One Hit KO

A big hello to all you OHKOers out there.  This is Pikkdogs here with a Pikk Three Article.  If you haven’t seen this article before….

Yeah, like anyone reads your articles.

True dat, Pedro, but be quite while I’m trying to introduce the article.  Geez its hard to find a good side kick now a days.   Back to the article, some people may have had the unfortunate luck to stumble past this site before and read a Pikk Three article.  Pedro, will you explain the Pikk Three article.

Well, its like a big card of the day article on a site like Pojo, Pokegym, or Sixprizes.  Except this article will review three cards; one that is a popular card, one that the fat guy feels is under-rated, and one that is from a new or unreleased set; and nobody will read this article.

Thank You Pedro…… I think, now lets get on to the article.

Card #1 Vileplume UD

Details– Vileplume is one of the most popular cards in the last couple years.  He first saw play with Gengar Sf as a part of the popular Trainerlock deck.  This deck saw a lot of victories at tournaments, and was something to be feared.  After Gengar SF was rotated out, not many people played Vileplume right away.  Now, we expect to see a lot of Vileplume in the upcoming season.  Either in the deck with Mew Prime, or in a deck with Beartic.  If you do not play Vileplume you still should know all about it because you still will be seeing it around a lot.

It is a stage 2 120 HP Grass Pokemon.  It is weak to psychic and has a 2 retreat cost.  Its attack is pretty lack luster, “Dazzling Pollen” does 50 damage for GGC.  The attack also lets you flip a coin, if heads the attack does 20 more, if tails the defending is confused.  In over a year of playing this card I only used the attack 1 time.  The Poke-Body is what everybody is talking about, the ability to lock all tra…. items is very good.  With most decks running 4 Pokemon Communications, possibly 3 Rare Candies, 4 Pokemon Catchers, and 3-4 Junk Arms; that is about 15 trainers.  The ability to lock 15 important cards is really awesome.  Item lock will be very important in the next season, and Vileplume is the Pokemon that will bring it about.

Analysis– As mentioned, Vileplume will have a big impact on the upcoming season.  It is hard to get Vileplume out really quickly, but once it is out there is a huge advantage.  Just being able to take out Pokemon Catcher from use is quite an amazing thing.  It makes the game a lot simpler and that is to your advantage.  While it is true that decks without a lot of trainers will not be as good, at least your deck will be prepared for the loss of trainers, other decks will not.

As I previously mentioned, the most talked about Vileplume decks have been Mewbox and Beartic.  The strategy of Mewbox is to Lost Zone a Muk and a Jumpluff early.  While you are doing that you can set up the trainer lock.  You can bring up a bench sitter with Muk’s attack and then either snipe around them with Yanmega Prime or use “Mass Attack” to knock them out.  It is fairly slow, but it is very disruptive.   Beartic is a deck that we don’t really have a list for yet.  But, it will probably involve setting up a Vileplume fairly quickly and prevent your opponent from attacking by using Beartic’s “Sheer Cold” attack.  Without the use of Switch, you will not be able to attack or retreat, and will have to watch your Pokemon get beaten on by Beartic.

The drawback to Vileplume is the speed.  Most of the time you will not be able to lock trainers until your opponent has already setup.  Another drawback is the 2 retreat cost, your opponent can tech in a Bellsprout in an attempt to make your Vileplume active.  The Bellsprout can then retreat next turn and then Vileplume will be able to get knocked out.  The last drawback is the meager 40 HP on Oddish.  If you do not setup a Vileplume before your opponent can setup a Yanmega, you may not be able to get Vileplume out.

Final Rating– 9/10-  Yes there are drawbacks but you just gotta love the best item locker around.

Card #2 Great Ball EP

Details– Great Ball is  an item with a simple effect, look at the top 7 cards of your deck and put any one Pokemon you find there into your hand.

Analysis– If this card came into the format last year, I would not have taken another look at it.  We had cards like Bebe’s Search and Luxury Ball that could do the job better than Great Ball.  But, those cards are now gone and we do not have a lot of search cards.

If you play a deck with a legend in it, the only way to find a Legend Piece is basically to draw into it.  You cannot Elms it, nor can you Dual Ball it.  Now, with Great Ball you can finally grab a legend piece out of your deck.  Legend Pieces usually enter later in the game.  By this time you will have gone through enough of your deck as where the top 7 cards should be about 25-33 percent of your deck, if not more.  While you probably can’t rely on this card to get you the card you need, most of the time you will be able to grab at least 1 Pokemon.

And that is the weakness of this card.  It just is not consistent.  It is very versatile and very useful, but you never know what you are gonna get.  If all you need to do to get your first prize is search for a Yanmega Prime, the chances are you will not get it with Dual Ball.  For that reason I can only recommend this card if your deck has a lot of Pokemon in it.

Final Rating–6/10– Nobody is talking about this card, and that is a shame.  It is a good card that deserves some play.  Although it will not be a great card, decks that run about 20 Pokemon should fit this card in.

Card #3- Hydreigon Red Collection

Details– This card is from the Japanese set called Red Collection.  It will probably be in our Noble Victories set.

It is a 150 HP Stage 2 Dark Pokemon with a fighting weakness, psychic resistance, and a 3 retreat cost.  Its ability lets you treat every card attached to it as a Darkness Energy.  Its one attack lets you do 60 damage to the active, and then snipe for 40 to two benched Pokemon! The attack will cost 4 energies.

Analysis– Wow a 150 HP Pokemon that lets you attack for 60 and then snipe twice for 40.  If you are able to attach a couple Special Darkness Energies to this Pokemon, you could be taking 3 prizes every 2 turns!

Of course it is not always as easy as it looks.  Once you are able to pick off 2 Pokemon on the bench it is unlikely that your opponent will then put 2 more Pokemon out there to snipe.  Also, the fighting weakness is a big drawback because of how good Donphan is.  Although it is easy to counter Donphan, it is never nice to have a fighting weakness.

The biggest partner for Hydreigon is Emboar BW.  Emboar lets you attach as many fire energies per turn as you want to whoever you want.  With Hydreigon’s ability, you will be able to make all those fire energies dark, and be able to attack a lot faster.  Even though it is hard to get 2 Stage 2 Pokemon out, the Magneboar deck has proved that 2 Stage 2 Pokemon can work.

Final Rating– 8/10– While it is impossible to tell how big of an impact this card will have, I think it will see some play.  Doing 60 damage and sniping twice for 40 is just too good to pass up.

Well thats all we have for today.  Pedro, how do we usually end articles here.

Uhhh…. the mister Rogers song?

I don’t think we do, but lets try it anyway.

“

It’s such a good feeling to know you’re alive.
It’s such a happy feeling
You’re growing inside.
And when you wake up ready to say
I think I’ll make a snappy new day
It’s such a good feeling,
A very good feeling,
The feeling you know that we’re friends.

It’s a good feeling
It’s a happy feeling

It’s such a good feeling
To know you’re in tune.
It’s such a happy feeling to find you’re in bloom
And when you wake up ready to say
I think I’ll make a snappy new day.
It’s such a good feeling,
A very good feeling,
The feeling you know that we’re friends.

And I’ll be back
When the day is new
And I’ll have more ideas for you.
And you’ll have things you’ll want to talk about.
I will too.

”
No Pedro, I’m almost sure that is not the way we end things here.

Category: Pikks Three | Tags: Great Ball EP, Hydreigon, Vileplume UD