It's been a very exciting week for Pokémon Trading Card Game (TCG) Pocket fans. Yesterday, Pokémon Company International (TPCi) revealed that a brand new expansion, Triumphant Light, was finally coming to the app. Better than just releasing in some faraway future, Triumphant Light was released today, February 28. Following on from this release, TPCi has now completed the set's release by revealing the full card list.
They Were Right.
Out of all the new cards that we've seen in the full Triumphant Light card list, Heatran and Crobat are arguably the most interesting, in their own unique way. Technically, we've seen both of these cards before, as they were included in a recent leak for the set from TikTok. In this leak, these cards were exceptionally blurry and almost illegible, but that didn't stop Pokémon fans from studying the video and deciphering what they could. Now that we've seen these cards officially, it turns out that the eagle-eyed Pokémon players were right on the money.
Both Heatran and Crobat do have abilities centered around the existence of Arceus or its ex-version being present on the field. The former’s ability allows Heatran to retreat from the active slot for free. The latter can just ping the opponent’s active Pokémon for 30 damage once a turn.
It’s a testament to the enthusiasm of hobbyists and human curiosity that managed to give us a glimpse of a future product with little to go on.
Potential Powerhouse in the Set.
Heatran and Crobat are not the only Pokémon who will be able to take advantage of Arceus’ existence. If a player manages to get the Tyranitar from this set onto the active field, it can potentially hit for 160 damage.
A lot of Pokémon in TCG Pocket currently have a health pool of about 160. Only the most robust units, like Palkia, have anything higher and that’s usually at 170. Having Crobat spotting Arceus during the turn will allow the controlling player to finish off any heavily wounded Pokémon.
This not counting other cards like Giovanni from the earlier released Genetic Apex set further boosting Tyranitar’s damage output by another 10.
Of course, this still boils down to getting Tyranitar online. With the cost of this extreme power being 4 energy (3 fighting and 1 colorless), a craftier player can try to knock out the impending disaster with a faster Pokémon.
Fearless players can easily field a Pokémon like Celebi ex and activate its Powerful Bloom skill for 2 energy (1 grass and 1 colorless) across two turns for a total of 200 damage. This particular tactic is still banking on several coin flips but that has never deterred adventurous players in the past.
If you’d like to see the complete card list for Triumphant Light, you can find it over at Pokébeach.