It’s here! The Celestial Guardians expansion for Pokémon TCG Pocket has finally been released.
Alongside the set's featured Pokémon, Solgaleo and Lunala, Celestial Guardians adds eight new ex Pokémon to the existing roster.
Due to the dual nature of the expansion, the new ex Pokémon we will be going over below can only be found in their exclusive pack.
We’ll be labelling which pack the Pokémon belong to should you feel interested enough to give them a try.
Dhelmise ex and Decidueye ex
Dhelmise ex: Solgaleo Pack
Decidueye ex: Lunala Pack
Starting off, we have two new Grass-type Ex Pokémon. Dhelmise ex comes in as basic Pokémon with 140 health.
Its Anchor Shot attack prevents the opponent from retreating any of their Pokémon, which can do a lot of work against slower strategies that need to setup, especially after a Sabrina. Unfortunately, the damage and Energy requirements are subpar at best.
Even if the effect is useful, the fast-paced nature of the game demands more firepower.
Decidueye ex has the benefit of being the quicker draw. Each of its attacks only needs two energy to function. Both hit for an amount respectable to their energy cost. Targeting any damaged Pokemon for two colorless energy, in particular, holds a lot of potential.
Being a Stage 2 Pokémon, Decidueye might be a little difficult to pull off. But a player could spend the all-new Rare Candy to get this evolutionary line going quite fast.
Wishiwashi ex and Crabominable ex
Wishiwashi ex: Lunala Pack
Crabominable ex: Solgaleo Pack
For the next pair, we dive into the sea with the two new Water-type ex Pokémon, Wishiwashi ex and Carbominable ex.
Wishiwashi ex offers a pretty unique win condition. With the help of the regular version of Wishwashi, the ex version can easily one shot anything with 150 health or less with a full bench.
There are a few drawbacks to this though.
The normal Wishiwashi only has 30 health. And while its search function is a great consistency tool, it doesn’t take much to knock it out.
The Wishiwashi line has many moving parts, but there may be an opportunity for water-focused players to expand their repertoire.
As for Crabominable ex, it’s probably one of the fastest-hitting Stage 1 Pokémon in the game at the moment.
Its ramping damage ensures that a knockout can materialize quickly with extra support from trainer cards like Red or Giovanni.
Passimian ex
Passimian ex: Lunala Pack
Our next ex Pokémon the Fighting-type, Passimian ex. Passimian’s 130 health gives it some durability but not enough for the likes for leading heavy hitters like Giratina ex or Gyarados ex. 130 HP for an EX is incredibly poor, and could ruin any chance that the card has at seeing competitive play.
But Passimian is quite speedy, needing only two energy to start shaving away at the opponent’s active Pokémon. This Pokémon shines in its ability to pass its fighting energy to an allied Pokémon on the bench.
Passimian’s ability to share its energy can allow players to keep their tempo going with the likes of Gallade ex to start sweeping or Marshadow to clean-up at matchpoint.
Incineroar ex
Incineroar ex: Solgaleo Pack
Next on the list, Incineroar ex. A stage 2 Pokémon, Incineroar is quite beefy with that 180 health pool. Incineroar also heavily punishes any opponent that doesn’t aim for the One-Hit Knockout (OHKO).
Its Fire Fang attacks makes it so that this Pokémon isn’t just sitting on its laurels while waiting for its third energy.
And once damage has been inflicted on Incineroar, its 140 damage Scar-Charged Smash is pretty respectable to all but the toughest Pokémon. Fortunately, Incineroar's previous evolutions deal damage to themselves, setting up the max damage for Scar-Charged Smash. This Pokemon could have potential when partnered with other Fire ex Pokemon in Rare Candy decks.
Alolan Muk ex
Alolan Muk ex: Lunala Pack
For players looking for that serotonin high of just rolling the die, we have our first Alolan ex Pokémon, Alolan Muk ex.
A stage 1 ex Pokémon, Alolan Muk may leave a lot to be desired. Muk's health pool is passable, but the damage dealt by their 3-Energy attack is revolting. The appeal here is the random application of either Asleep, Burned, Confused, Paralyzed, and Poisoned.
Assuming Muk is able to survive the first swing from the enemy Pokémon, the constantly stacking debuff it inflicts might have some humorous games unfold, especially since it doesn’t repeat any effects already applied.
Alolan Raichu ex
Alolan Raichu ex: Solgaleo Pack
Next on this list is another Alolan Pokémon with Alolan Raichu ex. One look and a lot of players can easily see the similarities between Alolan Raichu ex and Gallade ex.
Outside of type, there are some differences though.
Gallade has a higher damage base, 70 vs Raichu’s 60. Gallade is also faster, costing 2 energy (fighting) to Raichu’s 3 energy (colorless). The big difference between Gallade and Alolan Raichu is the colors of energy required. Colorless energy lets Raichu appear in a vast combination of decks, while Gallade must appear in a Fighting-focused deck.
Alolan Raichu is not the beefiest Pokémon though. Its 140 health makes it well within lethal range for the likes of Giratina ex or Rampardos who specialize in dealing huge damage upfront.
Lunala ex and Solgaleo ex
Lunala ex: Lunala Pack
Solgaleo ex: Solgaleo Pack
Saving the featured Pokémon for last we have the shared evolutionary line of Lunala ex and Solgaleo ex.
Each of these Pokémon veered off into two different Pokémon types. Lunala happily supports any Psychic-focused team, like Giratina ex, by moving any Psychic energy from the bench to the active Pokémon.
Solgaleo on the other hand can easily partner with the likes of Dialga ex -or other Metal-focused Pokémon- for a pretty fast turnaround.
Assuming you have a second Solgaleo in the deck, you can buffer out the risk of an ex-knockout by switching between the two.
Both marquis Pokémon share the same trait of working with their allies. And with the rest of the new additions from Cerulean Guardians, we can’t wait to see how the next season of ranked matches will shape up.