Pokémon ex (as opposed to Pokémon EX) were introduced in the Scarlet and Violet base set and immediately made an impact on the game. Some of these ex Pokémon have the Tera type, which makes them immune to damage while on the bench and changes the Pokémon’s type as well. Tsareena ex is such a Pokémon, and while it isn’t meta-defining, it can be very powerful with the right backup.
By Serena L.
Hey guys! It’s Serena back, this time taking another dive into Commander!
As you may have noticed, I’m a big fan of Lyrical Monasterio and Bermuda Triangle in Vanguard, so we’re gonna submerge ourselves into an upgraded “Explorers of the Deep” precon deck from the Lost Caverns of Ixalan. To start off, Explorers of the Deep is a merfolk kindred deck in blue and green, and also has some nice +1/+1 counter synergies. While the preconstructed version uses Hakbal of the Surging Soul, I’ve cut that card entirely. The commander we’re going with is Kumena, Tyrant of Orazca, which enables our combos a lot easier, including some game-ending infinites.
Star Wars has a long history with gaming, especially with card games. Star Wars Unlimited is the newest in the line, letting players use ironic characters from the franchise to attack, and eventually destroy, their opponent’s base.
The Pokemon Raid format is an asymmetrical, cooperative game where a team of players work together to defeat a powerful Raid Boss, represented by an oversized Pokemon card or a V-UNION. While the basic rules apply, there are a number of differences, such as players taking turns simultaneously, the group getting a collective number of Supporter cards that can be played each turn, and players taking their own prize cards as their Pokemon are knocked out. For more information, see the Pokemon TCG Alterative Play Handbook on the Pokemon website.
By Serena L
Stand Up! Vanguard!
Serena here, back with another Vanguard article, this time, we’re going to be talking about one of the newest decks from Lyrical Monastario set 4, LèVre♡SœurS! These succubi sisters focus on buffing their grade 3 vanguard, LèVre♡SœurS, Charmout, who in turn powers up her sisters to swing with massive numbers! Without further ado, let’s get started!
Alakazam ex from the Scarlet and Violet 151 set does something no other card in the Pokemon TCG has ever done before: It can attack from the bench. While it only does 120 damage with the Dimensional Hand attack, it can do so with much more protection than other attackers. When paired with Pokemon with powerful defensive abilities, it becomes very difficult to deal with.
By Serena L.
Stand Up! Vanguard!
Serena here again. And this time, I brought Friends! Today we’re exploring the new upgrades for Lyrical Monastario’s Fortia and her Friends. If you’re familiar with older formats of Vanguard, you are probably familiar with the Harmony deck. Friends are basically the updated version of Harmony. Most of our Units grant the “Friends” state when they have another unit in their column, and the ones that don’t all have powerful (but not ‘Powerful’) abilities! We will be calling the units that grant the ‘Friend’ status to themselves and their column-mates ‘Friend units’ for simplicity’s sake. The specific wording of the Friend ability is: “If you have another unit in the same column as this unit, that unit and this unit become “Friends”.
By Serena L.
Stand Up! Vanguard!
Serena here! It’s finally time to talk about the final Nation we have yet to discuss, Brandt Gate. It’s only taken me a little over a year to get through all 6! This time we’re covering Orfist, specifically a more budget take on the D Special Series 08: Stand Up Deckset “Orfist”. It was one of three preconstructed decks designed for more competitive play. Orfist is a deck that revolves around calling Shadow Army Tokens as well as the main gimmick of Brandt Gate, revolving around set orders. There are a few forms of Orfist himself, but this time we’re specifically covering Cardinal Dominus, Orfist Regis, as that is the main vanguard from the deck. In fact, most of the stuff in this is going to come from the precon. You can find the deck list from before the rules updates on the Deck Log.
By Serena L.
Stand Up! Vanguard!
Serena here! I was planning on finally writing about the last Nation I mentioned last time, but Bushiroad made some massive announcements for the Overdress/Standard/D format. I thought I should cover them, since they’re pretty impactful, not just to the Japanese side of things, but to the English side of the game as well.
Rise of the Floodborn adds welcome variety to the card pool, opening new deck building options and themes. While most attention is (as of this writing) placed on the card drawing engine of Hiram Flaversham and Pawpsicle, all colors have new options. The one that caught my eye is Amethyst’s bounce subtheme, and not just because Sword in the Stone is in my top 5 Disney movies. By using abilities to return characters to your hand, you can use enter play effects over and over. I have a basic frame using Amethyst only, which you can see at Dreamborn.
