Hi there. In this Pokemon TCG post I cover the first batch of cards that were revealed from this news source. These cards are from the Stellar Miracle Japanese set along with Terapagos ex to be released in Japan on July 19, 2024. Let's take a look.
Topics
- Hoothoot & Noctowl
- Fan Rotom
- Bouffalant
- Area Zero Underdepths Stadium Card
- Crispin Supporter Card
- Sparkling Crystal ACE SPEC Tool
- Terapagos ex
Hoothoot & Noctowl
Hoothoot is a Basic colourless Pokemon with 70 HP. The attack is okay as it costs one colourless energy to do 10 damage for each heads you get out of three coin flips.
Noctowl is the Stage 1 evolution of Hoothoot. It has 100 HP with one retreat cost, resistance to Fighting and weakness to Lightning. The attack of Speed Wing does 60 damage for two colourless Energy. The cost to attack ratio is okay for a single prized Pokemon. The main feature for Noctowl is the ability. Jewel Hunt activates when Noctowl is played from the hand to evolve one of your Pokemon this turn. If you have any Tera Pokemon in play then you may search your deck for up to 2 Trainer cards and put them into your hand. Even though this Jewel Hunt is an ability that is mostly a one time use from evolution, being able to search for two Trainer cards from the deck is quite powerful.
I don't know which decks this Hoothoot and Noctowl combo could fit in at the moment. Maybe Lugia decks, Hisuian Zoroark decks. I am not sure.
Bouffalant
Bouffalant is a 100 HP Basic Colourless Pokemon with two retreat cost and Fighting weakness. The attack of Boundless Power does 130 damage with the cost of three Colourless energy with the drawback of Boufflant cannot attack next turn. Its ability of Curly Wall activates if there is another Bouffalant in play. Basic Colourless Pokemon take 60 less damage from attacks from the opponent's Pokemon. You cannot use more than 1 Curly Wall at a time so the damage reduction does not stack.
Having multiple Bouffalant can really help with decks that have Bloodmoon Ursaluna and Terapagos ex (see below) as these two are strong Basic colourless attackers.
Fan Rotom
Fan Rotom is kind of a powerful single prize Pokemon in my opinion. The attack costs one energy for 70 damage as long as there is a Stadium card in play. Its ability of Fan Call is a powerful search ability for the first turn. You may search your deck for three colourless Pokemon with 100 HP or less and put them into your hand.
I can see people trying Fan Rotom in Hisuian Zoroark decks as they run Doduo and Dodrio. Lugia decks could maybe use this to search for multiple Minccino for early game setup.
Area Zero Underdepths Stadium
This Area Zero Underdepths Stadium card has game changing effect as long as its in play. If a player has a Tera Pokemon in play then that player can have up to 8 Pokemon on their Bench instead of the usual maximum of 5.
There are a few attackers that benefit from having more Benched Pokemon. These are Entei V, Raikou V and Origin Forme Palkia VStar. They do more damage if there are more Benched Pokemon.
Crispin
The Crispin Supporter card combines energy search and energy acceleration. You can search for two Basic Energy of different types. One of the two goes to your hand and the other Basic energy goes to 1 of your Pokemon. This card is good for decks that run more than one energy type and for attackers that also run more than one Energy type.
I can see Crispin seeing play in a good handful of decks that have attackers which different energy types. Dragon type Pokemon typically have attacks that have two types in their energy costs. Dragon decks get a boost here.
Sparkling Crystal ACE SPEC
Sparkling Crystal is a Tool ACE SPEC card that is compatible with Tera Pokemon. The attack cost of Tera Pokemon that is attached to is reduced by 1 of any type of Energy. I like the effect of this card but I am not sure if it is impactful enough for the ACE SPEC spot in decks that feature Tera Pokemon. For the ACE SPEC card spot it is hard to compete against Prime Catcher and Unfair Stamp.
As of June 2024, the available Tera Pokemon include:
- Teal Mask Ogerpon ex
- Cornerstone Mask Ogerpon ex
- Greninja ex
- Wellspring Mask Ogerpon ex
- Dragapult ex
- Charizard ex
- Magcargo ex
- Wugtrio ex
- Farigiraf ex
- Espathra ex
- Forretress ex
- Garchomp ex
- Tsareena ex
- Hoopa ex
- Eiscue ex
And a few more.
Some of the attacks on these Tera Pokemon have good damage but they cost a bit too much energy. I guess this tool could be good with certain Tera Pokemon but I dunno. Wait for more reveals I suppose.
Terapagos ex
Terapagos ex is a powerful Tera Pokemon that is 230 HP and of the colourless type. The first attack of Unified Beatdown cost two Colourless Energy with the cost of 30 damage for each of your Benched Pokemon. Combine this attack with the Area Zero Underdepths Stadium to have a maximum of 8 Benched Pokemon and do a maximum of 240 damage.
The second attack of Crown Opal costs 1 Grass Energy, 1 Water Energy and 1 Lightning Energy to do 180 damage. During the opponent's next turn, prevent all damage done to this Pokemon by attacks from Basic non-Colourless Pokemon. This defensive effect is powerful as long as the attacks are Basic Pokemon and non-Colourless. Opponents can bypass this defensive effect if they attack with evolution Pokemon and/or Colourless Pokemon.
Pros
- Maximum attack of 240 damage for two colourless energy.
- Tera Pokemon, prevent damage from Bench snipe attacks
- Colourless type, compatible in many decks in theory.
- Crown Opal attack provides defensive wall against Basic non Colourless Pokemon
Cons
- Fighting Weakness
- Need 8 Benched Pokemon from Area Zero Underdepths Stadium to pull of maximum 240 damage
- Crown Opal Attack needs three types of Energy
- Opponent can bypass Crown Opal attack by attacking with an Evolution Pokemon and/or with a Colourless Pokemon.