I think this is one of the best sets we’ve had in a while. There’s a genuine effort to make evolutions more playable while cutting back on the brokenness of big basics.
Top 10 Wild Blaze Cards:
(10) Mega Kangaskhan EX
Of all the mega evolutions, I think this one is the most playable. This is largely due to the easy to pay energy costs, especially compared to other mega evolutions. The colorless energy costs means that any deck can take advantage of this 230 HP beast (imagine this with Aromatisse/max potion!). The attack is pretty good too (though nothing broken). At worst, you’re 2HKOing EX's, but with a muscle band and two heads, you might get lucky and take out an EX. Of course, there’s still the huge drawback of having to skip your turn when you bring him out, but with 230 HP and an above average attack, it should be a fair trade. It’s basic Kangaskhan EX is not bad either (has a nice draw attack to help set up).
(9) Milotic
Here we have a stage 1 that can knock itself out to accelerate 3 energy from your discard pile onto one of your pokemon. But there’s a catch, that pokemon cannot be an EX. In a format where the majority of attackers you’d want energy on are EX, this puts a lot of limits on it. Limits that might make you think twice before giving up a prize to use the ability. But there are two things that give me hope for this card.
1. Energy Switch. As we’ve seen with Ho Oh EX, just getting the energy into play can be helpful because you can move them with energy switch. There’s also Aromatisse and cards with similar abilities. Heck, even scramble switch could be used for that one big play (though you may want to use life dew as you’re ace spec instead).
2. The future metagame. While Ex's are still pretty big now, it’s clear from this set in particular that the metagame is shifting to a more evolution friendly format. We have cards like Delphox who in addition to having an excellent ability, has an extremely powerful attack. I think we’ll see more cards like that in the future. In the mean time, we still have plenty of powerful non EX basics that should benefit from this.
We’ll have to see if Milotic can overcome it’s drawbacks to become a viable (if gimmicky) deck, but there’s no denying that a card that provides energy acceleration for any type is at least worth a look.
(8) Pokemon Center Lady
One thing noticeable in these new X and Y sets are the diverse roles of supporters. Where black and white supporters almost always involved draw, these last two sets has given supporters a wider range of uses. In addition, we’re also seeing items and abilities that can help draw cards. Decks should no longer have to rely on supporters as their source of draw, leaving a lot more room for supporters such as Pokemon Center Lady (PCL).
Now the effect of PCL is probably not game breaking, but like a lot of healing cards, it IS nice to have. It cancels out a lot of Raiden Knuckles or Oblivion Wings with Muscle Band or Dark Claw. Even better, you heal off nasty stasis effects. With lasers still in format, this is especially nice to have as it gets rid of the damage AND both effects. I’m not sure how this will affect the metagame (or IF it will have any affect), but it seems too useful to pass up.
(7) Flame Torch and Blacksmith
(6) Goodra (Japanese Promo)
https://pokebeach.com/2014/02/yet-more-charizard-ex-wild-blaze-cards-revelaled
It’s on the list for one reason, Garbodor. If you get this out after tool scrapping their Garbodor, they can’t attach another tool to reactivate Garbotoxin, and your abilities are safe. Decks that rely on abilities should seriously consider a line of this (even a 1-1 line if they’re running rare candy). Of course, the ability in itself is also nice. Even if it is double edged, controlling what your opponent can play has always been valuable. Some decks may even rely on tools (like float stone/Keldeo, Tool Drop, Genesect/G Booster, Victory Piece) so this could shut off a lot of strategies. Combined with a strong (if oddly costed) attack and you got a potential winner.
(5) Druddigon
Simply put, the best counter to Rayquaza and Black Kyurem EX. Like how Terrakion was used against Darkrai, Druddigon offers an easy two prize OHKO against two of the biggest attackers. The colorless attack allows it to be splashed into any deck that has trouble with those two. But even against other decks, an attack that does 90 for a DCE is nothing to scoff at, even if it’s a one time thing.
(4) Surprise Megaphone
(3) Pyroar
Now we’re getting to the game breaking stuff. In a format where most big attackers are basic pokemon, this card should be huge. Safeguard pokemon already see significant play and they only stop Exes. They forces players to consider a non ex option. Pyroar takes it a step further and forces opponents to have entire evolution lines just to touch this thing. Pyroar also has an attack, and it’s actually not bad. The cost is manageable and it hits the magic 90, taking out Genesect and Virizion in one hit. Now a lot of decks have ways around this already. For instance, Genesect has G Booster, which tears through the ability, however, G booster is just one card out of 60 and even if an opponent draws into it, they will be forced to waste this move on a one prize pokemon. I would be surprised if this doesn’t have an effect on the meta.
(2) Lsyandre
(1) Pokemon Fan Club
Looking back, this is a pretty odd choice for best card in the set (Lysandre or Pyroar could easily claim that spot). Here we have another non draw supporter that will probably compete with Lysandre for a spot in decks. It’s the same line of thinking of Lysandre. Here we have a card that does something that other item cards can do, but better (getting 2 instead of 1). Consistency cards that get you the pokemon you need are pretty much staple. I could easily see this taking the place of the ball engines (especially when those cards rotate).
Honorable Mentions:
I want to give a few honorable mentions. First are the Charizard cards. All three of the basic Charizard EX's are solid. They’re nothing special, but for big fire basics, they should get the job done, so you can play Charizard and not be laughed out of a tournament. As for the megas, they’re cool, but I don’t think they’re practical at all. 300 is certainly nice, but it’s overkill when you realize how few pokemon go above 200 HP (which Black Kyurem EX takes out with much more ease).
Another one with a lot of potential is Miltank. For one colorless energy, you can do 80 damage if you have a stage 2 in play. Even these days with the massive power creep, that is an insanely good amount of damage for one energy. With a muscle band or silver bangle, you can be two hit KOing Exes, which for one energy on a basic, is very nice.
There’s also Shiftry, which should remind us of Empoleon, only less versatile.
I also think Toxicroak EX is rather neat. A DCE and a Virbank gym gets you 50 between turns. I don’t think this will be game breaking by any means, but it’s nice to have a card other than laser to combo with Virbank.
Lastly, pal pad looks promising. It doesn’t provide immediate advantage, but it gets supporters back in your deck to increase your odds of drawing into one. Considering there are so few ways to recover supporters right now, this is a welcome addition.
Top 10 Wild Blaze Cards:
(10) Mega Kangaskhan EX
Of all the mega evolutions, I think this one is the most playable. This is largely due to the easy to pay energy costs, especially compared to other mega evolutions. The colorless energy costs means that any deck can take advantage of this 230 HP beast (imagine this with Aromatisse/max potion!). The attack is pretty good too (though nothing broken). At worst, you’re 2HKOing EX's, but with a muscle band and two heads, you might get lucky and take out an EX. Of course, there’s still the huge drawback of having to skip your turn when you bring him out, but with 230 HP and an above average attack, it should be a fair trade. It’s basic Kangaskhan EX is not bad either (has a nice draw attack to help set up).
(9) Milotic
Here we have a stage 1 that can knock itself out to accelerate 3 energy from your discard pile onto one of your pokemon. But there’s a catch, that pokemon cannot be an EX. In a format where the majority of attackers you’d want energy on are EX, this puts a lot of limits on it. Limits that might make you think twice before giving up a prize to use the ability. But there are two things that give me hope for this card.
1. Energy Switch. As we’ve seen with Ho Oh EX, just getting the energy into play can be helpful because you can move them with energy switch. There’s also Aromatisse and cards with similar abilities. Heck, even scramble switch could be used for that one big play (though you may want to use life dew as you’re ace spec instead).
2. The future metagame. While Ex's are still pretty big now, it’s clear from this set in particular that the metagame is shifting to a more evolution friendly format. We have cards like Delphox who in addition to having an excellent ability, has an extremely powerful attack. I think we’ll see more cards like that in the future. In the mean time, we still have plenty of powerful non EX basics that should benefit from this.
We’ll have to see if Milotic can overcome it’s drawbacks to become a viable (if gimmicky) deck, but there’s no denying that a card that provides energy acceleration for any type is at least worth a look.
(8) Pokemon Center Lady
One thing noticeable in these new X and Y sets are the diverse roles of supporters. Where black and white supporters almost always involved draw, these last two sets has given supporters a wider range of uses. In addition, we’re also seeing items and abilities that can help draw cards. Decks should no longer have to rely on supporters as their source of draw, leaving a lot more room for supporters such as Pokemon Center Lady (PCL).
Now the effect of PCL is probably not game breaking, but like a lot of healing cards, it IS nice to have. It cancels out a lot of Raiden Knuckles or Oblivion Wings with Muscle Band or Dark Claw. Even better, you heal off nasty stasis effects. With lasers still in format, this is especially nice to have as it gets rid of the damage AND both effects. I’m not sure how this will affect the metagame (or IF it will have any affect), but it seems too useful to pass up.
(7) Flame Torch and Blacksmith
I put these two together because they are both fire support trainers and they actually combo well together. While item based draw is never bad, I think blacksmith is the real star. Accelerating two energy from the discard pile IS extremely powerful and can win games at the right moment. The only problem is that fire already has energy acceleration in the form of Emboar which gives you unlimited attachment to any pokemon. That said, any energy acceleration is welcome, especially when it’s in trainer form and doesn’t require a stage 2.
(6) Goodra (Japanese Promo)
This is NOT the Goodra released in Wild Blaze. The one I’m talking about has been revealed here.
https://pokebeach.com/2014/02/yet-more-charizard-ex-wild-blaze-cards-revelaled
It’s on the list for one reason, Garbodor. If you get this out after tool scrapping their Garbodor, they can’t attach another tool to reactivate Garbotoxin, and your abilities are safe. Decks that rely on abilities should seriously consider a line of this (even a 1-1 line if they’re running rare candy). Of course, the ability in itself is also nice. Even if it is double edged, controlling what your opponent can play has always been valuable. Some decks may even rely on tools (like float stone/Keldeo, Tool Drop, Genesect/G Booster, Victory Piece) so this could shut off a lot of strategies. Combined with a strong (if oddly costed) attack and you got a potential winner.
(5) Druddigon
Simply put, the best counter to Rayquaza and Black Kyurem EX. Like how Terrakion was used against Darkrai, Druddigon offers an easy two prize OHKO against two of the biggest attackers. The colorless attack allows it to be splashed into any deck that has trouble with those two. But even against other decks, an attack that does 90 for a DCE is nothing to scoff at, even if it’s a one time thing.
(4) Surprise Megaphone
I don’t think I need to go into too much detail as to why this is a good card. We play tool scrapper, this does the same thing and then some, so naturally this will see play. The main use will be against Garbodor decks, but I wouldn’t count it out of the picture when Garbodor rotates, ESPECIALLY combined with Goodra.
(3) Pyroar
Now we’re getting to the game breaking stuff. In a format where most big attackers are basic pokemon, this card should be huge. Safeguard pokemon already see significant play and they only stop Exes. They forces players to consider a non ex option. Pyroar takes it a step further and forces opponents to have entire evolution lines just to touch this thing. Pyroar also has an attack, and it’s actually not bad. The cost is manageable and it hits the magic 90, taking out Genesect and Virizion in one hit. Now a lot of decks have ways around this already. For instance, Genesect has G Booster, which tears through the ability, however, G booster is just one card out of 60 and even if an opponent draws into it, they will be forced to waste this move on a one prize pokemon. I would be surprised if this doesn’t have an effect on the meta.
(2) Lsyandre
It’s catcher in supporter form. We knew how good this kind of effect was since gust of wind in base set. It’s so good that it still sees play when nerfed to a flip. Now the real question, is it worth giving up a supporter for? And I think the answer is yes, it is, especially when the alternative only works 50% of the time. Combined with the increase in item and ability draw (and a possible rotation changing the format in a few months), I think this could easily replace catcher. That said, I don’t think catcher will go away completely as it does have it’s obvious advantages, I just think that when push comes to shove, this will be the more popular choice in decks.
(1) Pokemon Fan Club
Looking back, this is a pretty odd choice for best card in the set (Lysandre or Pyroar could easily claim that spot). Here we have another non draw supporter that will probably compete with Lysandre for a spot in decks. It’s the same line of thinking of Lysandre. Here we have a card that does something that other item cards can do, but better (getting 2 instead of 1). Consistency cards that get you the pokemon you need are pretty much staple. I could easily see this taking the place of the ball engines (especially when those cards rotate).
Honorable Mentions:
I want to give a few honorable mentions. First are the Charizard cards. All three of the basic Charizard EX's are solid. They’re nothing special, but for big fire basics, they should get the job done, so you can play Charizard and not be laughed out of a tournament. As for the megas, they’re cool, but I don’t think they’re practical at all. 300 is certainly nice, but it’s overkill when you realize how few pokemon go above 200 HP (which Black Kyurem EX takes out with much more ease).
Another one with a lot of potential is Miltank. For one colorless energy, you can do 80 damage if you have a stage 2 in play. Even these days with the massive power creep, that is an insanely good amount of damage for one energy. With a muscle band or silver bangle, you can be two hit KOing Exes, which for one energy on a basic, is very nice.
There’s also Shiftry, which should remind us of Empoleon, only less versatile.
I also think Toxicroak EX is rather neat. A DCE and a Virbank gym gets you 50 between turns. I don’t think this will be game breaking by any means, but it’s nice to have a card other than laser to combo with Virbank.
Lastly, pal pad looks promising. It doesn’t provide immediate advantage, but it gets supporters back in your deck to increase your odds of drawing into one. Considering there are so few ways to recover supporters right now, this is a welcome addition.
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