Pokémon Scarlet and Violet: Obsidian Flames Strongest Cards

The third instalment in Pokémon’s Scarlet and Violet expansion is called Obsidian Flames and is due for release on 11th August 2023. As with all new sets, we are extremely excited for the new cards and will be showcasing some of Obsidian Flames’ highlights. This latest expansion will feature more than 190 cards for you to collect and battle with and we are going to be examining some of the new Pokémon ex, of which there are 20 in total in this set.

 

One of the most exciting parts of the Obsidian Flames release is the type changing of Tera Pokémon, which will match the video games. As you may know, in the Scarlet and Violet video games, one of the key mechanics is the ability to terrastalize your Pokémon, which essentially gives it a fancy little hat and makes it change type. You could have a Fire type Psyduck or a Flying type Pikachu. So far in the Scarlet and Violet TCG expansions, we have seen some Tera type Pokémon, however they have been the same typing as their base type. Examples include the Gyarados ex, which was just Water type, and the Arcanine ex, which was just Fire type.

With the release of Scarlet and Violet 3: Obsidian Flames, we are finally introduced to some type changing Pokémon, which will completely change the game. These include a Dark type Charizard and a Lightning type Tyranitar. One of the first things to notice is that the typing affects their weakness and resistance, but does not affect the energy type used. So Charizard still uses Fire energy and Tyranitar still uses Fighting energy.

This is a really important detail as you will be able to naturally build in some type coverage with these Tera type Pokémon without having to worry about fitting in different energy types. As with all previous Tera type Pokémon we have seen in the TCG, they still have the same rule that they are not able to be damaged while on the bench. We’ve seen this on all the previous ones and it looks like it’s going to continue going forward.

So there’s a quick look at some of the exciting parts of Obsidian Flames, now we can take a look through all the best cards from the set and we will break it down into Pokémon and Trainers. We will look at the most powerful ex cards and some strategies for fitting them into your decks and see which of the trainer cards synergise best with existing decks going forward. Let’s start with the best Pokémon Obsidian Flames has to offer.

Obsidian Flames Hottest Pokémon

Working our way through the types and the first ex we come to is Decidueye ex. Decidueye is a great, Grass type Pokémon and has had some very powerful cards since its release in Sun and Moon. This card is no exception, a 320HP, Stage 2 Pokémon with a good ability, which allows you to either switch Decidueye into the active spot, if it is on your bench, or switch it onto the bench, if it is in your active spot. That can be really effective for protecting your damaged attackers, particularly as Decidueye has a huge amount of health. For 2 energy, its attack does 130 damage and 30 to one of your opponents bench. A solid attack but unlikely to change any games on its own. Its main use will be for the free switching effect which could really help out at key moments.

Next up we have Toedscruel ex, a 270HP Grass type Pokémon with the potential to be one of the best cards in the set. Its ability stops any effects of attacks done to your Pokémon that have any Grass energy attached. This means that if your Pokémon has a single Grass energy attached, things like Sableye’s Lost Mine attack cannot touch them. With the prevalence of lost box in the meta at the moment, that could be a huge plus for Toadscruel.

 

Its attack synergises perfectly with its ability as well, and for 2 Grass energy, you can do 80 plus 40 more for each of your benched Pokémon with a Grass energy attached. Well that sounds great to me, I’m going to be attaching Grass energy anyway to protect them from attacks and now it makes Toadscruel’s attacks even stronger. This could be powered up with Cherrim or by using Forretress ex to knock itself out and attach 5 Grass energy across your board straight away. Toadscruel has lots of potential and it will be interesting to see the best way to build it.

Eiscue ex is the first of our Tera type Pokémon and this little ice cube is now a Fire type! It is a 210HP Basic Pokémon and its attack does 160 damage for 3 Water energy. The attack also makes you discard an energy from Eiscue and the defending Pokémon can't attack during your opponent's next turn. This could be a really strong attack and could form the basis for some nasty control decks as it means your opponent will have to switch Pokémon if they want to attack during their turn. The only drawback is the 3 energy cost, although there are ways to accelerate Water energy into play, such as Baxcalibur’s Super Cold ability. We will have to wait and see if Eiscue changes the Meta or not but it could be a sneaky play in some decks.

Now we come to everyone’s favourite Lightning type Pokémon, Tyranitar! Of course, Tyranitar is not usually a Lightning type, but this is one of the new Tera types and so it has been switched from its normal Fighting type. As we mentioned earlier, and similar to Eiscue, it does retain its original Fighting type energy cost for its attacks.

Tyranitar is a huge Pokémon, boasting 340HP and 2 strong attacks from its Stage 2 evolution. Its first attack for a single energy does 120 damage and you have to discard the top 2 cards of your own deck. Not ideal, but could be handy in a pinch when you are struggling to find those energy cards. Its second attack costs 2 Fighting energy and does 150 damage. It has the added bonus of doing 100 more damage if any of your benched Pokémon have any damage counters on them. That is quite easy to achieve with things such as Damage Pump, Gapejaw Bog Stadium or Gengar from Lost Origin. With its huge amount of HP, Tyranitar will be sticking around for a couple of turns to let you pull off these big plays.

 

Vespiquen ex is another Tera type Pokémon to feature on our list. This usual Grass type is now a 270HP, Stage 1, Psychic type. All of its attacks use Grass type energy and its first attack needs only one, and it will allow you to heal 60 damage from 1 of your Pokémon. I don’t think this will be hugely effective but could be clutch at some moments. The second attack requires 3 energy and does 200 damage to your opponent's active Pokémon. It also places 3 damage counters on any of your opponents Pokémon that already have damage on them. The damage counters part is important as it bypasses bench barrier effects such as Manaphy. Although things like the Toadscruel we mentioned earlier would prevent those counters being placed. Vespiquen ex may make its way into some decks but seems fairly niche at this point.

 

Glimmora ex is a 270HP Stage 1 Pokémon with a wild ability and sneaky good attack. Its ability reads that if it is in the active spot, then your opponent cannot have more than 3 benched PPokémon. That is going to be really good against the strong decks in the format, such as Lost Box, Mew VMAX and Gardevoir ex, which all want to have a full bench. Its attack is also quite strong, for 2 fighting energy it does 140 damage and poisons the opposing Pokémon. 140 may not sound much, but fighting is a very relevant weakness, hitting things such as Arceus VSTAR and Miraidon ex for double damage. You could even combine this with Radiant Hisuian Sneasler to get extra poison damage between turns. It may not look amazing at first glance, but keep an eye out for Glimmora ex once the set drops.

 

We have finally made it down to the big card of this set, the Tera type Charizard ex. Charizard is a Stage 2, Dark type in this set, and looks to be potentially the best card in the set too. Charizard’s ability lets you search your deck for 3 Fire energy and attach them to your Pokémon in any way you like when you play Charizard from your hand to evolve one of your Pokémon. This is a great way of getting that energy out of the deck and into play with ease.

 

Charizard’s attack costs 2 Fire energy so you could even use the ability to power up your Charizard ready to attack. Its attack does 180 damage, plus 30 more for each prize card your opponent has taken, meaning that if they have taken 5 prize cards, your attack will be doing 330 damage. Funnily enough, Charizard ex also has 330 HP and so is going to be really tanky and won’t be going anywhere in a hurry. Being a Dark type gives you some good type coverage for weakness as well. Not only is it a Charizard, it is the first Tera type Charizard and looks to be a very playable card. I expect prices for the Charizard ex to be high for a long time and you will see plenty of people playing this at tournaments.

Next up we have a card that is not an ex, but is still one that I think will see a lot of play and is going to be really strong. That is Scizor, a Stage 1 Pokémon with 140HP. Scizor is a single prize attacker that has a very strong attack. For a single metal energy, you do 10 damage, plus 50 more for each of your opponents Pokémon in play that have an ability. Abilities are everywhere in today’s meta and this card will consistently be hitting 200 plus damage. With enough damage to knock out most Basic ex or V Pokémon, you should be able to win the prize race quite easily. Don’t sleep on Scizor from Obsidian Flames and expect to see some near the top tables at tournaments.

 

Revavroom ex is a crazy Stage 1 Pokémon with a wild ability which we have only seen a couple of times before. Its ability allows it to have up to 4 Tool cards attached. This means you could have damage buffing tools, such as Choice Belt, or you could turn into a defensive monster with damage reduction Tools attached. Bear in mind though that if the ability stops working, such as via Path to the Peak, then you have to discard the tools until you only have one remaining. Its attack costs 3 energy and does 170 damage and Revavroom takes 30 less damage during the next turn. This leads me to think that building a really tanky Revavroom that is reducing damage from the Tools may be the best way to go and just accept that you are going to be 2-shotting most Pokémon. I’m not sure how viable it will be in the meta but I expect someone to try and make Revavroom work.

Pidgeot ex comes flying onto our radar thanks to its ability, which is basically a Forest Seal Stone built in! Once per turn you may search your deck for a card and put it into your hand. That’s it, fantastic! You can only use one of this ability per turn but you can do it every turn if you want to, it’s not a one time only deal like the Stone is.

 

Aside from this, Pidgeot is not great. It has 280HP which is quite low for a Stage 2 Pokémon compared to what we have seen from others so far. Its attack is a bit lacklustre as well, doing 120 damage for a double colourless and allowing you to discard a stadium in play. Its ability is very, very good, but it is a lot of commitment to get a Stage 2 into play just to use it. The payoff could be worth it though, as you can grab whatever card you need on every turn, including that game winning Boss’s Orders!

 

There are plenty of otherPokémon ex in this set, but none seem to jump out like these others do. There are many like Miraidon ex which simply don’t stack up to the Miraidon that we have already. Kingambit is another single prizer with a great attack that just simply says the defending Pokémon is knocked out if it has 4 or more damage counters on it already. There is a sneaky trainer card which looks like it will combo well with this but we will have to wait and see how viable Kingambit can be.

 

Let’s move on to the Trainer cards and see what value we can find there.

 

Top Trainers From Obsidian Flames

 

There is a really good mix of Trainers in this upcoming set and we will start with the Item card, Letter of Encouragement. This allows you to search your deck for 3 basic energy cards and put them into your hand, with the caveat that you can only do this if one of your Pokémon was knocked out in the last turn. Similar to Raihan in that respect, this card could be powerful in decks like Gardevoir ex, as it is searchable with the Celebrations Mew. Perhaps it will allow you to get those energy out early and begin refining them into the discard ready for those big plays later in the game.

Next we have the Pokémon League Headquarters, which is a cool new Stadium card. This looks to be a killer against the likes of Lost Box as it makes Basic Pokémon in play’s attacks cost a colourless energy more. This is going to really slow down Sableye and could hurt a lot of single prize attackers or single energy Basic attackers which like to get an attack in early. Keep an eye out for this one if you are a Lost Box player!

 

Ryme is a Supporter card and is another one of those vanilla ‘Draw 3’ cards, or so you thought! This one has the added bonus of swapping your opponent’s active Pokémon to their bench, they then decide on the new active. So it is a draw 3 card with a built in Escape Rope. It might be ok, or it might not. I’m going to wait and see with this one!

 

We’ve finally made it to the Tool card I hinted at earlier with the Kingambit. Vengeful Punch reads that if the Pokemon this tool is attached to is knocked out by damage from your opponent's Pokémon's attack, you can put 4 damage counters on the attacking Pokémon. Send up Kingambit next and that’s an automatic knockout. There are some good combos you will need to pull off here and get the sequencing right, but overall I think it could be a good tool card in most decks, just to help with that little bit of extra damage to get your attacks over the line.

 

Final Thoughts on Obsidian Flames

 

Pokémon Scarlet and Violet Obsidian Flames looks to be a fantastic addition to the new era and continues to introduce us to lots of strong Pokémon. There is a really good mix of single prize attacking Pokémon, big HP ex Pokémon to hold firm in defence and some powerful Trainer cards which I think will see a lot of play in the upcoming meta. Look out for cards like Charizard ex and Pokémon League Headquarters making their way into decks at your local league over the next few months!