On Friday, February 24, the Pokemon TCGO Versus Ladder reset, resulting in a fresh new season. From now until Friday, March 17, trainers have a chance to earn legendary Team Plasma Thundurus EX cards!
A wild Thundurus has appeared!
Charge Through Your Opponent’s Team with Thundurus EX
This cycle’s Team Plasma’s Thundurus EX is quite an interesting card. It offers a rare chance to build up your bench, while still damaging your opponent. And when fully built, this card can provide a decent amount of punch while stalling your opponent. The downside is that this card performs best with other Team Plasma cards.
At just one electric energy you can use Raiden Knuckle, a 30 damage move with a special effect. After using Raiden Knuckle, you can attach an energy card from your discard pile to a Team Plasma Pokemon on your bench. You may have read n my other Pokemon articles, that being able to attach more than one energy a turn is game changing. Just make sure you have a team Plasma Pokemon on your bench to attach an energy to. Generally speaking, 30 damage for one energy is an excellent trade-off, but the effect pushes it being a fantastic card. Being able to deal quick damage and prepare your bench will allow you to keep the tempo in your favor.
When you build up that fourth energy, you get access to Thunderous Noise. This move does 90 damage, which at four energy is not particularly efficient. But if one of those attached energy happen to be a Team Plasma energy, then there is a bonus effect. You can discard an energy attached to the defending Pokemon. This is useful beyond words. This allows you to slow and stall your opponent, and force him to work on his bench instead.
Thundurus EX does have some slight downsides though. Thundurus EX has a weakness to Fighting-type Pokemon, which tends to be a popular type. However, the counter to that is that it only costs one energy for Thundurus EX to escape.
Notable Ladder Rewards
This ladder cycle has some fantastic supplemental cards to earn. Two cards I want to highlight are Electrode and Team Plasma Jolteon.
Magnetic Draw will ensure that you have cards to work with.
The best thing about Electrode is the fantastic ability, Magnetic Draw. This ability can be used every turn to make sure that you have a stash of cards in your hand. One of the most effective things you can do in a turn, is draw cards. Electrode guarantees that you extend your turn, and gives you the chance to draw that critical card you need. The Electro Ball attack takes three energy, but only does 60 damage. Not a great return on a high energy investment.
Team Plasma’s Jolteon, is an excellent compliment to Thundurus EX. First off, this card can be powered up using Raiden Knuckle. This means Jolteon will be safe from most forms of danger, while Thundurus EX provides a constant stream of energy. Once fully charged Jolteon is even safe to switch in on against other EX Pokemon, thanks to Electri-Defuse. This takes two energy and does 40 damage, which is not very much. However, its effect is that if used against EX Pokemon, those EX Pokemon cannot attack during your opponent’s next turn. This allows Jolteon to effectively stall for a good period of time. And when things look grim for Jolteon, he can switch out for a low one energy cost.
Team Plasma’s Jolteon will form a solid defense against your opponent’s Pokemon-EX
Some potential downsides include the Fighting-type weaknesses on all the cards. It’s still a very popular type, and can pack a powerful wallop. The good news is that these cards have very low retreat costs, so you should be able to avoid any knock outs.
Conclusions
This Team Plasma Thundurus EX ladder is one of my favorites yet. I thoroughly enjoy the rewards for this ladder cycle. Thundurus EX allows you to charge up other Team Plasma Pokemon. Once fully charged, it can also stall other defending Pokemon as long as it has Team Plasma energy attached. Electrode will keep your hand full of cards, which in turn gives you a wide range of options. Jolteon can be charged by Thundurus EX and then switched in to stall against other EX Pokemon. When you have the capacity to KO an enemy EX, switch out of Jolteon and into your heavy hitter. This ladder has some of the best synergy I have seen in a while.
The versus point threshold for rewards has not changed, and if you want to win cards you need to play. Remember, it’s 10 points for a victory, and 15 points for a victory against an opponent who had advantage.
- First Tier – 210 Points
- Second Tier – 690 Points
- Third Tier – 2000 Points – Unlocks Holofoil Trainer Card. This cycle, the end of tier 3 rewards a full art Colress card!
How are you enjoying the Thundurus EX ladder cycle? Have you already claimed your card? What other cards are you using in tandem with Thundurus EX? Are you aiming for the full art Colress card? I would love to hear from you. Let me know all about it in the comments below.
Good luck fellow trainers!