Lets talk about the cards you want to get from Burning Shadows!
Prereleases for Burning Shadows starts this weekend. There are tons of great cards from the set that are going to be ‘must haves’. Today we are going to look at some cards that you will want to keep an eye out. All of these cards have started some talk and will surely leave an impression on the game in some way.
First we are going to be looking at the Pokemon that you want from Burning Shadows. I have picked five Pokemon that will leave an impression in some form or way. I am going to name the Pokemon and give a quick reason as to why you will want to have the card.
Golisopod GX
Golisopod GX is a bulky Grass type Pokemon that will leave a strong first impression. That is because it has the First Impression attack that can hit for up to 120 damage with a single energy. First Impression does a base 30 damage but can do an extra 90 damage if it was place in the active during the turn. If you had put Golisopod GX into the active during your turn then your opponent’s Pokemon will be hit hard. If you attach a Choice Band to Golisopod GX then get ready to hit for 150 damage if attacking an EX or GX Pokemon.
First Impression is the main draw for Golisopod GX. People are going to be wanting to hit something for 120 damage for a single energy. There are a few ways to do this. The first way is to use Wally to evolve your active Wimpod into a Golisopod GX during your first turn. You can then attach a Grass energy to your newly evolved Golisopod GX to hit for 120 damage. This is a scary situation as your opponent will not want to take 120 damage so early in the game. Especially when the Basic of so many bulky evolve GX Pokemon have such low HP. Alolan Vulpix may have to worry because players usually like to put it in the active to use Beacon.
Players also have the option to use things like Switch and Escape Rope to put in a fresh Golisopod GX into the active. That way you you can continue to hit 120 damage. There are ways to hit 170 damage but even if you are unable to hit that number, it is still deadly to hit anything for 120 with a single energy.
Necrozma GX
Next we are going to talk about Necrozma GX. It may look pretty basic at first but once you think about it then Necrozma GX can become pretty deadly.
First look at Necrozma GX’s Light’s End ability. This ability prevents damage done to this Pokemon from Colorless Pokemon. That means cards like Drampa GX and Tauros GX are useless against this card. Necrozma GX can just stall in the active as your opponent will need to find a new way to do damage. Drampa GX and Tauros GX have become favorites to put in the active to do heavy damage in the early game. Necrozma GX can simply stop your opponent from doing this if you start with it.
Next there is Prismatic Burst. This attack may not look like much due to the fact that it discards energy and cost three energy. Though there are ways to make this attack work. You can attach a Psychic energy during your first turn and a Double Colorless during your second turn. That will give your opponent a surprise as you attack them for 70 damage early int he game. Though I can see Necrozma GX pairing up with Metagross GX to fuel Prismatic Burst. You may be discarding your Psychic Energy but Metagross GX’s Geotect System can bring it back. I would love to go into more details but I feel like Necrozma GX will make a great article once some proper testing has been done. So expect to see something great with this card in the future!
Lastly, there is Necrozma GX’s Black Ray GX. This GX attack does 100 damage to each of your opponent’s EX and GX Pokemon. This attack could be quite handy if you plan to simply damage your opponent’s Pokemon with ax explosive attack. Everybody is buzzing about using Pokemon who do spread damage like Tapu Koko. You can simply use Flying Flip to spread 20 damage for a few turn. Once you see your opponnet’s EX/GX Pokemon with hundred or less HP then use Necrozma GX to take the final knockout. It is a rather interesting strategy that could put some people on edge when playing against Necrozma GX.
Marshadow GX
The next Pokemon we are going to talk about is Marshadow GX and the Shadow Hunt ability. This Pokemon has the ability to use any attack from a Basic Pokemon that is in your discard. Pokemon who can copy the attacks of other Pokemon have always found a way to be useful in the game. We had Mew EX, Mew from Fates Collide and Zoroark BREAK who do similar things.
But why would you use Marshadow GX? To hit Fighting weak Pokemon in decks that can’t hit them for weakness! The first Pokemon that comes to mind will be Darkrai EX who has been larking in the shadows. This Pokemon has always found a way to jump in and out of the meta when you least expect it. Do not be surprise if some decks will start putting in a Marshadow GX into their decks as techs for Darkrai EX. They just need to find a Basic Pokemon to put in the active for Shadow Hunt to take advantage of. Once they do that then Darkrai EX will quivering in it’s boots.
Darkrai GX
Speaking of Darkrai, lets talk about Darkrai GX. This card is expected to find a home in Darkrai EX decks as a way to get even more Darkness energy on the board. Darkrai GX has the Restoration ability which allows you to put it on your bench with a single energy if it was in your discard. What does that mean for Darkrai EX? That means an extra 20 damage for Dark Pulse.
Darkrai EX has slowly been clawing its way back to the top. It has to rely less on Max Elixir to flood the bench with energy to fuel Dark Pulse thanks to GUR Garbodor. Though Darkrai GX could be helpful as a way to recover Darkness energy. Players can simply use cards like Ultra Ball to discard Darkrai GX and a Darkness energy. They can then use Darkrai GX’s Restoration to bring back both cards and fuel up Dark Pulse.
Darkrai GX isn’t a bad attacker. It can hit for a solid 130 damage with Dark Cleave. If you can put a status condition on your opponent’s active Pokemon then Dead End GX will become a deadly attack.
Gardevoir GX
Lastly for Pokemon, we have Gardevoir GX. This Pokemon may be a Stage 2 Pokemon but it has some big abilities. It can use Secret Spring to attach an extra Fairy Energy on to your board. That is good because Gardevoir GX has an attack called Infinite Force that can hit for heavy damage. It does 30 damage for each energy on your and your opponent’s active Pokemon.
If you wanted to, you can attach a Double Colorless Energy with your normal attachment and then use Secret Spring to attach a Fairy energy. That will make Gardevoir GX do 90 damage based on the energy attached to it. Now imagine if you have more then one Gardevoir GX who can use Secret Spring to attach even more energy to it.
There are a few cards that can speed up the process to get Gardevoir GX on the field. One of them is using Rare Candy. The other way involves using another Fairy type Pokemon from Burning Shadows named Diancie. This Pokemon can break the rules of Evolution but we will talk about that card later.
You want to make sure to keep an eye out for Gardevoir GX. It has been making some real splashes in Japan and could very well do the same once released in the US.
That is all we have this week! Come back next week when I will be taking a look at some of the Trainer cards you want to get from Burning Shadows!
If you want to add a Pokemon card to this list then let me know in the comments! Good luck on your pulls this weekend
