Top Five Cosmic Eclipse Cards

While Arceus & Dialga & Palkia-GX (Cosmic Eclipse 156) may look like a weird card to play, it has already seen success in Japan’s Champion League Tokyo Extra event. You can use Ultimate Ray relatively quickly with cards such as Rainbow Brush (Celestial Storm 141) and Welder (Unbroken Bonds 189) or by using Victini (Unified Minds 26). Doing 150 damage and searching for three Energy makes this card eerily similar to the popular Pikachu & Zekrom-GX (Team Up 33) - which means it has to be good right? Altered Creation GX is the attack that I find the most interesting because it adds a uniquely permanent effect on the game that can make for interesting strategies. Between adding a 30 damage buff for the remainder of the game and the option to draw an extra Prize Card for each Knock Out, this card is really interesting. Whether you are playing the Standard or Expanded format, this card will surely see some amount of play.

Expected Value on PTCGO: 10 packs of Cosmic Eclipse for a Regular Art version.

While I haven’t necessarily thought of every combination available to Red & Blue (Cosmic Eclipse 202), I am positive that this card will allow some decks to see success. Not only can in expedite an Evolved Pokémon in play, it can also attach basic Energy cards from the deck to that Pokémon. Even better, since this card is a TAG TEAM card, you can use Tag Call (Cosmic Eclipse) to search it out of the deck with relative ease. Off the top of my head, I could see this card working well with Glaceon-GX (Ultra Prism 39) to get off a quick lock on your opponent with Freezing Gaze or use it to setup a Stage Two GX Pokémon, such as Incineroar-GX (Team Up 97). Whichever way you decide to utilize this card, remember to read the rules of this card thoroughly. You can’t use Red & Blue (Cosmic Eclipse 202) to Evolve a Pokémon that was put into play this turn or during your first turn of the game. I can only imagine that as we receive more sets that this card will lead to some impressive strategies and perhaps it can take some share of the metagame from overpowered Basic Pokémon. There are a handful of other TAG TEAM Supporter cards that will be released in this set and each of them interesting to play. I highly recommend picking up a play set of each (in real life and on PTCGO) to make sure you are able to use many new strategies as they are discovered.

Expected Value on PTCGO: 2 packs of Cosmic Eclipse for a Regular Art version.

So looking at this card, I can’t help but smile looking at these adorable Baby Pokémon. We get it, Togepi & Cleffa & Igglybuff-GX (Cosmic Eclipse 134) is a super cute card, but can it compete with the top decks in the metagame? That is something I am certainly interested in finding out. Rolling Panic is a typical “Flip a coin until you get Tails” which isn’t too exciting, but it might be able to get you a Knock Out here or there. The only reason why I included this card in as an honorable mention is because of Supreme Puff GX. It automatically allows you to take an extra turn, but if you meet the hefty requirement of having 16 Fairy Energy attached, it can put you in a game winning position. After your opponent shuffles all of their Benched Pokémon Back into their deck, they will only have one Pokémon left in play. Don’t forget that in top of all of this, you still have your extra turn. If you are able to Knock Out that Pokémon with any attack, even Rolling Panic, your opponent will have no Pokémon left in play and you win the game. While that sounds like an incredibly difficult move to pull off, it does get me excited to try it out when the set releases on PTCGO.

Expected Value on PTCGO: 4 packs of Cosmic Eclipse for a Regular Art version.

Card Text: Search your deck for up to TAG TEAM cards, reveal them, and put them into your hand. Then, shuffle your deck.

When cards allow you to search for other cards, like Cherish Ball (Unified Minds 191), they tend to be sought after cards for the competitive scene. When cards allow you to search for multiple cards, like this card, they are considered staples in the game. Tag Call (Cosmic Eclipse) is one of the few cards in the game that allows you to search for both a Pokémon and a Trainer card. You don’t even necessarily have to grab one of each, you can grab two of one, two of another, or one of each. There is absolutely no drawback to this card either - you can freely play it without any cost at all! With the new TAG TEAM Supporter cards coming out in this set, such as Cynthia & Caitlin (Cosmic Eclipse 189), this card will allow you to string together complex strategies that would otherwise be difficult to pull off. While I am sure there are more competitive uses for this card, a nifty combo that I thought of is to use this card to grab a copy of Slowpoke & Psyduck-GX (Unified Minds 35) and a copy of Cynthia & Caitlyn (Cosmic Eclipse 189). You can use Cynthia & Caitlin (Cosmic Eclipse 189) to grab another Supporter card from your Discard Pile to attack with Ditch and Splash for more damage. More competitive uses for this card would be to grab a Pikachu & Zekrom-GX (Team Up 33) and Raichu & Alolan Raichu-GX (Unified Minds 54) out of your deck instead of discarding useful cards with Electromagnetic Radar (Unbroken Bonds 169). Whichever way you decide to play this card, it will surely be able to help you get what you want out of your deck for no cost.

Expected Value on PTCGO: 1 or 2 pack(s) of Cosmic Eclipse for a Regular Art version.

If you look at Reshiram & Zekrom-GX (Cosmic Eclipse 157), you can automatically see why it made it so high up on my list. It has plenty of HP, 270 HP to be exact, and it has some pretty powerful attacks. Fabled Flarebolts can hit for a cool 270 damage which means it can easily Knock Out other Pokémon with large amounts of HP. Yeah, I’m looking at countering Mewtwo & Mew-GX (Unified Minds 71) and Reshiram & Charizard-GX (Unbroken Bonds 20). A great way to power up that attack is to use Welder (Unbroken Bonds 189), Tapu Koko Prism Star (Team Up 51), N’s Resolve (Cosmic Eclipse) and / or Naganadel (Lost Thunder 108). Utilizing a simple strategy, you can consistently power up Energy into play and use Fabled Flarebolts for plenty of damage each turn. Cross Break GX is another interesting attack and adds another strategy into the deck - combining GX attacks with playing Supporter cards. Normally you can only hit a single Benched Pokémon with Cross Break GX, but if you played N’s Resolve (Cosmic Eclipse) during your turn, you can hit two Benched Pokémon. With all of these things growing for Reshiram & Zekrom-GX (Cosmic Eclipse), it seems like it is going to be a compelling strategy going forward.

Expected Value on PTCGO: 20 packs of Cosmic Eclipse for a Regular Art version.

Honorable Mention: “Full Art” Non-GX Pokémon

While I typically aim to create “competitive” content, I wanted to give an honorary mention to these awesome “Full Art” Non-GX Pokémon featured in this set! There are a handful of cards, such as this beautiful Piplup (Cosmic Eclipse 239), that portray a scene of a Pokémon and their human partner from the series. The art is either set in a dreamlike back drop or a seemingly realistic setting where that Pokemon would naturally live, as seen in the Wishiwashi (Cosmic Eclipse 240) art. I am currently under the impression that these cards will be released as “Regular Art” cards in the set which means that these versions are almost exclusively for those who enjoy the art on the cards. While it is unknown if any of these cards will see competitive play, they surely would be great to collect on PTCGO or to put in the front of your binder.

Expected Value on PTCGO: 1 or 2 pack(s) of Cosmic Eclipse (varying on the card).

Card Text: You can play this card only if you discard 2 other cards from your hand. Switch 1 of your opponent’s Benched Pokémon-GX or Pokemon-EX with their Active Pokémon.

With cards like Guzma (Burning Shadows 115) rotating to Expanded, our Standard format has been missing a strong gust effect. Players have been forced to use Custom Catcher (Lost Thunder 171) and Ninetales (Team Up 16) to help ease the loss of our gusting effect. Well, at least until now. Great Catcher (Cosmic Eclipse) is a complete game change because the Pokémon that you typical want to bring up are GX Pokémon. This is because they are worth more Prize Cards than normal Pokémon and typically are what decks are built around. I have faith that most decks in the game are going to be playing a couple copies of Great Catcher (Cosmic Eclipse) and we might see players decide to run less GX Pokémon in their decks going forward. While that might sound contradictory, this card is going to greatly impact our game at least until Sword & Shield introduces Pokémon V into the game.

Expected Value on PTCGO: 2 packs of Cosmic Eclipse for a Regular Art version.

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I hope this article has hyped you up for Cosmic Eclipse for when it releases in real life and on PTCGO. If you think I missed a card or there is another card you want to brag about, be sure to comment on this article to let me know. With over 230 cards in the set, Cosmic Eclipse is the largest Pokémon TCG set of all time and there will be plenty of new strategies introduced into the game. Whether you are a player or collector, best of luck obtaining all the cards you want and be sure to check out PTCGOstore.com for all of your PTCGO code card needs.

Zach Lesage
Zach Lesage is a contributing writer for PTCGOstore.com. As a Toronto local, he has been playing the Pokémon TCG since 2005 and currently plays the game as his full time profession. With multiple Champion titles to his name, such as 2019 Collinsville Regionals and 2019 Mexico City Special Event, he certainly has a passion for success. Outside of the game, he travels the world and enjoys high fashion - particular Off-White. You can find him at most big events, and can follow him on Twitter @zlesagepokemon.