The Twilight Masquerade Pokémon TCG expansion arrives on May 24, with pre-releases happening on May 11 in the US and UK regions. It’ll be the first time Western players can get hands-on with all the new cards, but some are clearly better than others.
Out of the 100 cards on offer, I have picked out a few that could be meta-defining or overall useful, so you know what to look out for if you open a booster pack anytime soon.
Wellspring Mask Ogerpon EX
Starting with Wellspring Mask Ogerpon EX, the card is purely situational.
I feel it could work well in Chien Pao and Baxcalibur decks where the goal is to use Baxicalburs effects to attach a lot of Water Energy to Pokémon at a time. You are mainly using it to get rid of a benched Pokémon, such as Radiant Greninja, or even deal some damage to Pidgeot ex.
It is a situational card but still great for some deck variants.
Dragapult EX
Dragapult ex is currently only available in Japanese, but to give a quick rundown on what it does, it is a 320hp card with no weaknesses. With one Fire and Psychic Energy, you deal 200 damage to the opponent’s active Pokémon and also put six damage counters onto your opponent’s benched Pokémon in any way you like.
Dragapult EX has already been successful in Japanese tournaments since the set’s launch in Japan at the end of April and is used in many different decks. If any card has the chance to take off from Twilight Masquerade, it would be this one.
Keiran
The Keiran card is way too versatile. It has two abilities, and you can choose one when played, making it useful in multiple top-tier decks. When played, you can switch your Active Pokémon with one of your Benched Pokémon, which is perfect for Lost Zone decks, or use its secondary effect; during your turn, you can play Keiran to deal 30 more damage to your opponent’s Active ex or V Pokémon, which can be the difference between winning and losing.
The fact it has two different abilities makes it useful in almost every deck and could be a game-changer against and for Charizard ex decks right now. We must wait and see if it’ll impact the metagame heading into NAIC at the start of June, but it’s arguably the best Trainer card in the set.
Secret Box
A great addition to the Ace Spec series, Secret Box lets you search your deck for an item card, Pokémon Tool, Supporter, and Stadium, and put them in your hand so long as you discard three cards first. It’s the ultimate loot box, and it can give you everything you need to turn the tide of a game or set up your win.
Some decks like Chien Pao ex and Ancient decks might also welcome the chance to discard dead cards to set off a chain reaction while taking advantage of its additional effects.
