Gen IV has come to Pokemon TCG Pocket!
Generation IV is arguably one of, if not THE best generation of pokemon (Sorry genwunners), the games reignited the pokemon series, the starters are some of the best we’ve ever had, and being able to catch God itself, the rulers of Time, Space and Antimatter, as well as a living nightmare, this generation had it all, and now we get to see the stars of this generation hit TCG Pocket. Lets see who came off well, and who might be left wondering how they got done so dirty – These are the Winners and Losers of Pokemon TCG Pocket: Spacetime Smackdown.
Winner – Dialga ex
The ruler of time set its stall out immediately, allowing acceleration of metal energy while dealing 30 damage. Dialga ex has put the steel type on the map, and Spacetime Smackdown has brought friends for Dialga too. Skarmory is a basic 1 pointer to put into a steel deck to bolster your early game options, dealing a potential 50 damage for a single energy with its Metal Arms attack. The main partner that I can see for Dialga ex, however, isn’t a steel type at all, look no further than one of our new grass types, Yanmega ex, for 3 energy, Air Slash will deal 120 damage, and discard an energy, which can be immediately reattached from your energy zone next turn. I have spotlighted Dialga ex here though because I believe it will be used in many decks in future, and while right not, Yanmega looks to be its dream partner, future sets that release new pokemon with high energy costs of either metal or colourless energy will look to Dialga ex to get it online quickly.
Loser – Infernape ex
Before getting into the nitty-gritty of why Infernape ex is goign to fail to make an impact on the meta, I need to ask – Where are the ex cards of Empoleon and Torterra? A beloved trio of starters and only one of them getting an ex makes me think we’ll be seeing the others arrive in the next set, codenamed A2a. Infernape ex immediately stood out to me as a candidate for the Loser category for one reason, it reminds me so much of Arcanine ex from Genetic Apex, a card that was just “the other fire type ex”, it didn’t have the damage output of Charizard ex, didn’t offer the support of Moltres ex, it just kind of existed, and Infernape ex feels no different, the numbers have gone up, but the card remains the same. It looks like it was intended to be paired with Moltres ex to immediately attach energy back to it after attacking with Flare Blitz, using its free retreat to hop in and out quickly, but if you’re going to be running Moltres ex with a Stage 2 pokemon, why wouldn’t you take Charizard ex instead?
Winner – Darkrai ex
I think we may have just seen the release of another card that won’t disappear for a while. Darkrai ex deals 20 damage to your opponent’s active pokemon every time you attach energy using its Nightmare Aura ability, allowing you to deal 60 damage in total before even attacking with Dark Prism, allowing for hits of 100 every turn. Nightmare Aura also doesn’t trigger the Rocky Helmet Pokemon Tool card, meaning this is just free damage. Now, imagine having Darkrai ex on the bench with Rocky Helmet Druddigon in the active soaking up hits while you quietly snipe your opponent’s active from the bench with Nightmare Aura and you can see that this deck might cause serious upsets in the meta.
The brand new Weavile ex also looks like a viable partner for Darkrai ex as Weavile‘s Scratching Nails attack deals 30 damage, plus another 40 if the defending pokemon is already damaged. Drop an energy on Darkrai, triggering Nightmare Aura for 20 damage, then attack with Scratching Nails for another 70 damage, all while Darkrai ex is safe on the bench, building up energy until it’s ready to leap into the active to take over duties from Weavile. Darkrai ex is a serious threat, and I think potentially the best card in the set and maybe the beginning of a shift to slower paced decks taking over.
Loser – Giratina
Disappointed doesn’t describe the pain of seeing one of my favourite legendaries reduced to useless holo card. When this set was announced, I almost knew in my mind the feature pokemon would be Diagla, Palkia, and Giratina, and while the faces of Pokemon Diamond and Pearl both got absolutely solid ex cards, the Platinum mascot got left in the dust. Three energy for 70 damage is a pitiful attack with the even more pitiful name Spooky Shot. It looks like the dream of being able to play with a Giratina deck is over, and this is probably the most disappointed I’ve been with a card in PTCGP so far.
Bonus Round!
So far, I’ve set the standard of choosing 2 Winner and 2 Losers, but this set is full of talking points, so I’m going to make it 3 of each, just to cover all the things I want to talk about!
Winner – Palkia ex
Was it ever going to be anyone else in this spot? Okay, I toyed with the idea of putting Manaphy in here, or maybe Lucario, or even making the first mention of a trainer card with Cyrus, but Palkia ex had to take the cake. This card just does everything you would want from a strong card, to start with, it’s a basic, chuck it on the board, and it can soak up damage with its massive 150 HP. Secondly, it has a 1 cost attack, so you can immediately start chipping away 30 at a time with Slash, then can be powered up with cards like Misty or using Manaphy‘s Oceanic Gift to build up enough energy to land Dimensional Storm, a devastating 150 damage attack that also hits every opposing benched pokemon for 20. The combination of Palkia and Manaphy, along with Vaporeon from Mytical Island allows for energy to just flow into Palkia ex and keep hitting those Dimensional Storms, making this card my final winner for this set!
Loser – Garchomp
Okay, okay, hate me all you want, but yes, another holo card takes a loser spot, and while this space could’ve contained Lickylicky ex or Migmagius ex for just being boring cards, Garchomp arrives on the list, bringing the same air of disappointment as Giratina did. Garchomp is an icon of Gen IV, holding the pseudo legendary title should just immediately qualify it for an ex card that’s at least playable, I know Dragonite didn’t get an ex in Genetic Apex, but at least that card was playable, not meta but definitely a fun deck, this just isn’t fun at all. Requiring water and fighting energy limits what it can be paired with, and I’d immediately be looking towards water types, since the fighting type just hasn’t performed well so far in PTCGP, and when looking at water options, you realise that any of those decks would be better without Garchomp in them.
The worst part is that Cynthia got a supporter card that increases Garchomp‘s damage by a whopping 50, bringing it up to 150 damage, but not even the best champion in the history of pokemon can coach this card into being usable, a slow Stage 2 requiring the RNG of hitting the right combination of energy, all for 100 damage just leaves a sour taste when you think about how powerful Cynthia’s Garchomp was back in the Gen IV games, just to see it so poorly represented here in TCG Pocket, and that’s why Garchomp takes home the final Loser spot on this list.
Closing Thoughts
On the whole, this is the most stacked set of cards so far, I know this is only the 3rd set, but so many of the ex cards are amazing, Pokemon Tool cards add a new layer of complexity to the game and deckbuilding as a whole, and I believe that this set will bring us the most varied season of online battling so far, with Celebi and Garchomp dominating the Mythical Island season, I think we’ll be seeing a huge array of different decks this time around which is a really exciting prospect.
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