The Secluded Springs set (A4a) has come to the shores of Pokémon TCG Pocket, and despite being a mini expansion, it includes a bunch of very impactful Trainer cards that flip the meta, potentially even disrupting the upcoming Mega Evolution cards (B1) on October 30, 2025.
So without further ado, let’s see how much the new Trainer cards tickle the bottom of the barrel and shift the meta.
Whitney
Fans who played the Gen 2 games have PTSD of facing Whitney and her dreaded Miltank, especially the Pokémon’s Rollout attack.
Well, TCG Pocket has brought about a blast from the past with a 110 HP Miltank card whose Rolling Frenzy does 10 DMG for 1 Energy (for starters), but it gets wild from here. For each use until Miltank stays in the Active Spot, it adds 30 DMG with a stacking effect. This means:
- Miltank deals 10 DMG first
- The next turn it attacks, it does 40 DMG (10 + 30)
- The next, it’s 70 DMG (40 +30)
And so on…
Remember that you don’t have to attack with Miltank in consecutive turns, but you do have to start the first attack with 10 DMG to kickstart the snowball effect.
Miltank staying longer in the Active Spot is impending doom for the opponent, as it adds +30 DMG each time you attack with it. But how do you keep this Pokémon healthy? Yes, Giant Cape amps it up to 130 HP, but you still need to retain health if you want to deal big damage figures.
That’s where the Whitney Supporter card fits in.
- Whitney heals 60 HP from Miltank (more than half of its base HP)
- Also recovers Miltank from Sleep, Confusion, and Paralysis status conditions
Keen-eyed players may have caught the detail of Whitney not recovering Burn or Toxic status, and that’s actually very neat. You see, the conditions Whitney bypasses (Sleep, Confusion, and Paralysis) are those that can prevent the affected Pokémon from attacking. And with Miltank, you don’t want that happening. Even though it can continue reaping the +30 stacking effect the following turn, you’d ideally want Miltank to not stop rolling even for a single turn.
Truly, Whitney and Miltank are a match made in heaven. Or hell?
Doesn’t matter, as your opponent would be going downhill anyway!
Always good to see a non-EX card threatening the meta.
Morty
In the mainline games, Morty specializes in Ghost Pokémon, so it’s no surprise that the Morty Supporter card in TCG Pocket plays spooky mind games with your opponent when you play Psychic-type decks.
For each Psychic-type Pokémon that you have in play, using Morty shows you that many cards from the top of your opponent’s deck and lets you put them back in any order.
So, if you have 3 Pokémon in play (1 Active Spot, 2 Bench), you will be able to take a look at the top 3 cards of your opponent’s deck and then put them back in any order.
This is tremendous and can bring the game to your control. You can put a Professor’s Research or Rare Candy from the top of their deck to the third spot, slowing them in the process.
Or, delay healing Trainer cards, and wipe them out easily.
The possibilities are endless, and Morty can truly cripple the opposition. If that wasn’t frightening already, the Misdreavus card from Secluded Springs has an ability called Infiltrating Inspection that makes your opponent reveal their Hand when you put this Pokémon on the Bench.
Combining Misdreavus and Morty, you can see your opponent’s entire Hand and the top three cards of their deck, altering the order of the latter.
Seriously spooky stuff!
Traveling Merchant
Haven’t you often wished you could find Pokémon Tools sooner? Wouldn’t it be amazing if there was something similar to Pokémon Communication but for Tools?
Good news, players, this is now sort of possible, thanks to the Traveling Merchant Supporter card!
Using this card, you can check out the top four cards of your deck and, if you find any Pokémon Tools there, pull them into your Hand while you shuffle the rest of the cards.
Note that it’s worth it only if you have Tools among your top four cards, but worthless otherwise. But hey, if you are so desperate for Tools (say, in a Skarmory Metal deck), you would have usually packed a decent number of them in your deck.
So while this card is nowhere as good as Pokémon Communication, it’s a lifesaver for decks focused on Pokémon Tools.
Speaking of Pokémon Tools, the Secluded Springs set has debuted two of them, with no Item cards. However, you’ll find no reason to complain about the lack of new items, considering how disruptive at least one of the new Tools is!
Speaking of Pokémon Tools, the Secluded Springs set has debuted two of them, with no Item cards. However, you’ll find no reason to complain about the lack of new items, considering how disruptive at least one of the new Tools is!
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 Wisdom of Sea and Sky set has introduced three Pokémon Tools.
Memory Light
Before anything else, you have to admit this is arguably the most gorgeous Pokémon Tool card until now in TCG Pocket.
And this card blends style with substance, as its impact will resonate heavily throughout the meta, and possibly even in future expansions.
When a Pokémon is equipped with Memory Light, it can use any attack from its pre-evolutions.
To give you a perspective, a Stoke Charizard EX (that can’t attack unless it has 5 Energy for Steam Artillery) can now use the 1 Energy, 20 DMG Combustion that Shining Revelry Charmander learns!
But what about the 2 Energy, 40 DMG Combustion that Shining Revelry Charmeleon uses?
So, there’s something to consider about using this Tool for Stage 2 Evolutions. Let us take the example of Stoke Charizard EX again:
- If Charizard EX was evolved from Charmander via Rare Candy (without using Charmeleon, even if you had one copy in your deck), Memory Light Charizard EX can only use Charmander’s attack and not Charmeleon’s.
- If Charizard EX was traditionally evolved from Charmeleon (which evolved from Charmander, no Rare Candy used), Memory Light Charizard EX can use the attacks of both Charmander and Charmeleon.
It’s easy to understand from the namesake of the Tool: Memory Light. A Rare Candy promoted Charizard EX has “no memory” of ever being a Charmeleon, only Charmander.
This Tool will also be indispensable for Mega Evolutions, coming this fall. Megas are Stage 1 and Stage 2 cards, and can directly evolve from their respective Basic and Stage 1 cards (a rule followed in the physical TCG as well).
So, Mega Gyarados can evolve directly from Magikarp without Rare Candy. Now, remember that losing a Mega Evolution will give your opponent 3 points, instantly giving them the win.
In such a situation, Mega Gyarados can use Magikarp’s Leap Out to switch out with something else on the Bench.
There are so many evolutions that benefit from Memory Light. Another good example is Rampardos using Cranidos’ 50 DMG Headbutt to KO a low HP opponent instead of doing Head Smash and losing 50 HP due to recoil. Of course, Rampardos would have needed to be evolved from Cranidos and not Rare Candy to make this possible. This catch makes the Memory Light Pokémon Tool balanced and not broken.
I will write a separate article highlighting the best Pokémon to use the Memory Light on, but know that it will undoubtedly change the meta, that too in a big way.
The result? More strategizing in Pokémon TCG Pocket. Bring it on!
Inflatable Boat
The Inflatable Boat is a very simple tool, but very useful nonetheless. It basically lessens the retreat cost of a Water Pokémon by 1.
Right off the top of the head, this Tool helps Suicune EX. This brand-new EX benefits from having full Benches (doing more damage) and as such, if your Active Spot Suicune EX is damaged or you want something else active, you can withdraw Suicune EX for only 1 Energy instead of 2 with Inflatable Boat, and then in the next turn, have it ready to go again by attaching the turn’s Energy (now 2, ready to attack with its 2 Energy Crystal Waltz).
Similarly, Palkia EX can retreat for only 1 Energy.
The Inflatable Boat essentially saves you a turn of devoting an Energy to make a withdrawn Pokémon ready to attack again. It accelerates your matches, and paired with X Speed, you can withdraw many Water Pokémon for free while also using a Supporter in the same turn.
Of course, you can technically do the same with Leaf, but you can’t use another Supporter in the same turn.
The Inflatable Boat may not be as insane as the Memory Light, but it’s a good touch nonetheless, often winning you battles since you saved a turn.
Happy collecting and battling, Pokémon TCG Pocket-ers!
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