Awesome, The HA-Baltoy is still unfortunately too blurry. But I'll be preparing my set review now regardless.
Ancient Origins [8/15, aka Bandit Ring]
- Thread starter Water Pokémon Master
- Start date
I assume you're aware but Baltoy AT still says effect to blurry.
Whimsicott though, could be pretty hype with Fairy Decks
Whimsicott though, could be pretty hype with Fairy Decks
...hey, what do you know, some of this 5ban art is actually kinda decent.
FA Sceptile EX looks like he's dancing the salsa or something - it's beguiling (and I like)
FA Kyurem EX looks pretty cool and I like the galaxy sort of background
FA Ampharos EX kind of looks like he is defecating (sorry for the crudeness), and I don't dig the style aside from the pose, either
FA Hoopa EX looks sinister and imposing - well done
FA Machamp EX looks, well, like you would think he should
FA Tyrannitar EX is nice...kind of looks like he's in someone's blood stream
FA Giratina EX looks fine, no particular complaints or praise
FA Lugia EX looks ok, but mildly generic - like something I've seen before - maybe an old movie poster?
Overall...excited that I will be needing to buy so many packs(!)
FA Kyurem EX looks pretty cool and I like the galaxy sort of background
FA Ampharos EX kind of looks like he is defecating (sorry for the crudeness), and I don't dig the style aside from the pose, either
FA Hoopa EX looks sinister and imposing - well done
FA Machamp EX looks, well, like you would think he should
FA Tyrannitar EX is nice...kind of looks like he's in someone's blood stream
FA Giratina EX looks fine, no particular complaints or praise
FA Lugia EX looks ok, but mildly generic - like something I've seen before - maybe an old movie poster?
Overall...excited that I will be needing to buy so many packs(!)
Kyurem is not my favourite pokemon even amongst the pokemon that got the full art in this set. But it's full art is the best me thinks. It reminds me of that fake card someone drew here some months ago, with Kyurem underwater I believe. Very nice indeed. Pokemon in full art cards these days look like they lost weight.
Looks like it is just Cottonee and Meowth only in this set then. I like most of her drawing of older pokemon like Squirtle, Ivysaur, Poliwhirl, Ninetails etc. Hoepfully with Mewtwo in the next set, more older pokemon will make their way their and hopefully more Kanoko Eo cards.
Looks like it is just Cottonee and Meowth only in this set then. I like most of her drawing of older pokemon like Squirtle, Ivysaur, Poliwhirl, Ninetails etc. Hoepfully with Mewtwo in the next set, more older pokemon will make their way their and hopefully more Kanoko Eo cards.
I'm assumig the English set will get a clarification, but givig all the evolution and devolution cards about what happens when a Pokemon loses Theta Double? I'm assuming discard a tool if you have 2 attached.
English cards will probably get that wording printed on
English cards will probably get that wording printed on
Pretty disappointed, her artwork has so much potential, and she's left with some of the most boring and ill fitting Pokemon (Cottonee is, well, Cottonee and Meowth is a bit of a wacky character that imo doesn't fit her classic style). The Full Arts in this set look amazing though so I'm not particularly bummed, especially since a lot are of my favorite Pokemon already. I love some of the artwork from my not-so-passionate artists too. Oh yeah and I totally agree with you about her and older Pokemon, she most likely prefers them maybe?
The Theta Double description says "This Pokemon", but when it is devolved it's no longer "This Pokemon". So yeah, it'll surely come with a Tool discard.
So this is my set review, unlike reviewing individual card reveals where I have a lot of room and freedom to express the reasons behind my opinions, I going to very briefly go through each card on artwork and card text and give them just very basic number rankings. So without further ado, let’s get started: (bolded cards are my favorites)
Oddish: Artwork – 8/10 | Card text – 2/10 | Overall – 5/10
Gloom: Artwork – 6/10 | Card text – 2/10 | Overall – 4/10
Vileplume: Artwork – 8/10 | Card text – 8/10 | Overall – 8/10
Bellossom: Artwork – 9/10 | Card text – 6/10 | Overall – 7.5/10
- So the Vileplume line is uninteresting, but Vileplume itself and even Bellossom is interesting with its attack to move grass energy around, definitely can see splash a 1-of in heavy Vileplume lines to provide that extra support (unfortunately it is an attack however)
Spinarak: Artwork – 8/10 | Card text – 3/10 | Overall – 5.5/10
Ariados: Artwork – 8/10 | Card text – 5/10 | Overall – 6.5/10
- I really dig this line, the artwork looks great, and Ariados like I said earlier has some decent potential spreading poison around. The lack of Virbank City Gym is going to hurt this guys potential damage but in a format of 220+ hp Pokemon, I imagine every little bit of damage can matter.
Sceptile EX: Artwork – 2/10 | Card text – 7/10 | Overall – 4.5/10
M-Sceptile EX: Artwork – 5/10 | Card text – 9/10 | Overall – 7/10
- Alright, these guys are ugly as sin, I already made a detailed post about why I don't like them earlier if you guys want to check that out.
Combee: Artwork – 8/10 | Card text – 2/10 | Overall – 5/10
Vespiquen: Artwork – 10/10 | Card text – 9/10 | Overall – 9.5/10
Vespiquen (AT): Artwork – 9/10 | Card text – 5/10 | Overall – 7/10
- Vespiquen has come for our souls! Amazing artworks all around, and Vespiquen is incredibly versatile and saying it is playable is an understatement.
Virizion: Artwork – 10/10 | Card text – 7/10 | Overall – 8.5/10
Flareon: Artwork – 9/10 | Card text – 8/10 | Overall – 8.5/10
- Probably my favorite artwork of the new Eeveelutions and very strong ability targeted towards taking down the coming Grass type armies.
Entei: Artwork – 8/10 | Card text – 7/10 | Overall – 7.5/10
Entei (AT): Artwork – 10/10 | Card text – 8/10 | Overall – 9/10
Larvesta: Artwork – 6/10 | Card text – 2/10 | Overall – 4/10
Volcarona: Artwork – 8/10 | Card text – 8/10 | Overall – 8/10
Volcarona (AT): Artwork – 8/10 | Card text – 4/10 | Overall –6/10
- Volcarona has some interesting set-up opportunities and the artworks are incredible
Magikarp: Artwork – 7/10 | Card text – 1/10 | Overall –4/10
Gyarados: Artwork – 7/10 | Card text – 6/10 | Overall –6.5/10
Gyarados (AT): Artwork – 9/10 | Card text – 7/10 | Overall – 8/10
Vaporeon: Artwork – 8/10 | Card text – 7/10 | Overall – 7.5/10
Relicanth: Artwork – 8/10 | Card text – 5/10 | Overall – 6.5/10
Regice: Artwork – 4/10 | Card text – 7/10 | Overall – 5.5/10
Kyurem EX: Artwork – 8/10 | Card text – 5/10 | Overall – 6.5/10
- I know people are not liking another Kyurem EX but I actually love the artwork and I like what this Kyurem can do. Granted Kyurem is my favorite legendary (not black or white kyurem, that stuff is whatever) so I may be a bit biased here.
Jolteon: Artwork – 6/10 | Card text – 9/10 | Overall – 7.5/10
- My least favorite Eeveelution artwork but probably the best overall ability of the 3, hitting that Electric weakness is huge in the current and upcoming format.
Ampharos EX: Artwork – 8/10 | Card text – 6/10 | Overall – 7/10
M-Ampharox EX: Artwork – 8/10 | Card text – 7/10 | Overall – 7.5/10
- I love Ampharos and M-Ampharos, and these cards are pretty solid. I look forward to collecting all of them
Rotom: Artwork – 8/10 | Card text – 4/10 | Overall – 6/10
Unown: Artwork – 8/10 | Card text – 7/10 | Overall – 7.5/10
Baltoy: Artwork – 7/10 | Card text – 2/10 | Overall – 4.5/10
Baltoy (AT): Artwork – 9/10 | Card text – 6/10 | Overall – 7.5/10
Claydol: Artwork – 7/10 | Card text – 7/10 | Overall – 7/10
Golett: Artwork – 6/10 | Card text – 2/10 | Overall – 4/10
Golurk (AT): Artwork – 9/10 | Card text – 7/10 | Overall – 8/10
- Initially this card looked like it was the perfect partner for Jolteon and now the other Eeveelutions, but with Vespiquen out as well, Golurk seems a bit too slow and misses out on hitting that grass weakness which really hammers down on P-Groudon and Seismitoad.
Hoopa EX: Artwork – 9/10 | Card text – 8/10 | Overall – 8.5/10
- This card looks amazing and is going to be very useful for EX heavy decks. With an upcoming format becoming EX vs Non-EX decks, this guy offers a great amount of support for the EX (while non-EX's have Level Ball).
Machamp EX: Artwork – 2/10 | Card text – 7/10 | Overall – 4.5/10
- Ugly as sin card, but getting a special condition on it is pretty easy now with Ariados, so could see a cool combo come out of there, plus all of the fighting type support we already have.
Wooper: Artwork – 8/10 | Card text – 2/10 | Overall – 5/10
Quagsire: Artwork – 9/10 | Card text – 5/10 | Overall – 7/10
Regirock: Artwork – 8/10 | Card text – 6/10 | Overall – 7/10
- My favorite non-cover legendary, Can hit for some serious numbers against EX's with fighting type support.
Golurk: Artwork – 6/10 | Card text – 5/10 | Overall – 5.5/10
Tyranitar EX: Artwork – 2/10 | Card text – 5/10 | Overall – 3.5/10
M-Tyranitar EX: Artwork – 3/10 | Card text – 6/10 | Overall – 4.5/10
- Ugly cards but whatever, with Bad Energy/Color-Drained City its easy to powerup Destroyer King to hit for some massive damage (overkill honestly). Its a shame that getting M-Tyranitar powered up is going to take way longer and riskier than P-Groudon, who can already nail a ton of OHKO's while being safe.
Sableye: Artwork – 7/10 | Card text – 5/10 | Overall – 6/10
Inkay: Artwork – 7/10 | Card text – 4/10 | Overall – 5.5/10
Malamar: Artwork – 8/10 | Card text – 5/10 | Overall – 6.5/10
Beldum: Artwork – 5/10 | Card text – 2/10 | Overall – 3.5/10
Metang: Artwork – 4/10 | Card text – 3/10 | Overall – 3.5/10
Metagross: Artwork – 8/10 | Card text – 5/10 | Overall – 6.5/10
Metagross (AT): Artwork – 9/10 | Card text – 6/10 | Overall – 7.5/10
- The Metagross' are expensive cards, and with Metagross getting a reprint of Slippery Soles ability from Vanilluxe (NXD) means it probably wont see much use. They are beautiful cards, just not a whole lot to see here.
Registeel: Artwork – 7/10 | Card text – 7/10 | Overall – 7/10
Ralts: Artwork – 8/10 | Card text – 2/10 | Overall – 5/10
Kirlia: Artwork – 9/10 | Card text – 2/10 | Overall – 5.5/10
Gardevoir: Artwork – 9/10 | Card text – 6/10 | Overall – 7.5/10
Cottonee: Artwork – 8/10 | Card text – 4/10 | Overall – 6/10
Whimsicott: Artwork – 8/10 |Card text – 7/10 | Overall – 7.5/10
- This is an interesting card for Aromatisse decks, if you don't have a max potion or are item locked, this is a fantastic way to pile of a lot of damage for cheap, and heal your bench at the same time.
Giratina EX: Artwork – 9/10 |Card text – 8/10 | Overall – 8.5/10
- A great wall for the coming wave of Mega pokemon but also has its limits, low hp, high retreat cost, being an EX, expensive attack for a soft lock, but the damage is good enough to hit a lot of 2HKOs and typing and energy cost allow for quick acceleration but at the cost of being weak to Enhanced Hammers.
Goomy: Artwork – 7/10 |Card text – 6/10 | Overall – 6.5/10
Sliggoo: Artwork – 6/10 |Card text – 4/10 | Overall – 5/10
Goodra: Artwork – 7/10 |Card text – 7/10 | Overall – 7/10
- I love Goodra, but unfortunately we have another rather unplayable one. Expensive attack that does have its upsides in preventing special conditions, and its first attack can do some nice sniping damage on heavy retreaters but maxing out at 80 damage to the bench isn't as useful on a Stage 2 Pokemon.
Meowth: Artwork – 8/10 |Card text – 3/10 | Overall – 5.5/10
Persian: Artwork – 8/10 |Card text – 5/10 | Overall – 6.5/10
Eevee: Artwork – 7/10 |Card text – 2/10 | Overall – 4.5/10
Porygon: Artwork – 7/10 |Card text – 5/10 | Overall – 6/10
Porygon2: Artwork – 6/10 |Card text – 4/10 | Overall – 5/10
Porygon-Z: Artwork – 8/10 |Card text – 7/10 | Overall – 7.5/10
Porygon-Z (AT): Artwork – 8/10 |Card text – 7/10 | Overall – 7.5/10
- Interesing attacks on both Porygon-Z's, adding attack cost to the opponent, or removing as many evolution cards from your bench as you want back to your hand (hello spammable bats).
Lugia EX: Artwork – 6/10 |Card text – 9/10 | Overall – 7.5/10
- Hello Mewtwo, glad to see you are back.
Eco Arm: 5/10
Paint Roller: 6/10
Level Ball: 10/10
Lucky Helmet: 6/10
Sceptile Spirit Link: 8/10
Ampharos Spirit Link: 8/10
Tyranitar Spirit Link: 8/10
Ace Trainer: 7/10
Hex Maniac: 7/10
Color-Drained City: 6/10
Giant Plant Forest: 9/10
Flash Energy: 5/10
Bad Energy: 4/10
- FULL ARTS -
Sceptile EX: Artwork – 5/10 (I guess just no matter how you draw it, Sceptile EX always just looks blegh)
M-Sceptile EX: Artwork – 9/10
Kyurem EX: Artwork – 10/10
Ampharos EX: Artwork – 8/10
M-Ampharos EX: Artwork – 10/10
Hoopa EX: Artwork – 10/10
Machamp EX: Artwork – 7/10
Tyranitar EX: Artwork – 8/10
M-Tyranitar EX: Artwork – 7/10
Giratina EX: Artwork – 9/10
Lugia EX: Artwork – 9/10
Primal Kyogre EX (shiny): Artwork – 8/10 | Card text – 6/10 | Overall – 7/10
Primal Groudon EX (shiny): Artwork – 10/10 | Card text – 5/10 | Overall – 7.5/10
M-Rayquaza EX (shiny): Artwork – 8/10 | Card text – 7/10 | Overall – 7.5/10
Energy Retrieval (gold): 9/10
Trainer’s Mail (gold): 7/10
Oddish: Artwork – 8/10 | Card text – 2/10 | Overall – 5/10
Gloom: Artwork – 6/10 | Card text – 2/10 | Overall – 4/10
Vileplume: Artwork – 8/10 | Card text – 8/10 | Overall – 8/10
Bellossom: Artwork – 9/10 | Card text – 6/10 | Overall – 7.5/10
- So the Vileplume line is uninteresting, but Vileplume itself and even Bellossom is interesting with its attack to move grass energy around, definitely can see splash a 1-of in heavy Vileplume lines to provide that extra support (unfortunately it is an attack however)
Spinarak: Artwork – 8/10 | Card text – 3/10 | Overall – 5.5/10
Ariados: Artwork – 8/10 | Card text – 5/10 | Overall – 6.5/10
- I really dig this line, the artwork looks great, and Ariados like I said earlier has some decent potential spreading poison around. The lack of Virbank City Gym is going to hurt this guys potential damage but in a format of 220+ hp Pokemon, I imagine every little bit of damage can matter.
Sceptile EX: Artwork – 2/10 | Card text – 7/10 | Overall – 4.5/10
M-Sceptile EX: Artwork – 5/10 | Card text – 9/10 | Overall – 7/10
- Alright, these guys are ugly as sin, I already made a detailed post about why I don't like them earlier if you guys want to check that out.
Combee: Artwork – 8/10 | Card text – 2/10 | Overall – 5/10
Vespiquen: Artwork – 10/10 | Card text – 9/10 | Overall – 9.5/10
Vespiquen (AT): Artwork – 9/10 | Card text – 5/10 | Overall – 7/10
- Vespiquen has come for our souls! Amazing artworks all around, and Vespiquen is incredibly versatile and saying it is playable is an understatement.
Virizion: Artwork – 10/10 | Card text – 7/10 | Overall – 8.5/10
Flareon: Artwork – 9/10 | Card text – 8/10 | Overall – 8.5/10
- Probably my favorite artwork of the new Eeveelutions and very strong ability targeted towards taking down the coming Grass type armies.
Entei: Artwork – 8/10 | Card text – 7/10 | Overall – 7.5/10
Entei (AT): Artwork – 10/10 | Card text – 8/10 | Overall – 9/10
Larvesta: Artwork – 6/10 | Card text – 2/10 | Overall – 4/10
Volcarona: Artwork – 8/10 | Card text – 8/10 | Overall – 8/10
Volcarona (AT): Artwork – 8/10 | Card text – 4/10 | Overall –6/10
- Volcarona has some interesting set-up opportunities and the artworks are incredible
Magikarp: Artwork – 7/10 | Card text – 1/10 | Overall –4/10
Gyarados: Artwork – 7/10 | Card text – 6/10 | Overall –6.5/10
Gyarados (AT): Artwork – 9/10 | Card text – 7/10 | Overall – 8/10
Vaporeon: Artwork – 8/10 | Card text – 7/10 | Overall – 7.5/10
Relicanth: Artwork – 8/10 | Card text – 5/10 | Overall – 6.5/10
Regice: Artwork – 4/10 | Card text – 7/10 | Overall – 5.5/10
Kyurem EX: Artwork – 8/10 | Card text – 5/10 | Overall – 6.5/10
- I know people are not liking another Kyurem EX but I actually love the artwork and I like what this Kyurem can do. Granted Kyurem is my favorite legendary (not black or white kyurem, that stuff is whatever) so I may be a bit biased here.
Jolteon: Artwork – 6/10 | Card text – 9/10 | Overall – 7.5/10
- My least favorite Eeveelution artwork but probably the best overall ability of the 3, hitting that Electric weakness is huge in the current and upcoming format.
Ampharos EX: Artwork – 8/10 | Card text – 6/10 | Overall – 7/10
M-Ampharox EX: Artwork – 8/10 | Card text – 7/10 | Overall – 7.5/10
- I love Ampharos and M-Ampharos, and these cards are pretty solid. I look forward to collecting all of them
Rotom: Artwork – 8/10 | Card text – 4/10 | Overall – 6/10
Unown: Artwork – 8/10 | Card text – 7/10 | Overall – 7.5/10
Baltoy: Artwork – 7/10 | Card text – 2/10 | Overall – 4.5/10
Baltoy (AT): Artwork – 9/10 | Card text – 6/10 | Overall – 7.5/10
Claydol: Artwork – 7/10 | Card text – 7/10 | Overall – 7/10
Golett: Artwork – 6/10 | Card text – 2/10 | Overall – 4/10
Golurk (AT): Artwork – 9/10 | Card text – 7/10 | Overall – 8/10
- Initially this card looked like it was the perfect partner for Jolteon and now the other Eeveelutions, but with Vespiquen out as well, Golurk seems a bit too slow and misses out on hitting that grass weakness which really hammers down on P-Groudon and Seismitoad.
Hoopa EX: Artwork – 9/10 | Card text – 8/10 | Overall – 8.5/10
- This card looks amazing and is going to be very useful for EX heavy decks. With an upcoming format becoming EX vs Non-EX decks, this guy offers a great amount of support for the EX (while non-EX's have Level Ball).
Machamp EX: Artwork – 2/10 | Card text – 7/10 | Overall – 4.5/10
- Ugly as sin card, but getting a special condition on it is pretty easy now with Ariados, so could see a cool combo come out of there, plus all of the fighting type support we already have.
Wooper: Artwork – 8/10 | Card text – 2/10 | Overall – 5/10
Quagsire: Artwork – 9/10 | Card text – 5/10 | Overall – 7/10
Regirock: Artwork – 8/10 | Card text – 6/10 | Overall – 7/10
- My favorite non-cover legendary, Can hit for some serious numbers against EX's with fighting type support.
Golurk: Artwork – 6/10 | Card text – 5/10 | Overall – 5.5/10
Tyranitar EX: Artwork – 2/10 | Card text – 5/10 | Overall – 3.5/10
M-Tyranitar EX: Artwork – 3/10 | Card text – 6/10 | Overall – 4.5/10
- Ugly cards but whatever, with Bad Energy/Color-Drained City its easy to powerup Destroyer King to hit for some massive damage (overkill honestly). Its a shame that getting M-Tyranitar powered up is going to take way longer and riskier than P-Groudon, who can already nail a ton of OHKO's while being safe.
Sableye: Artwork – 7/10 | Card text – 5/10 | Overall – 6/10
Inkay: Artwork – 7/10 | Card text – 4/10 | Overall – 5.5/10
Malamar: Artwork – 8/10 | Card text – 5/10 | Overall – 6.5/10
Beldum: Artwork – 5/10 | Card text – 2/10 | Overall – 3.5/10
Metang: Artwork – 4/10 | Card text – 3/10 | Overall – 3.5/10
Metagross: Artwork – 8/10 | Card text – 5/10 | Overall – 6.5/10
Metagross (AT): Artwork – 9/10 | Card text – 6/10 | Overall – 7.5/10
- The Metagross' are expensive cards, and with Metagross getting a reprint of Slippery Soles ability from Vanilluxe (NXD) means it probably wont see much use. They are beautiful cards, just not a whole lot to see here.
Registeel: Artwork – 7/10 | Card text – 7/10 | Overall – 7/10
Ralts: Artwork – 8/10 | Card text – 2/10 | Overall – 5/10
Kirlia: Artwork – 9/10 | Card text – 2/10 | Overall – 5.5/10
Gardevoir: Artwork – 9/10 | Card text – 6/10 | Overall – 7.5/10
Cottonee: Artwork – 8/10 | Card text – 4/10 | Overall – 6/10
Whimsicott: Artwork – 8/10 |Card text – 7/10 | Overall – 7.5/10
- This is an interesting card for Aromatisse decks, if you don't have a max potion or are item locked, this is a fantastic way to pile of a lot of damage for cheap, and heal your bench at the same time.
Giratina EX: Artwork – 9/10 |Card text – 8/10 | Overall – 8.5/10
- A great wall for the coming wave of Mega pokemon but also has its limits, low hp, high retreat cost, being an EX, expensive attack for a soft lock, but the damage is good enough to hit a lot of 2HKOs and typing and energy cost allow for quick acceleration but at the cost of being weak to Enhanced Hammers.
Goomy: Artwork – 7/10 |Card text – 6/10 | Overall – 6.5/10
Sliggoo: Artwork – 6/10 |Card text – 4/10 | Overall – 5/10
Goodra: Artwork – 7/10 |Card text – 7/10 | Overall – 7/10
- I love Goodra, but unfortunately we have another rather unplayable one. Expensive attack that does have its upsides in preventing special conditions, and its first attack can do some nice sniping damage on heavy retreaters but maxing out at 80 damage to the bench isn't as useful on a Stage 2 Pokemon.
Meowth: Artwork – 8/10 |Card text – 3/10 | Overall – 5.5/10
Persian: Artwork – 8/10 |Card text – 5/10 | Overall – 6.5/10
Eevee: Artwork – 7/10 |Card text – 2/10 | Overall – 4.5/10
Porygon: Artwork – 7/10 |Card text – 5/10 | Overall – 6/10
Porygon2: Artwork – 6/10 |Card text – 4/10 | Overall – 5/10
Porygon-Z: Artwork – 8/10 |Card text – 7/10 | Overall – 7.5/10
Porygon-Z (AT): Artwork – 8/10 |Card text – 7/10 | Overall – 7.5/10
- Interesing attacks on both Porygon-Z's, adding attack cost to the opponent, or removing as many evolution cards from your bench as you want back to your hand (hello spammable bats).
Lugia EX: Artwork – 6/10 |Card text – 9/10 | Overall – 7.5/10
- Hello Mewtwo, glad to see you are back.
Eco Arm: 5/10
Paint Roller: 6/10
Level Ball: 10/10
Lucky Helmet: 6/10
Sceptile Spirit Link: 8/10
Ampharos Spirit Link: 8/10
Tyranitar Spirit Link: 8/10
Ace Trainer: 7/10
Hex Maniac: 7/10
Color-Drained City: 6/10
Giant Plant Forest: 9/10
Flash Energy: 5/10
Bad Energy: 4/10
- FULL ARTS -
Sceptile EX: Artwork – 5/10 (I guess just no matter how you draw it, Sceptile EX always just looks blegh)
M-Sceptile EX: Artwork – 9/10
Kyurem EX: Artwork – 10/10
Ampharos EX: Artwork – 8/10
M-Ampharos EX: Artwork – 10/10
Hoopa EX: Artwork – 10/10
Machamp EX: Artwork – 7/10
Tyranitar EX: Artwork – 8/10
M-Tyranitar EX: Artwork – 7/10
Giratina EX: Artwork – 9/10
Lugia EX: Artwork – 9/10
Primal Kyogre EX (shiny): Artwork – 8/10 | Card text – 6/10 | Overall – 7/10
Primal Groudon EX (shiny): Artwork – 10/10 | Card text – 5/10 | Overall – 7.5/10
M-Rayquaza EX (shiny): Artwork – 8/10 | Card text – 7/10 | Overall – 7.5/10
Energy Retrieval (gold): 9/10
Trainer’s Mail (gold): 7/10
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So, a heck of a lot less to love in this set honestly, compared to ROS anyway. I'll buy a couple packs anyway, but not split a box as I did for ROS.
HOWEVER if the English sets add the legendary collection Arceus I will buy enough of this set to wallpaper my room.
HOWEVER if the English sets add the legendary collection Arceus I will buy enough of this set to wallpaper my room.
For funsies, here are some Pokemon I think I'll have fun trying out in decks. Of course, there's a lot of other useful Pokemon in this set, and I think they are obvious to anybody reading the cards so I'm not going to talk about those right now.
Volcarona (non-HA) - Its Sunbath attack allows you to not only find a Pokemon, but also accel it with 2 basic energy. Generally energy accel attacks that leave a weaker Pokemon in the Active spot aren't ideal, and even a slightly increased HP to 110 would've helped Volcarona out a lot, but I still feel like this could be a very useful card for energy types that have less-consistent accel available to them. And since the attack is colorless, there's no worry about limiting the types of energy it can work with.
Regice - The whole Regi line is anti-EX, in various ways, which is nice to see. But Regice in particular interests me because the deck I ran the most in the soon-to-be-past format was a Scizor (BC #94) deck, which didn't allow (most) EX to attack him at all, similarly to this Regice. I was a bit sad that my Scizor deck was going to go away soon, so I'm happy to see a possible replacement in Regice.
Claydol - Devolution Punch returns! Kind of. The previous Golurk devolving card was amusing, but it could only target one evolved Pokemon at a time. I can only imagine what sort of shenanigans we'll see with Claydol devolving an opponent's entire field. Especially since something exists now that didn't exist when Golurk was printed: Mega's.
Whimsicott - Unfortunately it has really low HP for a Stage, which pretty much guarentees you'll use its attack only once... but moving all damage from one of your benched Pokemon to the opponent's active is just gimmicky enough to be enticing. Granted, the only way you'll get a knockout on an EX this way is if you have a badly damaged EX or Mega yourself, but it'll be interesting to see if a decent self-harming deck can be made.
Porygon-Z (non-HA) - 70 damage + increasing an Defending Poke's attack cost by [C] seems pretty good to me, especially if you double the effect with Head Ringer during that turn. If anything, it can act to delay your opponent for a bit while you set up something else on your bench. But it is a Stage 2, and Fighting weak, and doesn't prevent your opponent from simply retreating (unless we couple this with Dragalge!), so it's probably too situational to be super useful.
Admittedly, probably only the Regice actually has competitive potential of all those above cards (and maaaaybe Volcarona), but being competitive all the time is boring.
And as far as art goes, I think my favorites are a tie between Sceptile-EX FA and Vespiquen HA.
Volcarona (non-HA) - Its Sunbath attack allows you to not only find a Pokemon, but also accel it with 2 basic energy. Generally energy accel attacks that leave a weaker Pokemon in the Active spot aren't ideal, and even a slightly increased HP to 110 would've helped Volcarona out a lot, but I still feel like this could be a very useful card for energy types that have less-consistent accel available to them. And since the attack is colorless, there's no worry about limiting the types of energy it can work with.
Regice - The whole Regi line is anti-EX, in various ways, which is nice to see. But Regice in particular interests me because the deck I ran the most in the soon-to-be-past format was a Scizor (BC #94) deck, which didn't allow (most) EX to attack him at all, similarly to this Regice. I was a bit sad that my Scizor deck was going to go away soon, so I'm happy to see a possible replacement in Regice.
Claydol - Devolution Punch returns! Kind of. The previous Golurk devolving card was amusing, but it could only target one evolved Pokemon at a time. I can only imagine what sort of shenanigans we'll see with Claydol devolving an opponent's entire field. Especially since something exists now that didn't exist when Golurk was printed: Mega's.
Whimsicott - Unfortunately it has really low HP for a Stage, which pretty much guarentees you'll use its attack only once... but moving all damage from one of your benched Pokemon to the opponent's active is just gimmicky enough to be enticing. Granted, the only way you'll get a knockout on an EX this way is if you have a badly damaged EX or Mega yourself, but it'll be interesting to see if a decent self-harming deck can be made.
Porygon-Z (non-HA) - 70 damage + increasing an Defending Poke's attack cost by [C] seems pretty good to me, especially if you double the effect with Head Ringer during that turn. If anything, it can act to delay your opponent for a bit while you set up something else on your bench. But it is a Stage 2, and Fighting weak, and doesn't prevent your opponent from simply retreating (unless we couple this with Dragalge!), so it's probably too situational to be super useful.
Admittedly, probably only the Regice actually has competitive potential of all those above cards (and maaaaybe Volcarona), but being competitive all the time is boring.
And as far as art goes, I think my favorites are a tie between Sceptile-EX FA and Vespiquen HA.
Still mad that Diancie and Hoopa got cards before Zygarde while the latter of the three has been out longer.
Simply beautiful! BEAUTIFUL!!!
Right then, lets have a look see:
Vileplume - Obvious potential for a troll card. Has good synergy with Giratina-EX to lock off 4/7 card types. GPF makes turn 1 possible, but probably not ideal. We'll have to see what decks arise from AOR to see if Vileplume is truly relevant.
Bellossom - Flower Mixer is interesting. Typically, this kind of effect is better for abilities. However, 60 damage is a solid hit, and this might prove valuable in M Venusaur decks that might see play post AOR. Also, beautiful art
Ariados - Obvious synergy with Grass decks, as well as Machamp EX. Expect to see this card in decks from place for years to come.
Sceptile EX - Not much special. 130 Damage with a Special Condition on the opponent is not that useful, potential to hit for 170 cumulative with Muscle Band and 2 rounds of Poison damage.. 1 Energy for 10, even with the ability, is bloody awful. If it was colourless I could maybe understand.
M Sceptile EX - Now this card is fascinating. I can see fire type making a resurgence in the meta with this card around. The effect is great early game to accelerate cheaply (Energy retrieval making a lot more sense now huh?) while taking some damage off late game. Theta Stop obviously has utility, but I'm still struggling to think of cards that aren't rotating that will really affect this. A trait for the sets to come, I guess.
Vespiquen - As many others have said, we've got a new tiered deck right here. As we'll talk about later, the potential of Vespiquen and friends is huge. 90HP attacker does annoyingly put it into the PRC Medicham camp of weakness, but double colourless is a bit more flexible and Teammates is always amazing with Comp. Search rotating. Expect big things of this card.
Vespiquen AT - Bad compared to the regular card. Still, amazing art. ATs in this set are the most beautiful ATs we've yet seen. Let's hope they keep this style.
Virizion - Funny, when this was announced everyone was hailing it as the death of Toad. Looks like TPCi got there before them. Nothing special, Sacred Ash/Revive is superior to the first attack, and prize counter is niche at best. If PGroudon wasn't already over with the other cards in this set I'd maybe suggest it as a counter to that. In reality, this new meta is the counter to Groudon.
Flareon - Flare Effect. What else needs to be said. The potential for these three Eeveelutions are huge, and their implications on the meta will be felt until they rotate in two years time. The attack is nothing special, however. 3 for 70 on average is poor overall.
Entei - Burning Scent is bad with LTC gone, period. Combat Blaze is interesting. My first thought was potential Shiftry FLF/Raichu and friends counter for fire decks
Entei AT - Nothing really special, 4 energy is super steep (although manageable with Fire type's energy acceleration potential). Beautiful card thought.
Volcarona - This card interests me the most out of any card in this set. Sunbath could do some amazing things. There are cards that have really slow acceleration and 3 attack cost. Boom, Sunbath and attach next turn for an attack. There are cards that have awkward attack costs. Boom, Sunbath and get exactly the energy types you need. I really want to make this card viable. Magmarupt might like this card a lot. Other than that, 60 for 2 with a discard is nothing special.
Volcarona AT - Stunning card, but poor attacks.
Magikarp - 10/10 BCIF
Gyarados - This is the card Wide Lens was born for. Being stage 1 means the Eeveelutions add their types. The potential spread becomes pretty huge. Aqua Tail is also a pretty fun troll attack, and will probably decide games at prereleases.
Gyarados AT - Archie's Gyarados anyone? 4 Magikarp with 20 damage each = 240 damage. Bats will laugh in its face though.
Vaporeon - Aqua Effect. Once more, amazing ability, average attack
Relicanth - Gotta love filler. Deep Sea Search is splashable, but it pretty much becomes trading a prize for two Pokemon. You'd have better luck with teammates.
Regice - Very strong in anti-EX decks. 120 HP is not as good as 130, but Resistance Blizzard could win some matches.
Kyurem-EX - Hahahahahahahaha
Jolteon - Same as Flareon and Vaporeon
Ampharos EX: Sparking Tail is a nice anti-safeguard measure, and this + Shrine of Memories is M Ampharos' Answer to Giratina-EX. Thunder Rod is just bad though.
M Ampharos-EX - If this card works properly, expect some rage quits. This fits perfectly as a disruption based deck, prevent your opponent from attack while preventing any efforts to retreat/attack. I'm sure many will try to make this deck work.
Rotom - Boring. That's it. Mischievous Light 'might' have been interesting with Trick Coin if it discarded cards from your opponents. Shuffling them back into the deck is pretty worthless though.
Unown - Interesting card, could be used to put energy in the discard if you have no other means, or used as bench management.
Baltoy AT - Just. Why? You give a card some pretty beautiful art then make it the most boring card to ever exist.
Claydol - The potential for trolling is strong. Not much preventing you from just putting the evolutions back on (this will even help Theta Max Pokemon) but I'm sure someone will make a Rogue from it.
Golurk - Shame, really, but Vespiquen really stole this cards thunder. I'll still make a deck with it and Eevee just for fun, but arguably worse than a Vespiquen deck due to Grass weakness being more prevalent than Fight and Psychic combined, and Vespi only needs 2 energy while the 'Lurk needs three. Incredible art though.
Hoopa EX: Staple. Focused search is great in a post LTC meta. Attack is pure trash though. Pretty bad Lysandre bait.
Machamp EX - This card could be fun. Combine with Heavy Boots and Ariados AOR and you've got either 160 Damage (+ Strong Energy + Muscle Band + Fighting Stadium etc etc) or potential for a strong Thrash with no drawback. Heavy Boots will put you at 200HP as well, a fairly nice number to hit.
Quagsire - Not quite sure why this card exists, but 80 for three is good for prereleases
Regirock – Can hit hard, but Hawlucha is arguably better in most regards for Fighting anti-EX.
Golurk – Pails in comparison to it's AT brother
Tyranitar EX – Garbage card, only there to feed its mega.
M Tyranitar EX – Now this card could be a lot of fun. Destroyer King is insanely powerful, Colour Drained City may hurt you but it'll put every EX in the game into KO range with a Muscle Band attached. Bats will also be lethal with this card. The only concern is 4 energy cost, DDCC is nicer than DDDC.
Sableye – Captivating Eye might make an interesting mill deck when combined with Professor Juniper. We'll have to see. Juniper does give your opponent a nice big hand with which to comeback with.
Malamar – Poor. Let's move on
Metagross – Free Escape Rope per turn? Eh. Iron Cannon is pretty much Full Metal Impact but with the annoyance of being a Stage 2. Someone will make a Rogue Metal deck with level ball though for sure.
Metagross AT – Machine Gun Stamp could be fun with two Muscle Bands. You need 5 cards in hand for it to better than Guard Press. Love the art though. Here's hoping for a regular Metagross EX at some point as well (that isn't an expensive promo).
Registeel – I like Imprisoning Hammer, could become a tech that decides matches with Steel decks.
Gardevoir – Bold and brash? More like belongs in the trash. Meh tastic is how I'd describe it. Maybe someone will prove me wrong.
Whimsicott – A very nice card. Put this in an M Gard deck, then use M Gards bulk to turn Whimsicott into a free two prizes. If this made finals of something the hype when it got the KO with Wind Mischief would be unreal.
Giratina-EX – Oh god, here we go. This + Vileplume could lead to some rage quits worse than Sesimitoad. I therefore must make a deck with 4 in.
Goomy – Mo Goomy = Mo Goomy
Goodra – Nothing special. 80 snipe for two will be rare but good for the cost.
Persion – Filler
Eevee – Coulda just skipped Eevee in this set TBH, Energy Evolution Eevee will always be used over this.
Porygon – Alph Glyph reborn. BCIF # 2
Porygon Z – Cyber Crash would ruin Giratina EX's day. Slow beam is also great, hitting for 90 with Muscle Band and preventing your opponent from 'hopefully' attacking. Combo this with Head Ringer and you've got some troll potential.
Porygon Z AT – Digitial Reboot. The bats, oh lord the bats. Screen Resolution is eh.
Lugia EX: Have I mentioned how much I love Aero Ball? Deep Hurricane is also pretty strong, but having Jolteon AOR in format makes that Weakness a massive liability.
Eco Arm – Eh. Could see play with M Ttar to help with potential Double Head Ringers.
Paint Roller – Can see a lot of decks running 1 or 2 of these. Little bit of draw and removes stadiums, great for countering a lot of deck strategies.
Level Ball – Sadly no Heavy Ball. However, this will shake up stage 2's massively. Can't wait to see the intersting concepts coming back with this card.
Lucky Helmet – Not sure. There are a lot better tools.
Spirit Links – Ampharos is beautiful. Otherwise, average.
Ace Trainer – Most decks will probably run 1 of. Decks that expect to go down in prizes will run at least 2.
Hex Maniac – With some of the abilities introduced in this set, I can see this being a 2 of staple in most every deck if the meta goes the way I think it will.
Color-Drained City – Good with Ttar and anti Mega decks, otherwise eh.
GPF – Potentially format breaking. Remains to be seen.
Flash Energy – Good with Jolteon AOR, but still weak to Enhanced Hammer and no way to bring it back reliably.
Bad Energy – Potentially interesting, will have to see which decks make use of this. Ttar, maybe.
And finally, some aesthetic opinions
Sceptile – 6/10
M Sceptile – 7/10
Kyurem – 9/10
Ampharos – 7/10
M Ampharos – 10/10
Hoopa – 100000000000000000000000000000/10
Machamp – 9/10
Ttar – 9/10
M Ttar – 8/10
Giratina – 6/10
Lugia – 8/10
Long post, sorry.
Vileplume - Obvious potential for a troll card. Has good synergy with Giratina-EX to lock off 4/7 card types. GPF makes turn 1 possible, but probably not ideal. We'll have to see what decks arise from AOR to see if Vileplume is truly relevant.
Bellossom - Flower Mixer is interesting. Typically, this kind of effect is better for abilities. However, 60 damage is a solid hit, and this might prove valuable in M Venusaur decks that might see play post AOR. Also, beautiful art
Ariados - Obvious synergy with Grass decks, as well as Machamp EX. Expect to see this card in decks from place for years to come.
Sceptile EX - Not much special. 130 Damage with a Special Condition on the opponent is not that useful, potential to hit for 170 cumulative with Muscle Band and 2 rounds of Poison damage.. 1 Energy for 10, even with the ability, is bloody awful. If it was colourless I could maybe understand.
M Sceptile EX - Now this card is fascinating. I can see fire type making a resurgence in the meta with this card around. The effect is great early game to accelerate cheaply (Energy retrieval making a lot more sense now huh?) while taking some damage off late game. Theta Stop obviously has utility, but I'm still struggling to think of cards that aren't rotating that will really affect this. A trait for the sets to come, I guess.
Vespiquen - As many others have said, we've got a new tiered deck right here. As we'll talk about later, the potential of Vespiquen and friends is huge. 90HP attacker does annoyingly put it into the PRC Medicham camp of weakness, but double colourless is a bit more flexible and Teammates is always amazing with Comp. Search rotating. Expect big things of this card.
Vespiquen AT - Bad compared to the regular card. Still, amazing art. ATs in this set are the most beautiful ATs we've yet seen. Let's hope they keep this style.
Virizion - Funny, when this was announced everyone was hailing it as the death of Toad. Looks like TPCi got there before them. Nothing special, Sacred Ash/Revive is superior to the first attack, and prize counter is niche at best. If PGroudon wasn't already over with the other cards in this set I'd maybe suggest it as a counter to that. In reality, this new meta is the counter to Groudon.
Flareon - Flare Effect. What else needs to be said. The potential for these three Eeveelutions are huge, and their implications on the meta will be felt until they rotate in two years time. The attack is nothing special, however. 3 for 70 on average is poor overall.
Entei - Burning Scent is bad with LTC gone, period. Combat Blaze is interesting. My first thought was potential Shiftry FLF/Raichu and friends counter for fire decks
Entei AT - Nothing really special, 4 energy is super steep (although manageable with Fire type's energy acceleration potential). Beautiful card thought.
Volcarona - This card interests me the most out of any card in this set. Sunbath could do some amazing things. There are cards that have really slow acceleration and 3 attack cost. Boom, Sunbath and attach next turn for an attack. There are cards that have awkward attack costs. Boom, Sunbath and get exactly the energy types you need. I really want to make this card viable. Magmarupt might like this card a lot. Other than that, 60 for 2 with a discard is nothing special.
Volcarona AT - Stunning card, but poor attacks.
Magikarp - 10/10 BCIF
Gyarados - This is the card Wide Lens was born for. Being stage 1 means the Eeveelutions add their types. The potential spread becomes pretty huge. Aqua Tail is also a pretty fun troll attack, and will probably decide games at prereleases.
Gyarados AT - Archie's Gyarados anyone? 4 Magikarp with 20 damage each = 240 damage. Bats will laugh in its face though.
Vaporeon - Aqua Effect. Once more, amazing ability, average attack
Relicanth - Gotta love filler. Deep Sea Search is splashable, but it pretty much becomes trading a prize for two Pokemon. You'd have better luck with teammates.
Regice - Very strong in anti-EX decks. 120 HP is not as good as 130, but Resistance Blizzard could win some matches.
Kyurem-EX - Hahahahahahahaha
Jolteon - Same as Flareon and Vaporeon
Ampharos EX: Sparking Tail is a nice anti-safeguard measure, and this + Shrine of Memories is M Ampharos' Answer to Giratina-EX. Thunder Rod is just bad though.
M Ampharos-EX - If this card works properly, expect some rage quits. This fits perfectly as a disruption based deck, prevent your opponent from attack while preventing any efforts to retreat/attack. I'm sure many will try to make this deck work.
Rotom - Boring. That's it. Mischievous Light 'might' have been interesting with Trick Coin if it discarded cards from your opponents. Shuffling them back into the deck is pretty worthless though.
Unown - Interesting card, could be used to put energy in the discard if you have no other means, or used as bench management.
Baltoy AT - Just. Why? You give a card some pretty beautiful art then make it the most boring card to ever exist.
Claydol - The potential for trolling is strong. Not much preventing you from just putting the evolutions back on (this will even help Theta Max Pokemon) but I'm sure someone will make a Rogue from it.
Golurk - Shame, really, but Vespiquen really stole this cards thunder. I'll still make a deck with it and Eevee just for fun, but arguably worse than a Vespiquen deck due to Grass weakness being more prevalent than Fight and Psychic combined, and Vespi only needs 2 energy while the 'Lurk needs three. Incredible art though.
Hoopa EX: Staple. Focused search is great in a post LTC meta. Attack is pure trash though. Pretty bad Lysandre bait.
Machamp EX - This card could be fun. Combine with Heavy Boots and Ariados AOR and you've got either 160 Damage (+ Strong Energy + Muscle Band + Fighting Stadium etc etc) or potential for a strong Thrash with no drawback. Heavy Boots will put you at 200HP as well, a fairly nice number to hit.
Quagsire - Not quite sure why this card exists, but 80 for three is good for prereleases
Regirock – Can hit hard, but Hawlucha is arguably better in most regards for Fighting anti-EX.
Golurk – Pails in comparison to it's AT brother
Tyranitar EX – Garbage card, only there to feed its mega.
M Tyranitar EX – Now this card could be a lot of fun. Destroyer King is insanely powerful, Colour Drained City may hurt you but it'll put every EX in the game into KO range with a Muscle Band attached. Bats will also be lethal with this card. The only concern is 4 energy cost, DDCC is nicer than DDDC.
Sableye – Captivating Eye might make an interesting mill deck when combined with Professor Juniper. We'll have to see. Juniper does give your opponent a nice big hand with which to comeback with.
Malamar – Poor. Let's move on
Metagross – Free Escape Rope per turn? Eh. Iron Cannon is pretty much Full Metal Impact but with the annoyance of being a Stage 2. Someone will make a Rogue Metal deck with level ball though for sure.
Metagross AT – Machine Gun Stamp could be fun with two Muscle Bands. You need 5 cards in hand for it to better than Guard Press. Love the art though. Here's hoping for a regular Metagross EX at some point as well (that isn't an expensive promo).
Registeel – I like Imprisoning Hammer, could become a tech that decides matches with Steel decks.
Gardevoir – Bold and brash? More like belongs in the trash. Meh tastic is how I'd describe it. Maybe someone will prove me wrong.
Whimsicott – A very nice card. Put this in an M Gard deck, then use M Gards bulk to turn Whimsicott into a free two prizes. If this made finals of something the hype when it got the KO with Wind Mischief would be unreal.
Giratina-EX – Oh god, here we go. This + Vileplume could lead to some rage quits worse than Sesimitoad. I therefore must make a deck with 4 in.
Goomy – Mo Goomy = Mo Goomy
Goodra – Nothing special. 80 snipe for two will be rare but good for the cost.
Persion – Filler
Eevee – Coulda just skipped Eevee in this set TBH, Energy Evolution Eevee will always be used over this.
Porygon – Alph Glyph reborn. BCIF # 2
Porygon Z – Cyber Crash would ruin Giratina EX's day. Slow beam is also great, hitting for 90 with Muscle Band and preventing your opponent from 'hopefully' attacking. Combo this with Head Ringer and you've got some troll potential.
Porygon Z AT – Digitial Reboot. The bats, oh lord the bats. Screen Resolution is eh.
Lugia EX: Have I mentioned how much I love Aero Ball? Deep Hurricane is also pretty strong, but having Jolteon AOR in format makes that Weakness a massive liability.
Eco Arm – Eh. Could see play with M Ttar to help with potential Double Head Ringers.
Paint Roller – Can see a lot of decks running 1 or 2 of these. Little bit of draw and removes stadiums, great for countering a lot of deck strategies.
Level Ball – Sadly no Heavy Ball. However, this will shake up stage 2's massively. Can't wait to see the intersting concepts coming back with this card.
Lucky Helmet – Not sure. There are a lot better tools.
Spirit Links – Ampharos is beautiful. Otherwise, average.
Ace Trainer – Most decks will probably run 1 of. Decks that expect to go down in prizes will run at least 2.
Hex Maniac – With some of the abilities introduced in this set, I can see this being a 2 of staple in most every deck if the meta goes the way I think it will.
Color-Drained City – Good with Ttar and anti Mega decks, otherwise eh.
GPF – Potentially format breaking. Remains to be seen.
Flash Energy – Good with Jolteon AOR, but still weak to Enhanced Hammer and no way to bring it back reliably.
Bad Energy – Potentially interesting, will have to see which decks make use of this. Ttar, maybe.
And finally, some aesthetic opinions
Sceptile – 6/10
M Sceptile – 7/10
Kyurem – 9/10
Ampharos – 7/10
M Ampharos – 10/10
Hoopa – 100000000000000000000000000000/10
Machamp – 9/10
Ttar – 9/10
M Ttar – 8/10
Giratina – 6/10
Lugia – 8/10
Long post, sorry.
Why does Kyurem always get the special treatment anyway? We're long past the point where he was relevant. How many EX and EX Full Arts is that now, Kyurem? Have you ever considered sharing?
How many EX and EX Full Arts is that now, Kyurem? Have you ever considered sharing?
That's seven EX's and 5 FA's for Kyurem, but only if we're putting Black Kyurem and White Kyurem in the same basket as standard Kyurem.
Even if we don't that is still 3 EX's and 2 FA's.
But really that's not Kyurem's fault, that's the fault of the game designers.
Even if we don't that is still 3 EX's and 2 FA's.
But really that's not Kyurem's fault, that's the fault of the game designers.
GadgetJax
Traveling Storyteller and Card Faker
That someone is me. So much hype.
Does anyone else think Vespiquen could either replace Flareon? It would be a good counter to toad decks, free retreat, and the only thing it would lose is energy evolution. It would also, ironically, be weak to Flareon decks. I could see it as a potential tech within Flareon, but I'm not sure about replacing... Thoughts?