It’s Time For Rotation — Scarlet and Violet Set Analysis

Hello everyone! The winds of change are approaching the Pokemon TCG at last. After a long-delayed rotation, we are finally about to have it happen in April, which I think is a first in the history of the game. After a painfully extended Silver Tempest format due to Crown Zenith being a big nothing burger, I’m sure I speak for all competitive players when I say that I am ready for things to be shaken up. Accompanying the rotation is the new Scarlet & Violet base set, which not only changes the aesthetic of all cards, but also (re)introduces Pokemon ex. Frankly, the ex mechanic is not very interesting, but not everything has to be.

Japan has already been playing with the rotation format for a few weeks, so we have some idea of what’s going on. Today I’ll be reviewing the new set in the context of the upcoming Standard format. Interestingly, I’ve seen some cards receive a lot of hype that I do not think are good, and vice versa. There are some underrated cards here too, so I will have a hot take or two. As usual with set reviews, I won’t bother discussing cards that I don’t think will have any chance of competitive viability on release, but it’s always possible I forget or overlook something. I’ll put my rating next to each card so that you can more or less see the evaluation of each card at just a cursory glance.

Scarlet & Violet Pokemon Cards

Armarouge (3/5)

This card’s Ability is a spiritual successor to Quagsire from 2019’s NagQuag deck. This is a dangerous type of Ability, but it requires a deck built around Fire Energy with some sort of reliable Energy acceleration. At the current time, I don’t see an obvious application for Armarouge, but the Ability has such a high power level that it is worth considering. Magma Basin is an obvious card to pair with it, but you are going to need a lot more than that for a viable deck. It’s worth noting that Armarouge can move Fire Energy to any type of Pokemon, so you don’t necessarily need to play other Fire-type Pokemon to make this work.

Dondozo (2/5)

This seems alright to me, but I haven’t heard any hype for it. What is really unfortunate is Twin Energy rotating, leaving Dondozo with Double Turbo Energy and the accompanying damage reduction. Furthermore, Quick Ball also rotates, making it more difficult to get multiple Tatsugiri into the discard pile. It makes me wish that Dondozo came out just a set or two earlier so it could make use of these cards. That said, Dondozo is still a Basic Pokemon with big numbers that can attack for just one Energy attachment.

Tatsugiri itself isn’t terrible either. Although you want them in the discard for Dondozo’s attack, both of Tatsugiri’s attacks can be helpful in the event you open with it. For just one Water Energy, it can either charge up someone on the Bench or return itself back to the hand to be discarded later (while also poking for 30 damage). At the current time, it may just be too difficult to get Tatsugiri into the discard quickly. It’s also unfortunate that Scoop Up Net rotates, meaning that common Basic-search options such as Battle VIP Pass or Nest Ball won’t work well with Tatsugiri.

Miraidon ex and Electric Generator (5/5)

This card is the cornerstone of a popular deck in Japan for a few reasons. Its Ability is completely unhinged. I’ve never seen an Ability quite like this. You get to search your deck for two Lightning-type Basic Pokemon and put them on the Bench. There’s no real restriction, and you can even chain them to fully set up your board off a single Nest Ball. This Ability alone would be enough to make a card playable, but of course, Miraidon ex‘s stats are also pretty nuts. It’s got 220 HP and attack power.

Of course, Miraidon ex also gets a signature Item card to go with it: Electric Generator. Electric Generator is reminiscent of Max Elixir. This time around, it only works for Lightning-type Pokemon, but it can get two Lightning Energy if you’re lucky. This card is insanely overpowered if you ask me. Miraidon ex decks in Japan play four of these for Energy acceleration, and they also make use of Regieleki VMAX. This archetype probably won’t be as dominant as pre-rotation Lugia VSTAR, but it will certainly be strong. Let’s take a look at a list:

Using this list for reference, I yoinked it from Eric at Rare Candy. I always work on my own decks, but at this point I’m personally still playing pre-rotation for tournaments, so I haven’t worked on the post-rotation decks yet. The point is simply to look at what people are playing in Japan and use it as a reference. The Miraidon ex deck is fairly straightforward.

This concludes the public portion of this article.

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