Generating a Power Spike: Surging Sparks and Improved Miraidon

Hello everyone! Surging Sparks has just released and will be legal for tournaments right after LAIC for the subsequent Sacramento Regional Championships. As with any new set release, it has caused some buzz and excitement in the community, however, upon closer inspection, the set isn’t actually that good… I think this is fine, as we don’t need a groundbreaking set every three months that completely changes the landscape of the meta.

Of course, there are several good cards in the set, but I think this set will be overall less impactful than most other sets. There also aren’t any clearly premium archetypes that come out of this set alone, such as Terapagos ex / Noctowl from Stellar Crown. Cards that could make their own decks, such as Pikachu ex, Ceruledge ex, Hydreigon ex, or Archaludon ex, are clearly a step below the meta’s current contenders. As of right now, I don’t think any of these cards are going to immediately break into the meta. Of course, with time, perhaps players will unlock the true power of some of these cards. Nonetheless, I still want to briefly discuss some of the more interesting cards from this set, and see if we can figure out where they will see play in the meta.

Furthermore, there is one deck that gets a notable boost in power from this set; Miraidon ex. I want to take a look at this deck and talk about why it’s good, so we will get to that shortly.

Surging Sparks Rundown

As I said before, I don’t think this set is that good, however, I am notorious for underrating new cards before they prove themselves in tournaments. That said, there are a few cards that are clearly meant to have decks built around them. The likes of Ceruledge ex, Hydreigon ex, and Archaludon ex are interesting, but they make for second-rate decks in the current meta. I can’t help but compare them to decks like Raging Bolt ex or Regidrago VSTAR, which outclass and whoop these newcomers. Pikachu ex is slightly different, however. This card has some serious promise. The effect of Pikachu ex’s Ability is rarely seen, and it is an extremely good Ability, allowing it to survive any attack that should be a one-shot. Pikachu ex’s attack is a bit difficult to manage, but it is undeniably good too — dealing 300 damage, this will one-shot most Pokemon in the game. With a little help from something like Defiance Band or Gravity Mountain, it can even take out big guns like Charizard ex or Dragapult ex in one hit. As for its attack cost, it can be managed by cards like Terapagos, Crispin, Sparkling Crystal, Powerglass, or even Mirage Gate.

Pikachu ex has two big problems; the first is that it is high-maintenance, requiring it to have a deck built around it. This is not inherently a bad thing, but it becomes an issue when combined with Pikachu ex’s second big weakness; the meta is hostile for it, with most decks having ways around Pikachu ex’s Ability. Regidrago VSTAR and Dragapult ex are happy to spread damage and take multi-Prize turns, and they are mostly unaffected by Pikachu ex’s Ability. The prevalence of Dusknoir is also a struggle, as any deck containing the phantom menace will easily dispatch Pikachu ex with no regard to its defensive Ability. Finally, even Raging Bolt ex can deal with Pikachu ex by attacking with Slither Wing, which easily one-shots Pikachu ex due to Weakness and Burn damage. As a result, I don’t think a Pikachu ex-based deck is good in the current meta.

The new Chien-Pao has the same Ability as Pumpkaboo, which is significant. This won’t see too much play right now, but it is a nice utility card, and will probably see some competitive use throughout its lifetime. Rotom and Turtonator are nice cards for control decks to include. I don’t think control is a threat in the current metagame, but when it is played, it will certainly enjoy these cards. Koraidon is a high-damage single-Prize attacking option for any Ancient-based deck, however, the restriction on its first attack makes it inferior to other single-Prize options in Raging Bolt ex, in my opinion.

Latias ex is almost certainly the best card in Surging Sparks. Its Ability is downright ridiculous, making the card extremely efficient. This will see play in every Basic-focused deck, and I could even see it being useful in some other decks like Regidrago VSTAR or Origin Forme Palkia VSTAR. Latias ex adds a lot of consistency to any turn one options, be it a setup or aggressive attack. Its attack won’t be used as often, and that doesn’t matter — Latias ex is a stupidly good card for the Ability alone. My only concern is that adding power to big Basic decks might further the gap between them and the other options.

The most interesting card to me personally is Slaking ex. This is a Stage 2, which isn’t exactly a good thing, but its attack is insane. For two Colorless, it swings for 280, which will likely be 260 for a Double Turbo Energy. Slaking ex also has a whopping 340 HP — it’s essentially a “big numbers” card with an efficient attack, which seems pretty good to me. The catch is that Slaking ex’s Ability says it can’t attack if your opponent only has single-Prize Pokemon in play, and there’s no real way to turn this Ability off. This means that unless you want your opponent to be able to sit there and set up, you’ll need some alternative way to apply pressure. This shouldn’t be too hard to find in deckbuilding though. Slakoth and Vigoroth aren’t much help, but perhaps Fan Rotom could provide early pressure and trade into single-Prize Pokemon while also being a valuable consistency piece. Fortunately for Slaking ex, there are no decks that can fully operate without any two-Prize Pokemon, so Slaking ex should usually be in a situation where it can, in fact, attack.

Trainer cards like Counter Gain and Precious Trolley are obviously good. I think some underrated Trainers might be Jasmine's Gaze with its unique effect, Call Bell for super aggressive decks, or even Gravity Mountain if a deck needs a bit of extra reach against Charizard ex or Dragapult ex.

Miraidon ex

Now let’s talk about Miraidon ex. Miraidon ex gets a few new cards from Surging Sparks and also seems to be positioned alright into the meta.

This concludes the public portion of this article.

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