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The Scarlet & Violet era of thePokemon TCGis an interesting mix of old and new. Classic mechanics returned in new forms, like how the Ancient and Future cards introduced last year are a reworked version of Sword & Shield’s battle styles, or Tera Pokemon reusing the ex concept from both the Ruby & Sapphire and Black & White days.
With the upcoming Scarlet & Violet: Temporal Forces expansion, another old mechanic is making a comeback, but it’s much more straightforward. ACE SPEC cards are back, and The Pokemon Company has given us two of the seven you’ll find in the expansion to show off. And a Rockruff.
Rockruff
At the risk of sounding like a withered old crone reminiscing on the good ol’ days, it’s always interesting to see just how far basic Pokemon have come. Rockruff is as basic as it gets, with a simple ten-damage attack in Paw Shake Punch, but just look at that HP. That’s ten more than a Base Set Mewtwo or Magneton, and only ten less than a Ninetales, Alakazam, or Raichu.
Rockruff is only really good for evolving it into Lycanroc, but it’d still be fun to show this to someone 20 years ago and blow their early noughties mind.
Master Ball
Ace Spec cards are the biggest pull of Temporal Forces, coming back from the Black & White era for the first time. The idea is simple: you can only run one of any kind of Ace Spec card in your deck, and their effects can be more than powerful enough to make up for it.
Master Ball is a reprint, having last been seen in Plasma Blast. While the non-Ace-Spec version lets you look at the top seven cards of your deck, this one lets you just go fishing through the entire thing, which, of course, can set you up for massive turns easily.
The only problem is that it’s been over a decade since Master Ball was printed, and other cards have come out in the Scarlet & Violet era alone that make it a tough sell to use your one Ace Apec card for. Both Tatsugiri and Larry can search for two cards, not just one, and Tatsugiri can be used multiple times if you can keep it topped up with energy.
It might not be quite up to modern Constructed’s standard, but Master Ball is going to be a monster for limited play, or if you have cards that let you pull items like it out of your deck quickly. Pull this in your Build & Battle box and this could cause some havoc.
Prime Catcher
The difference between a reprint like Master Ball and a brand-new card like Prime Catcher is night and day. While Master Ball is showing its age, this card could completely demolish a deck if played at the right time.
While you can only have one Ace Spec in your deck, you can pair this up with other Item cards to have a big turn. For example, grab a Fighting Au Lait to heal up a benched Pokemon before swapping it into the active spot with Prime Catcher.
The ultimate version of both Pokemon Catcher and Counter Catcher, Prime Catcher lets you swap both your and your opponents’ active Pokemon with one on the bench. You could use it to get a dangerous sweeper out of play, pull out an engine piece from their bench to put it in harm’s way, or just grab a small thing from the bench to knock out for an easy Prize card.
At the same time, you’re doing it for yourself as well. Set up a Pokemon on your bench and then swap it in to quickly dish out some damage on an unsuspecting opponent’s benched Pokemon. If there was a card that ever came close to just reading “flip the table”, you’ve got it right here.
Pokemon TCG Scarlet & Violet: Temporal Forces launches on March 22.
