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Pojo's Pokemon Card of the Day

 

Electrode

EX Emerald

 

Date Reviewed: 07.06.05

Ratings & Reviews Summary
Unlimited: 2.36
Modified: 2.63
Limited: 3.46

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


Ash
Alright Ash here again...and today we have such a boring card for review...(CRAP!) Electrode EM. Let us have a review...OMG.

Electrode EM – 70 HP – Stage 1 – evolves from Voltorb

[L] Thundershock (20) Flip a coin. If heads, the Defending Pokémon is now Paralyzed.

[3] Speed Ball (50)

Weakness: Fighting

RC: 1

@.@ uncommon again. LOL I believe that’s Otaku’s pick again. He LOVES (un)commons...

OK...so what can I say for Electrode EM? 70 HP – pretty nice...dah lemme say something really serious. For Thundershock, 1 lightning energy for 20 + a flip for paralyzing defending Pokemon – really fair! And for Speed Ball, we can make use of Boost energy / Voltorb HL, that is the one that we use in Zapdos ex decks...but I’d use Manectric DX for 2nd turn 80 damage rather than Electrode EM 2nd turn 50 damage!!

Combos: Electrode ex + Boost Energy may not be really bad. Discard boost / scrambles, then bomb Electrode ex, attach energies to Delcatty or anything or Magneton DR, for huge damages...

Unlimited: 2.5/5 anything special?

Modified: 2.5/5 anything special?! =X

Limited: 3/5 I think it is not really bad in drafts and the Thundershock attack is OK for quick attacks...

Average: 2.7/5 really nothing special here...

Check out my Rhydon review from yesterday.

 
Bullados Electrode

Attributes: This section is getting very stale. 70 HP is nice, and 80 HP is better, but it will only keep you alive for a short amount of time. Fighting weakness is definately something to worry about. Even though most Fighting attacks are tremendously underpriced, there are still precious few that do 70 or more damage consistently. Those will all OHKO Trode. Retreat of 1 is kinda wierd, considering that this Pokemon has the highest SPEED stat in the entire GB game. Still, I'd pay this if it meant saving a prize or 3.

Attack #1: [L] "Thundershock"
An underpriced filler attack, very standard for an Electric evolution. The best short term status effect plus a decent amount of damage is good enough for me.

Attack#2: [CCC] "Speed Ball"
I'm guessing they were anticipating the obvious Boost combo when they named this attack. It's a VERY quick attack in MOD, and only a shade slower in UNL. Outside of that, nothing really to report on this.

Ratings:

Unlimited: Very ER susceptable, even though it can be powered easily with either 1 or 2 energies. The fact is that there is still no good way to get Special Energy back from the Discard. Of course, a quick 50 is nothing to sneeze at.
2.5/5

Modified: Splashable third color into any deck, Boost-able, Scramble, but I wouldn't play DRE on here. Only problem is that 50 isn't really enough damage for an Electric type in this format. 60 is really needed for it to be an effective Electric TecH. Still, it could do some good backup damage.
3.5/5

Limited: one of the best Uncommon Pokemon in the set. Unfortunately, Emerald is positively saturated with good common Fighting types, meaning that Electrode will see less effective play time. However, there are still a good number of electric weak Water in here, so that sorta balences it out. Being a completely splashable evolution line is always good.
4.5/5
 
Scyther 21 Electrode

Electrode, one of those cards that are overlooked but have value.

With a HP of 70 (could have been 80, and at best 90!) this card can go down as a stage one pokemon. That is why Electrode's attacks are fast.

Electrode's first attack is Thundershock which for one electric energy deals 20 points of damage and a possibility of making the paralyzed. This attack is ideal second turn (can't get it first) one energy for 20 is decent plus keeping opponent from attacking can help stall until you get Speed Ball going.

The bottom stats are normal weakness to fighting, no resistance, and a retreat of one (Electrode should not have a retreat cost at all IMO)

The second attack is Speed Ball which deals 50 points of damage for three energys of any type. This is a simple attack that is very splashable. And 50 damage is nothing to laugh at.

Unlimited: 2.1 there are better cards out there for you to use instead of this, it gets overshown.
Modified: 1.9 this card at best in a modified deck would only be used as a filler for some type of deck
Limited:2.9 this card is highly splashable only requiring one specific energy. Also the card's evo. line is simple to pick up.
 

Hinkbert
Electrode: EX Emerald

Ah, the brand new Electrode. I’ve always liked Electrode, he’s probably my favorite electric Pokemon, but unfortunately this one isn’t as powerful or as useable as previous incarnations. So the stats, 70 Hp same as the others and a decent amount, expected fighting weakness which is a very unfortunate weakness right now, and a retreat of one, low enough not to hurt if you have to pay it. The attacks: for 1 lightning energy he can do 20 damage and possibly paralyze, a nice efficient attack. The second attack does 50 damage for 3 of any energy, and boostable attack which is always good.

I don’t think this card can survive on its own and is relegated to being a supporter for other Pokemon. He could be good in a deck such as a fire one where one is trying to cover the weakness of the fire Pokes. Other than an instance such as that the other Electrodes are better to use right now and have more innate combos, especially since the dark one can do 50 damage for a lightning and 2 dark energies, and can move the energies to the bench, plus it can have its Hp raised by Rocket’s Hideout, plus the artwork features his cool rictus. I’ve always liked how Electrodes have that excellent grin.

Unlimited 1.5/5 If he cannot stand out from the selection of other Electrodes in Modified, than he has even less of a chance here. But he is energy efficient which is always good.

Modified 2/5 Good for supporting possibly, or just to play around with. Also good for those island challenge decks since he is an uncommon and can be quickly powered by a boost and has the possibility of stalling by paralyzing.

Limited 3.5/5 Pretty decent here. 1 energy for 20 damage and possibly paralyzing can work well in a format like this. Plus his second attack can use any energy so he could possibly fit in any deck.
 

Otaku

Now to review the only card that I didn’t pick this or last week (Pojo chose it).

 

Name: Electrode

Set: EX Emerald

Card#: 27/106

Rarity: Uncommon

Type: Lightning

Stage: 1 (Evolves from Voltorb)

HP: 70

Weakness: Fighting

Resistance: None

Retreat: (C)

Attack#1: (L) Thundershock [20]

Flip a coin.  If heads, the Defending Pokémon is now Paralyzed.

Attack#2: (CCC) Speed Ball [50]

Name: Voltorb

Set: EX Emerald

Card#: 71/106

Type: Lightning

Stage: Basic

HP: 50

Weakness: Fighting

Resistance: None

Retreat: (C)

Attack#1: (C) Ram [10]

Attack#2: (CCC) Speed Ball [20]

 

Attributes: Electrode is a Stage 1 Pokémon, and will be evaluated accordingly.  It is a Lightning (Electric) Pokémon, which is fine: there is a lot more Water out there than many realize, and even if there wasn’t, this lets it counter Zapdos ex, who is Lightning Weak.  Resistance to Lightning-types is almost unheard of in the modern game (the lack of Resistance as a whole is quite annoying), which further benefits Electrode.

 

It has 70 Hit Points.  This is too low: Stage 1 Evolution that doesn’t Evolve further needs at least 80, so this is a definite disadvantage and the card will need some solid bonuses to offset this.  Its Weakness is Fighting, which is definitely a bad thing for it; most Fighting Pokémon can deal at least a solid 30 with ease, with Strength Charm taking care of the rest.  We have no Resistance… pity, with its low HP; even Metal Resistance would have been helpful.  Finally, a Retreat of one, which is good in terms of game play, but Electrode is one of the fastest Pokémon in the video games, if memory serves.  So you’d really think that it should have a free Retreat, which would have made it a whole lot better.

 

As I started out mentioning, it is a Stage 1.  So, what’s it Evolve from?  Voltorb, of course.  The Voltorb in this set isn’t bad, but it’s not very good either.  50 HP, same stats otherwise, and two very basic attacks: one (C) for 10 and the other (CCC) for 30.  Not bad it Limited, but I’d rather use the version that has a Poké-Body that lets it retreat for free if it has Energy attached (and has 50 HP) or the 40 HP version that can snag Energy from the deck.

 

Abilities: Electrode’s first attack is simple and sweet: 20 damage with Paralysis on a coin flip.  Given that Energy that went into it, that’s a discount of about (C).  This is a nice, quick supporting attack, good especially against the Lightning Weak that are nice and small. ;)

 

The main attack, and why you’d bother using it, is Speed Ball.  Speed Ball, for those who don’t know, is a member of the New Warriors.  He got his powers by… oh, never mind.  The attack has nothing to do with the Marvel Super-Hero of the same name.  Pity.  He (and the other Warriors, though they aren’t that new anymore) got a new limited series.  Found out another member of our Pokémon League used to read them too… enough reminiscing.  This is a very nice attack, doing 20 more points of damage than you paid for.  Since it costs (CCC), you can drop a Boost Energy to power it in one turn, for a turn.

 

Uses and

Combinations: This could be splashed into decks that need a quick, hard-hitting Lightning-type.  Rare Candy and Wally’s Training allow you to get it out first turn even.  Unfortunately, that’s not much of a use.  I suppose you could TecH it into decks running Dark Electrode or Electrode ex for a “plain” counterpart.

 

Ratings

 

Unlimited: 1.5/5-Small enough that Neo Genesis Sneasel with a full bench and at least one true Darkness Energy can OHKO you 50% of the time, and a Tyrogue from Neo Discovery with a Plus Power can half the time as well.  Not good.

 

Modified: 2/5-A little better, but not much.  Most major attackers can OHKO this thing, and Fighting Pokémon will do so even more easily.

 

Limited: 3.5/5-Finally, a chance to shine.  Here, it’s pretty solid.  The attacks are more useful due to the nature of the format, and there is a good smattering of Lightning Weakness. Just watch out for the good hunk of Fighting Pokémon in this set.

 

Summary

A Retreat and Resistance would have made this card, but as is, it isn’t much.

 

Oh, someone mentioned something I do, and I want to make sure it is properly understood.  Don’t just throw all your extra cards, even the commons and uncommons, into a shoebox.  Take at least one of each that you can spare (harder with the higher rarities), and put them in a collection binder.  Why?  Aside from something cool that might someday be very valuable (maybe in terms of cash, or more likely, sentimental value), this is a great way to look for combos.

 


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