With the complete card list for Black Bolt & White Flare already released, we’re rounding out the reveals with the remaining Trainer cards for the paired set.
Tool Scrapper
Choose up to 2 Pokemon Tools attached to Pokémon (yours or your opponent’s) and discard them.
Originally released back in the Dragons Exalted expansion set back in 2012, Tool Scrapper is a pretty uncommon piece of tech choice for any deck.
With modern deck-building conventions for the Pokemon Trading Card Game (TCG), there are at least some decks that dedicate a good amount of slots for Tool cards.
Deleting a valuable tool card like Technical Machine: Evolution may deal a severe blow to an opponent’s plan. On the other hand, however, is Tool Scrapper worth a valuable card slot in the first place?
The question of this card’s value is definitely in the hands of the player to decide, as this is definitely going to be a meta call.
Energy Coin
Flip 2 coins. If both of them are heads, search your deck for 1 Basic Energy card and attach it to one of your Pokemon. Then shuffle your deck.
This is probably the most unreliable Trainer card revealed from the paired set.
Even with the law of averages on your side, Energy Coin’s chances for success would only end up being 1 out of 4. But to be fair to Energy Coin, it’s generic energy acceleration on an item card.
This means someone willing to gamble could do this several times a turn. It’s far from the most consistent of means, but it helps any and all Pokemon should it actually work.
N's Plot
Move up to 2 Energy from your Benched Pokémon to your Active Pokémon.
N’s Plot offers a counter to field manipulation usually applied by staples like Counter Catcher or Boss’s Order.
Strangely, there’s some synergy between N’s Plot and Ethan’s Ho-Oh ex. The latter card can easily allow the controlling player to immediately charge up whatever Pokemon is on the active zone.
It’s a little clunky given that Ethan’s Advenure is also a supporter card for this particular combo.
In general, N’s Plot does allow any bench-focused energy acceleration into another avenue of play.
Fennel
Heal 40 damage from each of your Pokemon.
Simple and clean, party-wide healing is no joke when used at an appropriate time.
The only issue this card faces is that it’s a Supporter card. The timing of Fennel’s use would have to be carefully considered before being activated.
Then again, some Supporter cards are usually used at a single copy. So, having an emergency team heal wouldn’t be too far-fetched as a tech choice.
Harlequin
Each player shuffles their hand into their deck. Then, flip a coin. If heads, draw 5 cards, and your opponent draws 3 cards. If tails, draw 3 cards, and your opponent draws 5 cards.
If the thought of Energy Coin’s double coin flip for a single energy attachment was suspect of being risky, then Harlequin blows it out of the water. Not only is it a hand nuke for both players, but it also has the chance to backfire in stupendous fashion.
That said, some Pokemon like Arbok ex can be used to help mitigate Harlequin’s effect should the coin flip favor the opponent. Or if Lady Luck favors you, then the hand control offered by this card could be the death knell for the match, then and there.
Brave Bangle
This Pokemon tool may be the most significant item on this list.
Current deck-building convention favors the use of ex Pokemon by virtue of their robust bodies, general firepower, or utilitarian capabilities.
Brave Bangle, however, can turn that general wisdom on its head because it’s a +30 damage bonus from a non-rule box Pokemon to an ex Pokemon.
Ethan’s Typhlosion from Destined Rivals already has the potential to do 280 damage just by dumping all the copies of Ethan’s Adventure into the discard pile.
Add another +30 from Brave Bangle and +40 Black Belt’s Training, and a player could easily start one-shotting robust Stage 2 Pokemon from full health.
A lot of non-ex Pokemon cards go unused because they generally lack the firepower to reach the required health thresholds held by Stage 2 or ex Pokemon. With Brave Bangle entering the roster, that may soon change.