Forbidden Light Top 10 cards: The Light Consuming Meta

Introduction

Welcome back to ThePelipperPost, within this article I will talk about, what I believe are to be the best cards coming out from Forbidden Light. Although unlike most set reviews we will be looking to count down not only the best cards in the set but I will show you my personal developed deck list involving each card. Each deck will try to be entirely different although some card will help other cards within the set such as Malamar and Ultra Necrozma. Enjoy the Top 10 and let me know what your favourite cards are and deck ideas you have to develop from the lists below.

No. 10: Diancie Prism

This card is one of the most hyped up cards of the set allowing decks such as Passimian to reach higher numbers that they might not be able to reach otherwise. The Ability Princess Veil, adds 20 more damage to your fighting Pokémon's attacks which is amazing. Personally in my experience with Passimian decks, if you run a 1-3 split of team play, you will be hitting 190 damage against most evolution Pokémon, having the Diancie Prism allows the deck to reach 210 without the need for a choice band. In different decks, such as Buzzwole Gx and Lucario Gx it will allow these Pokémon to hit bigger numbers early on, Buzzwole GX with a Beast Energy Prism, choice band and Diancie Prism will allow you to knockout a Zoroark Gx with a Jet Punch and still do 30 damage to a benched Pokémon. This Diancie allows an already dangerous rouge idea to become more of a deadly machine allowing you to hit big numbers and constantly keep combining to with Rescue Stretcher and Energy Loto to not give your opponent a moments rest.

Diancie Prism

No. 9: Mysterious Treasure

Mysterious Treasure

Mysterious Treasure has to be one of the most broken Pokémon search engines in the history of the TCG. Although it only searches out Psychic and Dragon-Type Pokémon, this card is really what these decks needed to become quicker than its other meta counter-parts. With a similar effect of an Ultra Ball you discard only one card and then you may search for the Psychic or Dragon Pokémon you desire. With Tapu Lele Gx being such a widely played card in every deck for the ability Wonder Tag, allowing you to search for any supporter, Mysterious Treasure can find its way into many decks to come. Although only really suited to Psychic type decks due to Dragon Pokémon requiring exhausting energy requirements, I could see this card forming around a Turbo styled Psychic deck which involves the Lunala Prism and is quite similar to the format of how Turbo Metals is played. This can help really activate the raw power of Necrozma Gx including multiple tech cards, to help gain advantage by discarding energy as well as finding those key tech Pokémon.

No. 8: Zygarde Gx

Zygarde Gx helps to support the already strong, pardon the pun, typing of Fighting. This is one of the most played typing at the moment due to the weakness of Zoroark Gx allowing to get the upper hand on decks within the top tier of the the Pokémon TCG. I personally believe that Zygarde is very similar to the Gardevoir Gx card, in terms of its own energy acceleration with its first attack, Cell Connector. This allows for a next turn attack which only needs two fighting and a double colourless energy for the secondary attack and finally the Gx attack. The Gx attack is the most interesting part of this card, for 2 fighthing energy and a DCE it allows you to do a flat 150 damage to which the math can quickly add up. With choice band 180, Diancie Prism in play 200, regirock 210 and you can see how this can quickly add up. This including the effect of the attack, make this card want you to start teching Pokémon Ranger into your deck if it becomes popular. The broken effect is that it cannot be damaged by Gx or Ex Pokémon on your opponents next turn by their attacks, THIS IS CRAZY! Especially with the inclusion of Bonnie being in the set allowing Zygarde's Gx move to be reset when playing Bonnie in the same turn. So the archetype around this card is really trying to stream Bonnies when you can find them. With Zygarde already being such a large Pokémon with 200hp and its capabilities to knockout a Buzzwole Gx with ease I personally think this card has a future ahead of it.

Zygarde Gx

No. 7: Beast Energy

This card is one of the most mainstreamed hype cards of the set and it will show to be a incredibly good card with time and the right deck. It can only be attached to Ultra Beast Pokémon and it provides any typing with 30 extra damage onto your Ultra Beast's attacks. Straight away you might be thinking Buzzwole Gx and Jet Punching for combinations that lead to knocking out a Zoroark Gx for a single energy. Although you have to look through the already established cards to see what it makes better, an example would be Kartana Gx. Kartana's ability is an amazing one being able to discard special energy in play, which also discards the beast energy! But if you run a Beast energy with Kartana and get a DCE onto there you can hit up to a base of 130 damage, knock out a Gardevoir Gx and shuffle the beast energy back into your deck with the Kartana. There is so many combinations for this card. Although it is a great card, with the amount of special energy denial in enhanced hammers, Kartana itself or even Aerodactyl that could see play, it has a massive floor in this regard which is why it is placed as No. 7.

Beast Energy Prism

No. 6: Noibat

Noibat

Yes. You have heard correctly. Noibat. This card is going to be absolutely insane if it is built in the right way. The issue for the current use of the card is that there is that it does not have any ideal partners at the moment and I can only see it being a one of tech in future formats to come. It is incredibly powerful, being able to discard any items found in your opponents hand from the game is wicked. It is Ghetsis on Steroids. Yes it uses your attack, but this discards rather than shuffles. This could really work well with Garbodor with the attack Trashalanche that is 20 more damage for each item in the discard pile. The other good part of this card is the resistance to fighting, meaning it survives a jet punch. Lets look at an archetype which could see it become a really interesting tech, especially denying set up in mirror matches.

No. 5: Malamar

Malamar

Did someone say Eels? This card brings back an old favourite ability made popular in the Black and White Format of old, Dynamotor. But this time its back with a new Pokémon and some new tricks. The Malamar card itself will not be used as an attacker, it will be more of a bench warmer type card where if you are attacking with it, there is something wrong. 60 damage is not really capable of doing much damage as a whole. But the Psycho Recharge ability is where this card really shines. One thing that Psychic-type decks has been missing is an energy accelerator. This is what we have been waiting for as Shining Mew has not seen alot of play, mainly due to the low HP and Buzzwole Gx's high success as it knocks out a Mew with a Jet Punch. The challenge of maintaining the psychic energy in your discard is the issue with the ability as battle compressor is not around anymore. This effects the usefulness of Malamar as it cant run as optimal as it could possibly do. The main partners for this card is looking more like Ultra Necrozma from the same set or even Dawn Wings Necrozma. 

No. 4: Greninja Gx

Greninja is always getting good cards. This Gx card is not much different. The hp of the card is quite low for a stage 2 being 230hp, although I feel if the hp was any bigger it would be too overwhelming in the meta. This is being looked at being paired with a number of the best cards in the current format, such as Buzzwole Gx , Zoroark Gx and Golisopod Gx. The card with its ability Wind Shuriken allowing you to put 3 damage counters on any of your opponents Pokémon, takes us back to a time of Crobat which had a similar ability. Greninja's attacks are also very good and helps the card cycle well in a deck to make the most out of the ability. Haze Slash allows you to do 110 damage and then shuffle your Greninja Gx and all cards attached into your deck, allowing you to skip being hit and rotate your active Pokémon into something your opponent preferably does not want to hit into. The Gx move Shadow Assassin Gx allows you to snipe 130 anywhere on your opponents board, meaning you can pick something off like a Tapu Lele Gx if it has been retreated onto the bench. This also allows you to hit some amazing numbers onto an active Pokémon. 130 + Choice band + Wind Shuriken + Kukui = 210 damage which is a number that is key in the current meta to hit. No other Zoroark/Varient has the option to hit that amount without a condition which can be controlled by your opponent (Lycanroc Gx is opponents benched Pokémon, Lucario Gx how much damage on itself and Golisopod GX can only hit 180 Max). This makes Greninja Gx a very exciting prospect for the coming format.

Greninja Gx

No. 3: Buzzwole

I think the TPCi have a new favourite Pokémon. Every Buzzwole card since the announcement of Ultra Beasts has been absolutely mind blowing, this card is no different. Its a non-Gx attacker which means Hoopa is less of a issue for this card, it also has 130hp which denies Zoroark Gx a return knockout on this Pokémon, not only that but it hits 120 for a single fighting energy. Sledgehammer is the main attack of this card which allows you to do 30+ if your opponent has 4 prize cards remaining you do 90 more damage. It can take a Knockout on a Mew Ex, it can be charged by Beast Ring the exact same turn as doing all this damage and it ONLY take a single fighting energy. If your Opponent has an odd prize size then you will be looking to use Buzzwole's second attack which is a base of 80, 2 heads means 40 more damage and if you have a strong energy or two on the Pokémon it does catastrophic numbers. It hits weakness on the best card in format, Zoroark Gx, meaning this card will go and break the meta with its big brother, Buzzwole Gx.
 

Buzzwole

No. 2: Ultra Necrozma

The best Pokémon coming out of the set is hands down Ultra Necrozma. This card has the ability to destroy everything and anything on its way to be one of the best attackers in the standard format. With the outrageous Photon Geyser, I think that we are really looking at one of the strongest Pokémon printed in the TCG. With the ability to attack for 20+ 80 for each psychic energy discarded off of it, this can reach destructive levels with just two energy attachments. If you are able to get three psychic attachments to this card, it hits a grand total of 260 which is knocking out every card ever printed in this Sun and Moon format. Interestingly though it is the only attack on the card other than its own Gx move, which is a first to do so without an ability or other attack. The Gx move is a little underwhelming considering the extent of the regular attack although if Ultra Necrozma is only able to soften up Pokemon without taking knockouts there is an opportunity for it to strive forward and effectively clear 6 prize cards in a single turn. Destructive Light Gx requires there to be less than 6 prize cards in play before you are able to use this adding to how likely you are to be able to pull this off late game with a lot of damaged Pokémon on the field. This has been already considered a natural partner to Malamar in the same set with the two Pokémon reminding us of when Rayquaza ruled with his Eelektrik buddies.

Ultra Necrozma

No. 1: Beast Ring

Beast Ring

Finally the No.1 of the set is Beast Ring, this is the first item card since I started playing again to become a rare item in a pack. This is backed up by the Pre-release prices on this card as a single with the secret rare card nearly reaching £65 before it has even been released. This card makes Ultra Beast cards, INCREDIBLE. In terms of support that all the UB cards have coming from this set, makes them even more dangerous than they originally were. Cards like Guzzlord Gx, Xurkitree Gx and of course Buzzwole Gx become so much more playable than previously in the format. The card allows you to attach two energies from your deck to your Ultra Beast Pokémon as long as your opponent has 4 or 3 prize cards. WOW. This can mean you are going from having no energy on board, playing three beast rings in a turn and then having 6 energies storming your board and having an instant impact on the board state. Especially with Buzzwole Gx this will be a must inclusion in that deck being able to charge up 3 fighting energies will be absolutely insane. Your Buzzwole can start hitting 210 in one turn with Diancie and a choice band, without any strong energies attached to the active. The same can be done with Ultra Necrozma, two Psychic energies and a choice band, 210 straight away. We are now entering a format where these big basic Pokémon are roaming around with aggressive energy attachment. This is going to effect Mill decks so much due to how aggressive players can be with their set ups, a single 1-1 line of Naganadel Gx can remove how many prizes that you have allowing them to follow up in the next turn with multiple Beast Rings.


Thank you very much for reading my Top 10 cards of Ultra Prism, I believe that there is a few cards which were unlucky to be skipped over like Lysandre Labs, Bonnie, Judge, Pyroar, Naganadel and Alolan Exeguttor. This Top 10 are not just as single cards are good but where they also fit in the current standard format, has changed my mind on many of the cards in this Top 10.
Although the Top 10 are really meta breaking cards which I think will cause an impact on the format as a whole and not just a rogue deck or maybe find a little bit of play. I hope that some of my deck lists have given you some ideas about what you can build with cards coming from the new set and do let me know any of your ideas by messaging me on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter. 
There is some very exciting news to come in the next few months heading up to and around Sheffield Regionals with new cards to be released and the meta to change from week to week with these new powerful archetypes entering the standard format, as I enter the back end of my current first season competetively.


I look forward to producing some more articles and hopefully catching many of you at Challenges, Cups and of course Sheffield Regionals.

Charlie

@ThePelipperPost
67/250 Championship Points