The Mythical Island booster pack has enthralled every Pokémon TCG Pocket player with its brand-new collection featuring breathtaking artwork, powerful EX cards, and Trainer cards that have shaped a solid new meta.
This shift in the meta has brought the spotlight on stronger decks stemming from not just the new Pokémon but also the Supporter and Item cards which comprise the Trainer category.
So let’s have a look at all the new Trainer cards in the Mythical Island set and how good (or bad) they are.
Leaf has more or less retired X Speed as it lets you retreat your Active Spot to the Bench at 2 less Energy! This means that retreat for EX cards like Mewtwo, Charizard, Arcanine, and Moltres is free and it costs only 1 Energy for EXs like Lapras, Gyarados, Blastoise, Venusaur, and Exeggutor.
This is a massive perk when your EX card has dealt damage, taken damage in return, and reduced to low HP. You can easily switch in a regular card to get the KO without jeopardizing your EX the following turn.
It’s also useful to retreat Pokémon who stall the opponent, such as Weezing, Stonjourner, and Colorless type cards like Snorlax, Kangaskhan, and Wigglytuff EX. Even in the newest Grass deck driven by Serperior, you can withdraw it for free in case you are graced with the Snivy family in your first few draws.
Overall, Leaf is a superb card that can change the tide of battles. Being a Supporter, it can also pair with X Speed (an Item card) in case your deck is brimming with Pokémon having expensive retreat costs.
Blue is Giovanni reverse-engineered! Unlike Gio who lets your Active Spot Pokémon do 10 extra damage, Blue goes to the defensive with all your Pokémon (including the ones on the Bemch) taking 10 less damage the next turn.
This can often keep your cards from getting KO’ed and is especially great against something like Articuno EX’s Blizzard, which does 10 damage to everything on your Bench. Talking about EX cards, Blue can prevent, say, Gyarados EX trying to OHKO Mewtwo EX with Giovanni, or Arcanine EX OHKOing Pikachu EX. Imagine these situations where your Active EX card takes heavy damage, is left with 10 HP thanks to Blue, and eliminates the opposing EX the next turn, sealing the victory with +2 to an already obtained 1 point.
With Blue, your Benched cards can get respite from more Pokémon that attack them such as Dragonite, Zebstrika, and Hitmonlee.
Blue may not look too grand on paper but in cutthroat battles or Emblem events where wins are key, the 10 less damage can save the day.
Have you faced Mew EX yet? Or used it? Regardless, you might have now read about how strong Mew EX is, being able to one-shot the likes of Charizard EX and Mewtwo EX. Imagine you come across this Mythical menace, weaken it, and are all set for those sweet 2 points next turn by KOing it!
But what? Your opponent pulled a swift move on Mew EX as Koga did for Weezing! You stare in horror as Mew EX makes an emergency exit back to the opponent’s Hand (yup, not Bench), and is back to the Bench with full health. Then? You concede, what else?!
You have one culprit to blame for the above antics: the Budding Expeditioner Supporter card. As if the new Grass deck wasn’t ridiculous enough already!
If you’re running Mew EX, turn it into a damage sponge with Budding Expeditioner and make it rise from the ashes at full HP to overwhelm any deck. GGs!
If you thought the Buddy Expeditioner card was the only buff to the new Psychic deck featuring the deadly Mewtwo EX | Gardevoir | Mew EX trio, think again!
The Mythical Slab Item card makes setting up these cards easier than before! It lets you instantly draw a Psychic card if it’s present on the top of your deck. If not, it sends the top card to the bottom, bringing you closer to securing a Psychic card like Mewtwo EX or Kirlia/Gardevoir from the deck!
Or, if your early draws were all from the Ralts family, the Mythical Slab fastens the acquisition of Mewtwo EX or Mew EX.
Mythical Slab increases the consistency of finding the card you want (Mewtwo EX or Kirlia/Gardevoir), making it an asset for the famed Psychic deck. But guess what? It also works on other decks, gelling with the Pokédex Item card (look at the top 3 cards of your deck) or the Porygon card (Its Ability, Data Scan, lets you look at the top card of your deck). In a nutshell, Mythical Slab accelerates your draws toward the card you desperately need. It even helps evolve Gengar EX quicker than before!
By the way, remember to use Mythical Slab before the Poké Ball card if you’re scared of losing the invaluable Professor’s Research card in the shuffle. Mythical Slab may lowkey be the best new Trainer card as it makes the insanely powerful Mewtwo EX deck stronger by eliminating its only drawback: inconsistency in getting Gardevoir. Au revoir to your opponent!
The Pokémon Flute is pretty niche and a bit complicated to understand so let me elaborate with two examples.
- Imagine your opponent has a basic card on their discard pile because you knocked it out earlier. Essentially, this is a mid or late-game scenario when you have your EX or some other card all set to spam blows.
- You have a Pokémon like Articuno EX, Dragonite, or Volcarona; which deals damage to your opponent’s Benched cards.
You need a KO? Pokémon Flute may be your trump card!
In the first scenario, you bring a Basic card from your opponent’s discard pile to their Bench (especially when they don’t have other cards), Sabrina to bring this card to hopefully the Active, and KO them with your high damage card (niche and ideal scenario).
For the second (and more practical scenario), bring the discarded Basic card to the Bench, and use your Bench-attacking Pokémon to hit it for the KO (and +1). The popular Dragonite or Articuno EX would love this.
However, there are a couple of other Pokémon that make great use of this Item card.
- Pokémon Flute works like a charm for Victreebel, who can draw in the brought-back card in particular (when your opponent has more cards on their Bench) and then hit it with the 60 DMG Vine Whip or retreat for free (with Leaf Supporter) for a stronger card on your Bench!
- Also, you can maximize Pidgeot EX’s damage by filling up your opponent’s Bench with Pokémon Flute. Suppose the opponent has only two cards on their Bench and the Active Spot has a high HP Pokémon. Pidgeot EX would use Scattering Cyclone to do 80 DMG + [20×2 (because of two cards in the Bench)], which is 120 DMG. Now, if you use Pokémon Flute, it would reinstate a Basic card to the Bench and Pidgeot would then do 80 + [20×3] = 140 DMG!
So many niche applications that require some thought but worth it!
Old Amber has a singular role in TCG Pocket… it evolves into Aerodactyl EX! This terrifying new EX threat has an Ability called Primeval Law which prevents your opponent from playing any Pokémon to evolve their Actie Spot card. AeroEX is a great means to halt evolution into Dragonite or any final evolution of a line. Next turn, you may probably KO the pre-evolution or bring down their health to a dangerously low value.
AeroEX may not be the best EX card from the Mythical Island collection but it’s surefire going to make the Fighting deck a bigger headache to deal with. By the way, note that Old Amber is an Item card even though it behaves like a Basic in gameplay.
There you go! These were the new Trainer cards in the Mythical Island pack. Each of them makes the meta more exciting and can be instrumental in getting you the win.
Happy collecting and battling, TCG Pocket-ers!
