Space-Time Smackdown (A2) Set Guide: Dialga and Palkia Take the Spotlight

Space-Time Smackdown holds 207 total cards, with 189 Pokémon cards and 32 of those ex versions — a somewhat shallower Common/Uncommon base than Genetic Apex, proportionally weighted a bit more toward the mid-to-upper rarities. That shift means a smaller share of a Space-Time Smackdown Regular Pack lands on the cheapest 35-point Common redemption tier compared to Genetic Apex, though the underlying per-slot star-tier odds covered in our pack odds guide stay the same across every set using the standard Regular Pack table.

The set opens through 2 packs — Dialga and Palkia — each holding 126 cards, mirroring the same naming pattern as Genetic Apex where a pack is built around its signature legendary. The set's 2 Crown Rare cards, Dialga ex and Palkia ex, split cleanly one per pack, so picking which pack to farm is a direct choice between the two legendaries rather than a 3-way split like Genetic Apex.

Below the Crown Rare tier, Space-Time Smackdown's strongest ex attackers by HP are Infernape ex and Gallade ex, both sitting at 170 HP and both appearing across multiple rarity printings (Double Rare, Super Rare, and Special Art Rare versions of Infernape ex exist within the set). That means a player who never pulls Dialga ex or Palkia ex still has genuinely strong ex options to build around at a lower Pack Point cost, since Double Rare redemption (500 points) is a much shorter road than hoping for a Crown Rare pull.

If your goal is a specific legendary ex, focus opening on that legendary's named pack rather than splitting between Dialga and Palkia — Pack Points accumulate at the set level regardless, but pull odds for a specific card only improve by opening the pack that actually contains it. If your goal is simply a strong, affordable deck anchor, Infernape ex or Gallade ex at Double Rare are reachable through Pack Point redemption alone within 100 packs, without needing to chase either Crown Rare at all.

Among Space-Time Smackdown's 189 Pokémon cards, Grass leads at 28, with Water and Colorless tied close behind at 26 each, and Fire trailing at just 10 — a noticeably thinner Fire pool than Genetic Apex's 28 Fire-type cards. Metal also gets a meaningfully bigger showing here than in Genetic Apex, with 14 cards versus Genetic Apex's 5, making this set a better single-type Metal option if that's a direction you're building toward.