Top 5 Cards from Celebrations

What’s going on PTCGO Store readers? It’s ya boy Zach (@ZachLesagePTCG) and I’m here to celebrate! You might ask, “what are we celebrating?” The only answer - The 25th anniversary of Pokémon! You know, the one that Celebrations “celebrates!” While this set is an ultra-nostalgia-fueled collection of fan-favorite cards, competitive players have to look for the best cards to play in events! So if you’re a player looking for that next awesome card for your deck or a collector trying to understand why some cards are “better”, this article is for you! I’m personally loving the slight changes I’m making to my decklists, even if most are just adding Full Art copies of “Professor Oak’s” Professors Research (Celebrations), changes to the metagame can happen from a few cards alone! If you happen to be missing any of these cards from your Collection or you wanna crack open some awesome packs, use code zlesage5 to save on your order of PTCGO codes from PTCGO store! It’s a great way to build up your account and play with some awesome cards! Let’s jump into this list!

Kickstarting this list is no other than the big shield doggo, ザマゼンタV (Celebrations) is here to start the party! As a TCG player, it's absolutely wild for me to see Zamazenta V as a Fighting-type Pokemon after seeing the other ザマゼンタV (Sword and Shield) see success for so long! And that’s really where this card makes its mark! The Growl of the Shield allows all of your Fighting-type Pokemon to reduce the damage done to them by your opponent’s Pokemon VMAX by 20 damage and that can really be a game-changer. It would need to be played in a bulky Fighting-type deck, I’m feeling Coalossal VMAX (Vivid Voltage) vibes, but it certainly can be a hot tech. We’ve already seen cards like this see success in the past, like Regirock-EX (Fates Collide), and maybe there is a spot for them in the game right now! As I always like to say, games are won and lost by the slimmest margins… one card, 10 damage, one turn, etc. This could be an amazing tech in the right deck and I’m glad we have it as an option now!

Discarding Energy has always been incredibly effective and you can see that when players play cards like Crushing Hammer (Sword and Shield) to great success. That’s one Energy, but what about three? Yveltal (Celebrations) can rip your opponent’s Special Energy to shreds with its Cry of Destruction attack! It might be difficult to power up by costing two Energy, but they’re both Colorless Energy. I mean in any deck that runs Twin Energy (Rebel Clash) it can get powered up for a single attachment and proceed to destroy all Special Energy in sight! I’m not sure where this card fits in the deck wise though… Perhaps Raihan (Evolving Skies) can power it up in a Dragapult VMAX (Rebel Clash) deck or it might be able to work in a Corviknight VMAX (Battle Styles) “Control” deck. However it ends up working, if it works, it can steal games! I couldn’t imagine a deck filled with Special Energy having much of a chance against Yveltal. While it might not see play right now, I look forward to trying this out in the future! 

For me, Surfing Pikachu VMAX (Celebrations) is an ultra nostalgic card because I have fond memories of playing the original Surfing Pikachu Promo from back in the day! While I’ve now realized that the old school Surfing Pikachu wasn’t the wave (pun intended), the new Surfing Pikachu VMAX functions as a viable option. Yeah, I actually think this Pokémon is a viable option in our current Sword and Shield to Celebrations metagame. Being able to hit for 160 damage and 30 damage to each of your opponents Benched Pokémon for three Energy isn’t bad! Couple that with it getting support from Melony (Chilling Reign), and you have a full-fledged deck! The deck can utilize the popular Drizzile (Sword and Shield) / Inteleon (Chilling Reign) engine to search for anything necessary and provide outs to extra sniping! I’ve gone as far as adding in Froslass (Chilling Reign) for extra Energy acceleration and I’ve been quite content from the results of my testing! I’m not bursting out the door to play this deck at the next Late Night Series event, but I would certainly consider it in the right metagame. Pikachu usually gets memed on for being a weaker fan-favorite Pokémon, but Surfing Pikachu can actually make a splash!

Similar to Zamazenta V, ザシアン V (Celebrations) seems to have gone through a type change in this set to add support to Psychic-type pokemon online decks! Yup, I know it’s confusing - especially after ザシアン V (Sword and Shield) has trained my brain to only think it was Metal-type. Roar of the Sword is essentially the Psychic-type version of Greening Cell on Leafeon V (Evolving Skies); you can easily accelerate Energy when you would’ve otherwise passed your turn! It can sometimes be difficult to get the Zacian V down on your first turn, but when you do, that extra Psychic Energy can work wonders! With powerful pokemon online decks using so much Energy, such as Shadow Rider Calyrex VMAX (Chilling Reign), this seems like an awesome addition! I could even see this card being used in a Dragapult VMAX deck to guarantee a turn two Max Phantom! Energy acceleration has always been an effective strategy so be sure to check this one out!

Ta-dah! We’ve made it all the way to our number one spot! And that spot goes to Mew (Celebrations)! Mew has an amazing Ability, Mysterious Tail, that gives you the option to look through the top six cards of your deck, while you’re in the Active Spot, and grab an Item card from there. Now if you’ve been playing for a few years, you might remember a similar card seeing heavy amounts of play! If you guessed Jirachi (Team Up), you’d totally be correct! Jirachi was only looking at five cards and it put itself Asleep after using its Ability! Mew can simply use its Ability, slap an Air Balloon (Sword and Shield) on, and you can jump into the action. I’m not entirely sure if this card is only a good option or if it will see mainstream play soon, but it’s certainly an option! While the possibilities are endless, here is a list that I’ve built that was inspired by Patrick Wall’s recent Late Night Series run.

1 Crobat V PR-SW 110

2 Alcremie V CPA 22

2 Mew CEL 25

1 Pumpkaboo EVS 76

1 Shadow Rider Calyrex V PR-SW 131

3 Shadow Rider Calyrex V CRE 172

1 Zacian V CEL 16

2 Alcremie VMAX CPA 23

4 Shadow Rider Calyrex VMAX CRE 205

3 Marnie PR-SW 121

4 Fog Crystal CRE 227　

4 Evolution Incense SSH 163　

3 Training Court RCL 169　

2 Switch SUM 160

4 Professor's Research CEL 24

3 Boss's Orders RCL 189

4 Quick Ball SSH 216　

3 Air Balloon SSH 213　

13 Psychic Energy CRE 232

These are my top five cards based on tournament viability and not necessarily my favorite cards for other reasons. That would likely be reserved for Luxray GL Lvl. X (Celebrations) since I was able to watch my brother win the 2010 World Championships with that card! Celebrations is quite literally a time to celebrate the amazing 25 years of Pokemon and share that love with everyone! These cards are iconic, fun, and some of them are awesome in some top-tier decks! If you haven’t picked up any PTCGL codes yet or need something to complete your newest deck, feel free to use code zlesage5 to save 5% on your next order of PTCGO codes. PTCGO store has instant email delivery to get you your PTCGL codes when you need them ASAP! I can’t wait to see where my next article will take me and I hope to share some more knowledge with our Pokemon community really soon!

Zach Lesage is a contributing writer for the PTCGO store. As a Toronto local, he has been playing the Pokemon Trading Card Game since 2005 and creates Pokemon content as his full time career. As Zach Lesage PTCG, he creates YouTube content, streams on Twitch, and provides hot takes on his Twitter. With multiple prestigious accomplishments in the game, such as the 2020 Players Cup 2 Champion and the 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.