Hi there. The full cards reveal is out for the Johto set named Wisdom Of Sea & Sky. Ho-Oh and Lugia are the featured Pokemon.
There are too many cards to cover so I will cover the ones that are new, interesting or playable. Some cards will be shown without commentary.
Oddish, Gloom + Bellossom
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Bellosoom is a coin flip attacker. Getting all 3 Heads from 3 flips is not easy though. It is a 1 out of 8 chance to get 180 damage.
Chikorita, Bayleef + Meganium
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Chikorita is a good Basic Pokemon attacker but Meganium's costly attack makes this evolution line not worth playing.
Hoppip, Skiploom + Jumpluff
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This evolution line is okay. Jumpluff having a one Grass Energy attack for 60 damage is good. The firepower is not great to tackle the popular Pokemon ex attackers out there in the competitive side of things.
Shuckle ex
Shuckle ex seems okay. The Solid Shell ability that reduces 20 damage from attacks does make up for its somewhat low 120 HP.
The Triple Slap attack requires one Grass energy to do 20 damage for each Heads from 3 flips. It is a good early game attacker as you setup Pokemon at the back. Watch out for Fire attackers though.
Cherubi With Sweets Relay Attack
I actually did not expect another Sweets Relay attacker. Cherubi is kind of interesting. With its ability, you can attack for free if it has a Pokemon Tool attached.
Cyndaquil, Quilava + Typhlosion
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Cyndaquil is good and Quilava is good too for a Stage 1 Pokemon.
Typhlosion's attack is okay. Magma Punch requires 2 Fire Energy for 60 damage. The Fire Breath ability lets you make your opponent's Active Pokemon Burned. It is not required for Typhlosion to be in the Active Spot for the ability to be used.
Magby
Magby is a weak 30 HP Baby Fire Pokemon. The Toasty Toss zero energy attack lets you take 1 Fire Energy from your Energy Zone and attach it to 1 of your Benched Basic Pokemon.
Entei
I feature Entei here as it is a Legendary Pokemon. The attack is too costly though.
Ho-Oh ex
In a previous post I did cover Ho-Oh ex. I show it here again.
Poliwag, Poliwhirl + Politoed
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Poliwag and Poliwhirl are good Water attackers as you work your way up to Politoed.
Politoed as an attacker is okay. The Lordly Cheering ability is kind of hard to meet. You need this Politoed on the Bench and you need either another Politoed or Poliwrath as your attacker to get the plus 40 damage boost. Getting 2 Stage 2 Pokemon in play is difficult in this game.
Horsea, Seadra + Kingdra ex
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Horsea's Hook attack is kind of deadly. One Water Energy for 30 damage.
Seadra is okay with the Razor Fin 2 Water Energy for 50 damage. I think there is a better Seadra than this though.
Kingdra ex seems good. The HP amount of 170 is quite large, and the Stormy Prison attack for 2 Water Energy plus retreat lock is good. If Kingdra ex does not do a one hit Knockout then it can do a two hit Knockout.
Totodile, Croconaw + Feraligatr
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This particular evolution line seems somewhat underwhelming. A Stage 2 Pokemon with a 3 Energy cost for its attack makes the evolution line hard to use. Energy discard on the opponent from Feraligatr's attack is good along with the 90 damage.
I do have to say that the Feraligatr art here is on of the best arts I have seen on a regular print card. It looks like a Water Gun from its mouth. Well done.
Remoraid + Octillery
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Remoraid is okay as a Basic Pokemon attacker. When it comes to Octillery, I can see it being annoying. There are players who like defensive and annoying coin flip effects from attacks.
For 2 Water Energy, Octazooka does 50 damage. It also forces the opponent to flip a coin if Octillery is attacked. Heads means the attack goes through while Tails makes the opponent's attack fails.
Delibird
Delibird can be good in evolution and setup based decks. Deal 10 damage and draw 1 card.
Suicune
Suicune's attack is costly at 1 Water and 2 Colourless Energy. 20 damage reduction is an okay attack effect during the opponent's next turn.
Chinchou + Lanturn ex
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Chinchou is not a great attacker but it does have 70 HP.
They could have made Lanturn ex a Water attacker. Lanturn ex is a Lightning attacker instead. Flashing Signal is probably the number 1 most annoying attack. For 1 Lightning and 2 Colourless Energy, this attack does 80 damage. You also flip a coin. If Heads, the opponent's Active Pokemon is Paralyzed (can't attack nor retreat). If the flip is Tails then the opponent's Active Pokemon is Confused. It is rare to see an attack where a Tails coin flip is a positive outcome.
The opponent has to hope that a Tails is flipped. Under confusion you can retreat to a different attacker. You can also try your luck and attack. Heads means the attack goes through and Tails means that the attack fails (in Pocket).
Mareep, Flaaffy, Ampharos
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This evolution line is not awful but it not great. If you get Heads on Ampharos, the Thunder Punch attack does 120 damage which is pretty strong.
Pichu & Elekid
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Both of these two are Baby Basic Pokemon. Pichu provides Lightning energy acceleration while Elekid does 20 damage to an opponent's Benched Pokemon.
Raikou & Emolga
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Raikou actually seems quite useable in Lightning decks. One Lightning and one Colourless Energy to deal 70 damage is not bad. You deal 20 damage to yourself but it is not that bad of a drawback.
Emolga is a rare Basic attacker. One Lightning Energy for 40 damage is pretty good. Its drawback is doing 10 damage to 1 of your Benched Pokemon.
Smoochum & Cleffa
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Smoochum in theory can be a dangerous attacker. Twenty damage for each Energy attached to the opponent's Active Pokemon is good. 60 damage from 3 Energy on the opponent as a free attack is good. 30 HP is weak though.
Cleffa's Twinkly Call in theory provides a boost to evolution decks. It also has 30 HP which makes it vulnerable.
Togepi, Togetic + Togekiss
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Togepi and Togetic are not great attackers but you need them for Togekiss.
This Togekiss has a pretty powerful and annoying defensive ability. If any damage is done to this Togekiss, flip a coin. If heads, prevent that damage. As an attacker Togekiss would need time to power up its Magical Shot attack.
Natu & Xatu
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Natu is kind of weak but it has a good attack. Xatu's Life Drain is very impactful if you get Heads. Reduce the opponent's Active Pokemon HP down to 10.
Espeon ex
I have featured Espeon ex in a previous post. Putting this one out here again. Espeon ex is a good attacker with a good healing ability.
Unown - GUARD + Unown - POWER
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It is cool that there are 2 versions of Unown. Even with both GUARD and POWER abilities in play, I don't know how a deck with these UNOWNs win. The firepower is not great.
Gligar + Gliscor
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What makes this evolution line interesting is that the attacks are colourless. Sharp Fang for 60 damage from 2 of any Energy type on Gliscor is pretty good.
Phanpy + Donphan ex
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Tyrogue & Hitmontop
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Tyrogue is a Baby Fighting Pokemon with a free attack that does 20 damage. In theory, Tyrogue can give a first turn win going first if you have Tyrogue and the opponent has a Pichu only. Tyrogue would hit Pichu for 40 damage due to weakness. Then you win without the opponent getting a first turn.
Hitmontop has a simple damage spread attack. It does 20 damage to the Active Spot and 20 to 1 of your opponent's Benched Pokemon.
Larvitar + Pupitar + Tyranitar
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Larvitar and Pupitar are Fighting Pokemon while Tyranitar is a Dark type. The ability on Tyranitar is good but the attack is costly.
Zubat, Golbat, Crobat ex
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This Crobat evolution is quite deadly. All three of them have attacks plus dealing Poison. Combine them with Nihilego for more Poison damage.
On a separate note, that new Golbat looks really scary.
Umbreon ex + Absol
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Umbreon ex was covered before. In short, this Umbreon ex looks really scary with that ability.
Absol seems okay when dealing with walls. You can deal 30 damage to 1 of your opponent's Benched Pokemon for 1 Dark Energy.
Mawile + Skarmory ex
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Mawile is a very good early game attacker. One Metal Energy for 30 damage is too good to ignore.
Skarmory ex is a beefy Basic Pokemon ex. This has 140 HP, 2 retreat cost and Fire weakness. For 2 Metal Energy, Steel Wing does 70 damage and Skarmory ex takes 20 less damage from opponent's attacks during your opponent's next turn.
Kangaskhan + Stantler
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Kangaskhan is a beefy 100 HP Basic Pokemon. What stands out to me is its attack. For one Energy, the Cross-Cut does 20 base damage and 40 more damage if the opponent's Active Pokemon is an Evolution Pokemon. I think this Kangakshan is very good in the early game.
Stantler seems okay. Enhanced Horns for 2 Energy does 20 base damage and 50 more damage if Stantler has a Pokemon Tool attached.
Lugia ex + Smeargle
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Lugia ex is a really good attacker provided that you meet the energy requirements for the Elemental Blast. Ho-Oh ex helps with the attack cost.
Smeargle looks like a good choice for control style players in this game. Two Energy for 50 damage is pretty good. You also get to randomly change the Energy type for your opponent. You can prevent future attacks from the opponent if they can't meet energy requirements for their attacks.
Trainer Cards
Elemental Switch + Squirt Bottle
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Elemental Switch is good in Water decks, Lightning decks and can find use in Ho-Oh ex + Lugia ex decks.
Squirt Bottle seems kind of bad. Fire Pokemon are not super popular for this card to see use.
Steel Apron
Steel Apron is a Tool card for Metal Pokemon. The Metal Pokemon that this card is attached to recovers from Special Conditions (Burn, Poison, Paralysis, etc.) and is not affected by Special Conditions. This tool also provides minus 10 damage from attacks from the opponent's Pokemon.
Metal Pokemon get stronger support with this Tool card.
Dark Pendant
Dark Pokemon gain hand distruption along with Poison in their strategies thanks to Dark Pendant. When a Dark Pokemon with this Tool card is attacked in the Active Spot, the opponent reveals a random card from their hand and shuffles it into their deck.
Rescue Scarf, Lyra, Silver
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These 3 cards were covered before. Rescue Scarf is good if you need recovery, Lyra seems bad and Silver might be good.
Will
Here is Will from the Elite Four of Johto. If you play this, he will make your first coin flip a Heads from the effect of an attack, ability or Trainer card. Imagine the combos with this guy and coin flip mechanics. I can't think of all of the coin flip interactions in this case. One case that stands out is the Xatu.
Fisher, Jasmine, Hiker
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Fisher seems bad even in a Water deck when it comes to Water Pokemon recovery.
Jasmine is pretty good if you run Steelix or Skarmory ex when it comes to damage reduction from Pokemon attacks during your opponent's next turn.
Hiker looks like a meme with his open mouth laugh. As a Supporter card I do not see the value of rearranging cards from the top of your deck depenent on the number of Fighting Pokemon. There are better Supporter cards than this.
Illustration Rare Cards
As usual the illustration rare cards are colourful.
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Full Art Cards + Special Illustration Rares
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I skip the Shiny cards here. There is too much to cover. Go here if you want to see them all.
This Johto set has a lot to offer. For the competitive players crowd, the metagame will shift again. People will try out the new cards to see what is good and what strategies work well.
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