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Pokemon Beartic Review

By Jack Snell

Hey y’all, hows it going, Jack Snell here and today Ill be reviewing the much hyped card from Emerging Powers, Beartic #30.

Let’s start with some stats. Beartic is a Stage-1 Water-type Pokemon that evolves from Cubchoo (the adorable pokemon with a water droplet on its snout). It has 130 HP, which is incredibly high considering it’s a Stage 1 Pokemon. This is also great for Beartic as big attacks like Reshiram’s Blue Flare, Zekrom’s Bolt Strike will leave it with 10 HP, (as no attack does exactly 130 damage), which forces the opponent to use a Plus Power or two to finish Beartic off, if they wish, in one turn. Vileplume is therefore a great partner for Beartic, preventing the opponent one shotting Beartic by locking them out of Pluspowers, preventing the, using Switch to escape the attack lock and preventing them using other crucial trainers like Catcher, Communication and Rare Candy. It has a x2 Metal weakness which is great; you don’t see too many metal-type decks nowadays, with the prevalence of fire decks, and Beartic isn’t weak to the usual Electric type for Water-types, so it’s a great card to be played now. It has no resistance, which isn’t too much of a surprise. However, a drawback would be its three colourless energy retreat cost which is massive and almost never payable.

Now its attacks – it’s first attack, Sheer Cold, needs WCC to use; so I think it’s safe to say that Beartic is Double Colourless Energy compatible. ;D It does a sub standard 50 damage, but prevents the defending Pokemon from attacking the next turn. Personally, that’s great! They will be forced to retreat, evolve, or devolve in order to even touch Beartic the next turn. Now; evolving and devolving are pretty rare, so that means retreat, consuming valuable energy. If you can combine Beartic with Catcher or Vileplume you can effectively lock your opponent and this attack is what attracted all the hype.

Its second attack, Icicle Crash, needs WWCC, so once again, DCE can be used. It does a measly 80 damage (well, measly considering how much energy is required for this attack). It provides a OHKO to Donphan Prime which is weak to water-types as well as Reshiram, Typhlosion Prime and Emboar, therefore being a great counter to many popular cards in the format right now.

The artwork is cool if a little generic. Its a tad simplistic and nothing like the stunning Beartic artwork we are due to get in Psycho Drive/Hail Blizzard.

Overall, I give Beartic a solid 8/10. It pairs best with Vileplume and Reuniclus in a Ross type engine and provides a difficult to break lockdown. The HP and weakness make it a real tank but unfortunately so do the high attack and retreat costs, which prevent the arctic bear from hitting top marks.

 

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Twins: Staple Or Situational?

By: Brian Hsieh

Twins is a supporter card released in the Heartgold Soulsilver: Triumphant set. With the release of Seeker as well in this set, Triumphant was one of those packs to get when it was released. Still fresh in the TCG format, Twins has become known as a great card in the right situation. Some even go as far as to call it a staple. While it has its obvious advantages of searching for any two cards you want, even if it’s another Twins to run a Twins engine, it must be played when a player is behind on prize cards.

Faster decks tend to ignore Twins while slower set up decks seem to pile them in. Finding it in a Yanmega/Magnezone deck or a Zekrom/Pachirisu/Shaymin deck seems highly unlikely, as those decks attack fast and consistently without the use of the Twins engine. Decks like Lostgar and any deck holding two stage two lines should highly consider a couple Twins to be safe.

Twins can take a losing game and turn it around in the blink of an eye. If you’re waiting on one card to complete your setup and are sending out basics as cannon fodder while you wait for your dream card, Twins adds another way to mill that card out. It works wonders at the start of the game too, if you are first to lose your Pokemon due to a slower setup. A perfect example would be when I was versing someone who decided to knock out my Solosis. Right after that, I drew a Twins and got to work, running a nice Twins engine while getting the cards I needed in order to come back with a nice Gothitelle trainer lock. Finishing it up with a Reuniclus and Zekrom on the bench, my field was set up and free from harm from any of his Pokemon, as he did not run any Psychic Pokemon, Magnezones, or Bad Emboars to knock me out in one hit. Another example would be when I was versing a rogue deck. Both of us had a good enough setup, but we both had Twins. I stalled long enough to actually use mine, as he started on the offensive. I eventually won that matchup with the same lock previously mentioned, as I was able to get the cards I needed to complete the great hand I already had.

Twins can also be a dead draw. When you want to finish the game as fast as you can and you have a comfortable lead, you want to draw the card that seals the deal. Instead, Twins appears. What works wonders can lead to dismay as you are one Energy away from taking the win, while your opponent might use a Twins himself and get the card necessary to have a setup that can dwarf yours at the moment. Just because one has less prize cards, doesn’t mean he has his field completely set up. Twins can also be relied on a bit much. If a player sets his sights on constantly being behind, he could end up losing before he even draws a single Twins. With Supporters like Judge constantly ruining hands, it could also disrupt any Twins engine a player had in mind. It also hurts hard when one player brings in two Supporters to his hand and gets hit with a Judge, causing the search to be in vain.
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Emerging Powers: Top 5 Best Card Art

By Kenny Wisdom

Kenny Wisdom here again, with a rundown of what I feel is the best card art in our new set, Pokemon Black and White: Emerging Powers. I don’t have a whole lot of time on my hands to write, so let’s get right down to business.

#5: Watchog

Unlike the next two cards I’m going to be talking about, this guy isn’t cute at all whatsoever, and really wins based off of ridiculousness factor alone. I’ve always thought that the Patrat and Watchog lines were pretty insane Pokemon in general, but the art guys over at PCL really took it to an entirely new level with this card. The way that he stands out from his background and that his “shirt” or whatever that thing is supposed to be is so bright that it almost looks over-exposed makes this card stand out immediately in your draft pool. Just looking at this guy with his hands on his hips and crazy eyes makes me crack up every time. Ugh, I’ve got to move on now.

#4: Rufflet #86

I’m a sucker for Rufflets, and although this one is cute, it’s not quite as great as the other Rufflet that’s been printed in BW: EP, which we’ll get to now…

#3: Rufflet #87

This card wins purely based off of the cuteness factor. The art in this set is all pretty decent, but in going over it nothing really stuck out except for this ridiculously adorable little guy. It took me a while to decide between this Rufflet and the other one, as obviously they’re both the same Pokemon and therefore both look nearly the same, but the background on this Rufflet is strictly better, in my opinion. I’m not the most well-versed in art, so I’m not sure exactly what to call it, but I’d maybe say that it’s some kind of painting? All I know is that it looks adorable, and I’m definitely going to hoard reverse foils of this little guy, as I try to do with most cards that look gorgeous.

#2: Tornadus

Evaluating Pokemon card art in the BW era is going to be difficult with the introduction of full art cards, which are prettty much strictly better looking than anything else in the set (and really, most other Pokemon cards ever).

Although Tornadus and Thundurus are basically the same Pokemon, as is the same situation with Rufflet, I feel as the background makes this guy slightly worse. Bright yellow is a better color than gray, I guess.

#1: Thundurus

Again, all I can really say about this card is that it’s a gorgeous full art and that the background is better than it’s countparts background. I’d also argue that the blue coloring of Thundurus himself is better looking than Tornadus’ green body, but I guess that’s all a matter of opinion. As a sidenote, the foiling and texture of these cards are also great and really add to how great these things look. I can’t wait for the next set of full arts to come out in the next few months, but I suppose that’s a discussion for another article.

That’s all I’ve got for today. I’ve been writing quite a bit, so hopefully you’ll be seeing a bunch of Kenny Wisdom articles on Pokezine in the coming days.

xoxo

kw

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Stalling The Game With Cute Pokemon

By: Pokay G

As of fall 2011, baby Pokemon like Pichu, Cleffa and Tyrogue are the most played cute pocket monsters in the trading card game. All these cute critters are great for stalling the game so that the player can successfully get set up and become ready to destroy their opponent. Stage 2 Pokemon need time to evolve (without a Rare Candy). There are high risks, but great rewards for each of them. Let’s explore the strengths of putting these cute babies into a deck.

Cleffa is great at stalling the game because its PokeBody allows it to prevent all damage from attacks as long as it is asleep. It has an attack called “Eeeeek” that lets the player shuffle his or her hand into the deck and then draw six cards. No energy cards are required to use this attack. This can help the player to quickly get the cards needed to set up the bench. Before attacking with Cleffa, it’s important to place Pokemon on the bench and use any necessary trainer and supporter cards. After attacking, a whole new set of cards becomes available.

The downside to this strategy is the player must flip a coin after every turn to see if Cleffa wakes up. If it does wake up on the opponent’s turn, it will probably get knocked out since it only has 30 HP. It can also stop working if the player wants to use “Eeeeek” on his turn, but Cleffa didn’t wake up.

Tyrogue can also prolong the game with its Mischievous Punch attack. It does 30 damage to the opponent and does not have energy cost. How it successfully stalls the game is through its PokeBody. As long as Tyrogue is asleep, the opponent cannot do any damage to it. Mischievous Punch instantly puts Tyrogue asleep. The same risks of falling asleep still apply, but the cool thing is that you can now deal damage to your opponent while stalling the game. Unfortunately, it also has a low 30 HP.

Pichu has an attack that allows both the player and the opponent to search their decks for up to five basic Pokemon and place them on their respective benches. It works great for an electric deck that has Magnezone or Zekrom in it. This attack also puts Pichu asleep and it has the Sweet Sleeping Face PokeBody, as well. Using Pichu is a great way to avoid using the Pokemon Collector supporter card, but the downside is that it helps the opponent get set up, too.
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Pokemon Worlds is over!

By Pokay G

Pokemon World Championships 2011 is over and now the game has changed again because the new Emerging Powers set was released in America on August 31, 2011. Now, we are coming into the fall and that means Battle Roads! Here is a list of the most expected decks people are going to play this autumn. Yanmega Magnazone, Stage 1s, Magnaboar, Vileplume decks such as the one that Ross took to Worlds and got second place, and last, but not least, Mew variants. Of course, these decks are not all that is going to be played, but most of them are highly anticipated to do well. For those preparing for Battle Roads, here’s a look at why these decks work so well and perform what they are made to do.

Yanmega Magnazone or Megazone is the deck that was so hyped about from USA to Sweden to Japan. Lots of players made top cut at the 2011 World Competition with this deck. Thanks to Yanmega’s PokeBody, this card lets the player have free attack cost. This is huge. Anyone can play Yanmega and never need to attach any energy cards to him. To make this deck work, use the Judge card to make both players shuffle their hands into their decks and draw four cards. Both players will then have an even number of cards in their hand. Another option is to use Copy Cat to shuffle your hand into your deck and draw as many cards as your opponent. Copy Cat could be bad if the opposing player has only a few cards on hand, but it will usually give you draw power.

Magnazone is a good card, because if you don’t need energy to attack with Yanmega you can use Magnazone’s attack, Lost Burn. This attack costs two energy to use, but it lets you send energy cards you have in play into the Lost Zone. Plus, it does 50 damage times the number of energy placed in the Lost Zone. Its PokeBody lets you draw until you have six cards in your hand, giving you even more draw power.

If you like Magnazone, but aren’t crazy about Yanmega, and would like a more consistent deck that wins games quickly, think about putting Emboar into the mix to create the MagnaBoar or Magnazone Emboar deck. The Black and White base set was the first to feature Tepig and its evolutionary forms. In Stage 2, fans say it is “broken” in the coolest sense because as long as the player has fire energy in hand, he or she can attach multiple fire energy cards per turn. This ability is called Inferno Fandango. It’s a really amazing deck and will probably see a lot of play at Battle Roads.
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Pokemon Gothitelle Review

By Jack Snell

Hey everyone Jack Snell here, welcome to my review of one of the most hyped cards from Emerging Powers, Gothitelle:

At first glance we have a Stage 2, Psychic type Pokemon with a mediocre 130HP, a single Ability and a lone attack. Now these stats sound quite average at first, but with Battle Roads already underway the card is involved in a very powerful and hyped deck.

Let’s start with the Ability called ‘Magic Room’. This Ability states that while Gothitelle is in your active spot, your opponent cannot play any Trainer cards from his or her hand, which means that this is the second Pokemon to be able to provide Trainer-lock in the form of an Ability/Poke Body. What separates this Pokemon from the likes of Vileplume is that it blocks the opponent from playing trainers, but you are free to play as many trainers as you like including all the big ones right now like Rare Candy, Pokemon Communication and Pokemon Catcher. This means that you are able evolve weak basics on the bench without the fear of them being Catchered up and KOd before they evolve.

This kind of lock is obviously going to hurt the opponent a ton while you can freely play your game as normal, which is a definite upside from Vileplume, but the difference is that Vileplume can happily sit there on the bench whilst Gothitelle must be active. This means we need Gothitelle to have a respectable attack to be playable and to stay alive as long as possible which is where Reuniclus comes in.

The basic idea of the deck is that Gothitelle stays active, sits there locking the opponent and since it has the magic HP of 130, not much is going to be able to OHKO it effectively under the lock, only Mew Prime, Magnezone Prime, Badboar, RDL come to mind. That means that Reuniclus can assist by moving the damage the opponent is trying to pile onto Gothitelle and remove it from play by using cards such as Max Potion, Seeker and even through Blissey Prime’s Blissful Nurse. This deck is a very effective lock deck in this format, but it does have its weak points, namely its sluggish setup, matchups against Vileplume decks and against anything that can KO Gothitelle in one hit.
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Pokemon Catcher Review

By Jack Snell

Hey everyone, welcome to my review of the definitively best and most hyped card in Emerging Powers, Pokemon Catcher, Hell, its one of the most broken cards ever seen in the TCG.

It’s basically a reprint of Gust of Wind, Luxray GL LV X in Trainer form, or Pokemon Reversal without the flip (depending on how long you have been playing the game). You play this Trainer, you get to choose one of your opponent’s Benched Pokemon and drag it active.

No-one needs a reviewer like me to tell them how good that effect is. Want to take a Prize but the Defending Pokemon has too much HP? Use Catcher and bring up something weaker from the Bench. Need to cripple your opponent’s deck by getting rid of support Pokemon like Typhlosion or Emboar? Use Catcher on them. Want to take out a potential threat like Vileplume or Magnezone Prime before they can hurt you? Play Catcher while the vulnerable Basic is sitting on the Bench.

Pokemon Catcher will have a huge impact on the format. Almost all decks will run multiple copies; fast, hard-hitting Pokemon that require little support (such as Cinccino and Donphan Prime) will become extremely powerful; and anyone wanting to set up a Stage 2 better be grabbing a couple of copies of the Basic because one is very likely to get KO’d before it can evolve. Expect to see a rise in Trainer Lock decks featuring Vileplume or the new Gothitelle (I’m calling that deck Emo Lock) to try and combat the effect of Catcher, though whether they will be fast enough to make a difference remains to be seen.

Is Catcher a bad card for the game? I don’t believe it is, Would you rather have everything decided on Pokemon Reversal flips as it was just a few months ago? Nobody likes scrubs beating them due to pure luck on coin flips. Sure, it will bring about change, and speed up the game (even more), but neither of those things are necessarily terrible. The good players will do what good players always do: adapt and master the format they are in.

From now on, you will need to play knowing that nothing on your Bench is safe.

Rating: Modified: 4.8 If only for the existence of Vileplume and Gothitelle

Combos with ;

Junk Arm, Donphan Prime, Yanmega Prime, Zoroark

Signing out, Jack Snell, Peace

 

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The Pros And Cons Of Zoroark

By Pokay G

Have you ever heard of Zoroark? In the trading card game, it has a move called Foul Play that allows it to use any of the opponent’s moves for only a two energy cost. Looking at cards from the Emerging Powers Pokemon card set, it is very good against Beartic. Foul Play can let Zoroark use the bear’s Sheer Cold attack, which does 50 damage. The downside to this attack for the arctic bear is that it cannot attack on the next turn, unless it retreats. However, Beartic has a massive retreat cost of four energy cards. Zoroark won’t be able to attack on the next turn either, but he only has to discard one energy card to retreat.

Another example of the power of Foul Play is how well it works against RDL (Rayquaza Deoxys Legend). The legendary Pokemon card features an attack called Ozone Buster that does 150 damage. RDL needs three energy cards to use it, but Zoroark can use it against RDL to defeat the legend and take two prize cards for the win!

When wouldn’t you use Zoroark? It’s not a good choice when up against your opponent’s weak or basic Pokemon that do not have any strong attacks listed. The dark dog is a small beast that can take out bigger foes.

Zoroark is also very good when running a Stage 1 deck. These decks allow players to evolve quickly and knock out the competition very fast. The ideal game is winning six prizes in six turns with a Stage 1 deck. To reach this ultimate goal, some players are putting Donphan and Yanmega with Zoroark. When played, the key is to spread damage across the bench and come out strong with Foul Play when you’re up against a tank.

In a Stage 1 deck, another option to include is Cinccino. It’s a very good Normal-type Pokemon since its attack does massive damage with just one Double Colorless energy card. Becoming even more popular is Gliscor, which can deal 30 damage to the opposing Pokemon for just one fighting energy. Both of its attacks, Ninja Fang and Poison Jab are excellent. Low energy costs are crucial for a fast-winning deck and both of these choices offer a great boost for the energy bang.

Overall, any deck can be made better with this Dark-type on board.

Yes, it may have “broken” a.k.a. cheap beyond belief attacks, but Zoroark is here to stay. It will be played at many tournaments until it is no longer legal. If you do run it in your deck, watch out for Donphan and other fighting types. It is weak against them and can easily be dealt a one shot knock out by most of their heavy hitting attacks.

Finding a deck to quickly beat the Stage 1 strategy easily and consistently is a challenge, but it’s a challenge everyone going for World Champion has to take on head on. It takes a lot of practice, play testing and increasing knowledge of the game to come up with something outside of the Pokemon bandwagon. Hopefully this article has increased your understanding of both the pros and cons Zoroark has to offer. Good luck playing with him or going up against this beast.

When shopping around for this card, remember that there is more than one kind available. Read the card carefully and make sure it has the Foul Play attack. For card collectors, the artwork on the card could be rated at 8.5 out of 10. It looks cool and aggressive in both Holo and Reverse Holo forms.

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Pokemon Catcher Vs Luxray GL Lv. X

By: Brian Hsieh

When Luxray GL Lv. X hit the Pokemon scene, we were all hit with nostalgia as its PokePower (similar to Gust of Wind of Base Set) allowed it to switch the defending Pokemon with another Pokemon on the bench of the player’s choice. This allowed Luxray to attack the newly brought in Pokemon, or free retreat to have a better Pokemon knock out the newly brought in card. Since it was recently rotated out, another card has come in its place in the form of a trainer; Pokemon Catcher. Since its release, it has become an expensive card, even topping the ultra rare cards like Thundurus and Tornadus in this set. If Luxray were still in this format, its price would still drop due to all the advantages that Pokemon Catcher has.

With Pokemon Catcher, it’s safe to build any deck. Pokemon Catcher comes as a versatile Trainer and does not have a specific type assigned to it. Luxray GL Lv. X had the SP and lightning tag on it. This made it more likely to be featured in lightning and SP decks. It can be argued that one can tech in a Luxray in any deck that had a strong physical presence that could do the dirty work instead; the tags are not much of a minus but do hurt its playability to an extent.

A big hit on Luxray was that there could only be two Lv. Xs in a deck, as they were considered the same as the regular Pokemon it leveled up from. In order to use its effect, you would have to actually bring out a regular Luxray GL and then upgrade it when it’s the active Pokemon. If you have it on your bench, you must switch into it in order to activate the Lv.X form. This would be a pain as that is your only switch for the turn unless you use the Trainer card Switch. Also, if opponents see it coming, it is sure to be knocked out before you can level it up, leaving you with a Lv. X in your hand and needing a discard pile searching card to get your Luxray back. Having a limited number of Luxray also hurts as one could possibly be prized. There are many supporters that help out SPs, so this technique of getting Luxray out wasn’t as hard as it looked. With Poketurn, one could actually use the ability more than once, and the introduction of Junk Arm allows for even more production. With Pokemon Catcher, there is no setup involved. You just play and select a target. Junk Arm gives this card a boost also; as you can just discard two dead draw cards and play Catcher again, with a maximum of eight uses. This strategy allows you to have a higher success of drawing one.

The only positive thing I could say about Luxray would be that it was actually searchable. Only Twins can search for Pokemon Catcher while at the time, Bebe’s Search, Pokemon Collector, Pokemon Communication, and Premier Ball each had its advantages of bringing this card into play. Having this ability in a Pokemon comes at a price, with Luxray being knocked out. Besides, if you have a good number of Pokemon Catchers in your deck, you would just need to rely on nice draw cards like Professor Juniper, Sage’s Training, and Cheren to draw it out.
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Pokemon HGSS Prime Card Reviews Part 3

By Jack Snell

Onto the reviews of Primes in Unleashed:

Steelix Prime: Ah yes, the infamous tank that is Steelix Prime. This one weighs in at a giant 140 HP for a stage 1 which is excellent, and has other attributes of a tank too, being able to use multiple special metal energy to reduce damage taken, a resistance to Psychic which is a commonly used type in all formats ever, other than the current one ironically, and a huge 4 retreat cost, which is almost never payable.

Metal is a horrible typing right now, hitting almost nothing apart from Beartic for weakness and taking double damage from the most popular type in the format Fire, including Reshiram, Typhlosion, Emboar etc. Its not as though Steelix is easily techable either if you want to counter Beartic, requiring CC and MMCCC for its two attacks and with the retreat cost of four, Beartic will shut it down anyway.

Steelix’s Pokebody Perfect Metal prevents it from being affected by any Special Conditions which is actually really good, because at least Paralysis Poison Sleep and Confusion would cause it major problems.

Energy Stream for CC deals a frankly pathetic 30 damage and has the bonus of bringing back an energy from the discard and attaching it to Steelix. This can bring back special energies like Sp. Metals, Double Colorless Energy which is great, and the main positive of the attack rather than just the effect text. Lastly Gaia Crush for MMCCC deals a sub par 100 damage and discards a Stadium in play.

There are three main reasons why Steelix was a brutal tank deck in MD-on but not so much in this format, 1. Fire wasnt as popular, nor did overpowered Fire Basics like Reshiram exist. 2. Catcher wasnt released at the time, so they couldnt hit around your tank, unless it was Luxchomp or DialgaChomp 3. Stadiums like Broken Time Space and Galactic HQ were really popular, but in this format the only used Stadiums are Tropical Beach and Lost World, the latter of which an intelligent opponent will only play when they can win

As a side note both Onix’ are awful Overall Rating: 3/10 Combos with: Skarmory, Special Metals

Kingdra Prime: In my opinion definitively the best Pokemon Prime in the set. Kingdra has a good 130 HP but with the power creep 140 HP seems standard for a stage 2 these days. The retreat cost of one is definitely fine, and payable. Weakness to lightning is as bad as it always has been with Zekrom and Magnezone Prime still seeing play. No resistance is expected of a water type. Now for the main attractions of the card. Firstly its PokePower Spray Splash allows you to place 1 damage counter on your opponents field once during your turn. Sound familiar?, thats right its the same as Crobat Gs Flash Bite Poke Power, which was staple in all SP decks and was so easy to tech it could even be thrown into Gyarados. Placing one damage on your opponents Pokemon cannot be underrated, its like that crucial pluspower, but on any of your opponents Pokemon. Advantages over Crobat G are that its stackable, 3 Kingdra in play means 3 damage counters spread over your opponents field each turn, which is incredible, but a large disadvantage compared to Crobat G is that its a stage 2 so cant be teched in easily

Finally Kingdras attack Dragon Steam is very efficient dealing 60 damage for one Water Energy. However if your opponent has a Fire type Pokemon it gets reduced to a very weak 20. This makes it a better DOnphan Prime counter than Reshiram/Emboar.

A Spray Splash and a Dragon Steam will deal 110 to a Donphan allowing you to KO it with Spray Splash next turn and get an attack on something else
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