VMax Climax Might Have The Best Pull Rates Ever! New Japanese Pokémon Cards

The newest Japanese Pokemon TCG, VMax Climax, set released in Japan this month. Not only does it contain reprints of amazing looking cards in past sets but it features a huge amount of new Character Rare (CR) cards and Character Super Rares (CSR). These cards look different from your normal Vmax cards, these all look like carefully designed, alternate art cards. And the best part is, everyone can get them because the pull rates are good. There are also new Ultra Rare Gold Pokemon cards and, of course, Secret Rares to look forward to.

Vmax Climax Pull Rates

The pull rates in these Vmax Climax packs are amazing. You don’t have to open hundreds of packs to get something good. In recent English sets, such as Fusion Strike, we’ve seen rare cards become insanely hard to pull, while in this case it’s become the opposite. In each 11 card Vmax Climax booster pack you’ll find 1 Holo Basic Energy, 2 Holo Pokemon, 1 Pokemon V or Vmax, and 1 Reverse Holo, and 6 other cards that are common, non-holo rares, supporters, or trainers. These are guaranteed pulls. It’s not a guarantee that you’ll pull a character card or a secret rare, but the chances of you getting one is about. The pull rates for character cards haven’t been confirmed yet but so far it looks like in one booster box you’ll get about 3 or 4 Character Rares, 1 Character Super Rare, and a Secret Rare or Gold Ultra Rare. That means about 50% of packs will include a Character Rare or better. These are extremely good odds and probably means the dollar value of these cards aren’t going to be high but they’re some of the most fun packs to open.

https://pokepatch.wordpress.com/2021/11/14/fusion-strike-pull-rates-might-be-the-worst-weve-seen/

Vmax Climax God Pack Pull Rates

God Packs are back! These are rare booster packs that contain 10 CSR cards, 10 CR cards, or 10 Secret Rare cards, replacing all of the other cards in the pack besides the energy. Tag All Stars set also had these God Packs but they’re extremely rare and your odds of getting one are about 1 out of every 250 booster packs. The pull rates for God Packs in Vmax Climax haven’t been confirmed yet but we expect them to be similar in terms of rarity.

New Reverse Holo Cards

Character Rares are pulled from the Reverse Holo slot, so if you pull a character card, you won’t receive a Reverse Holo. If you do pull a Reverse Holo, you’ll find that the holographic style is nothing like we’ve seen before and might be my favorite so far. It has a pixel-y style and can be seen across the entire card.

Vmax Climax Cost

The new Vmax Climax booster box is only available in Japan. It come with 10 Vmax Climax booster packs and costs 5500 yen, which is about $50 in USD. Because of resale value going up plus shipping internationally, you’ll expect to pay about $80 for one of these booster boxes in the United States.

Two New Pokemon Legends: Arceus Trailers Show Gameplay and Lore

Two brand new trailers came out showcasing more content from the upcoming game, Pokémon Legends: Arceus. There is still a lot of content and features that haven’t been shown in depth or at all so many fans have been looking forward to more previews for this new title.

Japanese Gameplay Trailer

The first trailer that was released earlier this week was a video on the Japanese Nintendo YouTube account that showed in detail what the battle system looks like and how catching Pokemon will be different compared to previous games. This is one of the main features that sets Legends apart from past games so this is something that’s quickly gaining a lot of attention. The gameplay footage starts at 6:00 in the video.

Diamond and Pearl Clans Trailer

Another trailer released this week on the official Pokémon YouTube channel. This shows us new faces and characters we’ll meet while playing legends: Arceus. These characters shown are apart of two different clans throughout the Hisui region. It’s not clear what they stand for or why they might be at odds with each other yet but I’m sure we’ll find out when the game release, January 28th, 2022.

How Shiny Hunting May Be Different in Pokemon Legends: Arceus

The release of Pokemon Legends: Arceus is just a month away and theres a lot of hype built around it because of how different this game is from other Pokemon games. One feature everyone wants to know about is how to get shiny Pokemon. Like many other game mechanics in Legends: Arceus, it seems like this will be different as well. In previous Pokemon games, shiny hunting was just a numbers game. The more of the same Pokemon you catch, the more likely you are to get a shiny. In Pokemon Legends: Areus, it looks like we might have more control over our shiny odds.

Most information here is speculation but we’ll update the page as more information is confirmed.

How to Hunt Shiny Pokemon

In Pokemon Legends: Arceus the main difference with your Pokedex is you’ll have a task list for each Pokemon in the Pokedex. Its rumored that the more tasks you complete in this list, the more likely you are to get a shiny version of that Pokemon.

Another big difference between old and this new game is that you can see shiny Pokemon in the overworld. This means you dont have to enter and exit hundreds of battles to check for a shiny. You can roam around the world and hunt shinies without breaking immersion.

Shiny Hunting Could Be Harder Than Before

The only bad thing about these changes is that there are bound to be ones that make shiny hunting harder than before. It’s rumored that shinys will be able to run away in Legends: Arceus. This could mean if you miss a Pokeball throw out of battle or fail to catch it, the shiny will run and become harder to catch.

What Happens When Your Trainer Faints in Pokemon Legends: Arceus

The newest Switch title in the Pokemon franchise, Pokémon Legends: Arceus, is already known being one of the most unique Pokémon games to date. It’s introducing new gameplay mechanics and lore that differs from the regular template previous games usually stick to. For example, in previous games your Pokémon can take damage and faint if their HP hits 0 but your trainer couldn’t even take damage. In Pokémon Legends: Arceus your trainer can take damage, meaning your trainer can also faint. So what happens when you faint?

When Your Trainer Faints

When your trainer faints, you will black out and wake up back at camp. When you faint you’ll drop items in your bag such as Poke balls or crafting materials in the form of a satchel. Other players can pick up these items for you with a system called the Lost and Found.

Usually in Pokemon games, once all of your Pokemon have fainted, you get out of battle and have to go to a Poke Center to rest your party before battling again. In Legends: Arceus, this is also true, but with wild Pokemon being able to hit your trainer directly you’ll have to avoid these attacks as you make your way back to camp to heal up your Pokemon and yourself. This adds a dynamic we’ve never seen before and allows for challenge and risk when you’re battling. You’ll have to be extra careful to not have all of your Pokemon faint or you’ll risk having your trainer faint as well, resulting in you losing items.

https://pokepatch.wordpress.com/2022/01/30/what-are-merit-points-lost-and-found-in-pokemon-legends-arceus/

Pokemon Unite Ranked Gets Rework in New Patch

A lot of old players are coming back and new players are downloading Pokemon Unite because of the newest update that was announced. There are several changes to the game coming this month along with a huge holiday event, adding many customizable items, holowear, and Pokemon to the game. Along with the Holiday event being released this month, they also reworked how you rank up in patch 1.3.1.1. Here are the biggest changes.

Pokemon Leveling Changes

Garchomp, Gardevior and several other Pokémon evolve earlier in the match now and learn moves faster in battle. This will make matches progress a lot faster as these characters don’t have to focus as much on leveling up or evolving before going into battle with opponents.

Performance Points

  • Performance Points will now protect progression stars

Typically, after playing a ranked match, your rank will change depending on if you win or lose the game and your performance. This changes in the form of gaining or losing diamonds and performance points. In this new update, you’ll be able to spend these points after losing a match. Spending these performance points after a lose may prevent you from losing a diamond. This will help players by preventing them from deranking and making it easier to climb up the ranks faster.

Master Rank Rates

  • Master Rank increase and decrease rates altered

On top of helping players keep their rank after losses, rank rates have been altered to aid ranked players as well. In the Master Rank, ratings will now increase more easily, again helping players rank up faster. This could lead to more players getting into Master Rank but hopefully it doesn’t make it too easy to rank up or get a high rating.

https://pokepatch.wordpress.com/2021/12/09/new-pokemon-customization-in-pokemon-unites-christmas-holiday-event-2021/

Why Pokemon Legends: Arceus Characters Look Familiar

In these gameplay trailers and other promotional material we often see Pokemon Wardens, which are the main characters that will replace trainers and gym leaders in Legends: Arceus. If you’ve seen these trailers and have also played previous games taking place in the Sinnoh region, such as Diamond & Pearl or BDSP, then you might recognize some features in these new characters. Many of these Wardens closely resemble older characters from previous games in the Sinnoh region. This isn’t by coincidence.

Pokémon Legends: Arceus takes place in the Hisui region. At first players might think this is a different region from Sinnoh until you notice that this game also takes place in a different time period. This game is actually set in the same location as the Sinnoh region but in the past by possibly hundreds of years. This means the characters we see appear in the Sinnoh region look similar to these Hisui characters because they’re related. It’s fairly obvious with some characters similarities like Arezu from LA and Mars from BDSP. Even Professor Rowan from BDSP has an ancestor from Hisui, the leader of the Galaxy Team, Kamado.

Galaxy Team vs Team Galactic

The Galaxy Expedition Team is the name of the team of wardens you’ll meet in Pokémon Legends: Arceus. This name is very similar to the team in Sinnoh, Team Galactic. The Galaxy Team’s duty is to protect Noble Pokémon and you’ll help them with this task on your journey. In the previous games (Brilliant Diamond $ Shining Pearl), taking place in the future, you’ll find you’re not helping these characters, as they’re your opponent. They’re gym leaders that are known for criminal activity. Many people’s theory is that over time, the Galaxy Team lost sight of their mission and became corrupt, leading them to become the enemy team we see in Sinnoh. This could also be thanks to the leader, Cyrus, becoming power hungry and basically wanting to rule the galaxy.

Leonhart is Giving Away Vintage Pokemon Packs at Pop Up Shop

Leonhart, a popular YouTuber in the Pokémon card community, is hosting a huge event, in the form of a pop up shop, that is creating more hype around old Pokemon cards. In this pop up shop will be a variety of Pokémon products you can buy such as vintage Pokémon booster packs, boxes, action figures, and more. The best part about all of this is these products will be sold for their original MSRP or retail price! This means while a base set booster pack will cost you hundreds to thousands of dollars today, at Leonhart’s popup shop you’ll be able to get these packs for $3.99. While this isn’t technically “giving away” packs, it might as well be with how cheap they are to the original price. The point of the event is to let people experience what it was like to buy these packs from the 90s. Obviously there will be limits to quantities so more people will have a chance to get these packs as well.

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The Physical Store

The official website for the pop up shop states the address for the physical location is Dallas, Texas, so if you have a ticket and you’re not near there, be prepared for traveling. This entire event seems worth the time you’ll spend riding in a plane or driving a car, so people probably don’t have an issue with that. If you are too far away to go, don’t lose hope. There is a chance there will be more pop up shops across the US and maybe other countries in the future!

Meet Leonhart

Not only will you get the chance to buy vintage Pokémon cards, booster packs, and other products at the Leonhart pop up shop. If you’re lucky enough to get tickets to this event you’ll also get to meet Leonhart, himself, along with creators you may recognize! We’re not sure what other activities they’ll have at the pop up shop but we do know there will be a pack opening live stream that the community can take part in as well.

How to Get Tickets

The first wave of tickets have already been sold but don’t give up hope! Leonhart tweeted that we’ll have more opportunities to get tickets in the “near future. To stay up to date on when these tickets will go on sale, follow Leonhart’s Twitter page. He also mentions in a later tweet that he hopes to do these pop up shops all across the US so more people have a chance to go to these events.

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Something we have to remember is not only is this not cheap, but it’s probably a lot of hard work to put all of this together. Leonhart has been talking about this in videos and tweets for almost a year now. He also mentioned in a video that the idea for this event started in 2020. so there has been a lot of planning going into this the past year. This means if there are more pop up shops after the first one, we’ll need to be patient as it could take a while to set up.

Pokemon Legends: Arceus’ Hisuian Voltorb Revealed! Where’s Hisuian Electrode?

Pokemon Legends: Arceus, the unreleased game taking place in the Hisui region, is featuring many new Pokémon because not only does the game take place in a new region but a different time. This combination is showing us new Pokémon we’ve never seen before and more familiar Pokemon that are regional forms. Today there was an official trailer that dropped revealing Hisuian Voltorb! Voltorb is a classic Pokemon from the 1st generation and hasn’t got much attention since then. That stops today, as we’ll be seeing a lot more of Voltorb and it’s evolution, Electrode in the upcoming game Legends: Arceus.

Old vs New

The first detail everyone notices with the old Voltorb character design is that it looks angry. It also just has that older look to it because of the colors and simplicity. The new Hisuian Voltorb doesn’t look as angry, has more saturated and vibrant colors. It also has two major changes being the wooden finish on the bottom, replicating the Pokeballs in the time period this game takes place in, and the hole on the top of it’s head.

Hisuian Voltorb’s Type

Regular Voltorb’s type is just electric but the new (or old) Hisuian Voltorb is a electric / grass type. This is because inside this new Voltorb is a bunch of seeds that it can use as a weapon by spouting them out of the hole in it’s head. It’s also known for shocking human and Pokemon when it gets excited but is very friendly and mostly does this involuntarily.

Where’s Hisuian Electrode?

We expect to see Hisuian Electrode’s character design to be revealed fairly soon but it could be longer than some expect because we still haven’t seen Growlithe’s evolution, Hisuian Arcanine’s regional form either. This means they’re probably saving these evolved forms to be released closer to launch day.

New Pokemon & Customization In Pokémon Unite’s Christmas Holiday Event 2021

The first ever Christmas themed event is coming to Pokemon Unite this month with a lot of Santa hats, costumes, and gifts everywhere. The arenas will be covered in snow and have Christmas decorations in every corner of the map. Not only are the arenas and main menu Christmas themed but similar to the previous Halloween event, some animations will also feature Holiday decor and flare. In the trailer we can see a Pikachu in a Santa outfit riding Santa’s Sleigh to teleport back to spawn and when they attacked other Pokemon or scored in the goal, presents and candy canes can be seen popping out.

How long is the Event?

The event will officially start on December 15th, 2021 and ends on Janurary 16th, 2022. We’ll see more features come to the game before this date, however. Starting December 9th, you’ll be able to log in and get the newly released Tsareena Unite License!

Dragonite & Tsareena

Tsareena is joining the battle today, December 9th! Log in now to get your Tsareena Unite License. Play as Bounsweet, evolve into Steenee, and finally battle as Tsareena. This Pokémon is an All-Rounder with a melee battle style but the difficulty is “expert” so it may take some time and skill to get used to.

Dragonite has been announced and will be joining the battle on December 20th, 2021! It’s not confirmed what this Pokemon’s play style will be but it’s expected to be an all rounder by the community. Naturally, you’ll have to evolve into Dragonite but grinding and gaining EXP so you’ll also get to play as Dratini and Dragonair in battle.

Holiday Holowear & Customization

It seems there are two main themes for customizable items and gear this season. You’ll be able to get Santa themed gear and chef outfits for your trainer as well as Pokemon. Several Pokémon will have holowear that gives them a cute Santa hat like Blastoise, Gardevoir, and a few others. Other Pokémon will get chef holowear such as Snorlax, Cramorant, and Mr. Mime. Pikachu will even get an entire Santa outfit and Crustle will get a desert style holowear with a strawberry on top.

Christmas Holiday Event Roadmap

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There’s a lot to look forward to in this Holiday update and this will probably attract many new and old players back to the game. What are you looking forward to most?

Why Players Are Upset Pokemon Unite Is Giving Rewards For 50 Million Downloads

Since the new MOBA style game for the Nintendo Switch, Pokemon Unite, has been released it’s gathered a lot of players. The official Pokemon Unite Twitter account announced that they’ve reached over 50 million downloads and they’ll be giving away 2,000 Aeos Tickets for anyone who logs in between 12/9 and 1/31.

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Why Players Are Upset

This seems great at first glance, everyone loves free stuff, but some users in the replies are saying that this isn’t enough. Some are pointing out that previous bonuses such as Google Play’s rewards offered 4,000 Aoes Tickets and others saying we should receive Aoes Coins instead because they’re harder to obtain. It seems like this is a mixture of people not satisfied with microtransactions and other features in the game such as matchmaking and not so much with just this bonus. This tweet just put some users over the edge as the developers haven’t addressed many other criticisms.

Should We Be Mad? (opinion)

Players have already received several rewards from previous download milestones such as Holowear and Unite Licenses. This bonus is also more than the 1,000 Aoes Tickets players got for the 1,000,000 downloads milestone. The milestone of 50,000,000 downloads also isn’t something players actively work towards because you can only download the game once or twice. I see this bonus as just a small thank you to the players that are still playing and downloading the game. There are plenty of things in Pokemon Unite that deserve criticism, but this shouldn’t be our focus.