Top 10 Pokemon Cards of 2018

Luke Morsa
January 04, 2019
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Happy New Year Flipsiders! This week I have prepared my Top 10 Pokemon Cards of 2018. All of these cards were released in 2018 and were included based on my personal opinion, viability, and objective success of the cards.


#10 Weavile - Ultra Prism (Release Date: February 2nd, 2018)

The only card from Ultra prism making my top 10 list, Weavile UPR has had a fair amount of scattered success. Starting with Malmo Regionals in Sweden on February 17th, 2018, this card partnered with Zoroark-GX took 1st, 2nd, 9th, and 17th place piloted by Adam Hawkins, Nico Alabas, Robin Schulz, and Philip Schulz, respectively. Over in the US, Sam Chen placed in the top 32 at Collinsville, IL Regionals that same weekend with a similar Zoroark Weavile build. The Zoroark Weavile variant saw a few more placements in March at regional championships, and then had a hiatus of documented success until a Top 128 finish at Philadelphia Regionals on September 15th, 2018 (5 months and a rotation later!).


The cards next and most recent bout of success which is still active was found within the Buzzwole (FLI)/Shrine of Punishments variants. Caleb Gedemer won Philadelphia Regionals on September 15th, 2018 with Buzzwole (FLI)/Garbodor/Weavile (UPR)/Shrine of Punishments. Since then, this has been the most popular and successful form of the variant. It fell off in popularity post-Lost Thunder heading into Roanoke, VA Regionals this past November, but it has been fairly popular for standard League Cups yet again.


Weavile (UPR) is a personal favorite of mine due to its ability to have pseudo-control over your opponent’s board and a punishing attack in the event your opponent does not respect it. By pseudo-control, I mean that Weavile’s Evil Admonition doesn’t restrict your opponent from playing Pokemon with abilities, but it may prevent them from doing so due to the damage output being increased for each ability Pokemon your opponent has in play.


#9 Malamar - Forbidden Light (Release Date: May 4, 2018)

Less of a personal favorite of mine than Weavile, Malamar’s ability Psychic Recharge is undeniably strong and deserves recognition as one of the top 10 cards of 2018. The Ultra Necrozma-GX Malamar variant took 9 spots in the top 32 of SPE Tours, France on May 19th, while the Necrozma-GX (BUS) Malamar variant was piloted to 1st, 2nd, and 5th place by three North Americans (Sam Chen, Rahul Reddy, and Daniel Altavilla respectively) that same weekend at the Mexico City Special event.

Psychic Malamar (including a myriad of psychic attackers throughout its existence including Deoxys CST 67, Giratina LOT, Necrozma-GX, Dawn Wings Necrozma-GX, Mewtwo SM77) has been more popular and successful than the Ultra Necrozma-GX variant, but Ultra Necrozma-GX still sees some play.


Malamar’s Psychic Recharge ability has been seen plenty of times for other types of energy, for example: Bronzong PHF and Eelektrik NVI. It is a powerful ability and I think it has held an important place in Standard Format, providing a basic energy accelerating set up deck.

#8 Magcargo - Celestial Storm (Release Date: August 3rd, 2018)

Magcargo’s Smooth Over ability is very unique and adds a necessity for skill in any deck it is included in. Because Smooth Over allows you to get any one card to put on top of your deck, there is almost always one optimal decision. Magcargo has paired exceptionally well with Zoroark-GX and control strategies, since Smooth Over can effectively find specific control options.

Magcargo has been paired with many cards that can draw the card that has been placed on top of the deck with Smooth Over, including: Acro Bike, Professor Kukui, Lillie, Oranguru SUM, Zebstrika LOT and Zoroark-GX.


Some notable success that Magcargo has been a part of includes Caleb Gedemer’s Regional Championship win at Philadelphia Regionals September 15th, 2018 with Buzzwole/Garbodor/Weavile/Shrine, Tord Reklev’s NAIC 2018 Runner-Up placement with Zoroark-GX Control, and Daniel Altavilla’s International Championship win at the 2018 Brazil IC with Zoroark-GX Control.


#7 Solgaleo-GX Promo SM104 (Release Date: Fall 2018)

 

Another personal favorite of mine, this is an all-around 5-star card. At 250 HP, Solgaleo-GX is a tank with no weakness thanks to its ability. Its first attack is highly relevant as it costs only a Double Colorless Energy and hits for 120 or 130 with a benched Dhelmise SUM.

Although it has not single handedly carried a deck into viability, it is an important piece of Robin Schulz’ Gardevoir-GX deck which he piloted to a 12th place finish at the 2018 Brazil IC. JImmy Pendarvis won Roanoke Regional Championships on November 24, 2018 with this Gardevoir-GX variant.

This card gains viability from the popularity of Alolan NInetales-GX LOT, which is an easy one-hit knockout for Solgaleo-GX. There have been some fringe archetypes created with Solgaleo-GX as a driving force, such as Russell Laparre’s Tyranitar-GX/Solgaleo-GX and Michael Catron’s Solgaleo-GX/Blaziken-GX (expanded) decks.


#6 Beast Ring - Forbidden Light (Release Date: May 4, 2018)

Beast Ring mostly benefits Buzzwole-GX decks and Blacephalon-GX/Naganadel, with a hint of appearing in Ultra Necrozma-GX decks and rogue archetypes like Beast Box and Non-GX Beast Box. On the surface, it is an absurdly strong card and in practice it lives up to expectations as long as the player can draw into it when needed.

Buzzwole-GX variants definitely took a nerf with the recent Standard rotation, losing Max Elixir and Strong Energy. Beast Ring carries the deck much more now than ever. Luckily, Alolan Ninetales-GX LOT can search one or even two Beast Rings when needed, so with the loss of Max Elixir the deck shortly thereafter gained a way to consistently find its Beast Rings. I consider this by far the strongest item card released in 2018.


#5 Rayquaza-GX - Celestial Storm (Release Date: August 3rd, 2018)

Rayquaza-GX is a fantastic turbo attacker that comes with a consistency boosting GX attack and a way to accelerate energy to itself. Decks built around Rayquaza-GX focus on early aggression and the ability to one hit knockout any opposing Pokemon that stands in the path of this Dragon-Type Pokemon. Rayquaza-GX took a very impressive array of finishes at World Championships this year including 4th, 5th, and 7th place piloted by Pedro Eugenio Torres, Eric Smith, and Shuto Itagaki, respectively.

Rayquaza-GX continued its rampage with a stronghold on the early stages of this season in the form of Vikavolt/Rayquaza-GX in the Standard format.


#4 Buzzwole - Forbidden Light (Release Date: May 4, 2018)

Buzzwole FLI was included in the winning list of Roanoke Regional Championships 17’18’, which was the first NA tournament that it was legal for. Igor Costa won Madison Regionals one month later with a Standard Format BuzzRoc deck heavily focused on attacking with Buzzwole FLI.


An archetype that you are surely familiar with by this point of the article is Buzzwole/Shrine/Attackers. Buzzwole FLI is the default attacker for this deck because of its ability to put out fair amounts of damage for 1 energy. Being a fighting type Pokemon with 130 HP means that Buzzwole hits Zoroark-GX for weakness and does not get one shot by Riotous Beating in Standard Format without the Zoroark player having a damage modifier. Buzzwole is one of the strongest and most memorable cards of the year.


#3 Shrine of Punishments - Celestial Storm (Release Date: August 3rd, 2018)

A spiritual reprint of Desert Ruins, a Stadium card from the 2004 set EX Hidden Legends. I was elated to see this card included in Celestial Storm as I had been advocating for a reprint of Desert Ruins for a while at that point. Shrine of Punishments inspired a collection of archetypes known as Single Prize Attackers with Shrine (or SPAS). These vary from Buzzwole FLI and Garbodor, Buzzwole and Weavile UPR, Buzzwole with both Weavile and Garbodor, and even damage spread variants without Buzzwole FLI which focus on Tapu Koko and Tapu Lele (Damage Swap). More specific variants that also utilize Shrine of Punishments include Granbull, Passimian, and Alolan Exeggutor.

#2 Alolan Ninetales-GX - Lost Thunder (Release Date: November 2, 2018)

I highly revere this card as one of the strongest and most versatile cards of the modern era of the Pokemon TCG amongst the likes of Zoroark-GX, Tapu Lele-GX, and Shaymin-EX.

Searching for any two Item cards upon evolution has proved to be invaluable in decks like Buzzwole-GX variants which need to find Beast Rings on specific turns, and in stage two variants like Gardevoir-GX/Swampert/Solgaleo-GX and Decidueye-GX/Zoroark-GX that rely on Rare Candy to speed up their evolutions.Its incredible utility is met with the additional bonus of its basic form Alolan Vulpix GRI being a great basic Pokemon which searches for any two Pokemon for no energy cost at all.

This was both my number 2 card of Lost Thunder and of this 2018 list… that could only mean that #1 is…


#1 Ditto Prism Star - Lost Thunder (Release Date: November 2, 2018)

Ditto Prism Star! Yes this little guy is my number 1 card of 2018. The potential for consistency and options that Ditto allows for with multiple evolution lines in a single deck or even just as a fifth basic Pokemon (using Ditto as a fifth Inkay in Malamar or fifth Exeggcute in Alolan Exeggutor) is extremely valuable and not to be underappreciated. It is included in so many decks in both standard and expanded format, and for good reason. I value Ditto’s natural splashability into almost any archetype high enough to put this card at number 1.