Wednesday 15 October 2014

Ex Hidden Legends

Pokémon TCG: EX Hidden Legends

EX Hidden Legends adds an incredible amount of new strategy to the Pokémon TCG. Many of the Pokémon have never-before-seen attacks that change the way you play. There are more ways to get cards into and out of your hand. New Stadiums alter a match's rules and add more fluidity to a battle. New Ancient Technical Machines add an element of surprise to any player's tactics. Are you ready to discover all of the hidden legends?

Give Yourself a Hand!
EX Hidden Legends provides even more ways to get useful cards into your hand. Whether it's by drawing lots of cards or searching your deck for specific cards, you'll be able to use your strategies faster!

As long as you have seven or less cards in your hand, Steven's Advice (92/101) allows you to draw a number of cards equal to the number of your opponent's Pokémon in play. That means that, unlike TV Reporter or Delcatty's Energy Draw, you can draw up to six cards without having to discard any of them!

Corsola (32/101) is similar to Steven's Advice. Its Coral Glow lets you draw a number of cards up to the number of your opponent's Basic Pokémon in play. Corsola also has an attack that does 40 damage, so it's not limited to card drawing.

Igglybuff (37/101) makes its first appearance in the EX series and instantly makes itself useful. Igglybuff's Set Song lets you search your deck for a Basic Pokémon and a basic Energy card and put them into your hand. With the large number of strong Basic Pokémon in EX Hidden Legends, you can put together a good team quickly and ensure they have enough Energy to act!

Life is Precious
Some exotic new healing methods are now available in EX Hidden Legends. One of the more powerful new ways, the Life Herb (90/101) is a new Trainer that can cure any Special Condition and remove an amazing six damage counters from a Pokémon! Unfortunately, it doesn't work on Pokémon-ex or Pokémon with an owner's name, and it only works with a successful coin flip. It's not a Supporter, though, so you can again if you have another Life Herb in your hand. Bellossom 's (16/101) Heal Dance is less powerful, but it is a more reliable way to heal your Pokémon. Heal Dance is a Poké-Power that lets you remove two damage counters from any Pokémon. It's like having a Potion card every turn!

If you require healing for your entire team, a Milotic (12/101) could be just what you need, but be careful about how you use it. When played from your hand, Milotic heals ALL of the damage counters from every Pokémon in play that is not a Pokémon-ex, whether they are yours or your opponent's! If you don't want to heal your opponent's Pokémon, make sure you evolve a Feebas with a card from the deck, like with Wally's Training or Feebas' own Ascension ability. Since Milotic comes from the deck instead of your hand, the Poké-Power doesn't take effect.

Finally, there's Tropius (27/101). Tropius provides healing and Energy simultaneously with its Fruition ability. Fruition moves an Energy card attached to Tropius to another Pokémon and remove four damage counters from that Pokémon. That means that you can pay the Retreat Cost for an injured Pokémon, make Tropius active, and then use Fruition to put Energy back onto the retreated Pokémon. Or, you could use Gardevoir's Psy Shadow to attach a Psychic Energy to a Pokémon, then use Fruition to move another Energy card to that Pokémon and remove the two damage counters. Or, how about using Tropius with Regirock ex or Ludicolo to heal it faster? In 2-on-2 Battle, Tropius works great with a Pokémon like Slaking or Sceptile ex. Since Slaking and Sceptile ex can only attack with their 100-damage attacks every other turn, you can use Tropius to heal them between attacks. There are plenty of other uses for Tropius... can you find more?

Series	EX Series
Release Date	June 01, 2004
Number of Cards	101
Standard Legal Deck?	No

Ex Team Team Magma vs Team Aqua

Pokémon TCG: EX Team Magma vs Team Aqua

EX Team Magma vs Team Aqua introduces 95 new cards to the Pokémon-e Trading Card Game. Many of these cards are associated with either Team Magma or Team Aqua, who are two groups committed to conquering the world through the control of the land or the sea. Both teams have trained some of their Pokémon to have dual types, making them extremely dangerous! They have also trained some of their Pokémon to specialize in attacks that match their team's philosophies. However, this kind of rigorous training takes a lot of time and effort, so normal Pokémon can't evolve into (or from) Team Magma or Team Aqua Pokémon. With these new twists to the rules come new strategies!

Dual Types Both Team Magma and Team Aqua have begun training Dual Energy type Pokémon. Dual-type Pokémon have two types simultaneously, so they are more likely to exploit another Pokémon's Weakness! In this card expansion, all dual-type Pokémon have the Darkness type as one of their types, so they can use Darkness Energy to increase the damage of their attacks. However, with the exception of Team Aqua's Walrein and Team Magma's Aggron, dual-type Pokémon have only one Weakness. And, except for Team Aqua's Manectric (4/95), no dual-type Pokémon has a Resistance.

Damage Control
Some of Team Magma's Pokémon have attacks that allow you cause damage to any Active or Benched Pokémon. For example, Team Magma's Claydol (33/95)'s Clay Curse lets you place 2 damage counters on your opponent's Pokémon in any way you like. Team Magma's Aron (59/95)'s Dig Under does 10 damage to any of your opponent's Pokémon, regardless of Resistance. You can injure the most dangerous Pokémon that your opponent has in play in order to exploit another advantage of Team Magma's Pokémon: many of them have attacks that cause extra damage or Special Conditions to previously injured Pokémon!

Combine the two attack methods for maximum impact! For example, with the Land Sonic attack, Team Magma's Lairon (36/95) will hit for 40 damage. It will also Confuse a Defending Pokémon with damage counters on it! Or consider Team Magma's Houndoom (34/95)'s Damage Burn: if the Defending Pokémon already has any damage counters on it, the attack does 40 damage plus 20 more damage!

Also consider using older Pokémon that have bench-hitting abilities, such as Xatu (EX Sandstorm, 55/100) with Team Magma Pokémon. Xatu puts a damage counter on each of your opponent's Pokémon, guaranteeing that your Team Magma Pokémon can use their damage-amplifying attacks on the next turn. Xatu also has no Retreat Cost, so you can make a Benched Team Magma Pokémon become Active for free!

The Team Magma Hideout Stadium card will work wonders for Team Magma's Pokémon, too. If your opponent plays a Basic Pokémon that doesn't have Team Magma in its name from his or her hand, that player puts one damage counter on that Pokémon. This means that your Team Magma Pokémon can gain the extra effects of their attacks right away!

Energy Fluctuations Are you having problems getting Energy at the right time? With EX Team Magma vs Team Aqua, there are now even more ways to get the Energy you need!

If you need to find basic Energy cards in your deck, the new Team Magma Conspirator (82/95) and Team Aqua Conspirator Trainer (77/95) cards allow you to search your deck for up to two Basic Energy cards of your choice. You could even use the Conspirators in decks that contain no Team Magma or Team Aqua Pokémon!

Series	EX Series
Release Date	March 01, 2004
Number of Cards	95
Standard Legal Deck?	No

Ex Dragon

Pokémon TCG: EX Dragon

The 97 cards in the Pokémon-e TCG: EX Dragon expansion allow you to use many interesting strategies in your Pokémon TCG decks. Here are a few ideas that will help you develop your own strategies with these cards. Combine the EX Dragontrading cards with trading cards from EX Sandstorm and EX Ruby and Sapphirefor some truly exciting battle tactics!

Beware the Dragons!
As the expansion's name suggests, EX Dragon contains powerful Dragon-type Pokémon. In the Pokémon TCG, most of the dragons are Colorless-type Pokémon. At the moment, no Pokémon has Resistance to Colorless-type attacks. Furthermore, most dragons have two Resistances and lots of Hit Points, and their attacks inflict large amounts of damage. Because of these advantages, it certainly wouldn't hurt to experiment with dragons in your decks.

Here's an example of one of the dragons: the Dragonite ex (90/97) is a Colorless-type Pokémon-ex. It has 150 Hit Points and Resistance to both Fighting-type and Grass-type Pokémon. It can move Water or Lightning Energy from its teammates to itself with its Call to Power Poké-Power. Its Dragon Wave attack can cause 70 damage if you discard one Water Energy and one Lightning Energy, and its Giant Tail attack can cause a whopping 120 damage if you flip a coin and you get heads. Scary, huh?

How can you stop the Dragon-type Pokémon? Here's a couple of Pokémon that can help:

Zangoose (EX Sandstorm, 14/100) is a great counter to Dragon-type Pokémon. Zangoose is a Colorless-type Pokémon and can inflict 60 damage on evolved Pokémon. Most Dragon-type Pokémon are evolved Pokémon and have a Weakness to Colorless-type Pokémon, so Zangoose can Knock Out most of the Colorless-type dragons with just one attack.
Shedinja (11/97) can't be hurt by any of the Dragon-type Pokémon. Shedinja's Poké-Body prevents all effects of attacks, including damage, from evolved Pokémon and Pokémon-ex. All of the dragons in EX Dragon are one of those two kinds of Pokémon. However, Shedinja is vulnerable to Basic Pokémon, so be mindful of your opponent's other Pokémon in play.
Don't forget about Special Conditions! Special Conditions can turn off dragons' Poké-Powers, hurt them, make them miss a turn, or even force your opponent to use Trainers or retreat the Pokémon to get rid of them.

Recycle Your Energy!
Many of the attacks of the Pokémon in EX Dragon require you to discard Energy cards. Gyarados (32/97) can remove Energy cards from Pokémon (up to two per turn in a 2-on-2 battle). Plus, there's always the threat of cards like Energy Removal 2 (EX Ruby & Sapphire, 80/109). If Energy is lost in so many ways, how can you find and attach enough Energy to your Pokémon in order to attack?

In EX Dragon, there are several smart ways to put Energy cards back into your hand. Vibrava's (22/97) Quick Charge attack allows you to move up to three basic Energy cards of different types from your deck to your hand, like the Trainer card Lady Outing (EX Ruby and Sapphire, 83/109). Torkoal's Power Generation can put basic Energy cards back in your hand from the discard pile. Magneton's (35/97) Magnetic Field Poké-Power lets you move up to two basic Energy cards from your discard pile into your hand, if you discard any one card from your hand. A new Trainer, Energy Recycle System (84/97), lets you choose either to take one card from your discard pile and put it in your hand, or to take three cards from your discard pile and put them in your deck.

Once you have Energy cards in your hand, you can attach more than one basic Energy card from your hand to a Pokémon in a turn with Flygon's (15/97) Energy Shower.

Series	EX Series
Release Date	September 18, 2003
Number of Cards	97
Standard Legal Deck?	No

Ex Sandstorm

Pokémon TCG: EX Sandstorm

Each new expansion to the Pokémon-e TCG is like an archeological dig; mysteries and surprises are often hidden just under the surface. If you are looking for a intriguing set of Pokémon abilities and strategies to master Pokémon-e TCG, EX Sandstorm has a lot to offer. Expanding themes introduced in Pokémon-e TCG: EX Ruby and Sapphire-like 2-on-2 battles and Pokémon-ex, EX Sandstorm is full of tools to use and weapons to employ in your Pokémon battles.

Decks that use a combination of Pokémon types receive a big bonus in EX Sandstorm in the form of the Multi-Energy (93/100) card. This card is a great supplement to Rainbow Energy in that it can be any type of energy you need it to beas long as there aren't any other Special Energy cards attached to that same Pokémon. With 4 Rainbow and 4 Multi energy cards in your deck, you should never be short the right kind of energy, even for attacks that need several energy to work.

Eevee—I choose you! Yes, that's right, Eevee (63/100) has returned. With an unmatched number of possible Evolutions, and a built-in Evolution fetching attack, Eevee is sure to make your opponent consider their position very carefully. Playing with several Eevee-lutions in your deck will give you lots of flexibility to manipulate and exploit the Weaknesses in your opponent's Pokémon. You can also use the Type-shifting abilities of Kecleon (18/100), Solrock (13/100), and Lunatone (8/100) to ensure that you hit the right mark and target your opponent's Weaknesses.

Speaking of flexibility, EX Sandstorm introduces a a number of ways to broaden your options mid-game. Many Pokémon have attacks that will let you search your deck for copies of themselves, or other Pokémon, or evolution cards, allowing you to avoid a quick loss because your last Pokémon was Knocked Out; or to get key Pokémon into play quickly and efficiently. However, these attacks have a subtle edge to them. You may want to include single copies of several different versions of the same Pokémon, then use the 'call for friends' style of attacks to find the version whose attacks best suit your current needs. Also useful are the Trainers that have similar effects, like Lannette's Net Search (87/100) and the long awaited Rare Candy (88/100). Adapting to your opponent's strategy through selective Pokémon use can get you out of almost any tough situation.

Choices, choices, choices. Pokémon-e TCG: EX Sandstorm is all about making choices in deck construction and gameplay. Don't be daunted by them, though: the only way to master your strategy is to dive right into the Sandstorm!

Series	EX Series
Release Date	September 18, 2003
Number of Cards	100
Standard Legal Deck?	No

Pokémon-e TCG: EX Ruby & Sapphire

Pokémon-e TCG: EX Ruby & Sapphire expands the decks previously collected by Pokémon fans, while bringing rookie trainers into an all-new exhilarating world of Pokémon.

EX Ruby & Sapphire comes packed with awesome features sure to excite Pokémon fans everywhere! This new collection contains 109 cards, new characters, brand new Poké-Powers and exciting new gameplay. No trainer should consider entering battle without this series. Any trainer who does will quickly learn why!

There are over 40 brand new Pokémon, such as Treecko, Mudkip, and Torchic. As always, some Pokémon have more than one type of card, each with different illustrations and different moves. In addition, trainers are able catch the all new Pokémon-ex. These rare characters may be difficult to find but are well worth the search. The Pokémon-ex posses remarkable battle powers that add a new element to every trainer's deck.

The new series also introduces an all new way to play—two-on-two battles! Trainers can now call on two of their best Pokémon to battle two of their opponent's Pokémon in a mind-blowing winner take all battle. These new two-on-two battles will certainly be intense and are sure to raise the stakes in any battle arena.

Even more thrilling, many of these Pokémon-e TCG cards feature cutting-edge Dot Code Technology which makes them compatible with Nintendo's popular e-Reader accessory for the Game Boy Advance. When scanned through the e-Reader, certain cards reveal expanded Pokédex information which is extremely valuable for trainers looking for an edge.

On top of all of these great additions, EX Ruby & Sapphire is 100% compatible with previous Pokémon TCG sets. No matter what your strategy has been—basic, intermediate or advanced—your deck will benefit from the addition of these all-new Pokémon, techniques, and features. Pokémon-e TCG: EX Ruby & Sapphire is the next evolution in the Pokémon Trading Card Game and a must have for every Pokémon trainer!