'Evolving Skies,' August's English TCG Set!

Well that Volcarona has some amazing art! Kawayoo knocked it out of the park, as usual. Hope to see more of that along with Akira Egawa and other such artists continuing their contributions to Ultra Rares.

And of course-Glad to see some of the Gen 5 love with that and Golurk.
 
Wow! Medicham V's first attack is ACTUALLY unique! It's pretty refreshing to see the designers make a completely original attack. There isn't really anything else here that's new or super cool mechanically, and there's WAY too many effectless attacks for my liking, but I'll take what I can get.

Oh, and the art.. marvelous. All the cards. Amazing.

EDIT: Okay, Jumpluff is pretty cool too because it gets to abuse all of the rapid strike scrolls. Maybe not competitively viable but it looks like it will be a super fun meme-tier deck.
 
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I think Cloyster could be semi-decent, with Telescopic sights + Passimian it’s doing 90 damage to benched Vs.
 
  • Hoppip/Skiploom/Jumpluff - good ability, meh attack. Like the other guy suggested, Scrolls would save this from being too bad. 2 Swirls... nvm. 1 energy 60, bad. 2/3/3
  • Gyarados V/VMAX - I mean you have Frosmoth to pay the expensive attack cost, but we have better W attackers, just use Ice Caly. 3/3
  • Lycanroc V/VMAX - I mean you have... nvm. I want to say G. Rapidash, but Rapidash trims the HP to 100 not 60. Claydol targets the active, meh. Just no. 3 energy 190 plus 30 to the bench, its fine. 3/3-4
  • Volcarona V -I mean you have the attack from Victini *, if Victini was good on that time, why not this as a good 2-prized tech in Fire decks? No welder though, that sad. That could be your edge here. 3-4
  • Golurk V - ehhh. Maybe you can KO VMAXs by KOing the V, but Vs usually have 200+ HP to begin with. As for the attack cost, using both Houndoom and Ghost Caly could get you into problems of consistency. 3-4
  • Absol - bland. 2
  • Makuhita/Hariyama - 120 dmg doesn't justify my impression on this card. We've seen this on BSH Heracross, and Heracross wasn't see much play. 2/2
  • Single Strike Scroll of the Dragon's Fang - Lengthy name, good as ultimate move for Duraludon VMAX. Make sure you can manage to get 5 energy onto it. 4-5
  • Wobbufet - I mean we have Cape of Toughness, 170 isn't enough. 2-3
  • Medicham V - make sure you can pull this off without problems. 3-4
  • Shellder/Cloyster - bland at all. 3/3
  • Rapid Strike Scroll of the Flying Dragon - Lengthy name. Nice niche for Rayquaza VMAX. 3-4
 
Lycanroc Vmax: Hunting Claw is nice if you can take out a Pokémon V or Vmax with but that is it.

Golurk V: Rewind Beam is a decent attack that can deal 220 with two Single Strike energy cards. Golurk is better than Volcanion V but worse than Single Strike Urshifu V.

Hariyama: Guts is a great ability but his damage output is low. Might be possible to combine this card with Dragon Fang Scroll and Houndoom in addition to Bronzong and Metal acceleration but that sounds clunky.

Wobbuffet: Mirror Pain can be a nice tech move if you have a severely damaged Pokémon Vmax on the bench but its uses are rather niche.

Dragon’s Fang Scroll: Nice tech in Duraludon decks and possibly Hariyama decks.The Scroll seems to be made to link the mascot of the sub-set to it's respective battle style.

Gyarados Vmax: The main selling point here is Temper Tantrum with Memory Capsule. Without that combo Gyarados Vmax would be worse than Ice Rider Calyrex Vmax.

Volcorona V: I do like the first attack here but the scaling factor is rather low.

Medicham V: Yoga Loop is the main attack here and it is an awesome one. Can see this card as a tech in both Rapid Strike Urshifu and Rapid Strike Inteleon decks. Might even be decent as an addition to Blaziken and Zeraora decks.

Cloyster: Aqua Split combined with Shell Armor could actually be decent with Passimian and Telescopic Sight.

Flying Dragon Scroll: Again, this scroll seems to be made to link the mascot of the sub-set to it's respective battle style. Not sure whether Rapid Strike rayquaza needs this scroll but it could be a decent addition to Blaziken and Zeraora decks.

Jumpluff: TThe entire line can be searched with Level Ball which is a massive bonus. Solar Evolution on Skiploom even bypasses standard evolution rules and searches out Jumpluff. Fluffy Combo Strike is a real nice ability. Based on the commercial aired by the franchise it seems that Fluffy Combo Strike can also be used with attacks provided by the Rapid Strike Scrolls. Passimian and Scroll of Swirls seem to be a decent combo here since it does 120 damage to all Pokémon V on the opponent's side and 60 damage to all non-V Pokémon on the opponent's side. Another nice combo would be Scroll of Skies.

So this means that we are left with two unrevealed Pokémon Vmax and one Pokémon V from the Rapid Strike Rayquaza part of the set.
 
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Extra turns? Double Strike? In MY Pokemon TCG? Absolutely bonkers. Gimmicky as hell but they sound like fun to play with.

Also, haven't seen a Medicham and Hariyama in a good while. Welcome back.
 
I am absolutely in love with gyarados vmax. with melony and the new froslass water is looking to be a dang good type after rotation.
 
Use Medicham V in Rayquaza to get an extra acceleration turn if you somehow barely miss a KO. Could work with Zeraora as well

I want gimmick decks!
 
Why would anyone touch that with a ten foot pole when Ice Rider exists?
Because if you offend Gyarados it will burn down your village and destroy everyone dear to you?
I’m glad to see that there are so many options for how to play certain types right now. It feels like this next format may be the most diverse we have seen in a while.

Wow! Medicham V's first attack is ACTUALLY unique! It's pretty refreshing to see the designers make a completely original attack. There isn't really anything else here that's new or super cool mechanically, and there's WAY too many effectless attacks for my liking, but I'll take what I can get.

Oh, and the art.. marvelous. All the cards. Amazing.

EDIT: Okay, Jumpluff is pretty cool too because it gets to abuse all of the rapid strike scrolls. Maybe not competitively viable but it looks like it will be a super fun meme-tier deck.
Yes, I was excited when I saw Medicham’s attack! Congratulations, Pokémon! We all hope to see more of this in the future!
The artwork on all these cards is also great!
 
  • Hoppip/Skiploom/Jumpluff - good ability, meh attack. Like the other guy suggested, Scrolls would save this from being too bad. 2 Swirls... nvm. 1 energy 60, bad. 2/3/3
  • Gyarados V/VMAX - I mean you have Frosmoth to pay the expensive attack cost, but we have better W attackers, just use Ice Caly. 3/3
  • Lycanroc V/VMAX - I mean you have... nvm. I want to say G. Rapidash, but Rapidash trims the HP to 100 not 60. Claydol targets the active, meh. Just no. 3 energy 190 plus 30 to the bench, its fine. 3/3-4
  • Volcarona V -I mean you have the attack from Victini *, if Victini was good on that time, why not this as a good 2-prized tech in Fire decks? No welder though, that sad. That could be your edge here. 3-4
  • Golurk V - ehhh. Maybe you can KO VMAXs by KOing the V, but Vs usually have 200+ HP to begin with. As for the attack cost, using both Houndoom and Ghost Caly could get you into problems of consistency. 3-4
  • Absol - bland. 2
  • Makuhita/Hariyama - 120 dmg doesn't justify my impression on this card. We've seen this on BSH Heracross, and Heracross wasn't see much play. 2/2
  • Single Strike Scroll of the Dragon's Fang - Lengthy name, good as ultimate move for Duraludon VMAX. Make sure you can manage to get 5 energy onto it. 4-5
  • Wobbufet - I mean we have Cape of Toughness, 170 isn't enough. 2-3
  • Medicham V - make sure you can pull this off without problems. 3-4
  • Shellder/Cloyster - bland at all. 3/3
  • Rapid Strike Scroll of the Flying Dragon - Lengthy name. Nice niche for Rayquaza VMAX. 3-4

Wobbuffet's attack is based on the damage counters of 1 of your benched Pokemon, not Wobbuffet itself, so couldn't it theoretically do like 300+ damage if you have a damaged VMax on the bench?
 
Wobbuffet's attack is based on the damage counters of 1 of your benched Pokemon, not Wobbuffet itself, so couldn't it theoretically do like 300+ damage if you have a damaged VMax on the bench?
Yup, that's what makes this Wobb more interesting than most of them.
 
Just when I was talking about the lack of Hariyama cards printed! It's cool to see this, despite how bad the card's attack is.
 
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