info & images
courtesy of pokemon.com
Heatran
You won’t find too many Basic Pokémon as
scorching as Heatran (3/99). Not only
does it have a hefty 100 HP to match its
948-pound weight, but this Fire-type
Pokémon has two awesome ways to cook the
Defending Pokémon. Heatran can first
bring the heat with Fire Fang, an attack
that causes the Special Condition Burn
in addition to the 20 damage it does.
Then Heatran can follow up with Magma
Mantle, a blistering attack that
requires you to discard three cards from
the top of your deck. It does 60 damage,
then an additional 20 damage for each
discarded card that is either a Fire
Energy or Metal Energy card. Especially
in decks containing a lot of Energy, do
not pass on including the fiery Heatran!
Toxicroak
With its sharp claws and piercing yellow
eyes, Toxicroak (11/99) will put the
fear into your opponent even before an
attack is made! This Stage 1 Pokémon
looms under an ominous eclipse, ready to
deliver two stellar attacks packing
plenty of strategic potential. First up
is its Corner attack, which not only
prevents the Defending Pokémon from
retreating but also does 20 damage. Next
is Convert Blow, an attack that delivers
a basic 30 damage (plus another 30 if
Toxicroak has Fighting Energy attached
to it), and causes Poison if Toxicroak
has Psychic Energy attached. Try to
employ these attacks back-to-back, using
Convert Blow to Poison the Defending
Pokémon, and then Corner to force it to
stay in battle—racking up even more
Poison damage!
Zapdos
![[G]](http://www.pokemon.com/us/_ui/img/sections/tcg/chars/G_mark.png)
The high-flying Zapdos
![[G]](http://www.pokemon.com/us/_ui/img/sections/tcg/chars/G_mark.png)
(12/99) crackles with lightning as it
swoops into the game! Zapdos
![[G]](http://www.pokemon.com/us/_ui/img/sections/tcg/chars/G_mark.png)
can use its two moves to quickly build
Energy levels then deliver a thunderous
blow to the Defending Pokémon! The
Charge Beam attack rapidly loads up on
Energy whilst the Lightning Strike
attack delivers 40 damage... or 80
damage if you choose to discard all the
Lightning Energy attached to Zapdos
![[G]](http://www.pokemon.com/us/_ui/img/sections/tcg/chars/G_mark.png)
!
Since Charge Beam makes it so easy to
replenish Zapdos
![[G]](http://www.pokemon.com/us/_ui/img/sections/tcg/chars/G_mark.png)
,
it makes sense to do the maximum damage
as often as possible.
Sceptile
Go green with the impressive Sceptile
(31/99)! This Grass-type Pokémon brings
to battle a pair of powerful attacks,
each capable of doing wonders for your
game. Sceptile’s Leaf Supply attack is
an amazing way to get Energy into
play—not only does it do 30 damage, you
may attach an Energy card (and that’s
not just a Grass Energy card but any
basic Energy card) from your hand to one
of your Pokémon. Then, slice up the
competition with the Dual Cut attack,
which has the potential to do 140
damage! While it could do only 70 damage
or even no damage, depending on your
coin flips, Sceptile’s fierce damage
potential and helpful Energy allocation
still make this a Pokémon worth going
green to get!
Rapidash
The Fire Horse Pokémon Rapidash (47/99)
canters its way into
Platinum—Arceus and, with its
fiery mane glowing menacingly, is sure
to heat up your game! Each of its two
attacks has a low Energy cost and this
means that this Stage 1 Pokémon can have
an instant impact on your game. Its
Searing Flame attack requires only 1
Fire Energy to do 10 damage and leave
the Defending Pokémon Burned. For only 1
Energy more Rapidash can deliver a quick
40 damage. And with no Retreat Cost, it
can flee to the Bench with the swiftness
you'd expect from a Pokémon so graceful!
Pikachu
There’s nothing wrong with keeping
Pikachu (71/99) in your deck just
because the Mouse Pokémon is so darn
cute. But your opponent better take
Pikachu seriously, because the
Lightning-type Pokémon can deliver a
shockingly powerful attack, too!
Pikachu’s Mega Shot attack lets you take
aim at any of the opponent’s
Pokémon to do 40 damage. In the process,
you have to discard all Lightning Energy
you have attached to Pikachu; the attack
requires 1 Lightning Energy and 2
Colorless Energy, so if you play it
right, you’ll need to discard only one
Energy per attack! Pikachu might be
adorable, but with attacks like Mega
Shot, all your opponent will experience
is a less-than-cute Knock Out!
Beginning Door
As you’ll see over the next couple of
weeks, the Platinum—Arceus
expansion is absolutely packed with
multiple versions of the Pokémon Arceus!
We’ve already seen one card that
capitalizes on all those Arceus—the
intriguing Arceus
LV.X
(94/99). Now take a look at Beginning
Door (82/99), a Trainer card with the
sole purpose of moving an Arceus card
from your deck to your hand. And, since
it’s a Trainer card, you can play more
than one per turn. This, in turn, allows
you to load your Bench with Arceus
before your opponent can blink!
Beginning Door is a portal to all kinds
of opportunities in the
Platinum—Arceus expansion!
Arceus
The mighty Alpha Pokémon Arceus stands
to make an otherworldly impression on
TCG strategy as we know it. With
multiple Arceus cards, as well as
multiple Pokémon
LV.X
that can Level-Up those Arceus, the
possibilities are breathtaking. One of
the most potent Pokémon
LV.X
is Arceus
LV.X
(94/99) which, surprisingly enough,
doesn’t even have a direct attack!
Instead, it has two Poké-Bodies that it
uses to define its abilities. The first
is the Multitype Poké-Body, which all of
the Arceus
LV.X
cards have: it turns Arceus
LV.X
into the same type as the Arceus it’s
Leveling Up from. The other Poké-Body is
where things get interesting. The
Omniscient Poké-Body lets Arceus
LV.X
use the attacks of any of the
Arceus that are in play on your side.
Use the Ultimate Zone (91/99) Stadium
card to shift Energy from your Benched
Pokémon to your Active Arceus to ensure
you always have the necessary Energy to
attack, too. Given the number of Arceus
cards in the Platinum—Arceus
expansion, this Arceus
LV.X
may be the most versatile Pokémon
LV.X
you’ll ever play!
Gengar
The evolution chain of Gastly, Haunter,
and Gengar is featured prominently in
Platinum—Arceus, with Gengar
LV.X
(97/99) at the top! Gengar
LV.X
is a little tricky to use on its own,
but both its Level-Down Poké-Power and
Compound Pain attack have game-changing
potential. First, Level-Down lets you
remove a
LV.X
from an opponent's Pokémon and have that
card shuffled back into his or her deck
so, if you've been suffering at the
hands of your opponent’s Pokémon
LV.X,
Gengar
LV.X
is a sure-fire way to slow them down!
After you’v e leveled the playing field
in this manner, use Gengar
LV.X's
Compound Pain attack to do 30 damage to
any of your opponent's Pokémon that
already have damage counters on
them. Both of the regular Gengars that
Gengar
LV.X
can Level-Up have attacks that can
target your foe's Bench, giving Compound
Pain the potential for extraordinary
power!
Tangrowth
Get better by getting bigger with
Tangrowth
LV.X
(99/99)! Tangrowth
LV.X
helps you on your way with two
growth-spurts in the shape of its
Healing Growth Poké-Power and its Big
Growth attack—two devastating additions
to your deck. Its Healing-Growth Poké-Power
gives you a 50/50 chance of removing 4
damage counters from any of your Pokémon
(based on a coin flip)—demonstrating
that even when it's on the Bench,
Tangrowth
LV.X
is helpful! If that isn’t enough, its
Big Growth attack lets you sift through
your discard pile for as much Grass
Energy as you want and then allows you
to attach it to your Pokémon! Pile
Energy onto cards such as Vespiquen
Elite Four (Rising Rivals,
35/111) whose Leaf Needle attack
increases by the amount of Energy
attached, or seek out your own mighty
combos! With Tangrowth
LV.X's
capabilities, you’ll soon be watching
your win totals grow, too!