Obsidian Flames: Top 10 Best Cards

With the release of Scarlet & Violet: Obsidian Flames, I'll list down below some relevant cards in the set which seem to have a lot of potential, be them recursive or attacking Pokémon, besides some Trainers as well.

10 - Togekiss

Togekiss is here due to its recursive trait, with its Precious Gift ability, which you can use only after you declare your attacks, before closing the turn. You'll draw until you have 8 cards in hand.

It is basically an advance form of card draw which is better than Radiant Venusaur PGO 4, which only draws 4 cards.

Its Power Cyclone attack, besides the 110 damage dealt, moves one energy from Togekiss to one of your benched Pokémon. Additionally, it also has zero retreat cost and can be a temporary energizer, which I consider useful.

9 - Drampa

The Outrage attack is a classic among the classic attacks of Pokémon which serve as starter attackers, such as the famous Reshiram BLW 113 and Zekrom BLW 114 in the Black/White era, which were extremely useful.

However, in this case, Drampa is useful as it accepts any two energies you'd like as its cost (two colorless energies), and is also a Dragon-type Pokémon, which means, it has no weaknesses - unlike other Pokémon, such as Paldean Tauros sv2 28, Paldean Tauros sv2 41 and Paldean Tauros sv2 108, which, despite having an attack similar to Outrage, Raging Horn, suffer as they have weaknesses of their own.

8 - Vespiqueen ex

It has two very good attacks:

- Recovery Pheromones (G): heal 60 damage from 1 of your Pokémon.

- Phantom Queen (G)(G)(G): deal 200 damage. Place 3 damage counters on each of your opponent's benched Pokémon that has any damage counters on it.

So, as a stage 1 Pokémon, it is easy to set up, and as Vespiqueen is a Psychic-type Pokémon (with the Terastral mechanic), the game changes if there are any enemy Pokémon with this weakness, such as Ting-Lu ex sv2 127, Rapid Strike Urshifu VMAX BRS TG30, Single Strike Urshifu VMAX BRS TG29, for instance.

Besides that, its second attack can match Meowscarada ex sv2 15's ability, or Decidueye ex's ability, which will be released in the same set (Obsidian Flames), and deals sniper damage to the bench.

And for its energization, we have two options: the use of Forretress ex sv2 5 or Cherrim BST 8 - but, for this case, it can't use energies on a Rule Box Pokémon, which means, you need to energize it before evolving it to Vespiqueen, at the moment it is a Combee.

7 - Dragonite ex

The card is interesting due to its second attack, Meteor Break (W)(L), which deals 140 damage and can also flip a coin. If it's heads, you deal an extra 140 damage, reaching 280 damage for only two energies! But if it's tails, this Pokémon can't attack.

There are ways to cheat out the coin, which will come in the 151 Pokémon Card, in Kanto's special set: Dragonite sv2a 149.

With this Dragonite's ability in the special set, Jet Cruise, all your Pokémon don't have a retreat cost.

Which means, assuming you have another Dragonite ex set up in the game, you can exchange your Dragonite ex which failed the coin check as Active Pokémon, put it on the bench, and promote a new one to reset the Pokémon's drawback effect, which will enable you to redo the second attack with a new Dragonite ex! That is the type of strategy which will be made in the future.

And I'll say more: if you combine this type of deck with the Dragon archetype, with only Dragonite Pokémon, we have its V and VStar version and, of course, the promo Dragonite V PR-SW SWSH154 version, and Dragonite VSTAR PR-SW SWSH236, with its VStar attack, Draconic Star, which turbo energizes your Pokémon by looking at the 12 top cards in your deck, searching Electric and Water energies, which can be quite interesting.

6 - Glimmora ex

This Pokémon is only here due to its ability, Dust Field, which forces the opponent to have only 3 Pokémon on the bench, in case Glimmora ex is the Active Pokémon.

It is stronger than Collapsed Stadium BRS 137, which limits the bench space to 4 slots, but that also affects both players, unlike this Pokémon, which affects only the opponent. It can even find space in Ting-Lu ex sv2 127 decks.

5 - Miraidon ex

This Miraidon ex version is a recursive complement for the archetype alongside Miraidon ex sv1 81, which will mix the use of this Pokémon's ability to look for 2 Electric-type basic Pokémon.

And its attacks are quite cute.

- Quick Draw (L): deal 20 damage and draw two cards.

- Techno Turbo (L)(L): deal 150 damage and attach a basic Electric energy (L) from your discard pile to one of your benched Pokémon.

Miraidon ex's second attack calls back to Yveltal XY 78's first attack, only instead of mentioning Dark-type Pokémon, it mentions the Electric type, obviously, and, when well-executed, can, for instance, deal 300 damage against a Lugia VSTAR SIT 211 and also benefit your benched Pokémon with the energies.

4 - Escuie ex

Its attack's effect, Scalding Block (W)(W)(W), asks you to discard an energy attached to this Pokémon which, besides dealing 160 damage, disables your opponent from blocking in the next turn.

That forces them to retreat to remove this effect, and spend energies to pay for the retreat cost, such as Switch CRZ 144, or spending cards such as Escape Rope BST 125.

3 - Tyranitar ex

What calls our attention to this Pokémon is its attack, Lightning Rampage, which, for two Fighting energies (F)(F), deals 150 damage plus 100 more if one of your benched Pokémon has any damage counters.

There are many ways to place these damage counters, and the most practical one is to use Gengar LOR 66, discarding it in some way in the game (with an Ultra Ball as its discard cost), and using its ability to optimize Tyranitar ex's attack.

Another option is to use the Fighting-type Pokémon which use recoil or damage counter effects, such as Annihilape ex sv2 242.

2 - Charizard ex

Here, we have one of the season's favorites.

Its ability, Infernal Reign, has the following effect: if you play this Pokémon from your hand to evolve any of your Pokémon (be it a Charmeleon in a classic way or cheating out its evolution by using Rare Candy with Charmander), you can look in your deck for three basic Fire energies and attach them to your Pokémon in any way you'd like. That is quite interesting.

And its attack, Burning Darkness, deals 180 damage plus 30 more for each Prize Card your opponent has gotten in the game, all that for only two basic Fire energies (F).

As it is based on the assumption that you need to get more damage per Prize Card your opponent has gotten, the use of Defiance Band sv1 169 is essential, as it creates a combo of getting extra 30 damage for its "I'm losing the game" effect, increasing Charizard ex's damage.

There are those who will say that you can use Charizard PGO 10 as an option to create a doubling effect of your basic Fire energies among your Pokémon due to its ability, allowing you to transform the 3 energies from Charizard ex's ability into 6 energies; but I think it is unnecessary, as this Charizard would only be one extra card in the deck, and Charizard ex itself can already get two energies for itself to attack and an extra one to chose and setup another Charizard ex.

1 - Pidgeot ex

This is one of the best recursive Pokémon of all time, both for Standard and Expanded.

Its ability, Quick Search, allows you, once per turn, to search in your deck for any card you want, and place it in your hand. You can only use this ability once in your turn, which means, you can't stack it.

This ability has this Pokémon's predecessor effect, Pidgeot RG 10, only a bit more nerfed. And, to understand how important this card's history is, it is possible to see it in many of the 2005 World Championship decks, including in Takashi Yoneda's famous deck.

It is basically an embedded Computer Search in a Pokémon, without the "paying" the cost of anything in hand, discarding or otherwise, to look for something in your deck - not to mention this is a Pokémon with zero retreat cost!

With Arceus VSTAR CRZ GG70 and Forest Seal Stone SIT 156 in the meta, all you need to do is be creative.

Pokémon

Kingambit

Remember how terrorizing Gengar BKT 60 was in the X/Y: BREAKthrough era with its second attack, which automatically knocked down the opponent if they had at least 3 damage counters or more?

Well: Kimgambit's first effect is similar, Execute, but it demands 4 counters or more. Of course that, for the Standard format, it is considered a "rogue" deck, but in Expanded it is very strong, with many ways to quickly set up this Pokémon and put damage on board more easily, to get ahead.

Trainers

Geeta

Getta has the practicality of looking in your deck for 2 basic energies for one of your Pokémon, but your Pokémon, until the end of the turn, can't attack.

It is a good energization effect, but with this downside, it can be complicated.

It might not be one of the best Trainer Supporter options, but there is always a way to make it useful, such as the fighters which use the counter strategies on themselves to deal more damage, such as Annihilape ex sv2 242 and Drampa, from this very set.

Ryme

This is one of the best Supporter cards in the set: it draws 3 cards and also swaps out your opponent's active Pokémon into the bench. Your opponent chooses the new Active Pokémon.

Letter of Encouragement

This card can only be played in case one of your Pokémon was knocked out in the previous turn: look in your deck for 3 basic energies, reveal them, and place them in your hand. Shuffle your deck.

This is a perfect card for the Water archetype, with Baxcalibur as that deck's mediator and main energizer.

Revenge Punch

This is a very useful card. The description is the following: it is a Tool which, if attached to a Pokémon, and this Pokémon is knocked out, the Pokémon which dealt the damage to your Pokémon gets 4 damage counters.

It is not a Rocky Helmet sv1 193, but if used on a Pokémon which can carry more tools at once, such as Honchkrow V BRS 162 and Revavroom ex (which will come in this set), it is very useful.

And in Expanded, it can be interesting.

What did you think of the list? Which cards do you believe will have more notoriety in the new set? Comment down below!