Twilight Masquerade Review - Top 10 Best Pokémon

As Scarlet & Violet: Twilight Masquerade is already here, we decided to rank the top 10 best Pokémon in this set for Standard!

Sunflora

Its attack, Redirected Sunlight, stands out because it deals 60 damage for each Basic Fire Energy sv3 230 on all your opponent's Pokémon. It is a decent "rogue" deck against Charizard ex sv3pt5 6.

Conkeldurr

This Pokémon is interesting because of its second attack, Gutsy Swing: if Conkeuldurr is affected by any special condition, you can use its attack for free (and spend no energies).

You can play it with Brute Bonnet sv4 123 equipped with Ancient Booster Energy Capsule TEF 140 to take advantage of this effect.

Poliwrath

Another great Pokémon for a "rogue" deck is this Poliwrath. Its second attack, Jumping Uppercut, offers you the choice to deal an extra 120 damage (totaling 240 damage), but you'll have to return this Pokémon and all cards attached to it back into your deck if you do.

It is efficient against many decks because this is quite a lot of damage, and the attack itself isn't that expensive. Nonetheless, what's really great about it is that it deals with Gouging Fire ex TEF 38 decks that often use Ancient Booster Energy Capsule TEF 140 to boost its HP from 60 to 290. If you apply weakness, you'll deal up to 480 damage!

Okidogi

Its ability, Adrena-Power, is incredible, as it states: if this Pokémon has any Darkness Energy attached, it gets +100 HP, and it also will deal an extra 100 damage. This means this Pokémon will deal 170 damage and have 230 HP, which is quite strong for a basic Pokémon.

The only issue is that you'll have to find a fast way to attach two pure Fighting energies in Standard to set it up. One way to do this is to try out Infernape TWM 33, even if it is a bit slow.

Munkidori

This Pokémon will be popular in Blissey ex TWM 134 decks because of its ability, Adrena-Brain. It lets you move basic energies around and makes this a support Pokémon.

10 - Alakazam

Its first attack, Strange Hacking, is great to spread the damage your active Pokémon deals to other Pokémon in play. Furthermore, this attack will also make the enemy active Pokémon Confused.

You can fit them into several strategies, like Alakazam ex PR-SV 50 itself and Pokémon that interact with multiple counters, like Froslass TWM 53 and Hisuian Braviary SIT 149. Radiant Alakazam SIT 59 is also one of the best support Pokémon for this strategy.

Another possibility is to play it with Blissey ex TWM 134 and Munkidori TWM 95.

As for its second attack, Psychic, it is relatively efficient against opponents that use a lot of energy for their attacks, like Iron Hands ex sv4 70.

9 - Froslass

Its ability, Freezing Shroud, is extremely efficient against Pokémon that have abilities because it puts one damage counter on them in-between turns. However, it is a double-edged sword because it also affects your Pokémon.

If you put Froslass in a deck correctly, though, it may deal a lot of damage, like with Greninja ex Terastal, focusing on "sniper" damage, or with Kingambit.

8 - Infernape

Its ability is similar to Coalossal RCL 107's, but the difference is that Infernape gets one basic Fire energy and one basic Fighting energy from your hand and lets you attach them to your Pokémon in any way you want, and Coalossal takes them from your discard pile.

It may be useful to setup energies in the Fire or Fighting archetypes, and might even be great for Hearthflame Mask Ogerpon ex TWM 40.

7 - Luxray ex

Its first attack, Piercing Gaze, is excellent in a hand control strategy that sabotages your opponent and takes away their resources, particularly if this deck has cards like Eri TEF 146 and Miss Fortune Sisters LOR 164.

Furthermore, its second attack, Volt Strike, deals a nice amount of damage, and it is quite easy to get the energies you need to use it, even if you'll have to discard them later.

6 - Blissey ex

Now that Path to the Peak CRE 148 rotated out, this Pokémon will find more space in the competitive scene because of its ability, which moves energies alongside Munkidori TWM 95.

It also has a lot of HP considering it's a stage 1 Pokémon, and we have many other cards available if we want to increase its durability, like Hero's Cape TEF 152 and Cheren's Care BRS 134.

It deals a respectable amount of damage (180), and its effect lets you draw until you have 6 cards in hand. This is quite strong and efficient if you're struggling with enemy effects from cards like Unfair Stamp TWM 165, Iono sv4pt5 80, Judge sv1 176, and Roxanne ASR 150.

5 - Iron Thorns ex

This is a great addition to the "Future" Pokémon archetype. Its ability states that if Iron Thorns ex TWM 77 is your active Pokémon, Pokémon in play with Rule Box have no abilities!

And there's more: "Future" Pokémon's abilities won't be affected by this effect! So, if you build a deck with Iron Crown ex TEF 81 to deal more damage, you'll still be able to use it to its full potential.

4 - Cornerstone Mask Ogerpon ex

This is the "legendary" Pokémon that is this set's "mascot": Ogerpon, but with its Fighting type mask.

Its ability, Cornerstone Stance, "blocks" attacks from Pokémon that have any abilities, so it protects Charizard ex sv4pt5 54, one of the strongest cards in the meta right now.

As for its attack, Demolish, it deals 140 damage without applying weakness, resistance, or any effect on your opponent's active Pokémon.

3 - Teal Mask Ogerpon ex

This is another Ogerpon, but this time for the Grass archetype.

This Pokémon will be essential against Charizard ex sv4pt5 54, and will also be strong as a support Pokémon with Espathra ex, or Raging Bolt ex to set up energies.

2 - Greninja ex

Greninja is one of the community's favorites.

This is its Terastal Fighting form, which is great against Electric Pokémon like Iron Thorns ex TWM 77 and Iron Hands ex sv4 70.

Its attacks are also excellent: Shinobi Blade, for one basic Water energy, deals 170 damage, and lets you look for any card you want in your deck. Its second attack, Mirage Barrage, is a way to deal "sniper" damage to your opponent, but you'll have to discard two energy cards from this Pokémon to deal 120 damage to two benched enemy Pokémon.

As we still have Baxcalibur PR-SV 19 in Standard, and its ability, which is really similar to "Rain Dance", it is quite easy to set up Greninja ex TWM 106.

1 - Dragapult ex

Our first place is Dragapult, which earned this spot because:

- Its Dragon type, which doesn't have any weaknesses anymore.

- Its 320 life, considering there are just a few Pokémon that deal this type of damage (Charizard ex sv4pt5 54 with Maximum Belt TEF 154 and/or Defiance Band sv1 169, Charizard ex sv3pt5 6's second attack with Charizard PGO 10's ability, Giratina VSTAR LOR 131's VStar attack, and Roaring Moon ex PR-SV 67 and Kingambit sv3 150's first attack).

- Its second attack, Phantom Dive, which is easy to set up (you can use Xatu PR-SV 59 for a "pure" Dragapult build or Charizard ex sv3pt5 6 if you want to focus on setting up Fire Pokémon fast). It deals 200 damage, and you'll also be able to put 6 damage counters on any Pokémon on your opponent's bench.

What did you think of our picks? Tell us your thoughts down below!

Thank you for reading.

See you next time!