Last night, Pokebeach posted these images, [and more], of cards from the Japanese mini-set [Legendary Holo Collection], which will be released in Japan this Thursday, coinciding with the release of “Hoopa and the Clash of Ages” movie. There will be 27 total cards in this set, reminiscent of Japan’s [Shiny Collection]. It’ll be interesting to see how Legendary Holo Collection will be released to the rest of the world, whether it’s going to be tacked onto another set like Radiant Collection was to [Legendary Treasures], or if it’s going to be released in its own packs like [Double Crisis] and so many other mini-sets.
From the point of view of a player, none of it is particularly exciting, so far they’re all mediocre cards. But from the eyes of a collector, these are certainly some amazing looking cards. As a Regi fan and collector I audibly gasped when I saw this Regigigas card, the artwork is magnificent.
One other note of interest about this news, and it’s something I talked about in a [previous post], is this is the first time in TCG we’re seeing an Arceus card since the [Platinum Arceus] set in 2009, which was the only set Arceus was ever released as a card in. I proposed a theory in the post I just linked to that since it’s been so long since Arceus has been seen in the TCG, Pokemon might have been saving it up for another Arceus-themed set. This release makes sense because it’s in a mini-set that is quite obviously related to the Hoopa movie. I also mentioned the lack of an Arceus-EX when so many other Legendary Pokemon have EXs. We know there will be 2 EXs in Legendary Holo Collection, and so far Hoopa-EX is the only one announced. I think the likelihood of the second EX being Arceus-EX is rather high, seeing as Hoopa and Arceus are the feature Pokemon in the movie. Hmmm…
What’s up people this is Jonathan Santana here to bring you my first blog post on We Are TCG. I’ve been thinking allot about what to write about my first post but first let me give you an introduction about myself. I started playing Pokemon since i was a kid and I always fell in love with…
Since I’ve started this blog, I’ve been really bad at keeping up with TCG news updates—with the exception of the Lysandre’s Trump Card ban, I suppose. I decided I should probably make a post about this one, since it literally made me say “Wow!” and filled me with genuine excitement.
The original [Level Ball] was printed in Next Destinies, which has since been rotated out of [Standard Format]. However, this meant it was still legal to play in [Expanded Format]. I’ve said this before in other posts, but I’ll repeat myself for new readers. In [Premier event tournaments] if it is a two-day event (Regionals, Nationals, and Worlds) then on Day 1 all attendees play a Standard Format tournament, and on Day 2, the Top (X) players ((8, 16, 32…depending on total number of attendees)) play an Expanded Format tournament. You are allowed to change your deck if you Top Cut Day 1 and are moving onto Day 2.
Since Expanded Format was implemented, there have been very few cards that have transitioned from the status of Rotated and Expanded legal to Reprinted and Standard legal. I’m having a hard time thinking of any card that’s done this besides [EXP Share] and [Enhanced Hammer]. In the case of EXP Share, it was no big deal. Some decks used it, but there were better tools to use. Enhanced Hammer had more of an impact. It found its place in plenty of decks (as a 1-of or 2-of at most) but most notably was used in Seismitoad decks to supplement [Crushing Hammer].
I wouldn’t say that Level Ball is going to be a format-shaping card when it is returned to Standard Format, but it does telegraph the Pokémon Company’s intentions for the game moving forward. Ever since XY’s release it was clear that they wanted to move away from the “Big Basics” centered Meta—by which I mean decks consisting mainly of EXs with heavy-hitting attacks. Their first approach to change this was introducing Mega-EXs, but it didn’t work. Nobody could justify playing Mega-EXs despite their superior HP and in some cases attack power, because they were too slow to play, mostly due to the [Mega Evolution mechanic]. So, Pokémon introduced Spirit Links to further encourage players to play Megas, and it worked! [Mega Manectric] was played, [Primal Groudon] and [Kyogre] saw some popularity. Since then, there are other Megas people are keen to play, and more still people will want to play in the future..
It seems to me that the reintroduction of Level Ball into Standard is encouraging more behavior like this. The immediate candidates that comes to mind is [Zubat], [Golbat], and [Crobat] (The more popular Zubat from [Plasma Storm] will be rotated). Although Crobat isn’t searchable by Level Ball, Level Ball will be an instrumental card to Bats decks to help get out as many Zubats as possible, and if you’re lucky enough to start with a couple, it’s going to get you the Golbats too. I can almost guarantee you that the Level Ball with Bats engine will be present in [Mega Tyranitar] decks. [Giant Plant Forest] also benefits from Level Ball’s release. For instance, it’ll help you get [Treecko] and [Grovyle] out in order to play [Sceptile], a card I [recently discussed] as a potential support Pokemon that could see future play.
Although this will already be an Expanded Format option only post rotation, Level Ball holds a special place in my heart because of [Weavile/Exeggcute/Lopunny]. The way I played it (the way poke-decks built it) was Expanded already, but until rotation happens Weavile is still technically a Standard Pokemon. Alas, when we get Level Ball again, Weavile will soon after be rotated.
So that’s plenty about Level Ball, I just wanted to touch on this topic that I think is an important development in post-rotation news. Is there any fun or interesting way you would use Level Ball in a post-rotation format?
