Pokémon TCG: Sword and Shield—Brilliant Stars

Sandstorm, not so great after all?

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Pokekid

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I dunno, but before Sandstorm came out I was kind of getting the impression that this would be a great set. Now I have seen soem scans, and have the pre-release still to go to, but seriously the cards don't look all to good. Caturne looks cool, Dusclops is interesting, Shiftry might be good. But overall there doesn't seem to be anything "ground-breaking" like when Baby Pokemon, or the three G/S starters came in. Am I wrong? Or is there actually cards that will be competively played?
 
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Well I guess all of us were looking for some older cards being brought back to make the metagame better. That didn't happen. So what we were left was with a very poor set. You can rule R/S-on as a modified. There would be no good cards to use!
 
Hmm Ic. What I was hoping for in R/S or atleast sandstorm was another Neo Genisis, which IMO was the greatest edition. Seriously from Expedition on the best cards seem to be Scizor and Blastoise.
 
Neo Genesis WAS a awesome set. Expedition didn't make the same impression and R/S was better than Expedition IMO. I think alot of people were looking for good stuff in Sandstorm, but hey, we only have seen the holos and a few of the commons. Too bad that in most sets, the holos are the best card. If that stays true for this set then.....YIKES!
 
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I wouldn't want to play any game where every new set breaks the game a new way.

Wailord EX is likely to completely change all formats.

Typhlosion EX is a solid card that we should be seeing decks built around.

Raichu EX can drop Wailord EX in one shot and thusly, will be somewhat popular.

Armaldo can shut down supporters(that only equals nearly every good trainer in E-on).

That one dark basic can copy other players supporters(very useful).

I could go on, and on, and on, but I have other things to do.

So don't count sandstorm as a weak set before you even see what the cards can do in constructed.
 
There seems to be several good pokemon in the set but the trainers failed to replace what should've been in R/S. The trainers still can't allow RS-on. The Pokemon should add a lot to whatever Modified from what I've seen.
 
Wailord is alright. It has 200HP and that is about the only thing going for it. For each damage counter, it does 10 less damage. So a easy 50 damage from a electric pokemon will shut down wailord before it can do anything.

The dark basic, is not really good. So what, it copies a supporter. It leaves itself open for attack which it cannot do any damage either. Sure it's for one colorless but it's not worth it. It has 60HP, making it a easy knock out. No resistance, F weakness. Do I have to say anything more? Oh yeah, you can discard dark energy with it. Whoopie!

The Holo's in Sandstorm are weak and most are useless and never will see play. Sure the EX's are the best part of the set but atleast in R/S the other pokemon were able to KO the other EX's making them not so powerful.
 
Think of it as a cleffa with 30 more hp no baby rule and a retreat cost.

Have you even considered the stall options you have with Wailord EX?

I can have 2 Wailord Ex Using the first attack every turn, and if they start getting too much damage on the Wailords I can just send up a chancey ex and get rid of more damage, that with mediocre healing(like potion and oran berry) make for a interesting stall deck.

I greatly dislike rare candy though(because of how strong it is.
 
Hmm yes I agree every set shouldn't be "ground-breaking". What I kind of meant was that when it comes time to change formats, I think a gorund breaking set, or atleast one that brings up a bunch of new options should be introduced. Ever since Neo Destiny there has seemed to be a downward trend in editions. Every eiditon has looked to be very promising, but in the end had like 1-4 worthwhilecards. A set should atleast have 10 good cards, I mean who wants to buy booster packs from a set that has 99% junk?
 
Considering there are 100 cards in the set, each card = 1%.

I agree nobody wants to buy cards from a set with barely anything good(didn't stop people from buying discovery though :lol: ), however I don't think that's the case with this set.

Overall the set reminds me of ruby/saphire(with the EX pokemon being some of the most useful cards, with most other cards being somewhat overlooked).
 
Jeremy Badeaux said:
Think of it as a cleffa with 30 more hp no baby rule and a retreat cost.

Have you even considered the stall options you have with Wailord EX?

I can have 2 Wailord Ex Using the first attack every turn, and if they start getting too much damage on the Wailords I can just send up a chancey ex and get rid of more damage, that with mediocre healing(like potion and oran berry) make for a interesting stall deck.

I greatly dislike rare candy though(because of how strong it is.
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Cleffa with 30 more hp and no baby rule and a retreat cost? Okay, your opponent HAS to have a copycat in their hand for it to even act like a cleffa. THen it has 30 more hp but not enough to last 2 turns and it has no baby rule and 1 retreat. Seriously, this thing doesn't touch any baby. Give me the crappiest baby and I'll use it over this. If it used the supporter right out of their hand so they didn't have it anymore, then it would be different.

Wailord's stall ability is it's only use. It has a 5! 5! retreat, and can only heal 30 damage at a time. A electabuzz EX will kill both of your wailord EX and take 4 prizes and then knock out the chancey and win the game. You do 80 to wailord per hit and if you get a heads, thats 120 per hit. even if they heal 30, that doesn't save them.
 
Electabuzz EX then gets dropped by hitmonchan ex, who gets dropped by Mewtwo EX and so on(find an e-on deck with no weakness).

Nobody said you can't have fighting pokemon run inteference for the Wailord EX and for that matter, by the time they go through a chancey ex, you should have a wailord EX ready to go with the other almost ready to go(it's called strategy, because not everybody uses a deck exactly the way it's described).
 
Jeremy Badeaux said:
Considering there are 100 cards in the set, each card = 1%.

I agree nobody wants to buy cards from a set with barely anything good(didn't stop people from buying discovery though :lol: ), however I don't think that's the case with this set.

Overall the set reminds me of ruby/saphire(with the EX pokemon being some of the most useful cards, with most other cards being somewhat overlooked).
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Well R/S was a really good set. All of the holos other than one were very useable, and well that doesn't apply at all for sandstorm. Trainers were alot better for R/S than sandstorm too. R/S just was a totally different set. It's like comparing Neo Destiny with Neo Genesis.
 
Jeremy Badeaux said:
Electabuzz EX then gets dropped by hitmonchan ex, who gets dropped by Mewtwo EX and so on(find an e-on deck with no weakness).

Nobody said you can't have fighting pokemon run inteference for the Wailord EX and for that matter, by the time they go through a chancey ex, you should have a wailord EX ready to go with the other almost ready to go(it's called strategy, because not everybody uses a deck exactly the way it's described).
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How about this?

You drop wailord, I drop electabuzz, you drop hitmonchan, I drop mewtwo, you drop sneasel, I drop hitmonchan, you drop mewtwo, I drop sneasel, you drop hitmonchan, I drop mewtwo, you drop sneasel, I drop hitmonchan, you drop mewtwo, I drop slaking and win! lol
 
Prime said:
How about this?

You drop wailord, I drop electabuzz, you drop hitmonchan, I drop mewtwo, you drop sneasel, I drop hitmonchan, you drop mewtwo, I drop sneasel, you drop hitmonchan, I drop mewtwo, you drop sneasel, I drop hitmonchan, you drop mewtwo, I drop slaking and win! lol
Click to expand...

I think that would be a couple too many types for two decks to run(not to mention the energy costs of attacks).

You do have to consider strategical planning by the players(both players at the same skill level would make for a moot point).

Original MF we had: G8tr, Crobat, Typhlo, and Entei/Cargo, the fact that the last 2 deck are weak against g8tr(the deck that was also the most dominating deck in MF) didn't matter to many players, it wasn't too uncommon for Entei/Cargo to beat g8tr(regardless of weakness).

We just have to 'wait and see' what happens to the playing environment.
 
Well Magcargo could unleash more damage or as much damage as Feraligatr did. Sure it had a weakness to it, but feraligatr would never see the sight of day if magcargo was played right. Add in that they added in parasect and right there, weakness was no problem.
 
I've known of this set for quite some time (not including the other 47 new cards).... it was a good set then, it's an even better set now. ;) In my opinion though, Wailord EX is pretty much the best card of the set... mix it with say a Pokémon Center and you've got a nice stall deck. Mind you not everyone will be playing with Raichu EX. :) ... You can bet your butt that I'll be using a Wailord-stall deck. :D

I think the EX-block is pretty much the BEST block series of all time. The Card-E block was absolutely terrible (TOO MANY FLIPS), and the Neo block was decent but started to crumble towards the end. Sandstorm just helps build upon this great block set. :D
 
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It seems that every time a new set comes out, there are people who complain about how bad it is.

What we need to remember is that cards are only good or bad in the context of a specific format. It may well be that we'll all be scrambling to buy this set when we see what the really skilled and creative deckbuilders can do with the cards in whatever the new Modified turns out to be.

Every set has its 'sleeper card(s)', whose value only becomes apparent with time. I for one remember when Magcargo was considered mediocre at best... until someone paired it with Entei.

So, let's spend less time bashing the set, and more time looking for the next big combo. Does anyone seriously think they're in a position to pass final judgment when the set is this new?!!!
 
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