News 20th Anniversary Set in September + Surfing Pikachu and M Slowbro-EX!

Just because rattata can't re-enable abilities by removing garb's tool doesn't mean it can't evolve into something that can: Raticate BKP, which deals Tool removal + Poison in the form of an attack, not an ability... Before Evolutions, the only standard-legal rattata had a measly 30 HP, making it prone to expanded's chief combo: Laserbank, which does 30 damage between turns: 10 from poison and 20 more from virbank city gym's effect... So the new rattata, with 10 HP higher than its Breakpoint cousin, is the better choice in expanded, and a great choice in standard, but there is one thing you need to watch out for: In standard, it can be KO'd by Baby Volcanion's power heater + One Steam Up(to deal 50 damage to Rattata) unless you put down a Parallel City to weaken baby volcanion's power heater from 50 damage to 30 damage(which is the same amount of damage dealt as that of the amount of damage laserbank does), which leaves the new Rattata at 10 HP left unless you evolve it to quadruple its remaining 10 HP so that it has 40 more to go before it gets KO'd...

^ I can see 1-1 Raticate as a result of Evolutions...
 
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For Gyarados, is it really 'If either of them are tails this attack does nothing'? It should have been atleast if BOTH are tails it does nothing. It looks like water attacks will be kept to a low profile because of rain dance from Blastoise.
 
That M Slowbro finally gave a reason for Heavy Boot to be played, since no one mentioned it. It's a tool card from BREAKthrough that says it can only be attached to a Pokemon with at least 3 retreat cost and the attached Pokemon can't be confused.
 
I think I like that Slowbro and M Slowbro Ex more because of the card templates. Cannot wait to see the Ninetales one.


But seriously we need full art versions of the set exs.
 
That M Slowbro finally gave a reason for Heavy Boot to be played, since no one mentioned it. It's a tool card from BREAKthrough that says it can only be attached to a Pokemon with at least 3 retreat cost and the attached Pokemon can't be confused.
Yes but that means you have to devote 2-4 spots to Weacile for it to work
 
B. Why another Charizard? At least its a nice easter egg to the manga.
It's almost assuredly the exact same as the other Charizard, there was a Japan only promo set of Base Set Venusaur/Charizard/Blastoise with different artwork available as a promotion with a CD in Japan back in the day, and this Charizard is using that art.

For Gyarados, is it really 'If either of them are tails this attack does nothing'? It should have been atleast if BOTH are tails it does nothing. It looks like water attacks will be kept to a low profile because of rain dance from Blastoise.

You say that like this is the first time we've seen this type of attack on a Gyarados before.
 
Also, will the Mega/Slowbro EX be SR's in the US, I think so because of the gold border :p
I don't think so, as they were going for the retro template of cards, and the border indicates that. It's kind of hard to make a retro template for an EX when the biggest difference is the red HP ( which they aren't doing, sadly) and the like inbetween attacks. I kinda like the yellow borders, just not the text and art.
 
Wow they really wanted to make sure Barrier wasn't as dumb as it was at the beginning of the game with this redesign. Well at least Mewtwo 's Psychic has been updated to a respectable power. Also I'm really noticing they are making many of the cards with Level Ball and Heavy Ball in mind to be unable to fetch them.

Ratatta isn't bad for a basic with the ability but has many have stated the Garbotoxin monster doesn't care. They really do need some basics that evolve that have semi-useful abilities because chances are you want to get to the bigger stage instead later.

Starmie actually is a really cool card. Since they even know how much power there is they ditched Recover for a very useful ability. Ditch your one-of supporter for VS Seeker when you need it to get back some energy. Even being Water lets it sink right into a Greninja BREAK deck. Also useful for energy fixing when you need other ones anyways. Garbobehemoth is still around and all but this is quite a nice Stage One.

Mega Slowbro isn't bad but it's not very fast. If you are able to control the game and keep things turned off It could work but the part where you have to have one attack to get to the damage you want takes away a turn not to mention you will need a way to get rid of or not be Confused for that attack as well. Escape Ropes, Lysandre and other such cards will make this Pokemon sad. It'll take five minutes for it to understand that but yeah bad times.

Switch reprint? Woo? I'm more interested in reprints with updated text such as Super Potion or what I'm predicting to make a return, Plus Power.
 
Aaaaannnddddd our replacement for Xerosic/Startling Megaphone is a completely neutered effect that has to be played to the bench on a 40HP basic. All I can say is we better get a better tool removal card in the form of a trainer/supporter or else we're screwed. On a more speculative note, I wonder if the Raticate from the set will have the full effect (Remove a tool from one of any of your opponent's Pokemon/Discard all tools from your opponent's Pokemon). Still probably not playable, but would be cool to see I guess.
 
I actually don't mind the old-style EX blanks.

Trade Please has a nice charm to it because it looks like an MS paint artwork.

Sleeves are kinda nice, never really bothered with them much but these don't look bad.

And I really like that FA Charizard EX with Venusaur wrapping its vines around him
 
Okay, I have to find Gyarados hilarious. Dragon Rage: 40 damage in the video games, basically an OHKO move in the TCG. I see much salt in the future of players who do get hit by the 1/4 chance. Pity Bubblebeam isn't any good, I have fond memories of Gyarados in Rain Dance. Oh, and the video game nerd in me appreciates that this Gyarados is properly weak to Lightning and not Grass.

Lilly Pad Mew continues to be adorable, and might find its way into Damage Swap stall, if that ends up being a thing. Also, 30 and flippy paralysis for [P] seems good, maybe, in Expanded?

I find myself greatly amused that Mewtwo's Psychic neither requires nor benefits from Psychic energy. Also Barrier seems cool now that it's no longer the centerpiece of an incredibly stupid stall strategy. Not good, but cool.

Rattata is completely unrecognizable, but Tricky Fang is neat. Pity about Garbador, as others have mentioned.

Poliwhirl and Charmeleon are evolving Stage 1s. Not much to say about them, given that they're just there to evolve again. No wait, Poliwhirl's Amnesia is neat against Pokémon with only one attack, and even against Pokémon that have multiple attacks, you can still seal the most dangerous one while dealing some slight damage. You're all right, Poliwhirl.

Hey, Starmie learned how to mimic the original Energy Retrieval! Maybe it'll finally be worth evolving your Staryu.

And Mega Slowbro seems like the obvious partner for the hypothetical Rain Dance Blastoise. Chaos Tower's already been mentioned, but we could also get Full Heal here.
 
Does anyone know exactly how many cards (excluding secret rares) will there be in the English set? In the bulbapedia page on XY Evolutions set, it mentions on the set description that there will be over 100. That would mean around a third of the first gen pokemon won't be remade.
 
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