What you need to know about the new Legendary Stadium cards in Pokémon TCG

Hello everyone!

If you’ve been looking at the new cards from Delta Regin, you have probably noticed there are some that don’t really look like regular cards. They actually look like… half a card? Yes, you are seeing right. That is exactly what the Legendary Stadiums are, and, in case you are feeling a bit lost, we are going to quickly explain this new mechanic!

What are Legendary Stadium cards?

In simple terms, the new Legendary Stadium cards are a new type of cards that are made up of two pieces: the right half and the left half. In order to play them down, you need to use both halves at the same time.

This is not the first (and I don’t think it will be the last) time Pokémon has printed something like this. Back in the HeartGold and SoulSilver era, there were a very specific type of cards called Pokémon Legend, which featured one or more Pokémon and also had two halves (in this case, the upper and the lower one). And later, in Sword and Shield, Pokémon printed V-Union Pokémon, a Exodia-like card that you could only play if all 4 pieces had been previously sent to the discard pile. 

Example: Ho-oh Legend, two pieces

Example: Greninja V Union, 4 pieces

So, to sum it up, Legendary Stadiums follow the path of previous mechanics and bring a very strong effect to the game at the cost of having to invest more resources playing it. Because, of course, you need double to make them work!

Are they different from other Stadiums?

No, they're virtually the same as other stadiums once they hit the field. The only real difference is their activation conditions. If you play them, all the rest of the cards that interact with Stadiums will work as usual.

How many can I play in my deck?

This is an interesting question. Since each Stadium is made up of a pair of 2 cards, right? But that does not mean you can play 4 of one half and 4 of the other in your deck. In other words, you can only play 2 and 2 of each half because each half counts as the Stadium per se.  So yes, you can either play 1-1 or 2-2 of each half, getting a maximum of two potential activations per game.  

(Well, I mean, theoretically you could just play 1 copy of a half, but it would be a dead card so…).

So… how do they work against other stadiums?

As explained above, they are regular stadiums. If your opponent plays another stadium (yes, the two cards), they will go to the discard pile. This is what makes some players a bit skeptical of their competitive potential because you need to invest 2 cards in something that can be destroyed by 1.

Is there a special way to get them?

No! Just open packs, as always. The good news is that both halves will always come together in booster packs, so pulling one half will be immediately followed by the other.

What Stadium cards do we have now? Are they worth it? 

In Delta Reign, Pokémon is releasing three Stadium cards but we don’t know if this mechanic will be repeated in future sets. You can learn a more detailed analysis of some of these cards in our Delta Reign article.

Legendary Pyroduct 

Evolution Pokémon in play (both yours and your opponent's) have no Abilities.
You cannot play this card by itself. You must combine 2 different Legendary Pyroduct from your hand to play as 1 Stadium card.

This is without question the best of the three stadiums. By assembling its pieces, we can immediately shut down abilities from evolution Pokémon, which happen to be a very strong part of the current metagame. Just think of decks like Dragapult, Hydrapple, or Zoroark, which simply can not work with their abilities. I think this deck is going to become a menace, especially when combined with hand disruption.  

Legendary Trench

Whenever a Pokémon (yours or your opponent's) is healed, double the amount of damage healed.
You cannot play this card by itself. You must combine 2 different Legendary Trench from your hand to play as 1 Stadium card.

Right now, I can’t think of a deck that can use this stadium to its maximum potential but its effect is quite interesting. Legendary Trench basically doubles the healing any player uses during a game, so, technically, if you play something like Jumbo Ice Cream, you are suddenly getting 160 HP back, which is a crazy number. The problem? That healing is normally only effective in Stall/ Walls strategy, and they hardly see any play tight now. But, if the right strategy comes, this is a card worth keeping in mind. 

Legendary Summit 

Whenever a coloress Pokémon (yours or your opponent's) is Knocked Out by damage from an attack from the opponent's Pokémon, that player takes 1 fewer Prize card.
You cannot play this card by itself. You must combine 2 different Legendary Summit from your hand to play as 1 Stadium card.

I have mixed feelings about this card. I want it so badly to be good because the effect is insane and I am in love with the artwork but I think it simply doesn’t hold up in a metagame where all decks run from 2 to 4 stadiums. Technically, if this card sticks, you can cheat with your prize cards but its effect is very limited to certain types of decks (E.g. Mega Rayquaza), which cannot find the deck space to include 2-2 copies of Legendary Summit. 

As for the question of whether they will be played competitively… that’s entirely another discussion. Cards that normally require multiple pieces are not worth playing because the investment cost is too high. V Union cards, for example, were barely played, with the only exception of Mewtwo V Union.

I think that the only real, competitive card is Legendary Pyroduct because of the insane control it can exert during games but I can’t see it becoming a staple card or anything like that.

Conclusion

So that’s it! I know this was a short article, but I wanted to clarify some important things considering Delta Reign is about to be released. I, myself, am going to be testing Pyroduct like crazy, so I will keep you informed of how it goes with creating the ultimate disruption deck. Thanks for reading!