One Hit KO

A big hello to all you OHKOers out there, this is Pikkdogs here with a Pikk Three article for you.  I am also joined by my extra-dimensionary sidekick, Pedro. 

Say, Pedro, a lot of people were talking smack about you on the last article.

Yeah, one guy even shot me.

He shot you, then why aren’t you dead?

Well, weapons of this dimension can’t hurt me, the only thing from this dimension that can bring me to my knees is a Barry White song.

Well you aren’t alone there.  I know a lot of you out there have been telling me to ditch my sidekick.  One reason I won’t is that if something happens to Pedro the people from Pedro’s dimension will start a war and kill us all, and  another reason is he’s my fucking sidekick!  I don’t care what you guys think.  When I get tired of him I’ll kill him.  In the meantime I look forward to your emails, your sane spell checked emails.  Some people may not like these weird, creepy, and psychoctic articles-

But, if you changed that how would people know it was you?

I know I’m crazy, I can’t just start writing articles that are sane, legible, informative, helpful, and make sense.  You gotta go over to six prizes and pay for that kinda stuff.

People have come to know this website as a bunch of crap with a fat guy who can’t write as the main contributor.  Why should we change that now?

I don’t know Pedro, let’s just go on with the article and do a Pikk Three.  Now for those of you that don’t know, a Pikk Three article is like a big card of the day section.  We will feature three cards, one that is a popular card, one that I feel is under-rated, and one that is from a new or yet un-released set.  As you see today’s article is very item focused.

So that means you didn’t have enough time to write a big article and talk about real cards so you give us a little article about items.

Well that wasn’t how I planned it, but it did work out.  So without further wait, let’s look at the cards today.

Card # 1 The Staple- Pokegear 3.0

Description– Pokegear is an item card that lets you look at the top 7 cards of your deck, choose any supporter there, and put it into your hand.

It was released in the HGSS set and was thought of as a crap card until this Battle Road season.  Nobody seemed to play this card for over a year, but in this fall battle road season, the card has gotten a lot of play.

Analysis-  Well this is a surprise to see this card in the  staple spot.  Like I wrote in the description section, nobody cared about this car for so long.  But right now 4 copies of it are being played by a lot of really good players.  It is being used to search for some of the many great supporters in the current format.  For example, instead of playing 4 Twins, 4 Collector, 4 Point, and 4 of another draw supporter; people are playing 3 of each of those and 4 Pokegear.  The hope is that even if you play less supporters, you will still be able to get the right supporter that you want when you want it.

The question is does it actually work?  The answer is yes….. and no.  Most of the time it will give you a great supporter, but there are times when you could reveal no supporters from your top 7 cards.  And when you really want that one supporter, the card may not be there.

Even though it is not perfect, the idea is solid.  Pokegear will give you a good shot at getting a supporter, even more so than if you just ran more supporters.  This is because Pokegear is Junk Arm-able.  So if you don’t have a Pokegear or a supporter, you can still use a supporter by Junk Arm-ing for a Pokegear, and then using it.

Final Rating– 7.75/10-I’m not sold on Pokegear, I don’t run it, but it is very popular.  It also is not a bad choice to run it.  You can run 4 or just 1 or 2.

Card #2 The Underdog- Potion  

Description-  A simple item card that lets you remove 3 damage counters from any of your Pokemon.

Analysis– This card has  been around since the likes of John Jacob Aster used to trek across the continent trapping animals for their furs.

Really, first Barry White, Now a John Jacob Aster comment.  Will anyone over 60 know what you are talking about?

No, but that’s pretty normal.  Anyway, this card was first released in the base set, and besides for a few rogue decks that didn’t do anything, Potion has NEVER seen play.  But, I think this is changing now.

The format right now is based on one hit knock outs, or strategic two hit knock outs.  If you can get a couple OHKOs during your game, you should be good.  If you can get some 2HKOs you are right on track.  But if something gets in your way of a 2HKO, then you could be in trouble.  Enter Potion.

The first time I saw the brillance of this card in the current format was from a guy from Team Bertoli called Mike.  When I first saw Potion in his deck I thought he was a noob,  but then he proceeded to use it to do crazy amounts of harm to my plan.  Think about it, you have an active Tornadus, your opponent has a Donphan Prime.  You “Hurricane” it for 60, knowing that you got a KO in the bag next turn.  But, your opponent plays a Potion and gets himself down to 3 damage counters.  Now any hope of getting the 2HKO is out the door.

Potion is all about the little things.  It doesn’t heal all the damage, but it doesn’t have to.  Just being able to keep your Pokemon alive for one turn is amazing.  Sure Max Potion is great on Donphan, but Potion can work on any Pokemon.  

No, Potion did not go from being crap to being awesome, but I could see it as a decent tech.

Final Rating– 6.5/10-Potion is finally useable I think, in the right deck.

Card#3-The Young Gun- Ultra Ball

Description– Ultra Ball was released in the Reshiram and Zekrom EX Battle Strength decks in Japan.  Who knows when it will reach America, it could come next month, or it could come in a year.

The card is another item, it lets you search your deck for another Pokemon and put it into your hand.  The catch is that you have to discard 2 cards from your hand.

Analysis-Ladies and Gentlemen, we now have a better Professor Elms Training Method that is in an item form!   This card is better because it is an extra Pokemon Communication that does not require you to have a Pokemon in your hand, but it does require the discard, which is not cool.

Not cool man

Hand size right now is a problem, people already want to play out there hand on most turns, and this will even put more stress on your shrinking hand.  So using this card could be problematic if you either have to use this or Junk Arm, using both of the would be better.  If your deck doesn’t have a great draw enigne, it could be hard to use this card.

But, this format does still does miss cards like Bebe’s Search, Bebe’s was an awesome card and Communication is great, to have more of that power would be great.  I think when all is said and done, I could see this card getting play.  I don’t see 4 in each deck, but a couple in a deck that is high on evolution cards.  Pokemon searching is not fairlydead in the format, especially for non basics, so this card will help a lot.  It will also help you find those hard to get Legend Pieces.  This card could make RDL good again. 

Final Rating-8/10– It is a good card, it will see a lot of play, it could even bring back legend decks.   It will be a good card, and perhaps a staple, but it won’t  be anything extraordinary.

So, that’s all we got today.  How do you wanna end this article Pedro?

Well we can talk about Barry White or John Jacob Astor.  You can pick.

Okay, lets go Barry White.  Cause if I pick Astor, you’ll probably just talk about beaver pelts.

So you do know me Pikkdogs, okay Barry White it is.  What’s your favorite Barry White song?

I like “Can’t Get Enough of Your Love Baby.”

Solid choice, did you know he provided the voice over for the Arby’s commercials.

I didn’t know that Pedro, hey do you wanna go and get some Arby’s?

Sounds good, Roast Beef time, we’re out!

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Category: Pikks Three | Tags: Pokegear 3.0, Potion, Ultra Ball