First “Crimson Haze” Cards Revealed, Including Bloodmoon Ursaluna ex!
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And now that you are behind prices (after using Forretress ex's ability) you can use Counter Catcher lol Definitely have its plays. Let's see what the rest of the set looks like.
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Well, the Enhanced Hammer reprint could be bad news for Lugia, Arc piles and any other deck that relies on DTE (sorry Meowscarada), it might even affect Bloodmoon Ursaluna if can be a deck using DTE but too soon to guess.
Unfair Stamp looks OP but as is only a one of, but being a item and directly searchable by Arven can be kind of unfair, but I guess the same applies for Prime Catcher, so better wait to see what the rest of the set has.
Unfair Stamp looks OP but as is only a one of, but being a item and directly searchable by Arven can be kind of unfair, but I guess the same applies for Prime Catcher, so better wait to see what the rest of the set has.
yet*
If that's Perrin, we're absolutely doomed
Luna is the successor to Radiant Charizard, Tail seems like it's just not good, Thorns isn't the best either, but a pseudo replacement for path? For Dipplin let's just wait for Hydrapple and make our guesses then, Phione could have its spot in the sun, but no good use for now, Perrin is not bad, Enhanced Hammer can help the bad Lugia matchups, Community Center and Caretaker are just bad, Lucky Helmet is fine, and Unfair Stamp seems just a touch goated. Roxanne -1 as an item so you can still gust around stuff with boss? Absolutely gnarly.
I truly hope so! xD
Isn't iron thorns good in future box? You can wall zard early game and potentially stop squark and seize for stuff like moon early game as well?
bloodmoon is more cracked than rad zard because you can use bloodmoon in literally any deck. radZard needs fire energies to attack and competes with rad greninja for the rad slot.
The cards that definitely show more interest are Blood Moon, Iron Thorns, Enhanced Hammer's reprint, and Unfair Stamp.
Enhanced Hammer is pretty straightforward in that you run it to get rid of Gift Energy or Mist Energy mainly. This will likely replace Temple of Sinnoh in any deck that was running it, namely in Roaring Moon decks that get better mileage out of an item for Pokestop.
Blood Moon, on paper, should be a powerful attacker in most cases. 260 HP and an efficient attack for 240 hits really, really well into other basic ex's. Fighting being a terrible type right now only cements it having a great weakness as well. Unlike Radiant Charizard, this doesn't require any specific type of energy.
Then, you remember that the format is highly centric around a 330 HP behemoth. This is unfortunately where it falls short.
Radiant Charizard's success right now comes from it being that powerful a hit on a 1-prize attacker. A 2-prizer doing this right now is gonna result in it getting rolled over almost just as easy without a dedicated tool to make Blood Moon's HP 310 or 360 to have a better chance at living, or a specific reason to hit 240 for 0-1 energy. I feel like it will have its time way more as a splashable attacker in a later format that isn't as driven by a need to constantly keep up against Charizard ex (both Blood Moon keeping up, and other decks keeping up) and that its best use case right now is as an attacker in Pidgeot Control where its bulk can shine. Maybe we'll also see a Lost Box build running it due to how crippling Radiant Charizard is for the design of a Lost Box deck overall, despite what Sablezard can do. Even then, there's still a few options Blood Moon is competing against for a role in Lost Box. Forretress is a neat and fun idea, but that deck has fundamental problems competitively.
Iron Thorns ex is in the same boat Empoleon V was, in blocking a certain subset of abilities while in the active as a 2-prizer. It even has the same kind of attack Empoleon V has. The difference is that Escape Rope is, at least to knowledge right now, not in the format. The only ways to really play around Iron Thorns ex in the active are to Boss it, or to use Iron Bundle.
The subset of abilities Iron Thorns blocks is matchup-dependent, but it seems really, really effective at slowing down Charizard, shutting off Charizard ex's ability and shutting off Pidgeot ex's ability in some builds too. It also shuts off Summoning Star in the Lugia matchup, Starbirth against Arc-Tina, Coin Bonus against Gholdengo, Concealed Cards from Radiant Greninja in a bunch of matchups, and Psychic Embrace if you have any care left for the Gardevoir matchup. That's a pretty impressive resume.
We haven't seen much success over Flutter Mane, but it still does its job in shutting down Lost Box. Lost Box just isn't considered that good or popular of a deck right now. Klefki has shown no success, and that's mostly because the subset Klefki covers isn't really good right now.
The only major problem Iron Thorns ex has is its terrible attack power and poor retreat cost to be splashed... just like Empoleon V. Most decks aren't gonna want to play a brick wall if it is still bricks their own play too. You're gonna need a deck that has either a lot of switch cards, actively attacks with it, or is willing to use Future Booster Energy Capsule to cut its retreat cost to 0. That's gonna heavily cut down the number of decks willing to try this. I still don't think highly of Future Box, but that definitely is the best home for it right now. Once again, Lost Box probably has another card worth looking into at the least.
Unfair Stamp is... conflicting.
The card is absolutely devastating when successful. Iono got stronger the longer the game went, and Roxanne only worked once the opponent hit 3 prizes left. This can be used at almost any point in the game once the prize race starts. And its an item. You can set up your own board with a useful supporter and then play this, you can Boss KO something on the same turn just like Roxanne + Counter Catcher could later in the game, or depending on your goal you could play this and then try to disrupt the opponent further. Putting this card down turns into a massive board check for the opponent.
On the one hand, it is a card that will always now make a player think "How screwed am I against this card if I just start blasting away and taking prize cards?" For pacing, this could be a good thing for the game. Most time to set up, more time to angle out how you will beat your opponent.
On the other hand... how fast is the format right now where slowing that level of play down is an option? This goes especially for Best-of-1. If you choose not to take a prize card in favor of setting up your board an extra turn, that might be the difference in winning or losing the prize race outright unless you are packing that disruption yourself. This isn't gonna go over well for highly-aggressive decks either way.
What can run this? Well it's splashable, but you need a deck that can justify taking out their current Ace Spec in doing so. I feel the decks that would most benefit from this are any deck that can run Counter Catcher, including Charizard despite how powerful Maximum Belt is in that deck. To make the most use of it, you need a way to dismantle a piece on the opponent's board such as a Mew ex or a Bibarel. If you don't the card's ultimately not that good except against opponents not respecting the card at all. I think Maximum Belt will still be the right choice in Charizard at the end of the day, but a new build will shine with it and players will have to respect a build like that existing. I feel we will see it most in Gardevoir and Lost Box, and maybe some weird Lugia build.
Enhanced Hammer is pretty straightforward in that you run it to get rid of Gift Energy or Mist Energy mainly. This will likely replace Temple of Sinnoh in any deck that was running it, namely in Roaring Moon decks that get better mileage out of an item for Pokestop.
Blood Moon, on paper, should be a powerful attacker in most cases. 260 HP and an efficient attack for 240 hits really, really well into other basic ex's. Fighting being a terrible type right now only cements it having a great weakness as well. Unlike Radiant Charizard, this doesn't require any specific type of energy.
Then, you remember that the format is highly centric around a 330 HP behemoth. This is unfortunately where it falls short.
Radiant Charizard's success right now comes from it being that powerful a hit on a 1-prize attacker. A 2-prizer doing this right now is gonna result in it getting rolled over almost just as easy without a dedicated tool to make Blood Moon's HP 310 or 360 to have a better chance at living, or a specific reason to hit 240 for 0-1 energy. I feel like it will have its time way more as a splashable attacker in a later format that isn't as driven by a need to constantly keep up against Charizard ex (both Blood Moon keeping up, and other decks keeping up) and that its best use case right now is as an attacker in Pidgeot Control where its bulk can shine. Maybe we'll also see a Lost Box build running it due to how crippling Radiant Charizard is for the design of a Lost Box deck overall, despite what Sablezard can do. Even then, there's still a few options Blood Moon is competing against for a role in Lost Box. Forretress is a neat and fun idea, but that deck has fundamental problems competitively.
Iron Thorns ex is in the same boat Empoleon V was, in blocking a certain subset of abilities while in the active as a 2-prizer. It even has the same kind of attack Empoleon V has. The difference is that Escape Rope is, at least to knowledge right now, not in the format. The only ways to really play around Iron Thorns ex in the active are to Boss it, or to use Iron Bundle.
The subset of abilities Iron Thorns blocks is matchup-dependent, but it seems really, really effective at slowing down Charizard, shutting off Charizard ex's ability and shutting off Pidgeot ex's ability in some builds too. It also shuts off Summoning Star in the Lugia matchup, Starbirth against Arc-Tina, Coin Bonus against Gholdengo, Concealed Cards from Radiant Greninja in a bunch of matchups, and Psychic Embrace if you have any care left for the Gardevoir matchup. That's a pretty impressive resume.
We haven't seen much success over Flutter Mane, but it still does its job in shutting down Lost Box. Lost Box just isn't considered that good or popular of a deck right now. Klefki has shown no success, and that's mostly because the subset Klefki covers isn't really good right now.
The only major problem Iron Thorns ex has is its terrible attack power and poor retreat cost to be splashed... just like Empoleon V. Most decks aren't gonna want to play a brick wall if it is still bricks their own play too. You're gonna need a deck that has either a lot of switch cards, actively attacks with it, or is willing to use Future Booster Energy Capsule to cut its retreat cost to 0. That's gonna heavily cut down the number of decks willing to try this. I still don't think highly of Future Box, but that definitely is the best home for it right now. Once again, Lost Box probably has another card worth looking into at the least.
Unfair Stamp is... conflicting.
The card is absolutely devastating when successful. Iono got stronger the longer the game went, and Roxanne only worked once the opponent hit 3 prizes left. This can be used at almost any point in the game once the prize race starts. And its an item. You can set up your own board with a useful supporter and then play this, you can Boss KO something on the same turn just like Roxanne + Counter Catcher could later in the game, or depending on your goal you could play this and then try to disrupt the opponent further. Putting this card down turns into a massive board check for the opponent.
On the one hand, it is a card that will always now make a player think "How screwed am I against this card if I just start blasting away and taking prize cards?" For pacing, this could be a good thing for the game. Most time to set up, more time to angle out how you will beat your opponent.
On the other hand... how fast is the format right now where slowing that level of play down is an option? This goes especially for Best-of-1. If you choose not to take a prize card in favor of setting up your board an extra turn, that might be the difference in winning or losing the prize race outright unless you are packing that disruption yourself. This isn't gonna go over well for highly-aggressive decks either way.
What can run this? Well it's splashable, but you need a deck that can justify taking out their current Ace Spec in doing so. I feel the decks that would most benefit from this are any deck that can run Counter Catcher, including Charizard despite how powerful Maximum Belt is in that deck. To make the most use of it, you need a way to dismantle a piece on the opponent's board such as a Mew ex or a Bibarel. If you don't the card's ultimately not that good except against opponents not respecting the card at all. I think Maximum Belt will still be the right choice in Charizard at the end of the day, but a new build will shine with it and players will have to respect a build like that existing. I feel we will see it most in Gardevoir and Lost Box, and maybe some weird Lugia build.
What you have forgotten is that iron thorns 1 shots lugia and is played in future box which plays 4 switch and still allows your abilities and you can just search it out and play it down and this turn on one with pokemon headquarters and unfair stamp would be crazy.
I hope they stick Hydrapple in the set, even if it’s technically the next dlc it’s still awkward (and even in the games themselves at the time) of having a random stage 1 in there.
Of the EXs, not too impressed with any besides Iron Thorns, fit it into an Iron Valiant deck and you can pretty much control whether you want to shut down abilities or take no damage (via mimikyu and such), seems good on paper anyways.
Of the EXs, not too impressed with any besides Iron Thorns, fit it into an Iron Valiant deck and you can pretty much control whether you want to shut down abilities or take no damage (via mimikyu and such), seems good on paper anyways.
Can't wait for hydrapple's release. ??
Unfair Stamp is why I was so excited to see ACE SPECs back. I secretly enjoyed the chaos of 2012-2016 when degeneracy was at its peak, and unpredictable combos and plays were flying off of the card printers faster than a Lysandre's Trump Card-powered deck. It was chaotic, and often frustrating, but it was actually genuinely a lot of fun to witness, too. NOW, with the (no pun intended) wizards and game engineers trying all kinds of powerful stuff with this new breed of ACE SPECs, it's feeling a lot like that era again.
Surprising a 5-Prize opponent with a 2-card hand immediately after their first KO is a very specific and very delicious kind of EVIL. I am living for this forthcoming insanity!
Surprising a 5-Prize opponent with a 2-card hand immediately after their first KO is a very specific and very delicious kind of EVIL. I am living for this forthcoming insanity!
yea makes you think twice about just having an arven engine to start your game. You'll need actual draw supporters to get out of a 3 card hand on your second turn of attacks as you might not have bibarel online at that time.
This makes me more and more afraid of future box with each new set. It has a one-shot against zard and possibly tina with mew/Thorton, can hit Chien-pao, I-Hands, and Goldengo for weakness, and has searchable plus powers/escape rope. Now it has a built-in ability block, I am now scared if they give them a stadium card and what it could do.
Oh, I gotta get that illustration Phione.
(Also, the article lists Ursaluna as a Fighting-type lol)
(Also, the article lists Ursaluna as a Fighting-type lol)