Darkness Ablaze: The V’s we know
Today I’ll be having a look at and evaluation the known new Pokemon V and VMax’s of the new set Darkness Ablaze. Darkness Ablaze is due to release on August 14th and is available to pre order on the Bath TCG. The set list isn’t known yet, but we will be looking at the cards we know we are getting plus a slight assumption on my part due to a press release revealing we are getting 14 Vs, 9 of which are full arts and 7 VMAXs.
Butterfree V & VMax
[G] Dizzying Poison: Your opponent’s Active Pokemon is now Poisoned and Confused.
[G][G][C] Blasting Wind: 130 damage.
[G][G][C] Max Poison Wind: 150 damage. Your opponent’s Active Pokemon is now Poisoned and Confused.
Both cards are unfortunately disappointing as the damage output is low, and the health of both cards are low for Vs and VMAXs in the current era. Special conditions are unfortunately sufferers of the increase in health pool for cards and as these cards seem to rely on poison and confusion to sell these cards. The one thing of note from these cards is that Butterfree VMAX is the first VMAX with free retreat, but it’s only a minor thing on any stage 1.
Charizard V & VMAX
[C][C][C] Claw Swipe: 80 damage.
[R][R][C][C] Fire Spin: 220 damage. Discard 2 Energy from this Pokemon.
[C][C][C] Claw Swipe: 100 damage.
[R][R][R][C][C] G-Max Wildfire: 300 damage. Discard 2 Energy from this Pokemon
We’ve known we would be getting these cards for 4 months and we’ve been waiting for it, not just for collectors but they are very good fire cards with welder still being in the format. The damage output may look just shy of idea numbers for any 3 prize cards or high health V’s, with the draw back of energy discard required. Though this maybe the time for Coalossal from Rebel Clash to shine as with the stadium Martial Arts Dojo and Vitality Band (or a Zigzagoon), Charizard VMAX with even prizes can do 320 which is a lot of OHKOs for majority of VMAXs and Charizard V can do 240 which OHKOs some Tag Teams like PikaRom. With more prizes remaining Charizard VMAX can OHKO every card without any added effects and Charizard V can OHKO most Tag Teams like ADP.
Centiskorch V & VMAX
[R] Burning Emissions: You may discard 1 Energy from this Pokémon. If you do, choose 1 Energy attached to your opponent’s Active Pokemon and discard it.
[R][R][R][R] Burning Train: 180 damage.
[C][C] G-Max Centiferno: 40+ damage. This attack does 40 more damage for each [R] Energy attached to this Pokemon. You may attach a [R] Energy from your discard pile to this Pokemon after calculating damage for this attack.
Another fire V & VMAX combo which seems that I could be good though the energy cost when fighting other V & VMAX decks the energy requirements can get quite high around 5 to 8 energy to OHKO the opponents Pokemon. I can see this kind of deck being played as a 2HKO deck with early energy denial to slow down the opponent using the first cheap attack on Centiskorch V.
Mew V
[P][P] X Ball: 30x damage. This attack does 30 damage times the amount of Energy attached to this Pokemon and your opponent’s Active Pokemon
Mew V is one of the cards from Japan’s V Starter Decks and it steals a popular attack from an old Mewtwo EX card which is of the same name but did 20 times rather than 30. Though it was good in the past, you need to remember it was used in a format where energy acceleration was popular and easy, whereas currently any Pokémon needing more than 3 energy for an attack is rare and there are many only requiring 1 or 2 energy. I can’t see Mew V being used when it gets released though if the format changes drastically this may raise in popularity.
Galarian Slowbro V
Ability: Quick Draw Poison
Once during your turn, if this Pokemon is your Active Pokemon, you may leave your opponent’s Active Pokemon Poisoned.
[D][D][C] Stranding Shot: 130 damage. During your opponent’s next turn, the Defending Pokemon can’t retreat.
The ability on this card is pretty good if it were on a low or free retreat card unfortunately it’s not Slowbro V has 3 retreat and tools can reduce it to zero, so ability though can be used requires the deck to have a lot of switching cards. The attack pairs nicely with the ability causing the poison to stick more often but there is a lot of switching cards in the format so the attack’s effect may not actually aid you all the time. Overall it may see play in the new Eternatus deck, but I believe Garbodor from Rebel Clash would be better.
Crobat V
Ability: Night Asset
Once during your turn, when you play this Pokemon from hand to your Bench, you may draw cards until you have 6 cards in your hand. You can’t use more than 1 Night Asset Ability during your turn.
[D][C] Poison Fang: 70 damage. Your opponent’s Active Pokemon is now Poisoned.
This is a card which is going to see a lot of play and fits in along side Dedenne GX and Eldegoss V as the support style Pokémon of decks. This is a card that the format didn’t need, considering what we already have, but is very welcome and allows the Eternatus deck to have a support Pokemon. This card is basically a, still popular in Expanded, Shaymin EX reprint but remember this slightly worse as you can only use one Crobat V ability per turn.
Grimmsnarl V & VMAX
[D] Dark Bite: 40 damage.
[D][D][D] Spiky Knuckle: 200 damage. Return 2 [D] Energy from this Pokemon to your hand.
[D][D][D] G-Max Drill: 170+ damage. This attack does 50 more damage for each extra [D] Energy attached to this Pokemon, but not used to pay for this attack. Energy beyond the second doesn’t count.
Unfortunately, as dark doesn’t have any energy acceleration this card will struggle to be good compared to a card like Charizard V & VMAX which does more damage for the same energy requirements. Though it does allow for cheaper attacks at lower damage outputs so this may help it from being completely useless, though this is unlikely.
Eternatus V & VMAX
[C] Power Accel: 30 damage. You may attach 1 [D] Energy from your hand to 1 of your Benched Pokemon.
[D][C][C][C] Dynamax Cannon: 120+ damage. If your opponent’s Active Pokemon is a Pokemon VMAX, this attack does 120 more damage.
Ability: Infinity Zone
If all your Pokemon in play are [D], you may now have up to 8 [D] Pokemon on your Bench and can’t play any other type of Pokemon. (When this Ability no longer works, discard your Benched Pokemon until there are 5 left.)
[D][C] Dread End: 30x damage. This attack does 30 damage times the number of your [D] Pokemon.
Eternatus V & VMAX are the basis for the new contender for best deck in format and with no way, other than an under used Galarian Weezing from Rebel Clash, to turn off abilities it should be able to attack at max damage frequently. Talking about max damage the VMAX attack can do a total of 270 which is smaller than required for OHKOs on other VMAXs, though dark has the advantage of Zigzagoon from Sword and Shield which can increase damage by one, Garbodor from Rebel Clash which can poison and Toxicroak from Sword and Shield which can increase poison damage output, which the player can scale to hit the correct numbers. I can see this card getting a lot of play though there are a few fighting decks which can take advantage of the fighting weakness.
Scizor V & VMAX
[M] Tear Off: 30 damage. Discard 1 Pokemon Tool and 1 Special Energy from your opponent’s Active Pokemon.
[M][M][C] Slash Claw: 140 damage.
[M][C] Hard Scissors: 90 damage. During your next turn, this Pokemon takes 30 less damage from attacks.
[M][M][C] Max Steelspike: 190 damage.
Though special energies may see more play the Tear Off attack seems quite pointless for the small amount of damage it does plus the rest of the cards attacks seems too weak to be taken advantage of. I think that neither card will see much play with Scizor V maybe played in stall style decks, though this is also unlikely.
Salamence V & VMAX
[C][C][C] Trans Flight: This attack does 30 damage to each of your opponent’s Pokemon. (Don’t apply Weakness and Resistance.)
[C][C][C][C] Heavy Storm: 160 damage.
[C] Twin Sonic: This attack does 40 damage to 2 of your opponent’s Pokemon. (Don’t apply Weakness and Resistance for Benched Pokemon.)
[C][C][C][C] Max Wing: 240 damage. During your next turn, this Pokemon can’t use Max Wing.
Spread is a type of deck which has been missing from the TCG since last rotation with the Weezing spread deck, a deck which I was one of my favourites, but this card could help aid a spread deck in the future. I believe it won’t be a spread deck on its own we lose shrine of punishment and we will have no way to move damage counters around our opponents’ side, both key players to successful spread decks. The main reason I believe that these cards won’t be the basis of a spread deck is as the first attacks would be better switched, with triple acceleration being able to fill the energy requirements for a VMAX Pokemon. Though I would be happily wrong as these cards are colourless so they have many ways energy can be accelerated to them.
These won’t be the only V’s in the set but as the actual set list is, at the time of writing, unknown. These are the only cards we do known we will be getting but we do know we will be getting 4 more V cards. We have 3 unassigned V’s from Eruption Walker, 3 V’s from Infinity Zone and 5 V’s from V Starter Decks. The reason I mention the V Starter decks is as they have no FA cards yet and we known a total of 14 V’s in the set but only 9 FA V’s, the reason the total of non-FA V’s left is unknown as Charizard V recently, in Japan, got a FA card and we may or may not get it in our set if we do get the FA Charizard we would have a spare spot for another V card from V Starter Decks. Otherwise the non-FA cards would be Mew V, Galarian Slowbro V, Charizard V, Grimmsnarl V and Eternatus V as we will be getting the latter in a collection box in September.
