Gears of Fire vs. Ring of Lightning; Which Is The Better Pokemon Trading Card Game Deck?
Steam Siege, the latest Pokemon Trading Card Game expansion, has unleashed some never before seen Pokemon into the game. If you wanted to see what Volcanion, the Steam Pokemon that serves as the last Mythical Pokemon of the X and Y generation, can bring to the battlefield, we have the chance with the new Gears of Fire Theme Deck. Not to be outdone, Hoopa won’t let its spotlight be taken that easily as the previous Mythical release. Its Unbound form takes center stage with the Ring of Lightning deck to oppose the newcomer, with some impressive power of its own. When these two decks square off, which one wins out?
Gears of Fire and Ring of Lightning both have some incredible cards that would be an asset to any deck. Namely, Tierno lets you draw five cards, while Ninja Boy lets you swap out any basic Pokemon in your deck with one on your bench. Considering both Volcanion and Hoopa are Basic, moving them on your bench and building up their energy cards for potential team sweeps makes it very easy to earn a dominating win. Combined with Energy Retrieval and Professor’s Letter, you’ll rarely have trouble finding the Energy you need since both cards let you search your deck for what you need.
But when it comes to energy, that’s where Gears of Fire has an edge. Volcanion’s weaker attack, Power Heater, only needs one Fire Energy for 20 damage, but its secondary effect is what makes it shine. Every time this attack connects, it can pull two Fire Energy cards from the discard pile and add them to two Pokemon on the bench, ensuring that a powerful follow-up can come through if Volcanion retreats or gets taken down. Two more Fire Energy cards unleashes its Steam Artillery attack, doing 100 base damage. Nearly enough to take out any opposing Pokemon in one hit, you’ll be able to clean up the competition real quick.
On the other hand, Hoopa can do even more damage, but with a big drawback. Portal Strike, its strongest attack, can dish out 130 HP of damage with only three Psychic Energy cards! Essentially allowing 1 hit KO’s for nearly everything in the Gears of Fire deck. The only problem is that once using this attack, it has to wait two turns to use it again. Leaving it vulnerable against strong opposition will make Hoopa an easier target than its fire powered counterpart. Its weaker attack, Hyperspace Punch, almost makes up for this weakness, allowing you to do 20 damage to any two Pokemon on the opposing field, even if they’re on the bench. If you’re having bad luck with drawing Psychic energy cards, this attack only needs one colorless energy, meaning you can use any type to activate the attack.
Aside from the featured monsters, there are some useful cards to lead you to victory, with a few that don’t serve much purpose. Gears of Fire has the weaker roster, with Monferno and Rapidash not serving much purpose. Kingklang’s ability to deal 140 damage in one turn is massive, but needing Steel Energy cards both makes it harder to use, and clutters the deck a bit with energies that the Psychic and Fire types in the deck can’t use. Thankfully, Pyroar makes up for it by having a similar ability to Volcanion. Its first attack deals damage while allowing you to add an extra Fire Energy to it, making sure it can use its stronger move in the following turn.
Even more than Hoopa Ring of Lightning‘s real star is Ampharos. Yes, you need to get through evolving Mareep and Flaffy, and it doesn’t have any low tier attacks, requiring three Energy cards to attack, but the payoff is worth it. Though it doesn’t apply in this case, its special ability allows it to move three damage counters to an opposing EX Pokemon, while its main attack, Gigavolt, will either deal 120 damage, or 80 damage and inflict paralysis, making the damaged Pokemon immobile for the following turn. Throw in Hawlucha, who can switch the opponent’s active Pokemon with one on their bench when its added to your bench, or Ambipom and its potential to inflict 60 damage with one energy while thinning out the opponent’s deck. Ring of Lightning has a lot going for it.
But in the end, I have to give the nod to Gears of Fire. When playing both decks, I often pulled Energy that I couldn’t use with Ring of Lightning, making it so my team would get devastated after a bad KO. With the Flame deck, Volcanion’s ability makes it much harder to run out of Fire Energy cards, while the deck exclusive Pokemon Center Lady card will completely heal the powerhouse when needed. Even then, Ring of Lightning has so much going for it, that adding cards from either one will make your custom decks work much better. In fact, moving Litwick from Lightning to Fire would be a big help, since its only attack lets you discard cards. Sacrificing the haunted candle might be worth thinning your deck while getting rid of some Fire cards to set Volcanion up for some bench powering.
But what do you think? Which deck do you think works best, and what cards would you use to improve them? Make sure to take a look at our review of the Steam Siege set, and keep checking back for all your Pokemon news!
