'VMAX Rising,' Japan's February Set!

First they delete her type, now they don't print her after three subsets... the disrespect to my good sis Hatterene. :'(
 
Im kinda mad that we didnt get a good falinks so this is my idea for one i dont know how good it is though

Falinks 100 hp basic retreat 1

[F] no retreat this pokemon takes 60 less dmg during your opponent's next turn. for the rest of the game this pokemon now has +30 hp and all attacks do +30 more dmg to your opponent's active pokemon dmg done to falink is reduced by 10 this pokemon retreat cost is 4. this pokemon can use this attack once per game

[F][F] long spear 90- this attack does 10 less dmg for each benched pokemon you opponent has

[F][F][F] hyper crash 140 dmg this pokemon does 30 dmg to itself
I want to keep the art though as its very nice
 
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zatu looks so amazingly good in that art same with ninetales i really am a fan of the arts can someone tell me if they did more? also that sirfecthed just kills me hes so smug
 
Kenatta_tcg said:
Is it just me or does this set feel very underwhelming compared to Sword & Shield? I have a list of cards I need for tournament play that is massive from Sword & Shield, but looking at the set list for VMax Rising I can't see much of anything in this set being anywhere near comparable to what we are getting right now (Zacian V, Oranguru, Tapu Koko V, Professor's Research, Quick Ball, Marnie, Metal Patch, Aurora Energy)
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It's mostly because these cards (trainers especially) are long-awaited staples. You can't print them twice. However, this feel of uselessness that so many of these cards have feels dangerously like Magic.

If you didn't know, almost since the inception of Magic 95% of every set was deemed to be absolute garbage, due to a phrase that became a meme: "Dies to removal". Without going too deep into it, one subset of cards caused that Creatures had to have very specific upsides to be playable.
It feels like Tag Teams/VMAX will have the same effect. It's not like every card in Pokemon was playable, but they usually failed on consistency, not power. With three-prize Pokemon, if your non-V doesn't have a killer ability (Frosmoth/Cinccino) or at least 170 easily-accessible damage, you can rule it out immediately.
 
Yaginku said:
It's mostly because these cards (trainers especially) are long-awaited staples. You can't print them twice. However, this feel of uselessness that so many of these cards have feels dangerously like Magic.

If you didn't know, almost since the inception of Magic 95% of every set was deemed to be absolute garbage, due to a phrase that became a meme: "Dies to removal". Without going too deep into it, one subset of cards caused that Creatures had to have very specific upsides to be playable.
It feels like Tag Teams/VMAX will have the same effect. It's not like every card in Pokemon was playable, but they usually failed on consistency, not power. With three-prize Pokemon, if your non-V doesn't have a killer ability (Frosmoth/Cinccino) or at least 170 easily-accessible damage, you can rule it out immediately.
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Yeah I didn't expect everything to be playable from a set, but just seeing the list I don't see much that is playable at all that is better than what we currently have. True Sword & Shield was providing staples that we need, but still you would expect to find a few good cards from this set that could be staples. I didn't see any outside of maybe Twin Energy, and based on the current meta it certainly wouldn't see play in any GX or V deck.
 
The Rhyperior said:
  • Caterpie/Metapod/Butterfree - If we have a decent Butterfree with a DECENT ability (I haven't see Ability Butterfree for days), that would be the best Caterpie and Metapod to use. 4/4/2
  • Snover/Abomasnow - ehh?! 2/2
  • Rillaboom V/VMAX - 280 for 4 is nuts, looping it is a problem. Rillaboom SWSH1 can help. 4/4
  • Shuckle - Shuckle, use Energy Recycler! 2-3 Geodudes
  • Applin/Appletun - I won a battle on Showdown on NatDex AG format using Appletun, yesterday. This one is fine. Vs are all basics so that's an advantage and, where's Flapple? I need Flapple, I love Flapple. 3-4 Geodudes
  • Vulpix/Ninetales - Ninetales as a Zacian V counter? Not quite, hehe. 3/3-4
  • Growlithe/Arcanine, Burning Scarf - Still have my trust issues. 3/3-4, 3-4
  • Cinderace V/VMAX - Against a Water deck, auto-lose. 3-4/4
  • Magikarp/Gyarados - still awkward to run in a Frosmoth deck. 2/3-4
  • G. Mr.Mime/Mr. Rime - Okay. 3/3
  • Inteleon V/VMAX - Very underwhelming among the three VMAXs in the set. 2-3/3-4
  • Cramorant - 110 HP? What?! No! 2
  • Arrokuda/Barraskweda - ehhh?! 2/2-3 I hate that you have to burn a Water Bucket for this.
  • Grubbin/Charjabug/Vikavolt - UNB Charjabug has entered the chat. 3/2/4
  • Helioptile/Heliolisk - ehh?!! 2/2
  • Boltund V - as a tech to Pikarom, yes. Outside Pikarom, no. 3 Geodudes
  • G. Corsola/Cursola - Although G. Cor's artwork really caught me, Cursola is fine and its not Stormfront Gengar. 3/3-4
  • Indeedee - Use the V instead. 2 Geodudes
  • Natu/Xatu - Although it looks meh, the single energy atk can be useful in some circumstances. 2/3
  • Toxel/Toxtricity - fine. 2/2-3
  • Dreepy/Drakloak/Dragapult - Free Retreat, Ability that gives your opponent a 50% chance to hit you, and an atk that does 150 total for 2 energy. Not CC though because Twin Energy would pay it, at least 2 energy. Stage 2 tho. 3/3/4
  • Galarian Farfetch'd/Sirfetch'd - I still hate that you can't spam the main atk. 2-3/3-4
  • Binacle/Barbaracle - I forgot Marnie existed. Still. Spammability is the main problem. I put SWSH Cinderace as an example because it got the spammability that most cards don't. 3/3
  • Sandaconda V - Ignore the Flaw of F Pokémon for the potential 290 dmg. Where's the VMAX? Are we expecting Primal Clash situation again? 3-4 Geodudes
  • Falinks - Like Passimian. Do more damage for every kind on the bench. What Passimian is better than Falinks is back in the day, we got FCO Mew and can copy atks & Town Map to monitor your Passimian to make sure none of them are prized. Those were the things that Falinks don't have. It only have is it does 90-100 for a Twin Energy. 3 Geodudes
  • Stunky/Skuntank - ehh?! 2/2
  • Impidimp/Morgrem/Grimmsnarl - 130 base damage!! 3/3/3-4
  • Bronzor/Bronzong - ehh?! 2/2
  • Honedge/Doublade/Aegislash - still ehh?! I don't feel like it. 2/2/2-3 (I'll give Aegislash a chance)
  • Duraludon - perfect starter indeed. 3 Geodudes
  • Bunnelby/Diggersby - risky but rewarding. I hate the fact that some people cards to pair it that may cause Card Burning. Anothet fact that Dragon type really messed up. The only pure Dragon, in nature in the Galar Dex are Haxorus and Goodra. I want to know if the Dragon types really exists in the TCG now.3/3
  • Hawlucha - still ehh. 2
  • Dubwool V - perfect as a comeback card. Stinger GX won't count because it reshuffle the prize cards not count as "Taken" prize cards. 4 Geodudes
  • Water Bucket - good for Frosmoth. 4 Geodudes
  • Turfield Stadium - good for G decks. 4 Geodudes
  • Training Court - maybe Viridian Forest replacement after 2021 rotation? 4-5 Geodudes
  • Sonia - Slight difference.than Roseanne's research. 3-4 Geodudes
  • Milo - Not as good as Roxie, not as good as any draw cards we have now. 3 Geodudes
  • Twin Energy - Its not DCE, but ifs the best we have. 5 Geodudes
  • Skyla - Who is in the right mind that they decide to reprint Skyla after 1 year of no appearance in the format? Skyla in our format now? There are cases that Skyla can be teched as a 1-of becuase we need Setup. 4 Geodudes
  • STILL NO GREEDENT. Sword & Shield broke the tradition of putting a Route 1 rodent in every Base Set. Greedent was the Gen 8 early route rodent. And it makes me weird why they didn't include it. I love Skwovet tho. I do my research about this so don't ask me about it.
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i've seen a few comments about boltund in pika and i don't really agree with cases made for that tech. boltund would need energy e-switch, energy thunder mountain, full blitz or koko energy and even then after all that hard work, you'r usually hitting only slightly more than koko v. it seems also like a terrible starter; starting boltund never seems good and even if you get zeraora down, you're attaching to retreat. that's a negative case scenario. if you get switch, you've still burnt up a bench space. in conclusion, koko v is better because you get IMMEDIATE value off your first full blitz going into a tag team, vmax, etc. for 200 the next turn, and it's not a bad starter since it has free retreat and can potentially draw you out of a slump (although you'll probably lose if you have to use spike draw).
 
N seems unlikely to be reprinted with Marnie being a thing, no?

Boltund is an okay starter; first attack accelerates 2 energy for Pikazek so that turn 2 you can full blitz every time. It's not ideal (pikazek starter is usually better if you didn't get a Jirachi/aren't playing Jirachi) but it'll do. As a secondary attacker, it seems okay to me; it's cheaper than Koko V for usually around the same damage, but more importantly can hit more than 200 easily (even before Electropowers). As a clean-up hitter after Pikazek GXs, you'll have 8 energy in play at that point, which is 250, and one more or an Electropower can KO a lot of stuff. Also does well when you're not going for the GX but instead want to spread energy around with Full Blitz - 3 on Pikazek, 3 on ChuChu, 2 on Boltund again you're hitting 250 plus. It fills the void of "cannot OHKO" that really makes PikaZek struggle in some matchups.
 
snoopy369 said:
N seems unlikely to be reprinted with Marnie being a thing, no?

Boltund is an okay starter; first attack accelerates 2 energy for Pikazek so that turn 2 you can full blitz every time. It's not ideal (pikazek starter is usually better if you didn't get a Jirachi/aren't playing Jirachi) but it'll do. As a secondary attacker, it seems okay to me; it's cheaper than Koko V for usually around the same damage, but more importantly can hit more than 200 easily (even before Electropowers). As a clean-up hitter after Pikazek GXs, you'll have 8 energy in play at that point, which is 250, and one more or an Electropower can KO a lot of stuff. Also does well when you're not going for the GX but instead want to spread energy around with Full Blitz - 3 on Pikazek, 3 on ChuChu, 2 on Boltund again you're hitting 250 plus. It fills the void of "cannot OHKO" that really makes PikaZek struggle in some matchups.
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Great explanation. In the example I would merely replace Raichu and Alolan Raichu GX with Tapu Jojo V and it is exactly what I had in mind.
 
Dark Espeon said:
Great explanation. In the example I would merely replace Raichu and Alolan Raichu GX with Tapu Jojo V and it is exactly what I had in mind.
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Yeah, certainly could use koko V also - I'm not sure if it'll just replace ChuChu or more likely both will be in there. What's the lineup like now?

PikaZek x2
Jirachi (x2-x4)
ChuChu x1
Koko V x1
Koko <> x1
Boltund x1
Dedenne (x1-x3)
Zeraora (usually)
--
12ish

That's manageable, with room for 2-3 techs (Oranguru, Absol, Zapdos, Marshadow, Mimikyu, etc etc). Unless Oranguru becomes just a staple part of it perhaps?

I'd also say that the complaint about needing Thunder Mountain <> is pretty moot now, I feel like, with the existence of Guzma&Hala. Far too easy to get it out now. Of course, it's probably only good for one turn, and so maybe you used it to get that first turn Full Blitz, but if you're in that zone then you're probably already doing fine and can afford to use your energy switch/etc. for this purpose.

Can't wait to get my Koko V and test this out, and will def. proxy up a Boltund to see how that goes. PikaZekOHKO seems crazy.
 
Well, that was a genuine surprise. I wonder if there will be a third Skyla full art too. (I mean, technically, if there was, there'd be a fourth one because of the rainbow rare.) Sonia and Milo should get full arts, but I guess we'll see about Skyla in a few days.

Meanwhile, Elesa got one Supporter card that nobody played and didn't get a full art. =(
 
Falinks may be approx. twice as good as Passimian... in the future. The main difference is the future-proofing in Falinks's text that includes all mons "with “Falinks” in its name" and that is a BIG difference. That means if we ever get a Falinks-V (not guaranteed, but I'm not discounting it either), this card will go from 90 (only 3 on bench total) to 150 (full bench + 2 extra for if they're ko'd, prized, etc.), for 2C (single Energy attachment), on a Basic. And that's not even taking into account what a potential Falinks-V could do.

And it makes a bit of sense b/c Falinks come in groups of 6.

I'm not going to spend too much time talking about expanded, but you'd have 8 copies of 2C Special Energies, and Sky Field leaves 1 space open for Diancie too.

Actually, rather than Passimian, this Falinks is closer to the last Wishiwashi-GX we got, from Cosmic Eclipse.
 
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Although I am looking forward to getting these cards when they are eventually released in English, unfortunately, the set itself, does back up my theory about Dragon-types no longer being supported, and we haven't seen any pure Dragon-types in the Sword and Shield era either, nor have we seen the likes of Milcery and Alcremie.
 
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