Hello everyone! This is Elena again from Gaia Storm TCG and welcome to another article here. Today is a very important date since Lost Thunder, the exciting new Pokémon expansion is officially released. There are many great cards which everyone should be testing from now on but in this occasion I  would like to focus on, unarguably, one of the best cards of the entire set: Ninetales GX. What makes this fairy Pokémon so good? Is the hype justified? Let’s dig into it!

 

Apart from an stunning artwork, Ninetales GX seems to have everything that makes a card great: incredible ability, nice HP,  a fairly decent weakness and two very useful attacks. For just one fairy energy and a colorless one, it deals 70 damage and 30 to the bench, amazing numbers that kind of remind to the emblematic Dark Spear from 2012. The sniping damage was and is crucial in the game, allowing players to round up knockouts without investing that many resources. In addition, for the same energy cost it can instantly get rid of an Ultra Beast Pokémon using its GX movement. In a format with Buzzwole, Naganadel, Blacephalon and others, this attack is something to bear in mind.

 

However, the best feature for Ninetales GX is Mysterious Guidance. This solid ability allows the player to search two items when Ninetales hits the field. As simple as that. I can’t stress how amazing this ability is. For many years, item searching cards like Skyla in Black and White or Korrina in XY have always been included as consistency measures, helping decks to function properly. The possibility to grab two items in the second turn is just crazy, opening the door to other evolution plays (grab rare candy and ultra ball, for instance) as well as getting some one-off cards that the deck might be running. I have been testing some decks from Lost Thunder from some weeks now and I have to say that Ninetales is even better than I thought.

 

So, where does Alolan Ninetales function better? Very much like Tapu Lele, I see Ninetales becoming a support Pokémon for other strategies. Rare Candy based decks such as Decidueye and Solgaleo benefit incredibly from this support. Not to mention that Vulpix and its signal attack has traditionally been played in order to help Stages 2 decks. Another deck where I see Ninetales being played a lot, as it is done in Japan, is Buzzwole Lycanroc because of the insane synergy it has. Vulpix can be searched with Brooklet Hill, the FDF Unit energy allows Ninetales to attack easily and the ability grabs you a couple of game changing Beast Rings.

 

In conclusion, Ninetales GX is an awesome card that can fit in many decks. While it is a bit early to determine the impact it will have in the game, what it is clear is that everyone should be expecting this fairy Pokémon to start changing the metagme. Thanks for reading!