Noctowl from HeartGold & SoulSilver (#8) [6/20]

[dmaster]

Guiding questions:
1. Analyze the stats of the card (HP, Weakness, Resistance, Retreat cost).
2. Analyze the attacks (and/or Poke-Powers, Poke-Bodies, Abilities) of the card.
3. What combos can you use it with? How so?
4. What techs can you use to combat the weak points?
5. How's the artwork?
6. 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).

Posts MUST be more than one sentence long with proper grammar and spelling or they will be deleted.

 

[One Approved]

1. 90 HP isn't that bad, weak to electric stinks with all the zekrom's running around. Resistance to donphan + machamp is good. 1 Retreat is all right too.

2. The attack is OK. It can abuse DCE, and if you use Judge or Copycat, you can hit for a constant 80 damage. Yanmega outclases it though. The poke-power is rofl. Drawing 1 extra card per turn is nothing special.

3. Judge + Copycat to always hit for 80 damage.

4. You could run it with dohphan to hit Zekrom??? Or machamp?

5. THe artwork is cool. I like it. 4/5.

6. 2/5. Yanmega outclasses it for attacking (because it costs no energy) and Ninetales or Magnezone Prime both outclass it for drawpower.

 

[AzZona]

1. 90 Hp is descent not great but it really shouldnt be in the spot to take a hit anyways and everything one shots in the format so its really no big deal. The weakness doesnt really matter because almost every (E) that would be attcking it would one shot it anyways. The restiance is very good. It can take 2 EQs from a donphan with a plus power and 3 without it. The one retreat cost isnt that bad but not good either I would like to see it with free retreat like the Drotrio from RR
2. Pokepower=draw which is good. His attack is ok it can OHKO an RDL, O-shot things with 90 HP with a plus power. Still not that great but it you have to use it 80-90 (PP) is really that bad for 2-3 energy.
3. Judge and copycat work well it lets you play a card and still be able to hit for free with yanmega or itself.
4. 4/5
5. 3.5-4/5 because it is a draw engine in this format and that is always good. It is true that it is outclassed by magnezone and ninetails but those can be fit into any deck, this can.

 

[heyboy963]

1. Analyze the stats of the card (HP, Weakness, Resistance, Retreat cost).
90 HP is pretty much average. Weakness is bad, but as stated, any good electric type attacker (zekrom anyone?) can OHKO it anyway. Fighting resistance is great in a format with Donphan variants running rampant, and a one retreat cost is average. Average overall.

2. Analyze the attacks (and/or Poke-Powers, Poke-Bodies, Abilities) of the card.
This will probably only be used for its pokepower. Getting an extra card is alright. Not as good as Magnezone, Ninetales, or even Promo Shuckle w/ Emboar, but those cards only fit into certain decks. This could be good for decks that don't have a reliable source of draw power.

3. What combos can you use it with? How so?
Copycat, Judge, Spiritomb TR+PONT, and any other cards that you would use to get the same hand as your opponent. 80 for 3 isn't great. It's situational, and mediocre at best.

4. What techs can you use to combat the weak points?
Nothing much, really. Donphan to counter zekrom, maybe? this card is probably only going to be a bench sitter.

5. How's the artwork?
Alright. Not the best, but ceratinly not the worst. Noctowl looks like it's just gazing into the distance...

6. 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. Might show hope in a few rogue decks in the new format. However, in an MD-on format, there are just too many good draw pwoer out there that beat Noctowl.

 

[emachel]

1. Analyze the stats of the card (HP, Weakness, Resistance, Retreat cost).
Huh, the unwritten standard of HS-on. 90 for a stage1, double weakness for lightning and nice resistance against Donphans. Single retreat is nice, especially in having-tech-as-only-basic situations.

2. Analyze the attacks (and/or Poke-Powers, Poke-Bodies, Abilities) of the card.
Attack is pretty weak and you cannot even load it in one turn really. 80 damage is nothing special too, so I wouldn't really consider playing it as an attacker. It's Poke-Power is a good one though, having two of them on your bench you got a free Bill each turn, which is nice, if you feel like having cards in your hands (and since Uxie is wiping out of the format, having many of them is not a big problem anymore).

3. What combos can you use it with? How so?
If you really have to attack with this, use Judge or Copycat obviously. If you want to use its Power a bit, putting in some Good Rods would be a nice idea. Depening on your luck, you get either a free revive of any Pokemon or a Junk Arm without discarding cards.

4. What techs can you use to combat the weak points?
It's a tech itself, but if you need to attack (again...), consider playing Exploud SV if you tend to bump on some Luxzones or Luxchomps, or any other Luxes probably. In any other case, nothing is needed, maybe you can use Bench Shield if you're worried so much about snipers.

5. How's the artwork?
Pretty nice for a non-uber card. I like how Noctowl have this kind of mysterious look in his eyes, on that nocturnal background. 4/5

6. 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).
2 out of 5 in DP-on/MD-on, since Uxie is a better alternative obviously. 4 of out 5 in HS-on though, due to this card being one of the best drawing engines and the only universal one. Magnezone is too slow if you want to use it only as a tech, while Ninetales is only for fire decks. In any other cases, I would definietely reccommend playing this card.

PS If you play a lot of LoL, you're going to have a lot of fun, because of this Pokemon's name and its similiarity to one of champions there. Especially if you're using Noc's power...
DARKNESS!

 

[Magnevire]

1. Analyze the stats of the card (HP, Weakness, Resistance, Retreat cost).

This is a really average card, all things considered. Weakness sucks, but because of how much all the good lightning types can hit for, this only really matters if Zekrom uses Outrage with a few damage counters on it or allowing Magnezone to use one less energy for lost burn. Fighting resistance is nice, meaning Donphan would have to use Heavy Impact just to two shot it XD

2. Analyze the attacks (and/or Poke-Powers, Poke-Bodies, Abilities) of the card.

The attack is situational, but it would be much better if it was two colorless. Night Sight is...meh. I won't say it's bad, because I've seen one card make a difference, and in pairs, it's decent as well, but if you're putting two on your bench, you might as well prepare to use it as a RDL counter.

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

It's already been said, but Judge and copycat. Both allow Extrasensory to hit for much more, and both could be used to OHKO RDL.

4. What techs can you use to combat the weak points?

You could run research records to guarantee the most out of Night Sight. That might be enough to at least make it playable draw wise.

5. How's the artwork?

Like everything else on the card, it doesn't stand out. 2/5.

6. 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).

This card could be so much better if it's attack was two colorless, or if it let you draw two cards. As it stands, Noctowl isn't really a great early setup option since the draw power is kind of lack luster. However, it's not a bad card. The card can work, and with the right deck, it might even work well. Maybe if build around like Yanmega prime with Donphan to cover weakness and attack early this deck could at least be a viable rogue, since at that point, a 4/4 line could net you four cards. That's easily on par with current drawpower. This card is no Magnezone or Ninetales draw wise, and it's no Reshiram, but it's playable. That's more than a lot of cards can say.

3.5/5

 

[Imakuni?]

1) 90 HP will keep it going for a fair amount of time, I think the weakness is helpful because other than Zekrom, there aren't many Electric type Pokemon people are using. Resistance to fighting helps because there are going to be lots of those in tournaments, and the Retreat cost is good.
2) Extrasensory isn't very good unless you have the same number of cards in your hand as your opponent, and even then it's just an average attack. Night Sight might be an okay drawing mechanism, my only question about that is if it is cumulative.
3) If you were to design your deck around getting the same amount of cards in your hand as your opponent, you could use Yanmega Prime as another hard hitter. Copy Cat will work nicely with those Pokemon.
4) Most Fighting Pokemon could combat the Electric weakness.
5) I like the artwork, it looks pretty nice.
6) I would rate this card a 3.5-4 because of its Poke-Power and its possible pairing up with Yanmega Prime.

 

[The Yoshi]

there aren't many Electric type Pokemon people are using

Magnezone Prime?

1)Analyze the stats of the card (HP, Weakness, Resistance, Retreat cost).
90 HP is decent for a Stage 1, but nothing new. Weakness is awful with Magnezone because (if Catcher comes out) they can Catcher you and KO it for one energy. Retreat Cost is fine, and Resistance is sweet.

2. Analyze the attacks (and/or Poke-Powers, Poke-Bodies, Abilities) of the card.
The attack, lik Po3 said, is okay. Yanmega is better, but you could combo it with Yanmega to have a nice disruption deck. It would be cool for a 2-2 line and 4 Junk Arm. The Pokepower is pretty cool too, but I heard there will be a new card Cheren that lets you draw 3 cards, which makes the power close to useless.

3. What combos can you use it with? How so?
As mentioned above, Yanmega Prime is a nice option to make sure you can have the same # of cards in your hand as your opponent without having to use Judge/Copycat every turn.

4. What techs can you use to combat the weak points?
With the Yanmega idea, I would use Donphan Prime to counter its Electric weakness, but there isn't much else to tech to counter its weaknesses.

5. How's the artwork?
I love it, I do like most of the HGSS Holos, I have to admit. 4.5/5.

6. 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).
2.5/5. While it is nice drawpower, I would rather use Cheren or smoe other hand refresh card. It is pretty average, though, and it's not completely bad.