If your adversary has been loading up, for something like a Pikachu & Zekrom GX that uses six Energy, you could take a swing that makes them regret it. The first is a straight attack for one Grass, that does 30 damage for every basic Energy attached to your opponent’s active Pokémon. At 60 HP, this Grass version of the mythical Pocket Monster has weakness to Fire, but an especially cheap retreat cost of one Colorless.įor this one, the three colors are spread between its two abilities. CelebiĪ low-cost, low-risk team-amplifier here, the Amazing Rare Celebi is something that’ll need protection, but offers some great strategic value. The $40-and-up price-tag reflects the strength. Something to keep an eye on in competitive play for sure. You might not KO what’s right in front of you, but if your opponent has anything tricky on the bench that they’re keeping safe for the time-being, you can knock it out. This presents all sorts of possibilities. This does 120 damage, and 120 additional damage to one of your opponent’s benched Pokémon, so it’s a two-for-one. Raikou has one move, Amazing Shot, for one Grass, one Lightning, and one Metal, and it’s a doozy. As a Lightning-type, this tiger-like monster has weakness to Fighting, and another retreat cost of two Colorless. 110 HP is lower than Raikou GX, but higher than the Skyridge Raikou‘s, hitting a sweet spot. The next best Amazing Rare is Raikou, whose health is actually nearly static compared to his brethren. For around $20, this legendary shield dog is a steal for its potential uses. This is situational, certainly, but it’s a headache against the right decks. All damage from meta-friendly Pokémon like Lapras VMAX, Eternetus VMAX, and Centiskorch VMAX is prevented. Amazing Shield does 150 damage flat, so it’s making a dent, and then Zamazenta is immune from damage from VMAX Pokémon for the entire next turn. The second, using one Lightning, one Fighting and one Metal, is the kicker. The first attack is the same as Zacian’s, using one Colorless to deal 30 damage and retrieve a basic Energy from the discard. Now a Fighting type, in contrast to usually being a Metal type, this Zamazenta may not have huge HP, at 110, but it can be tricky for an opponent running a certain kind of Pokémon. Zamazenaa’s Amazing Rare incarnation is very similar to Zacian, for whom it now has a weakness, but it’s the after effects of its main attack that give Zamazenta the edge. This Zacian is currently fetching around $44 on its own, if you’re so inclined. This won’t take out many VMAX Pokémon, who usually have over 300 HP, but it will likely deal with any other heavy-hitters in your opponent’s roster, including many Tag-Teams such as Celebi and Venusaur, or even Moltres and Zapdos and Articuno. Then, for one Grass, one Psychic, and one Metal, Zacian does 150 damage, 300 if your opponent has a VMAX in play. The first is for one colorless, delivers 30 damage and can put a basic Energy card from your discard pile onto this Pokémon.
Zacian’s attacks are all worthwhile, if simple. This one is Psychic with a weakness to Metal, no resistance, and a retreat cost of two Colorless, so you can Air Balloon it out of the Active spot if needed. The Japanese version of the card is available at the lower end of the price range at $27.Īnother Amazing Rare that’s taking a health cut, this is the lowest HP Zacian in Sword & Shield so far, with 110 HP, lower than the 120 HP Metal-type from Rebel Clash, and the 220 HP Zacian V. Gathering those three Energies that quickly is tough, and once you do it, you’re one Boss’s Orders away from Rayquaza hitting the bench. The key terminology here is ‘basic Energy’, you need to get three different types of basic Energy on the card before you can even attack, locking out shortcuts like Aurora Energy. So, the base level is 240, moving up from there. Using a minimum of one Grass, one Lightning, and one Fighting Energy, Rayquaza can deal 80 damage multiplied by the amount of basic Energy on the monster, discarding the Energy afterwards. Where the Amazing Rare Rayquaza really falls short is in its one attack. Resistance to Fighting and weakness to Lightning are the same too, and current rotations have made those desirable in standard play. From the jump, this one has slightly lower health than the promo Rayquaza from Sword & Shield, with 120 HP as opposed to 130 HP, remaining Colorless. RayquazaĪt one end of scale, we have the new Rayquaza. Here we’re ranking all six from worst to best, so you know exactly which to look for right away.