Playable Cards From Pokemon's 30th Celebration Special Set
Hi there. In this Pokemon TCG post, I cover the playable cards from the 30th celebration set. This set is mostly for the collectors and scalpers (unfortunately) but there are some playable cards that could be worth testing out for competitive play.
Images from Pokebeach.
The starting date when I write this post is on Sept 18. This is 2 days after the 30th celebration release. Playable cards from this set can change over time plus I may overlook a few playable cards.
Note: This is a long post.
Alolan Exeggutor
Alolan Exeggutor is an interesting Grass attacker. Scale Up activates when this Alolan Exeggutor has 6 or more Grass Energy attached to it. Then it gets an additional 250 HP. It goes to 400 HP.
Add the ACE SPEC Hero's Cape tool card so it goes to 500HP. Crazy stuff.
Getting 6 or more Grass Energy sound difficult. It is made possible with Meganium, Energy Switch, Forest of Vitality and/or Mega Venusaur ex. Including Alolan Exeggutor in a Mega Venusaur ex deck could be good. Testing would be required though.
Pikachu ex (Daytime)
The daytime Pikachu ex as an attacker is not great. What could be useful is the Pika-Pika Parade first attack. It is like the ACE SPEC Item card Precious Trolley where you search your deck for any number of Basic Pokemon and then put them on your Bench (Shuffle deck after). You can get good setup but you risk a 2 Prize Pokemon in play.
Pikachu ex (Nightime with Zip-Zap Frenzy)
The nightime Pikachu ex is similar to the daytime Pikachu. The second attack is not the greatest but it is okay.
Zip-Zap Frenzy for one Lightning Energy lets you attach any number of Basic Energy cards from your hand to your Pokemon in any way you like. This attack serves as major energy acceleration for your deck in theory. You do have to get somewhat lucky to get this Pikachu ex in the Active Spot going second on your second turn.
Espeon ex
Eevee themed decks may benefit from this new Espeon ex. For 1 Psychic Energy and 1 Colourless Energy, the Solar Beatdown attack deals 30 damage for each of your Pokemon in play.
If you have 6 Pokemon in play then this Espeon ex deals 180 damage. Combining Area Zero Underdepths (AZU) with 8 Benched Pokemon gives you 9 Pokemon in play. This gives a maximum of 270 damage from Solar Beatdown. This Espeon ex can be used with Lillie's Clefairy to combat one of the most popular Pokemon ex in the format, Dragapult ex.
Espeon
This Espeon would a niche inclusion in some decks. The Super Psy Bolt second attack is not great but he first attack could be good.
Miraculous Shine for 1 Psychic Energy and 1 Colourless Energy makes you devolve the opponent's evolved Pokemon. You put the highest Stage Evolution card on each evolved Pokemon to the opponent's hand. If there is enough damage on the pre-evolved Pokemon, then you get a Knock Out.
Sylveon ex
This new Sylveon ex is a beatstick attacker. Colourful Harmony requires 1 Psychic Energy and 2 Colourless Energy to deal 50 damage for each type of Basic Energy attached to all of your Pokemon.
There are 8 Basic Energy types in the game. The maximum damage this Sylveon ex can do is 400 damage. Getting all 8 types in play is not that easy even with Crispin in the format.
This Sylveon ex can also be used with Lillie's Clefairy to combat Dragapult ex.
Mew ex
Mew ex is the number one most playable card from this special set in my opinion. The attack on its own is not the best and can be useful in some rare scenarios.
What makes Mew ex good is the ability. Mew ex can copy any attack from your Benched Pokemon provided that you meet the energy costs.
As Mega Pokemon ex give up 3 Prize cards out of six when Knocked Out, it makes sense to use Mew ex to copy Mega Pokemon ex attacks. Mew ex is a two Prize Pokemon. The Psychic typing can be seen as a plus. Combine Mew ex with Lillie's Clefairy ex against Dragapult ex.
Seismitoad
I don't think this Seismitoad will see too much comeptitive play. The first attack looks pretty annoying to play against. Quaking Fist requires 1 Fighting Energy to deal 60 damage and you deal this annoying effect to your opponent. During your opponent's next turn, the opponent flips a coin when they try to use a Trainer card from their hand. If the coin flip is Tails, then the opponent discards that Trainer card instead of using it. (Effect is negated or not used)
Control style players may use this card to annoy opponents. It does take some setup time as this is a Stage 2 Pokemon.
Gengar ex
This Gengar ex could be very dangerous. It is not a very bulky Stage 2 Dark Pokemon at 280HP.
Chaotic Pain for 2 Dark Energy lets you place 13 damage counters on 1 of your opponent's Pokemon. Placing damage counters is an effect of an attack. Watch out for Mist Energy and Rocky Fighting Energy as those two negates this damage counter placement effect.
The Fainting Spell ability on this Gengar ex makes it annoying and dangerous at the same time. When this Gengar ex is Knocked Out by damage from an attack from your opponent's Pokemon. You flip a coin. If the flip is Heads then you Knock Out the attacking Pokemon. It is like the Destiny Bond attack from the video game.
Players who are against Gengar ex have to be careful attacking it. Knocking this Gengar ex out puts your Pokemon at risk of getting Knocked Out too. To makes things more annoying is having Mega Gengar ex also. The opponent takes 1 less Prize card for a Dark Pokemon Knockout from a Pokemon ex attack.
Yveltal
As an attacker, this Yveltal is not very good. The Life-Locked ability on this is interesting. Your opponent's Active Pokemon cannot be healed once this Yveltal is in play. This shuts off Wally's Compassion for the Active Mega Pokemon, Jumbo Ice Cream, maybe Shuckle as well as attacks that do healing.
The opponent could retreat and then heal to bypass the Yveltal ability. That is one downside.
Igglybuff
Igglybuff is a new 30 HP attacking Pokemon. For zero energy in its attack cost, the Bouncy Circle does 30 damage for each of your Benched Pokemon with a maximum HP of 30.
Your normal maximum of Benched Pokemon is 5. This makes Igglybuff deal 150 damage max. Adding a Tera Pokemon with Area Zero Underdepths allows your Bench space go up to 8. You would in theory have 7 30 HP Pokemon plus a Tera Pokemon. The expanded Bench maximum damage is 210.
Other 30 HP Pokemon include Budew, Poltchageist, Tyrogue, Team Rocket's Chingling, Ethan's Pichu, and Smoochum.
Unown
Unown is not the most scariest attacker out there. Mysterious Signal for 2 Psychic Energy to deal 40 damage is not great damage. If you do get a Knock Out from this Unown attack, you do take 1 more Prize card.
In theory, you can get rewarded for knocking out 30 HP Pokemon like Budew. The likelihood of pulling this off with Unown does not seem high.
Greninja ex
At first, I did not think this Greninja ex is that good. The second attack is okay but I have overlooked to first attack, Stealthy Slash.
For one Water Energy, Stealthy Slash does 30 damage to 1 of your opponent's Pokemon for each damage counter on that Pokemon. You can target the Bench if you want to. At first I thought that getting damage counters is kind of hard but you have Mega Greninja ex.
Have Mega Greninja ex in the Active Spot and use the ability to put 6 damage counters. Then use Surfing Beach to bring this new Greninja ex into the Active Spot. After that use Stealthy Slash. This combo can target weak Pokemon ex like Meowth ex, the new Mew ex, Fezandpiti ex. Note that Pokemon ex are not protected by Shaymin and Tera Pokemon like Teal Mask Ogerpon are protected by damage attacks on the Bench.
This combo does require a fair bit of setup though.
Reprints Of Poke Pad, Switch and Ultra Ball
Poke Pad and Ultra Ball are staple cards in many competitive decks. Switch is a good card but only a few decks use them against retreat lock Pokemon like Yveltal and Maractus.
These 3 cards are illustrated by Yuka Morii. There are some people who are fans of certain illustrators like Yuka Morii.
New Basic Energy Cards, Futuristic Look
Other Notes
Amongst the shiny and cool cards in this set, there are some neat playable cards in this special set. The challenges that present itself are finding the single cards and price.
I was not one of those crazy people who were lining up for this special set. Special sets like this one, Prismatic Evolutions, Black Bolt & White Flare, 151 are sets I avoid. It is not worth it for me to go for so much stuff from special sets. As I am a casual competitive player, I go for certain cards, collect a few stuff every once in a while and watch my spending.
For the playable cards, it is unknown right now if the metagame changes a whole lot. Dragapult ex decks will be around for much more longer until the next rotation in around April 2027.
I do plan a future post where I showcase crazy people fighting for Pokemon cards. Some peeps take it way too far.
Thank you for reading.