Feraligatr (Prime), 3/9/2010

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Water Pokémon Master

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Guiding questions:
1. How does the card stand on its own? Is it good, bad, or have potential?
2. What popular metagame decks is it used in?
3. What combos can you use it with? How so?
4. Give it a rating, and explain why you have given it that rating. You can also rate the card by rating the thread itself (out of 5 stars).
5. How's the artwork?

Posts must be several sentences long or warnings will be handed out and posts will be deleted - this forum is to learn more about specific cards. :)
 
RE: Feraligatr (Prime), 3/19/2010

Heh, I know absolutely nothing about the TCG so I can only answer the question about the artwork. ;P

But anyways, I like how the shading make Feraligatr kinda shine, and the glints placed there purposely flow well with it.

I don't really get the background, though. Are those supposed to be whirlpools?
 
RE: Feraligatr (Prime), 3/19/2010

Whatever happened to Card of the Day?

1) It's not really that good on its own... lol
2) None. It could see play when the BSD Blastoise is released.
3) BSD Blastoise for quick energy charge, the current PT Blastoise, the other Feraligatr, and a few other bulky waters.
4) Rating of 5/10, it is very slow, big retreat cost, and a miserable attack. Not only does the attack suck, but it costs 4 straight water energy. Talk about loss of like tech ability and such...
5) It's decent, nothing spectacular though.
 
RE: Feraligatr (Prime), 3/19/2010

Feraligatr Prime was one of those hyped cards before it was released. Ever since people saw its power, the rage was all over like "OMG BS Blastoise is returning!" Yeah, Gatr got hyped like that and soon people believed it could become a metagame deck. Honestly, Gatr is a really bad card. Sure, you can do 60 damage and even more damage on the next turn, but you have to have 4 energy on it. Odds are, even with Rain Dance getting 4 energy could be a little tricky. Still slow, and the speed of the current meta is surely a pain to Gatr. Even the weakness is bad, losing itself to the ever-so-fast and popular Jumpluff. Just not good.

I've seen most Gatr decks run by itself. Sometimes with Blastoise PL as well, but not much. Gatr alone is really, really bad for the reasons I explained above. With Blastoise it is quite better, but not too much. You still need to fill your bench with a Delcatty to recover the energy, and Gatr's Power combined with Blastoise's power can be a bit of an energy-recycling pain, but that's setting up two stage-2's, a stage-1, and then your techs. Slow, just slow. Gatr variants also have the option to run Floatzel GL Lv.X. It helps recover the Water Energy going to the discard as well as Gatr. The Blastoise from the Battle Starter Deck is a very good assist with Gatr; however, being able to do a 100 snipe a turn. But still a lot to setup.

Overall, Gatr gets a 2.5/5. The card might look like a monster at glance, but honestly has way too many problems. Each I did explain. Maybe it will do well in some States, but by the looks of our current meta it seems like Gatr is just going to wither away. The artwork is pretty nice, so I give it a 3/5. No real comment on the artwork.
 
RE: Feraligatr (Prime), 3/19/2010

1. How does the card stand on its own? Is it good, bad, or have potential?
When I first saw this card, I wanted to make so many decks with it. I thought it could be the next base set Blastoise. As one can tell, its attack is less than satisfactory. That's the problem with all the primes (thus far). Everything is great, except for one thing. In this case, its the attack. It's not that the attack is BAD. It can be used on its own (with effort). That is one of those attacks where you use it if its your last thing you can do. What's nice is that even though it has a 4 energy cost, Gatr is self sufficient. It can auto-attach those energies. This is by no means a standalone card. It had the markings of a good standalone card, but its attack kinda held it down.

This guy has very much potential. I think, however, he's in the wrong place at the wrong time. This format is obsessively fast. Look at the "popular decks". Donphan, Jumpluff, SP, ect. All decks that can do 60 T1-T2 without much effort. This guy here is a supporting stage 2. Unless you're playing him with a basic pokemon, he'll hold you back. You can, by no means, rely on him. He can't be teched, either, because he is really specific. Mass attaching water energies is good, but name a few decks that can tech him... Most decks that need this kind of energy excel REALLY NEED IT. He's untechable, and you're going to be way behind the game if you play him as your main support for the excel that you need. I think he's a great fun card. I will definetly put him in my unlimited deck when i get tired of base set Blastoise.


2. What popular metagame decks is it used in?
This guy can't be used in many metagame decks. I've put him with Ho-Oh legend. That deck was ok, but SLOW. Like I said before, this guy is not very good right now. He's just too slow... I've tried him out with the new Entei-Suicune legends and Suicune-Raikou legends cards. He was... ok there. There are way more efficient cards to put in those decks, though. Again, he's nothing at all special.


3. What combos can you use it with? How so?

This guy is amazing with department store girl. DSG (from the Arceus set) allows me to get 3 pokemon tool cards. They can be the same tools. I am allowed to get Energy Link (Stormfront). As long as I have 2 Energy Links, I can move Energies to and from the pokemon EL is attached to. I can attach Energy Link to Gatr and do his pokepower to attach a few Water Energies. With Energy Link, I can move them to non-water type pokemon. This is a very good way to get energies on colorless-energy-users quickly. Again, however, this guy is too slow. He can go with Blissey (Mysterious Treasures), but that's still very slow.

Also, Lumineon from Mysterious Treasures can be a good combo card for him. It doers more damage for each water energy attached to it. It the returns all energies from it to your hand. This could be a good combo because it does a lot of damage, and keeps your water energies in your hand. Even so, this is still (again) slow.

4. Give it a rating, and explain why you have given it that rating. You can also rate the card by rating the thread itself (out of 5 stars).

I'd give this guy 3/5. I love the concept, and he's very good. But again, he's in the wrong place at the wrong time. Imagine this guy about two years ago. He would have been amazing! I'm sure he'll get a purpose sooner or later.

5. How's the artwork?

I absolutely love the headshot art. I don't exactly know who Kent Kanetsuna is (as my fav artist has always been Ken Sugimori... duh). I know he did a few cards in Great Encounters and Majestic Dawn (thanks Bulbapedia :D), but I've never really noticed him. If he continues with this type of art, I'd absolutely love it! :D 9/10 on art. Only missing a point because of how fantastic the legends are. Again, wrong place at the wrong time.
 
Posting by request, hehe. Excuse me if it's not the most accurate post ever, I haven't really played the game in a few months or so.


1. How does the card stand on its own? Is it good, bad, or have potential?

Feraligatr Prime from our newest set, GS, resembles cards we have seen in the past with it's Poke Power: The one thing that makes him such a good card. Feraligatr is a trick card to use for beginners, but it certainly is not bad. You certainly will see Feraligatr Prime in decks at the upcoming State Championships - not necessarily winning when against other popular decks such as LuxChomp (or when more general, SP in general) but it is still something to be aware of as you might get caught off guard when playing against Feraligatr. If played correctly, it really can be a force to be reckoned with.

Unfortunately, with decks that set up by Turn 2-3 now, it's going to be tough to get a good AND fast Feraligatr deck running. You're not going to get him set up that quickly, and even when you do, your opponent might be say two prizes ahead of you already. There are people who might find a good deck with Feraligatr that is fast as well, but I don't feel that it's the best deck to play right now. However, it does not hurt to give it a try and play around with it - you might just find the perfect list and techs. That saying, I would say that Feraligatr has potential.

2. What popular metagame decks is it used in?

Well, you might see Feraligatr in decks that incorporate other Pokemon that have attacks dependent on the amount of energy attached, or something like that. I haven't seen any real Feraligatr decks that have been outstanding/considered strong in the current metagame, but you might see it being paired up with Blastoise PL or Blissey MT. Both have the general idea of getting as much energy as you can and with each energy, increasing the amount of base damage you give out. The thing with Blastoise is that you would be trying to set up two stage 2's, and if you don't get both of them out ASAP, Blastoise really won't be getting too many energy on him before dying. Blissey might move a bit faster, being a stage One and having high HP. Still, you'll have to make sure you get it out quickly so you can start hitting hard before your opponent has the time to counter back.

3. What combos can you use it with? How so?

Well, I guess I covered this really in the last question since the cards discussed there were not really metagame decks you can find it in. Don't forget to put some Dawn Stadiums in your deck though when you've finally set up - They are a really great way of healing several damage counters in one turn due to the manipulation on energy attachment with Feraligatr.

4. Give it a rating, and explain why you have given it that rating. You can also rate the card by rating the thread itself (out of 5 stars).

Feraligatr was an overhyped card, before HG came out. Personally though, don't expect this to be winning any States. (not in Masters, at least.) Juniors and Seniors might be able to incorporate it into some rogue deck and do well with it, but honestly, it takes too long to set up, it has a very bad weakness to Grass (which we will see from Jumpluff from the new GS set and Beedrill decks), no resistance (which is always good to have, no matter what it is) and a heavy retreat cost of three makes it even worse. (Though you really should be using him as a supporting Pokemon, powering others with its power rather than actually using him to attack others.) I would rate it a 3/5 at best - being a Stage 2 Pokemon Prime with a bad weakness, no resistance, three retreat cost, and only one attack with an energy cost of 4 is just too much for me. It's power can be shut down too, so decks that rely on him too much can easily be stalled with the likes of Power Spray.

5. How's the artwork?

I personally am not a very big fan of the artwork - it looks okay but there's not very much to it. Kind of basic, and the shading makes it look really dark. (Not saying that dark is a problem, I just think it's a bit too simple.) The shimmer on the tooth of it looks pretty nice, but not the best. More detail could have been added to the artwork, I would rate it a 3/5. (Don't listen to me, I'm a terrible art critic. :Rolleyes: )
 
1. By itself this card is nearly useless. You need to pair it with another water card to really balance it out.

2. There aren't many "popular decks" I've seen it in. I've only seen it paired with Blissey Prime. It didn't work out too well.

3. I don't want to give away my whole deck right before states, but if you've got Broken time-space you can send this guy out pretty quickly. Once he's out, he'll stay out if you've got an expert belt on him. What I don't like though, is that it is a second-turn knock out.

4. 4/5. By itself this card isn't that great, but the second you get something like a lumineon, a milotic C or the Battle Starters Blastoise, you are golden.

5. Love it! The background is nice and stylish and the teeth inspire fear into anyone that sees them! I'd hate to have to come across one of these with out my Pokemon at my side!
 
The one good combo that this card has is with Lumineon MT. Its attack does 30 damage, plus 10 for each water energy attached to it, and then returns all water energies to your hand. Combined with its poke power, which drags out any Pokemon on your opponent's bench with 100 HP or less (claydol, uxie, crobat G, azelf....), and the fact that you can combine this with Dawn Stadium, makes this a card that, if built right, should be feared. By returning the energy to your hand each turn, you ensure that you will have it all for next turn. In addition, since Lumineon is a stage 1, it should be easy to have one or two waiting on the bench. If you want to increase it's longevity, you could pair it with Expert Belts or Buffer Pieces to make up for Lumineon's 80 HP.

(Sorry that Paragraph was more about Lumineon, but I felt I had to describe in detail what I felt to be Feraligatr's best combo)
 
whatever happened to card of the day you ask >_>

Feraligatr Prime is an extremely overrated card that has very little potential. It 2HKO's everything in the format for a ridiculously high energy cost that can't abuse DCE or Call, which already slows it down. On top of that, the once mighty rain dance is now limited to being used on strong pokemon with low costs that have absolutely no use for it, or extremely fragile attacks from Pokemon like Lumineon MT that get killed in one shot and require huge amounts of energy to do decent damage anyways. It's impossible in a Claydol and Uxie driven format to get the necessary amounts of water energy you'll need into your hand for this card to be effective. Not good. 3/10
 
On its own: This thing is horrible.

Metagame: Honestly, metagame makes me sick. Blissey/Blastcatty, though.

Pairs: It can be very good w/ the right cards, and to me, Blastoise>Lumineon. That's why I run it.

Rating: 4/5; if you use something that gets powered up with it, good card. If you run straight Feraligatr (I have seen this), you will die. I think that IF the metagame slows down a little with the loss of some annoying draw power cards, it will be much better.

Artwork: Awful. The one from the tin looks so much better. IMO, all the tin Primes look better.:p
 
THAT'S WHY YOU STOPPED POSTING CARD OF THE DAYS!

Alright lets answer these questions.

1. How does the card stand on its own? Is it good, bad, or have potential?
This card is horrible on its own, because it's simply too slow. It does have potential though, as it can be easily comboed.
2. What popular metagame decks is it used in?
None. But there are many rouge decks you could play this in, and might make a few top cuts in States.
3. What combos can you use it with? How so?
The best comboes out there are probably Lumineon MD (I think) and Bronzong SF. Lumineon is great because you can lure all these high HP tanks from the bench and OHKO them (Bye, bye Nidoqueen!) and if Lumineon dies? No problem, all the energies you need are in your hand. The two main problems though are, A: You can't get energies fast enough (solved by Bronzong) and B: It has VERY low HP and can be one shotted by most everything in this format. (This problem is unsolvable ATM, which is why it's not a top tier deck.) Bronzong can easily search grab a few energies increasing Lumineon's power.
4. Give it a rating, and explain why you have given it that rating. You can also rate the card by rating the thread itself (out of 5 stars).
3/5 for now. This card has SO much potential, but the cards to use that potential aren't out yet.
5. How's the artwork?
Love the artwork.

*hipoke quickly finishes this post because he wants to watch American Idol.*
 
I honestly think this card has much potential (sorry for spelling). On its own this card will be an autoloss, but combo'd with other future cards and better setup techs (hopefully) Gatr will shine. I like the artwork though. Its catchy.
 
6/10

On it's own it's a kind of weak card with low attack power for high attack cost. Thankfully the high attack cost is made up for by the rain dance power.

In tandem with Lugia Legend it's a pretty good card. In my opinion, the combo will become completely broken if they ever reprint/make something like Holon's Castform. (DRE won't work, it requires an evolved Pokemon, Legend cards count as "Unevolved Pokemon")

I haven't seen it in any playable decks YET, but we'll see.

Compared to the rest of this set's artwork, I think all the Prime cards look kinda bad.
 
7/10

Definatly need another card to help it.

will PROBABLY use it in my new deck.

Rain Dance isn't very effective unless you have a lot of water pokemon is your deck.
 
This card sucks for 3 reasons:

1) Classic Blastoise was the best

2) I am a long time classic fanboy

3) Old skool trainer just ownz.

Cheers :)


NAH! Im joking.

But yeah, amazing card, but not as good in the metagame, but I could see this Pokemon works well with Crobat G and Claydol as a standalone deck with a few techs, however right now, there are still many other better decks. Also I must say that it would be one heck of a force when DP sets are rotated out. Ah yes, Feraligatr atwork is just maaaad cool. 4/5
 
Guiding questions:
1. How does the card stand on its own? Is it good, bad, or have potential?
If you play a 4-3-4 gatr prime line with that being your only line of attacking pokemon. using the MT croconaw and about 14-16 water energy, you can do some serious damage with this card. I would know, I get turn 1-2 80 damage with expert belt, and even more next turn. if I go second and you only have 1 pokemon, dont expect it to go on any farther. 'nuff said.

2. What popular metagame decks is it used in?
I wouldnt say its a popular metagame deck, but thats only because people keep knocking it down. I'll post my list for it later so you all can see it/try it for yourselves. It would be used in straight speed gatr prime or with the BSD blastoise.

3. What combos can you use it with? How so?
with the croconaw from Mysterious Treasures, you play a BTS, then evolve to croconaw, use its power called evolutionary vitality. look at the top 5 cards of your deck (you only not your opponent) and choose all energy cards you find there, then put em in ur hand then shuffle the rest. spam that with SSU for healing and re-using evolutionary vitality. then you can get your energy's very quickly. pokedrawers/dex handy910is/uxie/claydol can help you get it going SUPER FAST. its pretty cool. it only has one bad matchup which is jumpluff, but even then I've been able to get down to at least 2 prizes.

play 3 primes and 1 HG/SS one and you can do some spreading or hit for 100. which is cool. again you can use it with BSD blastoise, which could do very well if played properly.

4. Give it a rating, and explain why you have given it that rating. You can also rate the card by rating the thread itself (out of 5 stars).
card rating = 5/5 stars, but thats because I've given the deck enough time to understand how awesome it is XP

5. How's the artwork?
SWEET. the tin version is pretty cool too.
 
Hey! that is kinda freaky! As soon as you posted this, I opened one pack. Just one. It had this very card. Can you put the top half of lugia legend and bottom of ho oh? he.
anyway...
Anyway, this card is a prime, so it has to be good. With 140 hit points, it can survive for quite a long way. It can do 60 damage for a start, and 10 more damage for every damage counter on the defending pokemon, so it is great for a strong pokemon that has about half of its hit points left. But the 60 damage by itself can easily destroy those dang commons turn after turn. But rain dance sucks, cant do much with it. So it is quite good. One of the best HGSS cards! If you are doing a double battle, it is a great idea to send it out with either typlosion or meganium prime. If you dont have them, just use that dance! Neo Ikumani or whatever (It has a few thousand HP! Not fake, exclusice to japan)
I think the background of this could be improved, but it wont be. I personally think that the artwork on the promo version is much better! Ah well, better than a bidoof.
Given all that, I think that it is a good, rare card!
4/5! :D
 
I'll only answer the last question as I don't know/understand a huge amount about combos and metagame and all that ^.^ art is my thing and I'll be happy to help in any way possible.

The first things that get me straight away about the artwork is the colour, specifically how the blue is deliberately made more prominant than the other colours - the reds and creams are put in shadow, allowing the blue of its skin to fully dominate. This, naturally, would've been done to emphasize Feraligatr's dominance and the fact that it is one of the most prominant Water Pokémon in Johto. The use of blue in this fashion also ties the main image to the rest of the card (which has blue as its primary colour), making the cards colour scheme very well-rounded, balanced and allows the artwork to slot in without seeming out of place.
Feraligatr's blue skin has been done softly, the shading flowing into to itself very gently and naturally. One thing to consider about Feraligatr is that it is usually a very harsh and sharp looking Pokémon while this one has been created to have a much softer complexion that flows naturally, almost mimicking water itself.

The background is of particular importance. For one, it is mainly dark, framing the Feraligatr's head within the image more than anything else, clearly showing the focal point, where your eye is drawn to. Secondly, the bakground is green and has an almost oily texture to it, especially with regards to its swirling nature. This gives the suggestion of water, like the Feraligatr is swimming around in a green dirty ocean.
This, along with the softness of Feraligatr's main body, contrasts to one of the few really sharp elements of the image - the red spikes protruding from Feraligatr's head. The tone on them isn't as soft and gradient as on the skin, with sudden changes between dark and light. The sharp, strong red coming directly against swirling greens is another total contrast that helps to emphasize that point on top of Feraligatr's head showcasing one of its most defining features.

This sharpness is continued in its tooth, one tooth that is larger and whiter than the others with a white star showing its sheen and jaggedness. It fully showcases this other element that really defines Feraligatr - its powerful jaw. This tooth has also been done in similar style to the red spikes in that it is really only two-toned, a strong light patch and a strong dark patch showcasing its sharpness. The thing that interests me about the tooth is that it points directly upward to the Feraligatr's eye, which has a sharpness to it in itself. The white glint gives the Pokémon personality, this almost cheerful, but "don't mess with me" kind-of look that really gets across what the Pokémon is thinking and feeling in the moment. This is also emphasized by the way the lipline curls upwards by the teeth and into the shadows on Feraligatr's neck, almost turning it into a smile that compounds the sense coming off the eye.

One other thing about the artwork is that this is a Pokémon Prime card, supposedly one of the most powerful and dominating cards in the set. As said before, the colours gives it that dominance, but the composition of the piece plays a huge role in it as well. The eye is almost completely centre, this hugely powerful beast is looking directly at you, giving it a confident air and fully emphasizing its personality as mentioned earlier. The main point of the composition would be that this is almost purely a head shot, making the Feraligatr overall seem massive and imposing beyond what a full body image would generate.
The composition and background also ties it into the actual main attack and power aswell. The focus on Feraligatr's jaw reflects it move "Hydro Crunch" in that we're so close-up with the mouth that you can see how big and strong its jaw is, compounding the hige damage that can come off from that attack. The swirling nature of the background ties into the red "Rain Dance" Pokémon Power in that the background is almost dancing water in itself.

Personally, I do not think there is anything in this image that works against it in any way. I actually disliked the artwork prior to writing this but, now that I've analysed it and understand it in a better way, I actually really love the artwork and pray I can find one in a booster soon just for that alone ^.^

So that's that - my review of the artwork ^.^ hope it serves you well x
 
1. Not really good alone because it needs lots of water energies and by the time he's got 4 he'd probably be almost dead.
2. None yet. Should do good.
3. well, I not sure but any combo that gives him water energies like Blastoise.
4. 3/5 good but not excellent.
5. Great artwork but I like the promo artwork better.
 
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