Hello, and welcome to Part 2 of The 30 Hottest Cards!
If you didn’t read Part 1, click here to check it out.
Basically, this is a list of some of the best and most valuable cards in the upcoming HGSS-on format; I’ve already named the first 15 and am now on the way to the second half of the article.
#15 – Reshiram BW
To kick it off we have Reshiram, which when the set first came out was the core of the most hyped deck: ReshiBoar. The deck relies on a consistent 120 damage stream, using Emboar for energy acceleration and Reshiram to attack. The deck now has lost some hype and is being considered secondary to MagneBoar. The deck does have some advantages over MagneBoar. It is slightly more consistent because it requires a basic and a stage two, instead of two stage twos.
The deck can also usually run Shuckle more effectively as well. Lastly the deck’s main draw engine is a stage one, Ninetales, instead of a stage 2 Magnezone Prime. The downfalls are that it doesn’t have type coverage and can’t OHKO anything it wants. It also can’t run Rayquaza-Deoxys Legend as effectively either.
However, Reshiram is still being used in some MagneBoar decks, others are simply ignoring him and trying to find a better solution than Reshiram, however it does provide a consistent 120. That is just part of the reason its price has dropped, due to several factors, being reprinted in a tin, loss of hype, and Magnezone Prime proving to be a better partner, he has fallen a lot, but is still a good solid card and one that’s decent trade bait (if you have the full art version).
#14 – Smeargle UD/CL
Now, before I begin on this card, I have to note something from last week’s article; when I wrote that article Cleffa hadn’t been as hyped or seen its price skyrocket and would probably be here, or even higher in this list.
That said Smeargle is still an excellent choice as a starter, and overall a great card. He is used for his Portrait Poke-Power, letting you use a Supporter card if your opponent has one in their hand.
With Portrait being a Power, you can use it several times in a turn using Switch and manually retreating. Unfortunately, they don’t always have a Supporter and sometimes you can be trapped doing this, walking into a Judge or a Professor Juniper when your hand is excellent.
It also doesn’t have a chance at invincibility like Cleffa does, but it can’t be donked by Tyrogue either, so this card definitely has its pros and cons. It will be interesting to see which card sees more play, Cleffa or Smeargle, but right now I’d say Cleffa has the edge.
#13 – Machamp Prime TM
The first Prime today is Machamp, and he has some history. When he first came on to the scene, he was supposed to take Machamp SF to the next level, but that fizzled, and he wasn’t really even used. Now seen as the ideal partner for Donphan Prime, and as a counter to Magnezone, it could be his time to shine.
His Power, Fighting Tag, lets him use your active Pokemon’s energies and allows him to speed up, and when used with Seeker you can then heal that Pokemon and have fresh Machamp hitting for, ideally, 100 or more damage.
The bad news is that with his Power he turns into an energy hog, and is easily knocked out by Magnezone Prime. This can leave the Machamp player now scrambling to get those energies back, and with Donphan you can usually respond quickly.
But the bottom line is that he uses so many energies and against the presumed BDIF, and will only get you one prize.
#12 – Seeker
This is a card that has truly gotten worse with rotation; it was heavily abused with the Pixies, and more recently, used to help achieve turn one donks, however it is still an excellent card and seems to fit in nicely with decks running Shuckle and Emboar, picking up Shuckle, and then dropping down the energies to draw even more cards.
It also has a found a home in ZPS, as it is used not only to increase donk chances; it is used as a guaranteed Super Scoop to reuse a Pachirisu or Shaymin. Lastly, it makes a great healing card. This guy should still be considered a semi-staple card, and with his RH version so high definitely worth nabbing those while you can.
#11 – Pachirisu CL
The only great Pokemon from Call of Legends that isn’t a reprint is Pachirisu. The P in ZPS, this cute and cuddly guy makes the deck function. He is only used for Self Generation, letting you attach two lightning energies to him, and then moving them to Zekrom.
His price is almost surely, dependent on ZPS’s success because he hasn’t been used in really, any other deck. His price, like Shaymin’s, has also been skyrocketing and he makes for great trade bait. I suggest picking these up and then trying to trade them away for better goods at Nationals as his price will probably fall.
Lastly, he also makes an interesting tech choice in Magnezone decks, as he can provide some more early game energy and work as an energy accelerator.
#10 – Tyranitar Prime UL
Coming in on the edge of the top ten is Tyranitar Prime. He is an excellent all around card, but I’ll start with the high hit points, 160 is huge for several reasons, that means Magnezone has to burn four energies to get a KO, he can survive a hit from RDL, and also can’t be OHKO’d by Reshiram or Zekrom.
The weakness to Fighting is annoying, but he can still survive an Earthquake from Donphan easily. He is best known for two of his attacks, the first being a 20 spread to anything that is not a Dark type, which seeing as the only viable Dark Pokemon are Zoroark and Mandibuzz, it’s basically everything.
The other attack is a straight up do 120 damage, while discarding the top 3 cards of your deck, and since Tyranitar is Dark, those Darkness Specials should add to the damage. Power Claw isn’t mentioned as much, but is still a good attack for going through Donphan’s Poke-Body.
The deck is also typically run with Mandibuzz and Zoroark. Mandibuzz pretty much cleans up after Darkness Howl and Zoroark just gets a lot of OHKOs with one Special Dark Energy and can use MagneBoar’s own attacks to ride a wave of victory. Should be a solid deck and it is definitely a sold card.
#9 – Pokemon Collector
The best Supporter card available by far, this guy lets you set up, avoid donks and is just amazing. The card also, in this format, seems to be the primary evolution searcher when used in conjunction with Pokemon Communication.
However, he’s not as good as in MD because of the loss of Pixies, which would allow you to get a full setup off of this guy, but it is still the best supporter. For most decks, there is no good reason not to run four of them, hopefully it will be reprinted as league promo, but as of right now it hasn’t.
Definitely a card you want extras of at Nationals, even to just trade them away because people always want this card.
#8 – Double Colorless Energy
The only energy card to make the cut, and is high because of his RH value, an RH DCE is exceedingly hard to come by and is really expensive. I expect this card’s value to decline sharply once his league season starts, but that doesn’t detract from the fact that it’s a great card. Last year it was a near hated card as it made SPs even more broken than before.
Many people questioned the decision to reprint such a broken card in a format dominated by Garchomp C LV.X decks, particularly LuxChomp. The card is now in a format where it is balanced, and should still have a chance to shine.
It is used primarily in Cinccino, Tyranitar, and decks that tech in Zoroark. This is the only energy card that provides multiple energy and it will still be a staple card, but with Emboar and Pachirisu energy acceleration being ideal, it won’t be used as much. Still a solid card, but expect the value of it to plummet.
#7 – Yanmega Prime TM
This insect was discovered at the Georgia Marathon, he was used in a MegaJudge deck. The deck combined Yanmega and Magnezone Prime with Judge, in order to create a very fast and disruptive combo. While that deck could still be used in this format Yanmega Prime is hot for another reason now; a Donphan counter. - Yanmega Prime works as a great Donphan counter for many reasons, his attacks are free, assuming you use Judge or Copycat, he can take up to three hits from Donphan, and being a stage one he is relatively fast. He also is able to fit into decks because of his free retreat, and he also is a good sniper to KO baby Pokemon.
- Yanmega currently seems to be most popular in ZPS, he can also be used in Cinccino decks, and as a potential partner for Magnezone, in MegaJudge again. While overall his appearance in top tier decks seems little, I expect him to rise in play as it is an overall good card.
#6 – Donphan Prime HGSS
After mentioning his best counter, we get to big elephant himself, Donphan Prime. Donphan Prime was hyped as soon as he came out in HGSS, and while not being a tier one deck, has been a solid deck, mainly as a LuxChomp counter, and most recently was a supporter in MagneRock and of course as a donking Pokemon.
I’ll start with his 120 hit points, which is huge for a stage one. He then has a fantastic Body, basically a de facto resistance to everything, along with resistance to lightning making him a decent Magnezone Prime counter.
Against Magnezone they must send four energy to the lost zone to Knock out a fresh Donphan. With a PlusPower, Donphan is able to Knock out Magnezone Prime in one shot with Earthquake. An issue for Donphan is the matchup against a SamuGatr deck, or any solid water deck.
He has issues as 60 really isn’t enough to get a OHKO and he’s easy prey for water Pokemon to KO He relies on those decks being beat by MagneBoar, and just not facing them. Partly because of that weakness he is sometimes seen as a great tech, that is relatively easy to fit in as a tech, as 60 for one and his type advantages make him useful.
He’s also been discussed a lot in stage one “toolbox” decks. Lastly, he seems to be a card on the rise again, and who knows he’s already been known to take down one BDIF, maybe he can do it again?
#5 – Zekrom B/W
This is another hot card, not necessarily because his deck is amazing, but because of his “error” printing. He’s the main attacker in ZPS, and is one of two cards that can legitimately donk consistently, the other being Tyrogue on Cleffas, and maybe you could throw in Pachirisu there as well.
He’s got great hit points for a basic, clocking in at 130, but his attack does 40 to himself. He also faces an auto loss against Donphan, which can be moved to an unfavorable match up with Yanmega Prime.
He also has a hard time recovering himself, and then setting up another Zekrom consistently, in short he’s great at that turn one burst, but then slows down after that. But being a consistent donking card means something, so he’ll probably stay hot, but be stuck at tier two, unless Pokemon Catcher just gives him a huge boost.
From experience I can say playing the deck is fun, but it just isn’t as good as the rest of the top five, and part of that is due to the error printing or multiple runs of the card, as his price is inflated, in my opinion this guy is closer to number eight or nine, not the top five.
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#4 – Emboar #20 BW
Yep, the highest card from B/W is the Inferno Fandango Emboar. He’s the energy accelerator for, at the moment, the two most hyped decks, ReshiBoar and Magneboar, with the latter better than the former. His ability lets you attach as many fire energies you want to any of your Pokemon, making him a much more versatile card than Feraligatr Prime.
With this ability, he has great synergy with the Shuckle Promo, essentially giving you a built-in draw engine, ideally you could then Seeker the Shuckle, and either drop the energies elsewhere, or draw more cards, this engine is commonly used in the ReshiBoar decks, sometimes in conjunction with Ninetales.
The problem with that deck is its Fire match up, which is then covered by Magnezone Prime. The premise of that deck is to drop the energies anywhere, draw up to six cards, then Lost Burn for massive damage. I also see this card staying around its current value, there doesn’t seem to be any better cards coming out to make him better or worse, however I could see him being used with the new Hydreigon revealed from Red Collection.
#3 – Gengar Prime TM
The only non-MagneBoar piece to make the top four is this ghost. A format staple for the past three seasons in various forms, when he first came to the USA, along with Lost World a set later, he was supposed to be the BDIF, but the format, overall was too fast, and the counters were many.
Now with rotation getting rid of SPs, he is thought to rise and become the deck that, well, he was supposed to be. His base stats are good, 130 hit points, weak to dark, which isn’t as quick as last format and doesn’t hit for as much damage, resistance to colorless is cool, and Cinccino doesn’t really hurt him, and of course free retreat.
He also comes with a nice Body, Catastrophe, whenever an opponent’s Pokemon is KO’d while he is active, and it goes to the Lost Zone. This isn’t that relevant, with the loss of CurseGar, and Cursed Drop not doing much, it isn’t as useful as it could be.
The true star attack is Hurl Into Darkness, it lets you look at your opponent’s hand and send as many Pokemon, as psychic energy attached to Gengar, to the Lost Zone, and with all the ways to get cards into your opponents’ hand, it should be Hurling at least one every turn.
Typically, LostGar decks will run Spiritomb, allowing them to force their opponent to draw six cards, along with Seeker, you have a Pokemon in their hand guaranteed, and lastly, Mr. Mime and Mime Jr., Mr. Mime lets you look at their hand, and Mime Jr. can get lucky and hit a Pokemon off the top deck.
Cursed Drop really isn’t as good, and is more of a desperation tactic, but it can 2HKO a lot of small Pokemon and OHKO baby Pokemon, which are sure to be in almost all decks. I love this card, and if played right it could be a top contender at Nationals and Worlds. Expect the value to rise, and crash, it has already done that before, so history could repeat itself if the deck doesn’t perform.
#2 – Rayquaza and Deoxys Legend UD
Well, I said there weren’t any more non-MagneBoar pieces and this guy is a staple in that deck now. He’s got good hit points, coming in at 150, but you probably won’t play him until you know you’re about to win with him, the double weakness to psychic and colorless isn’t as bad as it used to be and the retreat is awful.
He’s used because of his body, letting you take an extra prize on KO’s, making him a great game finisher, and in my opinion, the best, plus with his Ozone Buster, 150 is enough to KO almost everything relevant in the format, save for Tyranitar Prime.
RDL wasn’t hyped all that much when it first came out due to LuxChomp and VileGar, both tier one decks that easily could OHKO this guy, and he was a bit too slow to be a tech.
Then Emboar came out, and it was amazing, play RDL, attach three fire energies, then a lightning and you take two prizes. He’s used almost solely in MagneBoar decks because it’s about the only deck that can take the energy hog on, and use it only as a game finisher.
There are some counters, LostGar can randomly get rid of a half, and being that it is mostly a 1-1 line that makes him useless.
The main threats from a Pokemon standpoint are other RDLs, 600 damage will KO him, Zoroark can Foul Play for a KO, Boufallant can get revenge KOs, and of course Cinccino can snag a KO as well. The best ways to get rid of those counters, except LostGar, are generally to use Indigo Plateau and Defender.
The only way to counter LostGar is to run a 2-2 line, but if you can get him on the board quickly it doesn’t matter as much. Lastly, I’d expect his price to continue to climb, similar to Uxie X, a card that was mildly hyped, and then found itself as a staple in the BDIF and it rose for a long time.
#1 – Magnezone Prime TM
If you’ve been on any Pokemon site in the past month, you’ll note that everyone wants these. This card wasn’t as hyped when it came out, but it soon became a threat, first in a Magnezone toolbox, running ERL and Magnezone SF for energy acceleration and more recently in MagneRock. Its price has been steadily rising and will probably continue to do so, as it’s a great draw engine and can dish out massive damage.
With 140 hit points it is hard to KO; basically only mirror match can get an easy OHKO on it. The weakness to fighting is a bit of hazard, as a Donphan and PlusPower can OHKO it. The retreat, as is for most Magnezones, is awful, but almost irrelevant as once it is active, you will either get multiple prizes or just let it get KO’d and use his energy to Lost Burn.
He comes with Metal resistance, which again is irrelevant, as Steelix and Scizor are the only viable Metal Pokemon and MagneBoar already beats those into the ground enough.
Now onto the important parts of the card, the Power and the Attack, which are both amazing. The Power, Magnetic Draw, lets you draw until you have six cards in your hand, a weakened version of Claydol, but when used with Junk Arm, Inferno Fandango, and Judge it is relatively easy to get a small hand and draw four to six cards.
It is also the best draw engine in the format and doesn’t discard cards like Ninetales.It will normally draw more than one card, unlike Noctowl, and unlike both of those cards, Magnezone can attack for a lot of damage.
Now, onto to Lost Burn, it deals 50 damage times the number of energy you send to the Lost Zone. That means, with a high count of energy, you can OHKO everything, but that the energy can’t be recovered. This leads to the dilemma, you’ll eventually run out of energy, and this is why there are other attackers in the deck, RDL and “Bad” Emboar.
But, let’s finish the discussion of Lost Burn. Most Pokemon will be KO’d using three or less energy, the exceptions are Donphan Prime and Tyranitar Prime, Tyranitar also can survive an RDL hit. Also, especially in mirror match, you will be Lost Zoning the energies on the active Magnezone, it will just be KO’d, the main thing you need to do with the attack is manage your resources.
I will admit I do have some problems with that, especially on the annoying 60 Hit Point and 110 Hit Point Pokemon, but luckily there is an excellent solution! Tyrogue can hit for 30 for free, and a chance of invincibility makes him ideal. PlusPower can also be used to outplay your opponent!
Lastly, I expect the price to continue to steadily climb, and for the top two cards on this list to stay for a long time similar to Uxie LV.X and Luxray GL LV.X, which draw very similar parallels when you look at their price.
Uxie X relates to RDL, they were both mildly hyped, but really had to wait for their moment to skyrocket in price, for Uxie X it was the SPs, and then being used in most decks after that initial leap. Luxray X would relate to Magnezone Prime because they were both “under hyped” and now are the most wanted cards.
I’d get these guys and play them or trade them as there is no reason for me to believe that their value will plummet until rotation.
Now the final part of my article, what exactly does this mean?
Well these are the 30, in general, best and most wanted cards, some cards are high because of hype or price, but these are all cards that great trade bait and wanted. Most of them are also in top tier decks as well, so you want these guys.
This also can help you decide what set to invest in, and well in my opinion there are two approaches to this:
- The most playable set (sets with the most staples)
- The most expensive set (sets with the most valuable cards)
So I’ll give you a quick breakdown (top 3 in each):
Most Staple Cards
HeartGold and SoulSilver – Pokemon Collector, Pokemon Communication, PETM, PONT, Copycat, Fisherman, Ninetales, Cleffa, and Tyrogue.- Triumphant – Magnezone Prime, Seeker, Twins, Rescue Energy, Junk Arm, and Alph Lithograph 4.
- Call of Legends – Pachirisu, Lost World, many notable reprints.
Honorable mention staples-Emboar and Judge
Most Valuable Sets
- Triumphant – Magnezone Prime, Gengar Prime, Yanmega Prime, Seeker, and Mew Prime.
- Black and White – Emboar, many cards that have inflated price because it’s the new set, Cinccino, Professor Juniper
- Undaunted – Rayquaza and Deoxys Legend and Smeargle (yes RDL is enough to get a whole set on the list)
Honorable mention-Unleashed set, many “solid” primes.
Also a quick breakdown of the sets that got the most cards on the list
1. Triumphant
T-2. HeartGold and SoulSilver and Black and White
4. Unleashed
T-5. Undaunted and Call of Legends
So, that’s the end of my article, I’m going on Florida Vacation next week, so until then test your hearts out and I’ll see you guys at Nationals (hopefully).
Also you’ll want to friend this guy on Facebook (wanted me to do for my G-Dos article, but it’s a little belated).
On that happy note, my work here is a done.
