The full set for the Pokemon Japan set Storm Emeralda has been revealed.
Since there is so much stuff, I cover some of the cards. This time I use Pokemon Proxies for the card images. Translation may not be the same compared to the official released English cards in late November 2026.
This post is long. Read and see what you want.
Heracross's Spike Draw seems good for the early game. One grass Energy to deal 20 damage plus 2 cards. Other than the Spike Draw, this Heracross is not very good.
Cacnea is not too scary but it is needed for Cacturne.
What makes Cacturne interesting is the second attack. Punishing Needle for 1 Grass Energy does 10 base damage plus 50 more damage for each of your opponent's Pokemon in play that has an Ability. This Cacturne is the Grass version of Scizor from Obsidian Flames. Scizor saw a little bit of play in Gholdengo ex decks. I think Cacturne will see some niche play.
Wimpod's ability gives it a zero retreat cost if the opponent has any Pokemon ex in play.
Mega Golisopod ex is not amazing but not awful. The Finishing Blow first attack does 60 base damage from 1 Grass Energy. Finishing Blow does 160 more damage if the opponent's Active Pokemon has any damage counters on it.
Quatro Hold for 3 Colourless Energy does 160 damage and it retreat locks the opponent's Active Pokemon (Defending Pokemon). This could be good against non attacking targets.
Heat Rotom ex's second attack is not very good but the first attack, Reheat, could be okay.
Reheat for 2 Colourless Energy does 30 damage for each Basic Fire Energy card in your discard pile. Then you shuffle/recycle the Energy cards into your deck.
Instead of a Psychic type, Frillish and Jellicent are Water types. Frillish is not a great attacker but it is needed for Jellicent. The Psychic Frillish is a little bit better to use as you can use Telepathic Psychic Energy.
Jellicent as an attacker is not great. The Deep-Sea Draw ability can be used once during your turn. You draw 1 card. If you do, then put a card from your hand to the bottom of your deck.
This ability is worse than just draw 1 card as you gain no card advantage when you put 1 card to the bottom of your deck. You could put an unwanted card to the bottom of your deck though.
Raikou ex is a Basic Pokemon ex with 200 HP, a zero retreat cost and Fighting weakness.
The Gather Lightning attack for one Lightning Energy is an interesting attack. This is one of the few rare attacks where you can use this attack going first on your first turn. Search your deck for a Lightning Energy card and attach it to Raikou ex. (Then shuffle deck)
Power Rush requires 2 Lightning Energy and 1 Colourless Energy to deal 200 damage. If you flip Tails, then this Pokemon cannot attack during your next turn. Most of the time, these attacks where you cannot attack again next turn is automatic. Making it a coin flip can't attack next turn is not too bad.
Pinurchin's attack does not require Lightning Energy for the Energy Crush attack. Energy Crush does 20 damage for each Energy attached to all of your opponent's Pokemon. If the opponent plays an Energy heavy deck then Pinurchin can deal medium size damage from 80 damage to 120 damage.
Giratina's Energy requirement for the Chaos Crawler attack is high. For 2 Psychic and one Colourless Energy you deal 120 damage and then Giratina is protected from damage of attacks during the opponent's next turn. I think this effect goes away if Giratina moves to the Bench.
Drowzee is not amazing but it is needed for Hypno.
Hypno is not as powerful as Mega Froslass with its Mind Ruler attack. For 1 Psychic Energy, Mind Ruler deals 20 damage times the number of cards in the opponent's hand. I guess this Hypno is a counter against Alakazam hand heavy decks.
Golett is not a good attacker but it is needed for Mega Golurk ex.
Mega Golurk ex is a tanky Stage 1 Psychic Mega Pokemon ex. This has 350 HP, a 3 retreat cost, Dark weakness and Fighting resistance.
For two Psychic Energy, the Goliath Punch does 300 damage and the Mega Golurk ex deals 30 damage to itself. One big drawback is the ability. Power Limiter does not allow Mega Golurk ex to attack unless you have 10 or more cards in hand. Getting ten cards in hand is not impossible but it is not that easy to obtain.
Groudon is a powerful Basic Fighting Pokemon. Savage Ground is a costly attack but it does 100 base damage plus 170 more damage if there is a Legendary Stadium in play.
Sandshrew's Ascension attack is good as you evolve the Sandshrew into Sandslash.
Sandslash looks annoying to deal with. If you attack it in the Active Spot, then your Active Pokemon takes 3 damage counters (30 damage). The Hole-Digging Claws attack for 1 Fighting Energy deals 60 damage plus you discard/mill the top card of your opponent's deck.
This Kommo-o evolution line does not seem very good. The Scale Beat ability on Kommo-o is a random energy acceleration ability for your Dragon Pokemon. The Hammer In attack is not that scary given you need one Lightning Energy, one Fighting Energy and one Colourless Energy.
Azurill looks like a really good 30 HP baby Pokemon with a free retreat cost and free attack. For zero Energy, the Bounce Bounce Charge attack lets you search your deck for any Energy (Basic Energy or Special Energy). Then you attach that Energy to 1 of your Benched Pokemon. Shuffle deck afterwards.
Swablu is not great but it is needed for Altaria. Altaria looks like the future replacement for Latias ex. The attack is not great but the Cotton Carrier ability lets your Basic Pokemon in play have a zero retreat cost. Watch out for Team Rocket's Watchtower though.
I don't know if this evolution line is a good Latias ex replacement in the future. You could run a Switch or two or Air Balloon.
Mega Rayquaza ex is the featured Pokemon in this set.
The Champion's Roar ability is kind of underwhelming. It activates when you play Mega Rayquaza ex from hand to Bench. You check the top 4 cards of your deck and attach a Basic Energy you find there to this Pokemon. Shuffle the remaining cards to the bottom of your deck.
If you get the Storm Emeralda attack off, this attack does 50 times the number of Fire and Lightning Energy attached to all your Pokemon in play.
Talonflame ex is an alternate attacker that goes with Colourless Mega Pokemon ex. The Claw Hunt is not the strongest attack. It does 150 damage plus you search for 2 cards from your deck and put them into your hand (No card reveals required).
One important ruling for the Talonflame ex is that you can use Excited Dive even when there is Team Rocket's Watchtower. The Excited Dive ability is from the hand while the Watchtower negates abilities of Colourless Pokemon that are in play (on the field).
I have covered Legendary Summit and Legendary Marine Trench in a previous post. This Lava Lake is the new Stadium reveal from this set. You have to play both halves to put this into play. The two halves counts as one Stadium.
When Legendary Lava Lake is in play, Evolution Pokemon in play on both sides have no Abilities. This negation effect is quite powerful when this stadium is in play. One big weakness with these two part Stadiums is that they can be replaced by a different Stadium, attacks that remove stadiums or something like Chien-Pao.
When it comes to draw Supporters, Draw 3 cards alone is generally bad. There are better Supporters out there than Draw 3 cards. Tate & Liza's Training is just draw 2 cards. If there is a Legendary Stadium in play, then this Supporter card goes back to your hand instead of the discard pile. Don't play this card in the Standard Format. Avoid it.
Aarune looks like a very good Supporter for Stadium heavy decks. You search your deck for up to 3 Supporter or Stadium cards in any combination, reveal them, and put them into your hand. (Shuffle deck afterwards.) Decks that run the two piece stadiums or stadiums in general will benefit from Aarune.
As of July 26, 2026, the only illustration rare cards that are revealed are Growlithe and Groudon.
Thank you for reading.
