Pokémon TCG - Pre-Release Guide: Phantasmal Flames

Phantasmal Flames, which will come out on November 10th, is the latest Pokémon TCG set. A few players have already gotten their hands on the new cards, though, through "Build & Battle" events, also known as pre-release events. These events are a great opportunity for beginners, as they give you a good number of cards and are overall less competitive than usual. They also work with their own set of rules, and the matches are less boring.

Phantasmal Flames focuses on Charizard and should include very powerful cards for Fire Pokémon, as well as a few great cards for other consolidated decks. Overall, it should be great even for experienced players, as it is a great way to get cards that will certainly become quite popular in the next meta without much issue.

As we've mentioned, though these are regular events, their main goal is for the player to explore the new cards in a casual, respectful, stress-free event. So, we must keep in mind that, if we do go to these events, we'll face new players, who may not know every rule in the game yet, even more so considering every card will be new. Overall, try to be polite to encourage beginners to play again! The more diverse our community is, the better.

The Build & Battle kit includes 40 cards and is already ready to go as soon as you take it out of the box. You'll also have the opportunity to open 8 boosters and add the cards you get to your deck to make it even stronger. There are 4 kits: some are stronger than others, but, overall, they're quite balanced.

You'll only need to take 4 Prize cards to win, so matches are also faster. Finally, you'll have 30 to 50 minutes to build your deck before you start playing.

I highly recommend you go to events that reward you for just showing up if you're a new player.

Ceruledge

Let's start with this Ceruledge, which is very similar to other Build & Battle strategies we've seen in the past.

Ceruledge has a powerful attack: "Infernal Slash", which deals 220 damage, but forces you to discard 4 Fire energies in your hand to use it. Its main support card is "Firebreather", which gets 7 Fire energies in your deck and puts them in your hand. This way, you can use this attack again and again.

Only use Fire energies in your deck, lots of them!

Zacian

Moving on to the Psychic archetype, this Zacian deals 50 damage to the active enemy Pokémon, as well as an extra 90 damage if they have 3 or less Prize cards left. This is a huge advantage in this format because you'll only need to take 4 Prize cards to win, won't need many energies to deal a lot of damage, and 140 damage knocks out most Pokémon in this pre-release kits.

Furthermore, this set brought us Wondrous Patch, which lets us attach energies even faster.

Flygon

This is the most unusual list out of all 4, though it leans on a few very interesting mechanics for this pre-release format in particular. Flygon's ability, "Sandy Flapping", forces the opponent to discard the top two cards in their deck whenever you evolve Flygon, or it is knocked out. This way, you can try to discard your opponent's entire deck as well as use its regular attack to win, particularly as pre-release decks only have 40 cards.

Furthermore, you can use Gliscor in this list, which prevents the opponent from retreating their Pokémon and thus buys some time for you.

Toxtricity

Last but not least, we have Toxitricity. Its ability, "Sinister Surge", lets you attach energies to your Dark Pokémon straight from your deck. The main attacker in this list is Krookodile, which is a great revenge killer, but it also plays Grimsley's Move, which lets you put it straight on your bench without evolving it first.

Though it is the most linear list out of all 4, it is also one of the most powerful.

Pokémon TCG has grown considerably in many countries simply because of how accessible it is and how much support the competitive scene has been getting, with items like promo cards, bonus gifts, etc. This pre-release event is a big part of this, and I hope you all have a lot of fun in this one. Personally, Flygon seems the most interesting and fun build & battle kit to me!

What do you think? Tell us your thoughts in our comment section below.

Thank you for reading, and see you next time!