Chilling Reign : The Best and the Worst!
Chilling Reign :
The Best and the Worst!
A Chilling Reign!
The icy, frozen lands expansion to the Pokémon Card Game Universe introduces 190 cards from the Galar region in Sword & Shield Chilling Reign, with 15 new Pokémon V and 8 VMAX cards, as well as some cool trainer cards and 3 new special energy cards.
The official Pokémon site lauds these new cards as being the “best” new competitive cards in the series - do you agree?
The undeniable stars of the show comes in the faces of the new expansion - Ice Rider Calyrex VMAX and Shadow Rider Calyrex VMAX, each with a bulwark 320 HP each.
Ice Rider Calyrex VMAX
With a 2 energy Max Lance attack that can do up to 250 damage as one of it’s attack options, Ice Rider Calyrex VMAX’s early game damage earns it a spot as one of the best. It has its drawbacks though - both energy cards must be discarded. There are obviously ways around this with cards like Melony in your deck.
It’s second attack adds extra damage for each of your opponents’s benched Pokémon - a handy trick.
It’s speculated that with the popularity of Zacian V and other strong metal based decks Ice Rider might see its downfall, so it’s good to always know your Pokémon’s strengths and weaknesses .
Shadow Rider Calyrex VMAX
Any attack or ability that lets you attach energy to benched Pokémon helps you power up fast to a chilling victory - and Shadow Rider Calyrex’s Underworld Door ability does just that, as well as letting the player draw 2 cards, speeding your game even more.
After all this energy attaching, the Max Geist attack does 10 damage PLUS 30 more for each psychic energy attached to all of your Pokémon - knock outs every turn? A blizzard of wins, especially against decks with Rapid or Single Strike Urshifu VMAX, and Mewto or Mew-GX based decks.
Honorable Mentions:
Other cards to look out for include these 3 Galarian legendaries - Galarian Articuno V for your psychic deck, Galarian Zapdos V for your fighting deck, and Galarian Moltres V - a favorite to add to an Eternatus VMAX deck.
....and the not so Honorable Mentions
Although our Ice Rider Calyrex VMAX card is great for competition, its V counterpart sadly misses the mark a little. To give some perspective, Screenrant reports:“ While Ice Rider Calyrex V is certainly legendary, and can act in a more effective capacity than the common cards within Chilling Reign, it falls short in comparison to its Shadow Rider equivalent in almost every category.”
In general you’re luckier with the V and VMAX of Shadow Rider Calyrex, who both boast higher market value than Ice Rider.
Let sleeping Liepards lie -
Another V card that fell short is Liepard V, who with only one attack that does a measly 110 damage - sad, compared to other V cards - and makes you put Liepard and all its attached cards back into your hand, it’s been said to have little synergy with other deck builds and is generally one you can’t get too excited about.
All (or none) of the Support
Support cards to look out for are ones like Fog Crystal, an excellent card for psychic decks allowing you to search for psychic energy or a basic psychic Pokémon (hello, Shadow Rider!),
The Path to the Peak stadium card causes all Pokémon in play with a Rule Box to not be able to use their abilities - a sneaky card because most competitive decks rely on just those abilities to stack their wins.
A trainer card not worth our time seems to be Caitlin, who’s only ability on offer is an extra draw shuffle with no extra benefits. If that’s what you’re after, there are many other trainer cards offering the same mechanics but with additional damage or abilities. Trainers Avery, Peonia or Klara offer more versatile drawing options.