One Hit KO

A big hello to all you OHKOers out there.  This is Pikkdogs here with an article about some of the cards I like.  I was going to do a stupid deck idea, but I decided to do an article about cards that I like because I’m feeling a little egotistical today.  But before we get to cards that I like, I think my extra-dimensional sidekick Pedro has a news article for us.

Hey Pikkdogs, yep.  Today we have news of a literal witch-hunt conducted by the folks at eBay.  In the past, Ebay has allowed witches and other supernatural related beings to sell things like spells and potions on Ebay.  According to Fox News.com, there are currently 41,000 spells avaliable on eBay for purchase.  But, starting in September it will be illegal to buy or sell spells, potions, psychic readings, curses, hexes, prayers, and healing sesssions.  One such person who sells spells on eBay has said that this is unfair discrimination against her and those like her.  They say that since Holy Water is still okay to sell eBay is conducting a “Witch Hunt”.  You don’t believe this witch non-sense do you Pikkdogs?

I don’t know.  I like to think of myself as an enlightened man who does not believe in such foolishness, yet I don’t want to wake up with elephant tusks tomorrow, so I will not comment on stuff like this.

Come on, all this Psychic and witch stuff is foolishness, just another way for people to screw other people out of their hard earned money.

I think it’s best not to publically scold these type of people Pedro.

What can they do?

Well according to my recent Ebay search, they could turn you into a slave or a zombie.

I guess that would be pretty bad, but I don’t care Witchs are phonies.

Alright, before you get yourself into any more trouble, let’s start the article.

Card #1-Aggron DRX

What is it– Aggron is a stage 2 Metal Pokemon with 140 HP, a fire weakness, a psychic resistance, and a 4 retreat cost.  It has the “Toppling Wind” Ability that lets you discard three cards from the top of your opponent’s deck when Aggron is evolved.  Its attack is called “Giga Horn.”  It costs MMC and does 90 damage and forces you to flip two coins.  If both are tails the attack doesn’t do any damage.

Why I like it– There are many things about this card that are frustrating.  The attack is bad, the retreat is bad, and the fact that it is a clunky stage 2 is bad.  But, even though there are so many reasons to hate this card, I still love it.  This is because it reminds me of Rhyperior DP.  During Michigan States 2010 I was able to get top 8 with a deck that included Rhyperior.  The deck relied on Flygon Lv. X to trap something in your opponent’s active spot, and then use Rhyperior to mill their deck away.  Back then I only had Super Scoop Up to use, now we have both SSU and Devolution Spray.  So there are plenty of ways to re-use the “Toppling Wind” Ability.  I just love the idea of milling from the bench.  Sure you can use cards like Durant to mill from the active spot, but I like having the option to vary your attackers.  I was really happy when Aggron was released because I thought it may give me a chance to re-live some of my glory days, but is it playable?

Can it be played?– A lot of things have changed since Diamond and Pearl came out.  The SP format has come and gone, Junk Arm has been celebrated and then reviled, who knows if a Rhyperior like card could still work.  It hardly worked back in the day, it is doubtful if it could still work now.  Stage 2 decks are slated to be fairly playable in this upcoming season, so a bench sitting stage 2 Pokemon that doesn’t need to be setup right away seems possible.  So it is possible, but the question is “is there a partner for it to work with?”  When I played Rhyperior I played it with Flygon Lv. X and a Memory Berry.  I would lock a bench sitter like Claydol in the active spot and then mill away.  This strategy could no longer work.  There is really no bench sitter like Claydol that is in every deck.  And even if you could find a bench sitter, there is not a great way to lock it in place and still have the option to attack.  The options we have currently seem to be cards that can paralyze, like Lilligant EP.  However, without Vileplume in the format Switch can ruin your plan.  You could use the combo of Gothitelle and Accelgor, but that is a lot to setup.   I think that possibly it could work in a rogue with Gothitelle and Accelgor, but it will be hard to get it to work consistently.  I want the deck to work, but it may not right now.

Card #2 Regigigas EX

What is it– A 180 HP basic EX Pokemon with 4 retreat cost and a fighting weakness.  It has two attacks.  The first attack is called “Giga Power” and does 60 damage for CCC, if you choose you can do an additional 20 damage to each active Pokemon.  The second attack is called “Raging Hammer: and does 50 damage for CCCC along with an additional 10 damage for each damage counter on Regigigas EX.

Why I like it– There are two reasons I like this card.  The first reason is that Regigigas is a large Pokemon.  He is depicted as one of the tallest Pokemon there is, and for someone who grew up watching and idolizing Andre the Giant, that is pretty cool.  The second reason is that the card art on the Full Art version of the card is really cool.  It depicts him being very large and having lots of shiny colors coming off of him and from behind.  I think it is just one of the coolest card arts ever, and I would love to use it, but is it playable?

Can it be played?– I know that some people did play it in a version of CMT, but it never really became standard.  Other than that, I don’t think anyone ever played the card.  It is hard to recommend using a card that has a rage-like attach with an EX.  The appeal of a rage-like attack is that you can take a hit and then return the favor for not much energy.  But Gigas has two big problems with this.  One reason is that the attack costs 4 energy, it may be hard to pile that much energy on him.  The other is that if you can only take 2 hits from your opponent, you will be basically exchanging one prize for two, since an EX gives your opponent two prize cards and they give you one.  So it just doesn’t seem reasonable to play this card, especially when there are some good fighting Pokemon in the format.  It makes me sad to think that this card will only be good to make your binder prettier, but that is it.

Card #3 Druddigon

What is it– Druddigon is a 100 HP basic Pokemon with a 2 retreat cost.  It has the “Rough Skin” Ability that lets you put 2 damage counters on the attacking Pokemon when Druddigon gets attacked.  It has one attack called “Clutch.”  This does 60 damage for CCC and prevents your opponent from retreating next turn.

Why I like it– I am not sure why I like this card.  I do like the fact that it has a built in tool card, even if Rocky Helmet is my least favorite card in the format.  It is kind of cool that you can attach an Eviolite to Druddigon and have the best of both Rocky Helmet and Eviolite.  It does have a disappointing attack and no fighting resistance, so that does hurt the playability.  I guess I like the card because I still remember running into Druddigon in the video game.  It was a very scary Pokemon to go up against in just a regular wild Pokemon encounter in the grass just outside of a town.  It looked very scary, and it looked like a Pokemon that could be one of the toughest in the game.  Druddigon is just a badass scary looking Pokemon.

Can it be played?– I already touched on the fact that its attack really sucks.  Just 60 damage doesn’t do much.  Perhaps if the format changes and you can find a reason to prevent retreating, but right now this card looks pretty bad.  The Ability will always be a good thing to have, but it isn’t a good enough reason to play this card with a bad attack like that.  It looks that unless preventing retreating becomes big, Druddigon will just become a scary card in your binder.

Card #4 Tool Scrapper

What is it– Tool Scrapper is a simple item card that lets you discard two tool cards attached to your opponent’s Pokemon.

Why I like it– I love this card because Tool Cards are becoming very big in this format.  Eviolite is a very important card with all of these Big Basic Pokemon that are out there right now.  In my opinion, Eviolite is one of the, if not the best card in the format.  It is a card that makes the BBP very hard to knock out, and if you can’t KO the EXs in 2 hits, you will probably lose.  That was until now, now you can use Tool Scrapper to get rid of Eviolite and easily 2HKO EXs.  You can also use it to get rid of the tool card on Garbador so you can begin to use Abilities again, if Garbador becomes as playable as some people expect it to be.  Getting rid of tool cards is a great thing to do, and that is why I like the card.  It is a great card that can counter most of the decks in the format and do a lot of versatile things, what is not to love about that?  It also is cool to remove tool cards when your opponent doesn’t thing you can, it lets you be a little bit evil.

Can it be played?-  This is a new card that did not have a lot of hype, but I still think it will get a lot of play.   Most people do not hype item cards, so that accounts to the lack of hype.  I think that because it does so much against so many decks out there, you can not afford to not play this card.  This card will become a staple in almost every deck.  It is not only one of my favorite cards, but it will soon be one of the most successful cards in the next season.

 Conclusion

Well, that’s all I have to say about that, I think I have rambled on enough.  Be sure to comment on if you like these cards too, and feel free to share your own favorite cards.  Pedro, do you care to end things with a “This Day in History” segment.

Sure, Today in 1928 The Kellogg-Briand pact was signed.  This was an agreement between 15 nations (including Germany, The United States, France, India, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Poland, and Canada) to outlaw war.  The pact stated that these 15 countries would never again resort to war to settle disputes between nations, instead they would settle them by diplomatic means.  The pact was quickly looked upon as a failure, as within 7 years of being signed both Italy and Germany broke it.  But, today it is looked upon as a symbol of hope that maybe these countries can try again to res……..

Pedro, are you there.

…..tore, peace.  Yes, I am here.  I guess I most have had problems with my inter-dimensional porthole there.  No matter, its fine now.  How do you like the Kellogg-Briand pact?

Oh love the Kellogg-Briand pact.  Too bad it didn’t work, just like those toys that Kellogg always puts in his cereal.

I don’t think that is the same Kellogg.

Oh, okay.  But I do know Aristide Briand, he was a French pacifist who tried to undo some of the things that happened at the conference that ended World War I in Versailles.  He also won a Nobel Peace prize.

That doesn’t mean much.  Barrack Obama won a Nobel Peace prize, and all he did was get elected president of the U.S.  Yasser Arafat won a Nobel Peace Prize and he was a terrorist.  Henry Kissinger also won a Nobel Peace Prize, he did do some good things for peace, but he was also partly responsible for getting the U.S. into Vietnam.  All of this while true peace makers like Ghandi and Pope John Paul II got shut out.  I officially poo poo the Nobel Peace Prize. 

You can’t Poo Poo the peace prize.

Why not?

There’s too many “P’s” in that sentence.  And you’ve already messed with witches today, you should be worried about them rather than the Nobel Committee.

Oh, well I guess ……………take…………….chicken…….he…………..back.

Pedro, I think something is happening with your inter-dimensional porthole again.

……..

Pedro?

Well, I guess Pedro is gone.  Hopefully we will get him back for the next article.  Good night everybody!

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