Top 5 Cards From Twilight Masquerade

This card has an ability that says: “As long as this Pokémon is in the Active Spot, Pokémon with a Rule Box in play have no Abilities, except any Future Pokémon (Pokémon ex, Pokémon V, etc. have Rule Boxes). To those that were playing in the Sw/Sh block, this block of text might seem very familiar to you! That’s because this is Path to the Peak reprinted as an ability on a Future Pokémon! The Future archetype seemed pretty weak in its current state but this card’s broken ability may be the key to Future Toolbox’s success in, well, the future.

Next is Dragapult ex. The first attack doesn’t much matter but the second attack is what makes this card a card you should keep your head on a swivel for. For 1 fire and 1 psychic, it does 200 base damage and allows you to put 6 dmg counters on your opponent’s benched Pokémon in any way you like. Dragapult being a stage 2 means that this effect isn’t stopped by Jirachi from Paradox Rift. The only thing that can stop that effect is having a Mist Energy, from Temporal Forces, attached to a Pokémon. This spread damage in combination with cards like TM: Devolution can make this card a real threat, taking KOs out of nowhere and potentially instigating the rare Pokémon board wipe.

Third up is Drakloak. It truly is rare that we have a family line that is all broken but there’s a good reason why this card is on the list. Drakloak’s ability says “Once during your turn, you may look at the top 2 cards of your deck and put 1 of them into your hand. Put the other card on the bottom of your deck.” This ability is a direct reprint of the famous Air Mail Pidgeotto from Team Up. This ability was strong back in the day. This led to many top players to play it in control decks at worlds. To see this ability reprinted again in the current format is both concerning but also awesome. This pairs great with its evolution Dragapult ex, allowing you to see 2 cards before you evolve into the attacker. Great support Pokémon for the archetype. That’s why it’s one of my Top 5 cards from Twilight Masquerade.

Next up on our list is Legacy Energy. This is a new ACE SPEC card that is coming out in Twilight Masquerade. It’s a special energy that provides any type of energy to the Pokémon it’s attached to but the real power is the additional effect. When your opponent takes a KO on the Pokémon it’s attached to, they take 1 LESS prize card. That means that if Legacy Energy is attached to a single prizer and that single prizer is knocked out by damage of an attack, your opponent will take zero prize cards for it. This looks to be very promising in the Lugia VStar archetype when paired with Iron Hands ex, Lumineon v and the new Wellspring Mask Ogerpon ex from Twilight Masquerade. Luckily, the card is somewhat balanced by the fact that the secondary effect of taking one less prize card only works ONCE per GAME. That means it can’t be abused by cards that can loop it or recover it. Thank goodness.

Last on our list, the most broken card printed in modern PTCG History: the new ACE SPEC Unfair Stamp. This card is ludicrous. Unfair Stamp can only be played if 1 of your Pokémon was knocked out during your opponent’s last turn. Once played, each player shuffles their hand into their deck; you draw 5 cards and your opponent draws 2. This is Roxanne the item card with the caveat that your Pokémon must be knocked out on your opponent’s previous turn.