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The new Pokemon Trading Card Game expansion, Mega Evolution: Phantasmal Flames, unsurprisingly focuses on Mega Evolutions in the TCG, specifically many of those highlighted in Pokemon Legends: Z-A. But what should you expect beyond that? We’ll dig in and answer that and more. What do we mean by more? Do we mean showing you a cute Piplup? There’s really only one way for you to find out.
The coolest Pokemon TCG Phantasmal Flames cards
Okay, you’re probably most hoping you’ll pull a Mega Evolution. There are six new three-prize creatures in this expansion, with our favorite of the bunch being Mega Heracross ex. It hits hard, it’s a Basic, and it doesn’t burn its way through your energy cards like some other options.
And this is maybe only cool to people who are nerdy in precisely the same way we are, but we love a little one-off breaking of fundamental rules of the game. Rotom ex lets any of your Pokemon with “Rotom” in its name to have two — count ‘em, two — Tools attached. There’s honestly not a lot of use for this. Rotom aren’t that strong, and the multiplied-by-Tool-count attacks would take a ton of setup. But think of the fringe case rules headaches!
The most interesting Phantasmal Flames cards
Phantasmal Flames has a suite of cards looking to bolster a mono-Darkness build. Grimsley’s Move gets someone out on the bench, and Punk Helmet is a solid Tool for recoil damage. The other side, perhaps naturally given the Mega Charizard focus, is Fire-boosting cards. Firebreather gets you a staggering seven basic energies from the deck, and Blowtorch can use one of them for board control.
In terms of Pokemon to build around, the pickings here are sort of slim. Fire has Mega Charizard X ex as its sweeper, with Oricorio ex as a utility helper from the bench to load up more energy. Darkness has Mega Gengar and Sharpedo, we suppose? Gengar reduces the prizes taken, and Sharpedo can do quick damage. But there are other prize-reducing cards from other sets that could supplement this strategy enough to be competitively viable.
Outside of these, a new inclusion is the “Excited” line of abilities. Each requires you to have a Mega out to use, but then does a more potent version of an effect than you’d otherwise get. Oricorio ex lets you play unlimited Fire energy from your hand. Seviper turns into a one-prize 240-damage attacker. Linoone can switch in and take a hit.
The most meta-relevant Phantasmal Flames cards
You know, in Pokemon Legends Z-A, it always says “Dawn is approaching,” but we’ve never actually seen Dawn. Maybe she’s good at hiding? That’s not a problem in the TCG, as Dawn is here with all sorts of prints of her new Trainer card. It solves one of the biggest problems of the game: that it’s actually kind of tough and inefficient to play Stage 2 creatures. You can use one Supporter to get a Basic, Stage 1 and Stage 2, which is a pretty nice fix.
In terms of actual Pokemon, the one that pops up at us is Mismagius ex. It’s through the combination of its two skills. The Swirling Prose ability makes any opponent swapping in Confused, and the Hexa-Magic attack deals 150 damage for two energy while also offering the opportunity to draw your hand up to six.
The cutest Phantasmal Flames cards
Yamper and Piplup would honestly be pretty tough to draw without being cute. Snubbull might be having some allergies? And the Illustration Rares are always fairly adorable.
The latest Pokemon Trading Card Game expansion, Mega Evolution: Phantasmal Flames, launches on November 14, 2025. For more coverage of the Pokemon TCG, check out our archive.
