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Pojo's Pokemon Card of the Day

 

Typhlosion
Unseen Forces

 

Date Reviewed: 03.19.07

Ratings & Reviews Summary

Unlimited: 2.00
Modified: 2.60
Limited: 4.50

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


Otaku

Skip straight to the scores and summary for a concise overview.

 

Welcome to my “Liability Week”.  You may be shocked we aren’t starting with the actual EX Deoxys Weezing that has the attack, Liability.  Well, that card isn’t actually being reviewed.  Even though the week is dedicated to Liability, we are looking at the different Pokémon that combo with Liability for the OHKO.  Today we look at Typhlosion from EX Unseen Forces.

 

Name: Typhlosion

Set: EX Unseen Forces

Card#: 17/115

Type: Fire

Stage: 2 (Evolves from Quilava)

HP: 110

Weakness: Water

Resistance: None

Retreat: C

Poké-Body: Burning Aura

As long as Typhlosion is your Active Pokémon, put 1 damage counter on each Active Pokémon (both yours and your opponent’s) between turns.

Attack#1: (R) Flickering Flames [20]

The Defending Pokémon is now Asleep.

Attack#2: (RCC) Rage [50+]

Does 50 damage plus 10 more damage for each damage counter on Typhlosion.

Name: Quilava

Set: EX Unseen Forces

Card#: 45/115

Type: Fire

Stage: Stage 1 (Evolves from Cyndaquil)

HP: 70

Weakness: Water

Resistance: None

Retreat: C

Attack#1: (RC) Smokescreen [20]

If the Defending Pokémon tries to attack during your opponent’s next turn, your opponent flips a coin.  If tails, that attack does nothing.

Attack#2: (CCC) Tackle [40]

Name: Cyndaquil

Set: EX Unseen Forces

Card#: 54/115

Type: Fire

Stage: Basic

HP: 50

Weakness: Water

Resistance: None

Retreat: C

Attack#1: (C) Paralyzing Gaze

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

Attack#2: (RC) Fireworks [30]

Flip a coin.  If tails, discard a (R) Energy card attached to Cyndaquil

 

Attributes: Typhlosion is a Stage 2 Fire Pokémon.  Being Stage 2, you’re going to have to run at least its Basic (Cyndaquil) and then Rare Candy and/or a Quilava to get it into play.  I’ll discuss the lower Stages later though, since I’d be repeating myself too much otherwise.  For now, just be aware that as this is a minimal three card investment to play – and realistically its more like nine – that it will have to me stronger than a Basic or Stage 1 card which require much less effort to include in a deck and get into play.

 

As a Fire Type Pokémon, Typhlosion enjoys a small amount of Resistance in the overall card pool, and its even smaller for Modified play; a mere 12 cards, four versions of each Stage of the Salamence line, that are all Colorless Weak.  Weakness, on the other hand, is still a reasonably common site.  This means the worst case scenario, the Resistant cards becoming the dominant deck in the format, would be easily handled via running Crystal Shard.  This is not the case to the best of my knowledge, and all together this means that Fire is at worst a solid Type and probably a good one.

 

Typhlosion has 110 HP, which is the second highest possible in the game excluding Pokémon-ex.  You should survive at least one hit from all but the biggest attackers, unless they match its Water Weakness.  Water Weakness hurts because Water tends to be a type that gets played, so again I can say it’s an unpleasant Weakness without knowing how the State Championships shaped up.  Looking at the last “bottom” Attribute I can say that a single Energy Retreat Cost is excellent: while not the best, its low enough to be quite easy to pay and you could even reduce it to nothing with High Pressure System if you so desired.

 

There aren’t many legal lower Stages: just the Pokémon δ versions and the above listed ones.  I recommend avoiding the Pokémon δ versions.  First of all, you then need to include some source of Psychic Energy, and will be dependant upon it to make any decent attacks with them.  The above cards are solid, with decent stats and attacks.  Of note is Smokescreen on Quilava: it is a great attack.

 

Abilities: Burning Aura a tricky Poké-Body.  It places a damage counter on all Active Pokémon between turns so long as it is Active itself.  So if you used 2-on-2 rules, it’d actually hit both your own Active Pokémon and your opponent’s two Active Pokémon.  Even in a normal game, it’s hitting Typhlosion itself and your opponent’s lone Active Pokémon.  One damage counter between turns really adds up if it’s for any length of time: effectively +20 damage from the end of your turn to the beginning of your next turn.  It is powerful but as fair as this kind of thing should be in a TCG, since it hits you just as hard.  Remember its still to your advantage: the most obvious is you have some control over when it’s Active or not.

 

Flickering Flame is a nice, inexpensive “opening” attack.  For one Fire Energy, you score 20 damage and automatic Sleep; that’s roughly worth a single Colorless Energy requirement and a solid bonus for a Stage 2 Pokémon.  Its low cost allows you to Evolve quickly with without worrying: even using Rare Candy on turn one; you should be able to afford to attack right away.

 

Rage is the big attack, and this is one version of Rage that delivers: the Energy going into it should pay for about 35 points of damage.  The base damage is 50.  Then there is the additional effect so common to Rage: an extra 10 points of damage for every damage counter on Typhlosion.  These bonuses are easily worth another two colorless Energy, and more compensation for being a Stage 2 Pokémon.

 

What is most impressive is how all these abilities work together: Burning Aura wicks away each Actives HP.  Flickering Flame makes it harder for the opponent to attack you, so most of the damage you take will be from your own Body.  Eventually you should get to the point where Rage can OHKO most of your opponent’s Pokémon, especially with Burning Aura continuing to slowly increase its damage.  It can do all this before combining it with other cards.

 

Uses and

Combinations: Typhlosion decks are about controlling your Poké-Body.  This is best done with certain Pokémon Tools.  Yes, Pokémon Tools are very vulnerable to Windstorm.  A smart Typhlosion player won’t drop more than one Pokémon Tool at a time or a Tool alongside a Pokémon Stadium until s/he is certain that the opponent has no more copies of Windstorm available.  This varies, but the most cautious simply wait until that fourth Windstorm hits the discard.  The Pokémon Tools to use used to be Energy Root, since it gave you an extra 20 HP to play with while shutting of your Poké-Body.  Sitrus Berry and Solid Rage were also useful, but wouldn’t shut off your Poké-Body.  Now though, since it’s riskier to depend upon a Pokémon Tool for extending HP, it’s probably best to go with Cessation Crystal.  This shuts off not only your Poké-Body when the equipped Pokémon is Active, but all Poké-Bodies and Poké-Powers as well.  In general, this will leave you with a solid bruiser and your opponent at diminished capacity.

 

Stadiums are also important to Typhlosion.  First and foremost, they can help draw out Windstorm.  The second thing is that Typhlosion tends to be a natural fit for some Stadiums: Cursed Stone, Holon Circle, Battle Frontier, and Holon Legacy.  The top pick of those is Cursed Stone.  With it, you’ll get yet another extra damage counter per turn against Pokémon with Poké-Powers, including Benched Pokémon this time.  With Cessation Crystal on an Active Typhlosion, you don’t get as much damage but make Poké-Powers not only useless but vulnerabilities, and that will affect a sizable hunk of the competition.  If those aren’t available to you, Holon Legacy might be a good choice since it would still shut down a large amount of Poké-Powers and then you could attempt to use of the Pokémon Tools other than Cessation Crystal for good effect.  Battle Frontier would be another alternate choice for similar reasons and running two of each should cover a wide assortment of match-ups.  Holon Circle would be the best of the rest, I think, since you could stall to allow Burning Aura to hurt them while increasing your Rage damage.  Keep in mind Cessation Crystal/Cursed Stone are far better than any of the others.

 

Of course this all leads to the theme of the week and probably the best dance partner for Typhlosion, Weezing from EX Deoxys.  This Stage 1 Pokémon, for one Energy and KOing itself, leaves the opponent with a mere 10 HP left.  Weezing KO’s itself as part of the Liability attack’s effect, so you have to bring a replacement Pokémon up before your turn ends.  If you promote Typhlosion that doesn’t have something shutting off Burning Aura, said Poké-Body will kick in for the last damage counter needed for the KO.  Unlike many other partners for Liability, Typhlosion is quite strong in its own right, so you will often be able to save the Weezing for an essential OHKO against the biggest threats your opponent has: usually Pokémon-ex, large Stage 2 Pokémon, or Energy intensive Pokémon.  This allows you to “come out ahead” since either you take more Prizes and/or used up less cards on the exchange than your opponent.

 

Ratings

 

Unlimited: 2/5 – Slight bonus in that Burning Aura would let you still KO something that survived on a Focus Band flip.  As a whole though, Liability here is pointless as too many attacks can just OHKO something anyway.  Like most at strong Stage 2 Pokémon of recent release, you could get by running it with Neo Genesis Slowking if you insisted on playing it.

 

Modified: 3.65/5 – Windstorm really hurts this card, more so than the other Liability variants.  It is still a very solid Pokémon and deck focus, though.

 

Limited: 5/5 – Feel the burn!  Only one Fire Energy for colored costs ensures the attacks work well in Limited, the lower Stages also have solid attacks for the format, and Burning Aura/Rage should lead to many KOs.  It even can inflict a Special Condition with its first attack!

 

Summary

Typhlosion is a great Pokémon that seems to have been forgotten by many.  That is a mistake.  Due to its presence in the Golden Sky Theme Deck it’s relatively easy to obtain, and is a nice for people who don’t want to over commit to the Liability strategy.

 

-Otaku

 

lilgroudon
Typhlosion eh well this card is not something you play alone, Liability is the key here but also think about this though Cydiquil rare candy it to a UF Typhlosion and T1 20 and sleep that’s what’s up, and his next attack for 3 energies he can take out his rage in a big way by doing 50 plus 10 more for each damage counter on it, One deck I played against had this crazy mouse/cat pokemon get rainbow energy damage to do more, unlike his Delta counter part he loves damage on himself which means his pokebody is the last thing you want to see after weezing KO’s himself that can take out anything just watch out for cess crystal and everything is good.
Now lets judge this guy

Unlimited 3/5: I really have no comment on this guy but base set gastly was the greatest liability thing ever.

Modified 3/5: This card is a beast indeed taking down almost any thing in it’s path the low score is because he’s nothing with out weezing.

Till later Groudon out

garsh0p
3/19 Typhlosion UF

Just as a side note, I think this card is like the coolest looking card ever xD.

The obvious combo with this is Weezing's Liability. I honestly have not found Liability to be very effective (at least not in the current metagame).

Typhlosion by itself is a very heavy hitter, but at the same time, suicidal. There's lots of things that seem to work in theory with Typhlosion to make it a very strong card (for example, Energy Root) but it just never seems to work out for me the way I expect it to. Typhlosion takes alot of effort to get going, and in a few turns, it'll self destruct. I don't think its worth it.

2 / 5

Alex Bramham

Top 8
UK Nationals
2006
Typhlosion

It has the obvious combo with Weezing from the deoxys expansion that can KO any pokemon but to do this you must build up a stage 1 and 2 line.
Typhlosion's stats are nice - high HP, low retreat; but his attacks are only average and the self-damage from its body places it in KO range from many attacks very quickly even with Rage's high damage. This is no position for a Stage 2 to be in.

Modified: 1.6/5

Anthony C
AKA- The Ft. Laud. Loud Mounth
League Leader
Top 32 Grinder 2004
Typhlosion
 
Unlimited- Blastoise or Feraligatr + weakness= KO   Rating 1/5
 
Modified- When used with Weezing from DX this card can be devastating especially if you are facing an EX, Weezing KOs it self (using liability) the defending pokemon now has 10 HP left, Typhloshion comes up and its body goes off and the defending pokemon is KOed because it only has 10 life left (If you KOed an EX you just traded 1 prize for 2). Rating 3/5
 
Limited- If you can pull this in limited and its pre-evolved forms you have a nice 110 HP tank that is hitting for 50+ a turn. Rating  4/5
 
-the ft. laud. loud mouth


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