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Diamond & Pearl--Great Encounters

Sceptile

Sceptile By Adam Vernola
Sceptile (Great Encounters, 8/106) is one of the most enticing new cards that Great Encounters has to offer. Sure, there are some Stage 2 Pokémon with more HP and others that have a lower Retreat Cost.  And its Leaf Blade attack looks like it needs a lot of Energy. However, take one look at its Wild Growth Poké-Body and you won't care about those issues. Sceptile's Wild Growth allows it to double the amount of Grass Energy for every basic Grass Energy card attached to a Grass-type Pokémon. With Sceptile in play, your Grass-type Pokémon will be powered up and attacking your opponent in no time flat!

Palkia LV.X

Palkia LV.X By Steve Arena
In Great Encounters, the Legendary Pokémon Palkia appears for the first time in powerful LV.X form.  Described as a deity in the Sinnoh region, Palkia LV.X (Great Encounters, 106/106) is a Water-type Pokémon with a robust 120 HP and a Poké-Power designed to disrupt the space of the playing field. Its Restructure Poké-Power gives you the option to force your opponent to switch your Active Pokémon with one of your Benched Pokémon. Then, you get to return the favor by switching your opponent’s Active Pokémon with a Benched Pokémon of your choice. This spatial distortion is sure to stir up some interesting twists and turns! 

Dialga LV.X

Dialga LV.X By Steve Arena
Put Dialga LV.X (Great Encounters, 105/106) onto your Active Dialga and hold onto your seat as the Temporal Pokémon wreaks havoc on the game. The Time Skip Poké-Power on Dialga LV.X gives you the option to have your opponent flip two coins. If both are heads, your turn ends. If both are tails, your opponent's next turn will end after he or she draws a card. Before using Time Skip, perform all other actions except attacking just in case you lose the coin flips. In addition to this time-altering Poké-Power, Dialga LV.X can dish out 80 damage with its Metal Flash attack. Dialga LV.X can't use Metal Flash two turns in a row, but don't forget that on your next turn you can use any attack, Poké-Power, or Poké-Body from its previous level!

Premier Ball

Premier Ball By Andy Hartpence
From Dialga LV.X to Darkrai LV.X, Great Encounters features some fabulous Pokémon LV.X to flesh out your deck. But what good is a Pokémon if you can't find it when you need it most? That's what makes the Premier Ball (Great Encounters, 101/106) Trainer card so awesome. Put it into play, and you can search your deck or discard pile for any Pokémon LV.X you choose and put it into your hand. With a few Premier Balls at your disposal, setup is a snap. The best part? No coin flips required!

Leftovers

Leftovers By Steve Arena
Is your Pokémon tired and worn out after a difficult battle? There's no need to worry because Great Encounters introduces an excellent way to restore HP with a powerful new Pokémon Tool called Leftovers (Great Encounters, 99/106). When it is attached to your Active Pokémon, Leftovers allows you to remove 1 damage counter from that Pokémon at the end of your turn. Since a Pokémon Tool remains attached to your Pokémon until it is Knocked Out, the Pokémon Tool can keep working turn after turn. Leftovers works especially well with any self-healing Pokémon, such as Tangrowth (Great Encounters, 10/106) or Butterfree (Great Encounters, 14/106).  Always remember, a healthy Pokémon is a happy Pokémon!

Amulet Coin

Amulet Coin By Adam Vernola
Another excellent card from Great Encounters is the Amulet Coin Pokémon Tool (Great Encounters, 97/106). In Pokémon video games, the Amulet Coin item doubles the currency you earn after winning a battle. The Pokémon TCG version of Amulet Coin is a little different. Instead of money, Amulet Coin forces you to draw a card at the end of your turn if it is attached to your Active Pokémon.  An effective strategy is to combine Amulet Coin with a Pokémon that has a lot of HP, such as Butterfree (Great Encounters, 14/106), so you can maximize the number of times you get to cash in on drawing an extra card.

Cresselia LV.X

Cresselia LV.X By Steve Arena
Cresselia LV.X (Great Encounters, 103/106) is a beautiful, new Legendary Pokémon recently discovered in the Sinnoh Region. Cresselia is a nocturnal Pokémon with strong ties to the moon. Cresselia’s Full Moon Dance Poké-Power lets you move 1 damage counter from either player's Pokémon to any other Pokémon. This ability enables you to Knock Out any of your opponent’s Pokémon with 10 HP remaining even if it is resting on the Bench! Cresselia’s Moon Skip attack deals a modest 40 damage, but the true beauty of this assault lies in the fine print. If you Knock Out your opponent’s Pokémon using this attack, you get to take 1 additional Prize card. If you happen to knock out a Pokémon-ex, you take 3 Prize cards instead of 2. This bonus can really change a game!

Blaziken

Blaziken By Steve Arena
Blaziken (Great Encounters, 1/106) is a powerhouse  Pokémon that completes the Evolution chain of Torchic and Combusken. Blaziken’s Fire Dance attack does 30 damage for 1 Energy, and allows you to search your discard pile for a Fire Energy card that you can attach to 1 of your Pokémon. The Flame Kick attack targets any of your opponent’s Pokémon and delivers 80 damage for just 3 Energy, but you must discard 2 Fire Energy to make it happen. Try using Fire Dance on one turn and Flame Kick on the next to keep the Energy moving, and you can deliver 110 damage every two turns!

Wailord

Wailord By Frank Berendsen
Hit Points are the fuel you need to keep your Pokémon performing well in the heat of battle. Without them, your Pokémon would simply not be able to stay out on the field. Wailord (Great Encounters, 30/106) has a huge number of Hit Points—200 to be exact. This makes it nearly impossible to Knock Out the mighty Wailord in one hit. Even when it does sustain heavy damage, Wailord can heal itself while Asleep. Luckily for the Float Whale Pokémon, Wailord finds itself Asleep quite often as a side effect of its Sink Deep attack. Consider using Leftovers (Great Encounters, 99/106) to recover even more damage and keep Wailord in play for a long time. It's fun to watch your opponent try to defeat Wailord as the powerful, Water-type Pokémon manages to stay afloat.

Swampert

Swampert By Quynh-Chi Nguyen
Have you pumped up your Bench with stacks of Energy? Put Swampert (Great Encounters, 9/106) into play and let the damage rain down! Swampert’s Wash Out Poké-Power lets you move a Water or Fighting Energy from one of your Benched Pokémon to your Active Pokémon as many times as you'd like. Keep in mind that this also includes cards like Double Rainbow Energy and Scramble Energy. Simply shift enough Energy to your Active Pokémon to retreat, then bring up Swampert and power up its Hammer Arm attack using Wash Out. Hit your opponent for 80 damage, then discard the top card from your opponent's deck as an added bonus! 

Darkrai LV.X

Darkrai LV.X By Steve Arena
Great Encounters introduces an amazing new leveled-up Legendary Pokémon—Darkrai LV.X  (Great Encounters, 104/106). Darkrai LV.X's Endless Darkness attack is spectacularly dangerous, delivering a base damage of 40 and inflicting the Defending Pokémon with Asleep. The truly sinister part of the Endless Darkness attack is that the Defending Pokémon must flip 2 coins instead of 1 between turns to try to wake up. If both happen to be tails, the Defending Pokémon is Knocked Out.  On top of that, the Dark Shadow Poké-Body adds 10 more damage for each basic Darkness Energy card attached to Darkrai LV.X. This applies to either Darkrai LV.X or any other Darkness-type Pokémon in play. Darkrai LV.X lurks in the deep of night and strikes with the full force of midnight!

Milotic

Milotic By Frank Berendsen
Are the powerful new Pokémon LV.X in Great Encounters wreaking havoc on your team? If so, consider adding Milotic (Great Encounters, 25/106) to your deck. This beautiful water-born Pokémon has a handy Poké-Body, Marvel Scale, which can seriously disrupt the destructive power of any Pokémon LV.X.  Marvel Scale prevents all effects of attacks, including damage, done to Milotic by opposing Pokémon LV.X! In addition to this defensive power, Milotic packs an offensive punch as well. Milotic's Twister attack delivers 50 damage when you flip at least 1heads out of 2 coin flips. As an extra bonus, you get to discard an Energy card attached to the Defending Pokémon for each time you flip heads.  Milotic is handy indeed!

Wigglytuff

Wigglytuff By Adam Vernola
When Wigglytuff made its Pokémon TCG debut in the Jungle set, its Do the Wave attack became a well-known force with which to be reckoned. Wigglytuff (Great Encounters, 32/106) returns to action with some new tricks to bring to the game. If Wigglytuff has evolved all the way from Igglybuff, Balloon Attack will do a whopping 60 damage for the low cost of 2 Energy. We all know that Wigglytuff is able to sing its competition to sleep, but its Good Night Melody Poké-Power comes with a twist. Wigglytuff can now put both players’ Active Pokémon to sleep, even when it's on the Bench. To take full advantage of this ability, be sure that you are either prepared to remove the condition from your own Pokémon or that you have an Active Pokémon in play that works well while Asleep, such as Wailord (Great Encounters, 30/106).

Lapras

Lapras By Steve Arena
Lapras (Great Encounters, 21/106) is an 80-HP Basic Pokémon that provides the quick deck setup that Pokémon players need to get a leg up on the competition.  Lapras's Carry In attack doesn't do any damage, but it allows you to search your deck for a Pokémon Tool card, a Supporter card, and a basic Energy card all in the same turn! Lapras’s second attack, Wave Splash, delivers 20 damage for 2 Energy. This may not deliver the game-winning attack, but it can be more powerful than it looks against many of the game's popular Fire-type Pokémon that have Weakness to Water-type Pokémon.

Pachirisu

Pachirisu By Andy Hartpence
Did you know that Pachirisu (Great Encounters, 5/106) likes to store electrically charged fur balls along with berries in tree holes? It's true! When this Lightning-type Pokémon isn't squirreling away high-voltage fluff, you might find it disrupting an opponent's deck with its great Smash Short attack. For only 1 Energy, Smash Short will do 10 damage plus 30 more damage if the Defending Pokémon has a Pokémon Tool attached to it. On top of that, it allows you to discard the attached Pokémon Tool and search your opponent's hand to discard any matching Pokémon Tools you find there. This is a great counter to powerful Pokémon Tools such as Cessation Crystal (EX Crystal Guardians, 74/100).  Combine this with Pachirisu's ability to fetch up to 3 Basic Pokémon with its first attack, and you can see why Pachirisu is bound to be a very popular Pokémon.

Togekiss

Togekiss By Steve Arena
Great Encounters introduces a newly discovered Pokémon from the Sinnoh region—Togekiss (Great Encounters, 11/106). Togekiss’s Serene Grace Poké-Power is extremely useful no matter what type of strategy your deck contains. When you evolve to Togekiss, Serene Grace enables you to view the top 10 cards of your deck, and then choose as many basic Energy cards as you like and attach them to any of your Pokémon in play. Talk about powering up!  This accelerated Energy attachment  brings a whole new dimension of strategy to the game.  Additionally, Togekiss’s Air Scroll attack packs a punch with 40 base damage and some nice side effects.  Depending on a coin flip, you can either add 30 more damage to the attack or remove 3 damage counters from Togekiss.  The discovery of Togekiss in the Sinnoh region is a welcome addition to the Pokémon world!

Moonlight Stadium

Moonlight Stadium By Steffanie Saw
Psst, did you hear about the latest Stadium card? Okay, we won’t keep you in the dark about it any longer; it's called Moonlight Stadium (Great Encounters, 100/106), and it's super effective!  While in play, it provides a free Retreat Cost to Psychic- and Darkness-type Pokémon. No longer will you need to sacrifice valuable Energy into the discard pile when returning your Psychic- and Darkness-type Pokémon to the Bench. Speaking of Psychic-types, it works very well with Cresselia . . .

Cresselia

Cresselia By Steffanie Saw
Play among the stars with the Legendary Lunar Pokémon Cresselia (Great Encounters, 2/106). When coupled with a Stadium card in play (Moonlight Stadium, for example), its Moon Twinkle attack can remove 2 damage counters from Cresselia. Its second attack, Lunar Dance, inflicts 50 damage to the Defending Pokémon and gives you the option to completely heal one of your Benched Pokémon (for the low cost of discarding 2 Energy cards). With 80 HP and impressive self-healing properties, Cresselia has some serious star power!

Tangrowth

Tangrowth By Steve Arena
Consisting of a tangled mass of curly blue vines, Tangrowth (Great Encounters, 10/106) is a Stage 1 Pokémon that evolves from the equally spaghetti-like Pokémon Tangela. While most Stage 1 Pokémon are lucky to have 90 HP, Tangrowth weighs in at a hefty 110 HP. Tangrowth's attacks can benefit greatly from energy-accelerating Pokémon such as Togekiss (Great Encounters, 11/106) or Exeggutor (Mysterious Treasures, 24/123). Tangrowth's Power Whip attack inflicts damage equal to 10 times the amount of basic Energy cards attached to it.  If you power-up Tangrowth with multiple Energy cards using Togekiss's Serene Grace Poké-Power or Exeggutor's Nutritional Support attack, Tangrowth will come out of the box swinging! 

Darkrai

Darkrai by Andy Hartpence
Meet Darkrai (Great Encounters, 4/106), a pitch-black Pokémon known to lull people to sleep and make them dream during nights of the new moon. Making its grand debut in Diamond & Pearl—Great Encounters, Darkrai is a Darkness-type Basic Pokémon with great attacks and high HP. Its powerful Sleep Hole attack delivers 40 damage to the Defending Pokémon, plus 40 more damage if the Defending Pokémon is Asleep. If the Defending Pokémon is not Asleep, the attack causes it to be Asleep. Either way, your opponent won't be pleased with the outcome. Darkrai's entry into the Pokémon universe will definitely shake things up with a surplus of shadowy new strategies to explore. 

Palkia

Palkia By Steffanie Saw
Pump up the power of your deck with Palkia (Great Encounters, 26/106)! Palkia's first attack, Spacial Rend, gives you a chance to obtain a Stadium card from your deck and then discard a Stadium card already in play. Palkia's Transback attack delivers 40 damage and then lets you decide whether or not to flip a coin. If you flip heads, you get to put the Defending Pokémon and all cards attached to it on top of your opponent's deck (but you also have to discard all Energy cards attached to Palkia). Using this move at the right time could be extremely destructive to your opponent’s master plan!

Dialga

Dialga By Steffanie Saw
Need a Legendary Pokémon in a hurry? Call 1-800-Dial-a-Dialga! Dialga’s (Great Encounters, 16/106) Flash Cannon attack does 40 damage and has a nifty devolving effect if you're willing to bounce all of Dialga’s Energy cards back into your hand. If you choose to do so, you get to remove the highest Evolution stage on the Defending Pokémon and shuffle it back into the other player’s deck. If the Pokémon under the Evolution card has lower HP than the amount of counters that were on the previous Stage, then it gets Knocked Out!

Porygon-Z

Porygon-Z By Jeremy Maron
Porygon-Z (Great Encounters, 6/106) can pack quite a polygonal punch!  With its Conversion Poké-Body, you can opt to discard a basic Energy card from your hand and have Porygon-Z become the same type as that Energy card. If your deck is stocked with many different types of basic Energy cards, Porygon-Z can always be ready to exploit the Weakness of the Defending Pokémon. The Lake Boundary Stadium card (Mysterious Treasures, 112/123) works very well with Porygon-Z. Since Lake Boundary doubles the Defending Pokémon's Weakness, if you’re a lucky coin flipper, you can potentially do 240 damage with Porygon-Z's Tri Attack!

Rotom

Rotom By Steve Arena
Rotom is a small electrically charged Pokémon that makes its first TCG appearance in (Great Encounters, 7/106).  Rotom is unique because it has Resistance to Colorless-type Pokémon while having no Weakness to Fighting-type Pokémon. With the proper coin flip, Rotom's Telebeam attack can shock the competition by inflicting a possible 60 damage and the Paralyzed Special Condition. This little 70 HP powerhouse of a Pokémon will be sure to energize any player’s game!

Felicity's Drawing

Felicity's Drawing By Steve Arena
Searching for drawing power? Look no further than Felicity's Drawing (Great Encounters, 98/106).  This new Supporter card allows you to draw either 3 or 4 cards, depending on how many of your own cards you're willing to discard.  To draw 3 cards, you must first discard 1 card from your hand. To draw 4 cards, you must first discard 2 cards from your hand. Not only does this card give you the power to access more cards, it also allows you to strategically discard specific cards that might help to power up a Pokémon's attack. (Some attacks are more powerful when certain cards are in the discard pile.) Felicity’s Drawing's unique features will surely make it a Supporter with strategic significance.