Surging Sparks Set Review

It’s pre-release season for many of us internationally! Surging Sparks is just around the corner, and many are excited for the set for one reason or another! However, if you’re like me, nothing gets you more excited than new bulk Pokemon and Trainers to try out in our favorite Pokemon TCG format: Gym Leader Challenge! This article will be on the Japanese Releases of Paradise Dragona and Supercharged Breaker, as alone they aren’t the strongest of sets AND we should be seeing most if not all of these cards November 8th for the release of Surging Sparks (sometimes Japanese cards are unfortunately cut from the international releases for bulk in future sets)! Without further ado, let’s get to the Set Review!

Grass

Zarude – Grass – HP120

Basic Pokemon

[G} Leaf Drain: 20 damage. Heal 20 damage from this Pokémon.

[G][G][C] Jungle Whip: 80+ damage. You may put all Energy attached to this Pokémon into your hand. If you do, this attack does 80 more damage.

Weakness: Fire (x2)

Resistance: None

Retreat: 1

This card is interesting to me because I’m a huge fan of playing Rain Dance. Many people might know me as just the “MetalZone” man given my previous minimal success with the type, but I actually play just about every Rain Dance type, and that includes Grass! Grass’s RainDancer, Cherrim, actually has a big benefit compared to other typical RainDancers such as Baxcalibur, Emboar, or Magnezone, in that it’s actually a Stage 1, allowing you to do all the RainDance shenanigans waaaaaay quicker! And this new Zarude has a direct synergy with the Cherrim, having a similar attack to Kyogre’s Dynamic Wave, adding the Energies back into your hand so you can reattach them the next turn with your RainDancer. Of course, Kyogre is significantly better by allowing you to snipe Pokemon on the Bench, but 3 Energy 160 is not a bad stat line at all, especially if you can reattach the Energies next turn. Now, similar to Kyogre, this does leave you susceptible to either hand disruption like Iono or Marnie which will put your Energies to the bottom of your deck, OR susceptible to gust effects like Boss’s Orders or Guzma, as they can now go after your Cherrim and hopefully slow you down if you don’t have another attacker loaded up. Still, much like how Kyogre is played in Hydro Pump Water, I expect Zarude to be a card that those of us who go against the JungleBeat/RillaSaur grain will become accustomed to.

#6 Vivillon – Grass – HP120

Stage 2 – Evolves from Spewpa

[C] Evolution Powder: For each of your Benched Pokémon, search your deck for a card that evolves from that Pokémon and put it onto that Pokémon to evolve it. Then, shuffle your deck.

[G] Cutting Wind: 90 damage.

Weakness: Fire (X2)

Resistance: None

Retreat: 1

Truthfully, this card is not that great, but you can try to make it work. The Vivillon line of Scatterbug and Spewpa have the Adaptive Evolution Ability, allowing you to turbo all the way to this Vivillon if you’re lucky enough! Of course, you also need a wide enough Bench to warrant playing this over something like Technical Machine: Evolution, so something like a Gloria/Brigette/Clavell and perhaps a Timer Ball or otherwise really lucky hand could make this absolutely pop off. However, how consistent you’re gonna be able to make that… I’m not the biggest believer that we live in a world where that’s the case.

#8 Rellor – Grass – HP40

Basic Pokemon

[C] Collect: Draw a card.

[G} Rollout: 20 damage.

Weakness: Fire (x2)

Resistance: none

Retreat: 1

Probably the best Rellor for my Rabsca enthusiasts who respect the spread archetype in this format. Outside of it’s really low HP, it has the same retreat cost as other options and alternatively has the Attack Collect, allowing you to draw a card if you happen to start Rellor and don’t have any better plays.

#9 Rabsca – Grass – HP70

Stage 1 – Evolves from Rellor

[C] Triple Draw: Draw 3 cards.

[G] Twist Ending: 40+ damage. If there are 3 or fewer cards in your deck, this attack does 200 more damage.

Weakness: Fire (x2)

Resistance: none

Retreat: 1

This Rabsca, and the card after it, are just funny. I think this is definitely the weaker of the 2, being a Stage 1 and all. It’s ultimately gonna be significantly harder to pull this card off and have it’s pay-off be consistent, however there is definitely a new archetype upcoming for Grass Gym Leaders if they wanna try and crack it.

#10 Wo-Chien – Grass – HP130

Basic Pokemon

[G][C] Greed Hazard: 20 damage. If you have 3 or fewer cards in your deck, this attack does 120 damage to 2 of your opponent’s Benched Pokemon. (Don’t apply Weakness and Resistance for Benched Pokemon.)

[G][G][C] Whip: 130 damage. Discard the top 3 cards from your deck.

Weakness: Fire (x2)

Resistance: none

Retreat: 3

Yeah this one is the scarier one that might just make it worth trying to crack. Wo-Chien has a devastating 120 snipe to 2 Benched Pokemon with the rather steep restriction that you must have 3 or less cards in your deck. While that isn’t impossible in GLC (as evident by the self-mill into looping that makes the Shock Lock deck so terrifying), I don’t know how reasonable it’s gonna be for Grass. The benefit to Shock Lock is slowing the game down time and time again until it gets the lock off, which afterwards it will simply control the game until the end. I suppose a similar concept could attempted with this Wo-Chien, making the end game a stuck Pokemon in the Active as you proceed to take anywhere from 2-6 prize cards with Wo-Chien. Counter Energy enables the Energy Cost for Greed Hazard, and with cards like Target Whistle and Echoing Horn you could hypothetically get off this crazy string of turns. Hypothetically, of course. *wink*

Fire

Gouging Fire – Fire – HP130

Basic Pokemon (Ancient)

[R] Lunge Out: 30 damage.

[R][R][C] Blazing Support: 100+ damage. If your opponent has 4 or fewer Prize cards remaining, this attack does 70 more damage.

Weakness: Water (x2)

Resistance: none

Retreat: 2

Fire continues to get some interesting Basic attackers (and they all happen to look like a particular brown furred, lion) that continue to push the damage threshold the type can output. Gouging Fire is borderline useless at the start of the game, only hitting for 100 damage for 3 energies (2 if Charizard’s Burn Brightly Abillity is online). However, once your opponent has take 2 Prize Cards, Gouging Fire starts swinging for a very respectable 170. To put it into perspective, for the same 2 Energies attached while Burn Brightly is on, Fire’s spotlight Basic Attacker Entei only hits for 140 with its Blaze Ball attack. 170 is a rather important number, allowing you to take out many Stage 2s, as well as Basic Attackers around the 110-130HP Range with a tool such as Fighting Fury Belt or Bravery Charm equipped. I think this card is really really solid, and my only gripe with it is gonna be finding the cut for it.

#19 Skeledirge – Fire – HP180

Stage 2 – Evolves from Crocalor

Ability: Unaware

Prevent all effects of attacks from your opponent’s Pokémon done to this Pokémon. (Damage is not an effect.)

[R][C] Flare Recital: 60+ damage. This attack does 20 more damage for each Benched Pokémon (both yours and your opponent’s).

Weakness: Water (x2)

Resistance: None

Retreat: 3

If you’re a likeminded individual, then Fuecoco absolutely stole your heart the moment Scarlet & Violet were revealed. I’ve wanted to make a Fuecoco GLC list so bad, but prior to this printing, the only legal Skeledirge printing was one that required 3 energies for 190 and did 30 damage to itself, effectively making its very respectable Stage 2 180HP stat line into a rather mediocre 150 effective HP. However, this new Skeledirge is at the very least solid, and does some respectable damage! For only 2 Energy (1F1C), Flare Recital can swing for a maximum of 260 damage if both yours and your opponent’s benches are full. Now, that’s a little unrealistic, as your opponent has some agency in being able to play around that. However, Fire tends to love a wide bench filled with support Pokemon such as Magcargo and Salazzle (which is why we hate Parallel City), so you can expect somewhere around 140+ damage from this Pokemon, with 140 being a rather conservative low, with you keeping a Bench spot opened and your opponent having no Benched Pokemon at all. Its Ability Unaware is also just a carbon copy of the format’s best attacker in Unfazed Fat Snorlax, meaning it is protected from Damage Counter effects of attacks, as well as any attempts to slow it down with attack effects like Paralysis, Sleep, Confusion, or damage modifiers like Poison or Burn. Remember though, only from attacks! You can still Fluffy Pillow this thing with The Sheep, or any other similar Ability.

#21 Armarouge – Fire – HP140

Stage 1 – Evolves from Charcadet

[C][C] Combustion: 50 damage.

[R][R][C] Crimson Blaster: Discard all [R] Energy from this Pokémon. This attack does 180 damage to 1 of your opponent’s Benched Pokémon. (Don’t apply Weakness and Resistance for Benched Pokémon.)

Weakness: Water (x2)

Resistance: None

Retreat: 2

Wow, this card is HOT (get it? Fire joke? … I’ll see myself out). Armarouge’s Crimson Blaster attack is Fire’s nerfed version of Kyogre’s Dynamic Wave, allowing Armarouge to snipe something on the opponent’s benched for a whopping 180 damage. The catch? Discarding all Fire Energies attached to Armarouge. Additionally, unlike Kyogre, this Pokemon is forced to hit the Bench, so it cannot take out threats in your opponent’s Active. Still, we will absolutely take Fire Buffs of any capacity in this household, and I’m looking forward to getting some really dumb snipes with both Armarouge and Heatmor!

#22 Ceruledge  – Fire – HP140

Stage 1 – Evolves from Charcadet

[C] Blaze Curse: Discard all Special Energy from each of your opponent’s Pokémon.

[R][R][C] Black Flame Slash: 160 damage. During your next turn, this Pokémon can’t attack.

Weakness: Water (x2)

Resistance: None

Retreat: 2

And if you have a really strong Colorless presence in your local scene, consider the above Ceruledge, Fire Gym Leaders. While Ceruledge’s Black Flame Slash (God, what a cool name) is unfortunately mid, its Blaze Curse attack is what made it stand out for me (that, and the fact that its a 1 card tech that evolves from the same Charcadet you’re likely gonna have in the deck due to how good the Armarouge above is). Blaze Curse discards ALL Special Energy on ALL of your opponent’s Pokemon. This is a HUGE tempo swing, especially against Colorless. Outside of obnoxious Snorlax with its Unfazed Fat Ability, this discards the Energies off of everything else. This is also really good into other decks, as some of the best and most snowbally decks in the format are abusing Special Energies, such as Dragon with Double Dragon and their Special Energy package, Psychic with their Necrozma + Tinkaton Special Energy duo, and Fighting with their Okidogi!

Water

Quaquaval – Water – HP170

Stage 1 – Evolves from Quaxwell

Ability: Up Tempo

Once during your turn, you may put a card from your hand on the bottom of your deck. If you do, draw cards until you have 5 cards in your hand.

[W][C] Hydro Splash: 120 damage.

Weakness: Lightning (x2)

Resistance: none

Retreat: 2

I said it on my Twitter (or X, whatever) when this card was revealed, but unfortunately this is a really really cool card, printed into a type that doesn’t really need it. Quaquaval is a Stage 2 Pokemon that has the Up Tempo Ability, allowing you to put a card from you hand to the bottom of your deck, and if you succeed in doing so, you may draw until you have 5 cards in hand. However, Water also has Octillery, a Stage 1 Pokemon with the Abyssal Hand Ability that allows you to simply draw until you have 5 cards in your hand. Both have 2 retreat, both have mediocre attacks given the type of Pokemon they are (Stage 1 vs Stage 2), with the Stage 2 being more restrictive in its activation and being slower to set up. Ultimately, this is not a card that Water needed, especially not as a Stage 2. However, if you’re a fan of Quaquaval (or Quaxly/Quaxwell) and don’t care for my rants about consistency, then go for it pal, it’s all yours. This card will be dirt cheap day of release, and you’ll likely pull a ton of it yourself

#29 Walrein – Water – HP170

Stage 2 – Evolves from Sealeo

[W] Frozen Fangs: 60 damage. During your opponent’s next turn, Pokémon with 2 or fewer Energy attached cannot attack.  (This includes new Pokémon that come into play.)

[W][W] Megaton Fall: 170: This Pokémon also does 50 damage to itself.

Weakness: Metal (x2)

Resistance: None

Retreat: 3

I mainly bring this card up because I think the effect of Frozen Fangs is super interesting, and I believe the first of its kind. Walrein’s Frozen Fangs put an effect on all of your opponent’s Pokemon, including new ones that come into play during their upcoming turn, that restricts Pokemon with 2 or fewer Energy attached from attacking. It’s more like an effect on their board entirely, rather than on the Pokemon, since unknown Pokemon not in play or discard usually can’t have effects applied to them. This new era of attack effects from TPCi is really interesting, albeit it’s gonna make my job of teaching new players our beloved game that much harder given their choice of wording and the usual confusion new TCG players have with why rulings are the way they are. Unfortunately, this card doesn’t say “Energy cards” attached, meaning that many of Colorless’s attackers such as Snorlax or Cyclizar can still attack, even if the only way theyre getting the attack off is with Double Colorless Energy. Same is true for static effects that affect the number of Energies attached such as Jungle Totem Venusaur and Burn Brightly Charizard.

#32 Chien-Pao – Water – HP120

Basic Pokemon

Ability: Snow Sink

When you play this Pokemon from your hand onto your Bench during your turn, you may discard a Stadium in play.

[W][W][C] Icicle Loop: 120 damage. Put an Energy attached to this Pokémon into your hand.

Weakness: Metal (x2)

Resistance: none

Retreat: 1

More Rain Dance looping shenanigans! This card’s Icicle Loop attack is identical to one of my favorite Colorless attackers: Energy Loop Lugia. I love being able to reutilize on-play Special Energy such as Draw Energy or Jet Energy with Porygon-Z’s Crazy Code Ability. Unfortunately, Water doesn’t have any meaningful on-play special energies that can be utilized like this, but the attack does have a Colorless Cost, allowing me to sort of do the same? It’s also got an interesting ability that’s identical to Pumpkin Pit Pumpkaboo (which many a somewhat recent Standard Player may remember), allowing you to pop a stadium in play in case you don’t have a stadium bump. This also gets rid of pesky Chaotic Swell. Unfortunately, 120 damage for 3 Energy attachments in the modern age of GLC is pretty bad, especially when Water has other really good attackers that synergize with what it already wants to do so much better…

Lightning

#35 Magneton – Lightning – HP100

Stage 1 – Evolves from Magnemite

Ability: Overvolt Discharge

Once during your turn, you may attach up to 3 Basic Energy cards from your discard pile to your [L] Pokemon in any way you like. If you use this Ability, this Pokemon is Knocked Out.

[L][C] Electric Ball: 40 damage.

Weakness: Fighting (x2)

Resistance: none

Retreat: 1

Ah yes, the straw that broke the Raikou-shaped camel’s back. This card has the potential of being really, really nuts in the right hands. Magneton allows you to turbo out 3 Basic Energies onto your Pokemon in ANY WAY YOU LIKE. However, this does cost a Prize Card given to your opponent. Still, 3 Energies is a perfect threshold for Lightning, as many of the solid attacking Basics in Lightning require 3 Energies- this is in part why we tend to run double Dynamotor with Eelektrik and Flaaffy, as it allows you to load up these attackers 1 by 1 alongside your Energy Attachment for turn. There’s definitely a world where you go first, establish a Magnemite turn 1, then next turn Battle Compressor 3 Energies, evolve, self-ko with Overvolt Discharge, and attach 3 Energies to a really oppressive Basic attacker like Regieleki and apply insane board pressure on your opponent, as well as likely netting a KO! You could also try and do this turn 1 going second with Wally, but that’s asking for a few too many pieces I feel haha. Overall really good card, however it is slightly hurting in consistency as it isn’t Level Ball searchable, meaning the only real options are Timer Ball, Evolution Incense, and Evosoda to try and get this ‘ton out without dedicating a Supporter.

#37 Rotom – Lightning – HP80

Basic Pokemon

[L] Crash Pulse: Crash Pulse: Your opponent reveals their hand. Discard any Item and Pokémon Tool cards you find there.

[L] Energy Short: 20x damage. This attack does 20 damage for each Energy attached to your opponent’s Active Pokémon.

Weakness: Fighting (x2)

Resistance: none

Retreat: 1

This card is pretty nuts; take it from someone who has a local that already slotted it in and used it against them at the time of writing. It wasn’t even a Shock Lock deck, just slammed it into their homebrew. Which means that with actual, dedicated purpose, such as in a deck like Shock Lock, this card will be phenomenal. Crash Pulse targets 2 rather universal targets that dictate the matchup most decks have against Shock Lock: Escape Rope and Float Stone. Not to mention all the other cards that are also switching outs that are played, such as U-turn Board, Air Balloon, Switch, and Switch Raft. It even takes the VS Seeker that many decks rely on as their out to a 2nd Guzma or Tate & Liza. This card is gonna make Shock Lock even more infuriating to play against, and make a lot more unfortunate non-games where it feels bad to hold the outs in hand, but feels bad to slam them early just for them to get Field Blower’d or Faba’d.

#38 Blitzle – Lightning – HP70

Basic Pokemon

[C] Add On: Draw a card.

[L][C] Static Shock: 20 damage.

Weakness: Fighting (x2)

Resistance: none

Retreat: 1

Not too much here, except that it’s likely the best Blitzle now. 70 HP stat line gives it an extra turn against spread attacks that have either intervals of 2 or 3 (20/30 damage counters/damage (think cards like Mismagius or Kyurem)), while also still being within the Buddy-Buddy Poffin threshold. It also has a solid attack in Collect, that while not better than Agility, I’ve always been of the opinion that if you’re in a position where your evolving Basics are stuck in the Active and you have no other plays, it’s either too unlikely on a situation to really give statistical relevance to the coin-flip, or you have simply built a deck that struggles to set up properly. Also just switching to this Blitzle will make Lightning seem much more accessible to newer Gym Leaders, as it’ll be a recent printing compared to a BW common they have to order through TCG Player or something.

#41 Tapu Koko – Lightning – HP120

Basic Pokemon

[C] Call for Thunder: Search your deck for up to 2 [L] Pokemon, reveal them, and put them into your hand. Then, shuffle your deck.

[L][L][C] Prize Counter: 90+ damage. If you have more Prize cards remaining than your opponent, this attack does 90 more damage.

Weakness: Fighting (x2)

Resistance: none

Retreat: 1

I need TPCi to give other Pokemon some love, because they can’t keep printing good cards on the same named cards, lest my favorite format internally implodes because there’s 20 good Bronzong and 15 good Tapu Koko. Sigh. Rant aside, this card is super solid and I’m excited to play it. Lightning doesn’t really have a lot of big hitting option, something like a “wallbreaker”. Most of Lightning’s tactics revolve around spreading damage efficiently to take multi-turn knock outs. The downside? It rarely if ever can deal with the immediate threats like will steamroll if not dealt with. A lot of Lightning Basic attackers struggle to hit for the 130 magic number, much less being able to deal with big bulky Stage 2s or Basics with tools attached… except for this Tapu Koko, who can hit for a whopping 180 so long as you are behind in Prize Cards. I’m actually super glad that’s its condition, because if it was like say Mewtwo, I feel it’d ultimately be a lot worse for how Lightning tends to play.

Psychic

Smoochum – Psychic – HP30

Basic Pokemon

[.] Happy Kiss: Search your deck for up to 2 Basic [P] Energy cards and attach them to your Benched Pokemon in any way you like. Then, shuffle your deck.

Weakness: Darkness (x2)

Resistance: Fighting (-30)

Retreat: 0

Okay truthfully I overlooked this card when it first released because I hate Smoochum. However, I should get used to seeing it more often because man this card is nuts. As is standard with Scarlet & Violet printed “Baby” Pokemon, Smoochum has a mere 30HP, a free retreat cost, and a free attack. While some of the free attacks aren’t all that great, such as Magby or Mime Jr., Smoochum arguably got the best one we’ve seen yet. This little googoo gaga bane of my existence gets to accelerate up to TWO Basic Psychic Energy cards to your Benched Pokemon IN ANY WAY THAT YOU LIKE. You might as well had just made Smoochum carry a Swiss Army Knife, because that’s what it is in terms of its accelerating capabilities. Yes 30HP is measely and you might be giving up a free Prize card as a result of using Happy Kiss, but not every deck (and I’d even go as far as to argue most outside of really try hard metas) has the capacity to consistently punish this set up game after game. Obviously the same can be said about starting the Smoochum and going 2nd in order to get it off as efficiently as possible, but there are ways around that to make it a bit more consistent, such as running more tools for retreating or switching cards like Tate & Liza instead of a Cynthia if that was your Shuffle Draw Supporter of choice. Ultimately very very cracked card, I would expect to see a lot of it soon.

Tapu Lele – Psychic – HP110

Basic Pokemon

[C][C] Perplex: 20 damage. Your opponent’s Active Pokémon is now Confused.

[P][C][C] Mental Crush: 90+ damage. If your opponent’s Active Pokémon is Confused, this attack does 90 more damage.

Weakness: Metal (x2)

Resistance: none

Retreat: 1

Recently I’ve brought up time and time again my love and personal reliance on Basic Attackers that can hit over the 150 range, and the 180 range being a nice bonus. Obviously, being able to naturally deal with Snorlax’s 150HP range is huge, as it is part of the best deck in the format. Additionally, Stage 2 Pokemon are very strong support pieces and attackers at times, and sometimes you really wish you had a quick, powerful way of handling them. Often times, you can be just a turn too slow off setting up a vital Stage 2 attack, or worse, it could be prized and you don’t have the means to fish it out. That’s why I think recent cards like the Latios from Paradox Rift and Cresselia from Stellar Crown are huge boons to Psychic’s plethora of Basic Attackers.

Not this card though, this card is bad. Ok but truthfully it can be okay, but it just requires too much gimmick stuff to warrant it. You can infact Confuse your opponent’s Active with Trainer Cards such as Yell Horn and Koga’s Trap. In Psychic you can even use Gothic Fear Haunter and Captivating Invitation Florges to enable this Tapu Lele’s Mental Crush attack… but why would you go through all that trouble unless you just wanna do it for the vine (am I showing my age range with that bit? probably).

Flittle – Psychic – HP40

Basic Pokémon

[C] Splashing Dodge: 10 damage. Flip a coin. If heads, during your opponent’s next turn, prevent all damage from and effects of attacks done to this Pokémon.

Weakness: Darkness (x2)

Resistance: Fighting (-30)

Retreat: 1

I don’t think this line of Pokemon is great, but it is in fact the best Flittle for the Stance Espathra enjoyers who want to have a little bit of a Sonic Slip Garchomp in their Psychic Decks (with like… way less reward LOL). If you like playing cards that force your opponent that force your opponent to have gust to get a prize card on a particular turn AND you like having access to the Supporters in your deck, you can play this alongside Buddy Catch Gallade (or you know… be smart and play Sonic Slip Garchomp and Fast Call Dragonite. You do you, reader).

#47 Togekiss – Psychic – HP140

Stage 2 – Evolves from Togetic

Ability: Wonder Kiss

Whenever your opponent’s Active Pokémon gets Knocked Out, flip a coin. If heads, take 1 more Prize card for that Knock Out. This Ability does not stack.

[C][C][C] Speed Wing: 100 damage.

Weakness: Metal (x2)

Resistance: none

Retreat: 1

This card has the potential of being UUUUUUUUGGGGLLYYYYY. Psychic, albeit not as strong or consistent as say Colorless, has very very strong, quick succession Basic Attackers that as time goes on more and more printings are coming out so that they can handle more threats and tankier Pokemon by themselves, such as Iron Boulder, Cresselia, and Latios. They are very efficient, and so combined with Togekiss’s Wonder Kiss Ability, there are chances that this quick succession of Attacks leads to more Prize Cards being taken than anticipated. Additionally, for some added consistency if a reader cared enough, Psychic also tends to run Buddy Catch Gallade, and while I know 2 Stage 2s and your Stage 1 Energy Acceleration Supports in the form of Xatu and/or Malamar may seem like a lot, Buddy Catch allows you to also go find the Supporter card Will, which would guarantee the next coin you flip that turn to become Heads, enabling Wonder Kiss to take an additional Prize Card. Very, very scary stuff. Just thankful it’s on a Stage 2 in a type that, while it can definitely utilize it well, can struggle to find the space in the deck and its evolutionary pieces throughout the game. May they never print a Psychic Sunshine Grace, or we might just all be doomed.

#48 Uxie – Psychic – HP70

Basic Pokemon

[P] Painful Memories: Put 2 damage counters on each of your opponent’s Pokemon.

Weakness: Darkness (x2)

Resistance: none

Retreat: 1

FINALLY! HALLELUJAH! PSYCHIC HAS A MEANS TO APPLYING DAMAGE COUNTERS ON A BASIC THAT ISN’T A.) INEFFICIENT AND B.) DEPENDENT ON SOMETHING ELSE LIKE THE PRESENCE OF DAMAGE COUNTERS (Azelf) OR COIN FLIPS (Meloetta)! Okay but truthfully this is such a godsend to my gripes when playing Psychic Spread with Sinister Hand Dusknoir. Often times it felt simply unfortunate how dependent I was on Mismagius to ever get stuff going, so much so that I even began considering adding the ultimately worse spread attacker Gourgeist back into the list simply to have consistent damage counter placement. Now, not only do I not have to run Gourgeist, but I am also not as reliant not only on Mismagius but also on Meloetta’s coin flips to deal damage and manipulate for multi-prize turns. Ultimately, this is such a great rolecompression and consistency tool for Psychic Spread decks in GLC. However, this isn’t all that Psychic Spread got this set, as the Cofragigus below seems to be archetype defining.

#49 Mesprit – Psychic – HP70**

Basic Pokemon

[C] Heart Satisfy: Attach up to 2 Basic [P] Energy from your hand to your Pokemon in any way you like.

[P][P] God Burst: 160 damage. You can only use this attack if you have Uxie and Azelf on your Bench.

Weakness: Darkness (x2)

Resistance: none

Retreat: 1

The Lake Trio, much like other Legendary Pokemon groups like the Regis, tend to be printed with gimmick Abilities or Attacks that require the rest of their group in play in order to fire. Often times this is a consistency nightmare, other times it just isn’t even worth it investing into. This one is neither of these innately, however I don’t see it being all that good. I’ve always been a big believer that spread decks in GLC need a sort of wallbreaker, a Pokemon that can handle something your opponent has that’s too big of a problem to go unchecked, which is something spread decks struggle with at times as their goal is to take multiple prizes in a turn. This can look like a problematic, essential crutch support Pokemon on your opponent’s Bench, or like a Big Basic™ that’s powered up and handling all your attackers and support Pokemon way too quickly for you to get your gameplan going. Mesprit can very well act as this in Psychic Spread decks, as both the Uxie above and XY142 Azelf are both spread attackers that Psychic Spread decks consider. Unfortunately, I just don’t think it’s really worth it. In my experience, even the most simplified, bare bones Psychic Spread decks can struggle for bench space, and additionally this card isn’t simple to power up. If you aren’t running Malamar, that means your only way to power it up is Counter Energy or Raihan, as Mesprit is unfortunately not Dimension Valley compatible. Ultimately while I think it’s one of the most solid trio-gimmicks we’ve seen printed (especially for GLC), I think it’s gonna be harder to pull off than it might seem at first glance.

#50 Azelf – Psychic – HP70

Basic Pokemon

[P][C] Mind Kinesis: 10+ damage. This attack does 10 more damage for each damage counter on your opponent’s Pokemon.

Weakness: Darkness (x2)

Resistance: none

Retreat: 1

WOO! Worse Wobbuffet was printed! No but seriously, I don’t see the purpose for this card ever being in a Psychic deck outside of trying to enable the new Mesprit above. Generically, this card is worse than Wobbuffet except for perhaps 2 aspects- it’s Buddy-Buddy Poffin searchable (for whatever that’s worth) and it has 1 retreat, so I don’t see it being slotted into those decks. That means that it is either a gimmick deck looking to make the most out of the Lake Trio, or it is a spread deck (it could technically be both, as mentioned in the Mesprit review above). However, as a result of running this Azelf, you lose out on running XY142 Azelf, a very competent spread attacker so long as you have damage counters already on the board. If you’re wanting an attacker like Azelf, look towards Mimikyu from Lost Origin. Mimikyu has the exact same stat line as Azelf across the board, and even has an additional “hail marry” attack in Perplex to hopefully Confuse your opponent’s Pokemon and give yourself an extra turn. The only downside is that it’s name isn’t Azelf, which like I mentioned above you should be running XY142 Azelf anyways.

#52 Cofagrigus – Psychic – HP120

Stage 1 – Evolves from Yamask

[P] Underworld Law: Put 6 damage counters on each Pokémon in play that has any Abilities (both yours and your opponent’s).

[P][C][C] Spooky Shot: 100 damage.

Weakness: Darkness (x2)

Resistance: none

Retreat: 2

Yeah… this thing is nuts. Akin to one of my favorite spread attackers in Rule of Evil Weavile, Cofagrigus places damage counters (huge to avoid Bench Barrier) on EACH Pokemon with Abilities. Usually, this would result in building your deck with the least amount of Pokemon with Abilities as possible, much like how Dark Spread tends to just run Liepard for its Draw Support that’s vital to the type. However, unlike Dark, Psychic has some pretty good tools at dealing with and also taking advantage of the Damage Counters that Cofagrigus places on its own teammates. Most notably is Munkidori with its Adrena-Brain Ability, which allows it to not only heal 30 damage off of one of its teammates, but ALSO move those damage counters onto 1 of your opponent’s Pokemon. This card has so much value when it gets going, it’s insane. Now combine it with this Cofagrigus, and you are enabling the damage counters yourself, as Cofagrigus will put Damage Counters immediately on Munkidori, who will simply move some of it during your next turn (and vitality, it will keep itself out of range of a self-KO if you happen to use Cofagrigus’s Underworld Law twice). Additionally, and this is just my swing of things since I love Sinister Hand Dusknoir so much, but you also can then use this massive amount of damage counters being applied to net math-perfect KOs with Dusknoir. Yes, you’ll be adding damage counters onto Dusknoir with Underworld Law, but thankfully due to Dusknoir’s 130HP statline it can live 2 instances of Underworld Law before you’re put in a precarious situation with this duo. Cofagrigus reimagines the amount of damage counters that can be placed by Psychic Spread decks, and might actually give the deck the fire power it has needed for sometime now to handle the faster and bulkier decks that exist in the format.

Fighting

Trapinch – Fighting – HP60

Basic Pokemon

[C] Call for Friends: Search your deck for 2 Basic Pokemon and put them on your Bench. Then, shuffle your deck.

[F][C] Bite: 20 damage.

Weakness: Grass (x2)

Resistance: none

Retreat: 1

I brought up last set review that the Falinks was worth mentioning because it had a “Call for Family” attack that searched for 2 Basics. It also had a decent enough attack, but it did have an unfortunate Retreat Cost of 2. This Trapinch has a retreat cost of 1, and evolves to a fan-favorite in Flygon! Now unfortunately, there aren’t any spectacular Flygon, but the Labyrinth of Sand Flygon can be a fun card to build around for my Flygon Enthusiasts! 

Grapploct – Fighting – HP140

Stage 1 – Evolves from Clobbopus

[F] Chop: 40 damage.

[F][F][C] Tentacle Rage: 130 damage. If this Pokémon has any damage counters on it, this attack can be used for [F].

Weakness: Psychic (x2)

Resistance: none

Retreat: 3

This card has synergy with a rather underrepresented and forgotten about archetype in Fighting: Earthquake. Earthquake attacks usually do lots of damage and have low Energy costs, but the actual cost is the damage you end up doing to your own Bench. Earthquake Fighting lists have 2 potential modes. The first, and seemingly most obvious synergy is to take the damage, and then in between turns heal with Blessed Salt Garganacl. This keeps your board healthy, while still allowing you to abuse of these really really powerful attacks. However, there is another mode of Earthquake that many a veteraned GLC player may remember before the printing of Garganacl and that was to use the damage Earthquake did to you as a means to enable other attacks. The king of this strategy was always the Steelix from Pokemon GO with the Powerful Rage Attack! And similarly, this Grapploct can also benefit from the self-imposed damage counters from Earthquake, making its Tentacle Rage attack only cost a single Fighting Energy, instead of its 3 Energy Attack Cost. When I first saw this card I immediately saw the synergy. Ultimately I’d love to see Earthquake get a bit more love than just this, but perhaps I’ll mess around and build it anyways.

Or you know, you can just get value with Frozen City + Energy Attachment, Gapejaw Bog + Clobbopus onto Bench, or even just a simple Rainbow Energy attachment in order to get Tentacle Rage’s discount. You do you, reader… you do you.

#66 Gastrodon – Fighting – HP130

Stage 1 – Evolves from Shellos

Ability: Sticky Bind

If this Pokemon is on your Bench, Benched Stage 2 Pokémon in play (both yours and your opponent’s) have no Abilities.

[F][C][C] Mud Shot: 80 damage.

Weakness: Grass (x2)

Resistance: none

Retreat: 3

This card is kinda nasty… While Stage 2s aren’t the tippy top of the metagame in GLC, depending on the local playerbase, this card can just shut down certain boardstates. Most notably it absolutely decimates JungleBeat/RillaSaur’s entire deck concept, turning off both Voltage Beat Rillaboom and Jungle Totem Venusaur. However, it also puts in great work against the Tinkallade core of Psychic, turning off Buddy Catch and Gather Materials. Combined with a disruption support like Iono or Marnie, and this card being slammed on the board could be quit detrimental to your Psychic opponent’s gameplan, as they won’t be able to search for Supporters nor draw more outside of Xatu Builds that require an Energy in hand to do so.

Lastly, I think this card could lead to a really cool, albeit likely inconsistent lock duo in Fighting. Ancient Power Archeops is an oppressive card if pulled off early, as it stops both you and your opponent from playing Pokemon from your hand to evolve. However, as a Fossil Pokemon, this card rarely sees play, requiring way too much of a good hand to establish a lock AND further establish a solid enough Attacker to deal with your opponent’s crippled boardstate. That’s where Gastrodon comes in. If you didn’t manage to get off the early Evolution for Archeops, you can then swing your board to handle their Stage 2s by evolving into Gastrodon instead! Either you deny them from every setting up their really good, strong Stage 2 Abilities in the first place, or you shut them out later! Ultimately this is going to suffer like every other fun concept I mention in the Fighting section in not having the draw support to make this slower style of gameplay really accessible, but I think it could be fun. I’ve got a Secret Archeops anyways that needs to see some more play ever since the Pokemon Research Lab ban.

#68 Glimmora – Fighting – HP130**

Stage 1 – Evolves from Glimmet

[C] Corrosive Shards: 20 damage. Your opponent’s Active Pokémon is now Poisoned. During your opponent’s next turn, your opponent cannot attach any Energy from their hand to the Defending Pokémon.

[F][C] Rock Throw: 60 damage.

Weakness: Grass (x2)

Resistance: none

Retreat: 2

Super weird, albeit likely not good, Active Lock piece. Glimmora’s Corrosive Shards Attack does a measely 20 Damage and Poisons the Active, effectively doing 30 Damage. However, it also denies your opponent from attaching Energies to their Active during the following turn. Combine this with Galar Mine, and if you get the proper Pokemon stuck in the Active, your opponent can’t even hope to retreat it with Energy attachments. Just make sure you have a Tool Jammer equipped onto Glimmora, lest your plans be foiled by a mere Float Stone!

#69 Koraidon – Fighting – HP130

Basic Pokémon

[C][C] Intense Assault: 30+ damage. If 1 of your other Ancient Pokémon used an attack during your last turn, this attack does 150 more damage.

[F][F][C] Hammer In: 110 damage.

Weakness: Psychic (x2)

Resistance: None

Retreat: 2

Yes yes yes yes yes yes, and of course, YES! I LOVE Koraidon, it is easily up there in my top 5 (likely top 3) favorite Legendary Pokemon. As such, I’ve been heartbroken for the last year or so as I haven’t been able to cook a Koraidon list because frankly, every single one printed thusfar has kinda sucked. No longer! This Koraidon brings life the the Ancient Pokemon package that many players have been eyeing to get new support. Great Tusk, Sandy Shock, and Slither Wing are the only other Ancient Pokemon printed in the Fighting type for the TCG, but I think these alone could do pretty well to jumpstart the archetype as we continue to hope for better and more efficient attackers. Slither Wing is by far the best of these attackers, swinging for 120 and Burning the Active, netting a minimum 140 damage, meeting the 130 magic number threshold. However, Great Tusk is also great, having Double Colorless Synergy alongside this new Koraidon, as both Wrathful Charge on Tusk and Intense Assault on Koraidon have a Double Colorless Cost. Combine the Double Colorless attachment with Professor’s Sada’s Vitality, and you can get Wrathful Charge going in just a single turn! Same is true as well with Slither Wing and Sada, as you only need another Basic Fighting Energy attachment from hand to fire off Burning Turbulence. Then the next turn, when your opponent has likely Knocked Out your first Ancient Pokemon, you can swoop in with Koraidon and Knock just about anything for a whopping Intense Assault for 180 Damage!

Dark

Yeah. We got nothing, I’m sorry boys and girls

Metal

Duraludon – Metal – HP130

Basic Pokemon

[M][M] Confront: 50 damage.

[M][M][M] Durant Beam: 130 damage. Discard 2 Energy from this Pokemon.

Weakness: Fire (x2)

Resistance: Grass (-30)

Retreat: 2

Not much to say here, except that I think this is the best Duraludon for our Metal Archaludon enthusiasts, simply because its attack actually hits the 130 magic number. Discarding 2 Energy is a pretty hefty cost, but with Magnezone and Mt. Coronet, Duraludon itself becomes a relatively competent attacker before it evolves into Archaludon and provides a slightly better attack with no downside and a wonderful Ability. 

Iron Crown – Metal – HP130

Basic Pokémon

[M][C] Deleting Slash: 40+ damage. If your opponent has 3 or more Benched Pokémon, this attack does 80 more damage.

[M][C][C] Slicing Blade: 100 damage.

Weakness: Fire (x2)

Resistance: Grass (-30)

Retreat: 2

When I first saw this Iron Crown, I thought (outside of how badly I’ve been wanting another Metal Basic Attacker) “oooh, this looks like it will function a similar role to it’s non-future counter part, Cobalion”. I’ve tried a good number of Metal GLC lists, and while I definitely still gravitate towards my love “MetalZone”, I’ve tried lists that try to abuse quick, efficient attackers in Metal, such as Light Metal. And in lists like those, I feel like Iron Crown’s Deleting Slash attack is a perfect fit. Most GLC lists tend to have at least a 3 wide bench, and many have even more (which is why Parallel City can be such a polarizing card), so I feel like under many circumstances Iron Crown will be able to hit for its 120 damage, which with Galarian Perrserker’s Steely Spirit Ability, that’s 140, meeting the 130 magic number.

Dragon

Dialga – Dragon – HP130

Basic Pokemon

[C] Time Control: Search your deck for 2 cards, shuffle your deck, then put those cards on top of it in any order.

[P][M][C] Buster Tail: 160 damage.

Weakness: none

Resistance: none

Retreat: 2

For a set called “Paradise Dragona”, it really left a lot to be desired in terms of new Dragon GLC cards. This Dialga really was the only salvageable one, as I am absolutely trolling with the Appletun below. Dialga here has 2 attacks that make him somewhat relevant, but both ultimately with glaring weaknesses. Dialga’s Time Control attack allows you to search your deck for any 2 cards and put them on the top. This is a really strong attack, except that in my opinion Dragon in its current state (and arguably most of GLC as a whole) is about fast aggression and using tempo cards like Hex Maniac or even Garchomp’s Sonic Slip Ability as a means of keeping your opponent behind (they also doubly function as the deck’s comeback cards). This means that Time Control feels slow, committing an attack to stacking the deck. Additionally, hand and deck disruption is prevalent in the format, with cards like Marnie, Iono, and N, which can ultimately ruin any plans you may have had for your Time Control targets. However, that doesn’t go without synergies. If you manage to not be disrupted, Time Control manipulates your draw for turn AND leaves another card on top for you to grab off of Drakloak’s Recon Directive Ability. You can even try and combo this with some cool top-deck oriented accelerators like Max Elixir and Ether, but ultimately it is a super vulnerable line of play. Then you have Buster Tail, but Buster Tail doesn’t share any Energy Costs with other more played Dragons in GLC, meaning you have to devote your Double Dragon Energy or Counter Energy to fire off an attack with Dialga. And ultimately, 160 for 3 Energy isnt a lot… Drampa and Druddigon do that plenty successful themselves. Just ultimately a very vulnerable card, for a deck and archetype that can’t be caught off-guard or else they risk being unable to keep up in the Prize race.

Appletun – Dragon – HP90

Stage 1 – Evolves from Applin

[C][C] Sweet Melt: 50 damage. During your opponent’s next turn, the Defending Pokémon can’t attack.

[G][R] Wild Tackle: 130 damage. This Pokémon also does 20 damage to itself.

Weakness: None

Resistance: None

Retreat: 1

Ultimately, this card is dogwater BUUUUUUT I love Appletun a lot and managed to think of a fringe scenario to mention the card, so now you get to hear me yap.

Dragon recently was blessed with the gift of a Dragon Type Applin, allowing Dragon Gym Leaders to finally use the Evolving Skies Flapple with the Acidic Mucus Attack. This card is super good, as it deals 50 damage to your opponent’s Active for EACH Ability your opponent has in play. Abilities are the name of the game for most decks, so its no surprise this Flapple began seeing play immediately with the printing of the Applin. However… sometimes, Flapple is prized. Or sometimes, your opponent doesn’t have enough Abilities to secure the KO with Acidic Mucus. You didn’t think your opponent had the unprecedented Super Scoop Up to Scoop Up their Inteleon a 2nd time this game. Your can’t seem to get another Basic in play. All you have is Applin and Dragonite. But BOOM. You slotted in this Appletun. It hits the magic number of 130. Your opponent’s attacker is a 130HP Basic. You have Crispin, or Raihan, or Mela, or Double Dragon Energy still available to you for some god forsaken reason. You load up, take the knock out, and thank a higher power that you decided to slot in this trash split evolution in a singleton format where more often than not, it is nothing better than a dead card. But this time, it swung you the tempo for game that you couldn’t have had anywhere else.

That, my friends, is why you should run this Appletun. I rest my case.

#80 Eternatus – Dragon – HP150

Basic Pokémon

[D] Dynablast: 10+ damage. If your opponent’s Active Pokémon is a Pokémon ex, this attack does 80 more damage.

[R][D][D] World’s End: 230 damage. Discard a Stadium in play. If you can’t, this attack does nothing.

Weakness: None (x2)

Resistance: None

Retreat: 2

So truthfully, this card isn’t all that great. However, much like the Dialga above, it brings into the conversation about different Energy Types when building a Dragon GLC deck if you so choose. Not many GLC decks play around the Dark Energy type. Why? Well, it’s because every Dragon card with a Dark Energy Cost uh… sucks. They tend to be really bad, requiring way too much to pull off and get right. Actually, as I’m writing this and doing research, I’m realizing there are only 4 Dragon lines that utilize Darkness Energy: Hydreigon, Noivern, Cyclizar, and equivalent of Perfect Form Zygarde. Hydreigon and Noivern are Evolution Pokemon, which ultimately makes it much harder to pull them off, Cyclizar doesn’t do enough damage to guarantee a KO on many Pokemon, and then Zygarde requires you to discard Energies, which for an already 4 Energy Attack Cost is asking for waaaaaay too much. They also don’t do a lot of damage per Energy ratio, which is something other Dragon Attackers can do much more efficiently.

But what if we just said screw all of that anyway and had some fun? Eternatus’s World’s End attack is the strongest attack Dragon has on a Basic Pokemon. Of course, it requires you to have a Stadium in play and to discard it (otherwise the attack is useless), but with the help of Dragonite’s Fast Call Ability, we can use Supporters like Guzma & Hala and Colress’s Tenacity to go find Stadiums, get the most bang out of our buck for them, and then discard them with World’s End. We can also get them right back into our hand from the discard for round 2 thanks to Lusamine. So these lines of play are definitely doable, but outside of Fire Energy off a Mela or Raihan into a Double Dragon or Counter Energy attachment, this is going to be significantly harder to pull off in modern builds of Dragon. To that I say… build it with Darkness Energy anyway! There’s a fun Hydreigon that has the Dark Impulse Ability, allowing you to accelerate a Darkness Energy from your discard to your Active Pokemon. At that point (minus the fact it’s another Stage 2 in the deck), it turns Eternatus into any other Basic Dragon Attacker, needing 2 Energy Attachments in the form of Double Energies or Supporters in order to fire in a single turn. These Dark Energy attachments through Dark Impulse can also help you Retreat out of the Active much more efficiently without losing vital Energies, as well as enabling the quintessential Dragon Attacker Druddigon’s Dragon Claw attack, for instances where you can’t seem to get another Basic off, but you didn’t have a Pokemon KO’d last turn in order to activate Revenge. Ultimately, I hate how streamlined Dragon has become because it seems that TPCi doesn’t know how to print a good Dragon, so I implore you, Dragon Gym Leader, to try something new and see if you can make it work. Eternatus for many is a really cool design and people like it, I’d hate for you all to not be able to enjoy a simple, decent printing of a card for a Pokemon you enjoy simply because it doesn’t fit “the mold”. Put your mind to it and I’m sure you can find ways to pull it off!

Colorless

#86 Kecleon – Colorless – HP70

Basic Pokemon

Ability: Hidden Expertise

If any damage is done to this Pokémon by attacks, flip a coin. If heads, prevent that damage.

[C][C] Tongue Whip: This attack does 30 damage to 1 of your opponent’s Pokémon. (Don’t apply Weakness and Resistance for Benched Pokémon.)

Weakness: Fighting (x2)

Resistance: none

Retreat: 1

This card isn’t good. It has no evolution, and as a result has a very bad stat line. It does some of the worst damage per Energy cost ratio that it is laughable in the modern era of Pokemon TCG printings. It doesn’t even have free retreat.

But it has the chance of being perpetually immortal, so let’s talk about it and what stupid stuff you can combine with it. Kecleon here has the Hidden Expertise Ability, a direct copy and paste of Dragapult’s notorious Infiltrator Ability. However, this isn’t the only Pokemon in Colorless to have this Ability: meet Primate Dexterity Ambipom. All about the flips, this card has great synergy with Crazy Code Porygon-Z, allowing you to attach as many Energies to it until you feel comfortable enough that you can mathematically get the KO. And then to boot, 50% of the time you won’t be punished for your overcommitment of attachments due to its Ability. Combined, Ambipom and Kecleon (despite the Kecleon doing no damage) are a fierce combo, and will lead to some of the goofiest, snowball-iest, and dare I say memorable (for good or bad, depends on what side of the table you’re on) games of GLC!

#89 Heliolisk – Colorless – HP110

Stage 1 – Evolves from Helioptile

[C] Parabolic Charge: Search your deck for up to 4 Energy cards, reveal them, and put them into your hand. Then, shuffle your deck.

[C][C][C] Electroslug: 80 damage.

Weakness: Fighting (x2)

Resistance: none

Retreat: 1

Now let me preface by saying that I don’t think this card is particularly good. However, it has direct synergy with my absolute favorite Support Pokemon in Colorless: Crazy Code Porygon-Z! Heliolisk’s Parabolic Charge allows you to search for any 4 Energy Cards (even Special Energies!) and put them into your hand. Of course, it’s an attack on a Stage 1, so it is incredibly slow, but if you are 1 of 8 Heliolisk enjoyers out there and want to utilize it in it’s weird, niche Normal Typing, then there’s a cool little combo synergy you can pull off that, if it goes unpunish, could load up a multiple different attackers on your board and apply a ton of pressure. Additionally, this now sets the precedent that perhaps TPCi and Creatures aren’t scared to utilize some Pokemon’s alternate typings for TCG card printings (Think Scizor’s Bug Type translating to a Grass Scizor in the TCG, or even something like Heliolisk in the form of the Pyroar line becoming Colorless due to its Normal typing in the games).

Trainers & Energy

Helper Bell – Trainer

Item

You can use this card only if you go second, and only on your first turn.

Search your deck for a Supporter card, reveal it, and put it into your hand. Then, shuffle your deck.

You may play as many Item cards as you like during your turn.

This card is only good a very, very low percentage of the time. However, what it does do is something that doesn’t exist without some other form of gambling. Helper Bell effectively is a 2nd Printing of any MANDATORY Supporter that you absolutely need early in order to pop off in GLC (bar Prizing). If you need it during you first turn going 2nd in order to get your gameplan really rolling, this is the card for you. The only other cards that can fulfill a similar role is Cram-o-matic and Xtransciever, but those require you to discard an item AND you only get its payoff 50% of the time, or you flip a coin and only get its pay off 50% of the time. Helper Bell doesn’t require the gamble, you just need to get it on your first turn going second (which inherently for a TCG, is a gamble in and of itself). I think this could be a really greedy but cool addition to “all eggs in 1 basket” decks that reeeeaaally need to see a certain combo line early in order to pop off (think Arven for Technical Machine: Evolution + Buddy-Buddy Poffin combo for a niche, wonky set up deck), as well as an interesting addition to Lost Circle/Lost Bomb style decks, which ideally want to see Colress’s Experiment as early as possible. And in those decks, worst case scenario you can just lost zone the Helper Bell later and it makes your choice for that particular Colress’s Experiment, Flower Selecting, Lost Blender or even Lost Vaccuum rather simple hehe

#94 Mystery Set – Trainer

Item

Look at the top 3 cards of your deck. You may put them back in any order, or shuffle those cards and put them on the bottom of your deck.

You may play as many Item cards as you like during your turn.

This card has a few really fringe use cases, but I think they’re relevant enough to mention the card (I also love both the archetypes I’m about to mention, so some inherent bias there). The first part of Mystery Set is a perfect addition to Metal GLC lists that aim to cheat out Emergency Entry Metagross and/or use Metang’s Metal Maker Ability. They stack the top of the deck and let you know exactly what’s up there (unfortunately it’s one card short to know every card for Metal Maker). If they aren’t there, and the rest of the cards you don’t want on the top, then you can just slam them to the bottom and get that much closer to cards you do want. Obviously this is true to any decks that card about the top deck for some combo or Ability, but I used this as it is rather evident what you’d be doing with Mystery Set.

And that second portion about putting them on the bottom is also relevant, particularly for Fossils! Some people might not know, but alongside the Unidentified Fossil that most Fossils evolve from, there are some Fossil Trainer cards that cheat out the Fossil Pokemon, such as Helix Fossil Omanyte. As the card reads, this cheating method requires you to have the Fossil Pokemon at the bottom 7 of your deck. That is rather hard, but this Mystery Set makes it a little easier. Obvious you can just raw hit the Fossil Pokemon on the top, but you can also safeguard this a bit with the newer Stadium Academy at Night. Academy allows you to put the Fossil Pokemon that you likely searched for on the top of your deck, and then you can use the respective Fossil item to slam the Pokemon right on your Bench! Ultimately it is very niche, but I love Fossils and wish they were more playable.

#104 Jasmine’s Gaze – Trainer

Supporter

During your opponent’s next turn, each of your Pokémon takes 30 less damage from attacks from your opponent’s Pokémon (after applying Weakness and Resistance). (This includes new Pokémon that come into play.)

You may play only 1 Supporter card during your turn.

Metal’s favorite keyword phrase “takes X less damage” has now become a generic Supporter, and I’m all here for it! 30 Damage can sometimes be a big enough threshold to save yourself from KOs, and unlike static HP increasing Abilities or Tools, the damage that’s reduced is never on the board, so you guarantee deny the later multi-prize turn. I’m really excited to use this card in decks like my Saving Private Torterra list that opts to play a full tank strategy, as well as obviously trying to see if it’s worth slotting into some Metal lists, especially Metal lists that aim to be tanky using Big Shield Aegislash or looping Basics with Acerola and Penny. Ultimately happy that damage reduction has yet another generic card that can be used for that sort of strategy, because all we really had that was “worth it” was Pot Helmet (and its weaker, powercrept predecessors). 

#105 Amped Amphitheater – Trainer

Stadium

Basic Pokémon in play get +30 HP.

You may play only 1 Stadium card during your turn. Put it next to the Active Spot, and discard it if another Stadium comes into play. A Stadium with the same name can’t be played.

Generic Stadiums are always interesting to see how they begin to shake up certain deck building philosophies. The printing of Artazon was incredibly beneficial to many a type that didn’t have a Brooklet Hill or Stormy Mountains, and led to tons of Stadium-centric turbo combos for a time off Supporters like Guzma & Hala. However, this card may not have that same effect on the metagame. Amped Amphitheater is every Big Basic deck’s dream on paper, giving you Basic Pokemon more staying power to continue oppressing the opponent. Usually when I think of Big Basics, I think of the best type and deck in the format: Colorless. However, Colorless already has something very similar to Amped Amphitheater: Aspertia City Gym. That card is less generic, only buffing you and your opponent if you’re in the ditto, and yet doesn’t see any play at all. It does in fact only give +20 compared to Amped’s +30, but I don’t know in what instances the extra +10 fixes that math for you. Stadiums like these also struggle with the fact that they can be bumped, and suddenly you lose the extra HP thats keeping you alive, leading to a multiple prize turn. Ideally you’re outpacing their resources anyways by keeping your Basics alive those extra turns before the stadium gets bumped, but I don’t think it will ultimately be all that prevalent.

#106 Gravity Mountain – Trainer

Stadium

The maximum HP of all Stage 2 Pokémon in play is reduced by 30.

You may play only 1 Stadium card during your turn. Put it next to the Active Spot, and discard it if another Stadium comes into play. A Stadium with the same name can’t be played.

This card, however, is the definition of tech central. We talked a little bit above about Stage 2 when I mentioned Gastrodon, so I’ll refer you to read that for my thoughts on Stage 2s in GLC metagame. However, ultimately if you have a big metashare of Stage 2 decks in your local scene, Gravity Mountain becomes a relatively easy slot in to deal with that style of deckbuilding. I also think it can be to some benefit to Spread decks, as usually big bulky Stage 2 decks simply outpace spread decks, even if the spread player has the nuts and the Stage 2 deck starts off slow (just not too slow). However, slamming this when you have a bunch of damage counters on board and manipulating them with Sinister Hand Dusknoir sounds like a lot of fun (but ultimately, why wouldn’t we just try and gun for Technical Machine: Devolution instead).

Final Thoughts

Thank you so much for reading my review of the Japanese sets that will make up probably most of our Surging Sparks set coming out November 8th! Initially I thought this review would be much shorter, as Paradise Dragona left much to be desired. But as I continued to look through the list, I eventually found things that were salvageable and turned this review into a pretty average sized one (in regards to my reviews, a least. I know I yap a lot). As always, thank you to PokeBeach for being such a good resources for these Japanese reveals and releases, and a thank you to both Toine Lay and JustInBasil for providing the Pokemon TCG community at large with translations. Lastly, a huge thank you to the Cardboard Warriors crew for giving me the opportunity to do these reviews. Make sure to show all the parties above support by following them wherever it is they want to be followed (probably Twitter let’s be real). Terastal Festival (the equivalent of our Prismatic Evolution) is right around the corner in Japan on December 6th, so unless that set is really low on GLC relevant cards and/or full of reprints, expect to hear from me soon! Until then, I hope you all enjoy cooking in the best way to play the Pokemon TCG (stole that line from Mahone 😉)!