One Hit KO

A big hello to all you OHKOers out there.  This is Pikkdogs here with a Pikk Three article for you.  I also brought along my sidekick Pedro. 

Well I expected to have the scans for the new Noble Victories set to be up by now, but as the time that I am writing this article, we know nothing about the set.  We don’t even have a leaked set list or anything.  The first pre-releases are just a little over a day away, so i am pretty ticked that we don’t have any news about the set to share with you.  But, that’s not on us, that is on the people who have opened their boxes and decided not to share with us.  

Anyway Pedro, do you have any good news for us?

Nope no news, I guess everyone else in the Pokemon world took the week off.  The last time you wrote you were feeling sick.  Are you feeling any better Pikkdogs?

Well, I do feel a lot better, but I still got the sneezing and for a couple days I have been hacking up something pretty fierce. 

More information than we wanted to know.  I guess that syphilis takes a while to take care of. 

I don’t have syphilis.  It’s just a cold. 

Not syphilis hey?  That’s weird I thought you would have caught something like that by now.  Have the bubos came out yet? 

I don’t have the bubonic plague either.  I told you just the common cold.   Can’t I just have the cold?  

Well I guess since you are a common Pokemon player, you can have the common cold. 

Yes, thank-you, let’s go onto the article.  A Pikk Three Article is like a big card of the day article.  I review three cards, one that is commonly used, one that I think is under-used, and one that is from a new or yet un-released set. 

Card#1 The Staple-Cinccino BW

Description– Cinccino is a stage 1 Pokemon with 90 HP, a one retreat cost, and a weakness to Fighting. Its first attack costs 1 energy and let’s you flip two coins, and then do 20 damage times the number of heads.  Its second attack, “Do the Wave,” costs CC, and does 20 damage times the number of Pokemon on your bench.   

Analysis– Cinccino does not have the most solid stats out there.  90 HP is bad for a stage 1.  A 1 retreat is great, but somewhat dissapointing for such a small Pokemon, and the first attack just plain stinks.  But it is saved by the great 2nd attack.  The ability to pull 100 damage out of nowhere for just 1 DCE is pretty cool. 

Cinccino does not have a long play history.  It was released in BW and did not receive a lot of play when it first came out.  It did see a little play in some rogue Jumpluff decks, but that deck was not very competitive.  Its most successful play came in BR season this year when it was paired with other Stage 1 Pokemon in a Stage 1 Variant that some people call YMCA.  Pedro, what does YMCA stand for? 

Young Men’s Christian Association.

Not that YMCA, the Pokemon one.

Well it stands for Yanmega Prime, Mew Prime, Cinccino, and Alcohol. 

Are you sure about Alcohol?

I’m always sure about Alcohol. 

Okay, let’s get back to the topic here.  It is seeing play in stage 1 decks.  The problem is that it is pretty feeble, and pretty useless when you match up against Donphan Prime. 

But, the febbleness of Cinccino has not kept it from doing well.  It came out of the BR season with a fair number of wins and will be a hot contender going into Fall Regionals.  It is still a really fast hard hitting card. 

Review–8.5/10– Not a perfect card, and there are drawbacks.  But I will never pass up an easy 100 damage. 

Card #2 The Underdog- Porygon Z

Description– I couldn’t think of a good Underdog for today, so I found a card that might be a good tech card somewhere down the line.  Porygon Z is a stage 2 Pokemon with 110 HP, a fighting weakness, and a 2 retreat cost.  It has the “Dimension Transfer” Poke-Power, which let’s you put a trainer from your discard pile to the top of your deck, if you get heads on a coin flip.  Its attack does 80 damage and 20 damage to Porygon Z (unless it has a Rainbow Energy attached), and costs CCC. 

Analysis– 80 damage for CCC is not bad, that is what Tornadus does.  The difference here is Tornadus is a basic, and Porygon is a hefty Stage 2.  And 110 is pretty bad for a Stage 2.  So the only saving grace might be the Poke-Power.  This Poke-Power and cards like Good Rod and Recycle are the only way to get a Junk Arm back from the discard pile. and it can be great to have a Junk Arm back.  So Porygon Z does have some upside to it.  It is nice to be able to get trainers back for a coin flip.  If the right situation poped up, I could see it being a tech card.

The problem is that Porygon has a lot of bad things about it.  It can be OHKOed by almost anything given the right situation, and you only get the trainer from the discard pile to your deck and not your hand.  So combine that with the hefty retreat cost, and you come up with a Pokemon that doesn’t seem to be worth the trouble.

Review– 5/10- I do see this being a possible tech in the future, just not right now.  There are good upsides to Porygon, but the conditions are not right at this moment. 

Card #3- The Young Gun- Super Rod

Description– Super Rod is a card that will probably come out in our Noble Victories set.  It has the Night Maintenance like effect, you can shuffle 3 Pokemon and Basic Energy cards from your discard pile to your deck. 

Analysis– Ever since Night Maintenance left the format, the format has been missing some quick recovery.  Sure there is Flowershop Lady and there was Palmer’s Contribution, but none were as fast as the trainer Night Maintenance.  But now NM gets a re-print with Super Rod. 

Super Rod.  That’s a funny name for a card.  If you want a Super Rod-################################################################ (the proceeding text was a comment edited for content.)

Hey, you guys can’t edit me.

I guess we can, I guess you will just have to save your Super Rod story for another time.  That is quite a flithy name for a card, though.  I sometimes wonder if Nintendo has ever heard of a double entendre.  I know its impossible for everything not to be flithy in some langauge, but adding Rod into the name of a card is just asking for trouble.   

I think Super Rod will hit the ground running.  It will take up where NM left off.  I think it could be a staple from day one.  Every deck will probably want to run 1 of it, and since it is an item, it can be Junk Armed for later use.  If i play Donphan and Dragons again, I know that I would love to play it with this card, it will make things go much more smoothly.  It combo’s well with Pokemon Collector, just get 3 Pokemon with Super Rod, and then use Collector to get them back to your hand.  That one two punch is a great trick to use against Pokemon Catcher heavy decks. 

While there are always downsides of a card like this (you always seem to start with it, it can’t be used under an item lock), the benefits greatly out weight the risks. 

Review– 8/10– Probably a staple from day one. 

Well that’s all we got today Pedro. 

That’s all? That was a pretty short article.

Well, I was waiting for some scans of the new set, but people are not being very nice right now, and aren’t telling us a darn thing about the set.  So I couldn’t write a good preview of the new set. So I just threw this together at the last moment.

So that’s you excuse for the bad article this week.  That and your mononucleosis.

I don’t have mono, just a little cold. 

When will you just come out and admit that you have an STD?

I don’t have an STD!

Well, I guess it won’t be today.  Good night everybody. 

Category: Pikks Three | Tags: Cinccino, Porygon Z, Super Rod, YMCA