Trainer cards (Supporters, Items, and Pokémon Tools) form the crux of decks in Pokémon TCG Pocket as they are the driving force behind your strategies and many attacks.
With Celestial Guardians (A3 expansion) being a major set, there are plenty of new Trainer cards that have set the tone for a highly competitive meta.
So, let’s break down each Trainer card you can get from this stunning Alola-themed set.
Lillie
We begin with the Trainer card that got the entire community talking, the Lillie card. After Shining Revelry brought the Poké Ball Crown Rare, Celestial Guardians topped it up with two Immersive cards for Supporters, the first being Lillie.
Aside from the Immersive feature, Lillie heals a whopping 60 DMG from a Stage 2 Pokémon in battle. This is super useful, especially when evolving Basics to Stage 2 cards is now easier and quicker with Rare Candy.
With EX cards like Shining Revelry Charizard and newbies Solgaleo and Lunala boasting high HP (180), Lillie helps keep them in the high HP bracket. So, having two copies of Lillie is more or less a necessity for Rare Candy decks.
Guzma
The other Immersive Trainer card is none other than Team Skull’s honcho, Guzma yo!
And despite Guzma being not villainous enough, his card in Pokémon TCG Pocket is insane. So much that it can turn the tide of the battle in an instant. Guzma throws off every Pokémon Tool attached to all your opponent’s cards.
Palkia EX thinks it can survive Giratina EX’s Chaotic Impact + Red (150 DMG) because it’s armed with a Giant Cape? Lol, Guzma is gonna make sure that Palkia EX gets OHKO’s y’all!
Skarmory is flexing its Tool to do 50 DMG? Nah, gangsta Guzma is discarding that Tool and keeping your damage output down to only 20 haha.
You get the drill how good Guzma is?! 😎
Ilima
Let’s say you’re running the anti-EX protagonist Oricorio and it gets hit by a non-EX card. Now, you know that an EX is incoming so you’d prefer having Oricorio around. And, you also want healing cards to be used on your EX cards instead.
You can use Ilima to withdraw a 1-Star card (full art, non-EX cards) into your Hand and then put it back on the Bench, fully healed. Ilima is for 1-Star cards what Koga is to Weezing.
A particularly amazing application of Ilima is Basic EX cards. Say you have Arceus EX/Giratina EX stall in the Active Spot and they have taken damage. Your primary attacker(s) are in your Bench and since Arceus EX/Giratina EX was stall, you haven’t devoted any/much Energy to it. So, instead of using Leaf/X Speed/Energy to retreat that stall card and risk getting Cyrus’d, you bring Ilima to retreat it for free, put in your Hand, and then back to your Bench full healed. In the meantime, bring forth your readymade attacker and hit the opponent hard, possibly gaining a KO.
Illima likes to keep things basic (pun intended) and favors regular EX cards over their rarer versions. Not to mention, it helps regular full art cards a great deal as well. Don’t underestimate Ilima!
Kiawe
Now, we move to some Pokémon exclusive Trainer cards. First, it’s Kiawe who gifts 2 free Energy to either Alolan Marowak or Turtonator and then ends the turn.
Turtonator may not be too much of a big deal but Alolan Marowak sure is! For three Energy, Alolan Mariwak flips two coins and does 70 DMG for each head. But even if you get 1 head, you do 70 DMG and also burn the target. Yes, the burned opponent may retreat or heal with any one of Lum Berry, Pokémon Center Lady, or Big Malasada but if they lack these cards, they are forced to rethink their strategy.
Mallow
Mallow is arguably the best of the Alolan Trail Captains as she turns Tsareena into a monster. The Tsareena card requires only 1 Energy to attack, wherein you flip 3 coins and Tsarenna does 50 DMG for each head. Tsareena has 130 HP, which can be increased to 160 HP with Leaf Cape.
So, even if you do extensive damage to Tsareena, Mallow recovers it completely but discards all Energy. But wait… Tsareena only needs 1 Energy so even if it drops that, the next turn brings it back and lets Tsareena attack again.
Backed with Rare Candy and often including the Meowscarada line, Tsareena with 2 copies of Mallow is a menace in the meta and a big reason behind Grass type’s dominance in Celestial Guardians. Mallow is a must-have Trainer card.
Note that Mallow applies to Shiinotic as well but that card is not too viable.
Lana
As long as you have an Araquanid in play (not necessarily on the Active Spot), you can use Lana to freely switch a Benched Pokémon to the Active Spot. Araquanid is a decent card, dealing 130 DMG to Basic card opponents at 3 Energy. This switching tactic works great if you want to retreat Crabominable EX (3 Energy retreat cost) and bring in something like Palkia EX or Articuno EX.
Sophocles
Sophocles adds 30 DMG to attacks done by Alolan Golem, Vikavolt, or Togedemaru. These cards are spicy picks and not on the top of the meta. However, you can pull off some surprises with them.
- Alolan Golem (160 HP) does 150 DMG for 4 Energy and with Sophocles, that goes to an insane 180 DMG, enough to OHKO non-Cape Solgaleo EX or Lunala EX. With Rare Candy, evolving to Alolan Golem is quick but you need to dedicate Pachirisu for Energy gains.
- Vikavolt (140 HP) does 100 DMG for 2 Energy with Sophocles and in the next turn, your opponent can’t use an Item card. This is nice enough to cripple even the strongest cards to a certain degree.
- Togedemaru + Sophocles do 50 DMG if a coin flip yields tails. If heads, do 80 DMG. All of this at only 1 Energy.
Sophocles has its niche uses but it isn’t exactly going to blow the lid off the meta.
Acerola
The last of the Supporters is the spooky girl Acerola and she comes with a rather interesting method to deal damage to the opponent.
If your Palossand (130 HP) or Mimikyu (70 HP) have any damage, move 40 of that damage to the opponent’s Active card. While this sounds good, neither Palossand nor Mimikyu are great and they are not wise options for Ranked battles.
Rare Candy
All rise for arguably the most impactful card of the Celestial Guardians set, one that has given a new lease of life to Stage 2 Pokémon.
The Rare Candy immediately evolves a Basic Pokémon to a Stage 2 as long as it’s not your first turn or the Basic Pokémon’s first turn. In other words, you can’t use Rare Candy when you start the game or when the Basic Pokémon you want to use it on has just been put in play. This Item card has:
- Brought back classics like Greninja, Rampardos, Serperior, and Genegar EX.
- Made Shining Revelry cards like Charizard EX, Beedrill EX, and Meowscarada stronger than ever.
- Established all Celestial Guardians 2 Stage cards at the top of the game, especially Solgaleo EX and Lunala EX.
In these decks, you don’t have to have two copies of the Stage 1 card. So, you may choose to either skip Charmeleon altogether or just include 1 copy for the safety bracket. Rare Candy sets commonly include Iono and/or Pokémon Communication to speed up the evolution process.
Except to see Rare Candy throughout the Celestial Guardians meta and even further.
Rotom Dex
Rotom Dex lets you look at the top of your deck and then, you may shuffle the deck. To be honest, it’s not as good as the OG Pokédex which shows the top 3 cards of your deck. Since you can use multiple Item cards each turn, you can just use your Poké Ball to shuffle.
Sorry Rotom, better leave the ‘dex as it is!
Fishing Net
Fishing Net is a Water-type version of the Celestic Town Elder, which is applicable to any deck type. However, it’s a Supporter card meaning you can use only one of them per turn. The Fishing Net, on the other hand, can be combined with Supporters or other Items.
The Fishing Net is useful in Wishiwashi EX decks since this Pokémon does more damage with more Wishiwashi/WishiwashiEX on your Bench. If you lose a Wishiwashi, you can revive it with Fishing Net and maximize Wishiwashi EX’s damage potential.
Big Malasada
The Big Malasada Item card works like the Pokémon Center Lady Supporter card. Both help the recipient heal from a Special Condition but while the Lady heals 30 DMG, Big Malasada only heals 10 DMG.
We’d still prefer the Pokémon Center Lady over Big Malasada even considering the Supporter limitations. However, you can use the Big Malasada in Solgaleo EX decks to recover from Special Conditions. The healing part is better managed by Lillie.
Pokémon Tools are super useful cards that usually appear in major expansions (A2 and A3 until now). They have been available in the physical TCG games and follow these rules in Pokémon TCG Pocket:
- Pokémon Tool cards can be attached to your Active or Benched cards, and they provide some special battle effects.
- They stay attached to the Pokémon in question until it leaves play.
- Like Item cards, you can use as many Pokémon Tool cards as you like during a turn but each Pokémon can have only one Tool attached at a time.
Celestial Guardians has debuted only two Pokémon Tools but they are both super impactful!
Poison Barb
Poison Barb is a toxic version of Rocky Helmet. Whenever a Pokémon with Poison Barb is attacked by a direct hit, the opponent gets poisoned. During each checkup, the target loses 10 HP. That is, once after the Pokémon attacks a Poison Barb-equipped card and another, during their turn if they don’t withdraw the affected card.
While this is technically 20 DMG and that appears the same as Rocky Helmet, note that Poison Barb’s effects keep on affecting the opponent even if they don’t attack. The only way they can get rid of the Poison Special Condition is by retreating/evolving/healing with Pokémon Center Lady, Big Malasada, or Lum Berry. Of course, no Special Conditions affect Arceus EX.
The Poison Barb should be your Pokémon Tool of choice along with Giant Cape, and these two can help your deck run amok the meta.
Leaf Cape
If you thought the Giant Cape was a major buff, check out Leaf Cape!
Although applicable only for Grass types, this Pokémon Tool offers a jaw-dropping +30 HP buff, making the forest dwellers extra bulky.
To put it into perspective, Leaf Cape gives Decidueye EX 200 HP, Celebi EX 160 HP, Exeggutor EX 190 HP, Venusaur EX 220 HP, Beedrill EX 200 HP, and Meowscarada 170 HP. Whoa!! 😯
Add the fact that Grass types already have a whopping 50 DMG healing from Erika, they are so hard to beat now! Imagine how insane Tsareena would be with Leaf Cape (160 HP), Mallow, and Erika. Not to mention, the famed Celebi EX and Serperior duo are back with a bang thanks to the Leaf Cape, Rare Candy, and Erika subset.
The Leaf Cape is a tremendous shot in the arm of Grass-type decks. Offense + bulk at their finest!
Happy collecting and battling, Pokémon TCG Pokcet-ers!
