Hey everyone! It’s pre-release time, and many of you may have already gotten your hands on some Twilight Masquerade. Hopefully you’ve pulled some of the bangers that exist in this set and are able to start cooking soon, and if you’re looking for inspiration: look no further! I will say, apologies for not making the Crimson Haze set review until now. The set didn’t really have enough to warrant an article by itself, and since it makes up a good chunk of our Twilight Masquerade set, I decided to review it once all of Japan’s Mask of Change released. Note that some cards from Crimson Haze especially likely have been internationally cut from Twilight Masquerade and put into a later set, but we can hope that doesn’t include too many GLC-relevant ones! Without further ado, let’s get into the good stuff!

Grass

Poltchageist – Grass – HP30 - Crimson Haze

Basic Pokémon

Ability: Shadowy Concealment

As long as this Pokémon is on your Bench, prevent all damage done to this Pokémon by attacks (both yours and your opponent’s).

[G] Hook: 10 damage.

Weakness: Fire (x2)

Resistance: none

Retreat: 1

Pretty simple on this one, it’s probably the best Poltchageist we’ll ever get. Additionally, while this Poltchageist is from Crimson Haze, there’s a Sinistcha down below from Mask of Change that has some relevance and fun. Can’t complain about having a good Basic on your GLC debut!

Volbeat – Grass – HP70 - Mask of Change

Basic Pokémon

[C] Fast Sign: If you go first, you can use this attack during your first turn. Search your deck for up to 2 Basic Pokémon and put them onto your Bench. Then, shuffle your deck.

[C][C] Coordinated Strike: 20+ damage. If Illumise is on your Bench, this attack does 60 more damage.

Weakness: Fire (x2)

Resistance: None

Retreat: 1

A great way to add redundancy to your Grass GLC lists, this Volbeat makes your start and your turn 1 “safer”. In addition, its attack is DCE compatible and can make for some low-to-the-ground attacking.

Grookey – Grass – HP70 - Mask of Change

Basic Pokémon

[G] Smack Kick: 10 damage.

[G][G] Branch Poke: 30 damage.

Weakness: Fire (x2)

Resistance: none

Retreat: 1

Don’t really gotta explain this one, it’s simply the best Grookey now. The one we’ve been using thus far has an attack that does 20 for [G][C], meanwhile this one does 30 for [G][G] (and you’ll be running plenty of Basic Grass Energy in lists that run the Rillaboom line). Everything else is identical, so having a high damage threshold that can be multiplied by Weakness is a strict win

Thwackey – Grass – HP100 - Mask of Change

Stage 1 – Evolves from Grookey

Ability: Bang Bang Drum

If your Active Pokémon has the Ability “Festival Lead,” you may use this Ability. Search your deck for a card and put it into your hand. Then, shuffle your deck.

[G][G] Slap: 50 damage.

Weakness: Fire (x2)

Resistance: none

Retreat: 2

Thwackey is interesting, but will not see play in your typical RillaSaur lists. However, a new “Festival Lead” Grass deck may come to exist, and this would be a key part of that small package between this and the Dipplin below, allowing for some rather explosive and cheap attacks! Perhaps synergizes best with cards such as Fluffy Barrage Jumpluff.

Rillaboom – Grass – HP180 - Mask of Change

Stage 2 – Evolves from Thwackey

[G] Drum Attack: 60 damage. During your opponent’s next turn, the Defending Pokémon’s attacks and Retreat Costs are [C] more.

[G][G] Wood Hammer: 180 damage. This Pokémon does 50 damage to itself.

Weakness: Fire (x2)

Resistance: none

Retreat: 4

Going off the above, cheap attacks that do tons of damage, and evolving off one of your search engines for the deck. Feels like a no-brainer inclusion in this package for me.

Dipplin – Grass – HP80 - Mask of Change

Stage 1 – Evolves from Applin

Ability: Festival Lead

If Festival Grounds is in play, this Pokémon may use an attack it has twice. If the first attack Knocks Out your opponent’s Active Pokémon, you may attack again after your opponent chooses a new Active Pokémon.

[G] Do the Wave: 20x damage. This attack does 20 damage for each of your Benched Pokémon.

Weakness: Fire (x2)

Resistance: none

Retreat: 2

I think this brings forth a new cheap attacking deck for Grass, similar to that of the popular “Elusive Feather” archetype. The requirements between this Dipplin and the Thwackey above might be a bit too restrictive to let this deck see any true meta contention, but it will definitely go crazy when it pops off! Unfortunately, this card has to use “an attack it has” twice instead of simply attacking twice, so it can’t use TMs such as Crisis Punch or Blindside to give itself more options. Still, being able to do 100 damage twice with a full Bench for a single energy is pretty solid, and Grass usually wants a massive bench anyways


Sinistcha – Grass – HP70 - Mask of Change

Stage 1 – Evolves from Poltchageist

[G] Cursed Droplets: Put 4 damage counters on your opponent’s Pokémon in any way you like.

[G] Match’all-Out: 70x damage. Discard up to 3 Basic [G] Energy cards from your Pokémon in play. This attack does 70 damage for each card discarded this way.

Weakness: Fire (x2)

Resistance: none

Retreat: 1

Here’s the Sinistcha I alluded to above. It’s Match’all-Out attack can hit up to 210 damage for the cost of discarding 3 Grass energies from any of your Pokémon in play. Sounds pretty doable, and I’ve been thinking about this card’s place in a Rain-Dance-style Grass with Spring Bloom Cherrim. It offers strong damage, has a good Basic, and if you find yourself in a stalling match in the late game, its Cursed Droplets attack could allow you to find the precision KOs you need to win.

Fire

Infernape – Fire – HP140 - Crimson Haze

Stage 2 – Evolves from Monferno

Ability: Fire Dancing

Once during your turn, you may attach a Basic [R] Energy, a Basic [F] Energy, or 1 of each from your hand to your Pokémon in any way you like.

[R][R][C] Scorching Fire: 200 damage. Discard an Energy from this Pokémon.

Weakness: Water (x2)

Resistance: none

Retreat: 1

I want to preface that I don’t think this Infernape is all that great. However, for all my Infernape enjoyers, you finally got a semi-relevant and not gimmick-oriented copy for your Fire lists! If this had an equivalent Ability to Tar Generator from Coalossal in Fighting, perhaps this card would be good, however reading “from hand” means we’ve got to constantly be adding energies back into our hand instead of simply recycling them. At that point, except for the attack, we’d be better off playing Inferno Fandango Emboar

Chi-Yu – Fire – HP110 - Crimson Haze

Basic Pokémon

[C] Allure: Draw 2 cards.

[R][C] Ground Melt: 60+ damage. If a Stadium is in play, this attack does 60 more damage. Then, discard that Stadium.

Weakness: Water (x2)

Resistance: none

Retreat: 1

It isn’t as good as our revenge attacking Chi-Yu with Megafire of Envy, but this one has a requirement that is arguably easier to accomplish, especially intentionally/willingly, similarly to the Sunny Form Castform Fire uses on occasion. Still, I doubt this sees much play over the other Chi-Yu.

Darmanitan – Fire – HP140 - Mask of Change

Stage 1 – Evolves from Darumaka

[R][R] Rolling Tackle: 60 damage.

[R][R][R] Inferno Onrush: 210 damage. This Pokémon also does 70 damage to itself.

Weakness: Water (x2)

Resistance: None

Retreat: 3

Well… 210 for 3 (or 2 with Charizard’s Burn Brightly Ability) is nothing to scoff at in the Fire type. This card is a wallbreaker for a type that, to do similar amounts of damage, often requires significantly more energy. This is a happy addition in my opinion. However, it’s on a Stage 1, so naturally it will be harder to use back to back and might lead many Fire type Gym Leaders to be wary of including it in their decks.

Litwick – Fire – HP60 - Mask of Change

Basic Pokémon

[R] Call for Family: Search your deck for a Basic Pokémon and put it onto your Bench. Then, shuffle your deck.

[R][C] Live Coal: 20 damage.

Weakness: Water (x2)

Resistance: None

Retreat: 1

Probably the best Fire Litwick we have. There’s one with Find a Friend, but that adds the Pokémon to your hand, instead of to your Bench like Call for Family. Very similar argument to Gather the Crew Basculin and Beacon Alolan Vulpix, but ultimately Basculin won that argument. I see it being no different here.

Chandelure – Fire – HP130 - Mask of Change

Stage 2 – Evolves from Lampent

Ability: Inviting Light

Once during your turn, you may use this Ability. Each player draws a card.

[R] Mind Ruler: 30x damage. This attack does 30 damage for each card in your opponent’s hand.

Weakness: Water (x2)

Resistance: None

Retreat: 2

I’ll admit this is rather gimmicky, but it looks fun! This format is full of “Draw till X” Abilities like Industrious Incisors Bibarel and Abyssal Hand Octillery, so it always has to be on your opponent’s mind on whether or not to use those and enable your Chandelure. Still, it’s a Stage 2, and doesn’t do anything outside of damage and drawing you a card for your troubles. Still funny though.

Water

Walking Wake – Water – HP130 - Crimson Haze

Basic Pokémon (Ancient)

[W] Aurora Gain: 20 damage. Heal 20 damage from this Pokémon.

[W][W][C] Cleaving Wave: 20x damage. Put up to 9 damage counters on this Pokémon. This attack does 20 damage for each damage counter you put in this way.

Weakness: Lighting (x2)

Resistance: none

Retreat: 1

Interesting Basic Water addition, with a max cap of 180 for 3 energies. That’s the highest scaling damage we have on a Basic for that amount of energy, so it’s definitely worth considering in your future Water Builds. Most things nowadays are able to hit the Magic Number 130 anyways, so I don’t see Cleaving Wave’s requirement as a downside truthfully, unless you were planning to Luxurious Cape this thing.

Poliwhirl – Water – HP100 - Mask of Change

Stage 1 – Evolves from Poliwag

[W] Hypnosis: Your opponent’s Active Pokémon is now Asleep.

[C][C] Double Slap: 30x damage. Flip 2 coins. This attack does 30 damage for each heads.

Weakness: Lightning (x2)

Resistance: None

Retreat: 2

Just outright the best Poliwhirl we have now, guaranteeing a status condition (outside of Pokémon Checkup flips).

Poliwrath – Water – HP170 - Mask of Change

Stage 2 – Evolves from Poliwhirl

[W] Hypnosis: Your opponent’s Active Pokémon is now Asleep.

[C][C] Jumping Uppercut: 120+ damage. You may do 120 more damage. If you do, shuffle this Pokémon and all attached cards into your deck.

Weakness: Lightning (x2)

Resistance: None

Retreat: 3
A very interesting Poliwrath. With 170 HP, it gets beefed up to a very respectable 270HP with Luxurious Cape. This combos rather nicely with its Jumping Uppercut attack, that for a Double Colorless Energy does 120, but you may choose to do 120 more (240 total), and then shuffle Poliwrath and all cards attached back into your deck. That includes the Luxurious Cape, allowing you to use it again later, and the likely Double Colorless Energy attached. Afterward, you just swap into something with a good Active Ability like Blizzard Veil Articuno or Primal Law Dracovish and get ready to set up the combo again the following turn!

Milotic – Water – HP120 - Mask of Change

Stage 1 – Evolves from Feebas

Ability: Tranquil

Your opponent’s Pokémon in play and the cards attached to those Pokémon can’t be returned to their hand.

[W][C][C] Hydro Splash: 100 damage.

Weakness: Lightning (x2)

Resistance: none

Retreat: 1

This one is pretty niche, but as someone who has played a LOT of Water Spread- I HATE it when people Scoop-Up Net their Pokémon. While finding the space for it is incredibly tough, this might just make my next iteration of Water Spread, simply out of spite.

Froslass – Water – HP90 - Mask of Change

Stage 1 – Evolves from Snorunt

Ability: Freezing Curtain

During Pokémon Checkup, put 1 damage counter on each Pokémon in play with an Ability (both yours and your opponent’s), except any Froslass.

[W][C] Frost Smash: 60 damage.

Weakness: Metal (x2)

Resistance: None

Retreat: 1

On the subject of Water Spread, what an interesting concept in this Froslass! Abilities are the name of the game in this format (unless your name is Garbotoxin Garbodor), and this Froslass looks to punish those that use them. Unfortunately, a lot of Water’s best tools are tied behind Abilities, meaning you’ll also be doing damage to your Pokémon in between every turn. Still, a potentially super strong Ability that needs to be built around and just might be good enough to warrant it!

Lightning

Helioptile – Lightning – HP60 - Crimson Haze

Basic Pokémon

[C] Collect: Draw a card.

[L] Static Shock: 10 damage.

Weakness: Fighting (x2)

Resistance: none

Retreat: 1

Pretty simple, the best Helioptile we have. If it’s your favorite Pokémon line, you’ve got a solid starting option to hopefully get out of a bind with Collect.

Morpeko – Electric – HP70 - Crimson Haze

Basic Pokémon

Ability: Snack Search

Once during your turn, you may look at the top card of your deck. Then, you may discard it.

[L] Pick and Patch: Attach up to 2 basic Energy cards from your discard pile to your Pokémon in any way you like.

Weakness: Fighting (x2)

Resistance: none

Retreat: 1

Not the most phenomenal addition to Lightning, but a decent enough addition that it’s worth the mention. Identical to Excavate Sableye, this allows you to manipulate the top deck or otherwise discard it. Discard in Lightning is nothing new, as we actually want our Basic Lightning Energies in the discard for Dynamotor. Pick and Patch attaching any basic Energy (not only Lightning) could combo well with Amazing Shot Raikou as well. However - Sprint Zebstrika is probably a better all-around pick in terms of getting things into the discard, with the added upside of drawing more cards too. In any case, Morpeko still warrants a little consideration!

Emolga – Lightning – HP60 - Mask of Change

Basic Pokémon

[C] Sky Wave: 10 damage. This attack also does 10 damage to each Benched Pokémon (both yours and your opponent’s). (Don’t apply Weakness and Resistance for Benched Pokémon.)

Weakness: Fighting (x2)

Resistance: none

Retreat: 0

What a good card! I LOVE this card and the consistency it brings to Lightning! It’s a 1 Energy Basic enabler for Collateral Bolts Raichu, and Lightning has such little HP that doing damage to your own Pokémon doesn’t really matter much - you’ll probably be KO’d anyways (just try and make sure you don’t sweep your own board with Collateral Bolts at the same time as your opponent’s)! Emolga having free retreat is also phenomenal, allowing it to be a pivot as well as enabling easy access to Dynamotor Eelektrik and Flaaffy! I’m really excited to play with this card in the coming weeks!

Psychic

Florges – Psychic – HP140 - Crimson Haze

Stage 2 – Evolves from Floette

Ability: Captivating Temptation

Once during your turn, you may flip a coin. If heads, switch in 1 of your opponent’s Benched Pokémon to the Active Spot. The new Active Pokémon is now Confused.

[P][C] Magical Shot: 120 damage.

Weakness: Metal (x2)

Resistance: none

Retreat: 2

Psychic continues to get interesting, albeit unreliable, control options. While being very similar to Loopy Lasso Venusaur, this card is unfortunately just a strict downgrade. Venusaur makes the active Asleep, that - while yes - is dependent on a coin flip, can make it so your opponent can’t retreat or attack. Additionally, decks that use Venusaur also use Swaying Strangle Cradily, who also fills that role of denying retreat. Perhaps combining this with Galar Mine and maybe even Long-Distance Hypnosis Munna could produce some results, but it’s ultimately very gimmicky.

Abra – Psychic – HP40 - Mask of Change

Basic Pokémon

Ability: Teleporter

Once during your turn, if this Pokémon is in the Active Spot, you may shuffle it and all cards attached to it into your deck.

[P] Beam: 10 damage.

Weakness: Darkness (x2)

Resistance: Fighting (-30)

Retreat: 1

Now that the Alakazam line is able to be printed, we will continue to get new Abra cards. This most recent printing I think is honestly in contention for being the best Abra we’ll see for a long time (bar one getting generic support attacks or stuff like that). Being able to pivot yourself and shuffle back into deck I think is very interesting. Unfortunately, it only has 40HP, otherwise it would be very interesting to see this loop itself in a control deck with tools equipped like Luxurious Cape, allowing it to deny all the damage your opponent does. Sadly, 140 HP with Luxurious Cape attached isn’t really that big of a threshold, and often will just net your opponent 2 Prize Cards for your troubles.

Kadabra – Psychic – HP40 - Mask of Change

Stage 1 – Evolves from Abra

[P] Psychic: 10+ damage. This attack does 30 more damage for each Energy attached to your opponent’s Active Pokémon.

Weakness: Darkness (x2)

Resistance: Fighting (-30)

Retreat: 1

Just a solid Stage 1 that evolves into the Stage 2. Plenty of Energy Duplicators in the format like Jungle Totem Venusaur and Burn Brightly Charizard, so as you’re waiting to evolve into Alakazam, this can still potentially net some pretty nasty KOs early on. And for a single Psychic attachment, no less.

Alakazam – Psychic – HP140 - Mask of Change

Stage 2 – Evolves from Kadabra

[P] Strange Hack: Your opponent’s Active Pokémon is now Confused. Move any number of damage counters on your opponent’s Pokémon to their other Pokémon in any way you like.

[P] Psychic: 10+ damage. This attack does 50 more damage for each Energy attached to your opponent’s Active Pokémon.

Weakness: Darkness (x2)

Resistance: Fighting (-30)

Retreat: 1

Alakazam finally has its GLC debut, and as a fan-favorite it’s practically required to be brought up! It isn’t a bad one either, although many would argue that Psychic has better tools for what this card wants to do. Still, if Alakazam is one of your favorites, it might be time to give him a deck of his own. Alakazam’s Strange Hack attack allows him to Confuse the opponent, and afterwards move the damage counters on your opponent’s Pokémon (that’s right, any of them) to their other Pokémon in any way you like. Psychic has plenty of spread options, such as Eerie Voice Gourgeist and Mismagius, Soprano Wave Meloetta, Shining Eyes Azelf, so there’s tons of ways of enabling Alakazam’s attack! Now, Psychic does have another Stage 2 that does his job better; Sinister Hand Dusknoir has that same effect on its Ability, and it doesn’t need to make itself vulnerable in the Active by attacking. However, if you really like Alakazam, or perhaps want multiple options in your deck to fulfill the same niche, then by all means use it! The Psychic attack, like the Kadabra above, allows it also to KO many Pokémon that love to stack energies, making it a good wall-breaker against cards like Unfazed Fat Snorlax, which spread notoriously struggles with.

Fezandipiti – Psychic – HP120 - Mask of Change

Basic Pokémon

Ability: Adrenaline Pheromones

If this Pokémon has any Darkness Energy attached to it and if any damage is done to this Pokémon by attacks, flip a coin. If heads, prevent that damage.

[P] Energy Feathers: 30x damage. This attack does 30 damage for each Energy attached to this Pokémon.

Weakness: Metal (x2)

Resistance: none

Retreat: 1

This one is weird, but we’ll talk about it. Fezandipiti’s Ability basically gives itself Dragapult’s Infiltrator Ability, but at the expense of having to have a Darkness Energy attached. Now, as a Psychic type, that’s kind of weird, but stick with me. As you’ll see below when I talk about Okidogi, there are cards that can enable both the Darkness Energy requirement for the Ability, and the Psychic Energy requirement for the attack, most notably rainbow-effect Special Energies. This means cards like Counter Energy activate the Ability (when behind in prizes), and also gives Fezandipiti’s Energy Feathers attack 2 Energies to hit for 60 damage, and that isn’t including any other Energy acceleration like Psychic Recharge Malamar or Clairvoyant Sense Xatu, which could allow you to easily swing for 120 (albeit at the cost of your Counter Energy). 

Where I think this card really has the potential to shine is in a deck like kdnhard’s Selenic Mirage. That deck uses Gardevoir’s Psychic Mirage Ability to double all Basic Psychic Energy attached to your Psychic Pokémon, and accelerates it with both Xatu and Malamar. The deck has taken on many different forms, but its initial synergistic core was with cards with attacks similar to Fezandipiti, such as Moon Kinesis Lunatone. Small changes like adding Raihan + 1 Basic Darkness Energy, or just a Counter Energy to enable Adrenaline Pheromones when you’re trying to come back from a bad spot could be possible in a deck like this. I’ll leave it up to your capable hands, reader!

Fighting

Hisuian Arcanine – Fighting – HP130 - Crimson Haze

Stage 1 – Evolves from Hisuian Growlithe

[.] Proud Fangs: 30+ damage. If your Benched Pokémon have any damage counters on them, this attack does 90 more damage.

[F][F][C] Searing Flame: 90 damage. Your opponent’s Active Pokémon is now Burned.

Weakness: Grass (x2)

Resistance: none

Retreat: 2

Man, reading this card reminds me of how little I see Earthquake Fighting nowadays. Still, say hello to a new addition to Earthquake Fighting’s potential attacker roster! Hisuian Arcanine’s Proud Fangs ability does 120 damage so long as your Benched Pokémon have any damage counter on them, which is something Earthquake attackers such as Donphan or Whiscash excel at. However, the deck struggles to link attacks together back to back due to all the attackers being Stage 1s and needing more than 1 Energy (outside of Donphan), which is the perfect niche that Hisuian Arcanine can fill! Still a Stage 1, but Earthquake Fighting has needed some help and usually it has only gotten more Earthquake Attackers, but not really Pokémon that can capitalize on the damage you do to your own Bench. Alternatively, you can play this as a free attacker with a small self-damage core like how Dragon decks do with Drampa, using cards like Gapejaw Bog, Rainbow Energy, and sometimes even Frozen City to enable Proud Fangs!

Ting-Lu – Fighting – HP140 - Mask of Change

Basic Pokémon

[F] Ground Crack: If a Stadium is in play, this attack does 30 damage to each of your opponent’s Benched Pokémon. Then, discard that Stadium. (Don’t apply Weakness and Resistance for Benched Pokémon.)

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

Weakness: Grass (x2)

Resistance: none

Retreat: 3

The more I read this card, the more excited I am for it. Fighting Spread is a deck I’ve tried to make work for the last 1.5 years. And up until this card, I had pretty much given up on the concept. Fighting Spread as a concept struggles from having zero draw support (like every Fighting deck) and having very little board-wide attackers. Yes, this Ting-Lu requires a Stadium to be in play, but Fighting loves Stadiums, and with Lusamine we can aim to get 1 or even 2 impactful Stadiums back to keep attacking with Ting-Lu. Before this, all we really had was Hitmonlee and Palossand, with Palossand being the significantly better option. But now with this Ting-Lu, we can spread 30 across the Bench with 2 different mons, and then when we’re ready, we can finish off with Rhyperior, who with its Bedrock Shake attack does 120 to the Active and 60 to EACH Benched Pokémon with Damage Counters on it. Reversal Energy enables this for a simple Raihan combo, accelerating a Basic Energy from the Discard to Rhyperior, and then searching for Reversal Energy to attach from hand. Alternatively, we can run Energizing Rock Salt Garganacl to accelerate from the discard, potentially in parallel with setting up Rhyperior.

Sandslash – Fighting – HP120 - Mask of Change

Stage 1 – Evolves from Sandshrew

[C] Dig Claws: 30 damage.

[F][C] Earthquake: 120 damage. This attack also does 10 damage to each of your Benched Pokémon. (Don’t apply Weakness and Resistance for Benched Pokémon.)

Weakness: Grass (x2)

Resistance: none

Retreat: 1

Another Earthquake attacker, and yet another 2 Energy cost Stage 1… still, it’s an alternative (albeit worse) to Whiscash, or if you really want to try and mash in as many Earthquake attackers into the list then it’s a pretty good inclusion. Only doing 10 damage to each of your Benched Pokémon is pretty good at fixing math, although it has anti-synergy with the Big Boss of the deck: Powerful Rage Steelix.

Conkeldurr – Fighting – HP180 - Mask of Change

Stage 2 – Evolves from Gurdurr

[F] Tantrum: 80 damage. This Pokémon is now Confused.

[F][C][C][C] Gutsy Swing: 250 damage. If this Pokémon is affected by a Special Condition, it can use this attack ignoring its Energy cost.

Weakness: Psychic (x2)

Resistance: none

Retreat: 3

I’d like to say I’m cookin’ straight heat like some Spicy Seasoned Curry with this concept, but in all honesty it might just be a horrible gimmick deck. HOWEVER, if you like gimmicks, strap in. Conkeldurr’s Gutsy Swing deals a MASSIVE 250 damage to your opponent’s active. Its attack cost is rather steep, being one Fighting and 3 Colorless, however its effect is that this steep Attack Cost can be ignored so long as Conkeldurr is affected by a Special Condition - sounds like another card I’ve talked about *cough* __my Raging Surf Review *cough*. Now, 6 months after the release of Paradox Rift, our good and gimmicky boy Klawf has a partner in crime. Klawf, as a Basic Pokémon, can deal a whopping 190 DAMAGE for a mere Double Colorless Energy. The downside? It has to have a status condition just like Conkeldurr. This is where Spicy Seasoned Curry comes in, allowing us to give our Active Pokémon the Burned Status Condition and meet these very specific requirements. The downside of this deck? Well… Spicy Seasoned Curry is really the only enabler, and as an Item Card, it is quite difficult to recycle. Technically we also have Imakuni? and Yell Horn, but these cards Confuse our Pokémon, meaning we have to flip a coin every time we attack, and if it’s tails, the attack is canceled and we take 30 damage for our troubles. Truthfully, this deck just needs either A.) Fighting as a type to get some good Support Pokémon to benefit its consistency, or B.) needs more enablers like Spicy Seasoned Curry, and then maybe it can be a good, dummy gimmick concept. Or ya know, C.) Print a tool that allows you to attack through Confusion while still being Confused (Sparkling Robe and Heavy Boots both remove the Confused Status Condition. Something like Windup Arm. However, that is so incredibly niche that I doubt it’d ever be printed.

Okidogi – Fighting – HP130 - Mask of Change

Basic Pokémon

Ability: Adrenaline Power

If this Pokémon has any Darkness Energy attached to it, it gets +100HP and its attacks do 100 more damage to your opponent’s Active Pokémon.

[F][F] Okie-Punchy: 70 damage.

Weakness: Psychic (x2)

Resistance: none

Retreat: 2

This card could be the birth of a new, Special Energy Fighting build, and it could be very, very nasty. Remember that rainbow Energies never have to “choose” which type they provide - they always provide all the Energy types, just only 1 (or sometimes more) unit(s) of Energy. That means that Okidogi with a Counter Energy (when behind in Prizes) meets the 2 Fighting Energy requirement to declare Okie-Punchy,but your Counter Energy still also provides Darkness Energy, giving Okidogi’s attack 100 more damage (and Okidogi itself 100 more HP). This is a pretty nuts combo, and allows Okidogi to be HUGE during your opponent’s turn with 230 HP (or 330 with a Luxurious Cape attached). Combine this with the tried and true Crisis Muscles Machamp, and you’ve got 2 HUGE walls that can deny Prizes left and right as you take yours for little effort. Obviously Counter Energy is the easiest, single Energy attachment option, but a small Basic Energy Raihan package with rainbow-effect Special Energies such as Rainbow Energy, Aurora Energy, and so on could also fill this need for Okidogi. Additionally, the powerful Reversal Energy works on the Crisis Muscles Machamp as well as Rainbow-Friendly attacks such as Crabominable’s Freezing Punch and Hisuian Arcanine’s Scorching Horn. Lastly, the recently revealed “Colress’s Tenacity” allows you to have another Special Energy fetcher for the deck outside of Guzma & Hala, which improves this deck-concept’s consistency a lot. Sadly, all these combos surrounding Okidogi are limited to the Fighting Shell, which is notoriously one of the weakest types when it comes to having good and abundant support Pokémon. However, when this deck isn’t bricking like every time I decide to pull up to my weekly GLC Night with Hitmonbros, it will surely pop off!

Dark

Whirlipede – Darkness – HP100 - Mask of Change

Stage 1 – Evolves from Venipede

[D] Poison Ring: Your opponent’s Active Pokémon is now Poisoned. During your opponent’s next turn, that Pokémon can’t retreat.

[D][C][C] Spinning Attack: 60 damage.

Weakness: Fighting (x2)

Resistance: none

Retreat: 3

Interesting conundrum with this Whirlipede, but Dark got no love so I thought I’d make a mountain out of a molehill. If you’re wanting to use Scolipede, especially the one right after this Whirlipede, you have the choice between this 100 HP one who Poisons the Active AND doesn’t let them retreat, or you have a 90HP one who also Poisons the Active and does 20 damage. Both cost 1 Darkness Energy to attack, and their second attacks aren’t really relevant. They’re also both still 3 retreat, meaning that neither has the upper hand on being Air Balloon compatible, or alternatively Heavy Ball compatible. I don’t know, personally I like the 100HP one more when combined with the Scolipede below, but I’ll leave that decision to you, reader.

Scolipede – Darkness – HP170 - Mask of Change

Stage 2 – Evolves from Whirlipede

[D][C] Unfair Game: Put damage counters on your opponent’s Active Pokémon until its remaining HP is 10.

[D][C][C] Sludge Bomb: 160 damage.

Weakness: Fighting (x2)

Resistance: none

Retreat: 3

Interesting Scolipede, with a different role in Poison Dark decks than our other Darkness Scolipede with Venoshock. This Scolipede’s Unfair Game attack functions identically to Alolan Raticate’s Super Fang. The big differences? Alolan Raticate is a Stage 1, but needs 1 more energy attachment (alternatively, is the perfect candidate to abuse Triple Acceleration Energy and Reversal Energy), meanwhile Scolipede is a Stage 2, but only needs 2 Energies to attack (and is Counter Energy compatible off a singular attachment). Both cards want to capitalize on getting the opponent down to 10 HP, then taking the Knock Out with Poison damage during Pokémon Checkup (with the added bonus of denying cards like Raihan or Teammates, since the KO happens after your turn has already ended). Cards like Toxic Powder Brute Bonnet or Poisonous Puddle Garbodor can enable this strategy somewhat consistently, yet the Energies you add to the deck are dictated by which line you choose to go. Alternatively, you can have both for redundancy in order to let that be your whole game plan.

Metal

Heatran – Metal – HP140 - Mask of Change

Basic Pokémon

Ability: Incandescent Body

If this Pokémon is in the Active Spot and is damaged by an attack from your opponent’s Pokémon (even if this Pokémon is Knocked Out), the Attacking Pokémon is now Burned.

[M][C][C] Steel Burst: 50x damage. Discard all [M] Energy attached to this Pokémon. This attack does 50 damage for each card you discarded in this way.

Weakness: Fire (x2)

Resistance: Grass (-30)

Retreat: 4

Metal only really got 1 new addition, but oh boy is it a good one. Outside of the never ending torment that is Metal Gym Leaders only ever getting good or interesting cards printed for the same 4 Pokémon (See: Jirachi, Bronzong, Magnezone, and now Heatran), this is an automatic inclusion in my AutoZone Metal List! One of the biggest gripes I had with our old Heatran was the need to run a rainbow-effect Special Energy, and a Basic Fire Energy to enable Raihan plays. As you can see in my change log, this also led me to running Viridian Forest, all to try and enable Heatran to hit for 160, which is our most consistent damage in the deck. Looping Zamazenta is great, but if they fail to KO Zamazenta the deck falls apart, and often can’t find the KO on bigger threats like Water’s Wailord or Grass’s Torterra. This Heatran fixes all those problems, giving us a pseudo-infinite damage threshold which allows us to play against even the biggest of Pokémon with Luxurious Cape attached. Luxurious Cape Snorlax outside of Zamazenta Retaliate range? No worries, Heatran with 5 Metal Energies can do it comfortably, and you don’t worry as much about discarding energies thanks to our wonderful stadium Mt. Coronet and our lovely Metal Links Bronzong which help us to recur those energies consistently. Truly excited for this card, makes Magnetic Circuit Magnezone feel like an even more important Rain-Dancer, and I cannot wait to play it soon.

Dragon

Applin – Dragon – HP40 - Crimson Haze

Basic Pokémon

[C] Find a Friend: Search your deck for a Pokémon, reveal it, and put it into your hand. Then, shuffle your deck.

[G][R] Rolling Tackle: 30 damage.

Weakness: none

Resistance: none

Retreat: 1

Dipplin – Dragon – HP80 - Crimson Haze

Stage 1 – Evolves from Applin

[G][R] Candied Catcher: Switch in 1 of your opponent’s Benched Pokémon to the Active Spot. This attack does 70 damage to the new Active Pokémon.

Weakness: none

Resistance: none

Retreat: 2

I’ll put these 2 together, since the big selling point is what having a Dragon type Applin does for Dragon as a type in GLC, however the Dipplin is also solid in its own right, having a gust effect with a moderate amount of damage. This can net KOs on weak 90HP support Pokémon that sit on the bench as long as it has a Muscle Band attached. It even has the potential to be a better line overall, once we get a Dragon Hydrapple printed that’s legal in GLC. One can only hope that it will be phenomenal, and bring real discussion between itself, and the topic(s) of the next paragraph.
Dragon Applin… I truly never thought I’d see the day. This is big for 1 major reason: This allows us to play the Flapple from Evolving Skies. Flapple’s Acidic Mucus attack does 50 damage for each Pokémon your opponent has in play that has an Ability. Abilities are huge in GLC, and in some of the biggest, bulkiest types such as Grass, Water, and even Colorless, Abilities are present all over. This attack costing a singular Colorless energy means that it can not only be loaded up in 1 turn with a simple attachment from hand, but it can also be any of Dragon’s MANY different energies that they run. This type of flexibility in an attacker is unprecedented in the type, and will give Dragon Gym Leaders a small break in between turns when they’re failing to get the combos off. Additionally, it being able to hit over the 180-200 threshold is something Dragon doesn’t really get to do as a type, as Druddigon and Drampa both hit for 160 for different conditions, and as such they struggle to KO the beefier Stage 2 Pokémon that some decks opt to play in the format. While less impressive, this also allows us to run Appletun with the Thick Mucus attack, which isn’t really that great on paper, until you realize how many decks actually play many Special Energies (think Special Energy Water, Tinkaton Psychic, Special Energy Lightning) as well as the obvious fact that Colorless is the best deck in the format, sporting all sorts of Special Energies in its arsenal. Personally, while a very unpopular approach, I’ll be attempting to run both Appletun and Flapple and see if having the options between one or the other in different matchups is worth it. I hope you’ll do your own testing on the matter and find what’s best for you, and what’s best against your local scene! ;)

Dreepy – Dragon – HP70 - Mask of Change

Basic Pokémon

[P] Slight Jealousy: 10 damage.

[R][P] Bite: 40 damage.

Weakness: none

Resistance: none

Retreat: 0

Drakloak – Dragon – HP90 - Mask of Change

Stage 1 – Evolves from Dreepy

Ability: Telling Spirit

Once during your turn, you may look at the top 2 cards of your deck. Put 1 of them into your hand and put the other 1 on the bottom of your deck.

[R][P] Dragon Headbutt: 70 damage.

Weakness: none

Resistance: none

Retreat: 1

Dragapult’s line finally starts peeking its head into the Dragon type for GLC, and honestly, it’s got me super excited for the future. To start, the Dreepy is 70 HP, meaning it is Buddy-Buddy Poffin compatible and only has 1 retreat, which is pretty much all you can really ask when your Stage 1 is this Drakloak. Drakloak is a phenomenal Stage 1, which allows it to have plenty of utility on the board as you prepare to evolve it into Dragapult. Similar to how Psychic uses Refinement Kirlia to add consistency to the deck before it evolves into either your choice of Gallade or Gardevoir, this will add similar levels of consistency for Dragon. While there’s not yet a Dragapult that is GLC-legal (thanks Standard Format, you got pretty much exactly what I wanted on a Dragapult but on a rulebox ex), I have high hopes for the future. This also allows us to start messing with different consistency cores in Dragon, instead of always relying on Fast Call Dragonite in our deck builds. Well… this, and the next card, are together the reasons as to why we might be able to look into different Dragonite cards…

Tatsugiri – Dragon – HP70 - Mask of Change

Basic Pokémon

Ability: Attract Customers

Once during your turn, if this Pokémon is in the Active Spot, you may look at the top 6 cards of your deck, reveal a Supporter card you find there, and put it into your hand. Then, shuffle the other cards back into your deck.

[R][W] Surf: 50 damage.

Weakness: none

Resistance: none

Retreat: 1

Tatsugiri is now in contention in whether or not it is the best pivot in GLC. Straight up, no strings attached. It is a phenomenal card, having an Ability similar to Metal’s Stellar Wish Jirachi, but with a few key differences. First, Jirachi allows you to get any Trainer card. This is massive for a type like Metal, who, depending on the build, lives or dies by its Stadiums and Tools, and in general it is such a strong search tool. However, Jirachi would afterwards put itself to sleep, requiring you to attach its partner in crime Escape Board in order to move it out of the active, and replace it with your next attacker. Tatsugiri has no such drawback. Tatsugiri only allows you to pick Supporter cards out of the cards you see from its Ability, but it allows you to see 1 more card (6) and it doesn’t put itself to sleep, meaning you can manually attach in order to retreat, or, better yet, use U-turn Board to give itself free-retreat. Jirachi would absolutely adore U-turn Board, but its caveat of going to sleep forces it to use Escape Board, meaning that once the Escape Board is gone, Jirachi is significantly weaker as a pivot. U-Turn Board can only (relevantly) be removed from the game with cards such as Lost Vacuum, so as long as you can avoid those (or play around them), you will have Tatsugiri (or other U-Turn Board compatible users) able to freely pivot every turn. This added consistency in Supporter searching might also allow us to leave the crutch that is Fast Call Dragonite, and instead look into some of the other options TPC has given Dragonite, most notably Hurricane Charge Dragonite (or any attacking Dragonite if you so choose, to your liking). Between itself and the Drakloak above, Dragon can now look at a lot of cards in 1 turn, and is looking to be a scary force to reckon with if it continues to get support (news flash, it probably will).

Colorless

They gave us no good Colorless cards. Like, nada. Zilch. But truthfully that feels pretty deserved - you guys get new cards every set. :P 

Trainers & Energy

Boomerang Energy – Special Energy - Crimson Haze

As long as this card is attached to a Pokémon, it provides [C] Energy.

If this card is discarded by the effect of an attack used by the Pokémon this card is attached to, attach this card from your discard pile to that Pokémon after attacking.

Well, correction to the above. They gave us no good Colorless Pokémon cards. This card is absolutely nuts, and there are tons of attacks that can abuse it across all types. However, no type is better suited to abuse a new colorless energy than Colorless itself. Cards such as Lazy Slaking, Ursaluna, and even Tornadus can use this energy to great levels of success, all requiring you to discard at least 1 Energy from themself (something that Colorless doesn’t want to do if at all possible, since it only has so many forms of Special Energy recovery such as Special Charge). 

In my opinion, this card is absolutely nuts, and I expect it to be used in many Colorless decks, albeit perhaps not the best Turbo one we have currently, as that deck doesn’t really use attackers that require you to discard energies. If nothing else, I know Geffrey’s Let’s Get Crazy deck will more than likely find space to add it, and that deck is already terrifying as is to go against (I’ve never beaten it once, for the record).

Bug Catching Set – Trainer - Mask of Change

Item

Look at the top 7 cards of your deck. You may choose up to 2 in any combination of Grass Pokémon and Basic [G] Energy cards you find there, reveal them, and put them into your hand. Then, shuffle the other cards back into your deck.

**You may play as many Item cards as you like during your turn.**
Niche card, but I think it might be interesting in a Grass Rain-Dance deck that utilizes Spring Bloom Cherrim. Being able to dig 7 deep and have a choice between Pokémon and Basic Grass Energy sounds perfect for that deck, as Grass was to go wide with big evolutions but it also wants to find Basic Energies in order to use Spring Bloom. I feel like it’s a rather consolidated piece for the deck, and can be really good even in the late game when the deck is thin and you shuffle Energies back into the deck with cards like Super Rod or Ordinary Rod.

Carmine – Trainer - Mask of Change

Supporter

If you go first, you may play this card during your first turn. Discard your hand and draw 5 cards.

You may play only 1 Supporter card during your turn.

So, ever since we got the “First Turn, No Supporter” rule at the start of the Sword and Shield Block, we have only had 2 Supporter cards be printed that bypass the Rule: Beauty, and this card: Carmine. While it isn’t necessarily much to work with, perhaps someone can cook up a nasty, super aggro item based draw build that runs either Carmine (as it is the better of the 2 cards) or both in order to get explosive turn 1s, allowing them to evolve AND attack on the next turn, perhaps decimating an entire board… Okay, it’s Electivire that I’m talking about. Lightning loves discarding since it wants the energies in the discard anyways for Dynamotor, and a turn 2 High-Voltage Current is absolutely terrifying to go against, as more often than not your opponent doesn’t have the KO to threaten Electivire. This allows Electivire to launch multiple attacks, often KO-ing very vital pieces of your opponent’s deck in the process. Other decks can likely utilize if not downright abuse this card, but Electivire’s board-wide damage was the first thing that came to mind.

Festival Grounds – Trainer - Mask of Change

Stadium

All Pokémon in play that have any Energy attached to them can’t be affected by Special Conditions. Heal all Special Conditions from any Pokémon that have any Energy attached to them.

This Stadium stays in play when you play it. Discard it if another Stadium comes into play. If a Stadium with the same name is in play, you can’t play this card.

Card is trash, dogwater even, unless your name is Unfazed Fat Snorlax and you want yet another out to your sleep paralysis demons ruining your already consistent gameplans. It’s mainly here to show the card you need in order to activate Dipplin’s Ability for the Festival Grass Deck.

 Final Thoughts

Thank you for reading my review of what is effectively Twilight Masquerade! I think I picked out just about every card that seems useful, but let me know if there’s anything I missed! Also, let me know if you guys enjoyed the hyperlinks sending you to CBW’s Card Database. I feel like it’s the best way to consolidate the information, and the pages are great at letting you know recent results, type matchups, and even synergistic cards that are often played with the chosen card. As always, a huge thanks to the CBW crew for letting me on for this (and proof reading my work), as well as a huge thanks to Pokebeach for their consolidating of the set in such a consumable format. Lastly, huge thanks to the translators JustInBasil and Toine L. As someone who on occasion tries to translate a Japanese card on reveal night with the little Japanese that I know, I know it can be tedious to double and triple check the wordings, so you guys doing it (and having the experience to do it accurately) is an absolute treat for us all in the community.
Until the next one!