The Top 10 Impactful Cards of HS: Triumphant.

by Pikkdogs ~ October 28th, 2010.

Hello to all members of Omar-Nation.  This is Pikkdogs here bringing you the top 10 cards of the new Triumphant set.  I have ranked them from 10 to 1, but these ranking aren’t that official.  It is really hard to rank cards that aren’t released yet, so the rankings are just a fun thing and aren’t very official.  So, now we got that away, lets get into the list.

#10- Nidoking

Coming in at #10 is Nidoking.  This card has a lot of upside, but may be a little slow for this format.

It has 140 HP, a lightning resistance, and the “Pheromone Stamina” Poke-Body that gives it an extra 20 HP for every Nidoqueen you have in play.   When you combine Nidoking with Nidoqueen RR, you not only get +20 HP but you heal 1 damage counter each turn because of NidoQueen’s “Maternal Comfort” Poke-Body.  If you add an expert belt and have 3 NidoQueens in play, Nidoking would have 220 HP.  It’s attack also isnt bad, for FFCC “Venomous Horn” does 80 damage and poisons the defending Pokemon. The high HP and lightning resistance will make it hard for any LuxChomp deck to knock out a Nidoking.

But as mentioned, it can be a little slow.  It’s attack costs 4 energies (or 3 if one is Double Colorless) which is possible to load up on Nidoking, but it might cause you to sacrifice some prizes.  And  in this quick 30 +3 format, it could be hard to make a comeback within the time limit.  Also, with out Claydol Ge, it will be hard to get out a Nidoking and have a bench full of NidoQueens. It also has a x2 water weakness, which could be problematic with Gyarados SF is as popular as some experts say it will be.  And finally, Dialga G Lv.X can shut off all Pokebodies, making Nidoking a lot less intimidating.

This deck could be good if the deck gets some new draw power, but until then it can be hard to get the deck fully set up.

#9- Victreebel

Like Nidoking, Victreebel is a stage 2 Pokemon with a lot of upside and a lack of support.

The main draw of Victreebel is its Poke-Body “Tangling Tendrils” which adds CC to the retreat cost of the defending Pokemon when Victreebel is active.  It works well with its attack “Acidic Drain” that does 30 damage for GC, poisons and burns the defending Pokemon, and heals three damage counters from Victreebel.  A good combo with this card is Vileplume UD which cuts off the use of all trainers.  This means that SP Pokemon will find it very hard to retreat and find that its Poketurns are no good.

The drawback of this card is that it lacks a little punch.  Its attack only does 30 damage, so a player would have to rely on poison and burn damage to do damage.  It also has a high retreat cost, a relatively low 110 HP, and a x2 weakness to fire.  The weakness could be a problem with Blaziken FB being included in most Luxchomp decks.

Victreebell is an interesting card, but it seems to fall a little short in the current format.  I wouldn’t make a deck featuring it just yet, but it definitely is in the back of my mind next to my high school locker combination and the Konami Code.

#8- Solrock

One interesting card that didn’t get much hype until the release of the set was Solrock.  Solrock could be a great SP counter used in a deck to counter Garchomp C.

One of the more frustrating aspects of playing against SP decks is when you stack up a lot of damage to a lot of their Pokemon, and they retreat for Garchomp C, level him up, and use “Healing Breath” to knock away all of the damage counters. This strategy will not work if you play Solrock and a Lunatone.  This is because the new Solrock has a Poke-Body named “Heal-Block”, which of course prevents any taking away of damage counters.  It is great because SP decks won’t be able to use “Healing Breath” and Steelix decks won’t  be able to heal their 140 HP tank.

Of course there are drawbacks to this Solrock.  Not only do you have to have Solrock in play, you also have to have Lunatone in play.  And, In this format where it is necessary to drop 2-3 uxies a game, bench space is prime real estate.  Also, Dialga G Lv.X will be able to shut off this Poke-Body.

No decks come to mind that Solrock and Lunatone can go into right away.  Most decks have their benches fairly full and well try other SP counters instead of this one.  So put this one back in the back of your mind and be ready to pull it out later when you find a good combo.

#7- Mew Prime

Our first Prime on the top 10 countdown is also a card that has a great upside, but doesn’t fit right into the metagame just yet.

Mew Prime has one of the very best Poke-Bodies in the game right now.  It is called “Lost Link”, and it lets Mew use any attacks of any Pokemon in any players Lost Zone.  So if you don’t want to build up a stage 2, just throw him in the lost zone and have mew use his attack.  The combo’s and uses of Mew Prime and endless and ever expanding, but one of the most ingenious uses is as a Gyarados Sf replacement.  All you would have to do is run 1 Gyarados, throw it in the lost zone and 4 magikarps in the discard pile, and you can use “Tail Revenge” for 120 damage.

The drawback of Mew Prime is his pitiful HP.  He only has 60 HP and a x2 psychic weakness.  This means that even a belted Uxie can OHKO Mew.  Another drawback is the fact that Mew still has to pay for any attack in the lost zone, so that means be prepared to run a lot of different energies.  And, if lost zone ever comes into the format, your opponent can just play that stadium card and win, if you have 5 Pokemon in the lost zone.  The final drawback is the old Dialga G Lv.X drawback, nuff said.

#6-  Rescue Energy

Now that we have reviewed four cards that are are on the brink of being good, we can get down to the 6 cards that actually are good.  The first is Rescue Energy.

Rescue Energy is good for a simple reason, it works almost all the time.  It lets you bring a knocked out Pokemon back to your hand, if Rescue Energy was attached to that Pokemon.  It also provides 1 unit of colorless energy.  Another great thing about this card is that you can fit it into almost any deck.  Besides some weird tanking decks like Steelix, it can fit into almost any deck and do a good job.  But it can do a great job in some specific decks, like gyarados sf.  It is great for Gyarados because Gyarados doesn’t need energy, so you wont be wasting an energy attachment.  It is also good because Gyarados deck sometimes have a hard time recovering from a knockout, this card stops all that.   It can make an impact in any deck now, and has a few decks that it works great in.  Sounds like a good card to me.

There aren’t many drawbacks to this card.  The only one being is that there are some cards that don’t have a colorless energy requirement (like Kingdra) so it can be a little harder to work in.  And it is a special energy, so Scizor Prime would love you to run this card against him.

#5-  Yanmega Prime

I might have surprised a lot of people by ranking this card so high.  But, with the metagame the way it is, Yanmega is a great and versatile card.

At first, Yanmega Prime seems to be just another “ok” card.  It can snipe for 40 for two energies.  And attack for 70 for three energies.  But, it is an extraordinary card for its Poke-Body, Insight, that lets you ignore the cost for an attack as long as you have the same cards in your hand as your opponent does.  In the last format, this Poke-Body would have just been okay, but now with the format change you and your opponent are likely to have similar cards anyway.  More and more decks are starting to rely on a supporter draw engine, and two of the better supporters, Judge and Copycat, allow you to equal your hand with your opponent.  So now, it would not be a terrible decision to add in to any deck a 1-1 Yanmega prime line, if you run a judge or copycat heavy deck.  He can fit into almost any deck, but I have also seen a deck built around him.  I played that deck a couple times and I never once saw it having trouble getting our hand’s equalized.  It may not be the desk deck, but it did easily beat my trainer lock deck.  Yanmega also has a fighting resistance which is great for donphan and all forms of Machamp.

It seems like every good card from this set has a Poke-Body, which can be turned off with Dialga G Lv.x.  So that is the main drawback of this card.  And, sniping for 40 damage and dealing 70 damage aren’t game changing damage outputs, so there is a ceiling on this card.  The lightning weakness on this card does make it easy for Luxray Gl to knock it out.

The jury is still out on this card, but it has a lot of potential.  I could see it going into a chenlock like deck very easily, it already runs a lot of judges.  It could be the replacement to Honchkrow SV.  It doesn’t have the damage output of Honchkrow, but it would be a lot easier to get out.

#4- Junk Arm

This is one of the most hyped cards from the set, the card is said to be good enough to carry Gyarados on its back into prominence.  It is a trainer that has a simple effect, discard 2 cards from your hand and put into your hand a trainer from your discard pile besides junk arm.

It doesn’t seem that good of a card, exchange 2 cards for 1, but it has a great use in a Gyarados SF deck.  This deck needs to discard 3 Magikarps quickly, the only real way to do this is to use Regice.  The problem with Regice is it can be sprayed.  Now, Junk Arm can’t be sprayed, and it doesn’t use a supporter spot.  I also think Junk Arm can be used in an SP deck or a porygon z promo deck.  Because it can get back very useful to get trainer cards back.

The downside of this card is that its useless during trainer lock.  I predict that trainer lock will not get as much play from here-out, as it did during battle roads, so it shouldn’t be that much of a problem.  Another downside is that it will be hard to discard two cards from your hand early on, now that our draw-engine is not as effective as it was under Claydol.

Much like Yanmega Prime, the jury is still out on Junk Arm. It has the potential to bring back gyarados and make it better then ever.  But, it could also force gyarados players to screw around with the deck and it make it less consistent then it was before,  Junk arm will probably be a good card, but I do think it has been a tad over hyped.

#3- Seeker

Now we are getting into the top 3 format changing cards in this set.  These cards are the cream of the crop, and you will be seeing them in prominent decks during Cities.  The first is Seeker.  It is a supporter that forces each player to pick up 1 of their benched Pokemon.

A sure Super Scoop Up.  We have been waiting for this card for a while.  This card has so many uses, it will be hard to think of them all.  One use is for healing, if you have a damaged Pokemon, just retreat it and use Seeker to remove the damage counters on it, and then lay it back down again.  The second use is for re-using Powers.  Do you need to re-use that Uxie?  Just use Seeker and pick it up and play it down again.  Did you use Azelf’s time walk only to find that two of you Magikarps are prized?  Just use Seeker to use Time Walk two times and get the other Karp.  Seeker is also a perfect combo with Gengar Prime, which will be talked about soon.  It is also beneficial at times to make your opponent pick up one of their benched Pokemon, Seeker can do that too.  This card is so versatile we will have to wait until people start putting it into their decks and use it in a lot of cool ways, for us to know how many uses it does have.

The main drawback of this card is that it takes up your supporter spot for the turn.  So, you can’t use Seeker and Bebes Search, or whatever supporter you were going to use.

I think Seeker is a great card that will be put into almost every deck.  It is very versatile and will allow you to get out of some tight situations.

#2- Gengar Prime

Believe it or not, some people will believe that I have under-rated Gengar at #2.  It has received a lot of hype since early this summer when the card first came out in Japan.   For me, Gengar Prime is a great card that used to be an awesome card before Lost World was cut from the set.  Nobody knows the fate of Lost World, I do think it will eventually come out.  Because the new set will be Black and White and will not be released for several months.  So I think TPCI has saved a couple cards from the last set, that will be released in a month or so in a theme deck like thing.

Gengar Prime’s fate is tied to that of Lost World.  But to get away from that for a while, by itself, Gengar Prime is still a good card.  Its first attack called “Hurl Into Darkness” doesn’t do any damage but allow you to look at your opponents hand and put as many Pokemon cards in the lost zone that are in your opponents hand, as you have psychic energies attached to Gengar.  Although it does no damage, it can be devastating to put a magikarp in the discard pile, or a garchomp C lv.x, or a Luxray Gl Lv.X.  This attack can be paired with Seeker, so you always know you will have something in your opponents hand.  Gengar Prime’s Poke-Body is also nice, any Pokemon that is knocked out white Gengar is active, goes in the Lost Zone instead of the discard pile.

Gengar does have some drawbacks.  It has a x2 dark weakness, so Umbreon, Mightyena, and Honchkrow will love to see this guy.  Gengar also has no fire power, its best attack only places 4 damage counters.  So if you wanna knock out some Pokemon, don’t rely solely on Gengar Prime.  There are also a lack of combos.  Gengar Prime can fit into a trainerlock deck easily, but Gengar Prime isn’t Gengar SF, so it is different and has different combos, it just doesn’t fit in as well as one would think.  If Lost Zone does come into a format, Gengar Prime will be a devastating Pokemon that you can put into a speed deck.

Gengar Prime is a great card and has a lot of potential, but I think the card can still fall on its face.  The best players in the game love this card, and say that is great, but Im not sold yet.  It has a boatload of potential, but the question is, is it good enough to get the best players in the game to stop playing SP?  As of right now I don’t think so.

#1- Machamp Prime

Yes, the top card on my countdown is the monster we all call Machamp Prime.

Machamp has 150 HP and two devastating attacks. For FCC Crunching Punch does 60 and allows you to discard a special energy card from the defending Pokemon.  Its an amazing effect because you can only run 4 special energies and can not get them back once they are discarded. The effect won’t work in most cases, but when it does work it is devastating.  And Champ Buster does 100 damage plus 10 more for each Pokemon you have on your bench that has damage counters on it, for FFCC.  What makes these attacks better is the “Fighting Tag” Poke-Body that allows you to switch machamp prime with the active Pokemon and all the fighting energy cards on that Pokemon go to Machamp Prime.  There are two great combos to this card.  One is with the old school sf machamp.  Straight Machamp is a great deck that just needs a little help late game, this is where Machamp Prime comes in.  He can enter the game late game and do some damage where the SF one cannot.  But, the best combo is with Donphan.  Take your favorite Donkphan list take away a 1-1 Donphan line and a couple trainers, then add in a 3-1-3 line with at least one machamp prime and one machamp sf, with two DCE.  Once you do earthquake a couple times with Donphan, lay down Machamp Prime attach a DCE use “Fighting Tag” and prepare to do 150 damage this turn.  It could be a great deck that is hard to take out.  SP decks will have a hard time beating it if they don’t disrupt the setup.

The main drawback of Machamp is the psychic weakness.  Even the Machamp Lv.X didn’t have a a x2 weakness, but this does.  It can’t be OHKO’d by Uxie Lv.X, but its pretty close.  “Fighting Tag” can also be power-sprayed, which will be devastating but not game changing.

I think Machamp Prime is a great card that will be quite a contender during the Cities tournaments.  There will be many different versions of this deck at Cities and Im anxious to see what will deck will be better.

Honorable Mentions:
11. Twins – great card but only useable at times, not enough consistency
12. Black Belt – see twins
13. Magnezone Prime – Great card and great draw engine, but is a little too slow and doesn’t really attack for enough. Could possibly be a good card later.

So thats what I think of this set.  If you have any comments on this set, or want to rank your won top 10, please do it in the comment box.  Thanks Guys!  So long and thanks for all the fish!

Category: Card Discussion | Tags: , ,