It is time to get things heated with a new set of the Pokemon TCG! This set is promising to have explosive cards that will split the battle! You will be dueling with many new types with this new siege. You better expect some battles that will zoom by and if you are not careful then you may find yourself lost in the steam. A lot of new players are buzzing about a few cards in this set. That is why we are going to zoom in on a specific card from this set in order to show you what can be done with it. We are going to be going super sonic for this card as we show how you can go boom with it. This week we will be putting the spotlight on Yanmega from Steam Siege!
Yanmega is a Stage One card from Steam Siege. It is a Grass type Pokemon with 110 HP. It has an ability call Sonic Vision which allows you to attack with Yanmega for no energy cost as long as your hand has four cards in it. When you do attack then you have access to Assault Boom which does 50 base damage for three colorless energy. If your opponent’s Pokemon has a Tool attached to it then Assault Boom does an additional 70 damage. Yanmega has a weakness to Lightning types and resistance to Fighting. This Grass type Pokemon has no energy cost.
The Pros
Yanmega is a new card that is getting a lot of hype thanks to the Sonic Vision ability. This ability simply allows Yanmega to attack for no energy as long as your hand has four cards in it. That isn’t too hard with that thanks for a few cards.
Some long time players may think that Steam Siege Yanmega is familiar to Yanmega Prime from Triumphant who had the Insight PokeBody ability. That is true as both Insight and Sonic Vision allows Yanmega to attack for no energy. Though I think that Sonic Vision is much better as you are not constantly trying to play a game with your opponent to match their hand size. Sonic Vision puts the ability into your hands as you constantly try to get your hand down to four cards.
Yanmega is an even stronger card because you can get it set up on your first turn thanks to Forest of Giant Plants. Simple place down your Yanma and Forest of Giant Plants in order to get Yanmega ready to attack for 50 damage for your first attack. It will surely surprise your opponent and put them in a pinch as they try to get to the offensive.
If you want to go even more on the offensive and get a boost in HP then use Yanmega BREAK. You will surely play Yanmega BREAK in a deck featuring Yanmega. This BREAK card boosts Yanmega’s HP to 140 HP and can hit your opponent’s Pokemon for 100 damage. Yanmega BREAK still has access to Sonic Vision if you evolve from Steam Siege Yanmega. It would be awesome if you can hit 100 damage for no energy with a Stage 2 Pokemon on your first turn.
The Cons
One of the biggest cons for Yanmega is the damage output. 120 damage is quite powerful for no energy cost but you are depending on your opponent to attach a Tool to their Pokemon. If your opponent doesn’t attach a Tool then you are simply doing 50 damage. That isn’t impressive at all. Even worst, Yanmega BREAK has a damage cap with it’s Barrier Break attack. This attack does not account for Weakness, Resistance, or any other effects. While it will be great to ignore effects that prevents Yanmega BREAK from conducting damge, you have a problem of never hitting weakness. That means you will need to rely on Assault Boom which will be doing only 100 even if your opponent’s Pokemon is weak to Grass and has no Tool attached.
Mega Pokemon become an even bigger hassle as you will need to two hit KO them.
Ability lock will lock down Yanmega. Cards like Hex Maniac will slow down the speedy bug as you will not be able to use Sonic Vision to attack for free. Ability lock will be even worth post Primal Clash-on rotation due to Garbodor who can activate ability lock with a simple Tool attachment. Garbodor has the potential to become a strong card in post rotation because we lose most of our Tool removal cards such as Xerosic and Startling Megaphone. If your opponent sets up Garbodor then your Yanmega will be stopped dead in it’s tracks.
The last thing that is bad for Yanmega is simply not setting up. There are a lot of Grass decks who try to use Forest of Giant Plants but they sometimes fail. Some of the reasons they fail is because they never get a hand that has Forest of Giant Plants and their evolution cards. This leave the play in a bad place as their attack can’t really attack and they are now a turn behind. Yanmega could become one of those decks if they start off with a bad hand.
How to Play It
The name of the game when playing Yanmega is speed. You want to set up Yanmega as fast as you can and have your hand go down to four. If you end up going second then that isn’t a bad thing. You may actually want to go second as it allows you to attack first. Even if you are attacking for 50 damage then it is simply allowing you to set up a knockout next turn. Though you really want Yanmega to BREAK evolve on your first turn so you can use Barrier Break for free to put pressure and 100 damage on your opponent’s Pokemon. If you have the right draw support, search and Forest of Giant Plants then getting Yanmega BREAK will be easy. You just need to make sure that you have a four card hand in order to attack for free.
There are a few ways to get that four card hand. The easiest way could be Judge which puts your opponent and your hand down to four cards. This will disrupt your opponent’s hand as it puts them at a smaller hand size but will put you at the perfect hand size to use Yanmega’s Sonic Vision. The only problem with this plan is that once you use Judge then you may not want to use anything in your hand as it most likely prevent you from taking advantage of Sonic Vision. So you will want to use Judge as the last thing you do before attack. That way it disrupts your opponent and give you that valuable hand size.
You will want to play a few Tool cards to help get that hand down to four. This will be important as you use draw support like Professor Sycamore and Shaymin which will make your hand size more then four cards. When you make your hand size more then four cards then you will want to place down Pokemon like Yanma, Yanmega and Yanmega BREAK down on the field. Though if you do not have any of those cards then Tools are your next best thing. You can play down Tools instantly as long an item lock isn’t in play or there are Pokemon with Tools already attached.
The best Tool for Yanmega to wear right now in this current format will be Muscle Band. It will boost Yanmega’s attack by 20 and also helps lower your hand size. There is no negative to this unless you are playing the mirror match up. If you do end up playing the mirror then do not put down any Tools unless you know it will involve a knockout.
Though we want to look into the future as Muscle Band will not be viable in Standard after August. Some of the cards that I want to focus on are Klefki, Weakness Policy and Burst Balloon.
Klefki is a new card from Steam Siege with an interesting ability. This little Fairy Pokemon has an ability call Wonder Lock which allows Klefki to become a Tool. It will only become a Tool for one turn but that may be all you need in order to get your hand down to four cards. If you do attach Klefki to Yanmega then your opponent’s Mega Pokemon can’t harm Yanmega. That may be useful because sevearal players are predicting we are entering an Mega Pokemon heavy format.
You may want to run Weakness Policy to help get your hand down to four. Lightning may become a problem in September due to a potential shift in the format. These Pokemon will shock Yanmega with a simple attack but Weakness Policy may give you a chance. It will allow you to live two attacks from a Lightning type Pokemon which will give Yanmega the chance to two hit KO your opponent’s Fire Pokemon. A few well timed attacks and the extra HP from Yanmega BREAK with a Weakness Policy attached could win you the game.
Lastly there is Burst Balloon. This Tool could be the thing to help Yanmega take knockouts. If your opponent attacks a Yanmega with a Burst Balloon attached then they are taking 60 damage. That is a lot of damage and if Yanmega can hit back with 120 then there is a knockout.
Yanmega can be a quick card and you really want to go fast with it. If you can get that first attack for 100 damage then you could leave your opponent in the steam. This card could really break your opponent’s mind as they may not be able to handle such intense speeds. So make sure you give Yanmega a chance as it speeds towards victory.
