Pokemon TCG: Delta Reign Preview

Mega Evolution expands once again, with a brand new set dropping this week! Delta Reign, themed around Mega Rayquaza ex, is looking to be a really great release with some noteworthy features that make it stand out from the other sets of this year.

First, just look at it.

The starry effect on the Elite Trainer Box makes it easily one of the best looking in a long while. Pair this with the popularity of Rayquaza and suddenly this is a release that you won't want to miss out on.

If you want to hear about our Delta Reign drops, you should:
-Register an account with us
-Subscribe to our email list

Predicted Chase Cards

The Japanese equivalent of this set, Storm Emeralda, has been out for a while. It's pretty common for the chase cards of that set to be the same in English too, so here are some that you should be keeping an eye on.

The golden Mega Rayquaza ex, obviously.

And the Mega Rayquaza ex Special Illustration Rare, obviously.

Raikou is another fan favourite. I'm not surprised that this awesome card is as sought after as it is. The sharp peaks that it's climbing and the dark clouds in the distance are quite the scene.

A beginner's competitive insight

Mega Rayquaza ex

With the exception of Mega Lucario ex, the set mascots from Mega Evolution haven't been the strongest in play, but that could change! The attack 'Storm Emerald' is powerful when set up correctly, with a base damage of 150 assuming that you use fire or lightning energy to fill the one colourless requirement. The setup is slow however, and you'll likely need more than 150 damage for Rayquaza's damage to be relevant. It could be that it takes too many turns for this guy to get going.

This set introduces an item card, Adventure Lantern, to help with drawing enough fire and lightning energy, but it won't ease the time it takes to attach the energy needed for Rayquaza to win games on its own.

Legendary Stadiums

Tate & Liza's Training is an interesting new engine for drawing cards, but 2 per turn isn't anything that impressive. The fact that you don't have to discard this supporter when a legendary stadium is active however might have potential on decks where you want a large hand, such as Alakazam or the new Mega Golurk ex.

The 'Legendary Stadiums' referred to earlier are a new set of Stadium cards, being Legendary Pyroduct, Legendary Summit, and Legendary Trench.

All three of these require both halves of the stadium to be in your hand before being put into play, but they come with some legendary effects.

Legendary Pyroduct has been the most discussed so far, as it can shut down some very powerful and common abilities, such as the infamous Drakloak's Recon Directive.

The legendary stadiums also directly power up some new cards, being Groudon and Kyogre of course.

Groudon gains a massive 170 additional damage just by having a legendary stadium in play, while Kyogre deals 50 damage to every benched Pokemon off of its 100 damage Brutal Whirlpool. These look to be powerful basic non-ex options, but it'll have to be seen if their low HP, high energy requirement, and high retreat cost is just too much for them to be considered.

A new supporter card. Aarune, should be a useful way of deploying these new stadiums.

Aarune looks very strong to draw early into a match. It could greatly accelerate your gameplan if you're able to grab both halves of a stadium and a supporter, or one half and two supporters if you already have the other, or just three supporters for later use.