@@geolosethGreninja takes too long. If you start first, a hand of Sneasel Weavile Darkrai Dawn can get you 90 damage on your first energy turn. It's insane
Man i've been following pokemon since gen 1 and never skipped a gen, but I don't get annoyed when I see players misprouncing or not not knowing Pokemons, obviously they just did not follow the franchise like I did and that's completely fine
@@ToxicityOnTheRoadsI’m a zoologist and when talking about animals scientific names, since it’s all in Latin and nobody speaks Latin everyone has their own pronunciations anyway, so I don’t even notice it when people mispronounce pokemon anymore lol
The thing about yanmega is this guy can be teched into any deck. One that I am looking at is with the Volkner supporter. Yanmega is essentially a one stage magnezone both discarding an energy. So paired with either luxray or electivire you now have an efficient beater who can recycle energy to your electric types
@@swenji9113 That too, rn I am messing with yanmega ex with electivire and volkner, it needs something else tho so I have zapdos ex as an early wall big issue im running into is the energy cost is very high
@@xandercivinskas3884 Electric decks are gonna be so much more diverse now! This needs way too many cards to be viable but playing Lt. Surge + Volkner with some mons like Raichu, Magnezone and Electivire looks so fun! You create as many energies as possible with Magneton and Elektek and then go all out with either Lt. Surge or Volkner each turn until you killed everything
@@HooglandiaPocket So weavile is a fatter farfetch'd who deal 30 and maybe 70 but needs to evolve and if it dies gives 2 points to the opponent. Idk but really I don't get this card. Maybe I am noob but I feel like weavile isn't worth as an EX. Maybe if it would have been a base pokemon like celebi or mew I could get it but running 2 sneasle and 2 weavile seems so weak in mid-late game where other cards just swipe through. Am I delusional?
@@jackpagn8424 70 damage for a single energy is insane, that's one of the single highest damage per energy attacks in the game. Paired with other Dark cards that already love to get chip damage, it's extremely powerful.
@@jackpagn8424weavile seems to have some sort of synergy with darkrai’s ablity, maybe with Cyrus too? I guess we’ll have to play a dark type deck based around them to find out
@@jackpagn8424 The idea would be that you'd try to play Weavile as early as possible because you can get damage onto enemy Pokémon as early as Turn 3, and it would even combine well with other Dark Pokémon like Weezing who also can immediately apply pressure. It's a similar idea to why Exeggutor EX is such a strong pokémon
Mini set is going to give EX to everyone of the main set that deserved it, like the Island did, so pretty much Giratina, Lucario, Empoleon, Torterra and Sky Shaymin Source: I saw this in a dream
@@Felix_D.I could see most of your predictions being right except Shaymin and lucario unless they made lucario metal type this is because what the new release has shown is that they seem to want to balance the ex by type so one from the mini set will likely be metal type as they have the least. If the mini set is still Gen 4 I could see heatran getting it. Maybe not the popular pick but I feel based on how each type got 1 ex except dark with 2 and dragon with 0 but that will likely be giratina ex or maybe garchomp. Plus I don’t see them going through Gen 4 without arceus either
Honestly... I kind of expected it. In the Original TCG Torterra and Empoleon dont get that much love (in terms of playability). Its sad... but I learned to live without a torterra deck.
Yanmega is really well positioned against dark thanks to its type advantage against Darkrai and Weavile, so if this dark deck does well I could see the bug promptly following suit
Confusion seems more powerful the more I think on it. It doesn't say that a heads removes the condition, so while sleep is a powerful condition, it goes away with a coin flip while confusion does not. This condition seems like a good way to force a switch or lower the average damage you take
@chashtag2336 I can't speak for Pocket, but in the TCG, Confusion doesn't go away on its own. It goes away when you do one of three things: -Retreat, because all statuses are cured on the bench -Have your Pokemon faint -Use a card to get rid of it. Regice is immune to it, but Lum Berry can also be used to cure it.
Also, while your opponent can retreat around their confusion, you can also retreat around their confusion in a way you really couldn't have with, say, Wigglytuff Ex. Since Mismagius Ex has only a 2 cost attack, and a 1 cost retreat, I think that's going to be relevant in more than a few games.
Hoogland your the only one I know qualified to make a tier list before even using said cards. I’m happy I have you as a go to for my tcg pocket information.
Dark enjoyers are eating good. Darkrai + Weavile not only sound fun and strong but with dark matchup advantage against Mewtwo they're pretty much guaranteed to become a new top archetype. I didn't expect to be excited about Yanmega but here we are. And hopefully we'll be able to figure out a good Infernape deck just because I love me some monkeys.
I think you are underestimating the stage 2, 2 energy c tiers. Their low energy requirements means you can play them in the background and wait to assemble the pieces rather than have to plan your deck around stalling for them.
When playing Pocket, one of the limiters is energy assignment and targets. I feel like Dawn, Darkrai and Infernape mechanically play around this. In my dark and fire decks I often end up in situations where I no longer need energy. Infernape having no retreat cost and swinging at the 140-150 break point feels powerful. Charizard does 200 but rarely do you actually need 200, plus Infernape doesn't need Moltres to set it up which opens deck slots, similarly to Blaine. Darkrai as you pointed out makes these Dark Break points which always feel 10-20 damage below rate suddenly explode and with Weezing you can navigate that damage to try and get priority back so that if they don't switch on their turn they just lose which has always been one of the most fun pivots Weezing offers with an odd damage stat line + poison and Darkrai is a basic so he's also an efficient lead, dealing damage in the first slot to Druddigon while building himself up. I think Darkrai might be as good as Dialga and Palkia (I was also surprised people were down on this card, and I too play Quacked decks). I think both Yanmega and Lickylicky could be better than advertised as well but only because of the New "Ramp" - Lickylicky is a staple finisher in decks that do other things sort of well and its arguably as consistent as Celebi with a much better healthpool. Speaking of Dawn might also improve the consistency of dual colored decks, since you can assign energies early and then move them later - this could improve consistency of things like Dragonite and Druddigon Frog/Flareon Decks. I know you're a data based channel and we won't know how any of this plays out until we start to see what the brewmasters are cooking, but I'd be interested to hear your thoughts on which Genetic Apex + Mystic Island Cards you think got BETTER with this set.
The thing people sleep on with Yanmega EX in my opinion is, it has a colorless attack and is grass type, meaning it will do 140 to both Darkrai EX and Weavile EX, knocking them both out in one attack. Also in my opinion the 120 damage threshold is one of the strongest in my opinion. It can knock out most basic EX pokemon by itself or with giovanni. And also a large amount of strong stage 1 non-EX also have 120-130 hp.
This is exactly how I would utilize it. Especially because I STILL haven't pulled a Zapdos EX 😖 Also, using a Lt. Surge sneak for Electivire seems like a fun hail mary finisher.
Why use Spiritomb? If you want to leave all opposing Pokémon with damage, just use Sabrina. Spiritomb seems like a trap to me, and Weezing probably too
I think Spiritomb would pair well with Cyrus. It is low energy cost, low retreat cost card that damages everything and then you force out the core Pokemon on the opponents bench. Maybe don't run Wheezing though if you are running Spiritomb. So maybe 2 Darkrai, 4 Wevile, 2 Spiritomb, 2 Cyrus, 2 Sabrina, 2 Professor's Research, 2 Rocky Helmet, 2 Potions, and 2 Pokeball?
Seriously! I don't know what it is, maybe just nostalgia overload, but I'm in my late 30s and I feel like a kid on Christmas for the first time in a long time. Just counting down the minutes right now.
5:18 Pikachu decks happily play Stage 1 pokemon, and Pachirisu with just two tools in the deck is as consistent as a stage 1. With 3 tools you're up to around 75% (think running the baby stage 1 pokemon), with the added benefit that when you draw a tool without Pachirisu you can just put it on Pikachu The big question to me is, does Pachirisu's attack hit the right breakpoints? If 80 damage for 2 energy isnt enough anymore then maybe Pachirisu just doesnt cut it
I learned to not underestimate the more generic looking cards from Aerodactyl EX so being cautious with Yanmega EX is a good call. Dark EX types seem like they will really spawn a new archetype. Noteworthy is that both are weak to grass, so Egg and Yanmega EX might be more meta than it seems
Agreed, never underestimate generic Pokémon’s as they have potential. I think colorless got a boost in this set with certain cards. Also aerodactyl might still hold some meta relevance as a lot of these new cards are stage 2s
do u think they'll limit the amount of specific tool cards in a deck? like only 1 helmet and 1 cape? feels like 2 helmet and 2 cape would be too broken
I'm also really stoked on the "fun" cards they released this expansion, which they have clearly grouped for players to make themed decks that won't dominate by any means, but will be a riot to play. The Mesprit trio, various Rotoms, the remaining Eeveelutions (sans Espeon..?), and Porygon-Z all come to mind. Would love to see some successful deck builds come from any of those cards. Wouldn't be surprised if they opened an official non-EX mode after releasing these as well.
The new Pokémon communications item is so good. I really hope they begin to include more items as well, it was moderately disappointing only seeing three while we have so many counters for them.
Ngl this set introduces a lot of flexibility to the game. From great cape, to Cyrus, Dawn and Pokemon communication. All of these cape alone can change the meta, let alone multiple of them
I've been having a lot of fun playing with a pidgeot ex / exeggutor ex deck, you pairing yanmega ex with exeggutor made me realize it's probably just a much more consistent version. Very excited to play with the new cards!
Good analysis. My only disagreement is with Infernape. 140 for 2 is just too good of a finisher. Especially with 0 retreat cost, it can be a double finisher even without Dawn. Easy B, borderline A tier.
I want to trade my Blastoise EX to my brother as well, but I doubt he even has enough rares to toss in order to get the trading currency he needs. It's really, really expensive and I think they need to bring the price down ASAP (as well as pack points, I used them once for Sabrina early on and haven't been able to afford anything useful since)
Guys what do u think of infernape? To pair wirh moltres or to stall with druddigon+ rocky helmet and set up infernape because its stage 2 mon and can be difficult wirh moltres and doesnt need more than two energy
I think just use Rapidash like Jeff mentioned. Rapidash also conditionally deal 70 dmg with Blaine if you want to get one prize asap before unleashing Infernape ex to kill opponent ex for two prize.
Huge Yanmega believer and will probably be pulling whichever pack it's in first. Hoping to get lucky and have 2x copies for the community tournament this weekend. Great content as usual Jeff!
I've been using your early Greninja-Weezing-Koga Toxic Ninja deck for awhile now so I'm super excited as a Weezing user to try something out with Weaville & Darkrai.
I can't wait to get some of these cards in hand and see if I can push Alakazam in the new set. Dialga looks good for helping get the energy on him and relaxing my economy, Spiritomb and Cyrus give me the opportunity to yank a backline charger up and snipe it with Psychic, Pokemon Communication SHOULD be able to help me get to my Alakazam faster... I'm not sure WHICH direction I'm going in.
I agree with you that Yanmega is likely a little underrated here. The 120 is a very relevant number into the grass-weak Dark EXes, plus any residual stonks from Gio into Celebi and Mew EX. Although like you, I think one of its biggest strengths is answering the "What do I run with our lord an savior Egg?" (Also, diversifying the weaknesses into Electric is nice considering Eggs is good there and Yanmega threatens 1-shots onto so much of the type anyway.)
Very excited to see more Dark Pokemon that dont revolve around Poison! And I think that your take about Palkia being a great opener is really intelligent! Some of your pronunciations for the mons def gave me an aneurysm, but I can look past that and throw a sub your way 😂
I'm afraid to say it because I want to get the jump on this card early, but I think Rampardos is getting slept on _hard_ . 130 for a SINGLE energy (150-170 with Lucario support) makes it an insane striker mid to late-game with zero drain on your energy builds elsewhere in the deck. By the time it hits itself for 50 you've already knocked out what is probably the strongest mon in your opponent's deck and it still has 100 HP to strike a consecutive turn. Even if it doesn't survive, free Marshadow follow-up. It's a freaking monster.
I always thought Palkia EX was the obvious star of the two. To be such a solid starting active, board crippler, AND finisher is absolutely nuts, especially considering how many powerful water pairings and utilities are already available. That being said, I'm not as excited for steel pokemon as most of the community seems to be, and I strongly prefer speed / early strike advantage far more than high power / high energy costs. Even with the various free energy power-ups and supporters available to speed up the process of heavy mons, you're relying on a lot of conditional situations and other supporters taking slots in your deck to mitigate expenses like high retreat costs and dead turns. I think Darkrai will prove its S-tier worth very quickly in the meta, as there are tons of slippery, low-cost attackers of that typing already, and the amount of unexpected combos it can cover _from the bench_ with things like Druddigon, poison, Rocky Helmet, Giovanni, etc is kind of insane, especially to cover breakpoints of other metas. I'm definitely most excited for Darkrai and Lucario's potential (despite them being two of my least favorite character designs in all of Pokemon 🙃). Lee / Marshadow / Aerodactyl / Primeape decks are already a favorite of mine, and they're about to get _nuts_ with Lucario as an added option.
Yanmega could be a good colorless card for dialga using erika to allow it to live long enough to get its value, just a theory tho gotta test it live :) Also i'm hyped for a garchomp/palkia/marshtomp deck I'm gonna try that even if it doenst sound too powerful rn, it seems like something fun i wanna do haha
After doing some deck labbing, it’s really funny that psychic type yet again got some nice upgrades. Of what I did off of hypotheticals I really like Mismagius and hypno together with either mew ex or druddigon. And then togekiss with mew ex is just powerful too, big thing with togekiss will be if it gets online faster than mewtwo to one shot
Even though Gallade EX doesn't feel super strong in itself (being outshunned by Machamp EX in sheer force, even though his retreat cost is pretty high) having a low retreat cost plus pairing it with 2 lucario (important note as it is a stage 1 and easy to setup) might make way for a viable deck. 110 + 20 per energy on opponent when online with lucarios might prove enough to ko literally anything. With just 2 energy. And plus having some sustain with Cape. Idk, but interesting nonetheless. It will all depend on how easy it will be it's early game. 10 slots locked in already for the evolutionary lines, not much room for anything else.
I hadn't considered the Darkrai Ex + Weavile EX combo and now am thinking that's a really good core to build a deck around. Cyrus seems like a natural fit for that type of deck as well. I was also a lot less sold on Palkia but your explanation for why it's actually good changed my mind. I'm a little less enthusiastic about Mismagius because confusion seems kinda weak and 70 damage isn't a lot. If we ever get a way to reliably draw fossils then this set has two absolute monstrous fossil pokemon to try out
I am for sure rushing to build a melmetal, Dialga, Skarmory deck. Skarmory is my favorite Pokemon and giant cape/rocky helmet works well with all of them. I just wish I could use more than 20 cards lol.
I actually really like Skarmory. It's like Pachirisu with needing a tool to do max damage, except it's 1 energy for 50 damage - the best damaging basic in the game, and only a Giovanni away from OHKOing pretty much anything that evolves.
Dialga bastiodon means you guarantee a start with dialga. Looking forward to playing around with all the dialga options! Dialga could work with yanmega or maybe even regigigas too
Most looking forward to weavile, my favorite deck is the Bruxish wheezing Greninja deck and it seems like weavile Darkrai will be doing similar things with more color consistency and more deck slots
I was planning on swapping charizard for infernape, you can hit faster and almost as equally hard, free retreat helps having moltres once more in the lead so it can charge up infernape or any other secondary attacker, maybe arcanine or volcarona for the bench snipe
I agree I think Infernape is being a little slept on here, no retreat cost and the need to only put two energy on it instead of 4 means you get to spread energy a little more. Also having 170hp I think it’ll be a good rocky helmet target, as the 140 + rocky helmet will be enough to finish almost anything in the game
Going second vs palkia, rocky helmet pachirisu might just be a fun interaction. Drudi with rocky helmet also seems needed, if Palkia proves a top tier threat, especially with a darkrai in the back
I don't know if it'll be any good, but I do kind of want to fool around with Lickilicky Ex. Seems utterly hilarious if it works. Though probably would rely on being put with Dialga to get the energy built up fast.
Really looking forward to Darkrai+Weavile, I have a soft spot for Darkrai because they were the main attacker in my first competitive deck in the paper tcg
Ooooh this new dark archetype bout to be sooo spicy. I need it. I think empoleon ex and torterra ex will be coming out in the next set of this expansion. There will be two packs at first, dialga and palkia, then there will be two more packs in the next set expansion, empoleon and torterra packs. First set had 3 packs then 1 pack, this will be 2 and 2. (Hopefully)
Darkray/weavile with Cyrus will be really strong at sniping and killing stuff for low energy cost. Even more using Dawn to move away energies from darkray. I think the new pokemon communication can make stage 2 way more consistent, I imagine a Charizard with no arcanine for example. But the deck I'm most curious about is the metal one. I think Dialga+melmetal and mew can be a pretty powerful combo.
He always says "potentially," meaning he knows this is speculation. Having this knowledge can help F2P players use their resources effectively as soon as the new packs release.
I’m wondering if pocket could go down with a deck idea of the steel toolbox. The deck will run pure steel but the toolbox part is dialed powering up Pokémon with colorless attacks. For instance yanmega attacking for all colorless. This notably hits darkrai for weakness. With the yanmega it got me looking at other Pokémon that could attack for colorless as well. 1 is heliolisk for electric. Mew for obvious reasons. Then we have mienfoo/shao that’s a fighting option. The original golbat for dark. What I want to posit is whether dialga can help create a deck where we could in theory hit for weakness against the variety of the metagame with decent attacks for relatively cheap but only needing to use the 1 type of energy. The attackers are ok but I wonder if pocket could experiment more with creating more high level attackers like yanmega in more types that do not use that Pokémon’s specific energy.
i wonder what the reasoning is behind the grass weakness for some dark types like Weavile and Liepard. Dark isnt weak to grass anywhere else in the pokemon universe it it?
Yanmega might be a little better with how many amazing Dark pokemon we get this set, and most (all?) are vulnerable to Grass types this time around. AND it's all colorless for the attacks of it and it's Basic stage, so could be a meta-splash like Mew
I wouldn’t say Palkia’s attack is flavor text if the threat of it alone makes the opponent play around it, and it’s a very realistic finisher. Especially given the amount of ramp and energy transfer that water has. Dialga’s 4 cost attack on the other hand… well yea it’s pretty much flavor text imo but still could be used occasionally with dawn. I see Palkia as much stronger than Dialga, but Dialga seems more interesting to everyone because it might end up being more versatile and enable new ways to play. It’s just that two energy requirement seems like it will be really hit or miss. Either way I’m excited to try them both! Also I heard they got rid of wonder pick sharing but do you know of any whale groups or want to add me? I am going to be maxing out my pokegold limit for at least the next week so I can pull 2 stars for the new set.
Yanmega seems solid for its damage output, it might turn like current Pidgeot EX but easier to set online, a colorless backup. ALSO people seem to be sleeping on Spiritomb, for one energy it deals 10 dmg to each of the oponent's Pokemon, this can set Weavile to slam for 70 in case it doesn't start in your hand. Also Darkrai might be OP, having omni-greninja's ability will control your opponent seriously.
I can see darkrai ex being a problem 5 to 10 years down the line. Once we have ways to drop multiple energies on a pokemon, darkrai's ability could theoretically trigger multiple times, leading to a ko before you even attack if your opponent doesn't lead something with high hp.
Darkrai x Weavile + Dawn combo has a really scary early rush potential
And with Greninja!
@@geolosethGreninja takes too long. If you start first, a hand of Sneasel Weavile Darkrai Dawn can get you 90 damage on your first energy turn. It's insane
@geoloseth too slow
That is gonna be sweet indeed
Darkrai x Weavile x Spirtiomb + Dawn and Cyrus
Content is solid but man these pokemon pronunciations are brutal😅
You must be new here
kinda funny
Man i've been following pokemon since gen 1 and never skipped a gen, but I don't get annoyed when I see players misprouncing or not not knowing Pokemons, obviously they just did not follow the franchise like I did and that's completely fine
@@ToxicityOnTheRoadsI’m a zoologist and when talking about animals scientific names, since it’s all in Latin and nobody speaks Latin everyone has their own pronunciations anyway, so I don’t even notice it when people mispronounce pokemon anymore lol
Wolfe Glick: Finally, a worthy opponent!
The hype for this set release really makes me realize how much better this release format is vs drip feed formats
For the algo gods. Jeff makes great pocket videos. Darkrai and Weavile looks pretty fun.
The thing about yanmega is this guy can be teched into any deck. One that I am looking at is with the Volkner supporter. Yanmega is essentially a one stage magnezone both discarding an energy. So paired with either luxray or electivire you now have an efficient beater who can recycle energy to your electric types
And a card that's very effective against many fighting decks by the way
@@swenji9113 That too, rn I am messing with yanmega ex with electivire and volkner, it needs something else tho so I have zapdos ex as an early wall big issue im running into is the energy cost is very high
@@xandercivinskas3884 Electric decks are gonna be so much more diverse now!
This needs way too many cards to be viable but playing Lt. Surge + Volkner with some mons like Raichu, Magnezone and Electivire looks so fun!
You create as many energies as possible with Magneton and Elektek and then go all out with either Lt. Surge or Volkner each turn until you killed everything
@@swenji9113one shots every dark pokemon too
@@zate5355 Indeed, looks super solid as a Weavile and Darkrai counter
'An unhealthy amount of Farfetch'd' killed me.
Duck is quacked.
@@HooglandiaPocket So weavile is a fatter farfetch'd who deal 30 and maybe 70 but needs to evolve and if it dies gives 2 points to the opponent. Idk but really I don't get this card. Maybe I am noob but I feel like weavile isn't worth as an EX. Maybe if it would have been a base pokemon like celebi or mew I could get it but running 2 sneasle and 2 weavile seems so weak in mid-late game where other cards just swipe through. Am I delusional?
@@jackpagn8424 70 damage for a single energy is insane, that's one of the single highest damage per energy attacks in the game. Paired with other Dark cards that already love to get chip damage, it's extremely powerful.
@@jackpagn8424weavile seems to have some sort of synergy with darkrai’s ablity, maybe with Cyrus too? I guess we’ll have to play a dark type deck based around them to find out
@@jackpagn8424 The idea would be that you'd try to play Weavile as early as possible because you can get damage onto enemy Pokémon as early as Turn 3, and it would even combine well with other Dark Pokémon like Weezing who also can immediately apply pressure. It's a similar idea to why Exeggutor EX is such a strong pokémon
Darkrai Ex Weavile Ex and GA Weezing is gonna be competitive in the tournament scene
It's a shame they're in different packs, would have loved one to focus on at the start.
Spiritomb can also be a tech card
@@Quizznit Just go for the darkrai, weavile is going to be in a wonder pick event
@@Quizznit whats in which packs? im tryna figure out which one to open :)
@@treeesus5267 darkrai ex is in the dialga pack and weavile ex in palkia pack
Woah very early Jeff tier-list. Thank you as always. Looking forward to the which pack to open first video
I'm a bit surprised to not see an EX Torterra or Empoleon in this, honestly.
Maybe in the mini set
Mini set is going to give EX to everyone of the main set that deserved it, like the Island did, so pretty much Giratina, Lucario, Empoleon, Torterra and Sky Shaymin
Source: I saw this in a dream
@@Felix_D. To be fair you are probably quite on point.
@@Felix_D.I could see most of your predictions being right except Shaymin and lucario unless they made lucario metal type this is because what the new release has shown is that they seem to want to balance the ex by type so one from the mini set will likely be metal type as they have the least. If the mini set is still Gen 4 I could see heatran getting it. Maybe not the popular pick but I feel based on how each type got 1 ex except dark with 2 and dragon with 0 but that will likely be giratina ex or maybe garchomp. Plus I don’t see them going through Gen 4 without arceus either
Honestly... I kind of expected it. In the Original TCG Torterra and Empoleon dont get that much love (in terms of playability).
Its sad... but I learned to live without a torterra deck.
Yanmega is really well positioned against dark thanks to its type advantage against Darkrai and Weavile, so if this dark deck does well I could see the bug promptly following suit
Confusion seems more powerful the more I think on it. It doesn't say that a heads removes the condition, so while sleep is a powerful condition, it goes away with a coin flip while confusion does not. This condition seems like a good way to force a switch or lower the average damage you take
Maybe it just goes away automatically after one full turn? Probably explains the low damage. Would be S tier then
@chashtag2336 I can't speak for Pocket, but in the TCG, Confusion doesn't go away on its own. It goes away when you do one of three things:
-Retreat, because all statuses are cured on the bench
-Have your Pokemon faint
-Use a card to get rid of it. Regice is immune to it, but Lum Berry can also be used to cure it.
Also, while your opponent can retreat around their confusion, you can also retreat around their confusion in a way you really couldn't have with, say, Wigglytuff Ex. Since Mismagius Ex has only a 2 cost attack, and a 1 cost retreat, I think that's going to be relevant in more than a few games.
Hoogland your the only one I know qualified to make a tier list before even using said cards. I’m happy I have you as a go to for my tcg pocket information.
Dark enjoyers are eating good. Darkrai + Weavile not only sound fun and strong but with dark matchup advantage against Mewtwo they're pretty much guaranteed to become a new top archetype.
I didn't expect to be excited about Yanmega but here we are. And hopefully we'll be able to figure out a good Infernape deck just because I love me some monkeys.
Notably Infernape has no retreat cost. So you could still wall with Moltres, bring in infernape for a turn or two, then pull it out to rebuild
@@diablocell Yeah, like Jeff said - Dawn supporter will allow Infernape to attack 2 turns in a row, so it seems like a good place to start.
I think you are underestimating the stage 2, 2 energy c tiers. Their low energy requirements means you can play them in the background and wait to assemble the pieces rather than have to plan your deck around stalling for them.
6 cards to wait around in the background is a big investment
When playing Pocket, one of the limiters is energy assignment and targets. I feel like Dawn, Darkrai and Infernape mechanically play around this. In my dark and fire decks I often end up in situations where I no longer need energy. Infernape having no retreat cost and swinging at the 140-150 break point feels powerful. Charizard does 200 but rarely do you actually need 200, plus Infernape doesn't need Moltres to set it up which opens deck slots, similarly to Blaine.
Darkrai as you pointed out makes these Dark Break points which always feel 10-20 damage below rate suddenly explode and with Weezing you can navigate that damage to try and get priority back so that if they don't switch on their turn they just lose which has always been one of the most fun pivots Weezing offers with an odd damage stat line + poison and Darkrai is a basic so he's also an efficient lead, dealing damage in the first slot to Druddigon while building himself up.
I think Darkrai might be as good as Dialga and Palkia (I was also surprised people were down on this card, and I too play Quacked decks).
I think both Yanmega and Lickylicky could be better than advertised as well but only because of the New "Ramp" - Lickylicky is a staple finisher in decks that do other things sort of well and its arguably as consistent as Celebi with a much better healthpool.
Speaking of Dawn might also improve the consistency of dual colored decks, since you can assign energies early and then move them later - this could improve consistency of things like Dragonite and Druddigon Frog/Flareon Decks.
I know you're a data based channel and we won't know how any of this plays out until we start to see what the brewmasters are cooking, but I'd be interested to hear your thoughts on which Genetic Apex + Mystic Island Cards you think got BETTER with this set.
Excellent point on using Dawn in dual colored decks. That's insanely useful.
The thing people sleep on with Yanmega EX in my opinion is, it has a colorless attack and is grass type, meaning it will do 140 to both Darkrai EX and Weavile EX, knocking them both out in one attack. Also in my opinion the 120 damage threshold is one of the strongest in my opinion. It can knock out most basic EX pokemon by itself or with giovanni. And also a large amount of strong stage 1 non-EX also have 120-130 hp.
IMO Pachirisu will probabbly appear as 1x in Pikachu Decks with 2x capes instead of the potions they usually run, and it will substitute Zapdos EX
Best comment so Far about Pikachu deck, patirisu, os like a damage suporter Card, that improves the use of itens
This is exactly how I would utilize it. Especially because I STILL haven't pulled a Zapdos EX 😖 Also, using a Lt. Surge sneak for Electivire seems like a fun hail mary finisher.
Thanks for the breakdown Jeff! Really looking forward to this new expansion, Pocket has been a blast so far
Darkrai, Weavile, Spiritomb, Wheezing, and 2 copies of Cyrus. Might be absolutely insane
That would be too many mons. Only Darkrai and Weavile will be enough
How? 2 Darkrai, 4 Weavile, 4 Wheezing, 1 spiritomb as a tech is 11 mons and 7 basics which is fine
Why use Spiritomb? If you want to leave all opposing Pokémon with damage, just use Sabrina. Spiritomb seems like a trap to me, and Weezing probably too
@@noahvercellotti7858Usted weezing, is used koga, and that are 2 more cards
I think Spiritomb would pair well with Cyrus. It is low energy cost, low retreat cost card that damages everything and then you force out the core Pokemon on the opponents bench. Maybe don't run Wheezing though if you are running Spiritomb.
So maybe 2 Darkrai, 4 Wevile, 2 Spiritomb, 2 Cyrus, 2 Sabrina, 2 Professor's Research, 2 Rocky Helmet, 2 Potions, and 2 Pokeball?
All real ogs wait of the reaction of Jeff! Tomorrow when the new pack comes out, it feels like birthday and christmas together. Im very hyped!!!
Seriously! I don't know what it is, maybe just nostalgia overload, but I'm in my late 30s and I feel like a kid on Christmas for the first time in a long time. Just counting down the minutes right now.
5:18 Pikachu decks happily play Stage 1 pokemon, and Pachirisu with just two tools in the deck is as consistent as a stage 1. With 3 tools you're up to around 75% (think running the baby stage 1 pokemon), with the added benefit that when you draw a tool without Pachirisu you can just put it on Pikachu
The big question to me is, does Pachirisu's attack hit the right breakpoints? If 80 damage for 2 energy isnt enough anymore then maybe Pachirisu just doesnt cut it
I learned to not underestimate the more generic looking cards from Aerodactyl EX so being cautious with Yanmega EX is a good call.
Dark EX types seem like they will really spawn a new archetype. Noteworthy is that both are weak to grass, so Egg and Yanmega EX might be more meta than it seems
Agreed, never underestimate generic Pokémon’s as they have potential. I think colorless got a boost in this set with certain cards. Also aerodactyl might still hold some meta relevance as a lot of these new cards are stage 2s
do u think they'll limit the amount of specific tool cards in a deck? like only 1 helmet and 1 cape? feels like 2 helmet and 2 cape would be too broken
They will not.
Love the quick turn around on these videos.
After seeing the spoilers for the Dialga and Palkia Immersive videos, I'm psyched for the next evolution of the outro screen.
As my grandmama used to say two Hooglandia videos a day keeps the Lickylicky away. 😨
Such a cursed creature.
I'm definitely looking forward to playing some steel and dark decks.
I'm also really stoked on the "fun" cards they released this expansion, which they have clearly grouped for players to make themed decks that won't dominate by any means, but will be a riot to play. The Mesprit trio, various Rotoms, the remaining Eeveelutions (sans Espeon..?), and Porygon-Z all come to mind. Would love to see some successful deck builds come from any of those cards. Wouldn't be surprised if they opened an official non-EX mode after releasing these as well.
The new Pokémon communications item is so good.
I really hope they begin to include more items as well, it was moderately disappointing only seeing three while we have so many counters for them.
Ngl this set introduces a lot of flexibility to the game. From great cape, to Cyrus, Dawn and Pokemon communication. All of these cape alone can change the meta, let alone multiple of them
I've been having a lot of fun playing with a pidgeot ex / exeggutor ex deck, you pairing yanmega ex with exeggutor made me realize it's probably just a much more consistent version. Very excited to play with the new cards!
Good analysis. My only disagreement is with Infernape. 140 for 2 is just too good of a finisher. Especially with 0 retreat cost, it can be a double finisher even without Dawn. Easy B, borderline A tier.
I put $100 into the game during Black Friday. I got 3 immersive CHARIZARD since playing. I just want to give one to my brother but I CANT!!!!😡
I want to trade my Blastoise EX to my brother as well, but I doubt he even has enough rares to toss in order to get the trading currency he needs. It's really, really expensive and I think they need to bring the price down ASAP (as well as pack points, I used them once for Sabrina early on and haven't been able to afford anything useful since)
Guys what do u think of infernape? To pair wirh moltres or to stall with druddigon+ rocky helmet and set up infernape because its stage 2 mon and can be difficult wirh moltres and doesnt need more than two energy
I think just use Rapidash like Jeff mentioned. Rapidash also conditionally deal 70 dmg with Blaine if you want to get one prize asap before unleashing Infernape ex to kill opponent ex for two prize.
That Darkrai + Weavile combo is going to be fun
Huge Yanmega believer and will probably be pulling whichever pack it's in first. Hoping to get lucky and have 2x copies for the community tournament this weekend. Great content as usual Jeff!
I've been using your early Greninja-Weezing-Koga Toxic Ninja deck for awhile now so I'm super excited as a Weezing user to try something out with Weaville & Darkrai.
I can't wait to get some of these cards in hand and see if I can push Alakazam in the new set. Dialga looks good for helping get the energy on him and relaxing my economy, Spiritomb and Cyrus give me the opportunity to yank a backline charger up and snipe it with Psychic, Pokemon Communication SHOULD be able to help me get to my Alakazam faster... I'm not sure WHICH direction I'm going in.
I feel like palkia is asking to be mew bait
are you making a video about what packs to open first ?
I agree with you that Yanmega is likely a little underrated here. The 120 is a very relevant number into the grass-weak Dark EXes, plus any residual stonks from Gio into Celebi and Mew EX. Although like you, I think one of its biggest strengths is answering the "What do I run with our lord an savior Egg?" (Also, diversifying the weaknesses into Electric is nice considering Eggs is good there and Yanmega threatens 1-shots onto so much of the type anyway.)
Very excited to see more Dark Pokemon that dont revolve around Poison! And I think that your take about Palkia being a great opener is really intelligent!
Some of your pronunciations for the mons def gave me an aneurysm, but I can look past that and throw a sub your way 😂
I'm afraid to say it because I want to get the jump on this card early, but I think Rampardos is getting slept on _hard_ . 130 for a SINGLE energy (150-170 with Lucario support) makes it an insane striker mid to late-game with zero drain on your energy builds elsewhere in the deck. By the time it hits itself for 50 you've already knocked out what is probably the strongest mon in your opponent's deck and it still has 100 HP to strike a consecutive turn. Even if it doesn't survive, free Marshadow follow-up. It's a freaking monster.
I always thought Palkia EX was the obvious star of the two. To be such a solid starting active, board crippler, AND finisher is absolutely nuts, especially considering how many powerful water pairings and utilities are already available. That being said, I'm not as excited for steel pokemon as most of the community seems to be, and I strongly prefer speed / early strike advantage far more than high power / high energy costs. Even with the various free energy power-ups and supporters available to speed up the process of heavy mons, you're relying on a lot of conditional situations and other supporters taking slots in your deck to mitigate expenses like high retreat costs and dead turns.
I think Darkrai will prove its S-tier worth very quickly in the meta, as there are tons of slippery, low-cost attackers of that typing already, and the amount of unexpected combos it can cover _from the bench_ with things like Druddigon, poison, Rocky Helmet, Giovanni, etc is kind of insane, especially to cover breakpoints of other metas. I'm definitely most excited for Darkrai and Lucario's potential (despite them being two of my least favorite character designs in all of Pokemon 🙃). Lee / Marshadow / Aerodactyl / Primeape decks are already a favorite of mine, and they're about to get _nuts_ with Lucario as an added option.
I think it's important to mention that Palkia will be dropping with Manaphy in the same set. Which will probably be a major help in powering it up.
yeah palkia with vaporeon and manaphy and possibly gyarados seems very powerful
Finally someone acknowledges Palkia, it’s so strong as a starter
Yanmega could be a good colorless card for dialga using erika to allow it to live long enough to get its value, just a theory tho gotta test it live :)
Also i'm hyped for a garchomp/palkia/marshtomp deck I'm gonna try that even if it doenst sound too powerful rn, it seems like something fun i wanna do haha
Which packs will be better to open palkia or dialga ?
It honestly will depend on which cards you want to play with first. Good stuff in both packs.
I think you nailed it! I'll be going for the Dark EX pokemon and Dialga
After doing some deck labbing, it’s really funny that psychic type yet again got some nice upgrades. Of what I did off of hypotheticals I really like Mismagius and hypno together with either mew ex or druddigon. And then togekiss with mew ex is just powerful too, big thing with togekiss will be if it gets online faster than mewtwo to one shot
Darkrai will definitely be a chase for me, being able to attach energy and deal damage at the same time is going to be so much fun
So excited for the new set! I will definitely be looking to make a Darkrai deck. 🎉
Even though Gallade EX doesn't feel super strong in itself (being outshunned by Machamp EX in sheer force, even though his retreat cost is pretty high) having a low retreat cost plus pairing it with 2 lucario (important note as it is a stage 1 and easy to setup) might make way for a viable deck. 110 + 20 per energy on opponent when online with lucarios might prove enough to ko literally anything. With just 2 energy. And plus having some sustain with Cape. Idk, but interesting nonetheless. It will all depend on how easy it will be it's early game. 10 slots locked in already for the evolutionary lines, not much room for anything else.
I hadn't considered the Darkrai Ex + Weavile EX combo and now am thinking that's a really good core to build a deck around. Cyrus seems like a natural fit for that type of deck as well. I was also a lot less sold on Palkia but your explanation for why it's actually good changed my mind. I'm a little less enthusiastic about Mismagius because confusion seems kinda weak and 70 damage isn't a lot.
If we ever get a way to reliably draw fossils then this set has two absolute monstrous fossil pokemon to try out
I am for sure rushing to build a melmetal, Dialga, Skarmory deck. Skarmory is my favorite Pokemon and giant cape/rocky helmet works well with all of them. I just wish I could use more than 20 cards lol.
The very first deck list I cooked when I saw the leaks was Dialga + Lickilicky. I think that’ll end up going crazy hard.
I was def hesitant and maybe still am of Palkia first looking at them, but the Slash is a good call!
Very helpful review. Could have been improved with which packs each EX is present in to help make initial opening decisions.
Marking which packs cards are in is a great shout. I'll do that in the future.
How do we prevent power creep?
I'm excited to have new dark EX cards, and they look like they aren't going to disappoint.
Dark Rai is going to be absolutely nuts. Slap in weezing, rocky helmet, druddi. Good luck!
That Weezing Weavile Darkrai combo is such a good early catch. Mewtwo DESTROYER
Pokemon Communication can be in the flex slot to make MI Koffing (the one that searches its other copy) and the Stage-1s more consistent
I actually really like Skarmory. It's like Pachirisu with needing a tool to do max damage, except it's 1 energy for 50 damage - the best damaging basic in the game, and only a Giovanni away from OHKOing pretty much anything that evolves.
So no empolion or torterra ex? 😢
most excited for Weavile EX, it feels like another Exeggutor EX, so I can't wait to get 2 asap
I’m VERY excited to get Weavile and Darkrai; time for dark decks to finally shine
Palkia and Cyrus will be great aditions to your Starmie EX and Luminion deck.
Super hyped to build the dark decks though getting 4 EXs from two separate packs is going to be painful
Dialga bastiodon means you guarantee a start with dialga. Looking forward to playing around with all the dialga options! Dialga could work with yanmega or maybe even regigigas too
Amazing content as always. Darkrai EX feels like S tier for me. Agree with everything else
Most looking forward to weavile, my favorite deck is the Bruxish wheezing Greninja deck and it seems like weavile Darkrai will be doing similar things with more color consistency and more deck slots
I was planning on swapping charizard for infernape, you can hit faster and almost as equally hard, free retreat helps having moltres once more in the lead so it can charge up infernape or any other secondary attacker, maybe arcanine or volcarona for the bench snipe
I agree I think Infernape is being a little slept on here, no retreat cost and the need to only put two energy on it instead of 4 means you get to spread energy a little more. Also having 170hp I think it’ll be a good rocky helmet target, as the 140 + rocky helmet will be enough to finish almost anything in the game
Darkrai is the most interesting card imo. I’m definitely eager to try it out
Sitting on 650 hour glasses, I’m ready to lock in 👊🏾.
Going second vs palkia, rocky helmet pachirisu might just be a fun interaction. Drudi with rocky helmet also seems needed, if Palkia proves a top tier threat, especially with a darkrai in the back
I don't know if it'll be any good, but I do kind of want to fool around with Lickilicky Ex. Seems utterly hilarious if it works. Though probably would rely on being put with Dialga to get the energy built up fast.
Really looking forward to Darkrai+Weavile, I have a soft spot for Darkrai because they were the main attacker in my first competitive deck in the paper tcg
Ooooh this new dark archetype bout to be sooo spicy. I need it. I think empoleon ex and torterra ex will be coming out in the next set of this expansion. There will be two packs at first, dialga and palkia, then there will be two more packs in the next set expansion, empoleon and torterra packs. First set had 3 packs then 1 pack, this will be 2 and 2. (Hopefully)
Darkray/weavile with Cyrus will be really strong at sniping and killing stuff for low energy cost. Even more using Dawn to move away energies from darkray. I think the new pokemon communication can make stage 2 way more consistent, I imagine a Charizard with no arcanine for example. But the deck I'm most curious about is the metal one. I think Dialga+melmetal and mew can be a pretty powerful combo.
Great video. Do we know if we are getting more deck slots?
I'd be shocked unfortunately. Games don't seem to like to do that.
A tier list before the set even drops is wild
First tcg? It’s done in basically every card game ever
He always says "potentially," meaning he knows this is speculation. Having this knowledge can help F2P players use their resources effectively as soon as the new packs release.
Weavile/Spiritomb/Darkrai is gonna be an incredibly strong new archetype.
I would say as a stage 2 enjoyer, the new pokemon search card should make getting them online super consistent
WeavKrai and YanmEgga might become my new favorite decks to play
Lickiliky ex is boutta be insane with energy acceleration
Lots to try. Let’s Go! Trying Dialga. Infernape and some sort of Dark deck.
As a Dark Deck (and Fighting Deck) enjoyer I am beyond happy
I’m wondering if pocket could go down with a deck idea of the steel toolbox. The deck will run pure steel but the toolbox part is dialed powering up Pokémon with colorless attacks. For instance yanmega attacking for all colorless. This notably hits darkrai for weakness. With the yanmega it got me looking at other Pokémon that could attack for colorless as well. 1 is heliolisk for electric. Mew for obvious reasons. Then we have mienfoo/shao that’s a fighting option. The original golbat for dark. What I want to posit is whether dialga can help create a deck where we could in theory hit for weakness against the variety of the metagame with decent attacks for relatively cheap but only needing to use the 1 type of energy. The attackers are ok but I wonder if pocket could experiment more with creating more high level attackers like yanmega in more types that do not use that Pokémon’s specific energy.
i wonder what the reasoning is behind the grass weakness for some dark types like Weavile and Liepard. Dark isnt weak to grass anywhere else in the pokemon universe it it?
bug types
4:38 Jeff, I love your videos. I even thumbs up all your livestreams on YT for the algorhythm. But for the love of god, it's not a mouse. 😂
My only reservation with Dialga is what is the gameplan when going first?
Insightful as always, I agree with most of it. Looking forward for my guess to be proven wrong by the meta in a month or two ❤
Making a tier list before the content drops is brave
IMO palkia ex can replace drudd in gyarados ex deck. Can slot in rocky helm if needed as well
Yanmega might be a little better with how many amazing Dark pokemon we get this set, and most (all?) are vulnerable to Grass types this time around. AND it's all colorless for the attacks of it and it's Basic stage, so could be a meta-splash like Mew
I wouldn’t say Palkia’s attack is flavor text if the threat of it alone makes the opponent play around it, and it’s a very realistic finisher. Especially given the amount of ramp and energy transfer that water has. Dialga’s 4 cost attack on the other hand… well yea it’s pretty much flavor text imo but still could be used occasionally with dawn.
I see Palkia as much stronger than Dialga, but Dialga seems more interesting to everyone because it might end up being more versatile and enable new ways to play. It’s just that two energy requirement seems like it will be really hit or miss. Either way I’m excited to try them both!
Also I heard they got rid of wonder pick sharing but do you know of any whale groups or want to add me? I am going to be maxing out my pokegold limit for at least the next week so I can pull 2 stars for the new set.
Yanmega seems solid for its damage output, it might turn like current Pidgeot EX but easier to set online, a colorless backup.
ALSO people seem to be sleeping on Spiritomb, for one energy it deals 10 dmg to each of the oponent's Pokemon, this can set Weavile to slam for 70 in case it doesn't start in your hand. Also Darkrai might be OP, having omni-greninja's ability will control your opponent seriously.
Darkrai-Wheezing-Greninja bounce shenanigans! So many 20 damages to throw around.
Great content Jeff, thank you.
I can see darkrai ex being a problem 5 to 10 years down the line. Once we have ways to drop multiple energies on a pokemon, darkrai's ability could theoretically trigger multiple times, leading to a ko before you even attack if your opponent doesn't lead something with high hp.
Yanmega ex could also be play with the dailga ex