The Pokemon Company International (TPCi) is keeping its fanbase wanting. For better or worse, the reveals for the new Mega Brave & Symphonia set are coming in at a snail's pace.
New Cinderace Line
Scorbunny
Wild Kick: 30 damage. Flip a coin. If tails, this attack does nothing.
Raboot
Jumping Kick: This attack does 40 damage to 1 of your opponent's Pokémon.
Cinderace
Ability: Explosiveness
If this Pokémon is in your hand when you are setting up to play, you may put it face down as your Active Pokémon.
Flare Turbo: 50 damage. Search your deck for up to 3 Basic Energy cards and attach them to your Benched Pokémon in any way you like. Then, shuffle your deck.
Specifically revealed for the Mega Brave half of the paired set, the new Cinderace line seems to be telling of a new card design philosophy.
Back in May, Meloetta ex had been advertised for the upcoming Black Bolt and White Flare expansion. This particular Pokemon features the ability to break normal game rules and attack on the first turn of the game.
This time, the capability of doing more on the first turn has been translated into deploying a Stage-2 Pokemon right out of the gate.
As for the overall ability package, Scorbunny and Raboot tend to skirt around the heavier side of single-prize Pokemon.
Scorbunny has a higher than average health and damage output for its stage, while Raboot can actually take potshots at any Pokemon on the field. These are not bad stats, all things considered.
As for Cinderace itself, it’ll be reminiscent of the Stellar Crown Joltik used in competitive play to date. That said, some differences can make this Cinderace somewhat better than Joltik, but a lot more unwieldy than the Electric-type.
Cinderace vs Joltik
To address the elephant in the room, the major difference between these two cards is the setup. Joltik is a basic Pokemon vs Cinderace’s Stage-2.
If players were to open up with both Pokemon, Cinderace clearly takes the lead. That said, in a deck of 60 cards with a 4-card limit for duplicates, Joltik pulls ahead for consistency if you happen to not open up with either Pokemon.
Secondly, there's a major difference between the investment and the payoff. This is where things aren’t so clear, as both Pokemon have an advantage in certain aspects over the other.
In terms of raw energy acceleration and consistency, Joltik is the clear winner. This, however, comes at the caveat of being limited to the type of energy cards you’re able to get on top of a fragile body.
Cinderace, on the other hand, searches out less energy in total. This Pokemon, however, can search out any combination of basic energy, has a bigger body, and can actually attack.
The last difference between the two is an easily overlooked one. This is the fact that Cinderace has no retreat cost. This allows Cinderace to easily toolbox into another Pokemon the very next turn after its initial energy acceleration.
Should the need call for it, Cinderace can easily take to the active zone again for at least one more attack.
We’re not saying that Cinderace will become the next big meta shake-up, but it can allow a crafty set-up that may take even skilled players off-guard. It’s in the nature of the Trading Card Game (TCG) hobby for rogue decks to appear.
Some Sneak Peeks
We’ll be closing out this article with some sneak peeks that the online community has managed to get their hands on.
Over in Japan, a tournament titled "MEGA Summer League" will be hosting some of the new Mega Evolution Pokemon cards to come out in Mega Brave and Mega Symphonia.
Unfortunately, the promotional photos are not of the best quality. That said, we can see similar aesthetics between the promotional cards to the previously revealed Mega Lucario ex and Mega Gardevoir ex.
It would not be a far leap of logic to assume what we’re seeing is a new batch of Mega Pokemon.
With some help from the tournament’s promotional art, we can give more evidence, even if it’s a little circumstantial, that we may be seeing a Mega Camerupt ex and a Mega Absol ex.
As for the other two cards, we’ll be going out on a limb and guessing that they’re a Mega Abomasnow ex and a Mega Mawile ex. The Abomasnow silhouette is a little more distinct in the pictures than Mawile, though.
Mega Brave & Symphonia: New Trainer Cards & Single-Prize Pokemon