Post-Rotation Guide for Pokemon Kid's League
, by Anastazja Clappison, 3 min reading time
Rotation is happening on April 14th! Every year Pokemon drops the oldest sets from competitive play to keep tournaments fresh & engaging. This is the first rotation we’ve had since 2020, so there are lots of big changes to be aware of!
What this means:
-All cards from “D” block will be rotating out of the format. This means they will no longer be legal for play at our Wednesday night Kid’s league tournaments from April 14th onward. The “block” can be found in the bottom left corner of the card. It will be a letter in a white box.
-Key cards for some strategies will be rotated out of the format. Some notable cards are: Quick Ball, Drizzile (SSH 056), Inteleon (057), Metal Saucer, Ordinary Rod, Scoop Up Net, Marnie, Oranguru (SSH 148), Evolution Incense, Tool Scrapper, Cinccino, Galarian Zigzagoon, Air Balloon, Capacious Bucket, Great Ball, and Training Court. This list is not exhaustive but are some of the key ones you will find in the preconstructed decks originally bought.
- For “Consistency Pokemon” that are rotating such as Drizzile, Cinccino, etc. , we would recommend Bidoof and Bibarel (BRS 121) as a great replacement. Its ability lets you refill your hand to 5 cards once a turn. You can use this ability once a turn for each Bibarel you manage to get into play! This is a great value and has a home in several post-rotation decks. The new Pokemon from Scarlet and Violet base set, Revavroom, can also add some much needed consistency to some decks that are lacking it. Its ability lets you discard an energy card from your hand once a turn to draw until you have 6 in hand. This is slightly better for card draw, but with the caveat that you must have an energy card in your hand to discard in order to use it. You have your trade offs, and you can decide which one you like better for your deck!
-Quick Ball, another card that helps with the “consistency” of the deck, or helps with setting up your strategy, is rotating as well. A card that is being printed in Scarlet & Violet base set that will be an easy replacement will be Nest Ball. While it doesn’t do exactly the same thing as Quick Ball, it still serves the same purpose of getting your Basic Pokemon into play fast and efficiently.
-Ordinary Rod being rotated out of Standard format is a huge loss, and one players are going to need to adjust to. While there is no easy replacement for the card, you can always play Miriam, a new Supporter card from Scarlet & Violet! It lets you shuffle 5 Pokemon from your discard pile into your deck, then, if you shuffled any Pokemon in this way back into your deck, you draw 3 cards. This is an okay substitute, but notably is much worse as it does not get energy cards back and it also uses your 1 Supporter card you are allowed to play for turn.
If your child is comfortable with playing Pokemon they may consider building a more competitive deck. Search for the following decks online for new strategies and strong deck options that can hold up to even Master’s level decks! Be sure to search with the keyword “Post Rotation” so the deck is legal to play.
“Gardevoir Ex” “Mew VMAX” “Single Strike Urshifu/ Lugia”
“Rotom V” “Regileki/ Miraidon ex” “Rapid Strike Urshifu/ Lugia”
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