I should start this by saying I think Pokémon TCG Pocket is, even now, pretty brilliantly balanced. Across various new releases of what is now hundreds upon hundreds of cards it’s been rare, I’ve found, that a particular card, type, or deck has become so excessively dominant as to spoil the fun.
In fact whenever things do tilt a bit too far towards a certain deck in particular – looking at you, Mewtwo, Celebi, Darkrai and, as anyone familiar with my personal TCG toils will know I’m about to say: a certain Team Galactic’s Cyrus – much of the game’s most enjoyable moments have come from trying out new ways to topple it. I even found a neat little interaction around ties – a very rare case of two players on two out of three victory points each, both knocking out one more opposition Pokémon simultaneously – and how they can be tipped into victories by EX cards just this morning.
But one card that’s begun to look like it might – – take things just a little far towards homogeneity in competitive decks, however, is Irida. A new addition in the latest, Arceus-themed expansion, Triumphant Light, Irida is a trainer card that allows you to heal 40 damage from each of your Pokémon that has any Water-Type energy attached. There are a few reasons why this is particularly strong. In fact, it’s strong precisely there are so many different elements to it.