The Mega Rising set (B1) has arrived in Pokémon TCG Pocket, and being a major expansion, there are plenty of Trainer and EX cards up for grabs. With these cards setting the stage for upcoming Mega Evolutions, you must be curious about the impact they have on the meta.
So, let’s find out if the new Trainer cards tickle the bottom of the barrel and shake the Pokémon TCG Pocket meta.
May
We’re starting good, as May is definitely the best Trainer card in the Mega Rising set! This card works like a double Pokémon Communication Item, where you pick two random Pokémon from your deck and put them in your hand. For each Pokémon card, you choose Pokémon cards from your existing hand and put them in your deck.
So, if you have two bad cards and are looking for evolutions or stronger Bascs, using May goes a long way in helping find a better pair that you may ideally start using in battle right away.
This is honestly one of the best Supporters ever in the game, and is going to find extensive usage even in future sets and decks. The best part is that since Communication is an Item, you can use it alongside May to heighten your chances of setting a stronger hand.
May can be used in Mega Blaziken EX decks to evolve Torchic quickly, but in general, it can be used in any deck to gain a stronger play. It is a blessing in disguise for Sylveon EX decks where it refines the picks you get.
May is an iconic, fan-favorite Trainer from the games and the anime, and it is great to see her gain prominence in Pokémon TCG Pocket! May May prevail!
Marlon
Water-type Pokémon Carracosta and Jellicent gain the most healing from any Supporter in TCG Pocket (yes, more than Lillie’s 60 DMG healing for Stage 2 mons), at a whopping 70 DMG healing, all thanks to Marlon!
The water-savvy Trainer helps these two lower meta cards find some interesting usage but are they really worth it?
- Carracosta is a Stage 2 Water type that is part of a Fossil evolution, but is far from Rampardos’ might. It requires a heavy 3 Energy to deal 100 DMG and can completely cancel out damage from the attacks of Basic Pokémon, and for everything else, there’s Marlon and even Irida. While this seems nice, it has limited viabilty due to the pain of evolving it (from a Fossil, duh) and the high Energy requirement (the blocking of attacks only works after it uses the move). If this were an ability, it would have been a premier Fossil card ala Rampardos, but unfortunately, it’s just a fun addition that isn’t too meta.
- Jellicent is the better of Marlon’s recipients, as this jellyfish mon can work as a good stall + energy engine. Its ability Bouncy Body attaches a free Energy to any one of your Benched Pokémon (Water type or not) whenever Jellicent is hit. As such, it can be used in tandem with Mega Gyarados EX, Palkia EX, Suicune EX, or even Colorless-type decks. Marlon is great here, as healing 70 DMG in a 120 HP Pokémon is handy, and with Irida in tow, Jellicent can generate a lot of Energy easily for something like Mega Gyarados EX.
Watch Marlon + Jellicent find it sway into decks as players slowly realize the perks of this combo!
Hala
Like Marlon, Hala is another Supporter meant exclusively for two Pokémon from Mega Rising: Fighting types Hariyama and Crabominable.
This Supporter works akin to a Focus Sash from the mainline games but in this case, it prevents the said mons from getting KO’d by preserving 10 HP. Now, how do these two brawlers perform with Hala?
- Hariyama is a heavy investment, requiring 4 Energy to deal only 110 DMG, with the advantage of deleting the target’s Pokémon Tools before hitting them. Umm, okay… but nothing too meta. It’s fine once set up but the pain of getting there is massive.
- Carbominable is the better of the two and actually in line with Hala’s assistance.When Crabominable’s HP is 30 or less, something Hala helps with, its 1 Energy, 30 DMG move does 90 DMG instead. Not too spectacular but definitely usable in some unconventional decks.
Fantina
Fantina is the third Supporter in this set whose application is limited to two Pokémon, these being Drifblim and Mismagius, attaching a free Psychic Energy to them. Let’s check out how they work out:
- Drifblim has a neat 100 HP but does only 20 DMG for 2 Energy. For each additional Energy attached to it, Drfblim does 20 more damage, making it 40 DMG with Fantina’s help. Okay, this is bad output, and we should just skip this Pokémon altogether.
- Mismagius has 90 HP and does 70 HP for two Energy. Once evolved from Misdreavus, Fantina can come in and get to action, and while it’s miles better than Drifblim, it’s still not good overall. Another pass.
Lisia
Lisia is a superb card to quickly pull two 50 HP or less cards to your hand. This would usually include Baby Pokémon or Magikarp in Water-type decks. In both bases, such low HP Basics are essential to the execution of your game strategy, and Lisia speedens that up, giving you an early lead in many cases.
Mega Altaria EX forms a fantastic deck with the old Dusknoir (from Space-Time Smackdown) and the new Duskull (from Mega Rising), wherein the little ghost has 50 HP. By using Lisia, you can draw Duskull quickly, and once you evolve it into Dusknoir, it can suck in damage dealt to Mega Altari EX and keep the Mega safe and running.
This Supporter definitely has great potential in future sets, so you’re definitely going to see more of it!
Copycat
Copycat is another string Supporter to join the ranks of the best of its kind in Pokémon TCG Pocket. This card is essentially a superior Professor’s Research in many situations, especially when your opponent has plenty of cards in their hand, say, from using Sylveon EX.
In situations when you have very few cards in your hand (even if it’s one) and your opponent has a good number (the more the merrier), run Copycat to put your card(s) back into your deck, and draw as many cards into your hand.
This Supporter can quickly turn a bricked situation into a favorable one, and as mentioned, it often works as a Professor’s Research on steroids when the opponent has a large hand.
The best part is that you can’t go wrong with this Supporter. No matter what you draw, it’s always going to be better than whatever you have in your hand before using Copycat.
Flame Patch
The first Item in our midst is the best of the lot (although it’s specifically meant for Fire decks): Flame Patch, a card that even got a Crown Rare in Mega Rising!
What this card does is simple but insanely good, and that’s attaching a free Fire Energy from your discard pile to your Active Pokémon. This card is broken, rejuvenating Energy-heavy cards like Genetic Apex Charizard EX, Stoke Charizard EX, and essentially any Fire-type Pokémon that needs an extra Energy in a turn or if you want to devote the turn’s Energy to a Benched card. It is found in the Mega Blaziken pack alongside May and, of course, Mega Blaziken EX, making this pack the most valuable among the three (in terms of the meta).
This Item has a bright future, as bright as the flames it lights up!
Prank Spinner
Prank Spinner is a funny Item that literally plays a prank on either you or your opponent (on your opponent if you play it right). It chooses a single random card from either your or your opponent’s hand and shuffles it back to the deck.
Now, where you can use it to your advantage is if you only have a Prank Spinner in your hand and your opponent has some. Run it, and this card will pick a card from their hand, show it to you, and dump it into their deck. It gets funnier in niche situations wherein you have Silver and Prank Spinner together. Use Silver to throw away an opponent’s Supporter of your choosing and then use Prank Spinner to possibly weaken their hand further.
More ideally, if you also have a Red Card at your disposal, go Silver → Red Card → Prank Spinner to trouble your opponent, leaving you in splits! 
The icing on the cake is that this may often win you matches if your opponent ends up throwing away a useful card to the deck.
Plume Fossil
There’s nothing much to talk about the Plume Fossil. It’s an Item that behaves like a Basic but cannot be drawn by a Poké Ball or Pokémon Communication. It evolves into Archeops through Archen or directly with a Rare Candy.
Cover Fossil
The same with the Cover Fossil. It’s an Item that behaves like a Basic but cannot be drawn by a Poké Ball or Pokémon Communication. It evolves into Carracosta through Tirtouga or directly with a Rare Candy.
Hitting Hammer
Flip 2 coins, and if both are heads, discard a random Energy from your opponent’s Active Pokémon? Nah, this is bad. Don’t think anyone’s going to waste their deck space with the pathetic Hitting Hammer.
If you’re really eager to do something like this, just use the Team Rocket Grunt card instead, as even a single head guarantees one Energy being discarded from the opponent’s Active Pokémon, and with more heads, more the loss of Energy. It’s even inconsistent with the Will Supporter card!
Overall, this Item only has a 25% chance to discard a single Energy. There’s absolutely no point to Hitting Hammer.
Pokémon Tools are super useful cards that have been available in the physical TCG games and follow these rules in Pokémon TCG Pocket:
- Pokémon Tool cards can be attached to your Active or Benched cards, and they provide some special battle effects.
- They stay attached to the Pokémon in question until it leaves play.
- Like Item cards, you can use as many Pokémon Tool cards as you like during a turn, but each Pokémon can have only one Tool attached at a time.
The Mega Rising set has introduced three Pokémon Tools.
Sitrus Berry
As the Pokémon this Tool is attached to loses HP through the battle and comes down to half or less of its maximum HP, Sitrus Berry heals 30 DMG, and is discarded after that (one-time use).
The best recipient of this Tool is Oricorio, who can stay longer by gaining a large part of its full health with it, and overrule chip damage from Darkrai EX or Water Shuriken Greninja. You can even use it for large HP EX cards to maintain health, but Oricorio is the best to use it on.
Surely a huge boost to the evil yellow birb’s prospects! 
Heavy Helmet
The Heavy Helmet is definitely among the useful Pokémon Tools in TCG Pocket. Numerous mons have their retreat cost at 3 or more, and for them, this works as something like a Steel Apron, lessening the damage of attacks by 20. Remember that this applies to attacks done by the opponent’s Pokémon, and not chip damage from Darkrai EX or Water Shuriken Greninja.
This benefits something like Guzzlord EX quite a lot, making it more oppressive than before. Heavy Helmet almost feels like adding an invisible Giant Cape to the scary Ultra Beast. It also helps Genetic Apex Melmetal, who already takes -20 DMG from attacks courtesy of its ability. Adding Adaman helps Melmetal tanks up to 50 DMG in that turn.
This Pokémon Tool would promote the usage of such high retreat cost cards, but expect it to only be applied to powerful and meta-relevant ones like Guzzlord EX.
Lucky Mittens
There’s a lot of focus on drawing cards in the Trainer cards of Mega Rising (taking a cue from Sylveon EX, I see!), and Lucky Mittens is another one to carry the gimmick. When the Pokémon that this Tool is attached to KOs a target, you draw a card. So:
- If you KO a Mega EX card, this Tool is of no use as you instantly win.
- If you KO an EX card, you draw one card as you win the next time you get a KO.
- If you KO two non-EX cards, you draw two cards, giving this Tool the most value.
The Supporters in this set, such as May, Lisia, and Copycat, have more viable card-drawing mechanics, and Lucky Mittens is overall just average, especially when you also have Poké Ball, Professor’s Research, Red Card, Iono, Pokémon Communication, and Sylveon EX giving you better play. You can run it for fun, and sometimes, it may be useful, but it is a pretty okayish card overall that won’t shift the meta.
Happy collecting and battling, Pokémon TCG Pocket-ers!
The post Pokémon TCG Pocket: Mega Rising Trainer Card Review (B1) appeared first on Pokémon GO Hub.
