The Pokémon Company International (TPCi) recently had an official announcement revealing Black Bolt and White Flare. The Unovan-themed set seems to be the next destination for Pokémon TCG players worldwide.
With the Japanese market to receive this paired set in June and Western markets in July, TPCi has started revealing what’s in store for Black Bolt and White Flare.
Unovan Starters
TPCi went for the one-two blow as they revealed the return to Unova with the starter Pokémon line-up alongside their advertising that all 156 Unova Pokémon will have either an Illustration Rare (IR) or Special Illustration Rare (SIR).
And while we managed to show these beautiful pieces of art in a previous article, we weren’t able to look over them in depth. So we’ll do so now.
Serperior ex Line:
Starting off with the Serperior evolutionary line. This is the only evolutionary line to feature an ex Pokémon for its stage 2.
Snivy (Left) Tackle: 10 damage. Vine Whip: 30 damage. Servine (Middle) Wrap: 20 damage. Flip a coin. If heads, discard an Energy from your opponent’s Active Pokémon. Vine Whip: 60 damage. Serperior ex (Right) Ability: Royal Cheer Attacks used by your Pokémon do 20 more damage to your opponent’s Active Pokémon (before applying Weakness and Resistance). Grass Order: 150 damage. You may search your deck for up to 3 cards and put them into your hand. Then, shuffle your deck.
There isn't anything particularly interesting about Snivy. Servine offers a pretty mediocre Vine Whip, but for those willing to play with risk, its ability to discard an energy card from the opposing active Pokémon with Wrap for just a single Leaf energy may be worth considering.
Serperior ex rounds off the lineup with a pretty useful attack damage boost with its Royal Cheer. Its universal application allows any active partner Pokémon, like Teal Mask Ogerpon ex, to bridge the gap for damage thresholds a lot more easily.
Serperior doesn’t have the best damage output on its own though. Not even with its own Royal Cheer helping itself out.
At 4 energy cost, even with energy acceleration tactics at play, it is unlikely to sweep any opposing Pokémon unless they’re already damaged but, on the plus side, you get to search your deck for three cards. There aren't any restrictions! This basically ensures that your next turn will be the last.
Emboar Line:
While lacking the beefiness that Serperior enjoys due to its ex form, the Emboar line manages to keep pace in terms of utility.
Tepig (Left) Tackle: 10 damage. Rollout: 30 damage. Pignite (Middle) Combustion: 30 damage. Heat Crash: 80 damage. Emboar Ability: Inferno Fandango As often as you like during your turn, you may attach a [R] Energy card from your hand to 1 of your Pokémon. Heat Crash: 120 damage.
To put it simply, Emboar is basically Baxcalibur for Fire-type Pokémon. Energy acceleration is a staple tactic of Pokémon regardless of the version you play.
Emboar’s ability to drop all your basic Fire-type energy on a single Pokémon is one of the fastest ways you can get your Pokémon online.
Now Emboar’s Inferno Fandango is locked behind two main issues. It’s tacked onto a Stage 2 Pokémon, and you still need to get all that Fire-type energy into your hand.
For the former, Rare Candy is still legal in the game. While this may not be the best answer for some, it does accelerate the engine quite a bit.
As for the latter, we currently have the likes of Earthen Vessel to instantly grab two basic Fire-type energy. We also have Ethan’s Adventure coming in with Destined Rivals.
While geared to be used with Ethan’s roster of Pokémon, nothing is stopping a player from using Ethan’s Adventure to turbo out 3 Fire-type energy cards right away.
Truth be told, a player may want to find a more suitable target for Emboar’s ability. Emboar itself may not be a slouch when it comes to fighting, but a 4 energy cost attack that deals only 120 damage leaves a lot to be desired.
Samurott line:
Oshawott (Left) Tackle: 10 damage. Water Gun: 30 damage. Dewott (Middle) Energy Shell: 30x damage. This attack does 30 damage for each Energy attached to this Pokémon. Samurott (Right) Ability: Strong Currents Once during your turn, you may switch your Active Pokémon with 1 of your Benched Pokemon. If you do, your opponent switches their Active Pokemon with 1 of their Benched Pokemon. Energy Slash: 30+ damage. This attack does 50 more damage for each Energy attached to this Pokemon.
The Samurott line looks to be an amalgamation of a couple of different Pokémon cards. For one, it has probably one of the hardest hitting Water-type attacks in the game. And its barrier to entry is the fact it’s on a Stage 2 Pokémon.
Other than its cost being just a single Water energy, Samurott’s Energy Slash is almost a word-per-word reprint of Wailord’s Hydro Pump. It even has the benefit of having a higher damage base, 30 to Wailord’s 10.
Even Samurott’s first stage evolution, Dewott, can enjoy this hefty attack output. Although, Dewott’s upper limit is slightly reduced to be more similar to Wailord’s Hydro Pump.
Samurott also continues the trend of the Unovan starter Pokémon having some pretty hefty utility abilities. If you squint a little, Samurott’s Strong Current’s Pokémon switch is basically similar to Team Rocket’s Giovanni that’s coming in Destined Rivals.
Truth be told, if this Pokémon wasn’t held back by its modest 160 health pool, we could easily see Water Pokémon enthusiast running Samurott with the likes of Baxcalibur for a lot shenanigans.
Victini
Victini V Force: 120 damage. If you have less than 5 Benched Pokémon, this attack does nothing.
We’re moving away from the Unovan starters to take a look at Victini. As the promotional card that’s part of the special 3-card pack that TPCi announced as part of the product line-up, you’d think it would be mildly playable.
Unfortunately, we’re left scratching our heads a bit.
As a Basic level Pokémon, it has the healthpool to match. Its V Force attack looks good at first glance, 120 damage for 2 Fire energy is pretty insane. But it’s shackled by needing to have no less than five benched Pokémon.
Even if you build a deck to purposefully use Victini, it’ll take a lot of moving parts to do so. More than likely, this card will just find a permanent home in someone’s binder than an actual deck.
The Legendaries
Kyurem ex (Left) Slash: 50 damage. Blizzard Burst: 130 damage. This attack does 10 damage to each of your opponent’s Benched Pokémon for each Prize card your opponent has taken.
Reshiram ex (Middle) Slash: 50 damage. Blaze Burst: 130+ damage. This attack does 50 more damage for each Prize card your opponent has taken. Discard an Energy from this Pokémon. Zekrom ex (Right) Slash: 50 damage. Voltage Burst: 130+ damage. This attack does 50 more damage for each Prize card your opponent has taken. This Pokémon does 30 damage to itself.
Rounding out this list of reveals are the trio of Reshiram ex , Kyurem ex, and Zekrom ex. All three of these Pokémon share a lot of similarities.
They each have a pretty robust 230 health pool, a standard 2 energy cost basic attack, and they each have a second attack that scales off how many prize cards the opponent has already taken when it's used.
The differences lie in the details. Reshiram and Zekrom deal more damage to the active Pokémon, Kyurem spreads damage to the enemy bench.
There’s also the inherent cost Reshiram and Zekrom need to pay for the added damage output. The former needs to discard energy, the latter hurts itself.
Out of the three, Kyurem is definitely on the lower end of the damage output. But it enjoys a lower upkeep. You can easily accelerate its activation with the use of support Pokémon like Baxcalibur.
Reshiram and Zekrom though, are definitely catch-up mechanics on legs. With a total of 6 prize cards needed to win a match, either of these two Pokémon can start one-shotting even the most robust of ex Pokémon once the opponent takes the 4th prize card. 330 damage isn’t something most Pokémon can shrug off.
And that’s it for the current list of reveals. There’s a few more in the woodwork thanks to TPCi’s current pace. So look forward to the next round of reveals for Black Bolt and White Flare as move forward.