One Hit KO

A big hello to all you OHKOers out there.  This is Pikkdogs here with my quarterly review of the next set.  I usually review the set by taking a look at the top 10 cards that will have an impact on the current format, and this set is no different.

This set is a very impactful one.  This set givs us a card that might dominate the format, and a bunch of other cards that are really good.  We even got some trainers, stadium cards, and special energies.  This set will shape what will be played at the top tables at States, though, it may not be to the extent that we currently think.  Before we start the countdown, let us welcome Pedro to the conversation.  How’s Pedro doing today?

Doing well.

Do you got any news for us today?

Well, not too much going on. February 8th is when you can start buying Next Destinies packs from the stores.  February 8th is also a holiday, it is National Kite Flying Day. 

So if you don’t pull a Mewtwo EX, you can go fly a kite.

Exactly,

10.  Amoongus

This was a very tough spot to award.  I could have easily given this to Shaymin EX, Chandelure, or the new Vanilluxe.  I also could have given it to EXP Share or Prism Energy.   But, I decided I would go rogue on this one and talk about a card that nobody is talking about. It probably will not make that much of an effect as something like Shaymin EX, but do I look like I care?

Amoongus is a stage 1 Grass Pokemon with 90 HP, a 2 retreat cost, a fire weakness, and a water resistance.  It has the “Rising Lunge” attack, which does 20 damage for GC and let’s you flip a coin.  If you get heads the attack does 30 more damage, and if you get tails you have to sing “Waltzing Matilda.”  Well, maybe you don’t have to sing, but that part about the 30 more damage is right.  The reason I like this card is the Ability, “Sporprise”.  Besides being a bad pun, this ability let’s you confuse and poison the defending Pokemon once you evolve Foongus.

I love this attack for a couple reasons.  One reason is that it works well with Leafeon.  Leafeon has the “Miasma Wind” attack that let’s you do 50 damage for each special condition on the defending Pokemon.  This means that you can do 100 damage for just 1 energy with one “Sporprise”.  Another good thing about this deck is that Espeon Prime can copy Leafeons attack, and hit Mewtwo EX for weakness.  Another reason I like Amoongus is that it brings special conditions to these big EX cards.  Because Amoongus works with Vileplume fairly well, confusion can be a hard thing to get rid of.  Confusion will stop your opponent about half of the time, and poison and confusion damage gets around Eviolite.

This is still a very rogue idea and it will probably not turn into much more than a cool cheap rogue deck, but I could see a couple younger players playing this deck.  You would just need a 4-4 L;eafeon line,with 4-4 Amoongus, 1 or 2 Espeon Primes, a 2-2 Sunfla line, and a Vileplume line.  Throw some Seekers into that baby and it shouldn’t be the worst deck in the world.

Will it have a great impact on the State’s format?  Probably not much, at best it will have a small rogue following.  Will it have an impact on future formats?  Probably not, but I do see it as a good rogue choice from now on in several rogue decks.

9.  Zekrom EX

The first EX on our list is Zekrom.  Next Destinies is a set that is filled with a ton of great EX’s.

More than a ton actually, about 3,404 pounds of great EX’s based on their Pokedex entries.

Are you telling me that you did research for this article?

A little.

And you counted?

A little.

I’m afraid I am committed to keeping this website crap, I will have none of that researching going on.  Plus, you are making me look bad.  Let’s just go on.  As mentioned, Zekrom is the first EX Pokemon on this list.  Zekrom has 180 HP, a fighting weakness and a three retreat cost.  Its first attack, “Glinting Claw”, does 50 damage plus a coin flip.  If you get heads on that coin flip you can do 30 more damage.  “Strong Bolt” costs LLCC and does 150 damage.  The attack also forces you to discard 2 energy cards.

150 damage for 2 energies is pretty good, and his first attack is probably the best first attack of the trio.  This card can go straight into the Zekrom deck and make an impact.  I don’t really see it making it into its own deck, or making the Zekrom deck a whole lot better, but it does make the deck a little better.

Zekrom EX joins the other members of the energy trio as an EX Pokemon.  All of these cards are very similar.  They are all really good cards, the difference is the support that each Pokemon has.  Reshiram has Typhlosion and Emboar for energy acceleration, and Kyurem has Blastoise.  Zekrom doesn’t really have anybody.  Sure you can still use Pachirisu and Shaymin, or Shaymin and Eeelektrik.  Those combos do work, but since Zekrom now needs 4 energies to attack, it is harder to get Zekrom loaded up with these methods.

The reason Zekrom is so low on this list is because of the weakness.  Water Pokemon and Metal Pokemon are around a little bit for Reshiram and Kyurem, but it seems that it is a lot easier to hit Zekrom for weakness than it is to hit the others.  Donphan Prime is still around and can make easy work of this dragon for 2 prizes.  Plus, Landorus and Terrakion from NV are great cards and can OHKO Zekrom easily.  Sure, these cards are not really splashable, but they are popular enough that they will prevent a lot of people from playing Zekrom.

Will this card have an impact on this format?  I could see it making the Zekrom deck better, and possibly seeing play in a Ross Type deck.  So it could very well have a fairly large impact on the format.  However, he seems just too easy to counter.  If you want to do 150 damage, I would try Reshiram EX.

8.  Sky Arrow Bridge

I talked about this card in a Pikk Three article, and it has received a lot of hype since.  This card is a stadium card that let’s you decrease the retreat cost of each basic Pokemon by one.  This gives free retreat to Celebi Prime and Smeragle, among others.

Taking away something from a retreat cost is always great, but this card is great for a couple reasons.  The first reason is that there are a lot of BBP (Big Basic Pokemon) in this format.  One of the big thing about the BBP is that they high retreat cost.  This fact is almost negated when you play Sky Arrow Bridge, now your Six Corners deck just got a couple more free retreaters, and if you have to retreat with a high retreat Pokemon, it will not be the end of the world.  This card just makes the BBP that much better, and that is scary considering how good they already were.  The second reason that this card is good is because it comes at a time in which it has very little stadium competition.  Almost all decks can squeeze in 2 of these cards, because they don’t run any other stadium cards.  Because there are not a lot of stadium cards out right now, this card is less likely to get replaced by another stadium card during a game.  That always makes things better, because this card does you no good in the discard pile.

The most talked about use for this card is putting it in a deck with Mewtwo EX and Celebi Prime.  Celebi can let you attach more energy to Mewtwo, then you can retreat for free, and attack.  It sounds like a good strategy and it seems to work, but only time will tell if it takes off for states.

I for one do not love this card.  I think it is foolish to rely so much on hitting a stadium card so early in the game.  If you don’t find this card quickly, Celebi will be stuck active, and your quick deck becomes very slow.  You will need to run 4 copies of this card to get it early, and this will limit you in the amount of techs you can run.  It will also force you to dead draw up to 3 times a game, there are just a lot of drawbacks to this card that people are not talking about.

Will it be impactful?  Sure, people will play it in good decks.  The decks will be good and probably win, I’m not sure that the decks will be good because of Skyarrow Bridge, but that card will probably be in the deck.  I don’t think you can rely on getting this card early in a big tournament, a deck that runs because of this card will be pretty inconsistent. But, I could be wrong.  And, it will be used in decks whether you rely on it or not.

7.  Musharna

This card should perhaps be higher in the list, then again, perhaps it shouldn’t be in this list at all.  It is Musharna, the new, and possibly worse, Uxie Lv.X.  He has 100 HP and a 3 retreat cost.  The HP is good because it is not an easy prize to anyone else than Mewtwo.  The bad thing is the retreat cost, you would either need to play a lot of Switches or Vileplume if you wanna play this card.

Most of us have played this game long enough that we remember Uxie Lv.X.  Sure it wasn’t half as good as Uxie, or mentionable in the same sentence as Claydol, but it was a good card.  Musharna is like a bad Uxie X.  He is worse because the card you don’t take from the top of your deck goes back on the top of your deck.  Its always nice to take something you don’t want and exile it to the bottom of your deck.  Maybe you can use Research Records to make the most of Musharna.  Just remember Musharna is like Uxie X, not Uxie or Claydol.  Its not that powerful of a draw engine. 

The bad thing about this card is of course the retreat cost.  It is so bad that I probably wouldn’t play this card without Vileplume.  Not only is his retreat cost bad, but Munna  can be deadly if he starts the game, since he has a 2 retreat cost.  So this guy is only for Vileplume decks, the good thing is that Vileplume is a very playable card.  Musharna will be a card is easily splashable into a Vileplume deck because he works well with a 1-1 line.  These decks will probably already play Twins, so it will be easy to setup Musharna once the rest of the deck is setup.

If it gets the play I think it will, it still won’t be an awesome card.  But, I do think it can be a very good card.  It needs the right situation, but it could be impactful. Ross Decks will get a lot of push with these new EX tanks, and this card is a good compliment to any Ross Deck.  It should be fairly impactful.

6. Regigigas EX

Yes, we finally have a copy of the Colossal Pokemon in the format.  Regigigas is like the Andre the Giant of Pokemon, quite a big guy that can pack a punch.  When I first saw this Pokemon I fell in love with the card, but I then thought better or my initial reaction.  Let’s take one more look at this guy to see if he is really that good.

He has 180 HP, a 4 retreat cost, and a fighting weakness.  His first attack, “Giga Power”, does 60 damage for CCC, or 80 damaged and 20 to Gigas.  The second attack, Raging Hammer, does 50 damage plus 10 for each damage counter on Gigas, for CCCC.  The first attack is pretty good, and it does work well with the second attack.  The second attack seems like a super powered “Outrage”.  “Outrage” is one of the best attacks in the format, but it maxes out at 140 damage.  “Raging Hammer” doesn’t max out until it gets to 220 damage!

But, does a rage attack really work with an EX?  The thing about “Outrage” was that you could attack with “Blue Flare” or “Bolt Strike”, take a hit, return the hit with “Outrage”, and then get knocked out next turn.  That meant you were trading 1 prize for two.  With an EX, you will probably be trading 2 prizes for 2, which is not a great thing to plan for.

The big drawback about this card is fighting weakness, just as it plagued Zekrom EX, it will plague this card.  The fighting Pokemon will be out to get this card, but if can’t get the OHKO, “Raging Hammer” will hit them hard.

This card is being talked about in its own deck, and in a Ross Deck.  I can’t really see it working by itself right now, though it could, but it does work well with Ross.  It will be really hard to knock this guy out, and he is the perfect Pokemon to be used when Reuniclus is around.  I also love the colorless energy requirements, this means that DCE works great with him.  He also can use energy acceleration from Pachirisu and other sources.  It should be great in a Ross Deck, as long as you also run a Donphan and Terrakion counter.

So will this card see any play soon and make an impact?  That is really hard to say.  I think it will see some rogue play, as well as play in Ross.  I don’t think that it will dominate the format, but it should make a decent impact, if no other reason that the Full Art is really cool.

5.  Cilan

Cilan is the only supporter in this set.  It lets you grab 3 basic energy from your deck and put it into your hand.

The fragmentation of Roseanne’s Research is now complete.  Those who have enjoyed this game for a little while will remember using Roseanne’s to get basic Pokemon and energy.  First Pokemon Collector was printed, and then Nintendo let Roseanne’s Research rotate out, and it has been hard to get energy out of the deck.  Now it is no longer hard, just use Cilan and you get 3 energies.

The bad thing about getting 3 energies is you can only attach one per turn, and the others can be returned to your deck with a Judge or an N by your opponent.  The good thing about this card is that it works perfectly with Blastoise and Emboar.  Cilan makes Emboar a lot better since you can now power-up Reshiram in just one turn.  Cilan can also be used as a part of a draw engine with Emboar and promo Shuckle.  This card just makes Emboar that much better.  Emboar is a versatile card that can be used with Reshiram, Magenzone Prime, RDL, and a whole lot of other Pokemon.

Another bad part about this card is that you will probably need to run 3 copies of this card, and there is no way to get this card back from the discard pile (consistently anyway).  If VS Seeker was still in the format, this card would be aweseome.  But, it is not, and this card is still a good card without it.

So will it have an impact?  I think it will have an immediate impact.  I think it will be a kind of staple, with 1 or 2 being in almost every deck.  It will also have the impact of bringing Emboar back into the format.  It may not restore Emboar to the dominate spot that it held during last year’s nationals, but it will bring it back for a while anyway.  It should be a popular card for States.

4.  The Balls

Pedro, what is next on our list?

Balls

Yes, that’s right. Balls.  #4 on the list is a pair of balls.  Level Ball and Heavy Ball, to be exact.  I know these are two seperate cards, but I combined them into one category because I can. 

They are both item cards.  Level Ball lets you search your deck for any Pokemon with 90 HP or fewer, and put that card into your hand.  Heavy Ball lets you search your deck for a Pokemon with 3 retreat cost or more, and put that Pokemon into your hand.  These cards are very similar, but mostly work on different Pokemon

Level Ball is really good for basics in an evolution deck, and for getting low HP stage 1’s like Sunflora and Eelektrik.  Heavy Ball is best for getting the big hitters like the new EX Pokemon, as well as cards like Magnezone Prime, Donphan Prime, and Emboar. 

They are not perfect cards.  Most decks have cards that are retrieveable by both balls, and some cards that are not retrieveable by any balls.  So it can be hard to find consistency.

But, I do really like these cards and their impact on the format.  Level Ball is a nice sub for Dual Ball, since Dual Ball could net you 0 Pokmeon.  It doesn’t work on every basic, but it does in most evolution decks anyway.  It works well in the low HP grass decks, and works well with Eelektrik.  Heavy Ball is a great substitute for Pokemon Communication.  In decks like Donphan and Dragons, Communication is basically only used for Donphan.  Now you can use heavy ball instead, and you never need to send a Pokemon to the deck.  It doesn’t fit perfectly in every deck, but in certain decks it can be a very nice card. 

So are the balls going to be impactful?  I think they will be.  I can see them getting a lot of play right away.  Will they make any Pokemon more playable?  Probably not.  Will they be more than just a replacement for a card like Dual Ball? Maybe, but probably no.  But, I do think they will upgrade the consistency in most decks, and that will add to the overall enjoyability of the game.  These cards won’t be exactly staples, but they will be common cards, kind of like Duall Ball. 

Did you put these two cards together just so you could refer to them as “the balls”?

Maybe.

3.   Kyurem EX

Now we are getting close to the end of the list, it will be all EX Pokemon from here on out.  The first member of the top three is Kyurem EX.  Like the other of his trio, Kyurem has 180 HP and a 3 retreat cost.  Kyurem probably has the best weakness, metal.  It’s first attak is the most disruptive of the three first attacks.  For WCC, “Frozen Wings” does 60 and discards a Special Energy card from the defending Pokemon.  Its second attack, “Hail Blizzard:, does 120 damage for WWCC, and Kyurem cannot use this attack next turn.  This is the most underpowered of the three second attacks, but it probably has the best effect.  You don’t need to damage yourself or discard energies, you just can’t use this big attack next turn.  You can get around this effect fairly easily by using Switch, or maybe something like Vanilluxe’s “Slipper Soul’s” ability. 

 I do like Kyurem EX.  The first attack is actually really good, discarding energy is super good in this format with low energy counts and low draw power.  I wish that the second attack had all of the damage that the other dragons can dish out, but certainly nobody is hating on 120 damage.  150 damage doesn’t OHKO an EX anyway.  The metal weakness is very good, that means the only Pokemon you have to watch out for is Cobalion.  Weakness is super important for EX Pokemon because it is the only way to OHKO them, so to have a rare weakness is a huge advantage. 

This card has been receieving the most hype in a Ross Deck.  Although I love Gigas EX, I have to say that Kyurem makes the most sense here.  Although it doesn’t have the attack power that the other EX’s do, it has a lot of HP and a rare weakness.  If you get setup and your opponent does not play any metal Pokemon, it will be very very hard for your oppoenent to win. 

It does have synergy with Blastoise for easy setup, and it does get a boost with Cilan, but this deck probably won’t work too well.  Pokemon Catcher would screw this deck up, and it is just too hard to setup all of your attacks with a Blastoise and a Vileplume.  I don’t know if this deck can work or not, but I would bet on “no”. 

So how impacful will this card be?  It is very hard to so, almost everything I say is just a shot in the dark, but I would say we will see this card around.  It could make its way into a Six Corners variant, or be a boss in Ross.  I have the feeling that we will see this card at States and in formats to come. 

2.  Reshiram EX

The card that comes in #2 on this list is Reshiram EX.  I chose Reshiram here because of the way it works with Typhlosion and Emboar, though to be honest, a lot of the EX’s are very similar and could have a very similar impact.  Is Reshiram a better card than the previously mentioned EX, probably not by that much, but for the synergy with cards in the format, I gotta go with Reshiram as #2, even if it is by just a few points. 

As mentioned with the other 2 Pokemon in the same trio; Reshiram has 180 HP, a 3 retreat cost, and  Reshiram has a water weakness.  It has the same “Glinting Claw” attack that Zekrom has.  It has the “Brave Fire” attack, which does 150 for FFCC.  The attack also forces you to flip a coin, if you get tails you do 50 damage to yourself.  This may seem like the worst sideeffect of the three big attacks, but its effects can be negated with the card known as Fliptini.  If you do attack yourself for 50 damage, it does set you up for a very bad revenge KO, but hopefully it should only happen once or twice a day if you run Fliptini. 

Kind of like Zekrom EX, Reshiram EX fits right into an exsisting deck.  Reshiram EX can go right into Reshiboar, or Reshiphlosion, or Magneboar and it can cause a lot of havok.  It can come in at just the right time and finish the game with a big 150 damage blast.  Putting it into a deck with Typhlosion or Emboar makes it so you can load it up fairly quickly.  Will it be the savior that Reshiphlosion or Reshiboar is looking for, probably not, it does much of the same that the other Reshiram does.  However, these decks are already really good, and they don’t need too much to become elite again. 

So will it have an impact on states?  Heck yeah!  Expect to see more people playing Reshiram decks at states, and expect to see the deck do fairly well.  It may not be the big winner, but it will be a deck to reckon with.  Reshiram EX does nothing but make the deck bigger, badder, and stronger.  It could be a good States season for all Reshirams. 

1.  Mewtwo EX

It is no surprise here, or as Foongus would say, a “Sporprise”, that Mewtwo EX gets the top spot.  It has been unrivaled in hype in the last several months.  I haven’t seen many things get this much hype, except maybe Lost World.  Will this card be a Lost World, or will be a Luxray Gl Lv. X?  Well, let’s take a closer look at it. 

Mewtwo EX has 170 HP, a 2 retreat cost, and a Psychic weakness.  Its second attack is called “Psydrive” and does 120 damage for PPC, and it requires a discard.  But, most people have been talking about the first attack.  For CC, “X-Ball”does 20 damage times the number of energy attached to both active Pokemon.  This makes it a very fast attack that may not do a lot of damage, but it might bring enough damage quickly enough where it will be very disruptive. 

Mewtwo has been talked about as the Pokemon will bring back an SP like dominance over the format.  This is a tall billing, since SP Pokemon dominated the format with disruption based off of the Cyrus Engine.  Mewtwo does not have its own engine, it cannot Power Spray something, but it can disrput on its own.  Will what Mewtwo does be enough to bring back the dominance that we felt during the error of SP Oppression?  That answer is still left un-unanaswered, but I would say probably not.  I do know that it will be very good, but there are good counters other there that may put Mewtwo EX into a corner that no SP was ever in. 

Pokemon that are good against Mewtwo include Mew Prime, RDL, and Cobalion.  Although there is no perfect counter against Mewtwo EX, I think there is enough so that he will not be dominant. 

Mewtwo EX is being played in a lot of ways.  He has seem to made it in every decklist as a Mewtwo counter, and that seems to make sense.  The most popular way of play is with Celebi Prime and Skyarrow Bridge.  You just attach energies with Celebi, and then retreat and attack with Mewtwo.  Mewtwo can also work with cards like Pachirisu and Emboar.  I don’t know what the best deck is for Mewtwo right now, but Celebi seems to be the front runner so far. 

So, will it be impactful?  Without a doubt.  Mewtwo EX is hands down the most impactful card in this set.  It seems like there will be at least 1 copy in every deck, and a lot of decks will be based aorund him.  You will see most of the top tables playing a Mewtwo deck, and he could even bring back a level of dominance that he haven’t seen since SP.  The future of Mewtwo is cloudy, but if the worst thing happens to Mewtwo, he will still be part of a very playable deck.  Most states decks will be based around him, it should be a Mewtwo crowded States format.  So now we can go and start testing our Mewtwo decks and counters, because we do know that he is coming. 

 

Well Pedro, I finally did it.  That is a long article.  Why don’t you do something to wrap it up?

We have some sad news today from the world of entertainment.  Don Cornelius, the tv host and producer of Soul Train committed suicide this week.  Soul Train was a dance show that ran in the 1970s and 80s, it showcased a lot of African American funk, soul, and R&B singers.  Everyone from Gladys Knight, Rick James, Michael Jackson, and Barry White have appeared on the show.  The show is also known for the “Soul Train Line”, where groups of people would form an aisle that others would dance down.  Do you like the Soul Train Pikkdogs?

Well, it was a little before my time.  I did watch some re-runs when I was a kid.  Of course I liked the music, who doesn’t like  people such as the Isley Brothers and the Pointer Sisters?  But, the show was not exactly aimed at me and my family.  The only line my family had at family gatherings was the one for the bathroom.  You know, they say that Cornelius was known as the “Black Dick Clark.”

So he was bigger.

He was, but probably not in the way that you mean.  Well he might have been, but I just never checked.

Too bad. Why don’t we end the article like the way Cornelius ended every Soul Train episode?

Okay, you can do it.

I’m Pedro, and as always, in parting, we wish you love, peace, and soul. 

Category: 10 Impactful Cards | Tags: Cilain, Heavy Ball, Kyurem EX, Level Ball, Mewtwo EX, Musharna, Regigigas EX, Reshiram EX, Shaymin EX, Skyarrow Bridge, Zekrom EX