Empoleon (DR21) [12/14/2011]

[Celebi23]

Card of the Day: Empoleon from Dark Rush

Empoleon – Water – HP140
Stage 2 – Evolves from Prinplup

Ability: Diving Draw
Choose 1 card from your hand and discard it. Then, draw 2 cards from your deck. You can use this ability 1 time during your turn.

[W] Attack Command: Does 10 damage times the total number of Pokemon in play.

Weakness: Lightning (x2)
Resistance: none
Retreat: 2

NOTE: Please use today's thread to review Piplup (DR19) and Prinplup (DR20) as well.

Guiding Questions:
1. How does this card stand on its own (analyze the HP, attacks, Abilities, etc. of the card)?
2. What role does/could this card have in the metagame?
3. What cards, if any, does this card combo with?
4. Give it a rating (out of 10), and explain why you have given it that rating.

You are not required to follow the guiding questions, but make sure your post has informative and interesting content.

 

[Emperor]

Empoleon! <3

but seriously...

How does this card stand on its own (analyze the HP, attacks, Abilities, etc. of the card)?

Just by looking at the card it's pretty much a bulkier {W} version of Jumpluff HGSS. 140 HP is pretty much a godsend in terms of HP as it puts Empoleon out of range from potential OHKO's seeing as 120 damage is pretty easy to accomplish for some decks right now meaning this card will last at least 2 turns on the field. Being able to attack for a single energy and deal upto (in the perfect world) 120 damage is pretty dangerous meaning recovering from a KO won't be too much of a problem.

The Ability is pretty much the best thing about this card - There are barely any pokemon between the HGSS-DR expansion that have a draw power like Ability/Poké-Power. which gives this card the advantage of being able to continuously draw into the players deck which is a real benefit with swarm type decks. If the ability can stack then Empoleon might become a contender in the metagame in the future. Though just like Junk Arm; it could be problematic late game when you're forced to discard a useful/game breaking card(s) to draw into your deck.

The weakness is pretty much a letdown though not too surprising. With the release of Eelektrik, {L} decks have all the support they'll need to still be quite a dominate force in the metagame in the future. This and the nerf to Rare Candy will make it very for hard Empoleon to establish itself as a archetype. The {C}{C} retreat cost means it won't be able to simply retreat into another Empoleon when it's HP gets too low, unlike Jumpluff who could.

What role does/could this card have in the metagame?

It seems like it would function well as a swarm type deck as its attack is dependant on the amount of Pokemon on the field however as long as the player controlling Empoleons' field is full, Empoleon will be guaranteed to be dealing 80 damage on average. So i'm guessing lists would focus on a heavy 4-3-4 Empoleon line to increase the chance of a T2 Empoleon as well as playing a trainer heavy set-up to be able to get as many pokemon on the field as they possibly can. Though some players may even choose to just use Empoleon as Draw Power (when Magnezone Prime gets rotated out) as being able to drop a useless card in your hand and dig deeper into your deck is always a good thing, though i doubt that would ever become the case.

What cards, if any, does this card combo with?

Assuming that Dark Rush or at least Empoleon will be in our May set then there are a few cards that it can be paired with.

Blissey Prime (HGSS) - Empoleon has pretty good HP as well as a very low energy attack cost so using Blissey Prime to just heal up any damage and being able to just drop another {W} down on Empoleon would make this card even bulkier.

Vileplume (UD) - Trainer lock is always a nice thing to have as stopping your opponents Pokemon Catcher and Plus Power makes things very hard for them. With a properly built deck, Empoleon can pull it off and it can even include the Blissey prime tech suggestion along with this.

Donphan Prime (HGSS) - This is more of a tech if anything as {L} decks will have no problems rolling through Empoleon. Donphan Prime just gives Empoleon an answer to a pretty autoloss

Cinccino (BW) - Both Empoleon and Cinccino like having a full bench, so for those moments when Empoleon isn't hitting for 100 damage Cinccino can come in and hit for that 100 damage PLUS it gives the deck an alternative attacker against {L} decks while not clashing with the energy type requirement which can be a good thing in the long run when you want to be drawing into energy that all your attackers can use.


Give it a rating (out of 10), and explain why you have given it that rating.

Ugh. It has the bulk, it has the Ability and it has the good attack damage-to-cost ratio. However {L} decks just have too much going for them {Eelektrik, Raikou EX, Thundurus, Pachirisu) and there doesn't seem to be any good {F} pokemon that can be good against {L} decks as well as the rest of the meta (Landorus/Machamp Prime might make a apperance as an anti-meta choice). Empoleon decks would have too tech a heavy line just to deal with them which would just end up hurting the decks consistency.

I'd rate Empoleon a 6.5

 

[Magnevire]

Guiding Questions:
1. How does this card stand on its own (analyze the HP, attacks, Abilities, etc. of the card)?

140 HP is decent, but average for any good stage 2. It's comfortably above the magic number of 120. However, a horrible lightning weakness makes Empoleon very vulnerable to Zekrom, Raikou, and Magnezone. It's attack is the same as Mass Attack, making it, essentially, a more durable Jumpluff with draw power. While perhaps inferior to Magnezone, Empoleon's ability offers good draw power when stacked, and is probably one of the only draw engines in next year's format, guaranteeing this card will get some attention.

2. What role does/could this card have in the metagame?

Like Magnezone, this card will be a cornerstone card for draw and attack. It will likely see some play this format as a rogue with mass attack potential and built in draw. One thing that's nice about this card is the low energy requirement, giving it some nice options for extra consistency cards and techs.

3. What cards, if any, does this card combo with?

Leavanny could help erase Empoleon's weakness, helping it against Zekrom and Raikou, and forcing a third energy out of Magnezone for Lost Burn. Kingdra could bring Empoleon's attack to 130, getting within KO range of dragons. Terrakion and Donphan can cover weakness.

4. Give it a rating (out of 10), and explain why you have given it that rating.

In this format I'll give Empoleon a 7 out of 10. It's playable, but it's not the best card in the format, and Magnezone's draw is probably better overall, and the lightning weakness hurts it. Next format though, Empoleon could be really useful, perhaps enough to warrant using it even with its terrible weakness. Pokemon based draw power has always been a powerful tool in the format, and next format, Empoleon could be very useful.