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Ever since the original Sword & Shield expansion in early 2020, the 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Pokemon TCG has been dominated by V and VMAX cards.
They're the TCG equivalent of Dynamaxing: take your small-but-powerful Pokemon V, and make it absolutely enormous by evolving its VMAX form onto it. It's a simple idea that works well, but eight expansions later, "wow, big VMAX Pokemon" is admittedly feeling a bit long in the tooth. That's where the new Brilliant Stars expansion and its new VSTAR mechanic comes in.
To see how VSTAR is going to change the Pokemon TCG, The Pokemon Company has given TheGamer an exclusive look at six of the cards we'll be playing with in Sword & Shield: Brilliant Stars when it launches on February 25, 2022.
Acerola's Premonition
Information is always helpful in TCGs. Combining it with quick and easy card draw makes Acerola's Premonition a solid, if not world-changing, card that will likely see a fair amount of play as the metagame trends towards decks having more and more Trainer cards over time.
Café Master
It's him! It's the guy! The café guy from the Pokemon Centers! How have we gone eight Sword & Shield expansions and not had the Café Master make an appearance yet?
Regardless, his card is really good. We've had cards that care about basic Energy before, like Perrserker and Raihan, but being able to put them directly onto your benched Pokemon is powerful. The caveat of all three types of energy needing to be different also makes it trickier to use, however, as some of the metagame's most powerful current combinations only utilise a couple of types, such as Duraludon VMAX decks that only use Dragon- and Steel-types Pokemon.
Ariados
Brilliant Stars is partially based on the Japanese expansion VMAX Climax, which featured a load of 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:'Character Rares'. These showcased Pokemon alongside a trainer heavily associated wit🎃h them, such as this Ariados and the Kanto Poison-type Gym Leader Janine.
Spider Net is a one-off ability that activates when you evolve a Spinarak either on your Bench or as your active Pokemon into Ariados. It allows you to swap your opponent's active Pokemon with an evolved Pokemon on their Bench. While this might feel a bit limited, being able to push a scary VMAX or VSTAR Pokemon out of the way and pull out a first stage weakling instead is useful.
Mimikyu V
The first of three V Pokemon we can reveal, Mimikyu V may have a low 160HP, but it has an amazing ability. If it's been played from your hand into your Bench, it's immune to damage until the end of your opponent's next turn. While you'll still need to swap it out with your active Pokemon, it is impressive to tank an attack and all but guarantee Mimikyu's still around for the next turn. If you can find a way to repeat this effect (such as with a Corviknight's Flying Taix ability), you've got a powerful and unexpected defender.
The attack is interesting too. Jealous Eyes puts three damage counters on the opponent's active Pokemon for every prize card your opponent has taken from you. This gives Mimikyu V the role of a late-game desperation play. It's immune from damage, giving you breathing room, and it deals more damage the closer you are to losing.
Entei V
Some of the most powerful decks in the metagame right now are all about filling your Bench as quickly as you possibly can (Mew VMAX, for example, wants loads of Mew and Genesect out at once). That makes Entei an interesting double-edged sword: if you want to get the most out of Entei V, you have to risk taking more damage from an opponent's one as well.
Entei V has the Burning Rodeo attack, which for a fire and a colourless Energy deals 20 damage, with an additional 20 damage for each Pokemon on anybody's Bench. That means this can deal a hefty 220 damage total with full Benches on each team.
While its ability is less attract𝔉ive than its attack, Fleet-Footed is also a convenient way to get that card advantage going.
Shaymin VSTAR
Of course we were going to show off a VSTAR Pokemon. These are Brilliant Stars' headliners and are set to shake up the metagame in a big way.
Like VMAX, VSTAR evolves onto a basic V Pokemon and gives it a huge HP and damage boost. But the big thing about VSTAR Pokemon is their VSTAR Powers. These are game-changing abilities or attacks that can only be performed once; once you've used one Pokemon's VSTAR Power, you can't use any other for the rest of the game. In exchange for having a single-use power, VSTAR Pokemon only lose you two prize cards when they're knocked out, one less than VMAX Pokemon and their repeatable effects.
Shaymin VSTAR's Revenge Blast attack cares about how many prize cards your opponent has taken, making it a late-game play when you're on the back foot not unlike Mimikyu V. It deals 140 base damage, which is already impressive, with an additional 40 damage added on top for every prize card your opponent has taken.
But what solidifies Shaymin VSTAR as a real comeback kid is its VSTAR🐟 Power, Star Bloom. When the ability is used, every Grass-type Pokemon on your Bench is healed by 140HP. This makes Shaymin less of a desperate move to drag the game out longer, and more a way to turn the tide and pull things back.
We've yet to see the entire Brilliant Stars expansion, but it's shaping up to be the revitalisation of the Sword & Shield series we've been needing for a while. VSTAR looks like an exciting addition to the game. It gives decks that run a lot of V Pokemon some more flexibility in their plays – do they evolve into a VMAX and go for broke with big damage, or do they play it a little safe and try a VSTAR Power instead?
Combined with intriguing effects from Mimikyu V and Entei V, and potential new staples with Café Master and Acerola's Premonition, it'll be interesting to see where the metagame goes next.
