#unbroken bonds

[pokemon-cards-hourly]

[kimiko24]

Me + U ❤️

[trainerjoshie]

Pokémon TCG SM Ultra Prism (2018), Unbroken Bonds (2019), Unified Minds (2019), Cosmic Eclipse (2019), SWSH Promo (2020) & Chilling Reign (2021) illustrations by Shibuzoh. 🤩🤩🤩

[lovepokemontcg]

illus. sowsow "Porygon 2" from Unbroken Bonds

[pokemon-card-of-the-day]

Pokemon Card of the Day #3274: Gengar (Unbroken Bonds)

Gengar had an interesting role, getting a one-time damage counter hit on Pokemon-GX. This could set up some damage ranges, at least in theory, for the price of running a Stage 2 line that did nothing else. You'd need the room for it and a Pokemon that could hit a very specific damage amount to make it worthwhile. Such a Pokemon, with even more help, did exist. It just required a rather intensive set-up to get it all to fall into place like this, which meant every card was going to be necessary to make Gengar worth it.

130 HP was on the lower end of the typical Stage 2 numbers, but the difference between 130 and, say, 150 didn't always change much. There was often a bit of a gap there, and a Darkness Weakness meant if you were seeing Zoroark-GX your extra HP over the 120 number didn't mean anything anyway. The Fighting Resistance might have some rare moments in SUM-On but wasn't the biggest deal in general. Gengar could retreat for free, which let it work as a pivot once in play which was nice for decks in general.

Shadow Pain was an Ability you used when playing Gengar from your hand to evolve 1 of your Pokemon during your turn. It let you put 6 damage counters on the opponent's Pokemon-GX and Pokemon-EX however you wanted. While this wasn't a lot, it could make a difference, and you could try to set up multiple Gengar through a game. One notable use was with Spiritomb, as a fully damage Spiritomb with a Hustle Belt could get 3 Prizes after Gengar damage. It was a lot easier for other things to care about this with 2 Gengar hits, but getting both off at the right time with set-up was much harder than getting one, even if Spiritomb's full set-up took a bit.

Twilight Poison did just 70 damage and put the opponent's Active Pokemon to Sleep. Said Pokemon was also Poisoned, but even all that didn't make this good enough.

Gengar was a Pokemon you probably wanted a good amount of if using in your deck, as you'd likely want to get that 60 damage in multiple times per game. It was also the type of Pokemon that was only good against certain Pokemon and not others, and the combination of those two traits made it a rare sight. It got a little use alongside Spiritomb because Tag Teams right at the start of its availability were very common and the math worked out well. It didn't stick for long and Spiritomb decks really found ways to win games without it. And yet, despite that, when things lined up Gengar could save a turn of attacking, so it still had value in the right match-up.

[akyivanov]

They always return there, as if the past had roots too deep to really let them go

[cassianandfenrysaremyboyos]

Kieran really turned around put his hands over his ears and went 'la la la la la not listening not listening' at Oli and North's pda

[laxmon]

Pokémon — Kanto teams 8/?

Ground-type Gym Leader Giovanni's Pokémon team, based on his teams from Pokémon Red and Blue and Pokémon Black 2 and White 2.

Artwork by:

Megumi Mizutani for SM Unbroken Bonds (Giovanni's Exile) Kouki Saito for BW Dragons Exalted (Marowak) Yukiko Baba for HeartGold and SoulSilver (Sandslash) Kagemaru Himeno for Team Rocket (Dark Dugtrio) Ken Sugimori for Gym Challenge (Giovanni's Nidoqueen, Giovanni's Nidoking) KirisAki for SM Unbroken Bonds (Rhydon)

[am-to-pm]

For Once In My Life - Stevie Wonder

[sydneyangelia]

[gh0stly-trickster]

[pokemon-cards-hourly]

[peachypokedex]

[trainerjoshie]

Pokémon TCG SM Unbroken Bonds (2019) & Cosmic Eclipse (2019) illustrations by 0313 🤩

[lovepokemontcg]

illus. tetsuya koizumi "Wooper" from Unbroken Bonds

[pokemon-card-of-the-day]

Pokemon Card of the Day #3275: Weezing (Unbroken Bonds)

Weezing went for a strategy that had mostly been ignored for some time. The entire point of this Pokemon was spread damage, which didn't seem like the most promising thing when the game was shifting to Pokemon with huge HP numbers. Weezing did have a more potent version of it than most, but relied heavily on the opponent using Basic Pokemon, which were common but not every deck. There was at least a window where Weezing could get help with that, and any attempt to revive an old strategy was certainly worth taking a look at.

120 HP was at that point where most Pokemon that had set up would get a KO, and the Psychic Weakness didn't change a ton as a result. It was amusing to have a Malamar take a Prize off this, however, even if it wasn't entirely necessary. The Retreat Cost was 3, but you'd almost always be using Splattering Sludge if you had this up front so it wasn't as bad as it would normally be.

Detention Gas worked whenever Weezing was your Active Pokemon. It put a damage counter on each of the opponent's Basic Pokemon between turns. Basic Pokemon were rather common, though exceptions like Naganadel and Zoroark-GX did exist to name a few. This did add up over time against all those big Basic Pokemon, though, and the goal was to rack up enough damage with this and other effects to get 6 Prizes, often all at once.

Splattering Sludge did rely on previous damage being in play. 40 was done to the opponent's Active Pokemon for 2 Colorless Energy, but 20 was also dealt to each of the opponent's Benched Pokemon with any damage counters on them. Now, Mew being around did block all the extra damage, with the side thing that Mew itself was actually weak enough to be Guzma bait for this attack.

Weezing was an interesting sort of Pokemon. It was mostly stuck in the SUM-On format to use Double Colorless Energy, but there were plenty of Basic Pokemon to work against there and Tapu Koko gave a way to get the first bit of damage on anything that had evolved. While not a top tier option, Weezing managed to get a couple of good tournament showings simply off the combined damage from its Ability, attack, and Shrine of Punishment. You usually had a bit of room for some niche attackers with Counter Energy due to always falling behind as well. Still, it took a while to get going, and was sometimes overwhelmed by the fast pace of some of the other decks out there. This made for a competitive deck that also wasn't a main focus for most out there.