Lots of News

I hope everyone had a great Easter yesterday! I have not made an update this large in a while (especially one that takes me three hours to write)! I wish it could be like this every day, but today a huge amount of news came my way. It makes up for the lack of news lately. Tomorrow, I will update the left and right menus of this site, since I realize some of the information related to the dates of certain items are outdated and incorrect now (and I forgot some links in the left menu related to sets).

Next Japanese TCG Set – As we reported almost a month ago, the next Japanese TCG set would feature Darkrai, and would be themed around the 10th Pokemon movie, Dialga vs. Palkia vs. Darkrai. Thanks to Vincent, we now have more exclusive information on the set. We now know the set’s name is Shining Darkness, and as we posted a while ago, it will be released on July 5th in Japan, with the pre-constructed theme decks featuring Dialga Lv.X and Palkia Lv.X. It will also contain many legendary Pokemon, including Entei, Suicune, Raikou, Lugia, Ho-Oh, and Mew, as well as the Charizard, Blastoise, and Venusaur evolutionary lines. More information should be coming in soon, so stay tuned to PokeBeach! Since this set is themed around the 10th movie, and Darkrai’s role is not yet known in terms of whether it is “good” or “bad,” it probably would not be too farfetched to assume that Darkrai may be a “good” Pokemon, referring to the title of the set, shining darkness (the darkness being Darkrai). Putting positive light on a darkness Pokemon may be a reference to Darkrai’s role in the movie, since TCG sets have before predicted certain aspects of the movies. We’ll see…

Diamond and Pearl Dub Preview – Toonami Jetstream has posted a three-minute clip of the second English episode of Diamond and Pearl, showcasing Ash, Brock, Starly, and a few other characters. You can view the clip by clicking here. If you do not live in America, in which case Toonami Jetstream will not let you view the clip, you can also watch it on YouTube by clicking here. The first three episodes of the Diamond and Pearl season will air on April 20th at 7:00 PM (on Cartoon Network), and the Diamond and Pearl season (the 10th season) will begin airing on Monday, June 4th. Dawn’s voice is still yet to be heard, but at this point, we do know that Sarah Natochenny, the new voice of Ash, will not be voicing her, as some rumors previously held. She recently posted on her MySpace:

Hey guys,

Let this be my official statement:

I am not the voice of Dawn in the upcoming “Diamond and Pearl” season of “Pokemon.” I don’t know how this rumour started, but I was alerted to a news story on me at voicechasers.com that cited Pokemon USA as its source. Maybe it was a mistake…that spread rather quickly. Anyway, it’s not me. I will continue as Ash, other small roles and a few Pokemon. See if you can guess which they are when the show starts airing! It should start airing in a few weeks; I don’t know when exactly.

Thanks for watching! Hope you enjoy it!

Love,
Sarah Natochenny

Japanese Metagame Update – The Japanese Battle Road tournaments just ended, and apparently, there were three main decks that absolutely dominated each of the tournaments. Nimonosandesu, one of our Japanese translators, reported that one of the most used decks was Scizor ex from EX Unseen Forces, a deck that gets out Scizor quickly and attacks by the second turn (details were vague on how this deck actually worked). Another deck used was one that featured Electivire from the first [Diamond and Pearl set], in combination with [Dragonite (d)] from EX Delta Species, a deck that constantly delivers 120 damage every turn (I want to play this deck myself!). If one was to read both cards, the strategy behind how the deck works becomes obvious. LBS, a deck that many of us know to feature Lugia, Blastoise, and Steelix ex was the third most used deck, but unfortunately for America and most countries, the deck is no longer legal, since our format is EX Deoxys on. The Steelix ex deck is legal right now, and the Electivire / Dragonite (d) deck will become legal when the Diamond and Pearl TCG set is released in stores on May 23rd.

Speaking of Battle Road tournaments, America’s own Battle Roads will begin in May, although not the same type of event as the Japanese ones (they just share the same name – the Japanese Battle Roads are HUGE events, while the American Battle Roads are supposed to be smaller tournaments, similar to City Championships). Thanks to Pokemon.no, we now know that if you come in 1st place at a Battle Road tournament, you will receive a “Victory Medal” card, as pictured to the right.

Tired of reading yet? :D

Pokemon 10 Anniversary CD Preview – If you purchase Pokemon Ranger and the Temple of the Sea from Target, your DVD will come with a preview selection of the Pokemon 10 Anniversary CD, featuring five tracks: Pokemon: Original Series Theme, the original PokeRap, Together Forever, I Want to Be a Hero (the Pokemon Advanced theme), and a very interesting remix track, Hoenn PokeRap. The Hoenn PokeRap originally aired once on Kids WB a few years ago, and now it has been released in a remixed form on this Target CD (and the future 10th anniversary CD). Since many people are interested in hearing the song, I have uploaded it here for download. I chose this song to upload because, in my opinion, it has to be one of the worst songs ever released for Pokemon – ever, EVER, EVER (plus, many people asked me to upload it). The beat was terrible, many of the Ruby and Sapphire Pokemon names were mispronounced, the names were said mostly in order of the PokeDex entries, and at some points, the names were said so rapidly that many of them did not even register in my head. Since I own all of the songs on the CD, spare the Hoenn PokeRap, I seriously was considering throwing this CD away after I bought the DVD because of how bad it was. But this is all just my opinion! Now you can judge the song! Remember, you can buy Pokemon Ranger and the Temple of the Sea with this bonus CD at Target for $16.99, and remember, the CD comes with four other great tracks as well! Click the CD’s picture below to play the song, or right click the image and save the song’s link to your computer!

New Set Scans – Our master card scanner, Shakespeare, has been sweating over a hot scanner for several weeks, attempting to scan in the sets from which we only have scans from pre-releases (in other words, scanning in “new, fresh, and PRETTIFUL” scans to replace the “ugly” scans). As of today, [EX Holon Phantoms] and [EX Dragon Frontiers] have had most of their “ugly” scans replaced, although several “ugly” scans still remain. If you own a good-quality scanner and the cards that we still need to be re-scanned, please visit this thread on our forums and tell us what you can scan! New EX Power Keepers scans should be up sometime later this week, and hopefully the Modified Card-Dex as well.