Hey everyone, Wallysson here. Chaos Rising is out, and as always I went straight to Limitless to check the first lists and talk with the crew to get a feel for what's coming.
And to be straight with you: the set isn't going to flip the format. is still running the show, and even picked up new pieces from this set. But there are cards here worth talking about, and some are going to hit harder than they look at first.
Here's my top 5.
And it goes like this:
It's not the flashy top 5, I know. It's my top 5. The cards I think will matter most in tournaments, whether by direct effect or by potential to turn into a new deck in the hands of someone who tests them properly.
And yeah, Transformation Tome in the top 5 is going to spark debate. I'll defend it.
5. Transformation Tome
This one's the most controversial pick on the list.
Transformation Tome is a weird card. You need to play two copies at once for the effect to work, so it already looks like a card that can clog your hand at the wrong time. And there's no obvious deck where it's good right out of the box.
But the effect is really cool.
You pick a Basic Pokémon from your discard pile and swap it for a Basic Pokémon in play. And here's the detail a lot of people are going to miss: attached cards, damage counters, Special Conditions, turns in play and any other effects stay on the new Pokémon. It's not "bring a basic back to the field". It's transferring an entire Pokémon's state to another one.
That opens up a line nobody was respecting.
It's not a card to slot into any list. It's a card for someone to put their head down and find a specific combo that the rest of the meta ignored.
Could it lead nowhere? Sure. But Pokémon TCG has always had weird cards like this that sat forgotten for months until someone showed up with the right version. And I like having at least one of those on the radar.
4. Beedrill ex
Beedrill ex is way more direct.
The idea is to put several Beedrill in play and hit hard for a single energy. The attack Raging Bees costs just one Grass Energy and deals 110 damage for each Beedrill or Beedrill ex in play. When the board lines up, the damage gets absurd.
The problem is obvious: setting up the board.
Stage 2 always pays a toll. You have to evolve, find the pieces, not die along the way, and still keep consistency.
But people are going to enjoy testing this. And the resources to build the deck exist. (from a previous set) already helps a lot to gather Grass pieces for setup. Pair that with , and you can put several evolutions on the board in the same turn, and Beedrill is exactly the kind of deck that needs that kind of acceleration to start threatening damage.
I don't think Beedrill arrives as tier 1. But it looks like a cool deck, with a satisfying mechanic to pilot, that's probably going to produce an interesting list in the hands of someone who puts the work in.
I'll be keeping an eye on it.
3. Patrat
To me, Patrat is the card that took way too long to arrive.
The ability Watchful Eye prevents damage counters from being moved between Pokémon, on both sides of the field. It's a direct lock on any strategy that depends on moving damage around.
And the name that comes to mind is . Fair enough. But I keep thinking about how much this card would've hit back when was on top of the previous format. That was its moment. Today it shows up in a format where Munkidori exists, but isn't the heart of the meta. I want to see the impact it has now, with mechanics more spread out and Dragapult still being the guy.
It's the kind of card that's going to show up in the side, or as tech in a deck that knows exactly what it's attacking. It's not a star. But in the right tournament, it can decide a match.
2. Mega Greninja ex
Mega Greninja ex is the face of the set.
His art is on the ETBs, the boosters, every piece of the expansion's material. And it's not just marketing. The card is genuinely strong: 350 HP on a Water Pokémon, with an ability that already pressures from turn 2 and even returns energy to your hand on attack so you don't run dry mid game.
The ability Lethal Ninja Star is what gives the deck its identity. Once per turn, if Mega Greninja ex is in the Active Spot, you discard a basic Water Energy from your hand and put 6 damage counters on 1 of your opponent's Pokémon. That's big damage, out of nowhere, no attack required.
And that's where Surfing Beach comes in. The catch is that the ability only fires with Mega Greninja ex in the Active Spot. Surfing Beach is a Stadium that lets you, once per turn, swap your active Water Pokémon with a Water Pokémon from your bench. So: you bring Mega Greninja up, fire the ability, and swap back to a support attacker without burning a Switch. That's a clean, repeatable combo that's probably going to be the engine at the heart of the deck.
The attack Ninja Turn is also honest. Hitting 120 base, or 200 by returning an energy to your hand, is the kind of pressure that keeps resources available at the end of the game instead of leaving you dry after two trades.
Another piece that helps a lot is Great Haul Net, an item from this very set that shuffles up to 3 Water Pokémon and up to 3 basic Water Energies from your discard pile back into your deck. It pairs perfectly with a deck that wants to recycle resources for the entire game.
I don't think Mega Greninja ex is going to be the best deck of the format, far from it. But we got another competitive deck, and well built, it has the look of a deck that fights hard in tournaments.
1. Special Red Card
To me, this is the best card in Chaos Rising.
Not for the effect itself. For what it unlocks in the rest of the list.
The effect itself is honestly modest: when your opponent has 3 prizes or fewer, you play the card and they shuffle their hand down to 3 cards. Honestly, hand disruption down to 3 cards in late game is pretty weak. It doesn't compare to what we had with or . But it's better to have than not.
And that's where its importance lives.
After rotation, every competitive deck became hostage to Unfair Stamp for hand disruption. The problem is it takes up the ACE SPEC slot, and that hurts. When Stamp goes in there, any other strong card in that category gets left out of the plan.
Special Red Card changes that math.
It isn't a Supporter and doesn't take the ace spec slot, and you can run multiple copies. That frees you up to pick a way more impactful card for that slot. The effect on its own isn't the world's best, but what it allows is what matters.
And when your opponent hits 3 prizes, they now have to respect the late game in a different way. You can't just sit comfortably with a full hand thinking everything's wrapped up.
To me, it's the card that's going to change how lists are built the most going forward.
Wrapping up
Chaos Rising doesn't show up shaking the format top to bottom, and that's fine. Dragapult is still the best deck (and to make it worse, it picked up new pieces from this set), and most of the meta is going to look similar to what we've been playing.
But we got options to mess with down the line.
The one that's going to move list building the most, by far, is Special Red Card. Mega Greninja ex got me excited for the new mechanic. And Transformation Tome, we're going to have to wait for people to crack their heads on it.
There's another thing that didn't make my top but is worth a look: the Special Energies in the set. Special Energy usually takes a little while to find the right deck, but when it fits, it turns into a staple. I'll come back to those in another piece.
That's my top.
Agree? Disagree? Any card I should've put in and ignored? Send it my way, I like knowing what people are thinking. It's by talking it out that we level up the game.