Expect some brilliant stars to shine in the TCG starting in 2022!
The next Pokemon TCG set for America and around the world has been officially announced. Releasing in February 2022 will be the new Brilliant Stars set for the Pokemon TCG.
You will be seeing stars in many forms in Sword & Shield: Brilliant Stars. From the new Pokemon VSTARS to the return of the Trainer Gallery subset of cards. Shining bright in the center will be Arceus VSTAR alongside with Charizard VSTAR. The stars are going to be shining big and bright deep in the heart of Brilliant Stars!
VSTAR Rising!
Brilliant Stars will be the introduction Pokemon VSTAR and VSTAR Power! Pokemon VSTAR are Pokemon that evolve from Pokemon V with boosted HP and a powerful effect called VSTAR Power. VSTAR Power can come in the form of an ability or attack but it can only be used once per battle. To help you keep track of if you used your VSTAR Power, you will flip a VSTAR Marker.
Pokemon VSTAR are quite powerful due to their boosted HP and power. That means they will give up two prize cards once knocked out.
You can look forward to several different Pokemon VSTARS with the release of Brilliant Stars. Arceus VSTAR will be the featured Pokemon. Though, you can expect to see Charizard VSTAR, Shaymin VSTAR and Whimsicott VSTAR. Different products have also reveal that there will be a GLACEON VSTAR and Leafeon VSTAR.
Colorless Pokemon Clash!
Arceus VSTAR is the star for Brilliant Stars and it is getting some support! This brand new support comes in the form of a new Energy card and Supporter.
One of the new cards from Brilliant Stars includes a brand new Energy card called Double Turbo Energy! This new Energy card provides two Colorless Energy when attached to a Pokemon. The only downside is that your Pokemon attacks will do 20 less damage.
That isn’t too bad if you happen to start with Arceus V on your second turn. The first attack on Arceus V, Trinity Charge, needs two Colorless Energy to use. If you use this attack then you can search your deck for three Basic Energy cards and attach them to your Pokemon V in any way you like. Even better! This attack does no damage so you do not need to worry about Double Turbo Energy’s downside.
During your next turn, you can evolve Arceus V into Arceus VSTAR and attach one more energy. Now Arceus VSTAR can use Trinity Nova to do 200 damage. Granted, if you have Double Turbo Energy attached then it will only be doing 180 damage. The plus side is that you will be powering up another Pokemon V on your bench by powering it up by attaching three Basic Energy.
Did your Arceus VStar get a bit damaged during your previous turn? Then you can go ahead and use the new Support card, Cheren’s Care! This new Supporter card allows you to pick up one Colorless Pokemon with any damage counters on it. That Pokemon and all cards attach go back into your hand.
This could lead to some combo plays where you can use Arceus VSTAR’s VSTAR Power, Starbirth. This ability allows you to search for two cards from your deck and put it into your hand. One of those cards can be Cheren’s Care that can pick up your damaged Arceus VSTAR. From there you can promote a healthy Arceus V and evolve it into Arceus VSTAR. After that, you can keep up your assault on your opponent’s Pokemon.
We only know a few cards from Brilliant Stars so surely there will be more that you can do with Arceus VSTAR. Though, it is surely could be used in an impressive toolbox type deck.
Turning Up the Fire!
Charizard is back as a brand new Pokemon VSTAR! Brilliant Stars is giving us Charizard VSTAR with plenty of new cards to help support it.
The first card to look at is the new Supporter card, Kindler. This new Supporter card makes you discard one Fire energy. Once you do then you can look at the top seven cards in your deck and choose up to two cards. Those two cards will then go into your hand while the others are shuffle back into your deck.
Kindler plays nice with the new Magma Basin. This new Stadium card allows you to attach one Fire energy from your Discard pile to one of your Benched Fire Pokemon. If you do then that Fire Pokemon will gain two damage counters.
That may sound bad but if you want to attack right away then perhaps you will want to attach your first Fire energy via Magma Basin on to Moltres. That is because Moltres as a single attack called Detonating Wings.
Detonating Wings does a base 20 damage. Though, if Moltres has any damage counters on it then it does 70 more damage. That is a total of 90 damage on a single Pokemon! You may not be able to hit for weakness with this attack but hitting for 90 damage with a single energy is pretty hot!
Though, if you want to do more of a slow burn then Charizard VSTAR is the real star of this Fire deck.
Charizard VSTAR has an attack called Exploding Fire that cost three Fire energy but does 130 damage. If you are able to put damage counters on Charizard VSTAR, preferably via effect of Magma Basin, then it will do 100 more damage! If you are doing your math correctly then that is 230 damage! With that kind of damage you are knocking out most Pokemon V while doing major damage on Pokemon VMAX.
In this new Fire deck, you will want to be attaching Fire energy on to Moltres using Magma Basin during your first turn. Then on the Bench you will slowly building up energy on your Charizard V and Charizard VSTAR. That way once Moltres goes down then Charizard VSTAR will become the star of the show.
Still, there are plenty of other Fire Pokemon that will love to burn bright with these impressive Fire support.
Featuring All Your Favorite Characters!
The Trainer Gallery has return! Remember those cards from Cosmic Eclipse where some Pokemon were given the full art treatment along side some characters from the video games? Some of these included cool art cards such as Roxie along side Koffing.
Those cards are set to return in Brilliant Stars! All of these cards will be release in Japan’s VMAX Climax. Some Pokemon to be featured in the Trainer Gallery include Flaaffy with Elesa, Blaziken V with May and Pikachu VMAX with Red!
Other Brilliant Stars Details
You can expect several different products to be release along side with Brilliant Stars. Some of these products include Elite Trainer Boxes and VSTAR Special Collections. Below are some more details regarding Brilliant Stars.
- 20 Pokémon V and 15 full-art Pokémon V
- Four new Pokémon VSTAR
- Three new Pokémon VMAX
- 22 Trainer cards and six full-art Supporter cards
- One new Special Energy card
There should be some brand new VMAX Pokemon release in Brilliant Stars. Some of these VSTAR Pokemon include Mimikyu VMAX, Aggron VMAX, and Kingler VMAX. These Pokemon are most likely come from Japan’s Start Deck 100 where they will release 100 Starter Decks.
Brilliant Stars will be release on February 25, 2022.
