Hi there. In this short Pokemon trading card game (TCG) post I cover the Maximum Belt ACE SPEC card. This card is to be released in the Temporal Forces expansion set internationally in late March 2024. Japan already has access to this card from the Wild Force and Cyber Judge expansion sets from late January 2024.
The Maximum Belt Card
This ACE SPEC card is a tool card that can be attached to a Pokemon. The Pokemon that this card is attached gains 50 attack points when it attacks an opponent's Pokemon ex card.
This card is comparable to Choice Belt from the Scarlet & Violet Base Set. Choice Belt allows the Pokemon it is attached to have 30 more damage when it attacks a Pokemon V (Vstar or VMAX). Maximum Belt does 50 more damage to an opponent's Pokemon ex and you are only allowed one ACE SPEC card in the deck. With Choice Belt you can run more than 1 copy in your deck. (Running 2 or more Choice Belts may not be wise as it could be a dead card when you need energies or other cards.)
Maximum Belt is a Tool card that is searchable by the popular supporter Arven and by the stadium Town Store.
The downside of Maximum Belt is it an be targeted by Lost Vacuum. Lost Vacuum can send one Tool or Stadium card to the Lost Zone (remove from play) when the user discards 1 card from hand into the Lost Zone.
Which Decks Can This Go In?
I've read a sample of initial comments and reviews about this card. This small sample of 10 comments mentioned that this card sucks and that Prime Catcher is better. After seeing some Japanese deck lists the use cases for Maximum Belt is kind of interesting when you consider math, decks and specific matchups.
Charizard ex Dark Tera With Maximum Belt
Charizard ex with Maximum Belt makes the card and its deck much more scarier now. It is known that Charizard ex has a strong comeback attack in its Burning Darkness attack that does 180 damage plus 30 more damage for each prize card your opponent has taken. Adding Maximum Belt for an extra 50 damage to opponent ex's cards makes Charizard ex even more deadlier in the early game.
If the opponent has not taken a prize card then Charizard ex does 180 damage + 50 more if Maximum Belt is attached to it. This 230 damage amount is key to knocking out popular Basic Pokemon exs like Chien-Pao ex, Miraidon ex and Roaring Moon ex. Maximum Belt with Charizard ex would be good against Gholdengo ex which has 260 HP. If the Gholdengo ex player takes at least one prize card then Charizard ex with Maximum Belt can do 180 + 30 + 50 = 260 damage to knockout a Gholdengo ex.
Giratina VStar With Maximum Belt
Giratina VSTAR has an attack of Lost Impact that does 280 damage. The drawback of the Lost Impact attack is that 2 Energy from your Pokemon are put in the Lost Zone after this attack is used. For the key macthup against Charizard ex, 280 damage does not knockout the 330 HP Charizard ex. Maximum Belt could be used to add 50 to 280 to get 330 damage to knockout a Charizard ex.
A Harder Combo - Miraidon ex with Regielki VMAX + Maximum Belt
Miraidon ex is a basic Pokemon ex with 220 HP. Its ability of Tandem Unit allows you to bring up to two Basic Electric Pokemon to your bench once per turn. This ability is quite powerful and it is comparable to Battle VIP Pass. Its attack does 220 damage for the cost of two lightning energy and one colourless energy. You cannot attack again in the next turn (unless it goes to the bench).
Combine Miraidon ex with two Regieleki VMAX to add more damage to Miraidon ex. Regieleki VMAX has its ability where basic Electric Pokemon attacks do 30 more damage. Having two of them would increase Miraidon ex's attack from 220 to 280 damage. The amount of 280 damage is quite good as it can knockout notable VSTAR pokemon like Arceus VSTAR and Giratina VSTAR. You do need 330 damage to knockout one of the best cards in the format and that is Charizard ex with its 330 original HP. Add the Maximum Belt to add 50 damage. The calculation would be 220 + 30 + 30 + 50 from adding two Regieleki VMAX and a Maximum Belt.
Searching for the Maximum Belt is not that hard in Miraidon ex. You have Forest Seal Stone, Arven and the stadium Town Store as options for searching for Tool cards.
Those are the main two decks and maybe a third that can benefit with the Maximum Belt ACE SPEC card. There could be other (less popular) decks that could you the 50 damage boost. Maximum Belt may not be as powerful as Prime Catcher but it is a good alternative ACE SPEC card for specific decks. I'd imagine Maximum Belt would be a cheaper ACE SPEC card compared to Prime Catcher.