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We have only one set left for the long-awaited rotation, Evolving Skies, preliminarily it seems to show itself as one of those sets that become a base for the future, as well as in the Sun & Moon block, Guardians Rising was a set that strongly marked the entire block, it also gave us strategies that lasted almost for its entire valid time in Standard format and introduced iconic cards like Tapu Lele-GX and its masterful versatility, Garbodor Trashalanche , an incredible attacker who won, in the hands of Robin Schultz, the 2018 World Championship with Zoroark-GX in the Masters category; Adding to the incredible power of the trainers that the set brought, Rescue Strecher, Max Potion, Field Blower, Enhanced Hammer , Choice Band, a magnificent stadium like Brooklet Hill… I could praise this set for hours, which gave us what is, personally, my favorite card so far, Sylveon-GX (I know, hate me) but let’s get to the point, what does Evolving Skies bring us? A mix of very interesting sets, loaded with the reborn Dragon-type and a large number of the so-called Eeveelutions, we are eagerly awaiting its official release and consequently, the next rotation.
It's not in vain that I mentioned Brooklet Hill before, Evolving Skies brings us a very similar card, which will be a staple in all electric and/or dragon decks, Tempest Range: Once per turn, the player can search their deck for a basic electric or dragon-type Pokémon card, place it on the bench and shuffle the deck. A simple card that provides a lot of consistency to decks that can fully exploit its ability.
So, what archetype can take advantage of such a card? The answer is simple, it's probably the most hyped deck in the set, Rayquaza VMAX! A card with gameplay we've seen before, Rayquaza EX in the Black & White block has a similar attack, in the case of Rayquaza VMAX it reads: For 1 Fire and 1 Electric energy the attack does 20+ for each extra Fire or Electric energy discarded from this Pokémon, it does 80 more damage, that is, discard 1 energy and Rayquaza VMAX hits for 100, 2 energies and it's 180, and so on, with no maximum damage. But how do we charge it? Just like in the time of Rayquaza EX, with Eelektrik with the Dynamotor ability, Evolving Skies brings a Flaffy with the same ability, which allows us once per turn to charge an Electric energy from the discard pile to 1 of your Benched Pokémon. For those who didn't play at the time, the closest memory is Malamar from Forbidden Light, which had the same ability but charged psychic energies instead of electrical ones. This was played a lot with different attackers, but the best results came from its variant Ultra Necrozma-GX or Necrozma-GX .
Dark is a good type of Pokemon right now, the popularity of Shadow Rider Calyrex VMAX which has a weakness to this type and in turn, having a weakness to Grass which is a type of Pokemon outside the meta currently, give cards like Umbreon VMAX great potential, being a Single Strike type card, it benefits from all the support that this means, cards like Single Strike Energy or Houndoom , will allow to accelerate enough energy to charge easily and increase the damage of a Pokemon that has an attack that seems mediocre, 160 for 1 Dark energy and 2 colorless is little, but the ability is the strong point of this card, the ability to change a Pokemon from the opponent's bench to the active just by evolving is very powerful, combined with the aforementioned, Umbreon VMAX seems to be an archetype that will have an important impact in the future within competitive play.
Back to dragons, Duradulon VMAX is a card with a lot of potential, even though the biggest handicap for dragon Pokémon is the obligation to have 2 different types of energy, although, as we already know, if the card is good enough, that handicap is more than surmountable (I think and hate you Arceus & Dialga & Palkia Tag Team-GX).
Duradulon has what it takes to be a powerful card, the ability to prevent damage taken from attacks from Pokémon that have a special energy in play is very powerful in a meta that will be loaded with said energies, between the special energies of each type (example Coating Energy or Stone Energy ) or the special energies Single Strike and Rapid Strike , not counting the great value found in Capture Energy ; Duradulon VMAX also has the plus that its attack ignores the affect of any ability or effect of the active opposing Pokémon (poor Decidueye ). In addition, Duradulon V is a metal type, which allows cards like Metal Saucer and Bronzong to get some rhythm.
In conclusion, the set looks amazing, there is much more that we will talk about in the near future, quite a few other archetypes, trainer cards and Pokémon in general that have a lot of potential or that will improve already existing archetypes. Not to forget the immense amount of Alternate Arts and secret rarities that this set will contain, it will be a pleasure for both collectors and competitive players.
Kai Ostermann
Magic4Ever Team.