for evolved Pokémon GX decks.
Chaos Vortex: Best counter stadium we have at the moment and a stable in decks with Keldeo GX.
 
Yay, Trapinch cards!!!

Ursaring's about to hit us with the Kamehameha. Either that, or he's preparing to launch golden gunpowder fireballs back at Shen's fleet using Inner Peace.

I will give a cookie to anyone who gets that reference.
 
With the full set, those are the pokémon without cards for this generation on the tcg:

Abra
Kadabra
Alakazam

Sentret
Furret
Pichu
Bellossom
Smoochum
Elekid
Magby

Zigzagoon
Linoone

Budew
Burmy
Wormadam
Mothim
Chingling
Bonsly
Mime Jr.
Mantyke

Snivy*
Servine
Serperior
Oshawott
Dewott
Samurott
Timburr
Gurdurr
Conkeldurr
Maractus
Solosis
Duosion
Reuniclus
Frillish
Jellicent
Klink
Klang
Klinklang
Mienfoo
Mienshao

Chespin*
Quilladin
Chesnaught

We won't get a Kadabra as back in Base Set a famous Psychic, I forgot the name, had sewed Pokemon as he made the magic words Abra, Kadabra and Alakazam.
 
Anybody else frustrated that they keep printing more Gx and tag team support? I guess it makes sense from a business standpoint, make any remotely serious player chase the chase cards even more, but feels like a weak approach in terms of competitive balance. Single prize attackers have virtually no consistency support, making them essentially non viable, and it doesn’t look like that’s gonna change any time soon. Some of these attackers look like they have potential, but they are pretty useless without a viable way to get them into play. Not to mention the new dragon tag teams are tailor made to snuff out non gx’s via extra prizes or tanking/built in healing. Anyway, end rant, oricorio gx looks like a fun card, lol.
 
Tag Whistle is so... unnecessary.

Tag Teams absolutely did not need such a massive consistency boost, especially given the power of those that have been recently released (DPA, ReshZek, etc). Unless Pokemon V / Vmax get really good in the next ~11 months and Tag Teams need a boost to keep up, I'm just kind of baffled that someone decided TTGXes needed help to dominate the format that much more.
 
Anybody else frustrated that they keep printing more Gx and tag team support? I guess it makes sense from a business standpoint, make any remotely serious player chase the chase cards even more, but feels like a weak approach in terms of competitive balance. Single prize attackers have virtually no consistency support, making them essentially non viable, and it doesn’t look like that’s gonna change any time soon. Some of these attackers look like they have potential, but they are pretty useless without a viable way to get them into play. Not to mention the new dragon tag teams are tailor made to snuff out non gx’s via extra prizes or tanking/built in healing. Anyway, end rant, oricorio gx looks like a fun card, lol.
Not necessarily frustrated about it from a less-serious player's standpoint-I do remember what happened with the advent of GX's though, when I was more invested in the meta. EX's and Megas basically went obsolete overnight. It was a brief period where every GX, even the bad ones, were that much more powerful than their EX counterparts. Decidueye basically shaped the early 2017 meta (sadly, after how amazing and diverse post-worlds 2016 was. Fun format). Sure, people played EXs here and there, but after a while, all you really saw was Volcanion, and maybe the occasional tech EX here and there (besides the obvious use of Shaymin until rotation).

I'm fine with having GX support at the end of this era, if it possibly gives both Standard and Expanded a chance to be more diverse. Pokemon V are going to come in and likely change the game-I'd hope it isn't too drastic. I want Expanded to be the format that it's meant to be, a diverse pool of cards where you have that much more at your fingertips. I know this is currently in the form of trainers mostly, but I'd love to see a format where you can have your Pokemon still stand a bit of a chance against newer threats, allowing for a broad, exciting metagame.

Of course, it's Pokemon, you never know what they're planning. GXs could very well go obsolete overnight too. I'm not one of those kinds of people who hate GXs because they're more powerful than Non-GXs, I actually quite liked what they put on the table over this era. And they weren't bad collectibles barring the Hyper Rares-when it comes down to it, if it's a good collectible, then I don't really care about the meta.
 
Can someone confirm the right translation for the Dragalge attack?
Here says that if the opponent pokemon is poisoned, put 10 counter damage instead of 1 but somewhere else I read that if the opponent pokemon is poisoned, put 10 counter damage on it, so it will still get the poison damage that it already had.
 
The translation of Dragalge's poison culture attack is wrong. It says "if your opponent's active pokemon is already poisoned, put 10 damage counter between turns for the poison". It doesn't place poison effect on that pokemon itself. You can check the wording on Muk tag team for confirmation.

Been enjoying this site for long, but this is the first time I find the need to say something lol

Oh okay. The translation is corrected now. Darn shame. Maybe we'll see it get a good card in the future then.
 
Hmm, with a lanturn and several aipom out, you have a ton of control over your opponent's top deck. Could be interesting to set up Alolan marowak, or just a mean control deck.
 
The current translation of Mallow & Lana states that you heal 120 damage from the new active Pokémon.

"When you play this card, you may discard 2 cards from your hand. If you do, heal 120 damage from the new Active Pokemon."

The former spoiler for this card and several other resources on the internet state that you heal 120 damage from the Pokémon you switched to the bench.

"When you play this card, you may discard 2 cards from your hand. If you do, heal 120 damage from the Pokémon you moved to the bench."

Which translation is the correct one? The new translation would make this card less relevant to several archetypes while the old translation would indicate that this card is a perfect fit to some popular archetypes. Please let me know. Thanks for the assistance in advance.
 
And now look at this. This is much nicer to look at and play.

Guess the joke is on me, because now I will be hunting for the FAs for my decks.
 
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