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627
- ↓ 0.73
- ꩜ 1.07
- ↑ 19.98
{W} → Grudge Dive : 30+
If any of your Pokémon were Knocked Out by damage from an attack from your opponent’s Pokémon during their last turn, this attack does 90 more damage, and your opponent’s Active Pokémon is now Confused.
{W}{C}{C} → Jet Headbutt : 80
illus. Pani Kobayashi
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Clads itself in the souls of comrades that perished before fulfilling their goals of journeying upstream. No other species throughout all Hisui’s rivers is Basculegion’s equal.
Charmaster
Basculegion is currently one of the strongest and most popular Pokémon legal in Pokémon Champions, the new official client for competitive Pokémon VGC. One of its best attacks is Last Respects, a Ghost type attack that does more damage for each fainted Pokémon in your party. While Last Respects is similar to this card’s Grudge Dive attack, and on a lore level feels just like attacks that do more damage for each Pokémon in your discard pile (https://pkmncards.com/page/2/?s=%252Btext%253A%2522Pok%C3%A9mon+in+your+discard%2522&sort=date&ord=auto&display=images, https://pkmncards.com/?s=%2Btext%3A%22evolution+card+in+your+discard%22&sort=date&ord=auto&display=images), on a gameplay level it closely resembles attacks that do more damage for each prize card your opponent has taken (https://pkmncards.com/?s=%2Btext%3A%22damage+for+each+prize+card+your+opponent+has+taken%22&sort=date&ord=auto&display=images), since one player’s Pokémon being discarded in the trading card game doesn’t directly put the other player closer to victory, whereas each Pokémon you knock out in a VGC battle can be compared to taking a prize card in the TCG. Fittingly enough, attacks that scale with each prize card your opponent takes originated in the TCG with a Ghost type Pokémon, one of two Haunter from the Japanese exclusive Vending Sheet III expansion (https://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Haunter_(Vending_S3_1)), in 1998, as an attack called… Grudge! (https://pkmncards.com/?s=%2Btext%3A%22grudge%22) We’ve come around full circle!
(I’ve actually won a small webcam tournament with a deck featuring that Haunter and its more infamous sibling. https://play.limitlesstcg.com/tournament/69cabc83d478313a15a376e9/player/charmaster/decklist)
Incidentally, Last Respects has appeared in the trading card game on Houndstone SVI and Houndstone ex, and does more damage for each Psychic type Pokémon in your discard pile. A bit curious that it only considers Psychic types specifically. https://pkmncards.com/?s=%2Btext%3A%22Last+Respects%22&sort=date&ord=auto&display=images
Charmaster
By the way, Pokémon didn’t really have a good excuse for not giving us a new Basculegion card during the Scarlet and Violet era, as White Striped Basculin (i.e. “Hisuian Basculin,” Basculegion’s pre-evolved form) was natively available in Scarlet and Violet in the Teal Mask DLC. Its strange that Pokémon with unusual ties to a specific region often go ignored after their debut generation in the trading card game even in generations where the video games go out of their way to bring them back. Type: Null and Silvally being the ONLY non-Galarian legendary Pokémon accessible in Sword and Shield on release and yet not getting card sfor the entirety of the Sword and Shield era (Or until the Mega Evolution era, for that matter; https://www.pokebeach.com/2026/05/abyss-eye-all-81-main-set-cards-revealed) is another example. More lost opportunities included the Ultra Beasts appearing in the Crown Tundra DLC, Thundurus, Landorus and Tornadus’s therian forms becoming plot-relevant again with the introduction of Enamorus and its own therian form in Legends: Arceus, and of course the heavy presence of Pokémon like Landorus Therian, Urshifu, Sneasler, Basculegion, Ursaluna (Both forms), Alolan Ninetales and more at various points in recent competitive VGC history.