NEW Lapras ex! 1st Hydrapple card! And a card that steals prizes! Pokemon TCG Stellar Crown Reveals 

Bravery Charm also works on the other Pokemon in the deck, just in case you need an HP boost to Ogerpon or others

Jokes on you a Dragapult already beat me by taking a six prize turn

I hate to be the um actually guy, but um actually 2 years ago… - Meloetta could hit for 210 damage on turn 1 for 2 energy (with a third attached to another Pokemon through Elesa’s Sparkle) and could go even higher with Power Tablets - Mew VMAX could hit for 210 for 2 energy and go even higher with Power Tablets - Ice Rider Calyrex VMAX could hit for 250 with just 2 energy - Palkia VSTAR could hit for up to 260 with just 2 energy if both benches were full (they usually were) - Malamar could frequently hit north of 220 with just 1 energy - Eternatus VMAX could hit for up to 270 damage for 2 energy with a full bench of 8 Pokemon, which wasn’t that hard to do at the time. The upcoming Terrapagos ex is basically Eternatus VMAX with a nerfed attack. - Samurott VSTAR could hit for 220 with 2 energy if the opponent’s active already had damage on it and its VSTAR power could put 4 damage on their for free. Even that wasn’t enough to make it meta relevant - Many meta-relevant Pokemon were 3-prize VMAX Pokemon 2 years ago, which means that games were actually faster 2 years ago than they are now. Moving away from 3-prize Pokemon to 2-prize Pokemon has actually lengthened the average game by approximately 2 turns, since you can no longer attack two VMAX Pokemon 4 times and win the game. There’s certainly something to be said about power creep, but the conversation around it in the Pokemon TCG is actually more nuanced than what you make it out to be. The current state of the game is actually still dealing with the ripple effect of Tag Team Pokemon. These 3-prize basic behemoths were so overpowered relative to other cards of their time that they made basically any non Tag Team deck unplayable. Especially the nightmare that is ADP, which was Iron Hands except with more damage AND it could make ALL of your Pokemon in play take an extra prize with every knockout. At its worst, Zacian V in ADP was one-shotting Tag Team Pokemon with a 260 damage attack before other damage modifiers like Rusted Sword AND taking 4 prizes. V and VMAX Pokemon were designed as a direct response to Tag Teams. These Pokemon (particularly VMAX) had more HP and stronger attacks than Tag Teams, but they still gave up 3 prizes AND had to evolve up, making them slower to set up than Tag Teams. Then Pokemon introduced VSTAR Pokemon. These Pokemon basically had the same offensive lower level as VMAX Pokemon but had a bit less HP and only dropped 2 prizes. These were introduced to help push VMAX Pokemon out of the meta once Tag Teams were gone. Now we’re in the ex era. These Pokemon can be harder to set up than VSTAR Pokemon (especially stage 2 ex Pokemon), but they get the benefit of not needing a 2-prize basic to start and they have the offensive and defensive prowess of VSTAR Pokemon, if not better. There are certainly aspects of Pokemon cards today that have increased in power over time. However, there’s also aspects that have been intentionally toned down. The game is inherently slower now that 3-prize Pokemon are out of the meta and now that evolution plays a larger part of the game. In the process of moving away from a 3-prize meta to a 2-prize meta, the new Pokemon have to have the firepower to still keep up with the Pokemon before them. ex Pokemon feel fair relative to V and VMAX Pokemon in that they’re incredibly powerful but generally more difficult to set up. Not to mention all of their efforts to make comebacks and decks with slower starts more viable. In the Sword & Shield era, the player who took the first KO basically won every time. But in the Scarlet & Violet era, they’ve gone through great lengths to make comebacks and stage 2 Pokemon more viable. Cards like Iono, Unfair Stamp and Defiance Band give players more opportunities to make a comeback. Also, Stage 2 Pokemon have been rebalanced to either have cheaper attack costs or some powerful ability that makes them worth the effort of setting up. Gardevoir ex and Charizard ex are shining examples of both. I think Pokemon is doing a fantastic job of building a bridge between the 3-prize Tag Team behemoth era and the much more stable ex era we have now over the course of many years. And based on how cards rotate, it was going to take years to fix the mistakes of Tag Teams. I think the game is really going to shine next year when V Pokemon finally rotate out and the meta is all ex Pokemon.

@@InThirdPerson I dont want to down your statements right now, what you said about tag team gx pokemon is totally true that those 280 hp basic pokemon were absolute behemoths are totally true and I also am curious about how the meta will be after all pokemon V are rotated out, but i meant that pokemon like dragapult ex getting so powerful and they are easier to set up then ever. 2 energy for 200 dmg and 6 damage counter placements is quite insane. Yes, it is stage 2 but with so many powerful trainer cards that almost isnt a problem. Stage 2 now is relevant again so thats good but i just cant get that greninja ex can just 1 shot anything like squawkabilly or baxcalibur and search out any card for 1 energy. For my feeling games are faster with cards like ultra ball, rare candy, quick ball available. Im just not a big fan about that ex pokemon just have such insanely powerful attacks that if set up are hard to counter and it ends games just so fast. If my opponent gets there key support pokemon like baxcalibur in play before i can get mine in play i almost certainly have lost because then they can already begin to berage me with attacks before i can retaliate back

​​@@MatteodoesstuffBaxcalibur effectively has the same ability as base set Blastoise, and many similar Pokémon that have existed throughout the course of the tcg. It's pretty much always been possible to attach as many water-type energy cards as you want during your turn. Certainly, there are other scenarios in which cards are more powerful than they used to be, but that isn't one of them. It's always been like this. Personally, I'm a fan of having powerful but specific search cards. There's no worse feeling in a card game than not having the cards you need and not having any way to find them, forcing you to postpone your core ideas for turn after turn, hoping to just draw something that can turn the tides in your favourite. It's more fun when you get to play in a more active way.

Even setting aside your initial comment and just focusing on the Pokemon in your reply, I still don’t think either Greninja or Dragapult are indicative of a recent power spike, nor do I think there has been a considerable power spike in some time. After a hot start in Japan, Dragapult’s place in the meta slipped considerably in Japan and abroad. At NAIC, less than 6% of players used Dragapult and it failed to make top 16: Meta share: x.com/pokestatstcg/status/1799107467210834019?s=46&t=WvvseieK6nMMQ6rerZFlFw Final standings: limitlesstcg.com/tournaments/406 If you want to split hairs, Dragapult was an attacker in Regidrago, but that’s not really a Dragapult deck. The actual top-placing Dragapult deck was Tord at 18th, which was still a Charizard deck with 1 Dragapult ex in it. I think Dragapult is strong and maybe someday it will live up to the hype it had early on in Japan. But at its current trajectory, I don’t see it being the boogeyman you seem to make it out to be and it certainly isn’t that right now. Greninja as something to be fearful for feels like even more of a stretch. It has some cool attacks, but literally only one Greninja ex player got into day 2 at NAIC and finished 123rd: limitlesstcg.com/decks/list/12024 Again, maybe with time the deck will find its footing. But right now, Greninja isn’t even a meta deck in meta share or win rate. Based on Limitless data, Greninja has losing records to almost every meta deck above it in the rankings: play.limitlesstcg.com/decks/greninja-ex/matchups/?format=standard&rotation=2023&set=TWM We can even look at how the meta shifts over time. Here’s meta data based on the past year: play.limitlesstcg.com/decks?rotation=2023&set=SVI play.limitlesstcg.com/decks?rotation=2023&set=PAL play.limitlesstcg.com/decks?rotation=2023&set=OBF play.limitlesstcg.com/decks?rotation=2023&set=PAR play.limitlesstcg.com/decks?rotation=2023&set=TEF play.limitlesstcg.com/decks?rotation=2023&set=TWM Sure, decks move places over time, but for the most part, the same top decks hover around the top. New decks slot in as time progresses, but seldom does the meta shift so dramatically that they just die. Gardevoir from SV onward was 2nd, 1st, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 2nd. Charizard hasn’t left the top 10 since it debuted. And it didn’t even make its ascent to the top until players figured out the Arven tech almost 2 months into its lifespan. Miraidon has had a few slumps, but the first occurred in Paldea Evolved before it was “solved”, and then it dipped again in Temporal as Charizard became the top deck. It’s back now in the top 10. And in all of these formats, the new decks of their times have never debuted in 1st place. One can maybe argue that Raging Bolt Ogerpon is new, but Raging Bolt certainly isn’t and its current downward trajectory would suggest it won’t end the Twilight Masquerade format at #1, either. And the only deck to really fall off from Temporal to Twilight are Arceus Giratina and Roaring Moon Dudunsparce. Almost every new set features great new cards that add to the mix. But again, I don’t see anything along the lines of new cards power creeping to the extent that it makes everything before it obsolete or even that much worse than before. The last time we truly saw that new deck power spike was Lugia in Silver Tempest format 2 years ago and Mew VMAX before that 3 years ago. Both of those were truly power creeped decks that completely warped their respective metas. Lugia had an almost 20% meta share while winning almost 52% of its matches: play.limitlesstcg.com/decks?rotation=2022&set=SIT Mew had an 18% meta share and won more than 52% of its matches: play.limitlesstcg.com/decks?rotation=2022&set=FST Nothing in our current format or even in the last year has come close.

​​@@InThirdPersonAgreed. I feel like the main place where balance is missing are all the phase 2 single price cards that have less than 200 hp. We need to see some 250 hp ones, until then there will not be a 1 price evolution deck.

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Agreed! The game sorely needs a good grass deck so I’m hopeful this is it.

Out of curiosity, why the Dialga hate? In 2 years of existence, it’s only won 1 major event and hasn’t been meta-relevant until Temporal Forces. Even now, it’s a fringe meta deck at best. Regardless of your rationale, Dialga’s time is running out and I’m personally glad it finally got some shine before it departs.

@@InThirdPerson to be honest, the second turn thing catches me off guard that’s why I don’t like it but then again I also run an Applin deck so a little bit different but just a little, I have bad memories when I joined this game, I ran into Dialga decks several times so it doesn’t have a very good past memory lol. I started 2 yrs ago so fairly new but I guess I don’t run into him much anymore