Well it's the holiday period and it being the end of the year, I'm usually way too free and get bored and start finding things to do. If you have followed me, you may have noticed that sometimes, I'll be so bored that I'll end up writing lists for things I like and of course, the same thing has happened this year. And not just games, I wanted to do one for Pokemon cards and after thinking of what the best one could be, of course it hit me, why not a list for the best cards released in 2021?
But with a twist! An opinion based list would probably be too common and I'm pretty sure no-one wants to listen to my opinions so I thought why not do with based on statistics. Since we've got Play Limitless , Trainer Hill and PokeStats at our disposal, I can easily find some ways to go about it. The main thing here is to show which cards that were released in 2021, be it a re-print or something new, made a huge impact on the standard meta during the year, be it Battle Styles, Chilling Reign, Evolving Skies or Fusion Strike, and considering both pre and post rotation.
The way I did it, I only counted events with 256+ people and only counted the top 8 decks because doing more tourneys or more than top 8 will mean way too much info and I probably won't have the time to finish it. I'm a lone soldier here anyway so I have to make do with some limits. So the results won't be as accurate as possible but it's the best solution I could come up with. And since it's 2021, why not a top 21 list instead of 15 or 20 or 30!
(Just in case, all results are based up till time of writing, which was 22nd December 2021, it might be released much later than that)
As for some of the calculations you'll see, this is how I worked it out:
- Total Points - Points counted using Trainer Hill's points for Regional style events (256+) (1st = 200, 2nd = 160, Top 4 = 130 and Top 8 = 100)
- Seasonal Points - Pretty much the total points divided by the quarter the cards was from (Battle Styles/4, Chilling Reign/3, Evolving Skies/2 and Fusion Strike/1)
- Average Points - Taken from the amount of events played in that quarter: (using this gave me Total Average and Quarterly Average Points)
- Battle Styles - 24
- Chilling Reign - 14
- Evolving Skies - 2 (Pre-Rotation) and 13 (Post-Rotation)
- Fusion Strike - 6
- Quarterly Average Points - I had a feeling my first two methods would still heavily favour cards that were released early on so I wanted to try a system where I would divide the average by the quarter they showed up (Battle Styles/4, Chilling Reign/3, Evolving Skies/2 and Fusion Strike/1) just to make it more fair. These may not be the best systems to use and I didn't have time to look through the whole year as I'm the only one working on this so worked with whatever I could go with.
Some cards came close but didn't quite make the list, the ones being close were Victini VMAX, Cross Switcher, Leafeon VMAX, Sylveon VMAX and Echoing Horn. There are some obvious stuff that didn't show up and my reasoning for them:
- Sobble - I wasn't sure which one to put, either Sobble or Inteleon but a lot of decks have gone with the 70 HP sobble so I thought Inteleon ended up seeing more play because of that and went with it.
- Genesect V - Again, wasn't sure if I should put this or Mew VMAX but if we were to think about it, would it be just as good without Mew? Some have tired and none have made it succesful.
- Rapid Strike Energy - Great card, but sees play almost exclusively with Rapid Strike Urshifu VMAX decks and as a one-off with Rapid Strike Urshifu V in Suicune decks
- Single Strike Energy - Another great energy card but just like it's counterpart, it sees plays exclusively with Houndoom BST and if not for Houndoom, it might not even see play
And if you're wondering how I ended up ranking each card, I went with a simple solution. I'd take each of the ranking each card had from the different points system and gave them all an average ranking on where I thought they'd likely end up being ranked and from there, it was just sorting who went where. So pretty much each ranking divided by 4 here is how it was decided. Like I said, I wanted to do it statistically and I thought this was probably the best way I could think of.
So with that in mind, here is the top 21 cards that were released in the year 2021 that made an impact on the game looking at Standard format and how it did in big tournaments based on events on Play Limitless (so before you start going at me, "Player's Cup doesn't count and I didn't even think about it"). And if it does look messy, it probably is because I can't remember how many times I kept changing how I would calculate the points and which system to use for this bit:
#21 - Jolteon VMAX - Evolving Skies
Total Points: 1,240 (21st)
Seasonal Points: 620 (21st)
Total Average Points: 144.74 (21st)
Quarterly Average Points: 72.37 (21st)
Wins: 1
Top 4: 6
Top 8: 9
Saw play in: Jolteon VMAX
First up is Jolteon VMAX, which initially didn't see much play at first for the weird reason that while Jolteon VMAX was in Evolving Skies, Jolteon V was actually only a promo and to get it, you'd have to get the Alternate Art version from the set, making it pricey difficult to get. It did get one big win in Evolving Skies and it's still the only one yet, though it's now one of the more successful decks with the release of Mew VMAX and will likely continue to be a force in the format going into 2022. One of the better spread decks in Standard format at the moment.
#20 - Fan of Waves - Battle Styles
Total Points: 3,350 (15th)
Seasonal Points: 837.5 (20th)
Total Average Points: 328.71 (19th)
Quarterly Average Points: 82.18 (20th)
Wins: 4
Top 4: 8
Top 8: 28
Saw play in: Usually a one off in many different decks such as Victini VMAX, Rapid Strike Urshifu VMAX, Greens decks, Dragapult VMAX, Cinderace VMAX, Leafeon VMAX, Ice Rider Calyrex VMAX, Suicune V/Ludicolo, Sylveon VMAX Rapid Strike Box
Not quite Enhanced Hammer but a good alternate at the very least. It saw play as a one-off in many decks at the start before not seeing much play at all for the next few months. Inteleon decks would end up start picking it up to slow down decks like Rapid and Single Strike mainly for their energies and it has seen a suddenly spike in play thanks to the emergence of Mew with it's Fusion Strike Energy. Don't be surprised to see more Fans going into 2022.
#19 - Crystal Cave - Evolving Skies
Total Points: 1,890 (20th)
Seasonal Points: 945 (17th)
Total Average Points: 318.21 (20th)
Quarterly Average Points: 159.1 (15th)
Wins: 3
Top 4: 5
Top 8: 15
Saw play in: Mostly Zacian V/Zamazenta V or Duraludon VMAX decks and also a one-off in Mew VMAX
This one card pretty much pretty much made the Zacian/Zamazenta deck one of the better decks going into the new rotation. Having lost Lucario & Melmetal-GX and Metal Frying Pan, Zacian lost some ways to reduce damage but in comes a card to help heal damage and not just to one Pokémon as well! Duraludon has seen a rise in play with the release of Fusion Strike with Crystal Cave helping it's tank-ability strategy. Even Mew VMAX will play a one-off Cave to help heal their benched Genesect Vs to stop from spread decks hitting it for the perfect number.
#18 - Ice Rider Calyrex VMAX - Chilling Reign
Total Points: 2,800 (18th)
Seasonal Points: 933.33 (18th)
Total Average Points: 375.51 (17th)
Quarterly Average Points: 125.17 (16th)
Wins: 2
Top 4: 10
Top 8: 23
Saw play in: Ice Rider Calyrex VMAX/Suicune V/Inteleon CRE, Ice Rider Calyrex VMAX/Inteleon SSH
Melony needed the perfect partner when it was released in Chilling Reign and of course, Ice Rider was just that. It started life as a top 3 deck with the ease of hitting 250 for just two energies and potentially one-hit certain VMAXes thanks to Inteleon making it a favourite amongst players. Even though it's no longer a top 5 contender in terms of decks in the last few format, it's still one of the better decks around, and now along with Suicune V, as a great partner to work with if needed.
#17 - Houndoom - Battle Styles
Total Points: 3,550 (14th)
Seasonal Points: 887.5 (19th)
Total Average Points: 406.76 (14th)
Quarterly Average Points: 101.69 (18th)
Wins: 4
Top 4: 15
Top 8: 27
Saw play in: Single Strike Box, Umbreon VMAX, Gengar VMAX
The reason you don't see Single Strike Energy on this list is because if you are playing that, you will be playing Houndoom because it's Single Strike Roar ability helps to attach it from the deck, which is incredibly helpful to speed up your game plan. It saw little to no play in the first two formats until Umbreon VMAX was released, which is when the Single Strike decks finally thrived. And now having a Dark-type attacker to counter the many top decks with Dark-weakness, Single Strike decks have now become one of the best decks in the Standard format. There has been many occasions where either having 3 or not having a single Houndoom pretty much decided how your games would go, I cannot say how much more important this one card has been to those kinds of decks.
#16 - Cheryl - Battle Styles
Total Points: 3,920 (12th)
Seasonal Points: 980 (16th)
Total Average Points: 357.15 (18th)
Quarterly Average Points: 89.28 (19th)
Wins: 3
Top 4: 19
Top 8: 29
Saw play in: One-off in Jolteon VMAX, Rapid Strike Urshifu VMAX, Corviknight VMAX, Mewtwo & Mew-GX Dark Box, Eternatus VMAX, Malamar VMAX, Togekiss VMAX,
These kind of heal cards will always find a way to make itself a pain to deal with in any format it's in and while it did take a while, Cheryl did end up being a staple in decks like Jolteon VMAX and even early on with Rapid Strike Urshifu VMAX. It made perfect sense for decks using Bronzong to move energies around and even the new Inteleon VMAX would utilise a four-off since it's game plan revolves around not having energies on itself but where Cheryl thrived the most were with decks that tend to attack with just one energy cost (Rapid Strike Urshifu and Jolteon comes to mind).
#15 - Umbreon VMAX - Evolving Skies
Total Points: 3,320 (16th)
Seasonal Points: 1,660 (13th)
Total Average Points: 397.18 (15th)
Quarterly Average Points: 198.59 (12th)
Wins: 4
Top 4: 14
Top 8: 25
Saw play in: Single Strike Box, Gengar VMAX, Eternatus VMAX
Lycanroc-GX has returned in the new form of Umbreon VMAX! This one card pretty much made Single Strike a deck people found awkward to play with into one of the best decks in the format. It's been a top-two deck for the last quarters and it's not hard to see why. Having a gust option on a Pokémon has always seen success and for that reason, it's even seen play in some decks with either a 3-2 or 2-2 line just for the gust option, with Eternatus VMAX the one making the best use of it. And being a dark attacker hitting for 160, it's the card big psychic decks like Shadow Rider VMAX, Dragapult VMAX and Mew VMAX all don't want to see.
#14 - Rapid Strike Urshifu VMAX - Battle Styles
Total Points: 6,640 (7th)
Seasonal Points: 1,660 (13th)
Total Average Points: 422.86 (13th)
Quarterly Average Points: 105.71 (17th)
Wins: 9
Top 4: 26
Top 8: 49
Saw play in: Rapid Strike Urshifu VMAX with either Jirachi TEU, Cinccino SWSH or Inteleon CRE, partnered with Dragapult VMAX or as a tech attacker with Sylveon VMAX or Zeraora V Rapid Strike Box
So honest true, when I first started making this list, Rapid Strike Urshifu VMAX was initially first on my list. Then I moved it down to 3rd when I decided to include re-print cards. Then I started working on a points system and it kept going down to 7th, then 10th, and now down in 14th. Rapid Strike Urshifu VMAX is one of the best attackers in the game, it has two great attacks, one that hits 150 when it moves into the active for just one energy and of course, the other hitting 120 to two Pokémon (or 150 with either Passimian or Scope or if you're lucky enough to have both, 180 on Vs).
The honest truth it, as good as it is, it just hasn't seen much success in bigger tournaments. It's only been considered a top 3 deck in the Fusion Strike quarter, which if you're keeping count, the 4th quarter of this format which does raise questions as to why it didn't do so well in the first 3 quarters. Then again, having a Psychic weakness can be a problem as they are three big decks using Psychic-type VMAXes which does stop Rapid Strike Urshifu VMAX from reaching it's full potential and likely will stay this way till it rotates sadly.
#13 - Mew VMAX - Fusion Strike
Seasonal Points: 2,310 (8th)
Total Average Points: 385 (16th)
Quarterly Average Points: 385 (5th)
Wins: 4
Top 4: 8
Top 8: 17
Saw play in: Mew VMAX/Genesect V
One of just two cards from Fusion Strike to be included in this list but of course, Mew VMAX had to be included. We have not had a clear BDIF for a long time until this showed up. Sure it may only have seen play for the last two moths of the year but it's clear to see how much of an impact it's already made in this short space of time.
Mew VMAX is that deck that just has it all to make it the clear BDIF from this format and likely for the rest of 2022, it has:
- A built in-draw engine with Genesect VMAX
- Clean 210 attack from Genesect which has the downside of not being able to attack the next turn but as Mew VMAX has a free-retreat, this can easily be worked around
- The ability to take cheeky donks with Meloetta in Turn 1 for 210 damage
- Power Tablet giving it +30 damage
- Shred-like attacker in Max Miracle to cancel out irritants like Decidueye
- Sky Return-style attack in Mew V's Psychic Leap
- Dyna-Barrier attack from Latios preventing damage from VMAXes
- Takes 20-less damage thanks to Oricorio
- Elesa's Sparkle attaching 2 Fusion Strike energies from the deck
- Speaking of Fusion Strike energy, it stops abilities affecting it such as Quick Shooting from Inteleon CRE
And if you think having that amount of options wasn't bad enough, Mew is one of the few decks that can get away with playing Cram-O-Matic too! With that crazy amount of options, it's no secret why Mew VMAX is the clear BDIF going into 2022, but since it did only just show up, it's only featured in the middle of the list but still a decent placing I'd say.
#12 - Suicune V - Evolving Skies
Total Points: 3,720 (13th)
Seasonal Points: 1,860 (11th)
Total Average Points: 493.97 (11th)
Quarterly Average Points: 246.99 (10th)
Wins: 3
Top 4: 14
Top 8: 30
Saw play in: Suicune V/Ludicolo EVS/Inteleon CRE and Ice Rider Calyrex VMAX/Suicune V/Inteleon CRE
If I was biased, this wouldn't be here and it'd be in the top 10. It's no surprise how much I like Suicune V as a card, and also people may not know that Suicune is actually my favourite legendary Pokémon too! Melony already had a great partner in Ice Rider Calyrex VMAX but Suicune V gives the Water supporter a second attacker to go with, and one that is a Basic attacker too.
Not only does it have a useful first ability to just draw one card, but also Blizzard Rondo punishes anyone who may over-bench. It can go from 80 damage, to 200 damage to even 320 damage with a little help from Ludicolo from Evolving Skies. Paired with the likes of Inteleon and the aforementioned Ludicolo, it's made Suicune one of the better decks in the format, not quite a top 3 deck yet though sadly as evident from it's points and why it's only 12th on here. But in saying that, a Suicune V deck did win the POG Worlds 2021 championship.
#11 - Melony - Chilling Reign
Total Points: 5,030 (11th)
Seasonal Points: 1676.67 (12th)
Total Average Points: 610 (9th)
Quarterly Average Points: 203.33 (11th)
Wins: 3
Top 4: 19
Top 8: 41
Saw play in: Ice Rider Calyrex VMAX/Inteleon SSH, Suicune V/Ludicolo EVS/Inteleon CRE, Ice Rider Calyrex VMAX/Suicune V/Inteleon CRE, Rapid Strike Urshifu VMAX/Inteleon CRE
And speaking of Melony, it shouldn't be a big surprise to see it alongside Suicune on this ranking having been a go-to deck for many players in the past few months. Melony in some ways is similar to my personal favourite supporter of the past years, Welder, but instead of attaching 2 energy of a certain type from hand, it attaches one certain type from the discard. That's the good part of it. The bad part is that it can only be a V Pokémon.
Still that hasn't stopped Melony from seeing play with any deck featuring either Ice Rider Calyrex VMAX or Suicune V, or in many cases, featuring both at the same time. Lately it's also seen play with Rapid Strike Urshifu VMAX to help it get back-to-back G-Max Rapid Flow attacks. Easily the best Supporter card to be released apart from one other...
#10 - Shadow Rider Calyrex VMAX - Chilling Reign
Total Points: 6,160 (9th)
Seasonal Points: 2,053.33 (9th)
Total Average Points: 586.33 (10th)
Quarterly Average Points: 195.44 (13th)
Wins: 8
Top 4: 26
Top 8: 47
Saw play in: Shadow Rider Calyrex VMAX, with and without Alcremie VMAX
Shadow Rider made claim to the title of BDIF the moment it was released in Chilling Reign and it's not hard to see why. Having a Trade-style ability is always a good thing but instead of discard a card, it actually attaches a basic Psychic energy to a benched Psychic Pokémon. And as I've always said, anything that helps to speed up energy attachment is always a really helpful thing and one to watch out for.
And even though Shadow Rider was the BDIF in just one quarter (Chilling Reign) the impact it made that one part of the year was enough to put it in 10th spot on this list. Not a single attacking Pokémon released in 2021 scored more points in one quarter than Shadow Rider Calyrex VMAX this year so it had to be well represented on here. There is sadly a good reason why it's not seeing much success and part of the blame can be put to Mew VMAX, as it being successful meant more Dark decks seeing play, which indirectly affects Shadow Rider from doing well.
#9 - Tool Jammer - Battle Styles
Total Points: 6,580 (8th)
Seasonal Points: 1,645 (15th)
Total Average Points: 679.65 (7th)
Quarterly Average Points: 169.91 (11th)
Wins: 6
Top 4: 25
Top 8: 52
Saw play in: Initially only saw play in Victini VMAX, Decidueye DAA, ADP/Moltres and Eternatus VMAX, saw a rise in play with the release of Leafeon VMAX and Umbreon VMAX and also Galarian Weezing SHF
Tool Jammer was an interesting one to figure out. Initially I only had it near the bottom half of the ranking but once I looked into the results, it kept showing up! It first saw play as a cheeky one off tech in decks like Victini VMAX and Eternatus VMAX as a way to not fully rely on Tool Scrapper, which many decks were still relying on.
That all changed when Leafeon VMAX was released. Leafeon's attack was all about hitting for as much retreat cost as possible and with Galar Mine, that helped it even more. So naturally most deck would try to cover with Air Balloon and that's where Tool Jammer comes in. Not only does it stop it from giving less retreat cost, it's also been the cause of much pain for decks like Zacian and Suicune that were hoping to survive a hit with their Cape of Toughness. One of the more underrated cards to come out of this year.
#8 - Battle VIP Pass - Fusion Strike
Total Points: 2,910 (17th)
Seasonal Points: 2,910 (7th)
Total Average Points: 485 (12th)
Quarterly Average Points: 485 (1st)
Wins: 5
Top 4: 10
Top 8: 22
Saw play in: Mew VMAX, Single Strike Box, Malamar CRE/Rapid Strike Box
Now this one did surprise me a bit, for the longest time I had Battle VIP only as high as 11th and as low at 20th at one point. And then I decided to try a quarterly average system and that's where Battle VIP Pass shone through.
It's no secret to see why it has the best score in that area. It may have only seen play in one format but that in one format, the two best decks, Mew VMAX and Single Strike Box, are the two main decks that rely heavily on getting Battle VIP Pass to set up it's attackers and their support Pokémon, be it Houndoom or Genesect. And even though it's only useful in the first turn, it's clearly a worthy addition with how successful it's been in just two moths, with 5 of the 6 decks winning 256+ tourneys all having Battle VIP Pass in their deck.
#7 - Galarian Moltres V - Chilling Reign
Total Points: 5,800 (10th)
Seasonal Points: 1933.33 (10th)
Total Average Points: 775.29 (6th)
Quarterly Average Points: 258.43 (9th)
Wins: 4
Top 4: 27
Top 8: 45
Saw play in: ADP-GX, Mewtwo & Mew-GX/Dark Box, Eternatus VMAX, Rapid Strike Urshifu VMAX, Sylveon VMAX, Sableye V, Galarian Weezing SHF
We didn't get many great tech cards but if I may, I'd like to think Galarian Moltres V was probably the best tech to come out of this year. It showed up at the same time as Shadow Rider Calyrex VMAX which many had predicted to be an instant BDIF and it having a Dark type weakness meant Galarian Moltres saw play in all sorts of decks. It became ADP-GX's main choice for a partner, helped bring a new version of Mewtwo & Mew-GX with the Dark Box variety, and helped Dark decks like Eternatus VMAX and Malamar VMAX speed up energy with good ol' Energy Switch thanks to it's Direflame Wings, easily one of the best abilities in the game at the moment. As I've said, any sort of energy acceleration is always a good thing and I like those kinds of decks.
It's not a bad attacker too as 190 can trouble a lot of Vs and two shot all VMaxes as the simple price of hitting 30 to yourself. And with Raihan releasing in Evolving Skies, it made Moltres an even more viable partner for many decks, sometimes even get a Moltres fully powered up out of nowhere! Lately it's been the partner of choice for Rapid Strike Urshifu VMAX to counter it's psychic-weak matchups and to help accelerate energy for G-Max Rapid Flow, it's even seen play as a partner for the likes of Sableye V, Leafeon VMAX and Sylveon VMAX. After all, when you've got the likes of Mew VMAX and Shadow Rider Calyrex VMAX ready to do well in any event, just having Galarian Moltres V can sometimes be enough to swing the match to your favour.
#6 - Raihan - Evolving Skies
Total Points: 7,870 (6th)
Seasonal Points: 3,935 (4th)
Total Average Points: 676.28 (8th)
Quarterly Average Points: 338.14 (7th)
Wins: 7
Top 4: 28
Top 8: 63
Saw play in: Rapid Strike Urshifu VMAX, Dragapult VMAX, Togekiss VMAX, Zacian V, Suicune V/Ludicolo EVS/Inteleon CRE, Ice Rider Calyrex VMAX/Suicune V/Inteleon CRE, Leafeon VMAX, Sableye V/Inteleon CRE, Decidueye DAA
I did mention a while back that Melony was the best Supporter card released this year apart from one other who was similar to it and that of course is Raihan! If this was up to me, I'd have it easily in the top 5. Raihan was easily my favourite card to come out of Evolving Skies and it's seen instant success right off the bat with as many as 9 different decks utilising it!
It has the catch of only being able to use the turn after one of your Pokémon is knocked out but the comeback potential helps it. It does the same thing as Melony but instead of just Water energy, you can attach any basic Energy and not just to a V, but to any Pokémon! And instead of drawing 3 cards, you get to search your deck for any card. You might even say that's better than Melony in some ways. It's found natural partners in Inteleon decks that can easily search it out and easily powering up attackers such as Galarian Moltres V, Suicune V, Decidueye DAA, Dragapult VMAX and Rapid Strike Urshifu VMAX. One of the better cards to come out this year and I can't see myself not placing one Raihan in any deck I play moving forward. Along with Suicune V, Inteleon and Moltres V, probably my favourite card to come out of this year.
#5 - Path to the Peak - Chilling Reign
Total Points: 9,450 (5th)
Seasonal Points: 3,150 (6th)
Total Average Points: 973.99 (5th)
Quarterly Average Points: 324.66 (8th)
Wins: 11
Top 4: 37
Top 8: 73
Saw play in: Mainly in Pikachu & Zekrom-GX, Ice Rider Calyrex VMAX, Rillaboom/EggRow-GX, Togekiss VMAX, Jolteon VMAX as a one off in Rapid Strike Box, Shadow Rider Calyrex VMAX and Mew VMAX
Power Plant was gone but it's replacement didn't take long to show up in the form of Path to the Peak. For a while both cards were legal in Standard. Path does the same thing Plant did a while back, forcing people to play the Stadium war and playing as many as 4 stadiums to stop certain V decks from doing it's thing.
Be it Shadow Rider, Mew, Suicune, Umbreon, Galarian Moltres and specifically Dedenne and Crobat, a lot of decks have found themselves to be stuck whenever a Path was in active and many players have lost games due to the old Path and Marnie strategy, where you hope to give your opponent little to no chance of making a comeback. And often times, it does work. (Unless your opponent is a Mew then usually they draw out of it).
#4 - Fog Crystal - Chilling Reign
Total Points: 10,410 (4th)
Seasonal Points: 3,470 (5th)
Total Average Points: 1,143.9 (4th)
Quarterly Average Points: 381.3 (6th)
Wins: 14
Top 4: 40
Top 8: 79
Saw play in: Dragapult VMAX, Shadow Rider Calyrex VMAX, Malamar CRE/Rapid Strike Box, Mew VMAX
I'll be the first to admit, initially this card wasn't even on my first draft list! And I was silly to completely miss it out because it's been one of the better cards to come out of this year and the results has proven just that. Psychic typing always do seem to have that extra ball search lately, we had Mysterious Treasure not long ago but Fog Crystal is just as good. You either get a basic Psychic Pokémon or a Psychic Energy, the perfect card for the four decks mentioned above.
And it's shown why it's so good. Shadow Rider made full use of it not just to set up their board but having the energy to accelerate and draw more cards would end up meaning it won the game faster than most decks. Dragapult had a fair better time setting up thanks to Fog Crystal. Even Malamar made full use of it to set up Inkays and all it ever needed was one energy to attack anyway. And finally, the new BDIF, Mew VMAX, is also a psychic type so that was always going to be an auto-inclusion.
#3 - Inteleon - Chilling Reign
Total Points: 12,370 (3rd)
Seasonal Points: 4,123.33 (2nd)
Total Average Points: 1,427.25 (3rd)
Quarterly Average Points: 475.75 (2nd)
Wins: 8
Top 4: 50
Top 8: 98
Saw play in: Well, too many decks to name.
Now this one I did have a hard time of choosing who would better represent the fact that the Drizzle + Level Ball combination has pretty much created a new style of deck this year. Many of those decks still played a 70 HP Sobble while only a few chose not to play Inteleon. After all, it's got a free 20 snipe anywhere, how can it not be good? I did have a tough time deciding if Keep Calling Sobble should be in this spot or this Inteleon, since without the Sobbles, you might not even get these Inteleons set up anyway, but in thinking about it, a lot of people have kept playing the 70HP Sobble so I had to give this one the nod with that in mind.
The whole line has been super playable, be it Keep Calling Sobble to set up your board, Drizzle to search out any Trainers you needed or Inteleon to help you reach numbers for certain KOs or even SWSH Inteleon to search for Trainer cards. This whole combo with Level Ball have created/improve these deck archetypes:
- Rapid Strike Urshifu VMAX (One of the most played decks in all of 2021, helps to set up all sorts of numbers for both attacks and to just generally set up an attack too)
- Ice Rider Calyrex VMAX (A constant force since Chilling Reign)
- Decidueye DAA (Helps sets up Decidueye even quicker and reach certain numbers faster)
- Rapid Strike Malamar (Best one-prize deck in the format for the longest time)
- Dragapult VMAX (Helps spread even more damage on the board and that combo became the BDIF during Evolving Skies quarter)
- Leafeon VMAX (Perfect partner to help Leafeon set up numbers and search the specific combo pieces it needs for big attacks)
- Suicune V (Since Evolving Skies, one of the more popular decks in the meta and it's a natural partner to set up and hit perfect numbers along with Ludicolo)
- Zacian (Yes it even saw play with Zacian to make it a powerful one-shot machine)
- Jolteon VMAX (Probably the best partner for it since Jolteon will need a bench mon to be sniped for the full effect)
- Sableye V/Galarian Weezing SHF (More for the set-up option and an easier way to power up Sableye up with snipes and a great way to search out Raihan too)
- Hoopa DAA/Galarian Moltres EVS (Probably the best new one-prize deck to come out in the latter half of the year and once again each piece helps to set up attacks and damage)
I mean, this just shows how important Inteleon and it's family has helped to make the game in some ways more fun seeing as you don't need the help of some random V or GX to set things up. It makes me happy to see that a stage 2 card is now viable to play, that's how I've always liked playing the game anyway, I'm really not a big fan of silly "Big Basic" mons. Each stage has an important role to play and all that couldn't be possible without the help of the next card on this list.
#2 - Level Ball - Battle Styles
Total Points: 16,910 (2nd)
Seasonal Points: 4,047.5 (3rd)
Total Average Points: 1,629.26 (1st)
Quarterly Average Points: 407.32 (3rd)
Wins: 11
Top 4: 63
Top 8: 129
Saw play in: Before Chilling Reign, saw play in decks like Mad Party, Spiritomb and even as a one-off in Single Strike Urshifu VMAX. After Chilling Reign, any deck with Inteleon in it.
Even before the introduction of Chilling Reign, Level Ball actually did see success, taking 3 wins alongside the likes of one prizer decks Mad Party and Spiritomb, all having attackers less than 60 HP. Even Single Strike would use it just to set up Houndours! So it was already a good new card coming out of Battle Styles. And then Chilling Reign hit.
We did have Drizzle for the longest time but both Sobble and Inteleon from Chilling Reign made it an even better. Thanks to Level Ball, you can easily set up 4 Sobbles on board and start getting anything you need from your Drizzles. The 12 decks mentioned above and made full use of Level Ball just to get Sobble and Drizzle in play and to much success too. It's also a good way to set up techs like Lota and Lombre, Pyukumuku, Galarian Zigzagoon and Rowlet. The fact that the Drizzle-Level Ball combo has seen success with many different archetypes just shows you how popular it is, you could even say it's probably the most played draw engine of the year. If this was based off my own opinion, I would have Level Ball easily in the #1 spot.
#1 - Escape Rope - Battle Styles
Total Points: 19,320 (1st)
Seasonal Points: 4,830 (1st)
Total Average Points: 1,563.6 (2nd)
Quarterly Average Points: 390.9 (4th)
Wins: 20
Top 4: 74
Top 8: 151
Saw play in: A four-off for Spiritomb. As a one-off in many decks such as Victini VMAX, Centiskorch VMAX, ADP-GX, EggRow-GX, Rapid Strike Urshifu VMAX, Pikachu & Zekrom-GX, Mewtwo & Mew-GX/Welder Box, Eternatus VMAX, Dragapult VMAX, Sylveon VMAX, Jolteon VMAX, Ice Rider Calyrex VMAX, Suicune V, Leafeon VMAX, Mew VMAX.
Surprised? I sure was. But then again, I did just list down 16 different decks that saw success with an Escape Rope in their deck, that kind of statistic we can't ignore. Escape Rope is obviously a really good just because for an Item, it's a gust card, which can sometimes even win you the game outright if your opponent is trying to make you hit into the one Pokémon that can take a hit while the rest of their bench can't or even better, when they just have one Bench, making it an instant gust. Not just a good card offensively, it also helps you get one of your active Pokémon out if it happened to be stuck in front.
So it can't be a surprise to see why it saw so much success this year. Granted, it's not really a new card, it was legal just a few years ago but it's always been good so I had to include it. It scored the most points and and all 4 quarters, it was always one of the highest scoring card in events. There may be other great Item cards better than this but if you think about it, Level Ball is restricted to just 90HP or less Pokémon and Fog Crystal to just Psychic types, that doesn't hold Escape Rope down as pretty much any deck can make it work. And for that reason, that's why it is the best card released in 2021 from a statistical point of view and possibly in the opinion of others too. I hope you enjoyed reading this and thank you for stopping by my page!
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