Welcome: Hypnotoxic Laser.

With the introduction of the new Pokemon TCG set, Plasma Storm, we were given a card that was suppose to be in our last English set but was withheld for whatever reason. But now it is here! I’m talking about Hypnotoxic Laser.
 

At first glance I didn’t think it would be that great. Automatic poison with a coin flip of heads, your opponent is also asleep. With free retreating in Darkrai decks and Keldeos Rush In ability in Blastoise decks, I thought there was too many “outs” for this card. I traded for two at my pre-release this last Sunday and decided to try it out against a buddy of mine who was running Empoleon/Mew/Terrakion. 

I have to say, the extra 10 in damage goes a long way for Darkrai vs. Terrakion match ups! If you Night Spear your opponents active and deal 30 to a bench Terrakion, it is a automatic kill if you can catcher and Hypnotoxic Laser it your next turn. This thing single handily changed the meta-game
simply with that extra 10 in damage. If an extra ten can be that much of a difference maker, then how great would another extra 20 damage be?

Pokemon also decided to give us another card we were suppose have in our last english set in Virbank City Gym. 

Let's just call it VCG from here on out.

Putting two more damage counters on poisoned Pokemon makes Hypnotoxic Laser one of the deadliest cards we’ve had in quite awhile. VCG automatically increases damage output by 30 for those running lasers in their deck. Its like a plus power on steriods but requiring the two cards in play to pull off. After awhile I started looking at cards and seeing how one could "exploit" this combo to deal some massive damage.

Imagine having the ability to deal 90 damage turn one... Sounds broken, right? Tornadus EXs first attack "Blow Through" does 60 damage if you have a stadium
 in play. If said stadium is VCG and you have a laser, that's a whole lot of damage for your opponent to recover from during their turn. It was always a shot in the dark getting your Tornadus EX, DCE, and your stadium out in your opening hand but now trying to get another card in Hypnotoxic Laser, that might be tricky
 but too tempting not to try in a proto-deck.

The good thing about attempting a build with Tornadus EX is that there is already an established deck requiring a stadium only requiring you to switch out Aspertia City for VCG.

The next card has been seeing a lot of play for it's ability to attack for a single energy allowing you to Max Potion when your in danger of being knocked out. 

Lanadarus EXs first attack "Hammerhead" damages both the opponents active and another bench pokemon for 30 damage. With both VCG and Laser in play thats a good 60/30 for a single energy in your first turn. You can easily spam "Hammerhead" until your about to get knocked out then Max Potion all damage off of him for the cost of discarding one energy then simply attach another to continue steam rolling your opponent. By that point it's hard to imagine the user not already having taken a good chunk of their prize cards.

There are a lot of ways players can utilize the combo so I can't wait to hear and see what people come up with! Feel free to leave a comment below with any comments or suggestions. If you have something your working on already let me know!