While some purists may gawk at the idea of slandering an original card’s art by trying to paint over and around it, the results for those that are truly great speak for themselves. Each of the cards on this list is always painted with their original pokémon and backgrounds serving as the “canvas” so to speak. SumiPaints builds off of their original imagery, giving us the impression that they have peeled back the layer of stats and rules in order to reveal a larger picture that has always existed beneath the surface. This Vulpix is captured just outside of a forest in what appears to be a blossoming meadow. Possibly, Veridian Forest of Gen I fa
Pidgeotto is a Pokémon most veterans of the franchise will be familiar with. Many beginning teams in the Gen I games chose between the Pidgey and Spearow lines as their primary flying types. The original art of this card evokes an almost savannah-esque scenery with the haziness of the morning light and the implication of grasslands stretching far into the background. The artist takes the liberty of adding more to the mainstay of the river, showing the movement of currents with additional swirls, as well as adding a bit more to the riverbank in the foreground with extra grass and extending the tree l
This makes playing a Crystal Pokemon quite a challenge and can hinder certain cards enough to be virtually ignored aside from the collection aspect of the TCG . Kingdra from the Aquapolis set is one such card. They are tied for the highest HP for all Crystal Pokemon, yet their costly and lackluster attacks make them virtually unusa
Vanilluxe has an ability called Bitter Cold that lets their trainer flip a coin free of cost (save for having Vanilluxe in their active pokemon slot) that can make the opposing active pokemon Paralyzed. Having an ability to do the freezing leaves Vanilluxe able to attack with the 90 damage Frost Smash that only requires 2 energy. In two or three turns, given good draws, one can go from a no-energy Vanillite to a full-power Vanilluxe that acts essentially like a living blizz
Strategies involving different cards can be found among all types, though there are some especially cool ones seen in the more recent expansions. In the Vivid Voltage set, there is a Cramorant card that can do 60 damage multiplied by how many Arrokuda cards are discarded from the bench. Since Cramorant is a basic pokemon, it can be played immediately, making it a great lead pokemon due to its sufficient 110 HP. Their Continuous Gulp Missile costs 2 energy of any type, making it very quick to set up. With one of the common Double Colorless Energy cards, this move can potentially be used on the first turn that Cramorant is act
However, the Arrokudas themselves are not simple ammunition. Having a single one in hand as the battle begins can lead to a quick and devastating early-game strategy. Playing one of these slender aquatic pokemon on turn one, along with an energy card, can let a trainer summon two of their brethren from the deck onto the bench. On the next turn, retreat the active Arrokuda back to the bench and send out a Cramorant. If one also has a Double Colorless Energy, they can play it onto their avian ally and unleash a Continuous Gulp Missile for a colossal 180 damage. This low-cost tactic is likely to knock out almost any opponent. Being so early in the SLG Game walkthrough, if the opposing trainer has no other pokemon, this can net a quick and decisive vict
Belonging to the XY-BREAKthrough expansion, Octillery is a stage 1 Pokémon with 90 HP and evolves itself from Remoraid. Having abilities such as Hug, which can stop the defending player from retreating at the cost of water-water-colorless energy cards, Octillery’s most powerful ability is Abyssal Hand, which allows the player to draw cards once during their turn and before they att
Although neither of its attacks does huge amounts of damage, Dark Alakazam from the Team Rocket Expansion is a card that requires greater intellect to use most effectively. It can teleport into the Bench with a blast that does moderate damage as well as granting a free swi
Feraligatr is a 120 HP stage 2 pokémon that belongs to the Neo Genesis expansion and boasts of astoundingly powerful abilities such as Downpour and Riptide, which are kind of complementary to each other. While Downpour allows the player to discard one water energy card from the deck, as many times as they like during their turn, before they attack, Riptide complements it by dealing 10 plus 10 damage multiplied by the number of water energy cards that the player has in the discard p
There may be times when this strategy does not go as planned, due to it needing 4 specific cards for it to work, though there is another tactic that can be added on with minimal effort and resources. Including some Barraskewda cards, which Arrokuda can evolve into, can give one an excellent fallback strategy. If one’s Cramorant gets knocked out before they can use Continuous Gulp Missile, this will leave their trainer with a bunch of comparatively week Arrokuda, which would get knocked out fairly quickly. Evolving them into Barraskewda will result in a fast, moderate-HP card that can directly damage the active opponent or even assault their benched poke