One Hit KO

A big hello to everyone in Omar-Nation.  This is Pikkdogs here ready to give you another Pikk Three article.  Of course, the Pikk three articles contain three reviews; one for a popular card, one for an underused card, and one for a card from a new or unreleased set.

I hope you all got to go to at least 1 Pre-Release event.  Even though the Call of Legends Set was not the best, the Pre-Release tournament for this set was amazing.  So now that we have that set in the books, we can start getting our deck choices narrowed down for State/Province/Territory Championships.                            

#1 The Staple-Azelf La

Description-Azelf La has been a widely played card for a while now.  It has been used in most decks since they came out.  It may not be needed for all decks, but its a must play for all decks that run 1 copy of something, like SP decks do.

Azelf has a meager 70 HP, a +20 Psychic Weakness, and a 1 retreat cost.  It has an attack “Lock Up” that does 20 damage for 1 Psychic energy and does not let your opponent retreat next turn.  Its Poke-Power is called, “Time Walk”, and lets you look at your prizes, replace a card from your hand with a Pokemon in the prizes, and re-arrange the prize cards.

Analysis-Azelf does not have great stats.  The retreat isn’t bad, but everything else isn’t that great.  Since it is weak to Psychic, Uxie La can OHKO it with an Expert Bel and 1 “Flash Bite” from Crobat G.  But we don’t use this card for its basic stats.

It’s attack isn’t that great.  It is sometimes useful, but nobody will ever build a deck around this attack, it just isn’t consistent enough.  But we don’t play this card for the attack either.

We play this card for “Time Walk”.  This is a power that lets you do what no other card lets you do, look at your prize cards, get a Pokemon, and re-arrange them.  If you prized a key Pokemon, just use Azelf to get him out.  If you prized 3 of your Cyrus’s Conspiracy just use “Time Walk” and find out where they are, then take it with your next prize.  This card has been around for a while, but its never been stronger then it has been in this format.

This is because now you are allowed to write down where your prize cards are.  So, if you “Time Walk” you can write down on a notepad where all the cards are, then when it is time you can take the prize you want.

This card is great in almost any deck, but I have discovered a great combo card.  If you first play “Time Walk”, you can then play down Rotom Ud and use his Poke-Power to grab the prize card that you need.  Rotom lets you switch the top card of your deck with any prize card, and you can do this once per turn.  It is not a perfect system, but because of this combo all of your prize cards are now open for use.

There are two major drawbacks to this card.  The first is the poor stats, it can be knocked out easily or brought active without an easy way to retreat it.  The second is that “Time Walk” can be Power Sprayed, and once that happens you are unable to use it again.                                                                                                                            

Final Rating– 10/10– An irreplaceable card that lets you run less cards so you can increase consistency.

#2 The Underdog- Bubble Coat

Description– Bubble Coat is a Pokemon Tool Card.  When you attach it to your Active Pokemon, it negates the effect of Weakness.  Bubble Coat gets discarded once the Pokemon it is attached to is damaged.

Analysis– Bubble Coat is an interesting card that is not played too much.  In fact, I have never seen it in a competitive deck, though it does have a lot of uses.

Especially because all new cards now have x2 weakness, Bubble Coat is more needed then ever.  Luxchomp is a deck that can hit for weakness on a lot of different Pokemon.  If you attach Bubble Coat, it may prevent them from taking a prize for one turn, giving you an advantage in a prize race.  It could be used in a lot of decks, like Gyarados, Steelix, and Kingdra.  It is also a trainer card, which means you can get it back to your hand with Junk Arm.

One drawback to this card is that it is a tool card.  Since you cannot have more then 1 tool card attached, you cannot use Bubble Coat and Expert Belt or Energy Gain.

Final Rating– 6/10-This card is easily played around, but gives you a great advantage.  It probably should not be a staple, but it should not be ignored.                                                                                               

#3 The Young Gun Lucario CL

Description– Lucario is a stage 1 Pokemon with 90 HP, a psychic weakness, and 1 retreat cost.  Its first attack. “Dimensional Sphere” does 30 damage plus 20 more for every Pokemon you have in the lost zone for just CC.  Its second attack, “Sky Uppercut”, does 70 damage for FFC.

Analysis– 90 HP is only decent for a Stage 1.  The psychic weakness is terrible against the likes of Gengar and Uxie.  This makes Lucario easy to knock out.  But lucky Lucario can be decent in the attacking department. For just 1 DCE, you can do the magic number of 110 damage if you have 4 Pokemon in the Lost Zone. It also is a fighting type, which means it can hit Luxray Gl Lv.X for weakness.

The easiest way to get Pokemon in the Lost Zone is to use Palkia G Lv. X.  You can combine Palkia G and Lucario with a lot of Pokemon that have good coming into play Poke-Powers like Uxie, Chatot G, Azelf, Mesprit, and Giratina Pt.  You can use Palkia G Lv.X’s “Lost Cyclone” Poke-Power to put 2 of these Pokemon in the Lost Zone.  This way you can use coming into play Poke-Powers, free up your bench, and fuel Lucario’s attack at the same time.  Lucario can also cover Palkia G’s weakness.

The drawback of this Pokemon is that if your Pokemon is playing Lost World, you are making his job very easy.  It also can take a couple of turns to setup Lucario and your Lost Zone.

Final Rating– 6.5/10-Lucario is not a great attacker, but he does okay.  If this card works it will because someone out there can make a good list with Palkia G and Mesprits.  Because of its Fighting Type, Lucario may be just what Palkia G needs to give Palkia Lock the comeback it needs.

Well, thats it for this edition of Pikkdogs Pikks Three.  We invite you to put your own reviews in the comment box, to tell us what you think of these cards.

So long and thanks for all the fish.

Category: Pikks Three | Tags: Azelf La, Bubble Coat, Lucario CL