Stellar Crown sets up the next era of the Pokemon TCG beautifully

The Pokemon Trading Card Game ushers in a new era with its Stellar Crown expansion thanks to several new and intriguing cards that should form the foundation of brand-new decks or help keep popular decks relevant for a while longer. At the heart of the set are the new Stellar Tera Pokemon ex cards, based on the Stellar Tera-type Pokemon seen in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet’s Indigo Disc expansion. These new cards require three different types of energy to activate their main moves, which is generally counterintuitive to modern Pokemon deck-building techniques. Luckily, with plenty of Energy draw cards available in the current Pokemon TCG rotation, savvy players shouldn’t have too many issues getting these cards in play to wreck their opponent. One of the best card games just got more savage.

The Pokemon Trading Card Game is typically informed by the main series Pokemon games, with various sets building off themes and characters from the video games. Stellar Crown introduces the last new Pokemon first seen in the Indigo Disc expansion of the game and several popular characters from that expansion. Several of these Pokemon and characters should make an immediate impact in the Pokemon TCG metagame and should maintain an already diverse set of relevant decks.

Favorable matchup

The crown jewels of Stellar Crown are the Stellar Tera Pokemon ex cards themselves, which should form the foundation of several new deck archetypes. For instance, the set mascot Terapagos ex has an intriguing build that takes advantage of loading up a Bench and using it to overpower an opponent. The Pokemon’s Union Beat deals 30 damage for every benched Pokemon the player has. When used in conjunction with the Area Zero Underdepths card (a card that expands a Bench to 8 Pokemon if they have a Tera Pokemon in play), Terapagos can deal up to 240 damage for just two Energy. It also has an effective Crown Opal attack that deals 180 damage and protects it from all damage by any non-Colorless Basic Pokemon on its next turn, which negates several popular decks such as Iron Thorns ex. 

While Terapagos ex and other Stellar Tera Pokemon ex cards require three kinds of Energy cards to use their signature moves, there are enough Pokemon and Trainer cards that specialize in pulling the right Energy cards out of a deck that fans shouldn’t shy away from trying to make them the centerpiece of a new deck build. 

Another intriguing card that should immediately make an impact is Noctowl, a Stage 1 card with a powerful ability. When a player uses Noctowl to evolve one of their existing Pokemon and they have a Tera Pokemon in play, they can pull two Trainer cards from their deck and place them into their hand. Noctowl will instantly make an impact in several tech-heavy decks, with the card helping players to get the cards they need to either maintain a favorable matchup or keep their deck humming. 

Just right

While the meta implications for Stellar Crown are notable, it also contains several gorgeous cards that should be popular among collectors. In addition to the gorgeous Terapagos ex Secret Illustration Rare card, there’s also the Bulbasaur and Squirtle Illustration Rare cards, which complete the thematic triptych of Kanto Starter Pokemon in cozy spots that was started way back in the Obsidian Flames set. 

Stellar Crown is the Pokemon TCG at its finest – a reasonably-sized set that introduces new deck possibilities and expands on existing ones. The cards are gorgeous, the set isn’t bloated (it comes in at 175 cards with variants), and it isn’t too dependent on one type of card to be effective. Stellar Crown sets up the next era of the Pokemon TCG nicely and caps off the end of the pure Scarlet and Violet era of content. 

It's been a big few weeks for trading card games; the next Lorcana set feels like a tribute to the most underrated Disney movie, and Magic's new expansion is almost here (we're pretty excited about it, so explored how MTG Duskmourn captures the '80s horror vibe).