There are several good cards to collect inPokemon TCG Pocket’s Eevee Grove set, with collectors having the full range of Eeveelutions with the Illustration Rare to look forward to, and those interested in deckbuilding have even more nice cards to find. Some are nothard to get, such asPokemon TCG Pocket’s new uncommon Tsareena, which can be great for control decks that try to make the opponent discard cardsto reduce their winning options. Flareon Ex and Sylveon Ex are both seeing a lot of competitive play, but there is another card from Eevee Grove that is sitting at the top of the meta, even if just for a while.
Although there is not much of a connection between the Celestial Guardians set and Eevee Grove as a mini expansion, the latter does continue to add a few more new Alola-themed cards, like Togedemaru, a new version of Incineroar and its pre-evolutions, more Salandit and Salazzle, and other cards. This may not be the focus of this newPokemon TCG Pocketset, but it does make some Celestial Guardians cards more powerful than ever, thanks to the new Hau Supporter, which is perfect for those who want to build a deck around Alola’s starter Pokemon.
Why Pokemon TCG Pocket Players Shouldn’t Sleep on The New Hau Supporter
Hau is a newSupporter card inPokemon TCG Pocketthat follows in the footsteps of Red and Giovanni, in the sense that it allows players who use it to make their Decidueye Ex, Incineroar Ex, and Primarina Ex deal 30 more damage with their attacks. This applies to all of their attacks, and it doesn’t have other asterisks attached, like Red’s damage being only active against Ex cards. Hau works with the following cards:
It’s worth noting thatPokemon TCG Pocket’s Decidueye Ex’s Pierce the Pain attack may not be affected by Hau because it deals a flat amount of damage to any opposing Pokemon, whereas Hau only affects the opposing active Pokemon.
This means that, with Hau, all these Pokemon deal a lot more damage, which makes them much stronger in the current meta. The attacks are modified as follows:
These numbers are high enough to make Incineroar Ex’s Scar-Charged Smash one-shot most Pokemon in the format if it has damage on itself, which is why it’s rising in usage across the board, often paired with the new Flareon Ex. On the other hand,Primarina Ex powercreeps Venusaur Ex out of the metaalready, but with Hau, it can also deal much more damage than Venusaur Ex ever could.
Decidueye Ex doesn’t get as many benefits from using Hau due to Pierce the Pain mainly being a sniping tool for Pokemon on the bench, but Razor Leaf dealing 110 damage with Hau can still make for a good combo. All this made Hau an immediatemeta pick inPokemon TCG Pocketdecks, but it may not last for a long time.
Why Pokemon TCG Pocket’s Hau Meta May Have to Face The Reaper Soon
Pokemon TCG Pocket’s Eevee Grove setcaps off the “Celestial Guardians era,” and the A4 expansion for the game will launch as soon as the end of July, in just one month. Since Celestial Guardians added Decidueye Ex and Incineroar Ex, and Eevee Grove added Primarina Ex, it’s very likely that new versions of these three critters that are also Ex cards won’t be added for the foreseeable future. Right now, it makes perfect sense to have Decidueye Ex, Incineroar Ex, and Primarina Ex, but with over 1,000 Pokemon in the Pokedex, and with the focus moving away from Alola, it wouldn’t make much sense to add new versions of these cards.
Decidueye, Incineroar, and Primarina Are Unlikely to Get More Ex Cards in Future Pokemon TCG Pocket Sets
What follows is that, while using Hau now is a good idea, great even, it may only be feasible for a small window of time.Pokemon TCG Pocket’s future releasesmay add expansion rotation, for example, making older cards not legal to play in competitive matches. More importantly, with no new versions of Decidueye Ex, Incineroar Ex, and Primarina Ex (with a focus on the fact that these should all be Ex cards, rather than any card dedicated to these Pokemon), Hau will be meta for as long as it’s not powercrept out of it, and the same goes for the cards it supports.
For example,Pokemon TCG Pocket’s Giovannimakes the user’s Pokemon deal only 10 more damage, but it has no requirements, and thus it may have a longer “shelf life” than Hau.
One could argue that this is true for every card in the game, but Supporters associated with specific Pokemon can be more problematic. There are cards that benefit from this, as the new Tsareena in Eevee Grove is arguably stronger than its previous iteration, and it still benefits from Celestial Guardians' Mallow Supporter. However, regular copies of Decidueye, Incineroar, and Primarina don’t benefit from Hau unless they are Ex cards, and with only a handful of new Ex cards added with each set, the three Alola starters may not get a new one for a very long time.
