Shiny Pokemon and Crown rarity Trainer cards are here!
Winner – Giratina ex
It’s taken a whole paragraph dunking on the original Giratina holo card from Spacetime Smackdown, and a closing jab at it in my Winners and Losers article for Triumphant Light, but the powers that be have listened and delivered. Giratina ex is here, and man, was it worth the wait. Every turn it can attach a psychic energy to itself, at the cost of ending your turn, which to me only gives this one potential partner, the dark type menace, Darkrai ex. Every turn, you can damage your opponent with Darkrai ex’s Nightmare Aura and then use Giratina ex’s Broken Space Bellow to attach a psychic energy, after three turns of this, Giratina will be ready to go with one final energy from the energy zone, able to hit for a massive 130 against an already softened up defending pokemon thanks to Nightmare Aura. Giratina has finally been given the card it deserves. I don’t think this card will have the same staying power as Darkrai ex, but this deck will definitely see heavy play this month and I couldn’t be more excited to finally see Giratina on top!
Loser – Pikachu ex
From a card that used to be terrible to now having a better card replace it, to a card that was unstoppable during Genetic Apex being given a redundant replacement, Pikachu ex is here to remind us that new doesn’t always mean good, and that sometimes, the originals are best left untouched. The appeal of the original Pikachu ex was how fast it was, in a time when speed was key in PTCGP, no card came close. Now, though, in a meta defined by slower decks, this Pikachu ex tried to jump on the “slowing down” train, but hasn’t got the power to show for it. 3 energy for 150 damage is exceptional, but not at the cost of discarding all your energy. Electric is a type that doesn’t have energy acceleration in abundance like water does for example, so once the little mouse attacks once, it probably won’t get to attack again. Sorry, Pikachu ex, but the classics remain classics for a reason.
Winner – Charizard ex
As if Genetic Apex Charizard wasn’t strong enough alongside Moltres, why not make a Charizard that can do it all by itself. Stoke allows Charizard ex to attach 3 fire energy to itself for the cost of 1 energy, meaning that you can have Charizard ex ready to attack with its Steam Artillery in just 3 turns as long as you find the evolution cards smoothly, so obviously we look to Pokemon Communication to help with this, and there’s no harm in throwing Moltres ex in there for good measure to back it up. This card looks like a one-zard wrecking crew and is sure to be a strong contender this month.
Loser – Wigglytuff
Need I say more?
Winner – Shiny Pokemon and Crown Trainers
If you’re the sort of player who hates things like this because it “makes” you spend more on packs – it doesn’t “make” you do anything, it just makes you happier when you pull one from one of your free packs! This is a great way to trick out your decks with awesome cosmetically enhanced variants of your cards, I mean who doesn’t want to use their crown rare Poke Ball to search out shiny Charmander and evolve him into the ever revered Shiny Charizard? This is a great addition to the game, and I really hope they continue adding crown rare variants of staple trainers and shiny versions of ex cards – though maybe unlikely as shiny pokemon are the theme of this set, but maybe we’ll get another shiny themed set in a few months time offering us more of the same!
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