Double Up Your Strategy Power

Experienced players agree that Diamond & Pearl—Stormfront is a wonderful expansion. It introduces a powerful lineup of Pokémon with new game effects, from Gengar (18/100) and Tyranitar (30/100) to five new Pokémon LV.X.  What makes Stormfront even more exciting are the new Trainer cards that double up the effectiveness of your favorite Pokémon. Before long, your Pokémon will be attacking faster, lasting longer, or maybe both!

Diamond & Pearl—Stormfront features four new Trainer cards that have benefits when played at the same time.  A single card may have a good effect, but if you play 2 of the same card instead of just 1, the effect becomes phenomenal!

Played alone, Poké Blower + (88/100) allows you to flip a coin, and if heads, put 1 damage counter on any 1 of your opponent's Pokémon. But, if you play 2 Poké Blower + cards at the same time, you can choose a Pokémon on your opponent's Bench and switch it with the Active Pokémon. You can use this tactic to stop your opponent from building an attacker on the Bench, or from using a support Pokémon like Claydol (Great Encounters, 15/106) to set up his or her strategy. This is a truly game-changing card when played 2 at a time!

Poké Drawer + (89/100) lets you draw a single card if you play it alone. Drawing is a nice effect, but if you play 2 at the same time, you can search your deck for any 2 cards. That's amazing! Just imagine what you might search for: 2 PlusPower (Secret Wonders, 121/132) Trainer cards to enable a Knock Out, Rare Candy (Great Encounters, 102/106) and a Pokémon to execute a fast Stage 2 evolution, or even an Energy card and a Pokémon LV.X to complete your game-winning strategy!

On its own, Poké Healer + (90/100) removes 1 damage counter and a Special Condition from your Active Pokémon. This is a really good effect for a single card, and it will often be the only thing you need to keep attacking for another turn. However, big damage and multiple Special Conditions are not uncommon at Pokémon Leagues and tournaments these days. When times are rough, play 2 Poké Healer + cards at the same time to remove 8 damage counters and all Special Conditions from your Active Pokémon. Suddenly, a Pokémon that couldn't attack, or was close to being Knocked Out, is back in the battle!

The final Trainer card that you can play 2 at a time is the Energy Link (83/100) Pokémon Tool. Often, players spend many turns adding Energy to a Pokémon, only to see it Knocked Out in two hits. When a Pokémon gets into trouble, attach 2 Energy Link cards—1  on your Active Pokémon and 1 on its backup on the Bench. Send the Active Pokémon's Energy via Energy Link to the backup. Then, use Switch (Secret Wonders, 128/132) or Warp Point (Majestic Dawn, 88/100) to send out the newly energized Pokémon to surprise your opponent. You could even use Warp Energy (95/100) to send your damaged Pokémon to the Bench, then send Energy up to your new attacker using Energy Link! Energy Link provides amazing versatility.

To have the best chance of getting 2 of these double-helping cards in your hand at the same time, it's a good idea to put 4 in your deck.

Enjoy the exciting new Pokémon available in Diamond & Pearl—Stormfront, but remember to include some of these new Trainer cards to double up the power of your game strategy!