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Galar region Champion Leon and his Charizard are holding nothing back here. These partners work together incredibly well, and this card demonstrates their relationship perfectly. Charizard’s Royal Blaze attack does 100 damage—plus an additional 50 damage for each Leon card in your discard pile. If you manage to discard the maximum allowed, which is four Leon cards, this low-cost attack (just two Fire Energy) can hit for a whopping 300 damage! You can get a little help discarding those cards with Charizard’s Battle Sense Ability, which lets you look at the top three cards of your deck. You’ll keep one of the cards and discard the others.

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This chilly Pokémon is charging into battle with a pair of attacks that feature a risk/reward element. Galarian Darmanitan V’s Freezing Headbutt may only do 50 damage, but if you’re able to land heads on a coin flip, your opponent’s Active Pokémon will also become Paralyzed. This is obviously a bad position for them to be in, and if your coin flipping luck holds out, your opponent will be in a lot of trouble. This Pokémon’s Frozen Slice attack is certainly more powerful, dishing out 190 damage, but it also does 30 damage to itself. Be aware of this before you end up in a bad position yourself!

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Bolder and colder, Galarian Darmanitan VMAX has grown with Dynamax Power. This mighty Pokémon VMAX only has one attack, but given the amount of damage it can inflict, one might be all it needs. Max Whiteout may require four Water Energy cards to unleash, but it hits your opponent’s Active Pokémon for a substantial 200 damage. Not only that, but it also does 30 damage to each of your opponent’s Benched Pokémon! With this powerful Pokémon at your disposal, you can quickly plow through your opponent’s team.

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Arrokuda looks particularly blissful on its card, with wide, glowing eyes and an extended grin. But why the good mood? Let’s be honest, with only 60 HP and a Peck attack that does a meager 20 damage, Arrokuda doesn’t pose much of a threat to your opponents. Its Flock attack doesn’t even do any damage—it just allows you to search your deck for up to two more Arrokuda to add to your Bench. So why would you want an army of Arrokuda on your side? Wait…what’s that diving into the water behind poor Arrokuda…?

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…It’s Cramorant! The Gulp Pokémon dives into battle with its Continuous Gulp Missile attack, and it’s the reason you’ve been building up that Bench full of Arrokuda. When you use this attack, you’re instructed to discard any number of Arrokuda from your Bench. For each one you discard, Continuous Gulp Missile does 60 damage to your opponent’s Active Pokémon. Will you just discard one to do a bit of damage, or will you choose to release a whole school for a massive hit? If you manage to get four Arrokuda on your Bench, this attack can deal a very respectable 240 damage. Not too shabby for this Pokémon team-up!

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Need to refresh the cards in your hand to help with a clever play or a devastating attack? Our spooky pal Allister is here to help! The Stow-on-Side Gym Leader is a Supporter card that allows you to draw three cards from your deck. The trade-off is that you must then discard up to three cards from your hand. In addition to giving you more choices when preparing your next move, this is also a quick and easy way to move cards into the discard pile. As we saw with Charizard above, strategically moving certain cards into the discard pile can be a valuable tactic to set up some powerful attacks.