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After what feels like an eternity in the A2x morass, Celestial Guardians is finally coming on April 30 as a bona fide full set! There's a few EX mons to go over, many new supporters, and a certain candy-shaped elephant in the room. As always, here's the scale we will be using:
: Unplayable pack filler (Rhydon)
: Niche tech or good for surprise factor (Dragonite)
: Solid tech or glue card (Origin Forme Palkia)
: Very strong, is either a staple card or has potential to win a game on its own (Hitmonlee)
: Meta-defining (Darkrai EX, Manaphy, Sabrina...)
Rare Candy
There's no way this set review could start with any other card. Trapinch3D has already made an incredible article on the immediate implications of Rare Candy - and make no mistake, this is the most impactful card released into TCG Pocket since Genetic Apex. Every meta since the game's inception has been primarily dominated by the Big Basics archetype with the occasional strong Stage 1 for a bit of extra power; look no further than the current metagame that's positively flooded by DarkTina. Stage 2s up until this point have had niche viability with an incredibly awkward ramp period of generally terrible Basics and Stage 1s in their evolutionary line. Being able to skip the Stage 1 entirely is a massive boon for both supportive Stage 2s (Gardevoir, Serperior, Gengar EX) and Stage 2s that have low energy-cost attacks to get online quickly (Blastoise EX, Beedrill EX, Meowscarada, etc).
Rare Candy being an Item - meaning it does not take up your Supporter for the turn - is a massive part of what makes the card so game-warpingly powerful, as this enables powerful tempo swings with any number of powerful Supporters in conjunction with skipping an evolutionary step. It's also incredibly rare for a card of this power level to be directly ported from the paper TCG, so DeNa definitely felt the need for a nuclear option to bring Stage 2 decks increased viability - especially with both of the headliner legendaries for the new packs being Stage 2. There's only one ranking that fits a card of this magnitude:
MKCrimson's Rating:
Lillie
You can almost hear this set saying "no, really, please play Stage 2s!" 60 HP is the largest single-target heal that exists in TCG Pocket, and on top of that it can only target Stage 2s - which universally have high HP pools! As a basic example, All-In Beedrill EX decks can now run 280 HP worth of healing from the supporter slot alone, not even counting Giant Cape and Potion. Between Rare Candy to get Stage 2s online faster and Lillie to prolong their bulk, the Stage 2 archetypes have gotten two massive shots in the arm. Is going first genuinely good now? Only time will tell!
MKCrimson's Rating:
Solgaleo EX
With the context of the new support pieces out of the way, let's tackle the box-art Sun/Moon Legendary EX's. Solgaleo EX attacks for an incredibly efficient 120 damage for a simple in exchange for a mere 10 points of recoil damage with Sol Breaker - for context, the vanilla standard for 120 damage and no drawbacks belongs to Machamp EX, which requires an additional energy.
The existing healing support in the meta already is more than enough to offset the small recoil, not even counting the fact that Solgaleo EX is operating off a 180HP health pool thanks to being a Stage 2 EX. With just support from Red, Solgaleo EX clears the 140HP breakpoint to eliminate the metagame-defining Darkrai EX while easily weathering a followup attack from its partner Giratina EX - provided that Giratina EX even has the 4 energy required for a revenge kill!
Not even counting its efficient attack, Rising Road gives Solgaleo easy entry into the Active slot when hiding behind strong tanks such as Druddigon or Dialga EX without even requiring the use of retreat aids such as Leaf, opening up your Supporter for the turn for an even stronger tempo swing. Solgaleo EX is the new poster child for the Aggressive Stage 2 enabled by Rare Candy, and I expect it to see extensive play.
MKCrimson's Rating:
Lunala EX
Fittingly, Cosmog's alternative final form fills the other Stage 2 niche as the Supportive Rare Candy Stage 2. Lunala EX doesn't attack particularly well - 100 damage for 3 energy isn't anything to write home about - but instead enables the Giratina EX Energy Battery to an incredible degree with its Psychic Connect. Simply put, as long as Lunala EX is on the board, any -type attacker on your field is an attacking threat, allowing you to use retreat aids to rotate between attackers as needed.
The most obvious synergy is in a shell similar to the existing Psychic Giratina EX + Mewtwo EX 17T lists, using Psychic Connect + Leaf to rotate strong attackers while preserving all 2-point mons for point-trade efficiency. Even in the situations where Lunala EX is forced into Active, its retreat cost of 1 ensures it can pivot out relatively easily.
The main issue with Lunala EX is the opportunity cost of not running the incredibly powerful Gardevoir as your support Stage 2, but the point efficiency of running all 2-pointers in addition to its much higher HP pool of 180 gives Lunala EX a solid place in any big- list.
MKCrimson's Rating: , potentially
Alolan Raichu EX
Alolan Raichu EX fills a similar role to Yanmega EX as a purely splashable Stage 1 EX that can hit for weakness. Notably, against any target with 2 energy attached, Psychic is equivalent damage to Yanmega EX's Air Slash, without the downside of forcing an energy discard. Any additional energy attached to the opposing Active is only a benefit, giving Alolan Raichu EX the niche of being a strong revenge killer. As an example, a loaded Giratina EX with a Giant Cape attached cannot avoid being one-shot by Psychic, and even Giovanni allows a revenge KO on Gyarados EX that discarded down to 3 energy thanks to the water snake's weakness. Naturally, Alolan Raichu EX will struggle against low-energy attackers such as Rampardos, and as such its viability will depend on having a glut of high-energy attackers to exploit. Even so, its ability to fit into any deck regardless of energy requirements means some decks will find room for it.
MKCrimson's Rating:
Rayquaza EX
First, Dragonite was powercrept by a Stage 1 in Wugtrio EX, so naturally the next step was to just give Draco Meteor to a Basic! is a huge energy cost to even begin to attack, virtually mandating that Rayquaza EX is partnered with Dialga EX or Manaphy to accelerate it. Being Colorless, Rayquaza EX cannot benefit from other type-specific ramp like Misty or Gardevoir. Having 140HP in a metagame that might suddenly be awash in Stage 2 EX's is also not a place I'm thrilled to be given the length of time it takes to set up, especially if I'm potentially hitting into a bulky spread-out board for only 40 damage on the target I want. Rayquaza EX will potentially be able to snipe around tanks in a similar function to Wugtrio EX - or punish single-mon boards - but I don't expect the sheer setup time to be worth it.
MKCrimson's Rating:
Rotom Dex
Not much to say about Rotom Dex: this is just unplayable filler. Trading one card to see our next draw and maybe reshuffle is not a good trade when there's both better consistency pieces and also Items that actually affect the board directly. Please don't put this in your deck.
MKCrimson's Rating:
Kiawe and Alolan Marowak
Kiawe provides the strongest consistent Supporter ramp printed so far, allowing 2 attachments from the Energy zone in exchange for ending your turn - and also being limited to Alolan Marowak and the as-of-yet unrevealed Turtonator. Giratina EX has proven that ending your turn to get an additional energy attach is worth it provided the payoff is sufficiently strong, meaning we can roughly value Kiawe as Brock + Broken Space Bellow, or a Moltres EX Inferno Dance that flipped 2 heads.
3 total energy attaches in one turn is nothing to scoff at, but I am somewhat skeptical of the strength of our first card - Alolan Marowak on average will be worth 70 damage + a burn with one heads on Burning Bonemerang, with a potential highroll comparable to Marowak EX dealing 160 damage in one turn after the first round of burn damage, but it is inherently unreliable and is clearly balanced around Kiawe thanks to its high cost to attack. That said, thanks to the attack cost, Kiawe + Alolan Marowak is theoretically splashable into any deck regardless of color requirements. I'm just not sure what deck is looking for Alolan Marowak EX instead of some other strong attacker - maybe Turtonator will be better?
MKCrimson's Rating: Kiawe (or higher if Turtonator is good), Alolan Marowak
Ilima
As every other Supporter revealed so far is going to have the grade "wait and see if their specific Pokémon is playable," Ilima is the last supporter I'll look at for this review. The Koga/Budding Expeditioner effect has proven strong enough to see play in meta decks before, and Ilima allows any Pokémon to get returned to hand. This enables tanks such as Kangaskhan to get on board early and safely deal damage before being whisked away to either be replayed or sent into a Pokémon Communication to look for an endgame piece. This could also see play in a Dialga EX/Arceus EX shell as an additional pivoting piece to bounce an active Arceus EX, send Dialga EX back to the front line, replay the Arceus EX (fully healing it), and follow up with a Metallic Turbo to effectively re-attach the discarded energy. Adding flexibility to already-strong Basics should earn Ilima at least a consideration - especially since it's a pivot option that plays around Cyrus!
MKCrimson's Rating:
Oricorio (Lunala) and Oricorio (Solgaleo)
Oricorio is among a few Pokémon - including the Alola starters - that has a different forme depending on which pack it was opened in. Solgaleo Oricorio is unexciting, capping out at 40 damage for 2 energy and giving the unremarkable Confusion status. Lunala Oricorio is more interesting, functioning as a Marshadow that trades 20 damage for pure surprise value; only requiring to attack means you can hold it in hand until the opponent has scored a KO and surprise them with an 80-damage Spiteful Dance provided you are willing to retreat your new Active.
That said, 70 HP means a stiff breeze will get the return point on your Oricorio, especially with its incredibly relevant weakness, meaning you want to get a 2-point revenge knockout if at all possible, or otherwise the final point of the game. The utility is interesting in a typing that generally has limited access to high damage for one energy, but I'm not so certain Oricorio sees the same success Marshadow does, especially given lack of access to Lucario's Fighting Coach.