Paldea Evolved?


What’s poppin’ PTCGO Store readers? I’m sure all of you are getting ready to Migrate from PTCGO to Pokemon TCG Live, prepare for Rotation, and we are getting Scarlet and Violet very soon! It's definitely an exciting time to be a Pokémon TCG fan! As much as I’m excited about all of those things, I’m really excited for Paldea Evolved - our second Scarlet and Violet era set that should release globally in June. We recently saw a few cards coming out in Japan’s Snow Hazard, and Clay Burst sets and those cards will likely make it into our Paldea Evolved set. I might be a bit early, but there is plenty to look forward to in the Pokemon TCG, and Paldea Evolved might be the best set that we’ve had in years. In this article, I will be sharing the translations for some of my personal favourite cards, why they are good and more! And when this set drops, use code zlesage5 to save 5% on PTCG Live codes here at the PTCGO store. Let’s jump right into the action.

Please note that the following cards have been translated by pokebeach.com and could translate differently once we receive them globally. Shoutout to the translators and everyone else involved in sharing these translations with our community. This is your last warning if you don’t want to see any upcoming Pokemon TCG spoilers.

Chi-Yu ex


Chi-Yu ex

Translation:
Chi-Yu ex – Fire – HP190
Basic Pokemon
[R] Burning Envy: Discard 2 cards from the top of your opponent’s deck.
[R][R] Flame Surge: 100 damage. Choose up to 3 of your Benched Pokemon. Search your deck for a Basic [R] Energy and attach 1 to each of those Pokemon. Then, shuffle your deck.
When your Pokemon ex is Knocked Out, your opponent takes 2 Prize cards.
Weakness: Water (x2)
Resistance: none
Retreat: 1

Chi-Yu ex has two interesting attacks going for it! Burning Envy could be the start of a solid mill deck or as a way to end a game if your opponent isn’t careful about the amount of cards they have left in their deck. Flame Surge seems like a wild attack because you do damage and can accelerate Fire Energy from your deck to three different Pokémon. I’m not sure which Pokémon I wanna power up, but I’m sure there will eventually be some great options. I’m sure this could be the start of a great Fire-type archetype and it should be useful at some point in the future, maybe even upon the release of Paldea Evolved.

Baxcalibur


Baxcalibur

Translation:
Baxcalibur – Water – HP160
Stage 2 – Evolves from Arctibax
Ability: Absolute Zero
As often as you like during your turn, you may attach a Basic [W] Energy card from your hand to 1 of your Pokemon.
[W][W][C] Buster Tail: 130 damage.
Weakness: Metal (x2)
Resistance: none
Retreat: 2

Pokémon, as a game, often replicates successful cards and this Baxcalibur is a spiritual reprint of Blastoise [Boundaries Crossed]. In the Scarlet and Violet era of the Pokémon TCG, it seems like Energy acceleration is a huge inspiration for many cards and I’m
excited to see which Pokémon pair nicely with this card! Off the top of my head, I could easily see Gyarados ex [Scarlet and Violet], Kyurem VMAX [Lost Origin], or Chien-Pao ex as being recipients to plenty of Water Energy. We could even pair this with a non Water-type Pokémon if we needed too because Absolute Zero can attach the Energy to any Pokémon you like! I’m fairly certain this card will be part of a tier 1 deck or at least I’ll try everything I can to make it work!

Chien-Pao ex


Chien-Pao ex

Translation:
Chien-Pao ex – Water – HP220
Basic Pokemon
Ability: Trembling Cold
Once during your turn if this Pokemon is your Active Pokemon, you may search your deck up to 2 Basic [W] Energy, reveal them, and put them into your hand. Then, shuffle your deck.
[W][W] Hail Blizzard: 60x damage. Discard any amount of [W] Energy from your Pokemon. This attack does 60 damage for each card you discarded in this way.
When your Pokemon ex is Knocked Out, your opponent takes 2 Prize cards.
Weakness: Metal (x2)
Resistance: none
Retreat: 2

As I said above, when sharing my thoughts on Baxcalibur, Chien-Pao ex seems like a natural partner. Trembling Cold allows you to search for your Water Energy in your deck and you can use Absolute Zero to accelerate them! Hail Blizzard seems like a powerful attack that has synergy with the above two Abilities. Decks that have Energy acceleration and massive attacks that can scale are typically very good! I love it! Search out Energy, attach Energy, and OHKO anything in your way! I saw a lot of success with Blacephalon GX [Lost Thunder] and this card is as close as I’ve seen in years! 

Rabsca


Rabsca

Translation:
Rabsca – Psychic – HP70
Stage 1 – Evolves from Rellor
[C] Revival Blessing: Choose a Pokemon from your discard pile and put it onto your Bench.
[P][P] Psybeam: 50 damage. Your opponent’s Active Pokemon is now Confused.
Weakness: Darkness (x2)
Resistance: Fighting (-30)
Retreat: 1

Many might’ve skimmed over Rabsca, but this card might be something else! Revival Blessing is a wild attack because you can summon a Stage 1 or Stage 2 from your Discard Pile into play. Yeah, it comes at the cost of an attack, but you could sit there, chill out, and summon a crazy combination that otherwise would never work. I don’t even know what I wanna summon, but there are quite a few solid Stage 2 Pokemon to choose from in our “E-block-on” format. Archeops [Silver Tempest], Hisuian Goodra [Lost Origin], Kingdra [Lost Origin], and a few others come to my mind. As we get more Stage 2 Pokemon, Rabsca will only get better!

Ting-Lu ex


Ting-Lu ex

Translation:
Ting-Lu ex – Fighting – HP240
Basic Pokemon
Ability: Cursed Ground
If this Pokemon is your Active Pokemon, your opponent’s Pokemon with damage counters on them have no Abilities (excluding Pokemon ex).
[F][F][F] Land Scoop: 150 damage. Put 2 damage counters to 1 of your opponent’s Benched Pokemon.
When your Pokemon ex is Knocked Out, your opponent takes 2 Prize cards.
Weakness: Grass (x2)
Resistance: none
Retreat: 4

Shutting off Abilities is fantastic and Ting-Lu ex seems to do a great job at that. You do need to put Damage Counters on your opponent’s Pokemon, but you can easily use Hawlucha [Scarlet and Violet] to get the job done quickly! I’m dreaming of a game where Mew VMAX [Fusion Strike] uses Battle VIP Pass [Fusion Strike] to get out 2 Genesect V [Fusion Strike] and you can promptly shut it off with Hawlucha + Ting-Lu ex. Some decks might be forced to add in healing cards to deal with this Pokemon, but that means that it will be impactful. I don’t see a world where this card isn’t played - it just seems so great!

Dudunsparce


Dundunsparce

Translation:
Dudunsparce – Colorless – HP140
Stage 1 – Evolves from Dunsparce
[C] Mud-Slap: 30 damage.
[C][C][C][C] Sudden Flash: 100 damage. Your opponent’s Active Pokemon is now Paralyzed. Shuffle this Pokemon and all cards attached to it into your deck.
Weakness: Fighting (x2)
Resistance: none
Retreat: 3

If we take a look to the past, Dudunsparce looks eerily similar to Accelgor [Dark Explorers], and that might be a good thing. Sudden Flash has an awkward Energy cost at 4 Colorless Energy, but maybe we could use this card card Baxcalibur, or maybe we’ll get an easier way to fulfill this Energy cost in a future set. I’m still looking for a way to control Sudden Flash so that the Defending Pokemon always gets Knocked Out heading back into our turn, but maybe Inteleon [Chilling Reign] would work. In theory this card is good, but it still needs a few missing pieces to be great!

Squawkabilly ex


Squawkabilly ex

Translation:
Squawkabilly ex – Colorless – HP160
Basic Pokemon
Ability: Lively Draw
On your first turn of the game, you may discard your hand and draw 6 cards. You can’t use more than one Lively Draw Ability during your turn.
[C] Energy Flow: 20 damage. Attach up to 2 Basic Energy cards from your discard pile to 1 of your Pokemon.
When your Pokemon ex is Knocked Out, your opponent takes 2 Prize cards.
Weakness: Lightning (x2)
Resistance: Fighting (-30)
Retreat: 1

Squawkabilly ex is the next “Draw crutch” 2 Prize Card Pokemon and I’m sure it's gonna be great! In previous formats we’ve had Crobat V [Darkness Ablaze], Dedenne GX [Unbroken Bonds], and Shaymin ex [Roaring Skies], but this one is a little different. Lively Draw can only be used on your first turn of the game, but it doesn’t need to be played down from your hand. I could see this as a great way to play your hand down of Item cards, like Nest Ball [Scarlet and Violet] and Ultra Ball [Brilliant Stars], reload your hand with Lively Draw, and have an explosive turn one. Energy Flow is much better than most other attacks on those Pokemon that have come before Squawkabilly ex which is totally a bonus. I imagine most decks will add this card in as a way to fix a dead hand off of a Pokemon search card so be sure to pick up at least one copy!

Super Rod


Super Rod

Translation:
Super Rod – Trainer
Item
Shuffle 3 in any combination of Pokemon and basic Energy cards from your discard pile back into your deck.
You may play as many Item cards as you like during your turn.

I love seeing valuable cards reprinted, and Super Rod is a great asset to our new Standard format. With Ordinary Rod [Sword and Shield] rotating out, Miriam [Scarlet and Violet] seemed like it was one of the only ways to get back Pokemon and Energy, but Super Rod does a great job at both as an Item card. I’m sure this card will fit into many top-tier meta decks.

Charm of Courage


Charm of Courage

Translation:
Charm of Courage – Trainer
Pokemon Tool
The Basic Pokemon this card is attached to gets +50 HP.
You may attach any number of Pokemon Tools to your Pokemon during your turn. You may attach only 1 Pokemon Tool to each Pokemon, and it stays attached.

Extra HP is great and Charm of Courage seems like it will replace Cape of Toughness [Darkness Ablaze] as an HP booster. It obviously can’t be played in every deck, but there is a great combination that I’m excited for! Drifloon [Scarlet and Violet] does extra damage for each Damage Counter on it. That means we can slap on a Charm of Courage on it, accelerate Energy with Gardevoir ex [Scarlet and Violett], add those Damage Counters to it, and swing for a huge OHKO. There will likely be more strategies with this card, but the Gardevoir ex + Drifloon one seems really promising!

Iono


Iono

Translation:
Iono – Trainer
Supporter
Each player shuffles their hand and puts it on the bottom of their deck. Then, each player draws a card for each of their remaining Prize cards.
You may play only 1 Supporter card during your turn.

Boom! We made it! The last card I wanna share from the most recent Paldea Evolved translations is Iono. Our prayers have been answered and this format now has a Supporter “come back” card that totally seems like it might be the best Supporter. We’ve seen a similar mechanic with N [Fates Collide] and that card has been featured in many World Championship-winning decks. It does have a pseudo-Marnie [Sword and Shield] effect, but that might make this card more strategic with cards like Switching Cups [Evolving Skies]. So instead of just losing because we can’t slow down our opponent’s momentum, we can now Iono and have a chance. This card alone solves most of the current “come back” issues we have in our current Sword and Shield - Crown Zenith format, it's just that good!

A Bright Future


When I first saw the release trailer for the new Scarlet and Violet era of cards live in person at the 2022 World Championships in London, United Kingdom, I was surprised to see that the game designers were working on mechanics to jump back into a game. Most who have played our Sword and Shield era of Standard were excited to hear that and I truly believe that we are heading in a positive direction for the future of the game. I promise that I’m not some older generation Pokemon TCG player that talks about the “good ol’ days!” A lot of the best cards in the game have been “come back” cards, cards with unique Abilities, and having multiple options to choose from. Paldea Evolved seems like it will completely shake up our Standard format and I’m so excited to get my hands on these cards. If you are excited too, pick up some PTCGL codes at the PTCGO store using code zlesage5 to save 5% and support me as a writer. With the new in-game Credit system, you can buy 400 codes of any set you don’t have, acquire lots of Credits, and save them for future releases like Paldea Evolved, and unlock whichever cards you want! I know I’ll have to save up a bunch of Credits to get all of the cards that I want from this set! I appreciate everyone reading this article and I’ll catch up with you all later!

筆者について


Zach Lesage is a contributing writer for PTCGOStore.com. As a Toronto local, he has been playing the Pokemon Trading Card Game since 2005 and creates Pokemon content as his full time career. With multiple prestigious accomplishments in the game, such as 2020 Players Cup 2 Champion and 2020 Oceania International Championships Finalist, he has proven his success in the game. Outside of the game, he travels the world, enjoys the culture of designer streetwear, and is a professionally trained chef. You can catch him at most Pokemon events and follow him on Twitter @ZachLesagePTCG.