Hello everyone! This is Elena from Gaia Storm TCG and welcome to another article here at CCG. Today I want to cover the latest expansion from the Sword and Shield era: Rebel Clash. A set that has been released under very concrete circumstances but whose impact in the metagame is going to last for so long. Let’s see some of the best cards that we can find here!

With new powerful Pokémon coming to the game, it seems we are about to enter in yet another stage: The era of the V Max. Yes, I know, you might be thinking “Hey Elena but we already had a couple of V Max released in Sword and Shield! It is nothing new”. And that’s in part true. But what I mean when I say that we are entering in a new era it is because V Max Pokémon (Lapras, Morpeko, Stonjourner…) where not especially playable. It is clear that we are heading towards a transition, just like it happened with the EX or the GX Pokémon, where V Max are probably going to become a crucial part of the metagame as they continue getting better.

One of the most powerful cards from Rebel Clash in undoubtedly Dragapult V Max. This Psychic type Pokémon is a ridiculously good attacker with a monstrous life that deals 130 damage for just 2 energies and spreads damage like a champ. If you combine Dragapult V Max with the new released Horror Energy, your opponent is really going to have a bad time trying to survive your spread onslaught. The only downside I can really see Dragapult having is the fact that it lacks energy acceleration, being therefore very vulnerable to energy removal. But even with that, I still think Dragapult V Max is going to be a deck to beat moving forward.

The three Galar starters also received their V Max versions and they are not bad at all. I specially love how differently they all work. For instance, Rillaboom V Max is all about brute force, Inteleon focusses on damage snipping and energy disruption and Cinderance V Max is able to reflect any damage done.  And lastly, do not sleep on Toxtricity V Max. It is a very speedy deck that reach amazing numbers while the lighting support lasts.   

Other card that looks like a must for this format is Edelgoss V. When played, Edelgoss lets you recover one supporter card and taking into consideration that we have basically no recycling opportunities right now, it seems it has the potential to become a staple.  There are a couple of other V cards that are also quite interesting as well. Ninetales V is a nice addition to fire-based decks and Boltund is a very cost-efficient attacker for any strategies that has lighting energies.

Moving onto the Trainers cards, one of the most welcome additions to our Standard pool is Giovanni. As it happened with the release of Magnolia, that is now classified under one special category named “Professor Research”, Giovanni falls into the “Boss Orders”, which is a way of avoiding problems with cards like Lysandre in Expanded. Anyways, Giovanni provides a gusting effect that is going to become one of the solid pillars of the game. Another card I specially love is the Scoop Up Net. The fact of picking up any Non-V or GX Pokémon is just ridiculous and will be heavily played both in Expanded and Standard from now on.

And last but not least, we have the energies. It seems like Pokémon is now going back to printing special energies that work for each Pokémon Type. In this expansion, Horror and Speed energies have debuted to help both Psychic and Lightning decks. And I particularly love how they have been designed to help the dynamics associated with both strategies (spreading damage and speed).

So Rebel clash is for sure an amazing set with many new cool cards to try. Be sure to buy your staples here at CCG  and might your packs be blessed with many Dragapult! Thanks for reading.