One Hit KO

A big hello to all you OHKOers out there.  Since we are in the time right before serious testing is about to start for Spring Battle Roads, I thought it would be a good time to do a Pikk Three article.  This is a special Dark Explorers edition of Pikk Three,  we will showcase some of the more interesting cards from the Dark Explorers set that I haven’t talked about yet.

But first, we must bring in Pedro because if we don’t, I think the government will have to start paying him unemployment.  So its easier if we let him speak.  Hey Pedro.

Yo.

Hey Pedro, you have been doing a lot of news articles lately, why don’t you try a this day in history.

Because I don’t know which day it will be published?

Well, just pick a day.

Okay, on this day, May 5th, John T. Scopes was arrested for teaching Darwinism.  What followed was one of the more highly publicized trials of its day.  The trial was nicknamed the Scopes Monkey Trial.  Pikkdogs, you were once on trial for a crime that included monkeys weren’t you?

Well it’s best not to talk about that.

I guess.  Do you like the evolution? 

I’m a skeptic.  I don’t not believe in it, but I’m not 100% sold on it either.  It does make some sense, but then again there are some HUGE holes in it.  Who knows what happened, I wasn’t there.

I don’t much like the evolution talk.  But, when we talk about early man, we can show the picture of Raquel Welch in a fur bikini from the movie “One Million Years B.C.” because that was about early man. 

Okay, show it.

Yep, much better than the Scopes Monkey Trial. 

True, time to get on with the article.

Card #1 Espeon DE.

Description– Espeon is a stage 1 Psychic Pokemon with 90 HP, a 1 retreat cost, and a psychic weakness.  Its Ability is called “Solar Revelation” and it stops all effects of attacks on any of your Pokemon that have energy on them.  The attack is just okay.  It is called “Psy Report” and it does 60 damage for PCC and lets you look at your opponents hand.

Analysis– Since Espeon has had no hype prior to its release, why don’t we go to the stats?  The stats of Espeon are fairly bad.  The one retreat cost is good, but it goes downhill from there.  The weakness is terrible and the HP is terrible.  It is a free prize to almost any deck.

The Ability is what we came here for.  The ability to stop effects of attacks can be great.  There doesn’t seem to be a great reason to use it right now, but this baby sure has potential to be used in the future.  It is a good Ability to have, it reminds me a lot of Pokemon three years ago with Unown G.  Unown G worked as a tool card that did the same thing as Espeon, but it was better since it was a basic Pokemon that didn’t really have to be on the field.

The attack of Espeon is not that great.  Even though I will take a look at my opponent’s hand if you give me a free one, it is not a great thing to do normally.  60 damage is very low in this format, its not even that much if you double it against Mewtwo EX.

So we got the basics out of the way, let’s talk about if we think it will see some play.  I already said that it could have some good uses in the future, which it could.  But, it is hard to really rate based on potential.  I do see some possible play with Mewtwo EX.  If in the near future special conditions rule the format, than Espeon will be a great tech.  Possibly there will be a good paralysis or burn deck out there that works well on EXs.  It does have potential, but its not a great choice right now.

Final Rating– 5.75.  Could be a good card in the future.  Even though you shouldn’t keep it close to you, do not keep it too far away, it could be a good card if the format changes just a little bit.

Card#2- Holligans Jim and Cas

Description– HJC is a supporter card that is very unlike most supporters in the format.  When you play it you get to flip a coin, if you get heads you can choose 3 random cards from your opponent’s hand and have your opponent shuffle them back into the deck.  If you get tails, you get to swear in frustration.

Analysis– This is a very interesting card.  We haven’t had much disruption in the game for about a year, so its nice to see the format get more versatile.

HJC didn’t get any hype before its release, and nobody talked about it being in any deck.  So there’s not much to talk about in this category.

As I mentioned, disruption is not really something we have in this format.  There are a couple cards like Weavile that can do the disruption, but it is yet to prove that it can be a viable deck.  So, the question is; “will HJC be good enough to resurrect disruption?”  While disruption is one of the best strategies in a TCG, I don’t feel that this card is consistent enough.

The problem with this card is not the 3 card max.  Three cards are good.  The problem is also not that you don’t get to see what cards you are sending back, with three chances you have a decent shot of getting something good with the low hand sizes in this format.  The problem is also not that the cards go back in the deck, the discard pile would be better, but just getting it out of the hand is good enough.  The problem is the coin flip.  You have a 50 percent chance of it not working.  In Pokemon you have to have a glass half empty philosophy, you just can’t count on luck to always bail you out.    You need to rely on what will work 100% of the time, not 50%.

So, I think the lack of consistency will hurt this card.  Does that mean that it will not be played?  I don’t think so, other cards have worked that include a coin flip, so its not like all the odds are against HJC.  But, this card just seems to be so all or nothing that it could be hard to get any consistency with it.  If you do want to try it, maybe make a disruption deck that was popular at last year’s nationals (Ambipom and Weavile), and see if the deck is any better now.

Final Rating– 5/10– There is potential here for this card to be better, just not a lot.  I don’t see this card doing well in the near future.

Card #3- Raikou EX

Description– Everybody went cockahoop when I didn’t put Raikou in my ten most impactful cards article.  So, I decided it deserved another look, maybe it is a good card.

It is a basic lightning EX Pokemon with 170 HP, a 1 retreat cost, and a fighting weakness.  The first attack isn’t that great.  “Thunder Fang” does 30 damage for LC and lets you flip a coin, if you get heads you can paralyze the defending.  The second attack is much better. “Volt Bolt” is hard to say 5 times fast, and lets you snipe for 100 and discard all energy attached.

Analysis– There was a small amount of hype when Raikou was announced, but not a whole lot.  Some people thought he could be a good addition to the Zekrom deck.  They didn’t think it was the best ever, but with Skyarrow Bridge and Eelektrik they thought it might work.

Let’s look at the stats.  170 and 1 retreat cost is normal for an EX, not bad.  The fighting weakness could be really bad, but we will have to see if fighting Pokmeon become a big thing.  The attacks aren’t bad, so the stats of this card aren’t that bad.

I do agree that this could be a good card in Zekrom.  The 1 retreat goes well with Skyarrow Bridge if you would want to put it in this deck, that would make up for the discarding.  Of course anything that uses electric energy works well with Eelektrik.  The ability to snipe is something that is always nice to have.  One good thing about this card in Zekrom is that it is fairly splashable.  Using this card wouldn’t screw up consistency or anything like that, it is an easy fit.  Plus, it is always nice to have the ability to paralyze, just in case you run into some weird rogue deck.

The reason that I didn’t include this card in my top 10 list is that I don’t think he will really impact the Zekrom deck at all, and I don’t see him making his own deck.  Players can already play Zapdos, and that has a sniping attack.  So, sniping is not something new in a Zekrom deck, there already is a sniping element there.  Even if you find that Raikou is better than Zapdos, it still doesn’t really change the deck or make it that much better.  The deck may be better with Raikou than without (or may not), but its not going to be that much better.  With or without Raikou the deck will go on and be the same as it always was.

I also do not think that sniping is that important these days.  There are no bench sitters these days, and in the rare event that you do want to hit someone for the bench, you can just run one of those little known cards called Pokemon Catcher.  With Catcher there is no real reason to really want to snipe a lot, it is nice to do it in certain situations, but it could be nice.  I just don’t think that being “nice” is very impactful.

Now, I am not badmouthing Raikou.  I do think that it is a good card.  Doing 100 damage with a 1 retreat is nice.  I could see a couple chain of attacks going on with a couple Raikous and three Eelektrik.  I could see it doing well in Zekrom.  It could be a very successful card, but I just don’t classify it as “impactful.”

 

Final Rating–8/10- It is a decent card, it just doesn’t seem like the best EX out there right now.  There are other options out there like Zekrom EX, he does 50 more damage for his big attack than Zekrom.  So, I would just rather use Zekrom and Pokemon Catcher than Raikou.  The best move for this format may be to add 1 or 2 Raikous to your Zekrom deck, but its not really going to push Zekrom over the top or anything like that.

 

Well, that was another below average article for us.  Why don’t you end it with something exciting Pedro.

Alright, our final bit of news comes from the world of technology.  It seems that scientists and robotics experts in Switzerland have created robots that you can control with your mind.  Apparently, the Swiss scientists are designing these robots so that paralyzed people can still do things like open doors and stuff like that by just using brainwaves.  Do you want a mind controlled robot Pikkdogs?

Of course.  That’s like asking “who wants ice cream?”  Everybody wants ice cream, and everybody wants a mind controlled robot.

What would you do with your mind controlled robot. 

Probably teach him to fight.

Like that Hugh Jackman movie, “Real Steel.”

Love that movie, it was like Rocky but with robots.  And if there was one thing that was missing from Rocky it was giant boxing robots.

Yeah, I think that that movie proved that all movies should have giant fighting robots in it.  Movies are just better with giant robots. 

Yeah,  what if “Gone with the Wind” had robots in it, than whatever that was gone with the wind probably wouldn’t go.

And all those “Sex and the City” movies.  The giant robots can just punch those whiny chicks in the face so we don’t have to hear them be annoying anymore.

Agreed, all movies are better with giant robots.  Good night everybody.

Category: Pikks Three | Tags: Espeon DE, Hooligans Jim and Cass, Raikou EX