RE: NEW ASSIGNMENT: Trainer Cards
Hey guys, time for our 4th card of the day, or I should say cards, because this week we are going to review 10-15 of the best trainer cards in the TCG! Okay, so let’s list them.
Trainers:
1.) Rare Candy
2.) Holon Transceiver
3.) Holon Mentor
4.) ATM Rock
5.) Rocket’s Admin
6.) Celio’s Network
7.) Desert Ruins
8.) Battle Frontier
9.) Swoop! Teleporter
10.) Professor Elm’s Training Method
11.) Copycat
12.) Pow! Hand Extension
13.) Steven’s Advice
14.) TV Reporter
15.) Cursed Stone
All right I arranged them in order in how much I have seen them played, and their effects. Let’s take a look at the first card, Rare Candy.
1. Rare Candy
Arguably one of the best cards, overall in the TCG. It fits into any deck that uses Stage 2’s, and some decks that have only Stage 1’s. Its effect is amazing, which allows you to skip a Stage on any Pokemon, or allow you to evolve faster than you normally would. BLS, Gengar, Delta, Mercury, Dragtrode, Venubliss, SMP, Feralijolt, Queendom, and many other decks all run multiple copies of this card, which is why I have it at #1. 9.9/10
2. Holon Transceiver
This is another great card of the TCG. This little non-supporter doesn’t look like much at first sight, but really can hurt your opponent depending on the situation. Almost all decks run the Holon-engine to get out key cards early, and this one is the key to it. Almost any deck that is not a T2 deck needs this card because it can search Holon Mentor if you need basics, Holon Lass if you need energy, Holon Scientist if you need to draw, and Holon Adventurer, which allows you to draw as well. This allows you multiple different set-ups, differing from you previous set-up. This little card is the heart of early-game wins and losses. Many decks like Liability, SMP, Machamp, Gengar, and many others run the Holon engine with him in it, in hopefulness that they can get what they need. That’s why I give him a 9/10.
3. Holon Mentor
This card can get searched by Holon Transceiver, which makes it even more deadly. It allows you to search 3 level 100, or less, basics from your deck, by only discarding 1 card. This allows you to get a really fast set-up and hopefully to start pounding your opponent until the game is yours. Any deck that runs the Holon engine uses him in 2-3 copies, along with the Transceiver. Liability, Machamp, SMP, Gengar, Dragtrode, Feralijolt, and a lot of other decks run him. I give him an 8.5/10
4. ATM Rock
Wow, this card has been terrorizing the Pokemon community for nearly 2 years. It allows you to take an evolution-card off of one of your opponent’s Pokemon and put it into his or her hand. But some of you might think, hey he can always put the evolution card right back on top of his card next turn! Well, I agree with you, that’s what I first thought, and it certainly does happen when someone misplays it. But picture this. You are playing an SMP deck. They have an active Metagross that they Rare Candied from a Beldum, who has 50 damage on him. It’s your turn, and you are running Gengar. You draw, and find out that you drew an ATM Rock, and you play it. When they scoop up their Metagross, they suddenly realize that they have 50 damage on their Beldum, which means that it is knocked out. Do you realize it’s potential now? Hopefully you do, because I certainly do, and so do people playing decks like Rock-Lock (hint the name), Gengar, and Dragtrode. I give it an 8/10
5. Rocket’s Admin
Now, personally, this is one of my favorite cards. Why? Because if you have a really bad hand, and your opponent has a really good hand, you can Admin and screw up their entire hand, plus hopefully giving yourself something good. I see almost every deck in the TCG running him, including decks like Flariados, Machamp, Powdacham, Punch’n Run and all the rest of them using it. The reason, however that I don’t have him higher, is because it has a flaw. Say you and your opponent have mediocre hands, and you Admin. Well, what if they get a great hand, and you get a really bad hand? That’s the reason Rocket’s Admin is at number 5. I give it an 8.3/10
6. Celio’s Network
I could go on for days about this little beauty. I mean, allowing you to get any non-ex pokemon in your deck and adding it to your hand, and not even have to discard a card! I mean that’s just awesome. Decks such as Gengar, Machamp, Liability, Ludicargo, Dragtrode, Mercury, Acid Liability, and many more run 4 copies of him. Reason for him at #6 is because he can’t search EX’s. But he’s still really cool, and great. I give him an 8.5/10
7. Desert Ruins
Not much to stay about this card. Any deck that wants to get rid of EX’s usually uses this or Battle Frontier. It’s like poison, because if your opponent has an EX out every time you can hit them again, they’ll have 20 more damage on them. Machamp, Gengar, Liability, Dragtrode, Mercury, and any other deck without EX’s should definitely check out this card. The only bad part is that any EX deck would be insane to run this in that deck. I’ll give it an 8/10
8. Battle Frontier
This is probably the 2nd most commonly used and deadly stadium card in the current TCG. It shuts off so many decks that use Pidgeot and Delcatty. Dragtrode is shut off completely by it. I can’t really find anything to say besides decks that do not use Pidgeot and any other Normal, Dark, or Metal Pokemon that are evolved run this. I give it a 7.5/10 because it means that you can’t use your own Pidgeot or anything else like that since you have Battle Frontier out.
9. Swoop! Teleporter
This card is an essential in any T2 deck, including Hariyama ex, Medicham ex, Arcanine ex, Dark Steelix, Feraligatr ex, and any others that you can think of. It allows you to substitute your active pokemon, like DX Jirachi and LM Lunatone, for your T2 basic and put any thing that was attached to the original onto the basic. During your next turn, you can either use Wally’s Training, Rare Candy, or Professor Elm’s Training Method to get your T2 Pokemon out. The only bad part is that it’s a little useless if you are not using a T2 deck. I give it a 7.3/10
10. Professor Elm’s Training Method
This card is awesome any deck that uses EX evolved Pokemon like BSL (or any of the other 5 letter combos), Powdacham, Feralijolt, Bannette EX, Eeveelutions, and many other decks revolved around EX’s, because it can search any evolved Pokemon in your deck. The flaw in this however is that it can’t search your basic, and if you only have out 1 Pokemon is doesn’t really help that much, unless it needs to evolve. I give it a 7/10.
11. Copycat
This is probably one of the best draw cards, depending on the size of your opponent’s hand, since it allows you to shuffle your hand and draw the same amount of cards as your opponent. The only flaw in this card is that if your opponent only has like 1-2 cards in his/her hand then it is no good, unless you have a large hand and are about to deck out. Decks such as Queendom, and many other decks that need a good draw card use this in at least 2 copies. I give it a 7.5/10
12. Pow! Hand Extension
A great card that allows you to either move an energy around your opponent’s field, or gust up one of their Pokemon on the bench. The sad part is that you have to have more prizes left then they do. Decks like Pow! Block, T2 variants, Powdacham, and Eeveelutions run this in a couple of copies. Machamp LM decks that use Electrode ex, also run it in at least 2 copies. I give it a 7/10
13. Steven’s Advice
This card used to rate in the Top 5 of the trainers, but with the rising growth in the use of T2 decks, it’s being replaced by TV Reporter and Mary’s Request. Still, however it is the best straight-forward draw card in the game, because against decks like Queendom and Lunarock it allows you to draw 6 cards, by just discarding your Steven’s Advice from your hand. That is very good, in my opinion. Decks like Queendom, Lunarock, Gengar, Machamp, and most any other deck run at least 2 copies of this great card. I give Steven’s Advice an 8/10
14. TV Reporter
This card is also one of the best straight-forward draw cards in the game because you draw 3 cards, and then you discard any card you want from your hand to the discard pile. It’s not as good as Steven’s Advice in my opinion, but a nice second. Decks like Dragtrode, Mercury, Metanite, and Lunarock all use this card, plus many other decks. I give it a 7.5/10.
15. Cursed Stone
Any deck that uses Pokepowers cards are going to be afraid of and hate this card for at least a year, because it places one damage counter on any Pokemon on the field that does have a Pokepower, in between turns. Decks such as Sanding and T2 Medicham and Arcanine use this card to hurt their opponents even more than they were before. I give Cursed Stone a 7.5/10
Well that raps up my Top 15 Trainer cards for today! Now some of you might be wondering why cards in later numbers have higher scores than their predecessors. That is because I graded these cards on not only the card itself, but I also graded them on the amount of them used in decks, combos, and all around effect. That’s why some of these cards have higher grades then the cards before them. I hope you’ve enjoyed this Card of the Day and I’ll see you next time.