Summary
As expected, given the large number of new cards introduced with Celestial Guardians,Pokemon TCG Pockethas officially entered a new meta where not all the most-used past decks survived, and new ones were formed. For example,Pokemon TCG Pocket’s Giratina Exhas seen quite a drop in usage after Celestial Guardians, which makes sense because of the various counters to its strategy that the expansion introduced. The new set is also making Stage 2 cards much more consistent across the board, thanks to Rare Candy, and this is one of the reasons why cards like Solgaleo Ex are surging in use. Another Stage 2 Pokemon card is also at the top of the meta, which is history repeating itself after Gen 9 games.
The reason why Rare Candy is such a good card inPokemon TCG Pocketis that one can hypothetically use a deck with two different Stage 2 evolutionary lines and only use one copy of each of their Stage 1 critters accompanied by a total of two copies of Rare Candy. What this does is give each evolutionary line three chances to complete the evolution rather than two, and also have the chance to get a fully-evolved card in play on turn three at the earliest. These are only some of the reasons why Incineroar Ex is now one of the best cards inPokemon TCG Pocket, though.
Why Pokemon Scarlet and Violet’s Incineroar is OP
Much to the surprise of no competitive player,Pokemon Scarlet and Violet’s VGC meta ended up being dominated by Incineroar, among other critters. This is because Incineroar has access to Intimidate to lower the opponents' Attack, it is naturally bulky, it has powerful support moves with decent attacks, and its type combination is great. With very few downsides, Incineroar is simply one of thebest Pokemon in Gen 9games overall, and Incineroar Ex is nothing to scoff at inPokemon TCG Pocket.
Pokemon TCG Pocket’s Incineroar is as Broken as in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet
Pokemon TCG Pocket’s Incineroar Excan’t exactly function like its mainline series counterpart due to the rules of the game being fundamentally different, but it has an attack for one Fire Energy that deals 30 damage and Burns the target, making it incredibly strong from the get-go. This is then paired with another attack that costs three Energy and deals 80 damage at base, increased by 60 if Incineroar Ex has damage on itself, meaning it can hit for 140. This doesn’t even have to be a drawback, considering its pre-evolutions.
In fact, both Litten and Torracat have access to moves that deal decent damage for a single Fire Energy and deal 10 damage back to them, which sets up nicely Incineroar Ex’s Scar-Charged Smash so that it can deal 140 damage instead of 80. Between Incineroar Ex’s raw power and the fact that it can be paired withPokemon TCG Pocket’s Rare Candy card, players can use it alongside other powerful Fire-type big hitters like Charizard Ex (either from Genetic Apex or Shining Revelry) and Infernape Ex. There are pros and cons to each, but Incineroar Ex remains the star of the show thanks to its Burn damage and ability to deal massive damage in a single hit.
How Pokemon TCG Pocket Players Can Counter Incineroar Ex
It’s not all roses, though, asPokemon TCG Pocket’s Electric-type Oricorioblocks all damage from Ex cards, rendering cards as powerful as Incineroar Ex useless. There are workarounds, such as hitting Oricorio with Stage 1 critters like Torracat or using Supporter cards like Sabrina and Cyrus to swap it out. Likewise, Incineroar is not invincible in Gen 9 games, as there are counters to it, but it does remain one of the most consistent and powerful Pokemon ever - something that will take a better Fire-type Pokemon card to replace inPokemon TCG Pocket.
