Today marks the completion of the first version of the set. All the missing cards have been added:
Ledian-GX: Safeguard is an important Ability to help block damage from two-Prizers. To prevent Ledian-GX from walling itself in the mirror, Starlight Comet Punch's damage can cut through all effects on the defender. The damage is inconsistent, on purpose, as a way to balance having Safeguard. Escape GX is a one-time heal for your field but also puts Ledian-GX back into the deck, which can be a good or a bad thing depending on your point of view.
Electivire-GX: I threw out the old spoiler I had for this card because it was so bland that it sickened me to look at it. In its place is something much better. Lightning Remedy heals you a little bit every time you attach a Lightning Energy as your free Energy for the turn. It's the perfect assistant to ensure a turn two Thunder Punch, which is very reminiscient of the Base Set Electabuzz's Thunderpunch attack. It's important to note that Electivire-GX's Thunder Punch flip is optional. Flipping heads is great, but flipping tails isn't so hot. It does set you up for a Lightning Remedy pickup the following turn, though. Haymaker GX does little damage but has a powerful followup attack that your opponent will be hard-pressed to deal with.
Tynamo: As I mentioned on Eelektrik, all the Pokemon in this line have the Link Blast attack. Going second, this gives you the potential to shoot off a quick thirty damage on turn one, which is nice. Alternatively, you can try to power up quickly with Charge Beam.
Eelektross: Both of this Pokémon's attacks combo with each other which I think is pretty cool. Link Blast does a ton of damage if you can match your opponent's Energy count; if you can't, Thunder Storm lets you rearrange your Energy however you like to either conserve your Energy if Eelektross is about to die, or set yourself up for a Link Blast KO next turn.
Gourgeist-GX: Gourgeist is the cutest goddamn Pokemon omg. Anyway, Gourgeist-GX's Haunted House Ability gives it a humongous boost in HP. Because of that, its attack is both expensive and weak, but still has the potential to be decent if your opponent's flips don't go their way. Lifelink GX gives you one chance to immediately murder whatever's up front while (randomly) decimating your opponent's hand in the process. The effect might be a little too strong. I like the idea of matching an opponent's card to kill them, but having the potential to wipe your opponent's hand might be too much, even for a GX attack.
Sandygast: Pretty simple card. Harden provides powerful protection against even the strongest turn one attacks, and Trick Shovel is an exact reprint of the actual card. It's funny because Sandygast is a Ghost-type, and it has a shovel. Tee hee I am so hilarious.
Palossand: Whether or not Shore Up is broken remains to be seen. As of right now, it seems to be okay, but we'll see. The real draw of this card is Sandcastle Crush. By sucking up more and more Fighting Energy you can fire off stronger and stronger attacks, while giving yourself tons of HP in the process. It's weak to Ability lock, so don't put something like Aqua Suit on it.
Sandshrew: This is another one of those rather plain cards in the set for realism's sake. Dig Under is kinda cool to set up a target to be taken out by Sandslash's Grounding Force, or maybe you can use this plus Sandstorm Stadium to secure the KO on a Benched target or something? At least it's not as busted as Minccino.
Primeape: This sort of thing has been seen before, but I like the mechanic. You can self-damage by either getting hit, using Mankey's attack, or using Primeape's attack. Protective Pads is probably the Tool of choice to stop you from hurting yourself.
Trapinch: Counterattack Jaws is the main focus of this card, so it has a lot of HP to let you use it safely. If you want to roll the dice with Big Bite you may, but I suggest evolving as quick as you can.
Roggenrola: Pretty cool guy. Listen lets you copy your opponent's Supporters, and Rock Blast is your standard dice-rolling damage.
Gigalith-GX: Big and beefy. Gigalith-GX and Goodra-GX have the most HP in the set and both of them have staying power. With a single attack, Gigalith-GX can lock whatever it hits in the Active position, leaving it stuck to eat a massive attack the following turn. You can get out of this lock by using Hoopa (in Dark decks), Warp Point, or finding a way to move Gigalith-GX out of the Active spot. Avalanche GX is a massive spread option to soften up your opponent's field.
Houndour: Tool Buster is an interesting attack that can let you get rid of your opponent's Tools. Its cost is Colorless so you can throw it in any deck. Aqua Suit prevents effects of attacks, so you wouldn't be able to discard it with Tool Buster's effect.
Poochyena: Stalk Roar is unique in the fact that it lets you gust out someone from your opponent's Bench, but only a turn after you use it. It's a very, very good attack.
Alolan Diglett: Tool Drop! Get you some Delibird and go to town. Perhaps you can find some way to use Alolan Dugtrio in this deck as well for a little extra damage?
Aron: Aggron's attacks are expensive. Both Aron and Lairon have attacks that can help you charge up. Aron's attack is a little questionable. Metal Claw is of decent strength, though.
Lairon: Lairon's Greedy Eater attack has a steep cost, but guarantees you two Energy. If you hit the Greedy Eater on Aron, you can opt instead to use Scare on turn two to potentially stop your opponent's Basics from attacking.
Togedemaru-GX: Mill :> Stick him up front and mill your opponent until they lose. Panic Barbs nets you an additional card if you get hit by a strong attack. Keep yourself healed and keep on milling. Zone Zap's additional effect of Lost Zoning one Supporter you discard can be pretty devastating. Steel Shock GX can rip your opponent's discard pile to shreds, permanently exiling your opponent's most important resources, potentially winning you the game if you can Lost Zone the right stuff.
Jigglypuff: Jigglypuff is another one of those cards that can do an extra thing if you attach multiple Energy, but since Wigglytuff can't make use of them, you probably won't be attaching numerous Energy. Being able to put your opponents into a deep sleep for a single Energy is stronger than you might think, and is a great response to going second. Alarm Clock does bonus damage if they're Asleep, and it's funny cause it wakes them up, like an alarm clock them, and you clock them to wake them up, and... I'll see myself out.
Togepi: There are surprisingly few Pokemon that can hit both the Active and Benched positions in this set. Most of them are fully evolved Pokemon. Togepi is out doing its best, though.
Togetic: It draws you cards, just like I said. Don't think anyone reads these little blurbs anyway so this is probably new information to you. You probably won't use it unless you are also playing Togekiss, which is fine because Togekiss is really good depending on the deck you're facing.
Togekiss: More two-Prizer hate. The attack isn't anything special, but it does great damage if buffed by Primarina and Oricorio.
Tapu Fini-GX: Fini's Ability lets it resurrect itself a la the actual Darkrai-GX. Calamity Wave is weak on purpose, since its job is mainly to spread. That said, it gets a huge boost in damage if you flip all tails. Comboing with Eternal Guardian is Twinkleshine GX, which lets you simply throw Tapu Fini-GX away to avoid giving up two Prizes; with only 160 HP, it is extremely frail.
Magearna: I am also expecting this card to see a lot of play. Shift Gear accelerates Energy at a steady pace to either itself or someone on your Bench. Fleur Cannon is powerful for a turn two option, but it has a pretty heavy drawback which makes spamming it not that optimal.
Vibrava: Violent Vibration is a really fun attack that I hope people use a lot. Coming up with unique effects like this is super cool. Twister is nothing you haven't seen before. Remember that you get no damage if you don't flip at least one heads.
Flygon: Another fun and unique card. Outrage is a very potent spread move that has the unfortunate side effect of confusing yourself if you flip the double tails. All is not lost, however, as that also triggers Flygon's Prize Trap Ability. Be brave and spread damage everywhere
Tyrunt: While Tyrunt's Call for Family attack doesn't immediately put the Tyrunt you search with it into play, it makes it so you don't have to waste resources to search for them. It's for balance reasons, really. Crunch has the potential to be moderately powerful, but there aren't many Special Energy yet.
Goomy: The Gooey Ability stops your opponent from messing with any card attached to Goomy. Absorb lets you immediately get whatever color Energy you're missing for Goodra-GX and that is all there is to say about this dude.
Sliggoo: Not every card has to be interesting.
Goodra-GX: The set's other massive hitter, Goodra-GX is the enemy of Pokemon-GX everywhere. Everyone time one hits it, you strip off an Energy. Slime Guard protects you from anything without a ton of Energy attached to it, and any threat your opponent builds up can be promptly taken care of with Gastric Spit GX. This thing is good. It will see play. Watch out for it.
Pidgeot-GX: The grandmother of all Normal/Flying birds is here and she's pissed. So much so, in fact, that if there's any weaklings on the verge of death sitting on your opponent's Bench, she can swoop down and gobble them up for a Prize, once per turn. It only works on Basics, though, so your opponent has a bit of a reprieve and - what's that? Hurricane GX devolves your opponent's whole field? Oh. Never mind then.
Sentret: After some feedback, this card has been redesigned to soften its locking capabilities. Importantly, Sentret can still trap Pokemon from your hand, forcing you to waste additional resources (if those haven't been locked away as well) to get them back. It is held in check by low HP and not much else. If you want to meme you can go for a Big Swing, which does have the strength to KO other low-HP Basics (like Sentret, funnily enough).
Furret: Did you know that Furret is one of the most neglected Pokemon in the TCG, with only 7 cards released in English (and 8 cards total)? If Forgotten Allies had a mascot, Furret would be it. In fact, Furret doesn't even have a card in the Sun & Moon block. That's right; in the past 25 sets spanning five years and over 2,600 cards, Furret has not been printed once. Meanwhile we got losers like Charizard getting card prints for days, paired up with everyone and their mom as a Tag Team, like it's the most bankable Pokemon in the world or something. Pfft. Ain't right. So I am fixing that with this Furret. Scavenge alone warrants its inclusion in your deck. It's invaluable in Tool Drop decks. It's stall defense. Rapid Runaround is annoying as hell. And this Furret also has its own Big Swing attack which can put some decent hurt down if you're on a budget. It has no Retreat Cost, either, so there will be no problem getting this guy in, doing what he needs to, and then getting out.
Teddiursa: Nothing too amazing going on here, but Parting Gift is a safe way to insure against losing your Energy before you can power up an Ursaring. Now that Quick Claw can't be used to make attacking with Ursaring easier, I think Parting Gift becomes that much more important.
Cinccino: If you're losing, it's pretty damn strong as an attacker. A guaranteed hundred for one is nothing to scoff at. If you aren't losing, it's a flip extravaganza, so... fair warning. Just be glad you don't have to do this in real life.
Warp Point: This format needed a card like this. That's basically the only reason it was included, with some pretty rad art featuring my darling Buneary.
Other changes:
- Changed Hoopa's Ability to make it so you don't use Hoopa itself to copy attacks, but to swap out your attackers. The attack has also been changed.
- Changed Durant-GX to Togedemaru-GX. No changes to the set numbers were needed.
- Changed Aqua Suit to a Tool and updated wording on the card.
- Updated wording on Protective Pads because Protection Cube was a card that existed, lol.
Set complete! Now is the time where I pester
@bbninjas to get his crew together and start reviewing it for balance. Hopefully this will be available to play sooner rather than later.
If you'd like to join the discussion in real-ish time, join the PTCG Faking Community Discord
here. Who knows - your suggestions might be added!
When the set is ready to go live, I'll post a changelog with all the changes made to the cards as they exist right now.
That's all!
