While Neo Destiny's new 'mons were a mixed bag, the new batch of Trainer Cards really knocked it out of the park. There's something here for everyone, and most of the new cards are niche enough to buff one or two decks without disrupting the delicate balance between offense and defense.
There are no perfect 10/10 cards here, but a few of them do come close. Miracle Energy was also added, as a way to steer players toward the new Light and Shining cards.
Broken Ground Gym may read like a too-specific counter, but it's actually pretty solid. For starters, most decks in Neo assume their Babies will be able to retreat freely. This card greatly inhibits their mobility.
Decks that revolve around unusually mobile Evolutions love this card. Jumpluff and Dark Crobat are solid examples of cards that retain free retreat, even under the effect of Broken Ground Gym. But it is a little matchup reliant.
Grade: 7/10
Counterattack Claws does rely on the opponent's actions, but tanky cards that struggle to do high damage can still benefit from it. Personally, I don't love being reliant on both a coin flip and the opponent's decisions, but even then the thought of forcing suboptimal plays is appealing.
This is one of those cards that will have better results for some players than others, and it certainly doesn't fit in every deck.
Grade: 6/10
Energy Amplifier is a joke. You have a 50/50 chance of losing an Energy Card for no reason. A well-balanced deck will rarely be suffering from a drought in the first place, so this card only really exists to be a noob trap.
I suppose you could make Rain Dance even riskier if you want to, but you should just be drawing your cards with Cleffa and the Professors.
Grade: 1/10
Energy Stadium was an instant staple in many decks, especially those with expensive attacks. The recovery may be slow and flip-reliant, but it makes your deck practically immune to Removal stall, while still feeling completely viable on its own merits.
Unlike Energy Amplifier, there's no cost at all. I'd much rather recover 4-6 cards over the course of a long game than gamble with my hand. Keep in mind that it affects both players, so stall decks may want to steer clear of this option.
Grade: 9/10
EXP. ALL might not seem worthwhile at a glance, but it's a viable way to add some acceleration to decks that normally don't have access to it. The biggest issue is, obviously, that it's extremely passive.
But since the opponent is heavily incentivized to score a knock out whenever they can, you can usually count on this card activating eventually. I probably wouldn't run it at four copies, though. You won't need that many.
Grade: 8/10
Heal Powder gives you Potion and Full Heal on a coin flip. It honestly didn't need the coin flip, but I guess they were trying not to go all in on power creep in the early generations.
Unfortunately, both effects are at their best when you're already in danger, so you usually can't afford the gamble. If you lose the coin flip, it often means losing a team member.
Grade: 3/10
Impostor Professor Oak's Invention is too awkward to be of any real use. It does give you some information and minimal control over your opponent's draws, but most competent opponents won't be afraid of this strategy.
A good deck-builder knows to include an extra copy of their most important cards, just in case it gets prized. They'll rarely be in a situation where shuffling their prizes around can screw them over.
Grade: 2/10
Lucky Stadium is incredibly powerful, but it helps your opponent just as much as it helps you. The best home for this deck is a super aggressive deck that wants to win as fast as possible.
Aggro and combo decks don't usually care what their opponent is drawing, since they'll be winning before every card gets played anyway. Combo decks, especially, are always willing to do whatever it takes to draw just one card deeper.
Grade: 8/10
Magnifier isn't as practical as something like Resistance Gym, since it only applies once. It's hard to find a use-case for it.
That's not to say it would never come in handy. If Resistance Gym didn't exist, then I could see this being splashed into decks focused around Fighting-types. But it's just heavily outclassed at what it wants to do.
Grade: 3/10
Mail from Bill works well in the most aggressive decks, but only if they revolve around hard-hitting Basics. Due to the hard limits on how many Energy Cards and Evolution Cards you can play per turn, it can be hard to get your hand low enough to consistently use this card.
It also falls prey to the same downside as most draw cards: It's not Cleffa. That alone makes it a middling card.
Grade: 6/10
Pokémon Personality Test is compatible with stall decks that want to run the opponent out of cards, since it can force three draws. Most other decks will want to steer clear, since you can get similar value from much less risky cards.
Still, we can't disregard it entirely since it has a niche. It's a big step up from the quiz-themed cards that came before it, at least.
Grade: 5/10
Radio Tower allows each player to know what's coming up at all times. It's a nice little quality of life effect, and you can take advantage of it by purposely including various ways to shuffle your deck.
That's the only way you'll really get enough value out of it, though, since most other decks have a better option for their Stadium.
Grade: 7/10
Team Rocket's Evil Deeds is prone to backfiring on the user. You shuffle away the opponent's best card, only for them to immediately draw another copy of it plus a bonus card. It's not a great feeling.
Floodgate decks can get some use out of it, though. You're less likely to give your opponent the full value if a huge chunk of the cards in their deck are unusable due to a Dark Vileplume or Fossil Aerodactyl.
Grade: 5/10
Thought Wave Machine is a new take on the Removal cards, but they were obviously very careful to weaken it as much as possible. The coin flips were entirely warranted, but the real issue is that it only returns cards to the hand instead of discarding them.
So while it can affect tempo, it can't function as well in a true stall strategy. Which is fine. I hate stall anyway.
Grade: 2/10
Miracle Energy was supposed to be THE card that makes you want to play Shining cards in your deck. It didn't work. If it didn't discard itself, then it could have revolutionized the game. Sadly, that's not what we got.
Still, a deck that relies heavily on Light and Shining cards will at least consider this card. For about two minutes. Then they'll move on with their life and pick something more viable instead. Like a deck that's not reliant on Light and Shining cards, for example.
Grade: 3/10
While the new Trainers had shockingly little to do with the huge influx of Light, Dark, and Shining cards, there's enough meat on these bones to warrant a few packs. Neo Destiny definitely had some duds, as all sets do, but overall I'd consider this group of cards a success.
Most of them are admittedly locked to a very small number of decks, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. A good format is built on variety, not an all-you-can-eat buffet of staples.
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