Card of the Day: Blaziken
Blaziken (DE # 17) {6/07/12}
- Thread starter Vulpix Yolk
- Start date
Meant to post this yesterday but I forgot. Hope I can post it today if that's cool.
1. How does this card stand on its own (analyze the HP, attacks, Abilities, etc. of the card)?
Okay, one at a time. 140 HP. Quite good. Stage 2. Necessitates Rare Candy, but that's no big deal. {W} weakness, seen only really in Kyurem, which only really irritates it. 2 Retreat. Again, no big deal. The attacks. {R}{C} for 40+Burn OR 70. Either of those effects is quite desirable, and can serve to hold you off for a bit while you power up Flamethrower, which is what you really want; for {R}{R}{C} plus a discard, it hits 130. Now, 130 is an odd number; no Pokemon card to date has an attack with that base power other than Blaziken. Fortunately for Blaziken, 130 is this format's magic number for OHKOing; it OHKOs every basic non-EX, and the cost for the attack isn't taxing either - you can use it once every turn if you have the Energy.
2. What cards, if any, does this card combo with?
Just run some Energy Retrieval and you'll be fine. Plus, we have Emboar, so it's not like he's without Energy acceleration. Really, his only issue is getting the Energy out onto him quickly, but Emboar can help that, and Energy Retrieval can get them back. The only attacks that really OHKO this guy are the big attacks of Resh, Zek, and Kyurem EXs, which aren't often seen. Then again, EXs are pretty common, but at the very least, Flamethrower will leave a nasty dent in their HP.
3. What role does/could this card have in the metagame?
Getting rid of: Reshiram, Zekrom, Terrakion...in short, it can get rid of any Pokemon that isn't an EX, and can only really be 2HKO'd while Blaziken just OHKOs them back, thus tipping the prize trade in your favor. I wouldn't be surprised to hear that Blaziken+Emboar becomes some super-legit deck this format or next.
4. Give it a rating (out of 10), and explain why you have given it that rating.
9/10. It has hidden potential that still needs to be tapped, but so far people are all caught up with their Darkrais and Terrakions that they overlook this little wonder. If I had the cards, I'd build this.
1. How does this card stand on its own (analyze the HP, attacks, Abilities, etc. of the card)?
Okay, one at a time. 140 HP. Quite good. Stage 2. Necessitates Rare Candy, but that's no big deal. {W} weakness, seen only really in Kyurem, which only really irritates it. 2 Retreat. Again, no big deal. The attacks. {R}{C} for 40+Burn OR 70. Either of those effects is quite desirable, and can serve to hold you off for a bit while you power up Flamethrower, which is what you really want; for {R}{R}{C} plus a discard, it hits 130. Now, 130 is an odd number; no Pokemon card to date has an attack with that base power other than Blaziken. Fortunately for Blaziken, 130 is this format's magic number for OHKOing; it OHKOs every basic non-EX, and the cost for the attack isn't taxing either - you can use it once every turn if you have the Energy.
2. What cards, if any, does this card combo with?
Just run some Energy Retrieval and you'll be fine. Plus, we have Emboar, so it's not like he's without Energy acceleration. Really, his only issue is getting the Energy out onto him quickly, but Emboar can help that, and Energy Retrieval can get them back. The only attacks that really OHKO this guy are the big attacks of Resh, Zek, and Kyurem EXs, which aren't often seen. Then again, EXs are pretty common, but at the very least, Flamethrower will leave a nasty dent in their HP.
3. What role does/could this card have in the metagame?
Getting rid of: Reshiram, Zekrom, Terrakion...in short, it can get rid of any Pokemon that isn't an EX, and can only really be 2HKO'd while Blaziken just OHKOs them back, thus tipping the prize trade in your favor. I wouldn't be surprised to hear that Blaziken+Emboar becomes some super-legit deck this format or next.
4. Give it a rating (out of 10), and explain why you have given it that rating.
9/10. It has hidden potential that still needs to be tapped, but so far people are all caught up with their Darkrais and Terrakions that they overlook this little wonder. If I had the cards, I'd build this.
I love this card. So much. It combos well with both Typhlosion Prime and Emboar, and with Flamethrower hitting the magic 130, enough to defeat Zekrom, Reshiram and Kyurem, which is good, because while they are 2HKO'ing you, you are 1HKO'ing them. When rotation comes around, I will be playing BlazeBoar because Vileplume will be rotated, which is one of the main cards in my current deck. 9/10 on playability, and 10/10 on art. (Because the art is incredibly awesome.)
Gistica said:
I agree that this could have some Tier 2/3 potential with Entei, but I think Volcorona may not be entirely worth it. It's a stage 1 taking away space for more needed things, for an extra 20 damage on a flip. I'd have to do a little math to see if it would help against popular cards, though. Let's say for example, against Darkrai EX (or any other EX with 180 HP, really): You'd only really be using Entei's first attack T2 since after that you want to be setting up your bench with energies. Assuming that they flip one tails between the 2 turns that would pass after you burn them, that's 30 from the attack + 40 from the burn, which doesn't put it into KO range with Entei. Also, if you were to follow up the initial attack with Blaziken's second attack, they'd be in KO range even without the Volcarona, since 30 from the attack + 20 from burn + 130 from Blaziken's attack is 180.
Volcarona could help if they had Eviolite, but you don't really want to be using the first attack unless it's the second turn of the game. If it's that early, it's impossible to have Entei with 2 energies, a Volcorona, and a Blaziken ready to attack next turn. The only way it's even remotely possible is with Shaymin, but you can't rely on that set up.
They way I could really see Blaziken being played is in a Quad Entei style deck.
(Pokemon
4 Entei EX
4-1-3 Blaziken DE
1 Shaymin
1 Smeargle
That with 4 EXP Share would be worth trying out. It could outclass Quad Entei, since it gives it extra power. Quad Entei usually has to rely on getting 2 Plus Powers to even 2HKO an Eviolited EX, which is unreliable at best, especially when they have to do it up to 3 times a game. The Blaziken provides a remedy to this, as well as an option for dealing with Empoleon with a Plus Power. It's also good against any of the big basics, and Donphan with a Plus Power. If not this format, I'll probably be giving this deck a go after the rotation.