As 2022 nears its end, Pokémon TCG fans can find some amazing sets as the year wraps up. Two Ultra Premium Collections will be released with one focusing on Charizard at the end of October and the other focusing on Arceus near the beginning of November. Fans can also look forward to the final expansion of the series, Silver Tempest.
This year also sees the conclusion of the game's series of Sword & Shield expansions. One of the memorable expansions in the series was Vivid Voltage, which offered players some fantastic cards to help boost the strength of their decks as well as supply collectors with a few unique and rare cards.
Jirachi
This card depicts Jirachi with swirling colors painted behind it. There are several legendary Pokémon featured in Vivid Voltage but Jirachi is the best players can get. Jirachi is all about its effects and abilities rather than dealing damage. Its ability, Dreamy Revelation, allows the player to look at the top two cards of their deck and choose one to place into their hand.
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The other card then goes back on top of the deck. Jirachi's attack requires three different types of energy, those being fighting, psychic, and steel. While this attack doesn't deal any damage it does have a fantastic effect that allows the player to search their deck for up to seven energy cards and place them on their Pokémon in any way they want.
Pokémon Center Lady (Full Art)
This full art card has been sought-after by collectors, but it's also always useful to have a card that heals damage in a player's deck. The Pokémon Center Lady's effect allows the player to heal 60 damage from one of their Pokémon, as well as remove any Special Conditions that may have been laid upon the Pokémon.
One of the most frustrating parts of the game is when the opponent inflicts the player's Pokémon with a status effect like poison or burn, so having a card that gets rid of the conditions and heals damage is more than welcome.
Hero's Medal (Secret)
Many fans enjoyed collecting any card associated with Leon and the Hero's Medal secret rare is certainly one that those collectors would want. In battle, this card can be quite the gamble and should only be used by the most confident of trainers.
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It reduces the player's Pokémon's HP by 100 and if the Pokémon is knocked out, the opponent takes one less prize card. VMAX Pokémon do have quite a bit of health, so for many players, this might be worth the risk. This could especially be helpful for players up against an opponent that only needs two more prize cards to win.
Cape Of Toughness (Secret)
Cape of Toughness is another Leon-associated card like Hero's Medal but is one that players will find less risky and more beneficial. This card works really well alongside powerful basic Pokémon as it gives any basic Pokémon it's attached to 50 health (though it does not work on GX Pokémon).
These cards can stack as well, so players will four Cape of Toughness cards that can make one of their basic Pokémon quite the dangerous foe. This card can also help a Pokémon out of a tight bind if they were near being knocked out with a 50+ increase giving them the possible nudge they need to survive another turn.
Galarian Obstagoon (Secret)
This epic secret rare card features Galarian Obstagoon as its shiny variant. All the colors of the Pokémon pop really well for a secret rare just like Mew, one of the best cards from Pokémon Celebrations.
Obstagoon's ability, Untamed Shout, allows the player to place three damage counters on one of the opponent's Pokémon so long as this card is being used to evolve a card. Obstagoon also has a single attack that deals 90 damage and prevents any basic Pokémon to deal any damage to the card on the opponent's turn.
Charizard
Charizard is one of the most popular Pokémon, so it deserves this absolutely fantastic card that works well alongside the Leon trainer card. Many players were able to obtain this card alongside others in an incredibly well-built Vivid Voltage Charizard deck. This card's ability, Battle Sense, allows the player to look at the top three cards of their deck.
They may keep one of these cards and discard the other two, which could work quite well leading into Charizard's attack. Normally, Charizard's attack deals 100 damage. However, the attack deals an additional 50 damage for every Leon card in the discard pile, meaning Charizard can deal up to 300 damage.
Leon (Secret)
This card features the secret rare version of Leon, one of the best Pokémon League Champions, and a card desired by collectors and players alike.
This card works well in the discard pile for the Vivid Voltage Charizard, though before it makes its way to the discard pile it can be even more helpful by using the card's effect which allows the player's Pokémon to deal 30 additional damage during that turn. While this card's full potential is only realized in a deck centered around the Vivid Voltage Charizard, it still works well without one.
Coalossal VMAX (Secret)
This card features the tremendous and powerful Coalossal as its VMAX evolution. This card is all about raw power, and it proves as much with its two attacks. Coalossal's first attack, Eruption Shot, normally deals 40 and requires one fighting-type energy.
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Eruption Shot's effect allows the player to look at the top card of their deck and if it's an energy card they may attach it to Coalossal and the Pokémon then deals 130 damage. This not only deals quite a bit of damage, but it also helps the player collect enough energy to use Coalossal's second attack, G-Max Boulder. G-Max Boulder requires four energies to use and deals a total of 240 damage.
Pikachu V (Full Art)
This full art card depicts one of the best electric-type Pokémon, Pikachu. This card is incredibly self-sufficient and has two fantastic attacks that work well together. Its first attack is Charge and requires one electric-type energy, it doesn't deal any damage, but it does let the player attach two electric-type energies from their deck to the Pokémon.
This gets Pikachu ready for its second attack, Thunderbolt, requiring three energies and dealing 200 damage. The only downside of Thunderbolt is that all energy cards attached to Pikachu must be discarded after attacking, so realistically Thunderbolt can only be used once every other turn assuming the player gets at least one electric energy on Pikachu for their next turn.
Pikachu VMAX (Secret)
Pikachu VMAX is the best card from the Vivid Voltage expansion and is an evolution of Pikachu V. This card doesn't have any abilities and only one attack. While most players may want this Pikachu, especially the secret rare version, for collecting purposes it is still a powerful card to use.
Its attack, G-Max Volt Tackle, deals 120 damage. It then gives the player the option to discard all the energy from Pikachu (which is at least three electric-type energies), if the player does this, then Pikachu then deals 170 damage in total instead.
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