The Pokémon Company International (TPCi) has decided to blindside the player base by announcing its newest expansion pack, Celestial Guardians. Featuring Pokémon from the Alola region, Pokémon Pocket will be receiving a new roster of Pokémon and trainer cards this coming April 30th.
New Alola Pokémon
Featured during Pokémon’s seventh generation, the Sun and Moon era had players traipsing all over the Alola region, putting a new spin on some familiar faces.
The new Celestial Guardians expansion is looking to do the same, as we’re seeing Alolan versions of familiar Pokémon like Raichu, Marowak, and Vulpix, to name a few, added to the roster. Each one features skills to reflect their Alolan nature.
It’s currently unclear how players will use these Pokémon. At the moment, we’re barely scratching the surface of what this expansion brings.
Legendary Pokémon
Premiering as the faces of Celestial Guardians, we have Solgaleo ex and Lunala ex. Mirroring their original counterparts in the video games, both ex Pokémon have a shared evolutionary line, but each one offers a distinct package once fully evolved.
For Solgaleo, a player can easily see the synergies with Dialga ex. In just three turns, Solgaleo can come out swinging for 120 damage. Coupled with Dialga’s energy ramp, that’s about 150 damage that only the most robust Pokémon can handle.
As for Lunala, you would not be blamed if the first thing to enter your mind was Giratina ex. Giratina has been terrorizing the top of the metagame as an energy-accelerating behemoth that can be used in almost any deck structure. With Lunala’s reveal, it looks like Giratina may become an even bigger problem depending on what Pokémon is in the active slot.
The ability to move all the Psychic-type energy Giratina generates takes care of the Pokémon’s biggest flaw, which is that it’s a selfish energy accelerant that only cares for itself. To make matters worse, Lunala isn’t locked to the type of Pokémon that can receive this Psychic energy.
So any Pokémon that benefits from colorless or psychic energy can now use Giratina as a battery. This includes Lunala ex itself; you don’t even need to use Dawn to move the energy around anymore.
Pokémon Specific Trainer Cards
Trainer cards have been the backbone of any Pokémon deck, physical or digital. It seems TPCi is trying to promote a form of archetype deck building focus with the new Trainer cards introduced in Celestial Guardians.
Kiawe Type: Supporter Choose 1 of your Alolan Marowak or Turtonator. Take 2 Fire Energy for your Energy Zone and attach it to that Pokemon. Your turn ends.
From the trailer, we can see the newly revealed Kiawe that can accelerate energy on par with the likes of Misty, with even better consistency. This, however, is only if the controlling player is using an Alolan Marowak or Turtonator.
Lillie Type: Supporter Heal 60 damage from 1 of your Stage 2 Pokemon.
Lillie was also part of the trailer reveal, and she heals for a bonkers 60 health. Considering the widely used Potion item card that only heals for 20, it's safe to say this is pretty strong. Mind you, this is balanced on the fact that Lillie only works on stage 2 Pokémon.
Given you have decks using the likes Magnezone, Meowscarada, or Beedril ex running around, there are players out in the wilds that would be glad to have such a high healing rate. We can see players easily slotting Lillie into their deck list.
The most interesting part about Lillie’s package is that she has no synergy with the current leading meta decks featuring the likes of Giratina ex or Gyarados ex. Both of these Pokémon are a basic and a stage 1 evolutionary line, respectively.
This firmly puts Lillie in the hands of decks specifically using Stage 2 Pokémon and can prompt re-evaluation of a player’s choice of Pokémon for their roster.
Rare Candy has arrived
Rare Candy Type: Item Choose 1 of your Basic Pokemon in play. If you have a Stage 2 card in your hand that evolves from that Pokemon, put that card onto the Basic Pokemon to evolve it, skipping the Stage 1. You can't use this card during your first turn or on a Basic Pokemon that was put into play this turn.
As if all that wasn't enough, the surprises keep coming as TPCi has finally brought Rare Candy into Pokémon Pocket. Rare Candy in the physical card game has seen consistent use at the highest competitive levels.
Being able to skip an evolutionary stage can be considered quite the boon, depending on the roster of Pokémon. The aforementioned Meowscarada has a 2 energy cost attack that won’t see activation until the controlling player’s third turn due to the rules of Pokémon evolution.
With Rare Candy thrown into the mix, however, any 2 energy cost attack on a Stage 2 Pokémon can turn online almost immediately.
We may even see Shining Revelry’s Charizard ex become the subject of deck builders, as Stoke can be used as early as the second turn. Assuming you have all the needed pieces available to accelerate the evolution, Charizard’s Steam Artillery can go online as quickly as turn 3.
This is all just hypothetical scenarios, mind you. Nevertheless, it’s clear that TPCi wants to keep the overall gameplay of Pokémon Pocket fresh for its players by allowing a bountiful choice for competitively viable strategies in ranked battles.
All eyes are now firmly fixed back on Pokémon Pocket. Player interest for new information will only grow as Celestial Guardians moves closer to its official release next week.