Lugia

The Fire Horse Pokémon Rapidash (47/99) canters its way into
Platinum—Arceus and, with its fiery mane glowing menacingly, is sure to heat up your game! Each of its two attacks has a low Energy cost and this means that this Stage 1 Pokémon can have an instant impact on your game. Its Searing Flame attack requires only 1 Fire Energy to do 10 damage and leave the Defending Pokémon Burned. For only 1 Energy more Rapidash can deliver a quick 40 damage. And with no Retreat Cost, it can flee to the Bench with the swiftness you'd expect from a Pokémon so graceful!

Go green with the impressive Sceptile (31/99)! This Grass-type Pokémon brings to battle a pair of powerful attacks, each capable of doing wonders for your game. Sceptile’s Leaf Supply attack is an amazing way to get Energy into play—not only does it do 30 damage, you may attach an Energy card (and that’s not just a Grass Energy card but any basic Energy card) from your hand to one of your Pokémon. Then, slice up the competition with the Dual Cut attack, which has the potential to do 140 damage! While it could do only 70 damage or even no damage, depending on your coin flips, Sceptile’s fierce damage potential and helpful Energy allocation still make this a Pokémon worth going green to get!

There’s nothing wrong with keeping Pikachu (71/99) in your deck just because the Mouse Pokémon is so darn cute. But your opponent better take Pikachu seriously, because the Lightning-type Pokémon can deliver a shockingly powerful attack, too! Pikachu’s Mega Shot attack lets you take aim at any of the opponent’s Pokémon to do 40 damage. In the process, you have to discard all Lightning Energy you have attached to Pikachu; the attack requires 1 Lightning Energy and 2 Colorless Energy, so if you play it right, you’ll need to discard only one Energy per attack! Pikachu might be adorable, but with attacks like Mega Shot, all your opponent will experience is a less-than-cute Knock Out!

You won’t find too many Basic Pokémon as scorching as Heatran (3/99). Not only does it have a hefty 100 HP to match its 948-pound weight, but this Fire-type Pokémon has two awesome ways to cook the Defending Pokémon. Heatran can first bring the heat with Fire Fang, an attack that causes the Special Condition Burn in addition to the 20 damage it does. Then Heatran can follow up with Magma Mantle, a blistering attack that requires you to discard three cards from the top of your deck. It does 60 damage, then an additional 20 damage for each discarded card that is either a Fire Energy or Metal Energy card. Especially in decks containing a lot of Energy, do not pass on including the fiery Heatran!

The mighty Alpha Pokémon Arceus stands to make an otherworldly impression on TCG strategy as we know it. With multiple Arceus cards, as well as multiple Pokémon LV.X that can Level-Up those Arceus, the possibilities are breathtaking. One of the most potent Pokémon LV.X is Arceus LV.X (94/99) which, surprisingly enough, doesn’t even have a direct attack! Instead, it has two Poké-Bodies that it uses to define its abilities. The first is the Multitype Poké-Body, which all of the Arceus LV.X cards have: it turns Arceus LV.X into the same type as the Arceus it’s Leveling Up from. The other Poké-Body is where things get interesting. The Omniscient Poké-Body lets Arceus LV.X use the attacks of any of the Arceus that are in play on your side. Use the Ultimate Zone (91/99) Stadium card to shift Energy from your Benched Pokémon to your Active Arceus to ensure you always have the necessary Energy to attack, too. Given the number of Arceus cards in the Platinum—Arceus expansion, this Arceus LV.X may be the most versatile Pokémon LV.X you’ll ever play!

Stepping out of ancient times comes a Pokémon so mighty that legends say it shaped the Pokémon universe! On November 4th, 2009, Trainers everywhere can prepare to harness and wield the awesome power of the new legendary Alpha Pokémon Arceus with the arrival of the all-new Pokémon Trading Card Game: Platinum—Arceus expansion. Multiple Energy types of Arceus, such as Fire, Lightning, and Grass, will have opponents preparing for the devastation of fantastic new attacks.

It’s always nice when you look at your hand and you realize you’ve drawn exactly the cards you were hoping for. Wouldn’t it be awful if someone came along and took a couple of those precious cards away? With Cyrus’s Initiative (137/147), that’s exactly what you might be able to do to your opponent! Cyrus’s Initiative depends on two coin flips; if either of them are heads, you get to look at your opponent’s hand and choose a card to put at the bottom of his or her deck. If both coins are heads, you get to pick two cards! When Cyrus’s Initiative is successful, it’s a surefire way to mess up anybody’s plans. Don’t leave it at that, though—be sure to quickly commit to memory the rest of the cards you’ve seen so you know what to expect from your adversary over the next couple turns!

The black-and-yellow striped Electivire Frontier Brain LV.X (144/147) is like a warning sign to your opponent: Beware—high voltage ahead! A Pokémon trained by the renowned Frontier Brain Thorton, Electivire Frontier Brain LV.X will shower the entire battlefield with sparks. Its Energy Recycle Poké-Power lets you dig three Energy cards out of your discard pile and attach them to your Pokémon in any way you see fit, but doing so means it’s the last action you can take in that turn—no attacking. At least not yet. To further expand your Energy-building options, you can use Electivire Frontier Brain’s (4/147) Dump and Draw attack (which forces you to discard Energy) to keep Energy Recycle charged up. And attaching lots of Energy to your Benched Pokémon turn after turn makes Electivire Frontier Brain LV.X’s Powerful Spark attack a shock to the Defending Pokémon’s system! It does 30 damage plus another 10 damage for every Energy card you have in play—so, you can see how well Energy Recycle and Powerful Spark work hand-in-hand!

Check out the latest Pokémon TCG: Platinum—Supreme Victors card to be revealed! Cynthia’s Guidance (136/147) will keep your hand going strong. Cynthia’s Guidance is the first Supporter card to be revealed in the expansion, which launches August 19th.

Turn up the heat on your opponent with Charizard [G] LV.X (143/147), a card so hot it practically sizzles! This Fire-type Pokémon’s aptly named Malevolent Fire attack will scorch the Defending Pokémon for 150 damage! The steep Energy requirements for Malevolent Fire (2 Fire and 3 Colorless Energy) won’t cool off Charizard [G] LV.X’s advances—its Poké-Power, Call for Power, lets it draw Energy from any other Pokémon in play! Since the flip of a coin may cause Charizard [G] LV.X to lose all of its Energy after attacking with Malevolent Fire, attach as much Energy as possible to your Benched Pokémon, then use Call for Power to restock Charizard [G] LV.X as often as is necessary. For pure Knock Out power, it doesn’t get much hotter than Charizard [G] LV.X!

Absol [G] (1/147) is a master at disrupting your opponent’s Bench. Just as its picture shows, Team Galactic’s sleek Darkness-type Pokémon is a blur of action. Absol [G] can reach out and do 20 damage to any Pokémon your opponent has in play with Feint Attack, and nothing can stop it, not even Poké-Powers, Resistance, or Trainer cards! Then Absol [G] can unleash a real fear-inducing move, Doom News, which will Knock Out the Defending Pokémon after the opponent’s next turn. After using Doom News, your opponent will face a tough decision: deliver one last attack with the Active Pokémon and be Knocked Out, or retreat and bring up a Benched Pokémon before it’s ready to get into the fray! Remember that if the opponent removes his or her Pokémon from the Active spot, it will no longer be imperiled by Doom News (nor will Doom News affect the incoming Pokémon). Regardless, Doom News is yet another great way Absol [G] can mess with your opponent’s best plans!

Don’t overlook the potential of Staraptor Frontier Brain (11/147), the Colorless-type Basic Pokémon within the new Frontier Brains’ collection. Sure, Quick Attack is nothing to write home about, doing either 10 or 20 damage depending on a coin flip, but it’s enough to whittle down your foe until you can blow the Pokémon away with Whirlwind! The Whirlwind attack can fit into many easy combo plans—for example, use Staraptor Frontier Brain to do 30 damage to the Active Pokémon and force that Pokémon to the Bench. Follow this up by using Absol [G] to wear down the newly Benched Pokémon. Since none of Staraptor Frontier Brain’s moves requires a specific Energy type, this Pokémon can nestle right in to any deck!

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Get ready for the biggest Pokémon event yet for 2009! This weekend on June 27th and 28th, St. Louis, Missouri will host the Pokémon Video Game and TCG National Championships. The event is open to the public, so if you can make it to St. Louis this weekend, be sure to stop by the America's Center and view the event live.