What’s going on Ultimate Guard readers? I’m back with another article, and today we are covering the latest Pokémon TCG set, Scarlet and Violet: Stellar Crown! This set is based around Tera Pokémon, and features some Pokémon that haven’t been printed as a card ever before, like Terapagos ex [Stellar Crown].

Many of the best cards in the set are themed around having a Tera Pokémon in play to be able to attach multiple Energy, draw extra Prize Cards, and even have up to eight Pokémon on your Bench at once! I’ll be covering my personal top five best cards from this set, the reasons why they are powerful, and more. Since this set isn’t fully released at the time of writing, you can always check out the Japanese translations here. Let’s jump into my number five pick!

5) Fan Rotom

Ability: Fan Call

Once during your first turn, you may search your deck for 3 [C] Pokémon with 100HP or less, reveal them, and put them into your hand. Then, shuffle your deck. You can't use more than 1 Fan Call Ability during your turn.

[C] Assault Landing: 70 damage. If there is no Stadium card in play, this attack does nothing.

Fan Rotom [Stellar Crown] is a unique response to starting a new Colorless Pokémon engine. You can use Fan call to search for a Bidoof [Crown Zenith], and a couple copies of Hoothoot [Stellar Crown] to eventually Evolve those into Bibarel [Brilliant Stars], and Noctowl [Stellar Crown]. That can jumpstart your deck to search for whatever you need. Fan Call would be enough to make this a viable card, but Assault Landing can easily OHKO a 70HP Basic Pokémon on your first turn (going second) to take this card to the next level. Considering this card is likely going to be auto-paired with Noctowl, you’ll have to find a Tera Pokémon to make it work, but it is a crucial card from Stellar Crown, and isn’t one to be overlooked!

4) Grand Tree

Once during each player's turn, that player may search their deck for a Stage 1 Pokémon that evolves from 1 of their Basic Pokémon in play and put it onto that Pokémon to evolve it. If that Pokémon is now a Stage 1 Pokémon, they may search their deck for a Stage 2 Pokémon that evolves from that Pokémon and put it onto that Pokémon to evolve it. Then, that player shuffles their deck. (You can’t use this effect during your first turn or on a Basic Pokémon that was put into play this turn.

Grand Tree [Stellar Crown] is likely my favorite card from the entire set because I love the Evolution mechanic in Pokémon! Being able to search for a Stage 1, Evolve it, search for a Stage 2, and Evolve into that too! That means you can go from Pidgey [Obsidian Flames], into a Pidgeotto [Pokémon 151], into a Pidgeot ex [Obsidian Flames]. You can also go from a Duskull [Brilliant Stars], into a Dusclops [Shrouded Fable], into a Dusknoir [Shrouded Fable]. I’m sure there will be other opportunities to Evolve your Pokémon, but even looking at just Pidgeot ex, you can get Quick Search setup as early as turn two, and search for whatever you need. Being able to multi-search for combo pieces makes Stage 2 decks more consistent, and it also gives us a Stadium to bump other Stadium cards with - that is a win in my book. I expect many players to experiment with this card in Charizard ex [Obsidian Flames] decks, and even more!

If you’re looking for some new sleeves to match these new cards, Ultimate Guard just released a handful of new colors of Katana Sleeves. While I haven’t had a chance to try the new colors up front, I am particularly hyped about the Summer Cloud color. Check it out over here. 

3) Area Zero Underdepths

If a player has a Tera Pokémon in play, that player can have 8 Pokémon on their bench.

(When this card leaves play or a player no longer has any Tera Pokémon in play, they discard Benched Pokémon until they have 5 Pokémon on the Bench. If both players discard, the owner of this card discards first.)

The Pokémon TCG isn’t a stranger to cards that can increase the number of Pokémon that you can put on your Bench, and Area Zero Underdepths [Stellar Crown] isn’t any different! You’ll need a Tera Pokémon in play, like Wellspring Mask Ogerpon [Twilight Masquerade] to activate this card, but now you can go from having five Pokémon on your Bench to having eight Pokémon on your Bench! That's more room for tech cards like Fan Rotom, Noctowl [Stellar Crown], and even other attackers! Origin Forme Palkia VSTAR [Astral Radiance] looks like it will take advantage of this card to increase its damage output, and the amount of cool cards that it might put in play. Another side strategy about this card is discarding Pokémon when the Stadium eventually gets bumped out of play. You can have cards like Lumineon V [Brilliant Stars], and Squawkabilly ex [Paldea Evolved] in play, and discard them after they were used. This card will certainly open up more strategies in the future, so stay tuned for those!

2) Briar

You can play this card only if your opponent has exactly 2 Prize cards remaining.

Until the end of this turn, if your opponent's Active Pokémon is Knocked Out by damage from one of your Tera Pokémon's attacks, take 1 more Prize card.

Being able to draw extra Prize Cards is huge, and Briar [Stellar Crown] can do just that if the right requirements are met. The easiest way to get to this situation is by Briar auto-activating when your opponent is down to two Prizes remaining, now you can take an additional Prize Card, and potentially win the game. You can also utilize cards like Dusknoir [Shrouded Fable] to forcefully put your opponent at 2 Prize Cards, and then activate Briar. Again, this is a card that only works with Tera Pokémon, and that has mainly become Charizard ex, but it has also sparked a resurgence in Dragapult ex [Twilight Masquerade] seeing play too! I’m sure we’ll see many instances of Briar stealing games on the official livestream of major events, and I love the comeback mechanic of it! Let’s just hope it's me that is reaping the rewards from drawing extra Prize Cards!

1) Noctowl

Ability: Jewel Hunt

When you play this Pokémon from your hand to evolve 1 of your Pokémon during your turn, if you have any Tera Pokémon in play, you may search your deck for up to 2 Trainer cards, reveal them, and put them into your hand. Then, shuffle your deck.

[C][C] Speed Wing: 60 damage.

Here we are, my top card in Stellar Crown, and it's Noctowl. Similar to Inteleon [Sword and Shield], you can search out Trainer cards, and as long as our deck can support Noctowl, like by playing Tera Pokémon (do you get the theme of the set yet), it should be an option. Many are playing this with Area Zero Underdepths, Fan Rotom, and building their deck with a more diverse Trainer line to adapt to many different situations. The power of searching for whatever you need whenever you need it makes for some interesting gameplay, and also makes decks more skill-based at the same time! I know that I’ve already ordered my playsets for this card, and I can’t wait to cook up some awesome lists soon - one’s that I’ll share here of course!

Time to Explore Tera Pokemon

With the theme of this set being Tera Pokémon, you’ll want to explore different Tera Pokémon to come up with new combos! Even lesser used cards, like Cinderace ex [Stellar Crown], might end up becoming well positioned due to the new Tera support that we’ve received from this set! Look at those cards - Noctowl, Briar, Area Zero Underdepths, and there are so many others that I couldn’t fit in my top five! Now this is just my early list, and I’m sure things will shape up even more as the set fully releases worldwide! I’m gonna test a whole bunch with this set to prepare myself for the first major event that I’m attending, the Lima Special Event, and hopefully it ends up working out! As always, I’ll keep everyone updated here on the Ultimate Guard website, and share any findings I have!