Hi there. In this Pokemon TCG post I cover the Chandelure and Jellicent ex Pokemon cards from the upcoming White Flare & Black Bolt sets.
Litwick + Lampent Cards
Litwick's attack is not great as it deals no damage. There are a few instances where discarding your own top of the card is useful.
Lampent is the Stage 1 evolution form of Litwick. This Fire Pokemon has 80 HP, one retreat cost and Water weakness. The Fire Blast attack does 50 damage for one Fire Energy. The drawback is discarding 1 Energy after the attack.
Chandelure
Chandelure is the final evolution of Litwick. This Stage 2 Fire Pokemon has 150 HP, two retreat cost and two attacks. The second attack of Burn It All Up deals 180 damage with the cost of 2 Fire Energy. You discard all Energy after this attack.
Explosive Flame Pillar is the first attack. For one Fire Energy you deal 50 base damage. If you have 10 or more Fire Energy in your discard pile then this attack does 100 more damage (150 damage). The only deck that I can think of that can meet this 10 or more Fire Energy in discard is Ceruledge ex. Ceruledge ex decks typically run 17 to 19 energy cards for its first attack.
Chandelure could be an alternate attacker choice for Ceruledge ex. With it being a Stage 2 Pokemon it takes too much setup to get this into play.
There is an illustration rare reveal of the Chandelure card.
Frillish
Frillish is a 80 HP Basic Psychic Pokemon. It has Dark weakness, 3 retreat cost and a single attack.
The Sea Shadows attack costs 1 Psychic Energy to deal 20 damage plus an item lock effect on your opponent. During the opponent's next turn they can't play any Item cards from their hand.
With Budew's Item Lock attack in the format, Frillish provides a higher HP alternative or even add-on to Budew. Budew is already a controversial card as it makes Item locking normalized. It changes how the game is played plus how decks are built. Deckbuilding is less based on items and more on supporters to work around Item locks.
Frillish in theory could work in any deck. It is best in Psychic themed decks like Gardevoir ex.
Jellicent ex
Jellicent ex is a beefy Stage 1 Pokemon ex attacker with 270 HP, 3 retreat cost and Dark weakness. The Power Press attack requires 1 Psychic Energy and 1 Colourless Energy to deal 80 base damage. If there are 2 extra Energy or more attached then this attack does 160 damage instead. This goes well with Gardevoir ex.
At first I thought that this card is too broken or something. Item lock and tool lock while this is in the active spot is too powerful.
After some thinking, there are ways to work around this control type of Pokemon. Here are some counters to this.
Flutter Mane
Flutter Mane as an attacker is not great but its ability is pretty powerful in certain cases. The Midnight Fluttering ability only works if Flutter Mane is in the Active Spot. The opponent's Active Pokemon has no abilities except for Midnight Fluttering.
Having Flutter Mane in the Active Spot would shut off Jellicent ex's
Iron Bundle
Iron Bundle comes in handy sometimes. The Hyper Blower ability from the Bench lets you discard Iron Bundle in order to switch out your opponent's Active Pokemon to the Bench. Then the opponent brings in a new Active Pokemon.
Use Iron Bundle to switch out the Jellicent ex away into a different Pokemon. Then you can use Items and Tool cards again. Note that you don't use Iron Bundle if there is a second Jellicent ex in play. (The opponent can just bring the second one in to maintain the Item lock.)
Boss's Orders or Counter Catcher
Boss's Orders or Counter Catcher if you are behind can be used to bring a different Pokemon in the Active spot to replace the opponent's Active Spot Jellicent ex.
Closing Notes
The Chandelure evolution line does not seem great. Too much needed to get it to work.
Jellicent ex is likely to see some play. Control decks in the current Journey Together format are not too popular nor powerful. With Jellicent ex in the Black Bolt + White Flare format around July 2025, control decks with Jellicent ex may see an increase of play. Watch out.
Thank you for reading.