Gaming
Games
5 Ultra Prism cards that shake up the Pokémon Trading Card Game
Pokémon TCG: Sun & Moon – Ultra Prism hit the UK in early February. Here are five cards that will shake things up.
Lucky Pokémon Trainers across the UK can try out this set early at a handful of Pokémon Ultra Prism pre-release events. These casual events are for all fans of the TCG, old and new, and, for a small fee, you'll get an early chance to build a small deck.
A pre-release kit includes an exclusive promo card, a couple of booster packs, as well as some evolution lines of Pokémon and trainers to get you started. Players then have a short amount of time to build a 40-card deck and take part in a friendly tournament.
If you're lucky enough to have the chance to go to a pre-release, or just pick up a few booster packs, or even a booster box, here are some of the cards to look out for.
Prism Cards
A Darkrai Prism card (the Japanese version)
© The Pokémon Company International
Pokémon Ultra Prism introduces, you guessed it, Prism cards. There are six Prism cards in the set, four Pokémon, one Trainer, and one Energy. Usually, you can only have a maximum of four of one card in a deck (excluding basic energy), but you can only have one unique Prism card per deck – although you can have more than one Prism card in your deck as long as they are different cards.
These fairly strong basic Pokémon cards all have 160HP (so far) and a range of useful abilities. They have a seemingly similar pull rate of the BREAK cards in past sets, so they are not overly rare. Also, you do not pick up two prize cards after they have been knocked out.
Finally, the Prism cards bring back the 'Lost Zone'. This mechanic was introduced in the Pokémon TCG in 2008/2009 but has not been in the game since 2011. Some cards can retrieve cards from the discard pile in standard play, but The Lost Zone is a discard pile where the player is unable to retrieve the cards (right now, by any means) and bring them back into play. Prism cards must be placed face up in the Lost Zone away from the play area when they have been used/knocked out.
Dialga GX
The Japanese version of the Dialga GX card
© The Pokémon Company International
The Sun and Moon base set introduced the GX mechanic. GX attacks are very powerful and you are only able to use one of your Pokémon's GX attacks in a game. Similar to the video game where you can only use one Z move per battle. The Ultra Prism set focuses a lot on the Pokémon from the Sinnoh region, so what better Pokémon to get a GX card than the legendary Dialga?
Dialga GX has the attack 'Timeless GX'. The card description of this attack reads: "When your turn is over, start your turn again." While it is a heavy attack at three metal and two colourless energy, the option of taking your turn again could completely change the battle. If you play the new metal type Magnezone in your deck that has an ability that lets you attach as many metal energy cards as you like from your hand to one of your Pokémon, that can set up the Dialga GX really quickly to be able to use this attack.
This crazy turn taking GX attack is definitely one to consider putting Dialga GX in your deck for.
Unit Energy
The Japanese version of the Unite Energy card
© The Pokémon Company International
There are two Unit Energy cards in the Pokémon Ultra Prism set. Both of these special energy cards provide one colourless energy, but only one of a certain energy at a time. One of the cards provides Fire, Water, or Grass. The other provides Electric, Metal, or Psychic. These energy cards are very similar to the Blend Energy cards that were introduced in the Black/White Pokémon TCG generation. However, they provided a more generous four energy to choose from instead of three.
There's been quite a few special energy cards released in the past few sets, and Unit Energy appears to be an especially useful card to help you out if you're in a sticky situation.
Rotom cards
Expert deck builders will want Rotom
© The Pokémon Company International
While we have seen a couple Rotom cards over the years, in Ultra Prism it brings along its many forms which haven't been seen in the TCG since 2009.
The six Rotom cards in the set share the ability Roto Motor. The card description reads: "
If you have nine or more Pokémon Tool cards in your discard pile, ignore all Energy in the attack cost of each of this Pokémon's attacks."
So providing you have at least nine tool cards in your discard pile, all of these Rotom cards can use their attacks for no energy. All of the Rotom cards are different types, and their attack costs are all three energy. It might be a task to get nine tool cards in your discard pile, but it's likely that many expert deck builders are going to get these Rotom cards in decks somehow.
Cynthia
The Cynthia Support card could be seen in a lot of decks
© The Pokémon Company International
The Cynthia supporter card looks like it might be the new deck staple. Cynthia allows the player to shuffle their hand into their deck, then draw six cards. It's a reprint of the 2010 card 'Professor Oak's New Theory' but with a new name.
Currently, many trainers use the Supporter cards 'N' for 'resetting' the hand, so to speak. N requires you and your opponent to shuffle your hand into your deck and draw the same amount of cards the player has in their prize pile. This is a very popular card amongst high-end decks. There is also the card Shauna, which is the same as Cynthia but draws five cards not six. Both of these cards are highly likely to be rotated out of standard play later this year, so players will be looking for the next best thing, or at least something similar until favourite supporter cards get reprinted.
Further to it being a great card on its own, when it's combined with the Garchomp from the Ultra Prism set, things get even more exciting. Garchomp's attack 'Champions Blade' does 100 damage for three energy as standard, but if you have played Cynthia in that turn it does an extra 100 damage, totalling 200 damage! This is pretty good for a non-EX/GX Pokémon card. An attack like that could even knock out many popular EX/GX cards. It also has free retreat cost!
Garchomp aside, Cynthia could prove a very playable support card going forward as it is very similar to other fan favourites.
