Thunder Mountain {*} #7 – Top 15 Pokemon Cards lost to 2020 Rotation

Vince

Any card that reduces the attack cost is worth looking, and we have not only Counter Gain to be missed, but also Thunder Mountain Prism Star from SM Lost Thunder. As a Prism Star card, you can only have one Prism Star card of that name in your deck, and if it tries to go in the discard pile, it goes into the Lost Zone instead. While this Stadium card is protected from Field Blower, it doesn’t protect itself from being replaced by another stadium card. Even with such restrictions and drawbacks, Thunder Mountain is still a must-run in certain decks.

Why is it a must run? It’s because this card benefits Lightning Pokemon by reducing the attack cost by (L) energy. So if it has a attack like LLC, with Thunder Mountain, the imaginary attack cost will become LC instead. Even though it does not shave off Colorless costs, only Lightning cost, this is still an incredible effect to have, even if you only benefit from this effect for only one turn. Combined with Tapu Koko Prism Star (which is in SM Team Up, therefore still being Standard legal) whose Dance of the Ancients ability lets you banish Tapu Koko (*) from the Bench in exchange for attaching some Lightning energy from your discard pile onto 2 of your Benched Pokemon – with Thunder Mountain and your manual attachment – and even an attack cost of LLL can be easily met in one turn; Pikarom will be able to unleash Full Blitz right away and even pumping THREE more Lightning energy to either themselves or their Benched Pokemon.

Losing Thunder Mountain (*) hurts, along with other Lightning based support such as Electropower, Zeraora-GX, and Volkner. There’s still Tapu Koko (*), Electromagnetic Radar, and Speed Lightning Energy, but they don’t come close to what precious cards offer. Other than Tapu Koko (*), other cards lack the speed to accelerate energy. And even the ones that do creates an opportunity cost, like how Boltund-V does accelerate energy, but uses up an attack while being seriously at risk of being OHKOed and your opponent takes 2 prizes. Speaking about Boltund-V, it could be easier to attack than using PikaRom. For Expanded, I can see this card still be relevant in the competitive scene. The ability to cheapen attacks are welcomed there as well. For limited, the only reason not to use it is if you didn’t pull any Lightning Pokémon worth using.

Ratings:

Standard: 3/5 (soon to be N/A)
Expanded: 3/5
Limited: 4/5

Otaku

Thunder Mountain {*} making our countdown should hopefully come as no surprise.  It is our 7th-place pick, because it is a staple for Lightning decks.  Even if that type wasn’t losing other pieces of support, just losing Thunder Mountain {*} might tank their top decks, at least as we currently know them.  Let us get into the “why”.  Thunder Mountain {*} is a Prism Star Stadium.  Like regular Prism Star cards, that means you can only run one copy of it, and if it would hit the discard pile for any reason, instead it goes to the Lost Zone. 

Unlike Pokémon or Energy-based Prism Star cards, Prism Star Stadiums enjoy some bonus protection: they’re unaffected by Item and Supporter cards.  While another Stadium, as well as any non-Trainer effects, can still discard Thunder Mountain {*}, this is still a big help in Formats with cards like Field Blower or Faba.  Thunder Mountain {*}’s personal effect is that it reduces the attack cost of Lightning Pokémon by [L].  It won’t help Pokémon of any other type, even if they have [L] Energy requirements, and it doesn’t do anything for Lightning Pokémon if they’re some of the few without [L] Energy requirements in their attacks, but for most Lightning Pokémon, this is the Stadium they want in play.

Not all Energy acceleration is good, but what hurts it is when it is too costly or too slow.  Those aren’t problems for Thunder Mountain {*}; you can drop it Turn 1 if you like, even though you can’t attack that turn.  If you use it right away, you have a hope that it can still stick around, thanks to its built in protection.  The first turn you can attack, it is very tempting.  It may sound like a complicated combo, but pulling of the Ability of Tapu Koko {*} while having a means of promoting a Benched Pokémon into the Active spot, while having an Energy you can attach manually, and dropping Thunder Mountain {*} is why Pikachu & Zekrom-GX can try to open with a Turn 2 (Player 2’s first turn) “Full Blitz”, either prepping another attacker or attaching to itself to ready “Tag Bolt-GX” for the next turn.

If you drop Thunder Mountain {*} mid-to-late game, you have time to use other Stadium cards to try and bait out your opponent’s removal options (including their own Stadiums).  You’ll have to use a different opener, one with more affordable attacks, but Lightning has some great options for this… and Thunder Mountain {*} can just more than earn its keep even at this point in the game.  Which is why it will be so missed in Standard!  In Expanded, Lightning decks aren’t anywhere near as prominent as they are in Standard, but when they do show up, they’ll be packing Thunder Mountain {*}.  If you pull Thunder Mountain {*} at a Limited Format event, its a must-run if you have even a few Lightning types to take advantage of it, and even with out them because there are two other, strong Stadiums this expansion, and you may need something to discard them.

Ratings

• Standard: 4/5
• Expanded: 4/5
• Limited: 4/5

The Lightning type is losing its best trick in Standard, and its a type that has been and still is a major part of our metagame.  That’s why Thunder Mountain {*} was an obvious inclusion for our countdown.  Except not everyone nominated it. I had it as my 3rd-place pick, because it seems pretty huge, so I’m a little surprised to see it this low… but then I look at what took 1st through 6th-place and don’t see anything that clearly doesn’t belong.