Hello to all. I'm Rodrigo, bringing news, curiosities and information about Pokémon TCG.
When we look at all the cards that were released for Pokémon TCG, there are those who marked us for generations – ever since the early days on Wizards of The Coast's Base Set, the Ruby/Sapphire days. Then to Diamond and Pearl and the consolidation, at the time, of the Expanded format, now from Black/White era onward, with our emotional memory and also the memory of Expanded format decks which can wreak havoc with combos, or that play with the help of our very personal deckbuilding.
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Below is my personal list of Pokemon abilities which are very strong and relevant throughout the Expanded format.
Pokemon Abilities
10 - Doubling of basic energies
Regarding the doubling basic energies mechanic we have:
- Gardevoir NXD 57, from
which attaches one fighting energy and one water energy to one of your Pokemon;
- Coalossal RCL 107, from
Sword/Shield: Rebel Clash
which attaches one fighting energy and one fire energy to one of your Pokemon;
- Dragonite UNM 151, from
Sun/Moon: Unified Mind
which attaches one electric energy and one water energy to one of your Pokemon;
- Vikavolt SUM 52, from
Sun/Moon: Base Set
which attaches one electric energy and one grass energy to one of your Pokemon;
7 - Crazy Code
Before
Archeops
hype and train came along in the
Sword/Shield
set, the only charger for special energy we had was Porygon Z, with its
Crazy Code
ability, which attaches how many special energies you'd like from your hand directly to your Pokemon.
6 - Primal Turbo
A newer release from this set's expansion, it gained notoriety due to its ability of charging special energies in deck to one of your Pokemon.
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It has synergies with the
Lugia VStar
deck due to its ability of bringing colorless Pokemon from the discard pile to the bench, speeding up
Archeops
' summoning without having to follow the evolutionary line, and considering that each Archeops gets two special energies, with two
Archeops
it is enough to have a quick speeding dynamic to any attacking Pokemon and therefore build your game plan.
5 - Garbotoxin
This one i s practically made for the Ultra Necrozma CEC 164 deck, as it disables this same Pokemon's ability called
Ultra Burst
, which he can only attack with if the opponent has two Prize Cards or less to win the game.
So that's when Garbodor BKP 57 comes in, with its
Garbotoxin
ability, which when there's any Tool card attached to it, it cancels out
all abilities of all Pokemons in players' hands, discard piles, and in play
, except
Garbotoxin
.
4 - Dance of Tribute
This card is an excellent "Draw Power" engine, in case any damage knocks out your Pokemon (it doesn't count any damage due to "bad status");
Its ability,
Dance of Tribute
is useful in case any of your Pokemon is destroyed by enemy attacks, as it will make you draw 3 cards.
3 - Stellar Guidance
Jirachi is practically a search of any card resources of the Supporter kind if it was placed from your hand to the bench. It is the "founding father" of cards we already know, such as Tapu Lele-GX GRI 60 in
.
The biggest difference here is that as it is an EX card, it can combo with the card Scoop Up Net RCL 165, in which it is
recycled as many times as you'd like
and it's always possible to use its effect, as it prevents the recycling of GX and V Pokemon, and doesn't say anything about the EX Pokemon (it was because of this combo that Shaymin-EX ROS 77 was banned.
2 - Gormandize
With its
Gormandize
ability, Snorlax is capable of drawing cards to your hand up to 7 of them, which is something amazing regarding Draw Power to get more resources in hand easily.
And the best part: you have access to this card, as the other one that has this same function isn't in our mere mortal's reach: Tropical Beach PR-BLW BW50, which is only given to players that reach the best spots in Worlds, even though its effect after drawing, that your turn is ended, makes it significantly worse than
Snorlax
.
1 - Copying attacks through abilities
One of the best Tag Team Pokemon cards of all times, and one of the most beloved cards in Expanded, it has the ability of
copying any attack
from GX and EX Pokemon that are in the discard pile, making it a wildcard in terms of strategies in deckbuilding.
Besides it, we have its predecessor, Mew-EX DRX 46 which is not only restricted to copying attacks from the Pokemon in play, but also opponent's Pokemon (as long as it fulfills the necessary energy requirement)
It is the cards in your hand drawing power, similar to the Shaymin-EX ROS 77 effect in
Black/White
. Its
Dark Asset
ability makes it draw cards until you have 6 in your hand.
Mudedenne
At the time of this card's release, it had a lot of hype due to its "Draw Power" strategy, which was needed to have deck filtering, as in taking out cards in your hand you no longer want.
Its
Mudedenne
ability makes you discard your hand and draw 6 cards, which is almost like a
"Professor's Research"
.
Supporter Search
Here we have phenomenal examples which are present in many decks regarding resource searching. In
Sun/Moon: Guardians Rising
peak, we had in the Standard format Tapu Lele-GX GRI 60 as a fundamental card in any deck, both due to its ability (which was what mattered), as it was also a good attacker.
As for the current
Sword/Shield
metagame question, coming from the Brilliant Stars set, we've had Lumineon V BRS 40, which has the same function of when placed from your hand to the bench, it can search for a Supporter card in your deck and place it in your hand. And in Expanded, it will be easier to look for this type of card with the existence of Dive Ball PRC 125, and it goes without saying that when Irida ASR 147 rotates, it will also be very useful regarding this search filter.
Pokémon that offer up benefits in their Retreat cost
which states that if any Pokemon has an electric energy attached, it will have their retreat cost zeroed;
- Darkrai-EX DEX 63, from
Black/White: Dark Explorers
which states if any Pokemon has a dark energy attached, it will have their retreat cost zeroed;
- Manaphy-EX BKP 32, from
X/Y: Breakpoint
which states if any Pokemon has a water energy attached, it will have their retreat cost zeroed;
- Hydreigon-EX ROS 62, from
X/Y: Roaring Skies
which states if there's any Stadium in play, dragon type Pokemon will have their retreat cost reduced by 2 colorless energies less.
Dark Aura
This card is basically a reprint of Tyranitar EX 29 from the
Expedition
set, all the way back in the 2000s. With the same name,
Dark Aura
, it makes every energy attached to it become dark type.
Imagine if in the future Pokemon Co. were to make a "Dark Aura" that could affect all Pokemon in play?
Final Thoughts
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Again, I stress that this is a personal list of cards that had a relevancy factor to me and of course, involving the playability matter in general when it comes to deckbuilding, seeing opponents play in real life and in PTGCO (when it comes to Expanded).
What about you? Which were your relevant cards? Comment down below your personal list and share your opinion.
Formado em Arquitetura e Urbanismo, Design Gráfico e ilustrador freelancer. Sou apaixonado pela cultura japonesa no geral, jogos e mídias nerds (Castlevania e Star Wars). Fã, colecionador e jogador de Pokémon TCG desde 1999.
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Regarding the doubling basic energies mechanic we have:
- Gardevoir NXD 57, from 
set, we've had Lumineon V BRS 40, which has the same function of when placed from your hand to the bench, it can search for a Supporter card in your deck and place it in your hand. And in Expanded, it will be easier to look for this type of card with the existence of Dive Ball PRC 125, and it goes without saying that when Irida ASR 147 rotates, it will also be very useful regarding this search filter.
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