The Alolan Ninetales Drop event has Pokémon TCG Pocket hyped, introducing several new promo cards from the Celestial Guardians set.
This event is headlined by a jaw-dropping full-art Alolan Ninetales, and promos featuring Alolan Exeggutor, Alolan Grimer, Crabrawler, and Toucannon.
So, how do these cards perform in battle? Let’s find out!
The Alolan Ninetales card depicts a full-art version of the existing Alolan Ninetales card from the SHINING REVELRY set. Alolan Exeggutor and Crabrawler are alternate art reprints, while Alolan Grimer and Toucannon are new cards with new attacks. All of them have stamps to mark them as promo cards.
Alolan Ninetales
Alolan Ninetales is a decently bulky card whose Blizzard deals 60 DMG for 3 Energy and also does 20 DMG to all Benched cards. Attack-wise, it’s a pretty good move with the Bench hits being extremely helpful in battle. There’s also Irida to heal 40 DMG and you would assume Misty is needed to stack the 3 Energy.
But once you check out the Alolan Vulpix card, you’ll see that this card is better than you think!
Yes indeed, Alolan Vulpix’s move Call Forth Cold summons a free Water Energy for itself. This means that in just two turns, Alolan Ninetales can be all set! Dealing Bench damage (that too 20 DMG) so early can be a game-changer so it’s high time players start using the Alolan Ninetales line more often!
Alolan Exeggutor
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Alolan Exeggutor is either a hero or a zero. It adds to the already diverse Exeggcute line, and at 3 Energy, it can straight-up hit for 150 DMG as long as you get heads on a coin flip. On the flip side (no pun intended), the attack does absolutely nothing if you draw tails.
Grass was arguably the biggest beneficiary in the Celestial Guardians meta with Trainer cards like Leaf Cape, a powerful EX card like Decidueye, and Rare Candy making Meowscarada and Beedrill EX more oppressive than ever. In this breath, Alolan Exeggutor is a welcome addition as the 50% odds of dealing 150 DMG is honestly, crazy.
It’s a great card to add to Meowscarada or Decidueye EX, and with Leaf Cape boosting its to 180 HP, Alolan Exeggutor serves as a fearsome stall.
Alolan Grimer
Alolan Grimer is a vast improvement over the existing Alolan Grimer card that does a meagre 30 DMG for 2 Energy, without any effects in play. This Alolan Gimer not only has the same 70 HP but also poisons the target for only 1 Energy! This greatly benefits Paldean Clodsire EX, whose Venoshock deals 120 DMG (instead of 60 DMG) if the target is poisoned.
That said, keep in mind that Alolan Muk EX has hardly had any play in battles so this new Alolan Grimer card should boost its usage by at least a bit.
Crabrawler
Crabrawler is undoubtedly the most useful card of the lot!
For starters, Crabominable EX has proved itself to be one of the best EX cards in Celestial Guardians. In its first hit, Crabominable EX inflicts 40 DMG and then, all consecutive hits are valued at 80 DMG each. Unless Crabominable EX is retreated or Sabrina’d, it continues dealing 80 DMG… all this at only 1 Energy!
However, Crabrawler is no slouch, especially when you see that it’s a Fighting type instead of a Water type. As such, Crabrawler can do 40 DMG to the notorious EX-immune Pokémon: Pom Pom Style Oricorio.
This double utility of the Crabrawler line can win you matches, making this Promo a must-have card!
Toucannon
A Colorless card with decent utility can see play in battles and Toucannon fits in that regard, being another major improvement over the existing card in the Celestial Guardians set. At the same 140 HP, the Toucannon promo dishes out a nice 80 DMG at only 2 Energy but the best part is that it also burns the target,
Remember that the Burn status also does a chip damage of 20 but the opponent flips a coin. If heads, they heal but if it’s tail, they continue burning. Toucannon can fit in any deck but since it demands Rare Candy, it’s best to use it in decks that don’t rely on Stage 2 Pokémon like Arceus EX, Darkrai EX, or Giratina EX. It’s a spicy card that can certainly shift the tide of the battle!
Happy collecting and battling, TCG Pocket-ers!
