Our tour of the Unova region continues as the Pokémon Company International (TPCi) graces with two new evolution lines and the first batch of Trainer cards for the Black Bolt & White Flare expansion.
Eelektross Line
Tynamo Hold Still: Heal 10 damage from this Pokémon. Eelektrik Ability: Dynamotor Once during your turn, you may attach a Basic [L] Energy card from your discard pile to 1 of your Benched Pokémon. Electric Ball: 50 damage. Eelektross Thunder Fang: 60 damage. Flip a coin. If heads, your opponent’s Active Pokémon is now Paralyzed. Buzz Flip: 100x damage. Flip 4 coins. This attack does 100 damage for each heads.
The Eelektross evolutionary line doesn’t have a strong start with its Basic form. Tynamo has lower than average health for a Basic Pokémon, and even its capability to heal itself is technically negligible as far as ending your turns go.
Thankfully, the Stage 1 Eelektrik has better utility with its Dynamotor ability. Being able to attach a discarded basic Lighting-type energy may seem a little niche, but it does offer some flexibility during a match as you can easily retreat your Pokémon and still have a way to recur the lost resources.
Eelektrik’s Electric Ball attack leaves a lot to be desired as its cost heavily outweighs its damage potential. As for Eelektross itself, it can lead to some surprising turnarounds despite its rather frail 160 health. This is assuming you don’t mind some gambling.
Eelektross’ Thunder Fang can potentially chain-stun the opposing active Pokémon. If you’re able to pay for Buzz Flip’s 4 energy cost, you’re looking at a potential 400 damage.
The fickleness of the coin flip may turn a lot of players away from Eelektross, but players willing to believe in Lady Luck may find Eelektross a fun way to play.
Stoutland Line
Lillipup Play Rough: 10+ damage. Flip a coin. If heads, this attack does 20 more damage. Herdier Roar: Your opponent switches their Active Pokémon with 1 of their Benched Pokémon. Lunge Out: 70 damage. Stoutland Odor Sleuth: Flip 3 coins. For each heads, put a card from your discard pile into your hand. Special Fang: 100+ damage. If this Pokémon has any Special Energy attached to it, this attack does 100 more damage.
The coin flips continue into the Stoutland line. The Basic Pokémon, Lillipup, enjoys a higher damage potential if the coin lands on heads. All in all, this isn’t bad considering the one energy cost and nothing really to lose for just using the attack.
The Stage 1 Herdier loses out on the coin flip for a more consistent 70 damage output. The 3 energy cost might have players looking the other way, though, if basic energy cards are the only way to attack.
That said, the utility of having a Pokémon ability for the opponent to switch out their active Pokémon for something else on the bench may prove fruitful.
Lastly, Stoutland itself rounds back on the coin flip. Its Odor Sleuth is pretty niche and may be negligible depending on current circumstances. On top of that, the ability to recur any card from the discard pile, even if it is just one, can be powerful.
Finding the timing of when to use it is the real question. We suppose a player could use a benched Herdier or a Counter Catcher to buy some time. The opposing player would have to shift their plans by a good margin if they’re caught with their pants down due to the switch.
As for Stoutland’s Special Fang attack, it has a power damage value. 200 damage isn’t anything to scoff at. But Special Fang is hampered by its 4 energy cost and its parameter of needing a special energy card to get that extra 100 damage. Ultimately, this is still within a 160 health Pokémon.
It will be tough to bring a Stoutland-focused deck against other rivals in the competitive scene. Other Stage 2 Pokémon like Dragapult or Gardevoir ex can either hit for cheaper or harder in general. These Pokémon also have the health pool to survive the first swing of something as damaging as Stoutland’s Special Fang.
There is some potential for the line. But we don’t know if the meta can justify the precious slots in the deck for these canine Pokémon. We will have to wait and see if someone will take up this yoke and try to make Stoutland work.
New Trainer Cards
Black Bolt & White Flare is already starting us off with a fresh batch of Trainer-Supporter cards.
Professor’s Research (Juniper) Discard your hand and draw 7 cards. Cheren Draw 3 cards. Hilda Search your deck for 1 Evolution Pokemon and 1 Energy card, reveal them, and put them into your hand. Then shuffle your deck.
Not surprisingly, we have a new version of Professor's Research. This time featuring Professor Juniper from the Black & White series.
Regardless of the featured Pokémon professor, Professor’s Research is a powerful draw card, depending on when it’s used in the match.
Speaking of draw cards, it looks like TPCi is bringing back one of its most consistent and powerful ones with Cheren. Even though Cheren is just a +2 to your hand, it has no strings attached outside of the standard “You may play only 1 Supporter card during your turn” rule.
Cheren might not have the higher draw potential like some other draw cards used in the game today, but its flexibility can easily net it a place in a lot of decks.
Rounding out this trio, we have Hilda, and we can see that TPCi is trying to answer any dependence on Special Energy cards with this.
A two-for-one search special, Hilda will greatly benefit any deck that focuses on a Stage 2 Pokémon. If you happen to have a special energy card in the deck, then this is one way to search it out.
Energy Retrieval Put up to 2 Basic Energy cards from your discard pile into your hand. Air Balloon The Retreat Cost of the Pokémon this card is attached to is [C][C] less.
Next up, we have the pair of Energy Retrieval and Air Balloon. The former already sees a lot of play. The update will just ensure its legality in organized tournaments.
The latter, we haven’t seen since the original Sword & Shield expansion set back in 2020.
Rescue Board is already being used in a lot of decks in modern Pokémon. So it can be a personal preference if the player wants a consistently higher retreat cost reduction from Air Balloon.
Or they can choose to have the emergency 0-energy cost retreat that Rescue Board can give once the Pokémon is at 30 or less health.
Prism Energy If the Pokémon this card is attached to is a Basic Pokémon, this card provides every type of Energy but provides only 1 Energy at a time. Ignition Energy If this card is attached to 1 of your Pokémon, discard it at the end of the turn. This card provides 1 [C] Energy while it is attached to a Pokémon. If this card is attached to an Evolution Pokémon, it provides [C][C][C] Energy instead.
Finally, we have two new special energy cards, with Prism Energy and Ignition Energy. Combined with Hilda from earlier, we can see where TPCi is really trying to give us reason to use Stoutland.
Prism Energy is a very versatile energy card. Modern competitive decks would use a lot of Basic Pokémon that require more than one energy type.
As an example, Munkidori can definitely benefit from Prism Energy being able to provide every kind of energy, even if it is limited to one.
As for Ignition Energy, there may be a place for it in modern decks. It seems like Black Bolt & White Flare cards are pushing players to interact more with the discard pile.
Even if Ignition Energy is a one-time use, due to its self-discard, the 3 energy it provides to an evolved Pokémon is huge.
The question now is, who would be the appropriate target? Furthermore, would it be worth playing both the evolutionary line and Ignition Energy in the same deck?
Pokémon TCG Begins to Reveal Black Bolt and White Flare Card List