XY—BREAKpoint

Status: Released (February 2016)

Shatter Expectations with XY—BREAKpoint

The rift in the Pokémon world widened on February 3, 2016, with the release of XY—BREAKpoint. This expansion introduced the shiny Mega Gyarados-EX and further expanded the BREAK mechanic, most notably with the meta-defining "Greninja BREAK." XY—BREAKpoint is famous for its high concentration of competitively viable cards, including "Darkrai-EX" and the item-locking "Trevenant BREAK," which forced opponents to play under constant pressure.

Greninja BREAK and Puzzle of Time

The star of the set was undoubtedly Greninja BREAK. Its "Giant Water Shuriken" ability allowed players to discard a water energy to deal 60 damage to *any* of the opponent's Pokémon. Since this could be done multiple times per turn with multiple Greninjas, it created a snipe-heavy strategy that dominated Worlds. The set also introduced "Puzzle of Time," a powerful item card that, when played in pairs, allowed players to recover any two cards from their discard pile. This recursion mechanic was so powerful that it was eventually banned in Expanded, cementing XY—BREAKpoint's legacy as a set of extreme power.