Wow, Mamoswine looks to be one of the most fun cards to have yet. I'm definitely going to see fi I can get some and use it in a deck. Winning or losing is of little concern to me, even when I go to these big tournaments. If I'm having fun, that's perfectly fine with me. The last tournament I went to was Battle Roads in Lancaster, and I brought in a Huntail-Gorebyss deck.
Also, I'm so happy that Tomokazu Komiya wasn't fired. People seem to hate his artwork so much, which is a shame, because I love it. It exhibits an approach to drawing we don't really see much of; he is THE contemporary artist among current TCG illustrators, now that Sachiko Adachi is out.
Its also cool that Kent Kanetsuna is getting better at illustrating these things--I had previously considered him the worst illustrator because his backgrounds lack detail, which also usually have little to do with the Pokémon, and everything lacks texture; they look like someone who can make shapes with MAYA but not much else. Togekiss was the only thing he drew with a background fitting for the Pokémon. Looks like his backgrounds are getting better and the Pokémon are actually interacting with their environment, him growing to a late Keiji Kinebuchi style. That Mamoswine looks pretty nice too, that low angle stressing Mamoswine's enormous size.
I'm also glad Yukiko Baba is back. I haven't seen anything from her in a while. Too bad that Haunter is nothing spectacular. But that Gengar looks totally awesome; Hajime Kusajima is a master at shading and applying colored lights onto surfaces. This gradual shading is much different from his normal solid-color stuff, but that doesn't make that picture of Gengar look any less impressive. (On the other hand, Baba's Dusclops is pretty nice at evoking a Halloween feel.)
Oh, wow! Yuka Morii is back! All of my favorite artists seem to be returning! Yuka Morii, by the way, is one of the two artists who work with clay and photograph them, Adachi being the other. She can do some really detailed clay models (though I think they're actually plasticine); TRR Furret being a good example of the level of detail she can do. (Ah, that Bidoof is also a case of the meticulous detail Morii puts into even the most mundane Pokémon. But where's Bibarel? Are we really expected to use the D/P Bibarel?)
Even Miki Tanaka has returned. I never really have her at the top of the charts for anything, but it does feel nice that she's now doing 4th-generation Pokémon. Her Bronzor is accompanied by another returning artist, Kyoko Umemoto. I say, it was rather tiring of seeing Mitsuhiro Arita, Atsuko Nishida, Ken Sugimori, Midori Harada, Kagemaru Himeno, Kouki Saitou, Masakazu Fukuda, Ryo Ueda, Shizurow, and Kent Kanetsuda do everything. The TCG had a whole army of illustrators during the e-Reader and EX sets; I'm glad most of them are making a return. (Imakuni? is still conspicuously absent, however.) Naoyo Kimura also returns with that Steelix, though I have a hard time identifying Kimura's artwork compared to most other illustrators' for some reason.
That Sableye is going to be an incredible starter--overriding the coin flip AND allowing you to do effects of Supporters right from the get-go. I definitely want to get a few of those.
For Staraptor, does "Protect Wing" also apply to Benched Pokémon from a Stage 2 Defending Pokémon such as, say, Empoleon?