Wow. A reprint of Vileplume from Undaunted? I knew it was coming. I noticed some Abilities affect both players now. Is the TCG going back to the old days? I hope not.
Vileplume
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Okay, so the Unleashed print is back. That card was amazing back then with Cobalion, Beartic, and The Truth. Nowadays, I'm not sure if it'll be any good. It's a Stage 2, and with Seismitoad-EX in the format, I'm kind of in the middle on it. I think it's better than Seismitoad-EX because you can pair it with a lot of standard attackers, meaning you can do higher damage than Quaking Punch by using something like Dugtrio XY in a similar way to that of Donphan Prime. I don't know, this one is hard to determine. I think it could be good, though.
Jolteon
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Anyone who knows me and is looking at my avatar right now knows I love Jolteon, and this one is actually kind of interesting. There are a lot of Stage 1 decks in the format right now, and by applying a different Type, you can come up with some pretty fun gimmicks. I think this could especially be good if we get something that applies only to Lightning Types in the same manner as Rough Seas, this card could be awesome!
Paint Roller
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As a draw card, this is probably not that good, but we're in a format full of Sky Field decks, so this is especially good against Ninetales in MegaRay decks. Knock the Stadium out, and their entire Emerald Breaking is limited to 150 AND they get less space. Defenitely will be good for countering a lot of top deck strategies.
Currently looking through google Cawthorns original deck list for "The truth"
Lots of HP. Blissey Prime.
Damage manipulation. Reuiniclus.
Heavy hitting attacker. Donphan prime. Zekrom and Suicune/Entei legend
Basic Pokemon into play. Pichu and Pokemon Collector
hand reshuffle. Cleffa and oaks new theory.
Return Pokemon to the hand/ deck. Seeker
Taking all this and making a deck list using current cards, I came up with a list of alternative cards to use.
Lots of of HP. Wailord EX.
Damage manipulation. Dusknoir from Flash fire.
Heavy hitting attacker. Primal Groudon EX. Any mega Rayquaza. Zekrom is still around, but not as good now.
Basic Pokemon into play. Emolga from legendary treasures/ Dragons assaulted, and Pokemon fan club
Hand reshuffle. Shauna. Colress. the unreleased Ace Trainer card
Returning Pokemon to hand/ deck. Cassius. AZ
Other cards to mention which can be replaced are: Copycat, becomes Battle reporter. Sages training could become. Team Magma/ Aqua Grunt, since you could discard your rare candies and other items once your lock is up.
also. I feel like this kind of deck, could make use of Maxie and Archies cards that put stage 1 and 2 Pokemon into play from the discard pile. Turn 1 Primal Groudon on the bench anyone?
I was using venonats and fletchlings as examples in regards to previous sets' filler cards and I had missed the announcement of Ampharos. I hope that you hadn't completely missed my point because of an eagerness to fault-point my diatribe.What are you talking about lol first off there was no mention of venonats or fletchlings in this set and second of all ampharos ex is in the set hahaha
Right, so we have yet another year of Item Lock.
Looks like I'm not competing in 2015-2016 Pokemon series either.
Wow. A reprint of Vileplume from Undaunted? I knew it was coming. I noticed some Abilities affect both players now. Is the TCG going back to the old days? I hope not.
Thanks as always for posting the preview! Here are some of my thoughts:
Finally, I wonder how the new ancient trait on celebi and malamar will work with vileplume. I would assume you can still attach an item to them and maybe use switch on them? Any thoughts?
Oooohhh. I'm a noob.How long have you been playing: you do realize the TCG already has gone back to the old days?
I want the game to improve, but its gotten worse in a lot of areas since its high points (kind of why I refer to certain periods as high points).
- At the start of the BW-era they reverted to the original first turn rules (more or less). Unfortunately they also returned to not planning out attacks to avoid issues with said rules, which is why the XY-era rules added a "no attacking T1" policy. It was the quick fix to avoid how you had to run only the largest cards to avoid getting donked and even that was no guarantee if your opponent opened with your Weakness.
- Speaking of Weakness, the "x2" Weakness was all but abandoned during the DP-era, probably because it is horribly unbalancing (damage multipliers tend to do that in an otherwise simple system). The Rock-Paper-Scissors style set-up only works when each Type is equally viable and played, something the TCG has rarely ever experienced. Not sure why they went back to "x2", other than to try and be more faithful to the video games but even if the video games are balanced in that way (I don't think they are). the TCG is simply not the video games nor can it be.
- We are back to "dueling solitaire" for many match-ups. This was an issue in the pre-Modified days of the game, when Unlimited was the Standard Format. Most decks were donk decks or control decks, where if you got your proper set-up you either won that turn or all but won that turn. It was really terrible.
Well, seeing as how Bandit Ring comes out in August, it probably won't be legal for worlds, meaning that Vileplume will never be in the same standard format as Exeggutor, so that worry can be put to rest.With Exeggutor, I'd assume.
Well, seeing as how Bandit Ring comes out in August, it probably won't be legal for worlds, meaning that Vileplume will never be in the same standard format as Exeggutor, so that worry can be put to rest.
Alright alright alright alright *breathes*
Vileplume is back, oh my... I can see it being used when Seismitoad-EX leaves the format, at least. I'd love to see The Truth return because even if it was a pain, it made the format feel a lot more diverse. 130HP is indeed a little substandard, but it's not going to be in active much at all. Possibly, it could be used with Supporter Lock to prevent your opponent from doing much at all!
Jolteon interests me. The ability to make all Stage 1 Pokémon part [L] means that Colourless Rayquaza-EX has a counter, and there are a fair few things that can OHKO it. I don't know how viable it will be, but it looks fun enough, especially with Energy Evolution Eevee! This also indicates that Vaporeon and Flareon are most likely being reprinted, which keeps all the Eeveelutions in format.
Paint Roller... Maybe 1 or 2 in a deck? It's only drawing a card and it can either be extremely useful or completely useless. A bit hit or miss, so I guess it depends on your local meta.
This set just keeps getting better and better for me!