My first review of a TCG set. This set has received a gigantic motherload of hype, many people on PokeBeach have hyped up the set, convinced many people to buy it, and bashed other sets for the sake it. Many people have claimed that the set’s box price will skyrocket in the future, one even talked about how certain cards would be ridiculously highly priced. This set has received the most positive stimulation of any set imaginable in Pokemon TCG history. Will this set live up to the sky high buildup, or will the set fall short of its intensity and highly confident name?
The HS Truimphail set is a set of 102 cards and only one Secret Rare, most of which come from theJapanese set, Clash At The Summit with a small fraction originating from Lost Link. The original Clash At The Summit set had 2 Ultra Rare set of cards that have made it to HS Undaunted (Rayquaza & Deoxys LEGEND, Kyogre & Groudon LEGEND), but nothing else. That set of 80 cards featured a mixture of Pokemon from all generations, most of them were cards that did not get a LEGEND set treatment in Japan and did not get a card for a while. Many of those are Pokemon with a link to the 2nd generation that did not get featured in HeartGold SoulSilver Collection or Revived Legends sets (for example the basic forms of Electivire and Magmortar, Elekid and Magby respectively, were introduced in the second generation). There are other cards in that set that come from 3rd and 4th generation as well. There were 3 pairs of LEGEND ultra rare cards (the aformention LEGENDS and Dialga & Palkia LEGEND) that are 3rd and 4th generation Pokemon as well as only 4 Prime Cards (Yanmega, Machamp, Electrode, and Celebi). All the remaning cards in Clash At The Summit are in HS Triumphail.
The Lost Link cards never have been localized in a HS set until now. This is a mini set of 40 cards. Those cards focused mainly on reinforcing the “Lost Zone” mechanic of gameplay that was introduced in Intense Fight In The Destroyed Sky set. This set also included a mixture of generations. There was only one LEGEND in that set (Darkrai & Cresselia LEGEND) and 4 Primes (Mew, Magnezone, Absol, and Gengar). However, only some of the cards in Lost Link actually made it to HS Triumphail. 24 cards were included and 16 were left out. Here is what is not in the set:
Tangela
Tangrowth
Relicanth
Pachirisu
Mime Jr.
Mr. Mime
Seviper
Zangoose
Snorlax
Riolu
Lucario
Lost World
Research Documents
Lost Remover
Lost World, one of the left out cards, was the source of some of the hype for HS Triumphail. Many people assumed that this card would be in the set. This is a Stadium that adds another condition for victory. The condition is if 6 Pokemon cards were in your opponent’s Lost Zone, victory would be granted. People wanted that because the SP’s were dominant in the metagame, so they wanted something else to dominate. The exclusion of LW, made the Truimphail hype die down a bit, but not fully as many people still continued hyping the set.
There were many promo shiny cards of legendaries that came out around the same time, but unfortunately, none of those are part of the set.
Many of the cards in Triumphail really do not much of interest. A great deal of the cards do only relatively low for middle or high cost (4 for 70, 3 for 60, ect.) with effects that are not too interesting. Some cards do 30 damage with one energy with some niche effects (Nidoqueen). The Rare cards really do not stand as anything even remotely good or viable and neither do the regular Holofoil cards. So you will more times than not, get not so good pulls with less than interesting cards if you do not pull a Prime or LEGEND. Unlike the other sets that come before it, many of the cards seem to be more filler than any actual worth despite their popularity. Let’s look at the cover cards that are not LEGENDS.
Electivire for example has an attack that can damage all Pokemon in your opponent’s play for 50 damage with 3 energies. Sounds good, but given that this card is 2x weak to Fighting and there are cards that are in competitive play that card defeat Electivire from Truimphail in one hit (Toxicroak G Promo and Donphan Prime from HeartGold & SoulSilver). There are also cards like Shaymin from Unleashed and Lucian’s Assignment from Supreme Victors that can counter this and redirect damage. Not as good people hype it up to be.
Magmortar from Truimphail is another popular card. This card has an attack that discards your opponent’s deck by any fire energy attached. However, the attack also has a side effect that when unfavorable, discards all energy attached. Its second attack is 3 for 60 with a burn, with also not going to make the card any better. Given all that, the card is useless.
Altaria’s 3 for 70 is OK, but nothing to write home about.
Here my impressions of the other cards:
CLICK TO SEE THIS
The Trainer and Energy cards are somewhat good.
Twins and Blackbelt follow a theme of helping out when losing. They ONLY work when you have more prizes than your opponent. Blackbelt adds 40 damage to an attack and Twins searches out any 2 cards.
Indigo Plateau is good with LEGEND decks.
Junk Arm is a very hyped card that takes any discarded card and adds it to your hand for a cost of discards 2 cards in your hand. Not worth it as it’s too costly.
Seeker is hyped up as if it was GOD. It’s pretty much Briney’s Compassion for both players. Pretty decnt as if gives your opponent the same deal. Not that effective.
Rescue Energy is good. Anything that is knocked out with this energy can be brought back to your hand. A nice energy to have.
None of the other rares or holos are worth mentioning.
The Primes have received the most hype of the entire set. There are 8 Primes instead of the usual 6. But half the Primes, in question, are any good. The rest are overhyped and terrible.
Machamp Prime is the best card in the entire set. This Pokemon can switch in and take all the energy attached the active. Its attacks are pricey but powerful; First attack does 3 for 60 with a Special Energy discard. His second attack does 100 damage with 4 energies which is good and as an added bonus does more Pokemon you have in your bench with damage. Pretty much kills anything powerful in conjunction with Donphan Prime.
Magnezone Prime is pretty much a replacement of the Great Encounters Claydol that recently got rotated out. Draw until you have 6 cards (without putting 2 back in your hand). The sole attack is depended on the Lost Zone cards, which is decent. Best used in the Bench more than anything. Still a good card.
Gengar Prime is also powerful. Its Body pretty makes your opponent’s Knockouts go to the Lost Zone. The first attack is devastating, it can get rid of all Pokemon in your opponent’s hand and sends that to the Lost Zone. The second attack places 4 damage counters in any way you want. Really valuable, as of right now it costs $15 on Trollandtoad.com.
The last of the Primes that is possibly good is Yanmega Prime. Its body can make your attacks free as long as your hand count matches your opponent. The attacks are (normally 2 energy) 40 to any Pokemon and 70 damage to the active (normally 3 energy). This card can be useful, but that is very limited to certain situations where you must waste or draw some cards and sometimes you cannot match the card count. At last, given that Yanmega is Grass (Bug is represented by Grass) and a recent Jumpluff has been dropping in popularity in comparison to Charizard, this card will not see much play. Compared to Machamp and Gengar, Yanmega is mediocre.
The others have tons of hype, but are too flawed to be as good as they are hyped.
Mew Prime gives you the ability to use moves from a Lost World Pokemon with the required energy and it can put Pokemon there to use the attacks. Given that it must attack with its own attack (to put a Pokemon card in Lost Zone) in order to be used and its bad 60HP, makes it too fragile. Overrated.
Celebi Prime can possibly wall with 3 energies, but even with a Power that speeds the attaching in some way (which requires it to be active), it will not cut it, especially with that 60HP, and no free retreat. The card is terrible and it is just garbage. I’d rather use Slowking Primee. Worst Prime ever.
Absol Prime has better HP for a Basic Prime. Its Body can damage anything new that is put down, but its powerful 2 for 70 is too costly as it requires a Pokemon to be gutted to the Lost Zone. Mediocre at best.
Electrode Prime is just terrible. Its Power KO’s itself just for the Top 7 cards that are energies to be attached to your Pokemon. That power can work for your favor and the KO can be used in a combo with Black Belt/Twins. But it is too luck based for it be effective and any prize to your opponent puts you to a disadvantage. This card is pathetic.
The LEGENDS are almost never talked about and people actually hate on them. Those cards are not the best, but they are more effective than Celebi and Electrode Primes.
Darkrai & Cresselia LEGEND is just a novelty. Does 100 damage for 4 energies and Lost Zones 2 energies and the Pokemon if it gets KO’d by the attack. Barely effective. And the second attack that is one psychic can redistribute damage. Nowhere as good as Ho-Oh LEGEND, is just decent at best (Ho-Oh discard 1 energy for 100 instead of Lost Zone).
Dialga & Palkia LEGEND is better. First attack for 3 energies puts one of your oppoent’s bench back in their hand, which can be helpful against Dialga G Lv X. Thesecond is very interesting, discard all Metal Energies (requires at least 2 metal energies and one colorless) for adding 2 prizes. This can really be devastating, as it could make the game harder and harder to win, every time the attack is used. Imagine having 8+ Prizes on your opponent, this can possibly turn your opponent’s game long and hopeless. The bad part, is that it is slow and be OHKO’d by Blaziken FB Lv X (unless Expert Belt or Indigo Plateau is played). Not a bad card, but not a really good one.
The Alph Lithograph here is terrible. It’s a bad Here Comes Team Rocket and does nothing but temporarily reveal face down prizes for you.
The Art in this set is decent. Nowhere near as good as the HS sets, but not necessarily terrible, just inferior. Some of the cards like Cubone, Marowak, and the majority of the cards that come from Lost Link, look overly odd, Haunter, Illumise, and Volbeat. The holographic cards are pretty decent, but Rapidash seems out of place and for some reason they made Electivire a rare, which would have looked nicer as a holo (thank god for it being also a prerelease card). Speaking of which the rares are also not much to comment about. The uncommons are not bad though, Machoke, Electabuzz, Magmar, and Yanmega look nice. The commons are kinda good, too, with Swablu and Diglett looking lively and angsty, respectively. The trainer looks beautiful, and really represent the HGSS game well. Rescue Energy also does not look bad either. The Primes, however, are just meh. Gengar is ugly, Electrode’s smile is too rehashed, Machamp being toothless just looks horrible, Absol and Celebi are OK, I like Mew going in your face, Magnezone’s low angle shot makes it look menancing, and Yanmega is alright. Darkrai & Cresselia LEGEND is just freak like all legends. Dialga & Palkia LEGEND just looks wrong, as if they are trying to do suggestive actions, but are not doing it that well. I don’t know why did they make the Alph Lithograph all cracked up, it looks really odd.
Here are what I think look good in this set:
Altaria
Celebi
Drapion
Mamoswine
Dragonite
Electivire
Elekid
Magmortar
Dragonair
Electabuzz
Magmar
Machoke
Lairon
Yanmega
Aipom
Aron
Carvanha
Diglett
Swablu
Black Belt
Twins
Indigo Plateau
Rescue Energy
Magnezone Prime
Mew Prime
The set format is just a little off. Rapidash, Solrock, Spiritomb, and Victreebel are holos, yet Electvire is a rare. This does not bug as much, but the card set really does have much to offer. Barely any of the cards are that fun to play other than possibly Electivire, Nidoqueen, Golduck, Bronzong, Mamoswine, and the Trainers. The Pokemon selection is not too exciting at all. Especially the Primes. Maybe because the bulk of the set it came from (Clash At The Summit) was disappointing and never too interesting in the first place as we already had better Magmortar, Electorde, Mew, Celebi, Dialga, Dragonite, and Ambipom cards anyway. Magmortar Triumphail pales in comparison to even Supreme Victors or Unleashed Magmortar, let alone the epic Magmortar from Secret Wonders or Magmortar Lv X from Mysterious Treasures. Outside Machamp. Magnezone, and Gengar, the Primes have nothing special in particular, except for Mew and Celebi for being themselves. But usually Mew and Celebi have something that makes them interesting. Mew used to wall with low HP well in the past, disrupt, spread damage, and even had critical places in worlds with its EX’s. The only thing Mew does now is throw away Pokemon just to rip their attacks off, while sporting low HP for a Prime. Celebi used to heal, endure, disrupt, Energy manipulate, and wall (effectively). Celebi Prime does wall, but very poorly as it can be picked off by SP’s and it can help attach energies, when it’s active with its low HP.
Since many of the cards here are not even remotely interesting, you are LIKELY to get bad pulls from here.
The other HS sets offered more than Triumphail. HeatGold & SoulSilver offered, more variety of good trainers like Pokemon Communication, Pokemon Collector; Energies like DCE and Rainbow Energy; and Pokemon like Jumpluff, Ninetales, Typhlosion Prime, and Donphan Prime. Unleashed offered a full ineup of great primes that are good, as well as preserving Rare Candy and Super Scoop Up. Undaunted had some really nice cards such as Scizor Prime, Special Energies, Vileplume, Driftblim, and Umbreon. It also had Pokemon Primes that were expensive promos in Japan and turned them into regular set Ultra-Rares cards. Why couldn’t Triumphail do that? It had no excuse to ignore incorporating a nice shiny legendary promo from Japan or two, to spare a collector to spend thousands on to obtain such a card; cards that were out around the time of Clash at The Summit, the set that Triumphail is adapted from, especially since the majority of the set was lackluster. For christ's sake even the Fall Tins mentioned that the next sets will have shiny Pokemon! But no, instead we have a set that offers jack aside from a few Primes, Trainers, and Energy. What a letdown. This is a disgrace to all HS sets and it is a poorly done set that is not even a shadow of its hype.
Side Note
This set suffered SEVERELY from Halo Hype. Halo Hype is pretty much when a game or whatever product (in this case, a card set) is hyped like if it can cure cancer (similar to Halo 3’s gargantuan hype). Truimphail suffers from this worse than any other Pokemon TCG set ever imaginable. I never saw any set being treated like Jesus Christ in my life. It was so bad that every other set in the format was panned in favor for this one. The worst victims were the aptly titles Hated 4 (Platinum: Rising Rivals, Platinum: Supreme Victors, Platinum: Arceus, and HS: Undaunted, the latter got the worst). Normally I would not totally hate on Triumphail this bad, but when the entire PokeBeach conformist community treats like a deity before release and the previous set is harped on like the devil (which is surprisingly appropriate as Houndoom is a booster cover), I have to set my expectations very high and if it does not live up to them, it fails horribly. Since this set is a grave disappointment, I have to be as harsh as I can. It’s so bad, I cannot even call it by its real name, the hype and the set itself sickens me. It is the worst set Pokemon TCG has ever put out.
For more information of the Halo Hype of Triumphail, check out the other blog posts.
Conclusion
This set is abhorrent. Because this set did not live up to the hype, it is horrible.
NEVER BUY A BOX OF THIS SET.
They are better things you can purchase, than this horrible set. Any card you may want from this set can be purchase through single cards. It is better to get it that way and just buy a few packs.The other sets offer much more and those don’t have Halo Hype, like Truimphail does.
No comments:
Post a Comment