In my previous article, I covered the fundamentals of the then brand new Battle Styles mechanic, and what cards featuring it were included in the SW – Battle Styles expansion. SW – Chilling Reign doesn’t introduce any new Battle Styles, but we now have more cards for both the Rapid Strike and Single Strike Styles. I won’t be covering the older cards again, just listing the newer cards for each style, with a brief overview of what they do below each list.
I’ll also sneak in any Black Star Promos that are not reprints of something from either SW – Battle Styles or SW – Chilling Reign.
Rapid Strike Style
- Grooky (SW – Chilling Reign 016/198)
- Thwackey (SW – Chilling Reign 017/198)
- Rillaboom (SW – Chilling Reign 018/198)
- Blaziken V
- Blaziken VMAX
- Sneasel (SW – Chilling Reign 030/198)
- Weavile (SW – Chilling Reign 031/198)
- Tapu Fini (SW – Chilling Reign 040/198)
- Sobble (SW – Chilling Reign 041/198)
- Drizzile (SW – Chilling Reign 042/198)
- Inteleon (SW – Chilling Reign 043/198; SW – Black Star Promos SWSH113)
- Rapid Strike Urshifu (SW – Chilling Reign 044/198)
- Blitzle (SW – Chilling Reign 050/198)
- Zebstrika (SW – Chilling Reign 051/198)
- Zeraora (SW – Chilling Reign 053/198)
- Inkay (SW – Chilling Reign 069/198)
- Malamar (SW – Chilling Reign 070/198)
- Diglett (SW – Chilling Reign 076/198)
- Dugtrio (SW – Chilling Reign 077/198)
- Passimian (SW – Chilling Reign 088/198; SW – Battle Styles SWSH115)
- Metagross V
- Metagross VMAX
- Zangoose (SW – Chilling Reign 120/198)
- Kecleon (SW – Chilling Reign 122/198)
- Brawly
- Echoing Horn
- Rapid Strike Scroll of the Skies
- Siebold
- Spiral Energy
The new Evolving Pokémon only really matter in that they allow their entire Evolution line to tap Rapid Strike support. A few have semi-decent attacks, but not worth going into detail over. As with the original article, I’ll cover the new Energy and Trainers first, as they are likely to affect how the Pokémon themselves perform. The new Spiral Energy provides one unit of Energy that counts as all types at once. If your Pokémon is already Paralyzed, it cures that Special Condition. Whether that Rapid Strike Pokémon was or wasn’t Paralyzed, Spiral Energy will protect it from being Paralyzed while attached. Spiral Energy’s effect states you cannot attach it from your hand to anything that isn’t a Rapid Strike Pokémon, and if you somehow manage to attach it to one anyways, Spiral Energy will immediately discard itself.
The new Trainer-Supporters are Brawly and Siebold. Brawly fetches and Benches up to three Basic Rapid Strike Pokémon, while Siebold heals 60 damage from two of your Rapid Strike Pokémon. For Trainer-Items, there is Echoing Horn and Rapid Strike Scroll of the Skies. Echoing Horn lets you put a Basic Pokémon from your opponent’s discard pile onto their Bench. Rapid Strike Scroll of the Skies is a Tool that lets the equipped Rapid Strike Pokémon use the attack printed on it. Non-Rapid Strike Pokémon can equip this Tool, but can’t use the attack. The attack is “Gravdrop”, priced at [LC] and does 10 damage plus 50 more per Energy attached to your opponent’s Active.
Rillaboom (SW – Chilling Reign 018/198) is a fairly big (180 HP), single-Prize Stage 2 Pokémon. It can attack and do massive damage if you can afford to discard enough Energy from it. Blaziken VMAX can do 130 damage while accelerating an Energy from the discard pile to up to two of your Benched Rapid Strike Pokémon… including additional copies of itself. All for just [CC]. Weavile (SW – Chilling Reign 031/198) sets up anything for a 2HKO with its first attack, which is priced at just [C]. It does this by placing an effect that states the Defending Pokémon is KO’d if it is damaged by a Rapid Strike Pokémon during your next turn. Weavile has no attacks that do damage.
Tapu Fini (SW – Chilling Reign 040/198) is a technical beat stick. It has decent stats, and its first attack only costs [W]. The attack doesn’t do much damage, but it lets you move Tapu Fini to your Bench after doing that damage. Tapu Fini’s second attack requires you return an Energy attached to it to your hand, but it does 120 damage for [WWC]. While a bit pricey, the drawback can be a perk if you can make good use of the bounced Energy, especially if Tapu Fini gets KO’d the turn after. Inteleon (SW – Chilling Reign 043/198; SW – Black Star Promos SWSH113) has a very good Ability that lets you place two damage counters on one of your opponent’s Pokémon, making it a good Bench-sitter. Rapid Strike Urshifu (SW – Chilling Reign 044/198) can attack and do 30 damage per Rapid Strike Pokémon you have in play, all for just [WC].
Zebstrika’s (SW – Chilling Reign 051/198) first attack doesn’t care if you have any Rapid Strike Pokémon in play; as long as you attacked using a different Rapid Strike Pokémon during your previous turn, it will do 120 damage… and its cost is only [C]. Zeraora V takes this concept to the extreme. It needs more Energy, [LCC], but if another of your Rapid Strike Pokémon attacked the turn before, it hits your opponent’s Active for 100 and one of their Benched Pokémon for 160! Note that for both Zebstrika and Zeraora V, you can still have attacked with a different copy of themselves and get their bonus effects. You just cannot keep hammering away with the same copy.
Malamar (SW – Chilling Reign 070/198) is something of a glass cannon. Its lone attack just costs [P] and has you reveal as many Rapid Strike cards from your hand as you want to your opponent. Then this attack does 40 damage per Rapid Strike card revealed, and shuffles the revealed cards back into your deck. Dugtrio (SW – Chilling Reign 077/198) has just one attack, priced at [FC]. You flip three coins, good for 60 damage per “heads”. If all three coins come up heads, Dugtrio is protected from both damage and the effects from attacks during your opponent’s next turn. Passimian’s Ability increases the damage your attacks do when they hit a Pokémon-GX or Pokémon V on your opponent’s Bench.
Metagross VMAX is a beefy Metal type with low attack costs. For [M], you can search your deck for any two cards and then add them to your hand. [MC] lets it attack and do 100 damage, and placing an effect on itself so that this attack does another 150 the next turn. Zangoose (SW – Chilling Reign 120/198) does only 50 damage for [CCC] but if you used a Rapid Strike Supporter that turn, the attack also hits two of your opponent’s Benched Pokémon for 50 damage as well. Kecleon is a 90 HP Colorless Basic that can do 90 damage for [CCC]. What might make it special is that its Ability causes it to count as the same type(s) as any attached Basic Energy cards.
Single Strike
- Weedle (SW – Chilling Reign 001/198)
- Kakuna (SW – Chilling Reign 002/198)
- Beedrill (SW – Chilling Reign 003/198)
- Heracross (SW – Chilling Reign 004/198)
- Snover (SW – Chilling Reign 009/198)
- Abomasnow (SW – Chilling Reign 010/198)
- Volcanion V
- Scorbunny (SW – Chilling Reign 026/198)
- Raboot (SW – Chilling Reign 027/198)
- Cinderace (SW – Chilling Reign 028/198; SW – Black Star Promos SWSH112)
- Shuppet (SW – Chilling Reign 062/198)
- Banette (SW – Chilling Reign 063/198)
- Galarian Farfetch’d (SW – Chilling Reign 078/198)
- Galarian Sirfetch’d (SW – Chilling Reign 079/198)
- Rockruff (SW – Chilling Reign 086/198)
- Lycanroc (SW – Chilling Reign 087/198)
- Galarian Slowking V
- Galarian Slowking VMAX
- Qwilfish (SW – Chilling Reign 101/198)
- Seviper (SW – Chilling Reign 102/198)
- Single Strike Urshifu (SW – Chilling Reign 108/198)
- Tauros (SW – Chilling Reign 115/198)
- Tornadus V
- Tornadus VMAX
- Flannery
- Karen’s Conviction
- Single Strike Scroll of Piercing
- Welcoming Lantern
- Impact Energy
- Snorlax (SW – Black Star Promos SWSH119)
The new Evolving Pokémon only really matter in that they allow their entire Evolution line to tap Single Strike support. A few have semi-decent attacks, but not worth going into detail over. As with the original article, I’ll cover the new Energy and Trainers first, as they are likely to affect how the Pokémon themselves perform.
Impact Energy provides one unit of Energy that counts as all types when attached to a Pokémon. It also removes Poison (if the Pokémon was already poisoned) and prevents the Pokémon to which it is attached from being Poisoned. However, it cannot be attached to a non-Single Strike Pokémon, and if you somehow find a way to attach it, it immediately discards itself. Note: While this card is a “Single Strike” Energy card, it is not the same as Single Strike Energy. It has already been ruled you cannot use the “Single Strike Roar” Ability found on Houndoom (SW – Battle Styles 096/163, 179/163, SW – Black Star Promos SWSH090) to attach an Impact Energy from your deck.
The two new Single Strike Supporter cards are Flannery and Karen’s Conviction. Flannery discards a Special Energy from one of your opponent’s Pokémon, then discards whatever Stadium card is in play (if any). These effects aren’t optional, and I don’t know if you can use Flannery when your opponent has no Special Energy attached to still discard a Stadium. While the Special Energy must be one attached to an opponent’s Pokémon, the Stadium can belong to either player. As for Karen’s Conviction, for each Prize card your opponent has taken, during this turn any attacks made by your Single Strike Pokémon do an extra 20 damage to your opponent’s Active, before Weakness and Resistance.
There are also two new Trainer-Items. Single Strike Scroll of Piercing is a Pokémon Tool, with no attachment restrictions but its effect only works for Single Strike Pokémon. That effect is letting the equipped Single Strike Pokémon use the attack printed on Single Strike Scroll of Piercing: [FCC] to do 120 damage that isn’t affected by effects, Weakness, or Resistance on your opponent’s Active. Welcoming Lantern lets you put a Single Strike Supporter from your discard pile into your hand.
Beedrill (SW – Chilling Reign 003/198) has two attacks priced at [G]. The first does no damage but auto-KO’s your opponent’s Active if it has any Special Energy attached. The second does 130 damage, and requires discarding an Energy from itself. Heracross (SW – Chilling Reign 004/198) is decent-sized (120 HP) Basic Pokémon that, for [GC], does 40 damage and has you flip two coins. If both are heads, the attack another 160 damage (200 total). Abomasnow (SW – Chilling Reign 010/198) has an Ability that grants all Single Strike Pokémon except cards named Abomasnow an extra 50 HP. This Ability does not stack with itself, so multiples are about having a spare immediately available.
Volcanion V can hit really hard with its second attack (250 damage for [RRC]) but only if it has 10 or more damage counters on it. It has 220 printed HP. Cinderace (SW – Chilling Reign 028/198; SW – Black Star Promos SWSH112) has a solid 170 HP, an Ability that let’s its attacks do an extra 30 damage per Prize card your opponent has taken, and a nice attack for [RC] that does 150 damage but says that Cinderace (“this Pokémon”) cannot attack next turn. It is also a Stage 2. For [P], Banette (SW – Chilling Reign 063/198) can place up to seven damage counters on its self, then do 20 damage per damage counter placed. It has 80 HP, and it has already been ruled that, should the up to seven damage counters be enough to KO Banette, it will still finish attacking (and doing damage) before it is officially KO’d.
If your opponent’s Active has a Tool attached, then Galarian Sirfetch’d (SW – Chilling Reign 079/198) can use its second attack to do 160 damage while ignoring Resistance, for [FCC]. If your opponent’s Active is Tool-less, then the attack only does 70 damage and does not ignore Resistance. For [FF], Lycanroc (SW – Chilling Reign 087/198) can attack and do 80 damage plus 10 for each Single Strike Pokémon in your discard pile. Note that it is per Single Strike Pokémon: non-Single Strike Pokémon don’t count, nor do Single Strike Trainer or Energy cards. Galarian Slowking VMAX can do 10 damage and Poison your opponent’s Active for [DC]. Which sounds awful, but this Poisoning places 10(!) damage counters during the Pokémon Checkup as its base rate.
Speaking of multi-Poison, Qwilfish (SW – Chilling Reign 101/198) has an Ability that Poisons your opponent’s Active if this Qwilfish is KO’d while being your Active, and this Poisoning places six damage during the Pokémon Checkup. Seviper (SW – Chilling Reign 102/198) does only 90 damage for [DDC] but if you played a Single Strike Supporter this turn, it does an extra 90, so 180 total. Single Strike Urshifu (SW – Chilling Reign 108/198) is a 140 HP Stage 1 that can do 200 for [DDC] if it has any damage counters on it. If undamaged, this attack only does 100 damage. Tauros (SW – Chilling Reign 115/198) can also hit harder when damaged. Its first attack, priced at [CC], does 20 damage plus 20 for each damage counter on it, then Tauros Confuses itself. Otherwise, for the same cost, it can use its second attack to do 80 damage to your opponent’s Active and 30 to itself.
Tornadus VMAX needs [CCCC] to use its second attack. If there are no Stadium cards in play, said attack just does 120 damage, but if there is a Stadium in play, the attack does 240 damage and discards the Stadium. Discarding the Stadium isn’t optional, and the Stadium can belong to either player. Snorlax (SW – Black Star Promos SWSH119) is only available as a promo card to my knowledge. It is a 140 HP Basic, Colorless Pokémon with a Retreat cost of [CCCC], for better and worse. It can do 120 damage for [CCC], but then does 30 damage to itself. I know of no additional Single Strike or Rapid Strike cards at this time.
