Opinion

The Top 20 Rotated Cards of 2012

Pikkdogs July 10, 2012 14 Comments

A big hello to all you OHKOers out there this is Pikkdogs here.  At rotation time last year I decided to write an article covering the 20 most successful cards that were getting rotated.  Since I am still on vacation and won’t be building any decks anytime soon, I figured that now is a good time to look at doing this article.  Before we get started we should get Pedro in here to give us a news article. Whats in the news today Pedro?

Hey Pikkdogs.  In the news today is Wendee Long, a Texas Middleschool Principle.  She is in the news because she put a camera in her daughter’s locker to catch inappropriate behavior by the school’s basketball coach.  When the word got out that this happened the authorities charged her with crimes that could put her in jail for up to 20 years.  What do you think about this Pikkdogs.

I say we lock her up and throw away the key.  Because that is what would happen if I put a camera in a girls locker room.  If I did that I probably would get burned at the stake.

Well, that’s because you’re a creepy fat middle aged guy.  The principle wasn’t doing it to get a thrill, she was trying to monitor her employees. 

I say that a crime is a crime.  If  you catch teenage girls in their underwear on camera, it doesn’t matter if you are a creepy guy or a concerned parent.

You do have a point there. 

And if I don’t and this lady is proven not-guilty, you can expect me to be dressing in drag and going by the name Pikkarita.

There you go, this website just got even more creepier.  Just get onto the article. 

#20 Celebi Prime

Celebi Prime was ignored for most of its life.  It was known as a “bad” prime and mostly useless.  Around Fall Battle Roads last year I did here of some people using it in a lock deck, but it never really saw a lot of play.  Then Mewtwo came out and all of a sudden Celebi was a great card.  It became one of the most used energy acceleration cards and it elevated the Mewtwo EX to one of the BDIFs.  Celebi instantly became a staple in one of the best decks around, and it had lots of success during States, Spring Regionals, and Nationals.  CMT never really dominated the format like some people forecasted, but it was a always a really good deck.  Celebi Prime was a really good card late in its life and had a great spot in metagame.  For those reasons Celebi Prime is one of the better cards that will be rotated at the end of the season.

#19  Jumpluff

Jumpluff is just about the opposite of Celebi Prime.  Although they each suffer from low HP and times of low and no play, Jumpluff was very successful when it was released.  Jumpluff immediately became a great card when it was released because it was good in a fast deck with both Uxie and Claydoll.  Jumpluff was almost tier 1, or at least tier 2, when the deck was at its peak.  However, after Claydol left the format Jumpluff lost all the chances it had for competitive play.  It did pop up again in  Vileplume decks and some Mew Prime decks, but it never really made its way back into the top tiers.  But, it did have a great run early in its life and some play in the middle, so it deserves a spot in the top 20.

#18  Entei/Raikou Legend and Rayquaza/Deoxys Legend

ERL and RDL are one of the few legends that actually was playable for a while.  I know they are separate cards and should not be combined in one spot, but I’m the boss here and I can do whatever I want.  ERL was a good card early in its life.  It was really good when Uxie, Crobat G, and Claydol were out there, it could OHKO all of them for  lots of prizes.  Everybody has heard horror stories of that card coming into play and taking 6 prizes out of nowhere.  Once Black and White came out ERL lost its play because Poke-Powers began to be fazed out.  RDL on the other-hand was a very good card, but it was kind of like a one weekend wonder.  It was only really good during Nationals 2011.  RDL was put into most Magneboar decks for Nationals and did a good job in one of the most played decks there.  RDL did see some play a little before and a little after nats, but it mostly was only good during Nationals 2011.  These cards did not stay into competitive play for long, but they were good when they were out.  So good that I think they are one of the better cards that are getting rotated out.

#17  Mew Prime

Mew Prime is a card that has been used a long time, but it never really took the format by storm.  It saw a lot of play in different tool boxy like variations that mainly featured Vileplume.  These decks did well, but they never quite made it to the top tier.  Mew decks featured a lot of different attackers including Jumpluff, Crobat Prime, Vanilluxe, Unfezant BW, and some others.  They were always fun decks to play because they were unorthodox in their strategies and they could adapt to a lot of different decks.  Mew did not really have many uses outside of its own deck, although it did get some use in a Stage 1 Rush variant earlier in the season.  But for its ability to always be good, it deserves a place on this list.

#16 Kingdra Prime

Kingdra is another card like Jumpluff, when it first came out it was a good card, but then it stopped being good.  Nobody in their right mind would play it these days, but it was not a terrible play when it came out.  When it first  was printed Kingdra LA was still a good Pokemon to base a deck around.  The release of Kingdra Prime kind of reinvigorated the Kingdra deck and it helped Kingdra stay playable for months after its release.  Kingdra never really picked up after last year’s rotation, and the card has been kind of dead ever since.  Even though the card hasn’t been playable for a while, Kingdra was once a very scary weapon that used “Spray Splash” very effectively to make some really good decks that were very difficult to play and play against.  It was once a good card and good deck, even though newbies would never have known it, that is why it deserves to be on the countdown.

#15  Pachirisu

Pachirisu is an energy acceleration card that came out in the Call of Legends set.  Pachi was just about the only good new card to come out in that set.  Pachirisu was first considered as a card in a rogue Raichu Prime deck, but then Black and White came out.  Zekrom from Black and White was a great card because it was basic and it could hit just about as hard as a stage 2.  Pachirisu just made the Zekrom deck not only hard hitting, but very fast.  For a time ZPST was the best deck in the game, but it was eventually replaced by Zekrom and Eelektrik.  Pachirisu did see some play after Eelektrik came out in faster versions of Zekrom, but for the most part Pachi’s days of dominance was over.  Pachirisu also did play a big part in another deck, Magnezone/Yanmega.  Magnezone/Yanmega was a good deck in its day, and Pachirisu was a card that could hit the field and add a lot more power to the deck.  Pachirisu was a very good card for most of this season that helped a couple decks do very well, for this reason Pachirisu deserves to be on this list.

#14 Judge

We now hit a spot on the countdown with a bunch of trainers.  The first trainer we will look at is the Supporter we called Judge.  Judge at first was a good card because we could yell “Judge!” and a bunch of judges would come scrambling to our table for no reason.  Besides messing with Judges, Judge was a great card because it could even your hand with your opponent’s hand.  This was very important when playing with one of the more popular cards of late last season and early this season, Yanmega Prime.  Yanmega was a very popular card and it could do a lot of good for you with no energy, you just had to even hands before you attacked.  Judge was the most popular way to even hand size because it did three great things for you.  The first thing was that it disrupted whatever your opponent was going to do, the second thing was that it let you draw a new hand, and the third was that it let you attack for free with Yanmega.  So, Judge was very good with Yanmega but it was also good on its own early in its life.  Judge was a card that was put into decks to counter decks like Uxie and Shuppet donk that put a lot of resources into your opponent’s hand to be used next turn.  At one time Judge was a very versatile card that was used for draw and disruption, that is why it belongs on this countdown.  Judge was eventually replaced because Yanmega became a liability in a format with Zekrom BW and supporter draw of at least 6 cards became necessary after the rotation of Uxie.   But, it was once one of the  best cards in the format.

#13  Pokegear 3.0

Pokegear was once a card that came out in HGSS and was thought of as a junk card.  Supporters at that time were more used for searching and supplemental draw, so there was not as great a need for supporters as there is today.  But once Uxie was rotated out, supporters became very very important, and Pokegear was a Junk-Armable card that could get you a supporter almost every time you used it.  Pokegear also let you choose which supporter you want, which gives it an advantage over a card like Random Receiever.  Even though Pokegear never actually guaranteed you a supporter, a lot of people like to use it because it lets you choose what supporter you want to grab from your deck.  Random Receiver came into the format in DEX and kind of replaced Pokegear after Pokemon Collector fell out of favor with most players.  Even after Random Receiver hit the format some people still preferred to use Pokegear.  The fact that you could use the card with Junk Arm meant that you could use Pokegear to get a supporter whenever you need it, that was very important for those games that are close late-game.  For being a great way to get your supporter engine going for a long time this card deserves to be recognized as one of the better cards in the format.

#12 Dual Ball

Dual Ball is a very important card in today’s format.  Today it is used as the most efficient way to grab basic Pokemon from your deck.  Right now we need to use our supporters to draw cards and not search, Dual Ball let’s you search with an item card and leaves you free your supporter usage for drawing.  The format currently does not have a lot of evolutions in it so you need less Pokemon.  That is where Dual Ball comes in, it may not get you a lot of Pokemon but most of the times it will get you enough of the Big Basic Pokemon that you need to get your deck going.  Dual Ball originally was used as a 1 of or 2 of card that some people would use to supplement Pokemon Collector.  It was also used in Uxie Donk decks to search out Pokemon without having to use up your supporter for the turn.  The card was not super popular at first, but it got more and more popular each month until it became a staple in most decks.  It is now a very heavily used card.  Some people do not like to use this card because it relies on flips and they really hate getting double tails with this card, but a lot of people do like the card because the odds favor you getting at least 1 Pokemon most times with the use of Junk Arm.  It was a heavily played card that ended its play on a high note, sounds like a top 20 card to me.

#11  Sage’s Training

Sage’s Training is Ed’s least favorite card, but most people do like it.  It started off as a very rogue card that was not played very much.  But after the 2011 rotation people starting using Sage’s Training as a staple drawing card.  It did make you discard 3 card from your deck, but that was good in some decks like Eelektrik based ones.  In most decks you could just pick the 2 cards you want, and discard the 3 cards that wouldn’t really help in that particular match-up.  This fact made it more useful in decks early in the season when Stage 1 rush decks were popular.  These decks had a lot of techs, so if you had to discard techs that you didn’t want to use, you really didn’t care.  Now decks are a lot more focused on one goal instead of having a lot of different tech cards.  You can’t really afford to discard cards in quad decks right now, so that is why Sage’s fell out of favor.  But, it still was a very good card throughout this season, and good drawing supporters are hard to come by, so this card was very coveted earlier this year.  It may not have had a lot of play early or late in its career, but it still was a great card at some time.  Even though Ed doesn’t like the card, it still is one of the better cards in the format.

#10  Shaymin

To start the top 10 we have Shaymin from Unleashed.  When it was first released, Shaymin was used in rogue decks to move energy, but it did not really take off until Zekrom BW came into the fold.  It was first used in a large scale to move energies attached to Pachirisu to Zekrom.  After ZPST went away, Shaymin still saw a lot of play in decks like Troll.  Moving energies is something that you can’t really do many other ways. and Shaymin is a really cheap and quick way to move the energies around.  It allowed a lot of different options for a player to utilize, and this versatility makes a very good card.  It seems like the best players always played Shaymin because it allowed them different options and more control as to whether they would succeed or fail.  Even though Nationals this year was not the most popular time for Shaymin, it still saw a lot of play in some really good decks.  One thing about Shaymin is that you rarely see it in bad decks anymore, for being a good choice and a popular card I think this card needs to be on the list.

#9  Cleffa

Cleffa is the card that drove everybody wild at U.S. Nationals 2011.  He was a good card because he allowed you to refresh your hand as an attack without any energy attached and allowed free retreat, but the fact that he put himself to sleep made things very flippy.  Combine that with the fact that people played Pokemon Reversal, things at the 2011 Nationals got really flippy.  A lot of people were mad that they had to rely on luck so often, but they all made the decisions to run Cleffa.  Anyway, Cleffa was huge during Nationals 2011 and did still stay playable for the next couple months after.  The ability to get a brand new hand after playing down your cards earlier in your turn and then with a chance to be unhittable next turn was very good about a year ago.  Now we have Pokemon Catcher to get around a Pokemon that can’t be attacked, but Pokemon Catcher was not always in the format.  Cleffa was once a very big wall, it had very good defensive capabilities as well as being something that helps you setup.  It was a really good card that could help your slow deck setup.  Decks right now are a little faster and can’t really use Cleffa as well, but it was perfect for the format about a year ago.  Cleffa saw play in just about every deck, so it was almost a staple.  For being a good wall, a good Pokemon that helps you setup, and a consistency/recovery Pokemon; Cleffa does deserve to be on this list, it was quite a good card about a year ago.

#8  Donphan Prime

Perhaps no attacking Pokemon on this list has had more success than Donphan Prime.  Donphan Prime has had success throughout its life.  When it first came out it was used, than it got really popular, and at the very end it got rogue status.  Donphan was originally used with Machamp SF, then it was used in some other various decks including one with Dunsparce, then this year it saw some action with Machamp Prime and then with Reshiram and Zekrom BW.  Donphan was almost always used as a main attacker throughout its life, there was not really a time where it was not played.  This is very different from a lot of cards on this list.  Donphan was a cool card by itself, it was a stage 1 that had 120 HP and had a Poke-Body that stops 20 damage from each attack.  These stats were very good for the time when it came out, now we have basics doing 150 damage, but Donphan used to be an impenetrable tank.  Being that powerful as a Stage 1 hadn’t been seen in that format yet, so it was a very strong card when it came out.  It never really won a huge tournament, but it did do very well in tournaments for a long time.  So I could see this card being higher on this list, but it no doubt deserves to be high on the list.

#7  Typhlosion Prime

The next Pokemon our list is Typhlosion Prime.  Like Donphan Prime, it came out in the HGSS set as one of the first primes.  Unlike Donphan, Typhlosion Prime was not used right away.  Its use went through the roof during Nationals 2011.  The release of Reshiram BW cried out for some kind of energy acceleration. People usually ran Emboar to put energies on Reshiram, but somehow people thought to use the long lost Typhlosion Prime as an acceleration tool.  He worked better than Emboar because he could attach from the discard pile and did not require the use of trainer cards to get energies back.  He also put damage counters on Pokemon, that usually is not a good thing, but it is for Reshiram BW because he has the “Outrage” attack.  He and Reshiram seemed to work really well together, this partnership took the deck to decent playability throughout most of this season.  It was always a good reliable deck that kind of set the standards for consistency in the format.  It was a good deck to use on beginners because it taught people how to play the game with a deck that took some genius to play but not too much. If or one am happy to see this card go because it is a very hard name to type,  I hope Pokemon like “Ditto” get popular soon.  Anyways,  the deck did very well and that alone set Typhlosion Prime as one of the better cards that we are going to lose in the rotation.

#6 Magnezone Prime

The final Pokemon before we get to the top 5 is Magnezone Prime.  The final Prime in our 3 Prime series is Magnezone Prime, one of the hardest hitting Pokemon in the format.  In fact, Magnezone could do 200 damage  a turn without much of a fuss.  Kind of like Donpahn Prime, Magnezone Prime has had success throughout its career.  It first hit its success after being used in a tournament in Europe a couple seasons ago.  It was combined with Regirock LA to make a consistent deck in an SP dominated format.  After Regirock was rotated it was combined with Emboar BW and RDL to make a very hard-hitting deck that we called Magneboar.  This deck was very good during Nationals 2011, and had a little success after.  When Magneboar finally died, it was replaced with Magnezone/Yanmega which had success through the first half of this year.  This was a deck that a lot of the good players seemed to run.  But, after Zekrom screwed up Yanmega decks Magnezone did drop in play.  It did see some play in a deck with Eelektrik later this year, but that deck never really caught on too much in popularity.  Magnezone was a really cool card because it could always get an OHKO on any Pokemon with enough energy.  It could stop things like Eviolite and resistance with just an extra energy card.  It was really intimidating to play against Magnezone because you never knew when your opponent could pull out an OHKO.  Magnezone was also a cool card because it had built in draw power, it is always good when you can draw more cards each turn.  Magnezone no doubt deserves to be on this list for being a hard hitter and a consistent Pokemon with draw power.

#5  Professor Oak’s New Theory

We start the top 5 with everybody’s favorite draw/hand refresh supporter, Professor Oak’s New Theory.  PONT did see some play throughout its life.  Originally it was used just to supplement Uxie and Claydol in decks.  Most decks would run a couple copies of this card.  PONT became much more valuable once Uxie rotated from the format.  Now PONT and other similar supporters were being asked to carry the bulk of your drawing needs.  It wasn’t long before 4 copies of this card was a staple in each deck.  Some people like me prefer the use of Professor Juniper in their decks instead of PONT, but there is room for both.  There are also decks where PONT works better than Juniper, such as decks that run lots of evolutions.  To put it simply, everybody loves PONT as a card.  Everybody runs 4 of it in every deck and nobody is mad when they get a PONT from a Random Receiver.  It may not be a perfect card, but it is safe to say that it is one of the most useful and well liked cards in the format.

#4 Pokemon Collector

I know what you are saying, “How can you put Collector over PONT?”  While Collector over PONT is a judgement call, I do think that Collector is better than Dual Ball more-so than PONT is better than Juniper.  I also think that Collector has been a staple longer than PONT has.  But enough talk about PONT, we are here to talk about Collector.  Collector came out in HGSS and came out just in time to replace Roseanne’s Research.  Collector was preferred more than Roseanne’s in the name that they overlapped in the format, and that is a lot to say knowing that Roseanne’s was the staple of all staples.  Being able to grab 3 basics from your deck was great because it let you setup any evolution line without the fear that all of your basics will get sniped before they can evolve.  Evolution lines will suffer now with the loss of Collector.  The format may have outgrew Collector, but that doesn’t mean that it shouldn’t be considered a great card after being a staple for 2 years.  In fact, I bet most of the people who play today have never played in a format without Pokemon Collector.  It is a great card and it will be weird to play without it.

#3 Yanmega Prime

The last attacking Pokemon on this list is Yanmega Prime.  Yanmega Prime has had an up and down career.  At first it was considered a largely unplayable rogue card because of its lightning weakness and the popularity of Luxray GL.  But once the SP cards were rotated last year, Yanmega took their place as the most dominating and calculating deck.  Yanmega almost ruled the format from Nationals 2011 to the start of Cities 2012.  Its lightning weakness again got the best of him as it left the format thanks to Zekrom BW, but that did not take away how dominant the card was for a good amount of time.  It was very good in different Stage 1 decks with Pokemon like Donphan Prime and Cincinno BW.  It was also very good in a deck with Magnezone Prime.  It seemed like a lot of the best players liked to play Yanmega because it was a very versatile Pokemon that could do a lot of different things.  The ability to snipe for 40 was really good in a format that had a lot of 30 HP baby Pokemon.  It could also do 70 damage to the active, which was not bad in an era with lots of 110 HP stage 1 Pokemon.  The fact that Yanmega could preform all of those attacks for free was an amazing Poke-Body to have, and really set this card apart for a long time.  After Black and White came out Yanmega lost all of its playability, but we all still remember when this Pokmeon dominated the format.

#2 Junk Arm

It is hard not to put Junk Arm at the #1 spot.  No Junk Arm did not dominate throughout its career, but it was the best card of the past year.  The reason I did not put Junk Arm at #1 is that it was not a staple until about a year ago.  Junk Arm was once only a card that was a 1 of option during the SP dominated formats.  It was used just in case you needed to use a 5th Poke-Turn or Power Spray. But Junk Arm started to become a 4 copy staple once the SPs were rotated and great items like Pokemon Catcher and Eviolite were released.  Junk Arm was an amazing card in this past format, it gave you quick access to almost all the good cards in your discard pile with just a two card discard.  Junk Arm ended up deciding games a lot of the times, just an extra Plus Power or Pokemon Catcher was enough to win the game for you or your opponent.  Junk Arm was not just a great card, it was the card of the format.  It effected deck building in every way, all of those Quad decks would never have worked without Junk Arm.  A lot of the decks out now would not work without Junk Arm, it is the card that has shaped the format.  There is no doubt that it deserves to be at the top of this list.

#1 Vileplume

This was a very hard decision.  I know that Junk Arm changed the format and that PONT was everybody’s favorite card, but Vileplume deserves a little boost because it is a Pokemon.  Unlike Yanmega Prime, Vileplume has been a great card throughout its life.  When it first came out it was used with Gengar SF to try to counter the SP decks.  It next got paired with Gengar Prime to try to make a Lost World deck.  Then it got paired with Mew Prime for a myriad of decks and variations of those decks.  It then went into the Ross deck at Worlds 2011, which was the talk of the format for months and months to come.  Then finally it showed itself in Nationals 2012 in a couple decks that screwed up the format.  It was combined with Accelgor, Mismagius, and sometimes Cincinno EP to make some powerful and disruptive decks.  Vileplume had a lot of hype before it came out, and man did it ever live up to the hype.  Vileplume is known as one of the most hated cards in the format, nobody ever wants to see the card in their opponent’s deck because all it does is try to screw your deck up.  It is a very hard card to play against because it takes away all trainers, which are very important in the present and in the SP dominated past.  For those reasons I am crowing Vileplume as the best card that will be rotated in 2012.  It might not have been the slayer of SPs that we all wanted, but it just was a great disruptive card that did a whole lot of good in its time in the format.

Well, that is all I have to say about that topic.  I hope you guys liked the article, thought I’m sure you guys would probably put the top 10 in different orders.  And I’m also sure that I missed a couple cards, so if you have comments on the article please leave them in the comment box.  Before we go we need to let Pedro lead us out with a news story.  What do you have for us today Pedro?

Today we are celebrating the birthday of Joe Schuster.

Oh, the book publisher?

No, not the book publisher.  This is the comic book artist who helped to create Superman.  Do you like the Superman Pikkdogs?

Kind of.  I liked Golden Age Superman, but since then he has been way too powerful.  You need a hero with some weaknesses.  If I am going for a DC hero I like me some Batman.

Who do you think would win in a fight between Superman and Batman?

That’s easy, Batman.  Batman has kryptonite.

Okay, sounds reasonable.   Who do you think would win in a fight between Wonderwoman and Catwoman?

Everybody.

Agreed. Goodnight everybody!