With March 14 just a week away, the Pokémon Company International (TPCi) has finally revealed the complete card list for Hot Wind Arena.
Continuing the focus with the return of trainer Pokémon, Hot Wind Arena is reintroducing the likes of Ethan, Cynthia, Misty, and Arven, their line of mons, and a few other tricks.
A Little Bit of Mediocrity
Unfortunately for the set, some players were disappointed with how mundane Arven’s line-up turned out to be. And with Misty not even featured in the card pack art, her trainer-specific Pokémon looks to be suffering the same fate.
With Arven’s Mabostiff ex and Misty’s Gyarados being their highlights, players are left wondering about their competitive viability. The former lacks firepower even with featured trainer support cards like Arven’s Sandwich. The latter, while arguably stronger, needs a lot of setup to maximize its effectiveness.
The Best of the Rest
Despite some lackluster showing at first, Hot Wind Arena’s other half of the featured trainers - Ethan and Cynthia - were showered with a lot more favor.
With a mix of Ethan’s Quilava and Ho-Oh, players are considering Ethan’s line-up to be a moderately, if not very, successful fire energy generator. And if the game can be stalled long enough for all copies of Ethan’s Adventure to be played, then his Quilava can maximize its 1 energy cost damage output, roughly 280 damage in total.
This stalling tactic looks to be pretty viable given Ho-Oh’s ability to heal itself and its allies every time it attacks. Even with its rather hefty investment energy cost (4 Fire), Ho-Oh’s robust health pool and the fact it's a basic Pokémon can lead to a very interesting start.
As for Cynthia, there are a lot of eyeballs on the viability of her Garchomp line. With a built-in search engine for Cynthia’s other Pokémon and the ability to punch at an astonishing 260 damage for just 2 energy, which can be boosted if Cynthia’s Roserade is on the field, Cynthia’s Garchomp is looking as menacing as it was in the animated show and video games.
A Surprising Catch
As players perused the card lineup, there seemed to be an interest brewing with the reveal of Yanmega ex. A standard stage 1 Pokémon, Yanmega has the distinct ability to allow its controlling player to search for up to 3 grass energy cards and attach them to Yanmega when it’s switched into the active slot.
Afterward, it can use its attack, which is pretty respectable at 210, to move 3 energy attached to it to a benched Pokémon.
With Teal Mask Ogerpon ex being used in a lot of decks thanks to its ability to shield benched Pokémon and draw functionality, players are humorously thinking up ways to make this funny little bug turbocharge its ally to one-shot anything that comes onto the field.
For those interested in the complete card list and the translated text, the ever-helpful community at Pokébeach has it penned in.