The latest crop of card reveals from Pokémon White Flare is in, with a new Frillish and Jellicent ex that could well shoot right to the top of the meta thanks to great stats, tasty energy synergy with the infamous Gardevoir ex, and extreme item locking abilities that'll leave poor Budew back where it started: just a cute little guy.
As revealed via fansite Pokébeach on Sunday, the new Frillish and Jellicent are coming in White Flare - one half of Black Bolt and White Flare, the Pokémon TCG's first ever English 'dual set', due out on June 18. For full details, check our complete list of all Pokemon sets.
And these two psychic-type jellyfish Pokémon have already sent the fandom spinning, with good reason: the new Jellicent ex is an absolute powerhouse. One of the highest HP Pokémon ex around, combined with a relatively do-able 160 damage attack, is a powerful cocktail, but that's not even the best part: Jellicent is packing the best item-locking ability we've yet seen.
With thanks to Pokébeach for the Japanese English translation, here are the stats:
Jellicent ex - Psychic - HP270
Stage 1 - Evolves from Frillish
Ability: Sea Curse
As long as this Pokémon is in the Active Spot, your opponent can't play any Item cards or attach any Pokémon Tool cards from their hand.
[P][C] Power Press: 80+ damage. If this Pokémon has at least 2 extra Energy attached (in addition to this attack's cost), this attack does 80 more damage.
Weakness: Darkness (x2)
Resistance: Fighting (-30)
Retreat: 3
Loading up four energy for the Power Press attack might seem like a bottleneck, but that's where the Gardevoir ex synergy comes in, because - contrary to all watery appearances - these jellies use psychic energy. Use Gardy's ability to hoover up lost psychic energies to power Jellicent, and you'll be giving your opponent very dangerous hugs, very quickly.
That Sea Curse ability is the clincher, though. Shutting down both items and Pokémon tools passively, without being tied to an attack or energy cost, is way beyond any other item lockers around, and a fantastic foil to many of the most powerful strategies in the game currently. Your opponent's best chance is to gust it back to the bench - which they'll find much harder to do without using any items!
With precious few ability-locking cards in the meta just now, this evil jellyfish is going to shut down a lot of opponents' decks with ease. Buffing it to a mighty 370HP with a Hero's Cape, safe in the knowledge that your opponent can't tool up in response, is a fiendish control play that'd make even Magic: The Gathering Blue deck players jealous.
Frillish - Psychic - HP80
Basic Pokémon
[P] Sea Shadows: 20 damage. During your opponent's next turn, they can't play any Item cards from their hand.
Weakness: Darkness (x2)
Resistance: Fighting (-30)
Retreat: 3
The new Frillish isn't just a means to an end, either - it's a solid 80HP Basic Pokémon and a decent item locker in its own right! It's essentially the Budew everyone's been afraid of, but stronger, and in Psychic rather than Grass.
The pay-off is in the eye-watering 3-energy retreat cost, of course, where Budew can hop back to the bench for free. But it's still likely to replace Budew in Gardevoir decks, simply for the ease of psychic energy use - effectively streamlining an already popular deck that didn't need much help.
Expect to see a lot of this little duo when Black Bolt and White Flare drop next month - Jellicent ex might look like a butt wearing a crown, but it's going to rule a lot of tabletops, mark our words. If a Special Illustration Rare version gets revealed, expect it to become one of the most expensive rare Pokémon cards of the dual set.
What do you think? Have we overhyped this big, nasty, psychic butt jellyfish and its Budew-beating younger sibling? Are there some sick plays we missed? Let us know in the Wargamer Discord community - we can aways use some more hype about the newest Pokemon set.
By the way, credit for the inspired main photo of our demonic new Jellicent ex overlord goes to Master Trainer Daz Skubich, over at our lovely mobile and portable gaming sister site Pocket Tactics!