All images courtesy of The Pokémon Company
On Thursday, January 30th, The Pokémon Company and DeNA released Space-Time Smackdown, the next full expansion set for Pokémon TCG Pocket. In it, many new Pokémon cards are available, most of which come from the fourth generation of Pokémon video games. But which Pokémon cards are going to be most sought-after? And which Pokémon cards in the set have great art? Let’s discuss.
Space-Time Smackdown Steels Itself
Space-Time Smackdown has a slight emphasis on Metal-type and Darkness-type Pokémon. This is likely because of the lack of Pokémon of those types in the first set, Genetic Apex. Even though Poison-type creatures of Kanto represented the Darkness-type on cards, Steel-type monsters were extremely sparse. In Genetic Apex, Mawile and the Meltan line were the only Pokémon representing Metal-type cards. This led the meta to go every which way but towards Metal-type cards, more or less.
However, with the release of Space-Time Smackdown, Pokémon TCG Pocket has introduced ten new unique Metal-type Pokémon cards. Dialga ex appears to be one of the strongest ones to run in multiples, able to fuel a Benched Dialga ex from the Active Spot. The other Metal-type cards are not quite as seemingly impactful on an offensive front, but they are extremely defensively inclined. Bastiodon, for example, has a 50/50 chance to negate 100 damage it would otherwise take from an opposing attack with its ability, Guarded Grill.
Darkness-Type Gets Darker in Space-Time Smackdown
As for Darkness-type Pokémon cards, the type got even better. The Darkness-type now has two Pokémon ex, Darkrai ex and Weavile ex, and both look quite powerful in the throes of gameplay. Darkrai ex fuels Weavile ex and, boosted by an intense suite of support cards, will allow Weavile ex to wreak havoc on the opponent. We’ll get to this in a future deck tech, to be sure.
As a result of Space-Time Smackdown, both Darkness-type archetypes and Metal-type archetypes will at last begin to flourish. This only bodes well for the PTCGP metagame!
The Art of Space-Time Smackdown Is Intense
As a seemingly fundamental truth about Pokémon TCG Pocket, it appears that the cards have amazing art once more. This is especially true of the higher-rarity “star rare” cards. In addition to the immersive 3-star Palkia ex and Dialga ex, many of the 1- and 2-star cards are illustrated with so much lovely attention to detail.
If the art and gameplay of Space-Time Smackdown don’t entice you to crack some packs from the set, we don’t know what to say to help you towards those ends!
Space-Time Slam Dunk
Overall, Pokémon TCG Pocket releasing Space-Time Smackdown appears to be a hit with players. Not only are there plenty of powerful new cards in the set (not just in the types we’ve mentioned, either!), but the aesthetics are spot-on and beautiful to boot. We’ve saved up our Pack Hourglasses en masse for this one. Have you?
For more Pokémon TCG Pocket content, check out our deck techs for Aerodactyl ex and Gyarados ex.
