EX Dragon Frontiers

By Jimmer Sivertsen

EX Dragon Frontiers takes you to the farthest horizon where you’ll discover new and exciting Delta Species Pokémon. The journey has been long and hard since the discovery of the Delta Species Pokémon back in the research village of Holon. From Holon into the deep forests of EX Holon Phantoms, then on to the wonderous beaches of EX Crystal Guardians, you’ve now arrived at the farthest point in your journey: EX Dragon Frontiers.

Dragons, Ahoy!
This expansion features many powerful Dragon-type Pokémon, many of whom show up as Delta Species Pokémon-ex. Rayquaza ex (#97) gets a discount on Energy costs of attacks when its player is behind on Prize cards. Dragonite ex (#91) has a potent Dragon Roar attack—extra damage not needed to Knock Out the Defending Pokémon can be applied to any of the opponent’s other Pokémon. That attack, plus its lack of Weakness, puts Dragonite ex on the wish-list of many Trainers.

Make your Mark(er)!
Tyranitar ex (#99) offers a two-hit K.O. to any opposing Pokémon in the game. Its first attack, Electromark, puts a Shock-wave marker on an opponent’s Pokémon. Then the next time Tyranitar ex attacks, it loads up with Shock-wave, allowing Tyranitar ex to Knock Out any single Pokémon with a Shock-wave marker on it. But Shock-wave isn’t the only new marker— Gardevoir ex (#93) has its own specialty: Imprison! Gardevoir ex may use its Poké-Power for free once each turn to put an Imprison marker on an opponent’s Pokémon, which shuts down all Poké-Powers and Poké-Bodies on that Pokémon. These two kinds of markers are not Special Conditions, so they’re tough to get rid of; they only go away if the Pokémon they are attached to evolves or devolves!

Delta Species Power!
The rest of the set has some exciting Poké-Powers to show off. Milotic (#5) starts off with Sharing: once during your turn, you can use Sharing to look at your opponent’s hand and then copy a Supporter card’s effect that you find there. It’s free and has no drawbacks… except that you can only use 1 Sharing Poké-Power each turn. Meganium (#4) and Nidoqueen (#7) add valuable deck-search abilities, getting Basic Pokémon or Evolution cards from your deck at rapid speed. Meganium only works when it first comes into play, netting you up to 3 cards—great as a fast burst, right out of the gate. Nidoqueen offers its Poké-Power every turn, letting you fetch 1 card per turn as a nice, reliable development tool in your deck!

Delta Species Tag Team!
It’s not just Poké-Powers that make this set special but Poké-Bodies as well. With Ampharos (#1) in play, all of your Pokémon become Delta Species—not just in play, but anywhere in the game…your discard pile, your hand, even your deck! Ampharos also does extra damage for each Delta Species Pokémon you have in play, which is essentially all of them, due to its Holon Veil Poké-Body! Feraligatr (#2) has Battle Aura, boosting damage done by your Delta Species Pokémon. This works really well with Ampharos or any of your Delta Species Pokémon that do damage.

As you can see, EX Dragon Frontiers offers a huge reward for anyone prepared to discover what lies on the farthest horizons. What will you find there?