Pokemon TCG: Pokemon GO Elite Trainer Box

Summer is upon us, and with it another small-but-perfectly-formed Pokemon set – this time a Pokemon Elite Trainer Box. Last year we were dazzled – DAZZLED – by the Pokemon 25th Anniversary Celebrations set, this year we celebrate eight years of Pokemon Go, the mobile game that had players walking into many lampposts whilst on the trail of Shinies or Bidoofs in the vain hope that they will be Dittos. Eight years may be a strange period of time to celebrate, but I am not so churlish as to turn down a celebration. And it’s nice to see an official Pokemon Go set rather than the slew of bootlegged Pokemon Go boosters that appeared at about the same time as the mobile game did – look mum! I pulled a Charliezard!

As with all the Pokemon mini-sets, obtaining Pokemon Go boosters is not just a case of dropping a bunch of notes to buy a booster box or scrapping together all your spare change to buy a single booster in the hope that you will, Charlie Bucket-style, pull something fantastic. Sadly, because this is a premium set, it’s premium products only (though mini-tins will be released in August and they may actually be good – maybe even as good as the Celebrations mini-tins). But when it comes to premium sets, these are pretty strong.

What’s In The Box

Ask any Pokemon player/collector what they think about a Pokemon Elite Trainer Box(es) (or ETBs as they are also known as) and they will usually say ‘nice dice, decent sleeves… terrible, terrible pulls’, and because of this I usually avoid the ETBs like social deduction games.

Unless they are ETBs for mini-sets, because these ETBs are genuinely good.

Okay, they are more expensive, but you get more than the regular ETBs. For a start, you get ten booster packs as opposed to eight booster packs, as well as the 65 sleeves, damage and coin dice, dividers, plastic condition markers and 45 assorted energy cards. You also get a promo card, and in this set, it’s a very very noice one.

We’ve Got a Mewtwo

Yes, the Pokemon Elite Trainer Box contains an exclusive, full art Mewtwo V, a very nice card in itself but also a very playable and collectable card. Previous promos such as the Shining Ho-oh and the legendary birds full art are now very highly desirable indeed, so this is one that might be handy to hang onto. Or just play it. There is that, of course.

Gimme Ten

But wait a minute – didn’t you mention that you got ten (count ’em!) boosters? Indeed I did, and these aren’t your common or garden boosters – these are Pokemon Go boosters!

Okay, before I go all histrionic, a wee explanation as to why this is a BIG THING. Regular set boosters will contain 11 cards – one energy, eight common/uncommon cards, a reverse holo and a rare card. The reverse card can be a rare or, as we have seen in previous sets, sometimes a radiant or trainer gallery card, but is often just a reverse common/uncommon. The rare can be anything from a non-holo right up to a gold card, but will be more often than not a non-holo. Boo.

With Pokemon Go boosters, things are a bit different. For a start, it’s a smaller set, so you’ve got a better chance of getting a full set without having to sell organs of you are collector. Also, the rare slot is a bit tastier – you will always get at least a holo card. At least. The set has only six V cards, two VStars and one VMax, but there are also quite a number of full arts and secret rares.

The reverse holo slot is also capable of giving up the good stuff. First off, there are the three Radiant Pokemon based on the three starters, Venusaur, Blastoise and Charizard (yes, of course Charizard is the most sought after – that’s about as predictable as rain at Glastonbury Festival). Then there is what has to be the weirdest card produced by Pokemon yet – the Ditto card.

Tiny Eyes Are Watching You…

If you are familiar with the walk-em-up Pokemon Go, you will know that, to catch a Ditto, you have to catch some common Pokemon like Bidoof, Spinarak or Numel and hope that it transforms, before your very eyes, into the aforementioned Ditto. Sentient silly putties are go! The Pokemon Go set has gone all in on this – if you have a Bidoof, Spinarak or Numel in your reverse holo slot, look very closely at the bottom left-hand corner. If there is a little purple blob there, you have pulled a Ditto! Simply peel off the Pokemon on top and you will reveal a holo Ditto below – ta da!

As you can imagine, this card is as rare as Articuno guano, so you’d have to be pretty fortunate to get even one of them. It also has an ability that allows you to mimic the attack of any basic non-V Pokemon in your discard pile. This means that some attacks which used to be ‘oh, that’s interesting’ have now become ‘FEAR MY MIGHTY PURPLE BLOB, N0085!’ Yeah, the hype on this card is real.

All About The Gen One, Bro

Now much as I loved the Celebrations set, it wasn’t particularly practical. Lots of trips down memory lane and all that, but not many game changing/breaking cards. The Pokemon Go set has more than a handful, and the good news is that they are not all super rare cards. There’s some fun to be had here.

The three Radiants are pretty good, unsurprisingly, but the best of the bunch is… not Charizard. There! I said it! Radiant Charizard’s ability is good – I mean, your attacks cost one colourless energy less for every prize your opponent has taken, which makes cards like Regigigas from Astral Radiance even better – but Radiant Venusaur is even better. Its ability says that you can draw back up to four cards into your hand after your attack. This means that every turn sees you start your turn with five cards in your hand. Very nice.

The Mewtwo V is okay, but the Mewtwo VStar has a couple of absolutely devasting attacks. Its VStar attack, Star Raid does 120 damage to all your opponent’s Pokemon for a psychic and any other energy. Game over in turn two? Oh yes. Its main attack is none too shabby either. For the same cost as Star Raid, discard up to three psychic energy from your Pokemon (any three, any Pokemon) and do 90 damage for each energy. To quote Phil Swift, that’s a lotta damage.

But something like this needs set up and boy do you get set up. Lunatone has an attack that does 30 plus 30 for each psychic energy attached, which is in itself very nice; Solrock has an ability that attaches a psychic energy to Lunatone from the discard pile. Can you smell what the Solrock is cooking? DEVASTATION.

Cheap Tricks

Then there’s Ambipom: potential immortality and massive damage on coin tosses. And Slowbro: if your opponent has one prize card left, for two energy you can take two prize cards and potentially the game from them. And Alolan Raticate: reduce your opponent’s Pokemon to ten HP (this works very nicely with Hisuian Typhlosion, which has an ability to burn – just saying…).

And Magikarp: two energy does ten damage plus 30 for each Gyarados and Magikarp in your discard pile. Cheeky and… wait a minute, doesn’t Ditto… YES IT DOES. These are all potential, legitimate, spoil your opponent’s expensive Arceus/Mew/Shadowrider Calyrax deck moments. And I love them.

But there is one combo that no-one would have ever seen. The marriage of Blastoise, Charizard and… Centiskorch? Now I’m not going to spoil this because it’s just too, too, too much fun. Look it up. I will say that Charizard has an ability that turns every single fire energy into a double energy and that Blastoise allows you to attach six energy to your Pokemon in any way you like. These abilities in themselves are just too good, but when you throw in Centiskorch… Just have a look.

Yeah.

Shut Up And Take My Money

I’d better cut to the chase as my enthusiasm for this set might have made me go on a bit. Essentially, there are two types of Pokemon fans: collectors and players. This box will make both of them happy. I mean, the usual caveat applies to this and any other trading card game: you don’t know what you’re going to get in each booster.

The fact that each booster will have a holo AT LEAST takes the sting out of that, and some of those holos are really, really nice. The artwork is a mix as ever, but seeing Pokemon in every day settings will soften the flintiest-hearted Pokemon Go player (not that there are many of them).

There are also a lot of trainer and support cards that relate specifically to things found in Pokemon Go that I haven’t mentioned, but I’ll leave that for you to explore. It’s a small set, so it’s easier to collect, and this represents the best way to get Pokemon Go cards so far. Plus, you get a version of Mewtwo that you can’t get anywhere else. I wouldn’t recommend this to beginners, but then again it does say Pokemon Elite Trainer Box.

Don’t worry Ash, you’ll get there one day.