Hi there. In this post I cover the initial revealed cards from Japan's upcoming Inferno X set.
Charmander, Charmeleon
Charmander is a 80 HP Basic Fire Pokemon with a 2 retreat cost, one ability and one attack. The Live Coal attack is good in the early game as it does 20 damage from 1 Fire Energy. The Nimble ability on Charmander is very good. If this Charmander has no Energy attached to it then its retreat cost is 0.
The new Charmeleon is good too. This Stage 1 Fire Pokemon has 110 HP, 2 retreat cost and a single attack. The Steady Firebreathing is okay as it does 40 damage from 1 Fire Energy.
Mega Charizard X ex & Oricorio ex
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I have covered Mega Charizard X ex is a previous post. The Inferno X attack is dependent on the amount of Fire Energy discarded from your Pokemon. For every Fire Energy discarded in this way, you deal 90 damage. Hitting for 270 damage is from discarding 3 Fire Energy and hitting for 360 damage requires 4 Fire Energy to discard.
Mega Charizard ex does need a partner for accelerating Fire Energy from your hand to your Benched Fire Pokemon. This is where Oricoio ex comes into play. I have covered this card in the past as well. You need a Fire Mega Evolution Pokemon in play in order to use the Oricorio ex ability of attaching as many Fire Energy from hand to your Benched Fire Pokemon.
Moltres
This Moltres is a good single prize attacker. The Fighting Wings attack requires 1 Fire Energy to deal 20 damage. If the opponent's Active Pokemon is a Pokemon ex then this attack does 90 more damage (total: 110).
What makes this Moltres scary good is that one hit knocks out Teal Mask Ogerpon ex with 1 Fire Energy. (20 + 90 then times 2 which 110 x 2)
Cottonee + Whimsicott
These two cards do have cheap attacks but the fire power is low when you compare to popular attackers from top competitive decks.
Toxel + Toxtricity
Toxel is a Basic 70HP Dark Pokemon with a one retreat cost and Fighting weakness.
The Playful Kick attack is not great but the Call For Family attack is good in the early game as you search your deck for up to 2 Basic Pokemon and put them onto your Bench. (Shuffle deck after.)
Toxtricity as an attacker is not great but its ability is really good. This Stage 1 140 HP Dark Pokemon has the Bad Upper ability where you can use once during your turn. You may search your deck for 1 Basic Dark Energy and attach it to 1 of your Benched Dark Pokemon. Upon attachment, that Dark Pokemon takes 2 damage counters (Then shuffle deck).
Dark themed decks get a major with Toxtricity's Dark Energy acceleration boost ability. Maybe Roaring Moon ex decks and Okidogi ex decks come back for a bit.
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Sneasel + Weavile
Sneasel as an attacker is not very good.
The Weavile is kind of interesting. Cut is not a great attack but the Claws of Retribution can deal big damage. For 2 Dark Energy, the first attack does 20 base damage plus 170 more damage if Weavile has 50 HP or less.
You could use the Toxtricity from above to get Weavile to deal 190 damage. I just don't know if this is easy to pull off though.
Carvanha + Mega Sharpedo ex
Carvanha is a good attacker in the early game with the Assault attack.
Mega Sharpedo ex is a beatstick attacker. This 330 HP Stage 1 Mega Pokemon has zero retreat cost and Grass weakness. The Greedy Fangs requires 1 Dark Energy to deal 70 damage plus allowing you to draw 2 cards.
Hungry Jaw requires 2 Dark Energy for its attack. The base damage is 120 with a plus 150 damage if this Mega Sharpedo ex has any damage counters on it. Getting damage counters on it is not too difficult with Toxtricity.
Heat Burner
Heat Burner is one of those niche powerful item cards for certain decks. This Item card has a cost of discard 1 Fire Energy from your hand to play this card. Then you can choose a Pokemon Tool, Special Energy or Stadium card your opponent has in play and discard it.
We do have Tool Scrapper in the format as well as the not so used Enhanced Hammer in the format. Heat Burner having a Stadium discard choice is a good bonus. As long as you have Fire Energy in your deck, this Heat Burner card is very good as you do have 3 good options in removal.
Grimsley's Move
Grimsley's Move is a very interesting Supporter card. Look at the 7 top cards of your deck. Choose 1 Dark Pokemon (Basic or Evolution) you find from the 7 cards and put it onto your Bench. The other cards are shuffled face down and put to the bottom of your deck. Note that you cannot play this card during your first turn.
There is a gamble element with this Supporter card as there may not be a Dark Pokemon from the top 7 cards of your deck. If you get an evolution Dark Pokemon then you can Bench that Dark Pokemon and skip the evolution process. Being able to cheat the evolving process and not wait turns to setup a Stage 1 or Stage 2 Dark Pokemon is very powerful.
Evolved Dark Pokemon that can be used with Grimsley's Move include stuff like Gengar ex, Mega Gengar ex, Hydreigon ex (both types), Charizard ex (Tera), N's Zoroark ex and Marnie's Grimmsnarl ex.
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Firebreather
Most Item and Supporter cards don't have search effects that search for more than 4 cards. The best search card is the Item Card Secret Box.
Firebreather allows you to search your deck for up to 7 Basic Fire Energy cards and put them into your hand. (Then shuffle deck) This goes well in Mega Charizard X ex + Oricorio ex decks, Ethan's Ho-Oh ex + Armarouge decks and potentially Gholdengo ex decks with Fire Energy.
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Zacian
This new Zacian is a Psychic Basic type with 130 HP, a 2 retreat cost and Metal weakness. The Limit Break attack requires 1 Psychic Energy and one Colourless Energy to deal 50 base damage. If the opponent has 3 or fewer Prize Cards remaining, then this Limit Break attack does 90 more damage (140 damage). There is not enough firepower for this to be played competitively unfortunately.
There is a illustration rare version of this Zacian card. Source
From the initial reveal, it looks like Fire types and Dark types get a good boost. I think the weakest type right now in the TCG is Water. Water used to be good two years ago with Chien-Pao ex, Baxcalibur and Irida but it is not a popular type now.
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