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Dark Ivysaur - Aquapolis

Date Reviewed: 07.03.03

Ratings & Reviews below

Ratings are based on a 1 to 5 scale
1 being the worst. 3 ... average.
5 is the highest rating.

Thundachu	Dark Ivysaur Overview: I myself have never used this card and didnt even know there was a Dark Ivysaur, so this review should be interesting. 50HP is 10 less than the regular one. The Poke-Body is nice. It is like a double gust except your opponent doesnt pick one of yours. Retreat for a baby pokemon ;x. 2 retreat is ok. Same as the original one(I think ;/). Weakness of fire makes Typhlosion and Macargo a small problem. I find the attack on this card quite strange 0_o. For 2 grass energy Your opponent puts 3 markers onto his or her Pokémon (divide as he or she chooses). (more than 1 Marker can be put on the same Pokémon.) Then this attack does 10 damage to each Pokémon for each marker on it. Don’t apply Weakness and Resistance. Remove the markers at the end of the turn. I guess this could be good if your opponent has some Tyrogue, Cleffa or other baby pokemon. I like the original Ivysaur better. Unlimited: Stick with the original. More HP. Better attacks. 2.5/5 Modified: Magcargo is played too much in this format. Good for getting the Rouge though. 3/5 Draft: N/A
The Poke`mon Master 1110	Dark Ivysaur: I'll make this short and sweet: If you play Dark Venusaur, play him. If you don't, NEVER even CONSIDER playing this peice of crap. 50 HP is a joke, his power is worthless, and his attack does almost nothing. Don't even think about it. Unlimited: When I rate a Video Game, i at least give it a point for starting up. That is why he has a point, because he is an accual card that you can play. 1/5 Modified: Since Dark Vensaur is awesome, his rating increases. But not enough. This thing sucks. 2/5 Limited: He is not available, and we should be thankful for it =/ : N/A The Bottom Line: 1.5/5
X- Act	Dark Ivysaur Continuing our Best-Of reviews, we're now looking at Dark Ivysaur. No prizes for guessing what will be tomorrow's COTD. Its Poke-Body, Vine Pull, allows you to Gust Of Wind any of your opponent's Pokemon when Dark Ivysaur retreats. Of course, Vine Pull does not work if you use Switch, Double Gust, or any Trainer that will move it to the Bench. You simply must retreat. Nevertheless, this Poke-Body is a very nice effect, because you can retreat for the Pokemon that will possibly KO the Benched Pokemon that you'll Vine Pull. The problem is that Dark Ivysaur has a retreat cost of 2, but this is where Bounce Energy can be used. You attach a Bounce Energy to Dark Ivysaur, taking a Grass Energy to your hand, retreat by discarding the Bounce Energy, then you reattach the Grass Energy onto Dark Ivysaur next turn. This will admittedly use up most of your Energy if you do it often, so be careful. Fury Strikes is an overrated attack in my opinion. Your opponent does a total of 30 damage to any of his or her Pokemon. Since you don't choose the Pokemon, your opponent, if he or she is smart, will choose Pokemon having Metal Energies on them, so that your attack does less damage, or 0 damage if he or she has at least 3 Metal Energies in play. Since quite a few decks do play Metal Energy, this attack is below average. I'd play Dark Ivysaur for its Poke-Body only most of the time, or to evolve to Dark Venusaur. 50HP is very low for a Stage 1 Pokemon, but this is to be expected from a Pokemon having Dark in its name. Rocket's Hideout can pump its HP up if you want. Unlimited: It's not horrible, but ultimately its lowly HP is not worth the risk, even with Focus Band and Rocket's Hideout protection. If you must play Dark Venusaur, either play Pokemon Breeder, or be ultra-careful about your Dark Ivysaur. I don't think it's worthwhile having a Stage 1 line in your deck just to use a Poke-Body. I'd maybe tech one or two in a Venusaur deck (but who plays Venusaur anymore in Unlimited?), but not much else. 1.5/5 Modified: Again it's not a bad card in this format, but, as in Unlimited, try to protect it as much as possible. If you play Venusaur in Modified, I think teching a few of these Dark Ivysaurs (and maybe also a Dark Venusaur) isn't a bad idea. Otherwise, as in Unlimited, it doesn't make much sense to include it in your deck. 2/5 Draft: It wouldn't be bad in Draft, but unfortunately, it's a Promo. N/A
Perfect One	Dark Ivysaur If you somehow get out 2 Dodrios, hes a free GoW every turn!!! Other than that...Garbage, lol. Unlimited- Dont joke. Dead by OHKO over and over again! rating--- 0.75 Modified- That GoW-like ability is very interesting if you try to use him with Dodrios, otherwise, hes nothing =/. rating--- 1.5 Draft- N/A

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