Pokémon TCG: Sword and Shield—Brilliant Stars

A DEX Tier List!? Yes indeed.

H

Human Destroyer

New Member
Hello everyone. I'm new here, and I thought I'd start off by creating a tier list from what I've seen of the new Dark Explorers set.

This list is separated into 10 tiers based on predicted usefulness and some personal opinion sprinkled in. Any constructive criticism of said list is much appreciated!

Pokemon within each tier go in order from highest predicted usefulness to least.

Tier 1: Broken/Near Broken Cards

Shiny Pokemon Catcher (Yes, it is a reprint. Doesn't make it any less broken)
Darkrai EX (Free retreat when any of your Pokemon have Dark Energy attached and an attack that deals Bench Damage! Sign me up!)
Dark Patch (Extra Dark Energy attachments are great, especially in a Darkrai deck!)
Tornadus EX (A huge powerhouse that has donk potential!)

Tier 2: Extremely Good Cards

Random Receiver (Pretty good, lets you skip through cards to get the nearest Supporter to the top of the deck!)
Professor Juniper (Reprint, drawing a new hand can be really good when you're out of cards or just have plain bad ones)
N (Reprint, great early game when you still have 6 prizes left)
Zoroark (Another great card for Dark decks, can do lots of damage at low HP levels or with a large amount of Darks on the bench)
Enhanced Hammer (Some Special Energies are really good, so its your job to get rid of them!)
Ultra Ball (Search for any Pokemon you want for the price of two useless cards or two cards you need in the Discard Pile for whatever reason there may be)
Raikou EX (Great for picking off Pokemon before they evolve and for some easy Paralysis)
Rare Candy (Oh god. A reprint.)

Tier 3: Very Good Cards

Groudon EX (Great synergy, and tanks well with 180 HP and Lightning Resistance)
Dark Claw (A double PlusPower for Darkness-types is pretty nice)
Accelgor (Deck and Cover is punny, but it's also an interesting utility, Free Retreat is always nice)
Krookodile (Gets Darkness-type benefits, Psychic Resistance, prevent opponents from Retreating, do more damage as the game goes on)
Zorua (69) (So easy to evolve it isn't even funny)
Empoleon (The Ability sounds familiar to me, works well, plus the more Pokemon there are in play, the more damage you do, up to 120!)

Tier 4: Good Cards

Jolteon
Shiny Gardevoir
Entei EX
Archeops
Carnivine
Volcarona
Cheren
Sableye

Tier 5: Decent Cards

Aerodactyl
Galvantula
Kyogre EX
Blaziken
Umbreon (60)
Flareon
Umbreon (61)
Haxorus
Eelektross
Heatmor
Espeon
Escavalier

------ (Line where I believe useful cards that aren't TOO situational end) ------

Tier 6: Mediocre Cards

Venusaur
Blissey
Plusle
Cofagrigus
Swanna
Klinklang
Hooligans Jim and Cas
Stoutland
Scrafty

Tier 7: Subpar Cards

Vaporeon
Scyther
Joltik (42)
Vullaby
Slowking
Dwebble
Old Amber Aerodactyl/Twist Mountain (Can't decide which is worse now that I think about it)

Tier 8: Weak Cards

Krokorok
Crustle
Tynamo (45)
Bisharp (72)
Shelmet
Minun
Piplup
Vanillish
Palpitoad
Timburr
Zorua (70)
Ivysaur
Combusken
Eelektrik
Sandile
Klang
Bisharp (79)
Chansey (81)

Tier 9: Bad Cards

Joltik (41)
Karrablast
Herdier
Leafeon
Tynamo (44)
Bulbasaur
Torchic (15)
Torkoal
Prinplup
Ducklett
Yamask
Gurdurr
Klink
Glaceon
Slowpoke
Tympole
Scraggy
Pawniard
Chansey (80)
Eevee (84)
Chatot

Tier 10: Must These Cards Exist?

Torchic (14)
Larvesta (20)
Larvesta (21)
Vanillite
Drilbur
Slowbro
Woobat
Eevee (83)
Lillipup
 
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Hi. Maybe you could give us some insight on why you think a certain card belongs in a certain tier. Like just a short text next to each card.
ANyway I think I agree on most here, except I wouldn't place Enhanced hammer so high. Yes, there are a lot of special energy, but honestly there are more important stuff to put in your deck than Lost Remover/Enhanced Hammer so it rarely makes the cut in any serius deck list. I think if Enhanced Hammer was indeed an "Extremely good card" it would see more play.
 
I must disagree on that. Assuming you're running Darkrai in a Darkness deck, you've pretty much granted your full team free retreat, which is REALLY good. Tornadus is a really good powerhouse, and Darkrai can do nearly (not quite) as much damage as he can, PLUS Darkrai deals bench damage. Also, Darkrai can hit for Dark weakness.

EDIT: That was in response to the first reply. Sorry. I could try to do it as much as possible, but lower down explanations would start to become a bit more generic.
 
Tornadus can fit in any deck, great Fighting counter, and it has donking power.
Darkrai is only useful in the Dark decks.
 
I wouldn't say it only works in Dark decks; it works with decks that are versatile in Energy too. Though, I do concede that Tornadus is usable in a lot more decks.
 
BIG UPS to you for taking so much time to share these ideas with the community. That had to have taken some time man.
 
Looks good. Like RA said, thanks for taking your time to do this. I don't exactly think that Darkrai belongs in tier one (seems really un-broken to me), but I guess a bunch of other people think so so I guess thats OK. I would bump Aerodactyl up a tier and knock Ultra Ball down one. Maybe that's just me though. All in all a good list. Nice work! :thumb:
 
The reason Aerodactyl is so low is because it requires either Twist Mountain or Old Amber Aerodactyl (which sucks) just to put it on the bench. As for Ultra Ball, I believe it to be more reliable than Dual Ball and if you need things in the discard pile for whatever reason, you can discard them with this!

Thanks guys for all the positive criticism!
 
Slowbro can only attack half of the time, is a stage 1, only has 100 HP, has a terrible weakness, does 80 for 2 energy and puts himself to sleep.

Yet it makes it to tier 7?
 
Tash said:
Slowbro can only attack half of the time, is a stage 1, only has 100 HP, has a terrible weakness, does 80 for 2 energy and puts himself to sleep.

Yet it makes it to tier 7?
Click to expand...

I have to agree with this point,

this list really should have a 'tier #11; slowbro'
 
Tier 7 isn't good. At all. Everything else below it is pretty much worthless Evolving Basics, who still do less damage than Slowbro on average, even with the sleep and his stupid "attack policy".
Posted with Mobile style...
 
Though evolving basics have the merit of evolving, that is their saving grace.
A basic pokemon also takes up half as much deck space than slowbro, and seriously, slowbro is just a terrible card.

Terrible.
 
I've got some strong differences of opinion, but let me preface them by thanking you for sharing your ideas Human Destroyer, I do like such a general overview, especially the "why did they make them" style catagory. That's sort of the "F" of card design, and it really should annoy most players since it amounts not only to card design failure, but filler. It is just going through the motion and making a card no one should run. Sure maybe one or two might be examples of "future combos" but for the most part they show low creativity or severe lack of forethought.

Old Amber Aerodactyl has use because it simultaneously snags a bottom decked Aerodactyl and plays it. It is actually better than Twist Mountain in many ways. After all, Twist Mountain fails half the time. Yes it can be re-used, but it is a once-per-turn effect. One Aerodactyl every other turn isn't thrilling. Second, it is a Stadium... it doesn't matter if it is the only Stadium you use, if your opponent runs some (like Speed Stadium), you're like to get zero Aerodactyl out of the deal.

People really undersell Old Amber Aerodactyl and oversell Twist Mountain. Don't get me wrong; both Trainers are underpowered, but my analysis is are close to equal. It takes work to set-up for Old Amber Aerodactyl, but that is a possibility, plus you can spam it. It takes much good luck but you could get all four Aerodactyl out off of Old Amber Aerodactyl (and probably Junk Arm). Unless your opponent is also playing Twist Mountain, even if it never fails that is one Aerodactyl per turn.

I disagree with your assessment of "broken/near-broken" cards. The description is already quite relative. I think I'd only give it to Dark Patch; first turn Energy acceleration in a format where it can be spammed? Doesn't matter that it only hits the Bench and is for one Type, that's just too good. The only reason it isn't blatantly broken is the rest of the format.

Even Pokemon Catcher isn't broken; if you couldn't score FTKOs or easy OHKOs, it wouldn't be a problem. It would still be an amazingly potent card and staple, but not broken. Rare Candy is only not broken because of the flaws with the rest of the format (like having crazy big Pokemon and the Energy acceleration to set them up first turn or at least in single turns). On a fundamental level, Rare Candy is flawed thinking; instead of designing Evolutions that compete with non-Evolving Basic Pokemon, we create a crutch for them.

Yet if we (or rather TPC) actually did make a legitimately strong Evolution for the format, Rare Candy would then likely "break it". In fact with what we have, the only reason Rare Candy isn't almost as good as it used to be is the combination of high HP Basic Pokemon with high damage attacks and Energy acceleration to set-up in one turn. Plus Pokemon Catcher. Seriously, we have some of the strongest Stage 2 Pokemon ever printed in this format, and they are sitting in the binders.
 
Walls of text are fun.

Otaku said:
I've got some strong differences of opinion, but let me preface them by thanking you for sharing your ideas Human Destroyer, I do like such a general overview, especially the "why did they make them" style catagory. That's sort of the "F" of card design, and it really should annoy most players since it amounts not only to card design failure, but filler. It is just going through the motion and making a card no one should run. Sure maybe one or two might be examples of "future combos" but for the most part they show low creativity or severe lack of forethought.

Your welcome! :biggrin: [DEL]Maybe I should have named it the Base Set Gastly tier[/DEL]

Old Amber Aerodactyl has use because it simultaneously snags a bottom decked Aerodactyl and plays it. It is actually better than Twist Mountain in many ways. After all, Twist Mountain fails half the time. Yes it can be re-used, but it is a once-per-turn effect. One Aerodactyl every other turn isn't thrilling. Second, it is a Stadium... it doesn't matter if it is the only Stadium you use, if your opponent runs some (like Speed Stadium), you're like to get zero Aerodactyl out of the deal.

This point is somewhat true. However, how can you guarantee yourself a bottom-decked Aerodactyl? (It's certainly possible I'm forgetting something that does guarantee it, in which case this becomes quite a bit better.) Personally, neither way is really good to get Aerodactyl out there and I think even Fossil set's old Mysterious Fossil would be so much better for getting him out there.

People really undersell Old Amber Aerodactyl and oversell Twist Mountain. Don't get me wrong; both Trainers are underpowered, but my analysis is are close to equal. It takes work to set-up for Old Amber Aerodactyl, but that is a possibility, plus you can spam it. It takes much good luck but you could get all four Aerodactyl out off of Old Amber Aerodactyl (and probably Junk Arm). Unless your opponent is also playing Twist Mountain, even if it never fails that is one Aerodactyl per turn.

Well I guess you could spam it, but is it really practical to constantly spam Old Amber?...okay maybe it doesn't really matter since it can be played with no cost. However, the BIGGEST problem here is that if you want to get Aerodactyls on the field using Old Amber, it's going to take quite a bit of deckspace to stock up on cards you need.

After a bit of debate, Old Amber goes up to and Twist Mountain goes down to Tier 7.

I disagree with your assessment of "broken/near-broken" cards. The description is already quite relative. I think I'd only give it to Dark Patch; first turn Energy acceleration in a format where it can be spammed? Doesn't matter that it only hits the Bench and is for one Type, that's just too good. The only reason it isn't blatantly broken is the rest of the format.

Man, I really wish this format were more balanced. However, even think what COMBINING the guys up here could do. Darkrai EX can basically shatter the concept of Retreat Cost with this thing, Tornadus EX will be ready to attack all the faster. Also, Tornadus is really powerful and Darkrai is nearly as powerful. Hell, call me crazy, but they're the duo that will replace Mewtwo EX.

And even alone, shattering Retreat Costs and even just plain powerhousing without having to worry about resistance is pretty great.

Even Pokemon Catcher isn't broken; if you couldn't score FTKOs or easy OHKOs, it wouldn't be a problem. It would still be an amazingly potent card and staple, but not broken. Rare Candy is only not broken because of the flaws with the rest of the format (like having crazy big Pokemon and the Energy acceleration to set them up first turn or at least in single turns). On a fundamental level, Rare Candy is flawed thinking; instead of designing Evolutions that compete with non-Evolving Basic Pokemon, we create a crutch for them.

This paragraph is like a Summary of why I hate the current format.

Oh, we were discussing things? Right, right.

Maybe I should change that tier's name to Staples (That was Easy) and then put Dark Patch in its own "broken" tier.

Yet if we (or rather TPC) actually did make a legitimately strong Evolution for the format, Rare Candy would then likely "break it". In fact with what we have, the only reason Rare Candy isn't almost as good as it used to be is the combination of high HP Basic Pokemon with high damage attacks and Energy acceleration to set-up in one turn. Plus Pokemon Catcher. Seriously, we have some of the strongest Stage 2 Pokemon ever printed in this format, and they are sitting in the binders.

In a format where even JUST EXs were gone, Rare Candy and Stage 2's would shine a lot more. It's really sad that they didn't really get a chance. :frown: At the very least, Rare Candy can shine in Empoleon and Krookodile decks.
Click to expand...

Hmmm, maybe I should do a poll where people can vote for where they think cards should go. I'll think it over a bit.
 
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