Welcome back to another installment of the TGC Events Blog, with your host, Aaron! This week we’re talking about the pre-release for the new Pokémon set, Delta Reign. Pokémon pre-release takes place over the course of two weekends. For Delta Reign, this will encompass October 24th & 25th and Halloween weekend.
Pokémon prerelease is a little different than other prereleases. At a prerelease for games like Magic: The Gathering or Star Wars: Unlimited, you build a deck using only sealed packs. For Pokémon, you are given a Build-And-Battle Box that contains a 40-card deck and 4 packs. You’re free to use the cards pulled from those packs for your deck, but you must abide by the 40-card deck limit. To go with this, each player has 4 prize cards instead of the usual 6. Each Build-And-Battle Box contains 1 of 4 different decks. For Delta Reign, said decks feature Masquerain, Magmortar, Enamorus, and Kommo-o. This means that each deck will be based around each respective Pokémon, represented on a set-stamped foil card.
Masquerain has “Bug Out” as an attack, which leans heavily on deck construction and allows for sudden explosive levels of damage. Magmortar’s ability, “Buddy Boost,” plays into its and Electivire’s standing as a duo in Gen 4, giving energy to both of them when activated if you have both on your board, allowing for energy acceleration. Enamorus’s attack, “Rising Heart,” levels the playing field against an “ex” opponent, dealing 100 extra damage to “ex” Pokemon. If you have Tornadus, Thundurus, Landorus, and Enamorus on your board, “Rising Heart” costs two energy less, as the colorless energy cost is eliminated. Then comes Kommo-o’s ability, “Beat Scales,” that allows a player to check the top 6 cards of their deck one per turn, attaching as many energy cards as they would like in any way onto their Dragon-type Pokémon.
Delta Reign is a set players are looking forward to, as it’s a reintroduction of Mega Rayquaza into a playable meta, and there’s potential for a new high-tier deck in the competitive circuit that could compete with the champion incumbent, Dragapult ex. With this set being based around Mega Rayquaza, there’s a lot of love for Hoenn. Kyogre and Groudon are getting their own art rare cards to match, completing the trio.
Don’t worry though, there’s not too much water in this set as there’s also some serious Sinnoh and Unova representation as well. As I mentioned before, Magmortar and Electivire are a Gen 4 duo, and they’ve got a lovely set of art cards in this set for folks to hunt down. Mega Golurk ex also has an absolutely beautiful card that this Events Team member will certainly be keeping an eye out for.
If playing in the prerelease interests you, or you’re just looking to get some cards, come on down to the store on the weekends I mentioned, and you too can become a Pokémon Master! Or at the very least, a Trainer. Hopefully we see you for Delta Reign’s full release on November 2nd!
This is Aaron, signing off.
