The Mega Shine (B2b) mini expansion has dropped in Pokémon TCG Pocket, bringing two of the community’s favorite parts of the franchise: Mega Evolutions and Shinies! But for battlers, there are two other aspects which excite them as much as these two gimmicks, and they are Trainer and EX cards.
With the EX cards being mostly a boring subset (except Mega Scizor), can the Trainers live up to their reputation? Let’s find out!
Calem
Calem is one of the MCs from the X & Y games, and sadly, his card in Pokémon TCG Pocket lacks main character energy. For every Mega Evolution EX in play (for both you and your opponent), you draw that many cards.
On the surface, this looks like Professor’s Research, but Oak doesn’t require any conditions to draw cards. Moreover, not everyone has Megas ruling the battlefield, as using them is risky (you instantly lose the game on getting your Mega Evolution KO’d). So, at best, you may have two (rarely, though), but the opponent may or may not have any at all. Assuming you have two (I’d reckon you’d have two Megas if you’re using Calem in your deck), and your opponent uses one, you get a good case of drawing 3 cards.
Otherwise, Calem isn’t too reliable, and you’re better off with Professor’s Research and Copycat in your deck. In fact, even Iono is a stronger bet.
Iris
Iris is the Dragon master, and Haxorus is her signature Pokémon (even her physical TCG SIR card from Acended Heroes features Hax). So, it’s no surprise that her TCG Pocket card revolves around the same, and on paper, it’s an OP mechanic!
When Haxorus KOs a Pokémon, using Iris gets you another free point! This is essentially a winning move, provided Haxorus has its way.
By nature, Hax is okayish. 50 base damage plus 20 DMG for both your’s and your opponent’s Benched Pokémon leads to an ideal figure of 170 DMG with full Benches (50 + 20(3) + 20(3) = 170), which is remarkable and enough to KO a lot of heavyweights in TCG Pocket (190 DMG with Red against EX).
The challenge lies in getting the Energies: 
and 
in this case. You can resort to Orthworm to get the Metal Energy and use Fighting Energy for the deck. Or, you can simply go for a dual Energy deck. Note that even Axew needs both and Energies to attack.
Add Rare Candy (obviously) and some neat Colorless cards like Igglybuff to put your opponent to sleep, or even Snorlax EX.
Iris and Haxorus are powerful, but more spice in the meta, being a Dragon type.
She works out in many situations, and you can win with just two KOs. Be sure to add the Pokémon Flute Item card to summon defeated Basics from the discard pile, and keep your Bench filled for maximum damage.
Nasty Notice
The Nasty Notice Item card is, well, nasty. This is anti-Copycat, anti-Suicune EX, anti-Sylveon EX… essentially cutting down the opponent’s hand. It not only takes out cards from the hand, but also discards them, making it insane.
There’s an evil (nasty?) strategy to play this card:
- Your opponent uses Copycat to get a huge hand.
- Since Nasty Notice is an Item, you use it to narrow down their hand to only 4 cards.
- Red Card is also an item, so use that one as well to make the opponent shuffle back a favorable hand to potentially get worse cards in their resulting hand.
Keep in mind that the opponent decides which cards to discard when you hit them with the Nasty Notice, so following it up with Red Card is actually what you should do.
Nonetheless, you are definitely going to trouble your opponent quite a bit or hinder their strategies after using the aptly-named Nasty Notice. This card is fun and can certainly be meta!
Maintenance
Maintenance is a very misunderstood card. Let’s start by seeing what exactly it does.
When you use Maintenance, you shuffle 2 cards from your hands back into your deck and draw a card.
- While it looks like you’re losing 2 cards for 1 card, in situations wherein you have useless cards, you can put them back to potentially get yourself a better card.
- Note that it’s an Item card, letting you use it alongside Supporters. So, you use this to potentially get a better card, then you use that card (a Tool, Potion, Rare Candy, or evolution), and then use Copycat to get more cards.
- You can also use it to weaken the opponent’s Copycat, making them draw fewer cards.
- If your opponent used Nasty Notice on you, there’s a chance you can get back a good card from your deck by using Maintenance.
That said, if you’re drawing another bad card or worse, a card from the two you just shuffled back, then Maintenance is just wasting a slot. It’s just luck with this Item’s usage, so pray it works in your favor.
Stadiums are Trainer cards whose effects affect all Pokémon in play (both you and your opponent) and can be used once per turn.
- This card stays in play after you use it, unlike Items and Supporters, which are discarded after they are used.
- Only one Stadium can be in play at a time, and it’s discarded only after a new Stadium enters the battlefield or if the effect of a Pokémon/Trainer disposes the Stadium.
- Stadium cards of the same name cannot be played when the same Stadium is already active.
Hiking Trail
The Hiking Trail lets both you and your opponent draw cards until you have 3 in your hand. So, in any case, you’re going to have 3 cards at the very least in your hand, and not be left with 1 or 2.
You can use this Stadium in tandem with Maintenance to shuffle back 2 bad cards and get a better one. The next turn again ensures you have 3 cards in your hand. This strategy is actually very good to find Rare Candy and even Stage 2 Pokémon.
It’s a gimmicky card that, like usual RNG cards in TCG Pocket, may end up favoring the opponent a lot as well. But that’s how Stadium cards tend to work, so again, it’s just great to spice things up, or if you’re raring for a challenging battle.
Do understand that it’s rare in the game that you find yourself with less than 3 cards in your hand, so in many cases, the Hiking Trail is just wasting space in your deck.
There are some specific uses, though! It can work with Cofagrigus (Mega Rising), who does 120 DMG for only 2x 
Energy, at the cost of discarding 2 cards from your hand. With Hiking Trail, yoy make sure that you have at least a decent-sized hand to play with.
In other words, in situations where you are losing cards, the Hiking Trail paves the way to a potentially playable hand. In all other cases, it isn’t doing much.
The Trainers in Mega Shine come with legitimate mind games and lots of strategy disruption, making them a notorious (or nasty) bunch.
While the EX cards offer limited value, these Trainers are sure to wreak havoc in battles, so brace yourselves for a wild ride.
And as always, happy collecting and battling, Pokémon TCG Pocket-ers!
