Pokémon TCG: Sword and Shield—Brilliant Stars

SW impressions

M

mrdraz07

New Member
This set is really good. The art is getting so much better with each set.

Smeargle + Ho-Oh = the NUTZ. Thin energy out of your deck all day and plop them onto Ho-Oh, and then it never dies! I'm really interested to see how it plays out in constructed.

I'm really interested to see how Wormadam/Mothim plays out. Plant Cloak Wormadam is just awesome! 120 HP and 60 damage on T2 with auto-confuse?!? Mothim isn't bad either.

Other cards that I thought were pretty good:
-Spinda. 40 for 1?
-Roseanne's Research. Never a dead card.
-Quagsire. Healing 30 a turn is really nice. But it's fairly situational.
-Breloom. 100 HP on a stage 1 and an attack that heals!
 
*just from my prerelease experience*

Roseanne's Research pwns, and will be a big impact in the game.

Stantler pwns as a starter for thr prerelease at least. Believe it or not, I got 2 Roseanne's Research and Bebe's along with 2 Rival, and Stantler was almost able to ensure my victory since I could draw those cards.

Farfetch'd is fun to use; throw an energy onto him, use Swords Dance, then KO whatever basic they have out. Sadly, not going to work in the usual game.

Breloom hurts (lost a match cause of it).

Dugtrio is funky, but potentially devastating with his second attack.

And oddly enough, Honchkrow Lv X seems to be a more rare Lv X than Gardevoir, at least today at our prerelease; about 3-5 Gardy Lv Xs were pulled, but no Honchkrow Lv X.
 
Roseanne's Research will replace many uses of mentor in many decks.

I really liked the reprints of Night Maintenance and Plus Power.

There are a lot of interesting cards in SW. A lot of cards have potential, it just depends if players will break them or not.

T2 Banette FTW!
 
I thought this set was going to be a complete disappointment when I first saw the scans, but upon further review, there are some pretty good cards. Now... to make a good deck in time for cities. :cool:
 
It's a good set for the time being, BUT I think the way DP4 is looking, when that set is released this set will be ALMOST obsolete. Granted, some cards will still be quite good (ie. Ampharos, perhaps Blastoise+Suicune, Honchkrow, Corsola, Arcanine, etc.)

As of now, this set will definitely inspire some diverseness in the metagame.
What I see as some pretty amazing stuff is
Lugia (1 for 20 and possible energy disruption on a basic 90 HP Pokemon is pretty much off da chain)
Absol (T1 40 for 1 dark, w/ possibility to do 50 or more if it's special, AND it has a disruption attack)
Raticat (1 for possible 70 or straight up 40, is dang good)
Farfetch'd (1 for guaranteed 30 on T1 definitely makes some people quiver)
Ampharos (we are heading towards a new age rock lock, possibly. This card is just too good though, fo rilz)
Blastoise (not much to combo it with, but when we do get something this could be pretty meta-breaking)
Arcanine (120 for 4 is great, but it's power is what makes it shine. The new Blaziken in the next set along w/ a couple firestarter Blaze is gonna make all these cards shine)
Gardy+Gardy Lv. X (I don't see too much promise with all these Gardys, but I ain't gonna lie, they have potential to be awesome)
Magmortar (Stage 1, 110 HP, a body that heals, and an attack that snipes 2 bench for 20 and does 40 to the active for 3. Combine it with Blaze and this card is close to the best card in the set. It really isn't evident at first, but comboing this w/ BlazeCatty will be quite interesting.)
Krow Lv. X (no explanation)
Mars (egh, for disruption decks this is GREAT. ESPECIALLY w/ that new Absol we got here and TGW)
Furret (2 free cards for an energyless attack on a stage 1 is great for setup decks. The format is really fast, so I doubt this card will see much play.)
a few other cards I forgot, I know.

Overall it's a good set, BUT DP4 is looking to be the meta-breaking one. I think this set may turn out like Crystal Guardians (all hyped up at first, but once DF came out, it was almost obsolete)
 
i've loved gardy since i started playing in the rs-on format, and the 2 new gardies will just make that love bigger! the honchcrow was slightly disapointing, but with the snipe move, mityhana ex could be really benoficial with the card
 
lolganium said:
i've loved gardy since i started playing in the rs-on format, and the 2 new gardies will just make that love bigger! the honchcrow was slightly disapointing, but with the snipe move, mityhana ex could be really benoficial with the card
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I LOVED Gardy in ex Sandstorm and always have since then too, BUT I just don't know how well a Gardy deck will do with such a speedy format.
 
With the Gardevoirs and Nidoking, will Psychic become big? I hope it does. That will finally get rid of all the Lucario running around. I like Holon's Castform. I don't like getting donked because of it.
 
Pokmeman, near the end of the last season, there was a lot of psychic around, yet there were endless lucario varients at Nationals and Worlds. I don't feel that a lot of psychic would stop people from using their fighting favorites.

For me, this set is a lot like MT. I loved the rares. I loved the trainers (even the reprints). I liked the lv.X's. But I didn't really care for the foils (other than the foil rares in the theme decks).
 
Ampharos and Magmortar(if used right) are pretty cool. So is venanat , Breloom and muk.
 
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Ardoptres said:
The body is ok, but the attack\s isnt that great..
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for 3 energy you are telling me 40 and 20 snipe to 2 pokemon isn't good?
Along w/ being a stage 1, 110 HP pokemon, with a self healing Body and it's 1st attack combined w/ Blaziken can deal some pretty hefty damage.
Personally, it seems kinda obvious why this is so good.
 
i dont know if banette is good. but if kricket can get some wins. then surely can the new banette.

if it gets popular. we have an answer for lucario now.
 
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