Winter Descends on Unova

As Chad mentioned in his previous post, the latest booster set for Yu-Gi-Oh! is having it's pre release event this Saturday. I personally am very much looking forward to the Lord of the Tachyon Galaxy set and I'm gonna be down there for the event. I'm excited to not only be able to get my hands on the latest Harpie cards, but also Number 107: Galaxy-Eyes Tachyon Dragon to go with my Photon deck. So anyone who's gonna be there and who pulls any of the following cards, come talk to me because I want to get them off you I want to be your friend.

• Harpie Channeler
• Hysteric Sign
• Harpie's Pet Phantasmal Dragon
• Number 107: Galaxy-Eyes Tachyon Dragon

However, Lord of the Tachyon Galaxy isn't all that's happening on Saturday, as we've also got a Pokemon TCG tourney happening at 1pm. Not only that, but this month the latest Pokemon TCG booster set is also being released... Plasma Freeze. It would seem that winter is a touch earlier this year, and with the addition of a host of new Team Plasma affiliated pokemon and trainers a deck built to serve their own hidden agenda is much more possible. Having said that, I'm going to have a look over some of the new cards in the set and give my thoughts on them.

Tornadus-EX is perhaps one of my favourite new cards of the set. While it's Jet Blast attack may not seem powerful at first, if you can manage to attach the full amount of Plasma Energy onto it Tornadus-EX can deal out a whopping 180 damage, enough to knock out almost any opponent! However, my favourite ability is the Windfall attack. For just a single energy, Tornadus-EX will completely refresh your hand and give you even more options for your next turn. Since it only needs colourless energy, Tornadus-EX can fit into any deck!

Those of you who play already will know about the Rocky Helmet card, which deals out 20 damage to any pokemon that attacks the equipped pokemon. If you're a fan of Rocky Helmet, you may want to consider using up the Ace Spec slot in your deck for Rock Guard. It's used in the same manner as Rocky Helmet, but deals out a huge 60 damage instead of just 20. Your opponent will be hesitant to attack a pokemon with Rock Guard, especially if you equip it to a pokemon that already does retaliatory damage such as Lucario (Next Destinies 64/99) or Druddigon (Noble Victories 89/101).

Not only are new cards added, but some old favourites are also returning. Professor Juniper, a favourite for her ability to discard your hand to draw seven new cards is being re-released in both normal and full art versions, and the original terror of Pokemon-EX, Sigilyph, looks to be making a comeback as well! From what I can gather, it would seem that this Sigilyph will be released in its shiny form much like the Plasma Storm versions of the Boundaries Crossed Charizard and Blastoise. Personally I'm excited by this news, as I'm planning a psychic deck for the near future and having more copies of Sigilyph will be a great help. Plus everyone loves to have pretty cards in their deck so that they can show off to their opponents.

For those of you who love Eevee and its evolutions, you have some good news too. Not only are there two brand new Eevees to choose from, but each of the seven Eeveelutions make an appearance under the banner of Team Plasma. Each have their own unique charms, from Vaporeon's ability to heal all of your pokemon to Umbreon boosting the maximum HP of it's allies in Team Plasma by 20, and even Glaceon providing an escape route for Team Plasma pokemon by reducing their retreat cost by two! Each has their own unique charms, and I'm sure you could find one that suits your own deck.

Well, that's all I've got to say about Plasma Freeze for the moment. So whether you side with Team Plasma or plan to oppose them, Plasma Freeze will certainly give you a host of new cards to choose from. Feel free to give me the ones you don't want though, especially if it's a full art Professor Juniper!

Your resident Pokemon Professor* (as The Chad seems to want to dub me), Troy.

*You may want to reconsider playing that Bicycle card when I'm nearby, unless its an outdoors game.