Old Cards that Still Have Potential

lvivas

Aspiring Trainer
Member
I was wondering why the community never uses cards like archeops or zoroark
anymore :(.

Here are some of them:

>Archeops (Ancient Power ability)
>Zoroark
 
Archeops isn't any good since it's a fossil and few decks play evolutions anymore. Zoroark NXD just isn't used for whatever reason, possibly because it's a fragile stage 1 and only has a small niche in that it can beat the crap out of Black Kyurem EX if it can get a hit in. Zoroark DEX simply requires too much set up to be effective, requiring a full Bench of Darkness Pokemon AND a Dark Claw AND a Laser with Virbank to KO a 170 HP EX in one attack. The fact that it's a Stage 1 with wimpy HP makes this hard to do consistently. I speak from experience here; I actually played with a Darkrai EX/ Zoroark deck for a while. It was super fun to play, but it wasn't quite fast enough and my Zoroarks always died within one, maybe two attacks if I was lucky, assuming my Zoruas stayed around long enough to evolve. However, with the introduction of the Catcher errata and the new first turn rule it might do a bit better. I think it has some potential, but it just isn't the optimal Darkrai build out there in most situations.
 
Torkoal from Dark Explorers isn't half bad. You could attach a fire energy one turn and unsuspectingly attach a double colorless energy and a silver bangle to do fire blast on Genesect / Virizion EX for a total of 180 damage!
 
Ho-Oh EX may be revived as a deck with the reprint of energy switch and Virizion EX to block the status conditions that seemed to kill it after cities last year.
 
lvivas said:
Torkoal from Dark Explorers isn't half bad. You could attach a fire energy one turn and unsuspectingly attach a double colorless energy and a silver bangle to do fire blast on Genesect / Virizion EX for a total of 180 damage!

Well then.... no... just no.... plz don't bring up quad torkoal.

Anyways, have we ever considered venasaur now in goth / accelgor? o_O
 
Serperior said:
Pooka's Flareon list showed that Kyurem from Noble Victories is still a thing.

He posted on Facebook saying that it was an attempt to deal with Landorus EX and that it didn't work at all :p.
 
Oh haha I didn't check his Facebook! In theory it actually doesn't sound bad. He just whiffed the Bangle when he needed it.
 
lvivas said:
I was wondering why the community never uses cards like archeops or zoroark
anymore :(.

Here are some of them:

>Archeops (Ancient Power ability)
>Zoroark

Because they only like to play what everyone else likes to play. Enter meta. There are cards outside the meta that are good, yet no one plays them because no one else is playing them, so they automatically assume they are bad. Enter Garchomp.

You also have to consider the meta's impact on some of those cards. For example, Reshiboar might actually be good in this format if it weren't for it's crippling weakness to Keldeo and Kyurem.
 
Mora said:
lvivas said:
I was wondering why the community never uses cards like archeops or zoroark
anymore :(.

Here are some of them:

>Archeops (Ancient Power ability)
>Zoroark

Because they only like to play what everyone else likes to play. Enter meta. There are cards outside the meta that are good, yet no one plays them because no one else is playing them, so they automatically assume they are bad. Enter Garchomp.

You also have to consider the meta's impact on some of those cards. For example, Reshiboar might actually be good in this format if it weren't for it's crippling weakness to Keldeo and Kyurem.

>Rayboar is running towards you from the sunset.
>Rayquaza to deal with Keldeo and BKEX
 
Then it's Rayboar with a Reshiram tech but yeah sure. (Although Kyurem still destroys you.) Maybe that was a bad example, but the point that the meta makes some things less playable still holds.
 
How about Shaymin EX? Yes, it's a fragile EX, but it can do up to 180 for 2 energy. Put this down, energy switch, and hit for massive damage. There's also the semi competitive Shaymin/Cofagrigus deck which is a lot of fun.

I also think fire pokemon have some huge potential now that there are some good grass basics. Reshiram, Reshiram EX, and even Entei EX (which I always thought was underrated). It seems like Emboar has made a comeback (now that Rayquaza doesn't have Eels for acceleration).
 
pokedan24 said:
How about Shaymin EX? Yes, it's a fragile EX, but it can do up to 180 for 2 energy. Put this down, energy switch, and hit for massive damage. There's also the semi competitive Shaymin/Cofagrigus deck which is a lot of fun.

I also think fire pokemon have some huge potential now that there are some good grass basics. Reshiram, Reshiram EX, and even Entei EX (which I always thought was underrated). It seems like Emboar has made a comeback (now that Rayquaza doesn't have Eels for acceleration).

With Catcher not being used nearly as much anymore, You can play Shaymin down earlier than usually and you can make your opponent play a lot differently if they know they will have to deal with a Shaymin.
 
Here are a few overlooked ones.

Next Destinies
>Weavile: It's much more likely an opponents pokemon will have some kind of tool on them so you'll get a good 90 for one.
>Cincino: With Virizion EX, they can't laser around smooth coat. You're also less likely for them to catcher around echoed voice to bring it down to 50.

Dark Explorers
>Excadrill: There aren't many other cards that can retrieve things from the discard pile.

Dragons Exalted
>Ninetales: Was always pretty good, but now that we don't have catcher.
>Drifblim: Situational, but not many other cards can do as much damage for a single colorless energy.
>Aggron: I've seen Pooka use an Aggron/Sableye deck on Bad Deck Monday. It always seems to do well.
>Devo Spray: Reuse abilities like Ninetales. Can also shut off your own Garbodor if you need to use an ability of your own (like Dark Cloak).
 
Cinccino is actually a rogue idea I was thinking about. Smooth Coat is digusting, and Virizion is great. Smack a Grass and a DCE and you can start attacking. 50 for an attack is mediocre, but if you can keep it alive it can start pumping 100 damage out. I suggest running this with Mirror and Bangle, depending on the matchup. (One or both of those cards will be dead against some matchups, but against others...it can really swing in your favor.)

I would even run LaserBank to rack up the amount of damage dealt and with the possibility of Asleep, it's a nice gimmick.
 
I thought about Cincinno (RC art is awesome)/Virizion/Munna/LaserBank, and throwing in a Musharna or two for extra draw wouldn't kill you. Although it sounds fun and somewhat viable in theory, it still is flip based, and most decks can get out of special conditions fairly easily. This is the kind of deck I would like to play if I were to have the luxury of getting to play in some tourneys after getting an invite.
 
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