Obviously, with the rotation, we're losing out on some very valuable cards. Junk arm, PONT, Shaymin UL and of course Smeargle UD/CL. Smeargle was the ideal starter in nearly every deck after the release of skyarrow bridge, giving it free retreat and the ability to use 2 supporters in one turn, possibly more if you had multiple smeargles. But now we have a rotation coming up, and we need a new universal starting pokemon that can fit in almost any deck. The 2 pokemon I have noticed popping up are both from Noble Victories. Elgyem 55/101, and Virizion 13/101. Now, both of them have their Pros and Cons, and I would like to see what you, the forumers, prefer between these 2 Pokemon, and also posting about other pokemon you believe could be the next hopeful starting Pokemon.
First off is Elgyem 55. It has 60 HP, a {C} retreat cost, and is weak to {P}, which we'll get to in a minute. It's first attack, First Contact, allows you to put 2 basic pokemon from your deck onto your bench directly for just {C}. This is huge in the setup of not only stage 2 decks like ReshiBoar EX, but fast decks like Darkrai/Mewtwo that may have just gotten a rough start as well. At first glance, this card may seem infinately better than virizion, but there are other factors you need to consider. Firstly, this attack won't be helpful by turn 3. By then, you should have a full bench, and elgyem is just wasting an energy card staying active. Sure, you can retreat him, but unless you found some way to accelerate energy, you probably don't have any good attackers powered up yet. Also, his {P} weakness means he can be Donk'd by a DCE Mewtwo EX.
Then there's virizion 13(or 97)/101. It has 110 HP, a {C} retreat as well, and is weak to {R}. It's first attack, double draw, for {C} allows you to draw 2 cards. Now, if paired with a card like Cheren for example, this allows you to draw 1 card for your turn, 3 from Cheren, and 2 from double draw, which is 6! You can draw into almost an entire hand with Virizion! Now, this attack isn't as good in the beginning of the game as Elgyem's, but certainly it can be used late game if you need that one last card, or you just want to thin out your hand. It also has a resistance to {W}, which keeps it from being OHKO'd by Empoleon, a possible deck choice for BW-on, unless both players have a full bench and a pluspower is used.
Personally, I run 1 Elgyem and 1 Virizion in my ReshiBoar EX deck(That's where my examples came from, my current decks.
) and it works fantastically. When I start with Elgyem and Virizion together, it seems to be an auto win. This is because ReshiBoar EX's main flaw is the slugishness of getting out your Emboar, and you may fall down in prizes. If you can guarantee you get down a turn 1 Tepig, then retreat into Virizion and keep drawing cards until you eventually hit Candy Emboar, it's hard to stop that deck.
I'll leave a link to my Deck Garage thread if you guys want to check out my deck, and possibly leave constructive criticisms on this thread and the other, that would be greatly appreciated. This is my first post in this sub-forum, so I do hope this analysis does go over well. Thank you for reading, and have a nice day.
http://www.pokebeach.com/forums/thread-reshiboar-ex-bw-on
First off is Elgyem 55. It has 60 HP, a {C} retreat cost, and is weak to {P}, which we'll get to in a minute. It's first attack, First Contact, allows you to put 2 basic pokemon from your deck onto your bench directly for just {C}. This is huge in the setup of not only stage 2 decks like ReshiBoar EX, but fast decks like Darkrai/Mewtwo that may have just gotten a rough start as well. At first glance, this card may seem infinately better than virizion, but there are other factors you need to consider. Firstly, this attack won't be helpful by turn 3. By then, you should have a full bench, and elgyem is just wasting an energy card staying active. Sure, you can retreat him, but unless you found some way to accelerate energy, you probably don't have any good attackers powered up yet. Also, his {P} weakness means he can be Donk'd by a DCE Mewtwo EX.
Then there's virizion 13(or 97)/101. It has 110 HP, a {C} retreat as well, and is weak to {R}. It's first attack, double draw, for {C} allows you to draw 2 cards. Now, if paired with a card like Cheren for example, this allows you to draw 1 card for your turn, 3 from Cheren, and 2 from double draw, which is 6! You can draw into almost an entire hand with Virizion! Now, this attack isn't as good in the beginning of the game as Elgyem's, but certainly it can be used late game if you need that one last card, or you just want to thin out your hand. It also has a resistance to {W}, which keeps it from being OHKO'd by Empoleon, a possible deck choice for BW-on, unless both players have a full bench and a pluspower is used.
Personally, I run 1 Elgyem and 1 Virizion in my ReshiBoar EX deck(That's where my examples came from, my current decks.
) and it works fantastically. When I start with Elgyem and Virizion together, it seems to be an auto win. This is because ReshiBoar EX's main flaw is the slugishness of getting out your Emboar, and you may fall down in prizes. If you can guarantee you get down a turn 1 Tepig, then retreat into Virizion and keep drawing cards until you eventually hit Candy Emboar, it's hard to stop that deck.I'll leave a link to my Deck Garage thread if you guys want to check out my deck, and possibly leave constructive criticisms on this thread and the other, that would be greatly appreciated. This is my first post in this sub-forum, so I do hope this analysis does go over well. Thank you for reading, and have a nice day.
http://www.pokebeach.com/forums/thread-reshiboar-ex-bw-on
