Luminous Sign Me Up! — How Brilliant Stars is Changing the Game

Hello PokeBeach readers! As always, I am happy to be bringing you all another article! Last time, I discussed the newly released Pokemon VSTAR and what they mean for the game, Leafeon VSTAR, and two decks that make use of Leafeon VSTAR! As Leafeon VSTAR has had a few days to get settled into the online tournament environment, it has certainly been living up to its potential, with one of its more notable performances being a 5th place finish in a 65 person tournament on February 13th. Going forward, I expect to see much more from Leafeon VSTAR, especially as we approach the release of Brilliant Stars.

Speaking of Brilliant Stars, the set is just over the horizon, with the impending release just over a week from now. With Brilliant Stars, we will certainly be seeing some massive changes, with the expansion on Pokemon VSTAR and the potential final Pokemon VMAX, the game is in for some major changes, however, in my opinion, the biggest changes that will be coming with Brilliant Stars exist in the form of deckbuilding changes.

Brilliant Stars is introducing some hugely important new cards to the game as well as re-releasing some old ones. Many cards in this set, realistically, may not end up being super significant, but others will likely end up completely changing how the game is played for their entire legality period. As such, I decided it would be best to look into each of these cards on an individual basis and how each will be changing the game.

Without further ado, how about we start by taking a look at Manaphy.

Card #1: Manaphy

Unlike the other cards that I will be covering in this article, Manaphy is a passive counter card rather than being a card that actively benefits how you play the game. Since the rotation to the Sword & Shield-on format, there has not been any card that people have wished for more than a reprint of the Bench Barrier Ability seen on cards like [card name=”Mr. Mime” set=”Plasma Freeze” no=”47″ c=”name”][/card] and more recently [card name=”Mew” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”76″ c=”name”][/card]. Well, at long last, people’s wishes have finally come true and we are getting a Bench Barrier in Brilliant Stars, in the form of Manaphy. I would be outright lying to every single person reading this article if I claimed that the release of Manaphy is anything but massively significant.

Since its release, [card name=”Rapid Strike Urshifu VMAX” set=”Battle Styles” no=”88″ c=”name”][/card] has been consistently a top-tier threat, even in the face of potent counters like [card name=”Mew VMAX” set=”Fusion Strike” no=”114″ c=”name”][/card] and [card name=”Shadow Rider Calyrex VMAX” set=”Chilling Reign” no=”75″ c=”name”][/card]. This is largely due to the mere existence of G-Max Rapid Flow, an attack that I wholeheartedly consider to be one of the most powerful attacks in the game’s history. Even though 120 damage to two Pokemon is not a ton when you are often looking at Pokemon with 310 or more HP, thanks to a variety of damage increasing cards, such as [card name=”Telescopic Sight” set=”Vivid Voltage” no=”160″ c=”name”][/card], [card name=”Passimian” set=”Chilling Reign” no=”88″ c=”name”][/card], and [card name=”Inteleon” set=”Chilling Reign” no=”43″ c=”name”][/card], this moderate 120 damage all of a sudden becomes more like 150 to even 220 damage, depending on the build and your board state.

With the release of Evolving Skies, another card came to rival the sniping power of Rapid Strike Urshifu VMAX in the form of [card name=”Jolteon VMAX” set=”Evolving Skies” no=”51″ c=”name”][/card], which boasts the ability to hit two Pokemon for 100 damage, each for a low Energy cost and minimal resource investment. Jolteon VMAX is a deck that prides itself on its effectiveness in accomplishing its simple and powerful strategy against any non-Fighting deck. In addition to their powerful spread damage capabilities, Rapid Strike Urshifu VMAX and Jolteon VMAX have one more thing in common, being that both struggle to handle Manaphy.

To many players, stopping Rapid Strike Urshifu VMAX and Jolteon VMAX from crippling the Bench is nothing short of a miracle for a variety of reasons. To me, it is most valuable to protect the powerful Inteleon line, especially your [card name=”Sobble” set=”Chilling Reign” no=”41″ c=”name”][/card] and [card name=”Drizzile” set=”Sword and Shield” no=”56″ c=”name”][/card] lines so that you are able to use them without losing the game. To many others, the gift of Manaphy is the opening that many Single Prize Pokemon-based decks needed to become more than just niche decks that could occasionally do well in select metagames. Decks like [card name=”Malamar” set=”Chilling Reign” no=”70″ c=”name”][/card] are some of the greatest beneficiaries of Manaphy, as they already have damage output on their side, but they are extremely weak to spread attackers, often making them hard to play in most metagames. With Manaphy, their greatest weakness is essentially null, creating a massive opening for these decks to show their true power. I certainly expect Manaphy to make a big difference in the upcoming format.

Card #2: Lumineon V

The next important card in Brilliant Stars is Lumineon V, which, for those of you that remember it, is very similar to [card name=”Tapu Lele-GX” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”60″ c=”name”][/card]. In general, the ability to just go find any Supporter you want whenever you want is absolutely incredible. It allows many niche Supporters like [card name=”Cheryl” set=”Battle Styles” no=”123″ c=”name”][/card], [card name=”Pokémon Center Lady” set=”Champion’s Path” no=”60″ c=”name”][/card], and more to become far more usable just by being able to go find them at the ideal time. In addition, some cards that were previously on the border of unplayable, such as [card name=”Team Yell Grunt” set=”Sword and Shield” no=”184″ c=”name”][/card] can be found whenever you want them, making them usable. Of course, it is also highly important to mention the classic option of Lumineon V for a game-winning [card name=”Boss’s Orders” set=”Rebel Clash” no=”154″ c=”name”][/card], just like the Wonder Tag for [card name=”Guzma” set=”Burning Shadows” no=”115″ c=”name”][/card] or Stellar Guidance ([card name=”Jirachi-EX” set=”Plasma Blast” no=”60″ c=”name”][/card]) for [card name=”Lysandre” set=”Flashfire” no=”90″ c=”name”][/card] of the past.

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While all these general uses are great, however, I have my eyes set on the option to search out [card name=”Rapid Strike Style Mustard” set=”Battle Styles” no=”132″ c=”name”][/card] and [card name=”Single Strike Style Mustard” set=”Battle Styles” no=”134″ c=”name”][/card]. During the Sword & Shield to Fusion Strike format, one deck that popped up was a [card name=”Galarian Moltres V” set=”Chilling Reign” no=”97″ c=”name”][/card] / [card name=”Galarian Zapdos V” set=”Chilling Reign” no=”80″ c=”name”][/card] / [card name=”Beedrill” set=”Chilling Reign” no=”3″ c=”name”][/card] deck that was created by Alex Koch. This deck aimed to counter all of the meta’s major decks, with Galarian Moltres V for [card name=”Mew VMAX” set=”Fusion Strike” no=”114″ c=”name”][/card], Galarian Zapdos V for [card name=”Jolteon VMAX” set=”Evolving Skies” no=”51″ c=”name”][/card], and then Beedrill for anything that used Special Energy, but especially Single Strike box.

In this deck, unlike the Leafeon VSTAR deck that I talked about last time, you typically got out Beedrill with the effect of Single Strike Style Mustard, which could be difficult if you could not find Single Strike Style Mustard when you needed it. Thanks to Lumineon V, however, you can easily go find it right when you need it, even easier with one of the [card name=”Quick Ball” set=”Sword and Shield” no=”179″ c=”name”][/card] that you probably used to shrink your hand anyway. Unlike Single Strike Style Mustard, Rapid Strike Style Mustard has hardly seen play at all. Now that Lumineon V exists, maybe Rapid Strike Style Mustard focused strategies such as a “turbo” [card name=”Rapid Strike Urshifu VMAX” set=”Battle Styles” no=”88″ c=”name”][/card] list may be able to exist, after all, people thought that [card name=”Archie’s Ace in the Hole” set=”Primal Clash” no=”124″ c=”name”][/card] with [card name=”Blastoise” set=”Boundaries Crossed” no=”31″ c=”name”][/card] was a fringe strategy back in 2015, but with the right extra tools, the deck was able to win a World Championship, and I would not be surprised if Single Strike Style Mustard and Rapid Strike Style Mustard could end up doing the same thing.

Card #3: Double Turbo Energy

Unbelievably, [card name=”Mew VMAX” set=”Fusion Strike” no=”114″ c=”name”][/card] is not even the best home for Double Turbo Energy. Remember all of the decks that you have ever thought “wow, this would probably be good if [card name=”Double Colorless” set=”Sun and Moon” no=”136″ c=”name”][/card] was around?”, well, now is their time.

One deck that is a bit interesting that many players are gravitating towards is [card name=”Durant” set=”Battle Styles” no=”10″ c=”name”][/card], as it now has eight total Energy between [card name=”Twin Energy” set=”Rebel Clash” no=”174″ c=”name”][/card] and now Double Turbo Energy, but I am very skeptical that this deck will see much more success than it has previously, largely because the win condition of deck out via milling four cards at a time is just a little too slow for the current format.

Another deck that has garnered a lot of attention partially because of Double Turbo Energy has been one of the favorites of the Team Up-on Format; Mad Party. With the rotation to Sword & Shield-on, Mad Party lost [card name=”Triple Acceleration Energy” set=”Unbroken Bonds” no=”190″ c=”name”][/card], which was a pivotal part of your path to winning the game, as it was the only way to realistically attack six times in a game. Now that we have Double Turbo Energy, we finally have more Energy cards to work with, opening up a big door for Mad Party. Historically, I have dismissed Mad Party as a mediocre and inconsistent deck, but in the Brilliant Stars format, I have high hopes for the deck’s future.

Card #4: Choice Belt

Now for one of the more juicy cards in the set; Choice Belt. When I first saw Choice Belt, I was absolutely baffled that they actually decided to print it. Sure, we have had cards like [card name=”Choice Band” set=”Guardians Rising” no=”121″ c=”name”][/card] and [card name=”Silver Bangle” set=”Plasma Blast” no=”88″ c=”name”][/card] in the past, but I did not expect them to make a comeback in the current Standard format, especially with [card name=”Vitality Band” set=”Sword and Shield” no=”185″ c=”name”][/card] around, however, sometimes I end up being wrong, and this was one of those times, but perhaps I was wrong in one of the best ways possible…

The entire Standard format is absolutely littered with instances of attacks being just shy of hitting meaningful numbers, with cards like [card name=”Galarian Moltres V” set=”Chilling Reign” no=”97″ c=”name”][/card] and [card name=”Galarian Sirfetch’d V” set=”Vivid Voltage” no=”174″ c=”name”][/card], which were both already pretty good, being able to hit the ever-so-critical 220 damage mark. In addition, Mew VMAX also now has access to essentially a “fifth [card name=”Power Tablet” set=”Fusion Strike” no=”236″ c=”name”][/card]” opening the doors for many major math points, such as 360 with Techno Blast, as well as just allowing you to need one less Power Tablet in a lot of cases, replacing it with a Choice Belt. Perhaps the most important math number for Mew VMAX, though, is the number of problems it fixes with Double Turbo Energy‘s math. Thanks to Choice Belt, a Mew VMAX with Double Turbo Energy is able to easily do 220 with Techno Blast and this scales up to 250 (most Pokemon V), 280 (all Pokemon VSTAR), 310 (many Pokemon VMAX, including opposing Mew VMAX), and 340 (all Pokemon VMAX), turning Double Turbo Energy from potential inclusion in Mew VMAX to an automatic inclusion.

Unbelievably, this is just scratching the surface of the incredible math that we see with Choice Belt. For the longest time, both [card name=”Eternatus VMAX” set=”Darkness Ablaze” no=”117″ c=”name”][/card] and [card name=”Ice Rider Calyrex VMAX” set=”Chilling Reign” no=”46″ c=”name”][/card] have been two of the stronger Pokemon VMAX in the game, but they struggled in the department of damage output, typically being unable to grab one-hit Knock Outs on Pokemon VMAX without the assistance of a lot of [card name=”Galarian Zigzagoon” set=”Sword and Shield” no=”117″ c=”name”][/card] or [card name=”Inteleon” set=”Chilling Reign” no=”43″ c=”name”][/card], but thanks to Choice Belt, the 320 number just became much more attainable.

In Eternatus VMAX, 320, a number that was previously almost entirely unreachable, is now reachable with just two Headbutt Tantrum alongside Choice Belt. In the case of Ice Rider Calyrex VMAX, 320 is now reachable with just two Quick Shooting instead of the astounding five that you needed previously. Additionally, Ice Rider Calyrex VMAX’s Ride of the High King is now able to hit 190 with Choice Belt, which may not be relevant by itself, but with two Quick Shooting, this becomes 230, enough to kill most Pokemon V, and not have to discard your Energy like Max Lance would require you to.

At this point, I think it would be pretty reasonable to claim that Choice Belt may be the absolute strongest card in this set, and I would agree with that claim if it was not for one more card in this set.

Card #5: Ultra Ball

In April 2012, a then 10-year-old Isaiah was eagerly looking at spoilers for the upcoming Dark Explorers expansion (some of which I found on PokeBeach itself!). I vividly remember the first time I read [card name=”Darkrai-EX” set=”Dark Explorers” no=”63″ c=”name”][/card] and [card name=”Dark Patch” set=”Dark Explorers” no=”93″ c=”name”][/card]. Funny enough, I actually claimed that I thought they were pretty strong, but not necessarily game-breaking (a claim that would ultimately be very incorrect), however, there was one more card that really stuck out to me.

That card was [card name=”Ultra Ball” set=”Dark Explorers” no=”102″ c=”name”][/card].

At the time, I expected the card to be pretty good, especially in my [card name=”Eelektrik” set=”Noble Victories” no=”40″ c=”name”][/card] deck that I was playing at the time, but never in my wildest dreams did I see what happened with Ultra Ball for the next several years coming. Starting with the 2013 season, Ultra Ball became an instant four-of in many decks and over the next for years, many people would tinker around with the perfect amount of Ultra Ball in a deck, but it was always present regardless of its count.

[cardimg name=”Ultra Ball” set=”Sun and Moon” no=”135″ align=”right” c=”none”][/cardimg]

During its amazing seven years of legality, Ultra Ball won the World Championships six times, only being omitted in 2018 due to the deck having access to better deck-specific search options. In 2019, Ultra Ball would finally rotate, and I celebrated — prior to that moment, I had only played for about six total months without Ultra Ball around and I was curious to see what other options could succeed without it around. In some formats, no Ultra Ball felt fine, especially following the release of [card name=”Quick Ball” set=”Sword and Shield” no=”179″ c=”name”][/card] in Sword & Shield, but in more recent memory, relying on cards like [card name=”Evolution Incense” set=”Sword and Shield” no=”163″ c=”name”][/card] has felt a bit lackluster, leaving a desire for the return of Ultra Ball.

Amazingly, with Brilliant Stars, that day has finally come.

Ultra Ball is, without question, one of the best cards in the entire history of the Pokemon TCG, and for a good reason. Being able to just go find any Pokemon that you want is a great option to have for any deck, but especially for decks focusing around Evolution Pokemon, as searching all parts of the Evolution line with a single card is a massive general consistency buff. Notably, almost the entire Standard format is currently focused around Evolution Pokemon in the form of Pokemon VMAX and now Pokemon VSTAR. As such, having a single card that finds everything you need is a great option.

In addition, Ultra Ball is one of the greatest cards in the game for thinning bad cards out of your hand for the use of cards like [card name=”Crobat V” set=”Darkness Ablaze” no=”104″ c=”name”][/card] or just so you do not draw back into them later in the event your hand got shuffled into your deck. Ultra Ball is also excellent for discarding cards for discard pile-based Abilities such as [card name=”Galarian Moltres V” set=”Chilling Reign” no=”97″ c=”name”][/card] and [card name=”Flaaffy” set=”Evolving Skies” no=”55″ c=”name”][/card], as well as discard pile-based Trainer Cards like [card name=”Raihan” set=”Evolving Skies” no=”152″ c=”name”][/card] and [card name=”Melony” set=”Chilling Reign” no=”146″ c=”name”][/card], making these cards far more reliable than just hoping to hit your fairly limited number of Quick Ball to fuel them. Ultra Ball is also great for helping Mad Party ramp up its damage even faster and far more consistently.

Additionally, Ultra Ball is yet another buff for [card name=”Mew VMAX” set=”Fusion Strike” no=”114″ c=”name”][/card], offering a massive consistency boost with a far better generic search option than [card name=”Great Ball” set=”Sword and Shield” no=”164″ c=”name”][/card] as well as a great way to burn down your hand for more cards off of [card name=”Genesect V” set=”Fusion Strike” no=”185″ c=”name”][/card]’s Fusion Strike System, allowing you to assemble your combos with alarming consistency.

Between all of this, it is easy to claim that Ultra Ball is not just one of the strongest cards in Brilliant Stars, but it is the absolute strongest card in Brilliant Stars.

Conclusion

As we creep towards the eventual release of Brilliant Stars, we are easily reminded that we are approaching one of the strongest competitive sets in the history of the game, with many powerful new cards as well as reprinting powerful old ones. Following the set’s release, I certainly expect to see most of these cards in a majority of decks, with some decks even being able to realistically include all five of them. Between the Bench Protection from Manaphy, speed boost of Double Turbo Energy, the power boost of Choice Belt, and the consistency boosts of Lumineon V and Ultra Ball, it can safely be claimed that Brilliant Stars is not just going to be an impactful set, it is going to completely change the Standard format as we know it.

With that, this article comes to a close. I hope you enjoyed reading this article, as it is a significant deviation from the typical style that I choose to write. As such, I would absolutely appreciate any feedback you all may provide! Additionally, as always, if you have any questions, feel free to ask away in the Subscriber’s Hideout, on Twitter (@ICheville), or on Facebook (Zaya Lee)!

Until next time!

– Isaiah

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