If there’s one game on my phone that has me hooked more than any other, its Pokemon TCG Pocket. It’s devilishly addictive, and just when you think you’ve kicked the habit, along comes another booster set to keep you locked in.
On this occasion, it’s the new Crimson Blaze set that has us all ripping through whatever hourglasses we have lying around, and for good reason, too, as there are some quality cards to get.
So, in the spirit of competition, we want to give you the 411 on which cards are worth pulling and help you make some new competitive decks.
10.
Heliodisk
Shockingly Good
Thanks to cards within this set, like Clemont and Clemont’s Backpack, cards like Magneton and Heliodisk already have more viability. But, even as a standalone card, Heliodisk is a hard-hitter worth having.
The benefit of this one is that for only two energy you can set up a devastating 120 damage attack, which could stop any early plans your opponent has then and there.
It’s a very all-out-attack sort of strategy, but if it comes off, it can be very hard for your opponent to recover. The trade-off is that your energy depletes after every attack, but the retreat costs aren’t steep, so it’s still viable.
9.
Misdreavus/Mismagius
Spooky Support
Not every Pokemon you use in your setup has to be a hard-hitter. Supporting roles can be just as important, and this pair are good at what they do.
Misdreavus is helpful for those that want to get certain Supporter cards into your hand, like say, A Serena card to get access to your Mega Evolutions, for example.
Then, the exit strategy here is to evolve to Mismagius, use Stored Power to take all your existing energy and place it on a Benched Pokemon, and then you can retreat the next turn.
It’s a little risky as you need to wait that extra turn before exiting the fray, but this is a good way to get your Mega Evolution in your hand consistently.
8.
Probopass
Turbo Energy
If you’re someone that likes to run a Metal-type deck, then Crimson Blaze will feel like a blessing, as there is a new energy support Pokemon on deck.
With the use of Probopass’ Metallic Turbo move, you can deal forty damage, while also dishing out two energy to your benched Pokemon with each use.
The trade-off here is that you’ll need to use a weak little Nosepass until you get this one on the field, but once you do, you can set up a benched Pokémon for an all-out assault later.
7.
Reuniclus
Infinitely Tanky
I’ll admit, this one is a bit of a call order to get on the field, mainly because of it’s three-stage evolution. However, the benefit to slowly but surely getting this one lined-up is that you’re building a brick wall.
You see, Reuniclus has a unique ability called Infinite Increase that allows you to stack 30HP per energy on this Pokémon, meaning that if you spend time setting up this Pokémon, you could have 200+ HP in no time.
Combine this with a solid damage output of 90 for its Psypunch attack, and you have a very strong card for any Psychic deck.
6.
Quick Grow Extract
Instant Evolution
Before we get to all the hard-hitting Mega Evolutions, we need to talk about Quick Grow Extract, as it’s a gamechanger.
This Item card allows you to immediately evolve any Pokémon on the field, even if you don’t have the nescessary Pokemon in your hand, effectively giving you more consistency in your deck.
The trade-off is that you can’t pick the variation of the evolution, so you might want a Mega Evolution and end up with the standard version. But, an evolution is better than none at all.
You also can’t use it on your first turn, which almost goes without saying, but equally, it’s worth pointing out. All in all, a great card to get up to speed fast.
5.
Mega Lopunny EX
Coin Flip Haymakers
First up on the Mega pile, we have Lopunny, which is a great card, and one that can potentially do heavy damage to opponents. However, it’s one that relies on coin flips, which is always a risky strategy.
Rapid Smashers deals either zero, ninety or one-hundred-and-eighty damage depending on how many heads you flip, but the caveat is that the pokemon attacked always ends up confused.
This does mean that if you miss entirely, there’s still a chance that you’ll luck out, but overall, it’s a risky strategy, and there are more controlled and consistent ones available within Crimson Blaze.
4.
Mega Steelix EX
Can’t Melt Steel Beams
If anyone likes to play more defensively than anything else, then Mega Steelix is the ultimate pull for you from Crimson Blaze.
This Mega Evolution has a solid 220HP, and provided you can get this Pokémon set up with 4x energy quickly, you’ll consistently be able to take 20HP less damage per turn as long as you attack. Not to mention, not suffer from any form of weakness.
This works well with the aforementioned Probopass as a support to load it up with Energy fast. Then when it hits the field, it’ll take something special to stop it.
3.
Mega Blastoise EX
Benches Beware
We begin ranking the original Kanto starters, and taking the bronze is Blastoise. With a base of 230HP and a damage output of 130 per turn, it’s a beast of a card.
However, where this card shines is taking out the entire board rather than focusing on one sole target. With the use of Triple Bombardment, as long as you have 6x energy on this card, you’ll also deal 50 damage to all your opponent’s benched Pokemon.
It’s a tough one to get set up, but if you can, there’s almost no way that your opponent will survive the onslaught, unless all of their bench are as tanky as their leading Pokemon.
That said, the amount of setup does mean that Blastoise doesn’t quite trouble the top spot here.
2.
Mega Charizard Y EX
Why You Hitting Yourself?
Being the poster boy for the Crimson Blaze boosters, you might have assumed that Mega Charizard Y would be the pick of the litter, but it just falls shy in my eyes.
Don’t get it twisted though, this is a very good card, which allows players to effectively reap all the benefits of the standard Charizard EX card, but without needing to discard energy to use their big attack.
That said, this card can hit hard, but at the cost of 50HP per use of their Crimson Dive attack. Meaning they are a bit of a glass cannon in many ways.
The setup is pretty standard for a three-evolution, though, so this can work as a good option as a finisher on the back end of a fight, provided you haven’t lost any points. But, due to the ‘why are you hitting yourself’ trait, we can’t give it the top spot.
1.
Mega Venasaur EX
Tangled in Vines
In our humble opinion, Venasaur is far and away the most interesting and useful card to pull from Crimson Blaze. Mainly because they not only hit hard, but also tie your opponent in knots.
This card is a simple setup, requiring two evolutions, along with two clear and two grass energy. Provided you can get this Pokemon up to speed, your opponent will be in trouble from there on out.
This is not only because this Pokemon hits for a solid 120 Damage per turn, but also because every attack poisons pokemon for slow burn damage, and puts them to sleep as well, potentially negating their right to reply.
It’s a little bit reliant on luck, but unlike completely coin-flip reliant strategies, this card can still hang even if the coin gods aren’t looking down upon them.
