The Pokemon Trading Card Game (TCG) has always been focused on the titular monster cards. That said, many decks are upheld by the backbone of Trainer cards to help facilitate their win condition.
As a paired expansion, both Mega Brave and Mega Symphonia will have their own separate list of Trainer cards. So, today, we’ll be looking at what TPCi (The Pokemon Company International) has cooked up on Mega Brave’s side of the set.
Iron Defender
During your opponent's next turn, all of your Metal-type Pokémon take 30 less damage from attacks from your opponent's Pokémon (after applying Weakness and Resistance). (This includes new Pokémon that come into play.)
With Mega Brave’s focus on Fighting and Metal-type Pokemon, Iron Defender does slot in as a very synergistic card. Unfortunately, this particular Trainer card may not find a home in the competitive scene.
In tournaments, efficiency and speed in knocking out the opposing active Pokemon first is usually the winning strategy employed by most decks.
It would be hard to imagine a player sacrificing a precious card slot for a card that does not exactly advance that game plan.
That said, the Gym Leader Challenge (GLC) format does use single-copy rules in deckbuilding. With this limitation, there would be more space for Iron Defender to be given a chance.
Additionally, Iron Defender’s nature as an Item card could be useful as it can mitigate some of the damage received while saving the precious Supporter slot for the turn.
Fighting Gong
Search your deck for a Basic Fighting-type Pokemon or a Basic Fighting-type Energy card, reveal it, and put it into your hand. Then, shuffle your deck.
Fighting-type Pokemon don’t have an easy lot in the Pokemon TCG. They just lack a lot of the consistency tools that tournament frontrunners like Gardevoir ex enjoy.
Fighting Gong is an example of that mediocrity. It’s a consistency tool with some versatility in its design, but a 1-for-1 card exchange, even if you have a choice between Pokemon or Energy, is absurdly slow.
This disparity can be seen when you have the likes of Marnie’s Grimmsnarl ex able to pull out 5 Basic energy cards and attach them at the same time.
Even if you did use Fighting Gong’s search for a Pokemon, there’s an extremely limited pool of targets.
With this design, Fighting Gong may find its way to the GLC format alongside Iron Defender.
Repel
Your opponent switches their Active Pokemon with 1 of their Benched Pokemon.
TPCi is bringing back a card from the Sun & Moon days.
A simple card, Repel could be seen as a weaker form of the Boss’s Orders. While the end goal is roughly the same, Repel rests the decisions of the switch on the opponent.
On the other hand, Repel is an item card. A player could still technically shift the opponent’s bench around while still reserving their Supporter slot for the turn for something else.
It’s a small difference, but Supporter cards tend to be extremely powerful with their capabilities. Having the leeway to hold back the initiative of using one of your Supporter cards could be extremely useful in the hands of a skilled player.
Lt. Surge's Dealings
Ask your opponent if both players may draw a Prize card. If yes, both players draw a Prize card. If no, draw 4 cards.
This is probably the most interesting Trainer card in Mega Brave.
Cards that facilitate drawing from the deck or a complete reshuffling of the hand aren’t unheard of.
A lot of tournament statistics show that Trainer cards like Professor’s Research or Iono are used to help restructure a player's hand and can even sabotage the opponent’s resources.
Lt. Surge’s Dealings is the complete opposite; it even advances a game win if the opponent decides to agree to the prize card draw.
Pokemon like Black Bolt and White Flare’s Zekrom ex and Reshiram ex could even be powered-up if the opponent decides to take this ‘devil’s bargain’.
This card may not be replacing any of the staples, but a creative player could definitely take advantage of what’s on offer if they can stomach the fact they’re also helping the opponent out as well as themselves.
Lillie's Determination
Shuffle your hand into your deck. Then, draw 6 cards. If you have 6 Prize cards remaining, draw 8 cards instead.
TPCi is really giving us tools to help keep deck builds from going stale. As an early game card draw tool, the potential for Lillie’s Determination could rival the likes of Professor’s Research.
Lillie’s Determination is a little dependent on the state of your Prize cards, though, but being able to recycle your hand without actually losing resources is a lot of mileage off a single Supporter card.
This Supporter card may be a little more deck-dependent. That said, if this card ends up with a strong showing in the competitive scene, we may see the introduction of a new staple tool in decks moving forward.
Dangerous Ruins
Whenever either player puts a non-Darkness Basic Pokémon onto their Bench, put 2 damage counters on that Pokémon.
Dangerous Ruin’s design is admittedly difficult to evaluate. In a Darkness-focused deck, especially going first, you can start to rack up damage as the opponent sets up their board.
The viability of this Trainer card, however, is wholly emphasized in the early and maybe the mid-game, depending on the ever-developing board state.
On the flipside, it does allow Pokemon like Munkidori to easily start flinging damage counters to the other side of the board, and reaching lethal thresholds becomes a little easier depending on the match-up.