Volkner's Philosophy
To help make sure you have the card you need when you need it, rely on Volkner’s Philosophy (98/111). With Volkner’s pensive stare to guide you--and at the expense of discarding only 1 card--you can restock your hand until you’re holding 6 cards. If your deck is designed to play a lot of cards per turn (whether you have a lot of Basic Pokémon or use many Trainer cards), Volkner’s Philosophy will keep your hand full, giving you plenty of options every round!
Upper Energy
Need a little Energy boost to take your game to a higher level? Get it with Upper Energy (102/111), a Special Energy Card that provides double Colorless Energy if you have more Prize cards left than your opponent! This power-packed Energy card works well with other Rising Rivals cards, such as Aggron (14/111) or Gastrodon West Sea (22/111), each of which have three attacks that require at least two Colorless Energy. Don’t try to sneak Upper Energy onto a LV.X card, however…they’re powerful enough already without the help of this awesome Energy card!
Floatzel GL
Floatzel GL LV.X (104/111) is a one-Pokémon tsunami of damage! This Water-type Pokémon takes advantage of decks heavily stocked with Energy: When you use its Energy Cyclone attack, you can do 20 damage for every Energy card in your hand! You’ll have to shuffle them into your deck afterward, but having 6 Energy cards in your hand lets you inflict 120 damage first—enough to Knock Out nearly any Pokémon you’ll encounter! Use Floatzel GL’s (4/111) free-to-use Incite attack to recycle Supporter cards while keeping yourself well stocked with Energy with another excellent Rising Rivals card, Volkner’s Philosophy (98/111), which will replenish your hand when it starts to run low.
Gallade E4
There’s a storm brewing, and for all Pokémon in play against Gallade Elite Four LV.X (106/111), that’s bad news! Blade Storm, the Poké-Power of Gallade Elite Four LV.X, lays the groundwork for thrashing your opponent's Pokémon by adding a damage counter to every Pokémon he or she has in play. With Gallade Elite Four’s (20/111) Chop Up attack still in effect, you can rack up the damage turn after turn, hitting all of your adversary’s Pokémon at the same time! Then, when you need to put away the Defending Pokémon, switch to Gallade Elite Four LV.X’s Aimed Cut attack, which increases its power relative to the amount of damage the opponent’s Pokémon has already sustained. Used against damaged Pokémon, it’s a perfect storm!
