Pokémon TCG: Sword And Shield Review: The Most Exciting Set Of The Year For Collectors AND Players

Pokémon Trading Card Game: Sword & Shield Darkness Ablaze is the 3rd and newest set of the most recent generation of the world's most popular collectible card game. Darkness Ablaze brings 201 new cards to the game, including 35 super-powered V and V-MAX cards; the outrageously cool new chase cards that replaced GX cards from the Sun & Moon era of the game.

What makes Darkness Ablaze such a special set is the introduction of Charizard V, the first Charizard card ever printed in a Sword & Shield set. Charizard is without a doubt the single most valuable Pokémon throughout all of Pokémon TCG and his inclusion in any set automatically makes the entire set more valuable. Beyond that, Darkness Ablaze has some of my favorite cards I've seen in Sword & Shield so far. The best sets have the widest expression of different art styles, and Darkness Ablaze is no exception. Finally, this set has some trainer car🐬ds that I fully expect to really shake up the meta, making it not only a beautiful collection of cards, but an important one for players, too.

A Truly Inspired Collection

Each Sword & Shield set released so far (Base Set, Rebel Clash, and now Darkness Ablaze) has done a fantastic job of representing a diverse collection of Pokémon to collect and trade. Darkness Ablaze has representation from every single Pokémon generation, and by my measure, enough fan favorites to please just about every Pokémon trainer. There are a lot of repeated Pokémon from the past few sets, especially ones that were introduced in Generation VIII, but that's definitely to be expected during the early sets in the ge🎶neration.♍ Overall, there's a really good mix of "classic" Pokémon, new Pokémon, and even legendaries. There's an emphasis on very cute 'Mons here for sure, but I'm not complaining.

With the exception of Fairy-type, which was cycled out of the game at the start of Sword & Shield, every type has at least 1 V and/or V-MAX card except for water (sorry water fans!). The "mascot" V-MAX cards featured on the pack art for the set — Charizard, Centiskorch, Grimmsnarl, and Eternatus— are definitely the standout of the set, but I'm really happy to see V cards for Butterfree, Scizor, Slow🍃bro, and Mew especially. I feel like there is a lot of here for older fans, even if you haven't kept up with some of the newer generations.

I must admit I'm disappointed that Charizard V and Charizard V-MAX don't have any secret rare representation. The Full Arts, Rainbows, and Gold Cards of the set are fantastic, but it seems like Charizard is being held back for the special Champion's Path mini-set in September. Darkness Ablaze feels like a bit of an appetᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚizer in that way, with the high-value hunt for super rare Charizards starting in t🍸he next set.

High Impact Cards For A New Meta

With the standard format rotation that happens at the end of the month, much of the game's meta is completely up in the air. Only cards from Sun & Moon Team Up and later will be permitted in Standard play, which means that it is likely that a lot of the cards in Darkness Ablaze will see play.

In particular, play💫ers have already latched onto a Eternatus V-MAX and Centiskorch V-MAX is a couple of the most powerful cards to build decks around. Centiskorch V-MAX can really snowball into an unstoppable amount of power, especially when used with Welder, and Eternatus V-MAX is at a similar power level and lends to some really cool all-dark deck building. Crowbat V is also a really strong utility that provides card draw with its Dark Asset ability, making it a solid choice for a huge variety of deck types.

There are also some important Trainer cards in this set. Cape of Toughness stands out as a really useful Item card w🙈ith its ability to add 50 HP to any basic non-GX Pokémon, which includes V cards, and Bird Keeper is just a great retreat + card draw that can fit into most decks.

There are so many sets and so many cards in each set that there is never really one set that "defines" the meta, but Darkness Ablaze has enough♚ high powered cards in it that I expect to stay very popular for the length of the rotation.

Products With Style

I didn't love the mustard yellow and forest green color combo for Rebel Clash, and Copperajah isn't the best mascot Pokémon for a set either. On the other hand, Darkness Ablaze's deep purple and Cranberry color combo and concentric circle pattern underscores the set's psychedelic aesthetic that a lot of my favorite cards feature in their art. Eternatus is a really bizarre alien-dragon monster that evokes cosmic horror for me more than anything else and I really appreciate the way this set leans into those kinds of tripped-out, even Lovecraftian themes. It's still cute and wholesome, but there's an edge to Darkness Ablaze that really appeals to me.

The Elite Trainer Box uses that beautiful deep purple, which almost makes the font hard to read, but the purple and cranberry dice included in the box are some of my favorites I've seen in a long time. Otherwise, the ETB has all of the standard stuff including 8 booster packs, which I still find an incredibly good deal. Elite Trainer Boxes are the first products I get for every new set and I love coꦆllecting them and using them to store my cards.

There are also 2 new pre-constructed Theme Decks which are always my favorites because you get to play around with new cards and experiment with combos without the stress of building a deck. These decks are a bit of an oddity because A. they don't have unique titles like the typical theme decks; they're simply called the Galarian Sirfetch'd Theme Deck and the Galarian Darmantian Theme Deck and B. They mascot cards are reprints of Rebel Clash cards, albeit with new art. I don't think Theme Decks have included reprints as their mascot card in almost a decade. I think these are still great decks for new players to learn, but if you really want a fantastic new player experience, check out the new 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Battle Academy Board Game.

Darkness Ablaze is by far my favorite set of Sword & Shield so far, and not just for the Charizar𝓀ds. The theme, variety, and colors are so on poin🌳t for my taste and I'm even more excited for the next set, Champion's Path, then I was before.

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