• Hey everyone, staff have documented a list of banned content and subject matter that we feel are not consistent with site values, and don't make sense to host discussion of on Famiboards. This list (and the relevant reasoning per item) is viewable here.
  • Do you have audio editing experience and want to help out with the Famiboards Discussion Club Podcast? If so, we're looking for help and would love to have you on the team! Just let us know in the Podcast Thread if you are interested!

Sword & Shield - Silver Tempest | Out Now

Chaotic Neutral

Chain Chomp
Founder
Pronouns
He/Him
1668430844364.png

The Silver Tempest expansion is out now, just ahead of the ninth generation launching on Friday! The expansion includes two tool cards with seal stones that allow you to a give a VSTAR Power to any Pokémon V: either an ability to search your deck for any card to draw or an attack that leaves your opponent with exactly 100 HP left regardless of total HP. The expansion also features Radiant Pokémon, which are shiny Pokémon that do not need to evolve and have powerful abilities and attacks - with the caveat that you can only have one Radiant Pokémon in your deck. Here are some of the highlights from the new set:

1668431299924.png
1668431314287.png
1668431606923.png
1668431634684.png
1668431656108.png
1668431865617.png
1668431899447.png
1668431942255.png
1668431963561.png
1668431986056.png
1668432003928.png
1668432021771.png
1668432042100.png
1668432069466.png
1668432084409.png
1668432106848.png
1668432123201.png
1668432150246.png
1668432169890.png
1668432189081.png
1668432221391.png
1668432252318.png
1668432268781.png
1668432286659.png

The full set list can be seen here! Will you be trying out Silver Tempest either on the tabletop or online in TCGO/Live? Do you have any strategies in mind for the new meta?
 
I haven't played the TCG since the Rocket set so I'm a bit out of my depth here, but some of those cards seem incredibly overpowered. I guess power creep is an issue for the TCG?
 
I haven't played the TCG since the Rocket set so I'm a bit out of my depth here, but some of those cards seem incredibly overpowered. I guess power creep is an issue for the TCG?

Oh, power creep is absolutely a problem. But the game balances it somewhat out with some Pokémon awarding two or even three prize cards on knock out. And there's been many different mechanics added since then so it all comes together rather nicely. While I definitely have nostalgic memories of TCG in Gens 1 and 2, I wouldn't at all say it's any less fun now!
 
0
I got a shiny Alakazam and a cute foil Flaaffy card in one of my (sadly only) digital packs!

h3.jpg


When I tried out Live, I was surprised how obnoxiously consistent combo decks have become with all the ways to search for very specific cards and the many available built-in redundancies these days.

To illustrate: I was playing a Hisuian Zoroark deck. That deck's strategy relies on drawing V-Zoroark, the VSTAR Zoroark to evolve it into, attaching two energy, and having your own bench full of pokemon with damage tokens on them. You'd think such a complicated gameplan would take a while to set up. Nope. More often than not VSTAR Zoroark was ready to start sweeping by turn 2 or 3 and only beaten by decks which either accelerated even faster or had counters entirely negating damage from V-pokemon.
 
I got a shiny Alakazam and a cute foil Flaaffy card in one of my (sadly only) digital packs!

h3.jpg


When I tried out Live, I was surprised how obnoxiously consistent combo decks have become with all the ways to search for very specific cards and the many available built-in redundancies these days.

To illustrate: I was playing a Hisuian Zoroark deck. That deck's strategy relies on drawing V-Zoroark, the VSTAR Zoroark to evolve it into, attaching two energy, and having your own bench full of pokemon with damage tokens on them. You'd think such a complicated gameplan would take a while to set up. Nope. More often than not VSTAR Zoroark was ready to start sweeping by turn 2 or 3 and only beaten by decks which either accelerated even faster or had counters entirely negating damage from V-pokemon.

Love that card art, super cute!!

I agree that it's way too easy with some decks to set up a sweeper. I guess it makes for snappier gameplay in competitive but there is something to be said about ye olde days of hoping to draw that Charizard every turn until it pops up.
 
Love that card art, super cute!!

I agree that it's way too easy with some decks to set up a sweeper. I guess it makes for snappier gameplay in competitive but there is something to be said about ye olde days of hoping to draw that Charizard every turn until it pops up.

I wouldn't call it snappier when the matches involve a whole lot of watching the other player shuffle their deck, play out their cards, search the discard pile, shuffle their deck again, play another bunch of cards, maybe shuffle their deck a third time and finally hit attack.

Compared to the matches I play on Online, which probably take longer overall but I spend less time waiting between turns for my time to do something to come around again.

But even with all that the worst part of Live, at least on desktop, is how it makes it near impossible to simply appreciate the card art in your collection.
 
I wouldn't call it snappier when the matches involve a whole lot of watching the other player shuffle their deck, play out their cards, search the discard pile, shuffle their deck again, play another bunch of cards, maybe shuffle their deck a third time and finally hit attack.

Compared to the matches I play on Online, which probably take longer overall but I spend less time waiting between turns for my time to do something to come around again.

But even with all that the worst part of Live, at least on desktop, is how it makes it near impossible to simply appreciate the card art in your collection.

I haven't tried Live since it isn't on the app store in my country, but that doesn't sound good :/
 
I haven't tried Live since it isn't on the app store in my country, but that doesn't sound good :/

It's to Pokemon TCG Online what the J.J. Abram's trilogy is to the sequel trilogy in that it makes what came immediately before it look better in retrospect.
 
oooooooooooooh now this is a pokemon card I wanna have. I absolutely adore Ampharos but I've never really appreciated Flaffy for how cute it is. I love how the Flaffy on this card is fluffing itself up and generally just enjoying how good it looks. the girl is whatever, I think the card would be better if it were just flaffy admiring itself. But yeah, great Pokemon card!
 
oooooooooooooh now this is a pokemon card I wanna have. I absolutely adore Ampharos but I've never really appreciated Flaffy for how cute it is. I love how the Flaffy on this card is fluffing itself up and generally just enjoying how good it looks. the girl is whatever, I think the card would be better if it were just flaffy admiring itself. But yeah, great Pokemon card!

I like how the antennas on the headset remind me a little of Ampharos, so you can pretend like Flaaffy looks in the mirror and sees what it'll become one day.
 


Back
Top Bottom