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Let's not lie to ourselves, the vast majority (myself included) of players, from casual players to those interested in competitive, are eagerly awaiting the rotation. Tag-Team cards were, to put it mildly, controversial, and they are still seen as dominant in the current meta. Despite the total emergence of Rapid Strike Urshifu VMAX , we continue to see the tireless Pikachu & Zekrom Tag-Team GX at the top of the different tournaments in PTCGO, in turn, the variants of Mewtwo & Mew Tag-Team GX, also the power of Welder and the constant relevance of the fire decks (Blacephalon and Reshiram & Charizard Tag-Team GX) and arguably the most unbalanced card in the recent history of the game, Arceus & Dialga & Palkia Tag-Team GX, are some of the archetypes that continue to have a powerful presence in the game's meta and of which we have seen more than enough.
In this light, the question of how the next Pokémon set, Chilling Reign, will influence the pre- and post-rotation context becomes urgent. Below, I'll share a selection of what I believe will be the most important cards in the set:
Ice Rider Calyrex VMAX:
Ice Horse has something very interesting, the support for water type cards that has been introduced since the beginning of the Sword & Shield block, with cards like Frosmoth or Capacious Bucket among others, makes me think that chaining attacks would not be so crazy, and 250 damage for two energies sounds pretty good, I have the feeling, observing online tournaments with SWSH-ON formats, that water decks have (finally) a good future. The problem: metal weakness and we all know what Zacian V means.
Zeraora V:
The Single Strike mechanic comes with greater support in Chilling Reign, and with its introduction in Battle Styles, the options beyond Urshifus begin to grow, here comes Zeraora V, a card with great potential, a powerful attack that reaches 260 damage, for a Pokémon V that only gives 2 prizes, it's quite powerful. At the same time, I think Zeraora V can be seen as a Tech card in variants of Rapid Strike Urshifu VMAX and the versatility provided by Rapid Strike Energy or the incoming Spiral Energy, or in archetypes more focused on pre-rotation electric with Tapu Koko Prism among others.
Kirlia:
I'll appeal to nostalgia, Kirlia is a reissue with a different type of an archetype that was loved and hated equally a few years ago with Greninja Break . Mirage Step, searches your deck for up to 3 copies of a Pokémon named Kirlia and puts them on the bench, just like Frogadier and its attack Water Duplicates. The potential is there, it's a proven mechanic, but (and it's a big but), the success shown by Frogadier and the Greninja Break archetype occurred in a context in which the cards did not reach the numbers that you find today in a format increasingly loaded with VMAXs that exceed 300 HP, in turn, Greninja and Greninja Break were powerful cards and Kirlia's evolutions (also introduced in Chilling Reign) Gardevoir and Gallade, I don't think they will reach that level of power, let's hope the progress of the Sword & Shield block brings us better options to exploit this entertaining mechanic in greater depth.
Shadow Rider Calyrex VMAX:
Here we go, the ghost horse is probably the card with the most hype in the set, and it is understandable why, its ability Underworld Door allows us, once per turn, to accelerate a psychic energy from the hand to one of your psychic Pokémon on the bench and subsequently draw two cards. You do not need much knowledge of the game to understand that it is a powerful ability, which can be increased for each Calyrex VMAX in play, achieving a fairly simple and efficient energy acceleration and draw engine.
And to add to the hype even more, its attack, Max Geist, does 10 damage plus 30 for each Psychic Energy your Pokémon have in play. It doesn't sound that strong at first, but the damage potential is obvious, and the ability to quickly accelerate the amount of Energy in play makes the potential damage output very high.
Galarian Zapdos V:
Personally, I think it’s the most powerful card in the set, mainly due to its incredible versatility. Every deck that runs Aurora Energy and every deck that runs, obviously, Fighting Energy, will be running one or two copies of this card. Galarian Zapdos V is the terror of Fighting weak cards, it can single-handedly force one of the most powerful archetypes in the Sword & Shield block, the mighty Eternatus VMAX , out of the meta or drastically change it, and it could also be the final nail in the coffin that we thought Urshifus would be for Pikachu & Zekrom Tag-Team GX.
Its ability, Fighting Instinct, reduces the attack cost by one colorless energy for each Pokémon V your opponent has in play. This, combined with its attack, Thunderclap Kick, which deals 170 damage and discards a special energy on the opponent's active Pokémon before dealing damage, becomes a nightmare for Eternatus VMAX, which is powered by the Crobat V card and not even the inclusion of Weakness Guard Energy in the tight deck list can help and avoid the dreaded One Hit KO. So for one fighting energy you can knock out a Pokémon VMAX that gives 3 prizes. Eternatus will have to adjust its archetype to a base less loaded with Pokémon V or simply cross its fingers that in the VS it doesn't get a deck that has this incredible card.
In short, Chilling Reign has a lot to offer, but I deeply believe that its impact will be much more noticeable in the meta in a post-rotation context. However, it is very possible to find a lot of very useful cards that were left out of this list, such as the spread damage power that Sandaconda VMAX brings, the acceleration that Galarian Moltres V can bring to the overshadowed Dark archetypes, or the interesting synergy for control decks that Metagross V brings, which still have great potential and will see, sooner rather than later, both competitive play and casual play with friends.
Kai Ostermann
M4E Team.
