Card of the Day: Ninetales from HeartGold & SoulSilver
NOTE: Please use today's thread to review Vulpix (HS87) and Vulpix (UL68) as well.
Ninetales (HS07) [12/30/2011]
- Thread starter Celebi23
- Start date
NOTE: Please use today's thread to review Vulpix (HS87) and Vulpix (UL68) as well.
I think I am going to stick to the original guidelines because it sure makes it easier for me to write.
Vulpixs: I think it is pretty obvious that Vulpix UL is the better choice, because it can hit for quicker, easier damage, and has 10 more HP. Do I need to say much more?
1. How does this card stand on its own (analyze the HP, attacks, Abilities, etc. of the card)?: Obviously, the main point of Ninetails is to use it's Poképower, but I will go into that later, making it the body of my review. 90 HP is pretty nice, because it is going to make it difficult for things to kill your Ninetails when it is drug into your active thanks to Pokémon Catcher. Things like Magnezone, Reshiram and Zekrom are going to still get the kill (of course), but it does leave Tornadus 10 damage short of the knock out which is kinda nice. Weakness to water isn't going to matter too much, still leaves Kyurem short of the OHKO if Ninetails is in your active, and there really aren't many other strong water types in the format. 3 for 60 is pretty awful, I don't need to say more
2. What role does/could this card have in the metagame?: Ninetails sees a lot of problems, and very little play, just because how situational it is in deck building in our metagame. It can only be effectively utilized in Fire decks, since you can't Roast Reveal with Rainbow Energy. I saw people carrying Ninetails techs and fire energy last format just for the draw, and it was very ineffective. The reason it is a problem that Ninetails can only be used in fire decks, is because there are so few competitive fire decks in the format. Tyram, Reshiboar, and Magneboar are the only fire decks in the format that are actually that competitive. Magneboar doesn't need Ninetails because it has a better form of draw in Magnezone itself, and Reshiboar lists rarely have the room for a heavy stage 1 line. This leaves Tyram, which I would say, is the only deck in our format that can effectively use Ninetails. Tyram also gets a great boost from Ninetails, because the discarded fire energy can be recovered, then reattached with Typhlosion Prime.
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.: Ninetails has proven itself to be a decent card in one deck in our format so far. It is way too situation of a tech for me to score it highly. 6/10
Vulpixs: I think it is pretty obvious that Vulpix UL is the better choice, because it can hit for quicker, easier damage, and has 10 more HP. Do I need to say much more?
1. How does this card stand on its own (analyze the HP, attacks, Abilities, etc. of the card)?: Obviously, the main point of Ninetails is to use it's Poképower, but I will go into that later, making it the body of my review. 90 HP is pretty nice, because it is going to make it difficult for things to kill your Ninetails when it is drug into your active thanks to Pokémon Catcher. Things like Magnezone, Reshiram and Zekrom are going to still get the kill (of course), but it does leave Tornadus 10 damage short of the knock out which is kinda nice. Weakness to water isn't going to matter too much, still leaves Kyurem short of the OHKO if Ninetails is in your active, and there really aren't many other strong water types in the format. 3 for 60 is pretty awful, I don't need to say more
2. What role does/could this card have in the metagame?: Ninetails sees a lot of problems, and very little play, just because how situational it is in deck building in our metagame. It can only be effectively utilized in Fire decks, since you can't Roast Reveal with Rainbow Energy. I saw people carrying Ninetails techs and fire energy last format just for the draw, and it was very ineffective. The reason it is a problem that Ninetails can only be used in fire decks, is because there are so few competitive fire decks in the format. Tyram, Reshiboar, and Magneboar are the only fire decks in the format that are actually that competitive. Magneboar doesn't need Ninetails because it has a better form of draw in Magnezone itself, and Reshiboar lists rarely have the room for a heavy stage 1 line. This leaves Tyram, which I would say, is the only deck in our format that can effectively use Ninetails. Tyram also gets a great boost from Ninetails, because the discarded fire energy can be recovered, then reattached with Typhlosion Prime.
3. What cards, if any, does this card combo with?:
- Fire... Energy?
- Typhlosion Prime
- Fire Decks in need of draw support.
4. Give it a rating (out of 10), and explain why you have given it that rating.: Ninetails has proven itself to be a decent card in one deck in our format so far. It is way too situation of a tech for me to score it highly. 6/10
Ninetales was the first real example of consistent hard draw after Claydol was rotated for the MD-on format (Uxie X was good and dug deep for the time, but I wouldn't call it hard draw, was definitely good though). Some decks ran this last format as a result for its draw power., the few Charizard decks in particular. Roast Reveal's biggest weakness, and one of its strengths, was the requirement to discard a fire energy before drawing cards. This gave decks Typhlosion decks free acceleration, but it also meant that decks with ninetales could get "stuck" if they had no energy in hand. It could also lead to some tough choices being made if you really needed that energy on the field instead of the discard, doubly so if you did not run Typhlosion.
Stat wise, Ninetales is pretty unremarkable, with a retreat cost of one, an HP of 90, and a 60 for 3 attack with no effect. Water weakness is pretty inconsequential, as any water pokemon that you might see in the meta that OHKO Ninetales can do so without weakness, and those that can't OHKO Ninetales cannot do so even with weakness. The attack is terrible: 60 for three is already bad, but having it cost RRC means that it can't even be used as a pinch attacker it the situation demanded for whatever reason. 90 HP falls into the "good enough" category, with Tornadus, Thundurus, and Yanmega unable to OHKO it without help, but easily KO'ed by most decks' main attackers. The card is pretty good because of Roast Reveal, but Pokemon Catcher can ruin its day and shut down the deck's draw engine, making it pretty unreliable and regulating it to a light tech.
I think 6/10 was a pretty good rating for this card. The card is very soft to pokemon catcher: essentially a free prize in the mid game, the draw engine is useful, but less consistent than Magnezone is or Murshama will be. Needing a fire energy in the hand is annoying, and the card's uses have dwindled with the falling of Reshiphlosion. This card might see some use again when Reshiram EX comes out, but until then, it, like Gothetelle, ultimately died in the NV meta, along with the rest of Reshiphlosion, the one deck that could really use Ninetales well.
Stat wise, Ninetales is pretty unremarkable, with a retreat cost of one, an HP of 90, and a 60 for 3 attack with no effect. Water weakness is pretty inconsequential, as any water pokemon that you might see in the meta that OHKO Ninetales can do so without weakness, and those that can't OHKO Ninetales cannot do so even with weakness. The attack is terrible: 60 for three is already bad, but having it cost RRC means that it can't even be used as a pinch attacker it the situation demanded for whatever reason. 90 HP falls into the "good enough" category, with Tornadus, Thundurus, and Yanmega unable to OHKO it without help, but easily KO'ed by most decks' main attackers. The card is pretty good because of Roast Reveal, but Pokemon Catcher can ruin its day and shut down the deck's draw engine, making it pretty unreliable and regulating it to a light tech.
I think 6/10 was a pretty good rating for this card. The card is very soft to pokemon catcher: essentially a free prize in the mid game, the draw engine is useful, but less consistent than Magnezone is or Murshama will be. Needing a fire energy in the hand is annoying, and the card's uses have dwindled with the falling of Reshiphlosion. This card might see some use again when Reshiram EX comes out, but until then, it, like Gothetelle, ultimately died in the NV meta, along with the rest of Reshiphlosion, the one deck that could really use Ninetales well.