Hello everyone! Travis Nunlist back with my first piece since attending the Vancouver Regional Championship! Unfortunately I didn’t do nearly as well as I wanted to, ending 4-3-2 on the back of some questionable last minute list decisions, but attending my first big event since Worlds was a really fun time. Big shoutouts to my fellow SixPrizes writers Pablo and Xander for taking 1st/3rd respectively!

As mentioned in my last couple of articles, I felt that the post-rotation format was relatively uninteresting and I didn’t enjoy it a ton, but overall thought it was fine for what it was. However, it feels like our card pool just exploded, with a robust mini-set and full set dropping within weeks of each other! This influx of new and exciting cards is sure to shake the metagame up for at least a little while, and I’m beyond excited to see what concepts will emerge from the hype.

New set articles are always my favorite to write about because the novel feeling of exploring fresh ideas is absolutely the best part of playing the Pokémon Trading Card Game! My piece today is going to be focused on the two new comeback cards we get in Crimson Invasion: Counter Energy and Counter Catcher. We’ve all gotten used to playing with N, and by now we’re all well aware of some cards’ potential of to swing the tempo of a game. However, Counter Energy and Counter Catcher bring whole new elements to the comeback game.

As disruptive as N can be, it really is only that: disruption for your opponent’s hand. For N to be an effective comeback mechanic, your opponent has to be disrupted by the card. Things like Octillery, Oranguru, and even the timeless “top-decked X for game” can drastically reduce the effectiveness of a comeback strategy. Counter Energy and Counter Catcher are significantly more proactive and give you more control over your comeback strategy. Even if your opponent is able to draw something playable off of an N, it is much more difficult for them to respond to the effects of Counter Energy and Counter Catcher when most of the damage was already done during your turn.

This article — “Contemplating the Counter Cards” – A Look at the New Comeback Cards in the Pokémon TCG — was originally published on SixPrizes.