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TCG Jump: Featured Card- Lysandre

Lysandre

Art by Ken Sugimori

Flashfire has been out for a few weeks now and slowly cards are finding their way into decks. Some are proving to be useful and others are finding their use declining. This week we will look at a card that has a familiar effect to cards that were once highly used in the TCG. Now that effect is back as a powerful Supporter who is even more powerful within the video game. Will this card bring perfection to the metagame? Join us as we take a look at the Supporter card, Lysandre! Lysandre is a Supporter Trainer card from the Flashfire TCG set. This card allows the user to switch their opponent’s active Pokemon with one of their Pokemon on the bench. This card can only be played once per turn due to it being a Supporter but it can have a powerful effect on a match.

 

If Lysandre’s effect sounds familiar to another card then you would be correct. If this card’s effect sounds familiar to a few cards then that means you have been with the TCG for a long time. The ability to switch out your opponent’s active Pokemon with their bench Pokemon was once known as Gust of Wind from Base Set. Those who been playing the TCG recently may known that this use to be Pokemon Catcher‘s effect before it was errata to work base on a coin flip. Now this effect has returned in the form of the Supporter card Lysandre. Being a Supporter card certainly change how Lysandre will be used compared to Pokemon Catcher. Typically, Supporter cards are used as the main form of draw support in order to get explosive turns. Simply use Professor Juniper to get rid of useless things and get a new hand that will allow you to quickly set up. Most people will say that a deck should have around ten to twelve supporters to help make your deck constant with drawing power. It will also lessen the chances of dead draws as you can always use a Supporter to refresh your hand. Lysandre though would become an awkward draw when you are in need of a new hand and can’t use it. The same thing can happen if you use Random Receiver and get a Lysandre for the same situation. People use to run at least three Pokemon Catcher before the change was made to the card. It was easier to simply use Pokemon Catcher to bring up a Pokemon to the active that way they won’t redraw it when using N to refresh their hand. Then in the same turn, use Pokemon Catcher again to bring up the previous active Pokemon and knock it out. Now that this effect is a Supporter card, trainers will have to decide between taking a knock out or gaining a new hand. It can put pressure on the trainer and bring up questions that weren’t there before. The ability to switch out your opponent’s Pokemon is a powerful one. Lysandre will help users gain an advantage on their opponent by knocking out the deck’s engine. Certain Pokemon that may be targeted by Lysandre would include Aromatisse, Garbodor and Sableye as they are low HP Pokemon that are important to the deck they are in. If Aromatisse is knocked out then the Fairy, Rainbow and Prism Energy are stuck on the Pokemon that they are on until a new Aromatisse can be set up. This had happen before with previous decks such as those using  Dynamotor Eelektrik. Several decks will be using Lysandre to get knock outs by drawing in easy knock out Pokemon but one deck will fully welcome this card with open arms: Plasma. Most Plasma variants can take one hit knock outs on EX Pokemon thanks to Deoxys EX ability to increase the damage output of Plasma Pokemon. What makes them even more deadly is that Lugia EX‘s ability allows an additional prize to be taken if it is used to knock out a Pokemon. Lysandre can be used to pull EX Pokemon from the bench that was being set up and then use Lugia EX to knock out that Pokemon with one hit and take a three prize lead. Even worst, it can be used to win games. That is the power that Lysandre can have. This is the first time we had a card like Lysandre. People may not play as many compare to Pokemon Catcher but it can be powerful when used at the right time. Not all decks will use it but the ones that do plan to use it as a way to win games.


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