Pheromosa and Buzzwole Tag Team GX is the #1 card in the Unbroken Bonds set for the Pokemon Trading Card Game (TCG). It also has a Full Art version, an alternate art Full Art, and a Rainbow Foil version. This Ultra Rare GX card is powerful in many ways, but its GX attack is particularly potent. While it’s far from the top GX card in Unbroken Bonds, it’s worth checking out for both collectors and competitive players alike.
Because this GX Pokemon card is a Tag Team, if it’s knocked out, your opponent takes 3 Prize cards, rather than the typical two prizes for a regular GX Pokemon. But, because it’s a combination of Pheromosa and Buzzwole, its power level is much higher than an ordinary GX Pokemon card.
This GX card features two decent attacks, plus a particularly nasty GX attack. It’s Grass-type and two times weak to Fire attacks with no Resistance. It has 260 HP, which is low to mid-end for Tag Team GX cards. Their retreat cost is just two colorless Energy.
Breaking Down Pheromosa & Buzzwole Tag Team GX’s Attacks
First, we’ll talk about the first two attacks. The first of Pheromosa & Buzzwole GX’s attacks is Jet Punch. It costs a mere Grass Energy to use and deals 30 damage to the opposing Pokemon. But, it also deals 30 damage to a benched Pokemon. It’s a nice simple attack. The second attack packs a wallop for just two Grass Energy and one Colorless Energy. It deals 190 damage. While that sounds incredible, the drawback is that during your next then, it only deals 60 damage. This means to get it back to 190, you can’t use it for a turn.
The GX attack is what really makes.this card shine. Keep in mind you can only use one GX attack per game. So, especially with this one, you need to make it count. This Tag Team Pokemon’s GX attack is called Beast Game GX. While it only does 50 base damage, the other effects are incredible. If this attack knocks out an opposing Pokemon, you get to take an extra Prize card. Then, if you have seven more energy than this attack requires, which is only a single Grass energy, then you instead take three extra Prize cards. Properly timed, this attack can win you the game.
Is There a Good Pheromosa and Buzzwole Tag Team GX Deck in Competitive Play?
Understandably, Pheromosa and Buzzwole Tag Team GX is a powerful card in competitive TCG play. The fact that it can theoretically take all six prize cards at once is a huge deal. There are various decks built almost entirely around this GX card that are quite good. The Pheromosa and Buzzwole deck dominated Champions League Chiba in Japan and was the tournament’s winning deck. This card also had strong showings in the CL Chiba Extra Expanded Tournament at the same time. It also was a key part of a 7th place deck at Special Event Singapore.
In the Pokemon games themselves, Pheromosa was an Uber-tier Bug & Fighting type Pokemon through the Sword and Shield era. So, competitive Pokemon players can tell you he was a great choice for this Team Up. Buzzwole has also been a fine competitive Pokemon with the same typing, also playable in the Uber competitive tier of the video game. although it’s relatively under-used. Fans of these Pokemon are probably happy to see this tag team.
How Collectible is Pheromosa and Buzzwole Tag Team GX?
From a collector’s standpoint, you may think that Pheromosa and Buzzwole Tag Team GX is a valuable card. However, because it has multiple versions printed within the Unbroken Bonds set, we have to consider each of these printings separately. The best value would appear to be the Full Art (191/214) variety, as it’s still a very affordable card in 2024, although it has shown significant value gains over the past year.
The alternate art (192/214) is the most expensive version, which is interesting considering that the Rainbow foil — a much scarcer “secret rare” version — is less than half the market price as of April 2024. It hasn’t shown the same consistent value growth as the full art version, but it’s also far more rare. Generally, rainbow rares haven’t performed nearly as well as their less scarce “regular” full art counterparts. But, in my opinion, it’s a really nice card well worth its $10-15 price point (this is a number that will likely look ridiculous in the coming years).
Of course, Pheromosa and Buzzwole are hardly iconic Pokemon. Despite its incredible game-winning power, you can own a copy of the GX card for a very reasonable price. As is always the best advice with modern graded cards, if you are looking at investing in Pokemon cards as an investment, you’ll want to go with the rarest version. in this case, that’s the Rainbow foil) in PSA 10. If you just want one of these for your collection, though, a raw copy of any of these cards will suffice for your Pokemon card collecting enjoyment.
~ Amelia Desertsong
