Hello, and welcome the the third day in our random
Rising Rivals card week (well, bar Cynthia's Guidance at
the beginning of the week), and it's a card that had
absolutely no hype at all, which is Aerodactyl GL!
Basics of the card first, and it has 80 HP, which is
about average for an SP Pokémon, or maybe slightly
below, but either way, it's not bad. x2 Weakness to
Lightning is annoying with Luxape being quite popular at
the moment. -20 Resistance to Fighting is only really
going to be used if you face Machamp (SF) and have Unown
G (GE) attached, otherwise, it's slightly pointless. No
Retreat Cost is obviously perfect, there is nothing else
to be said about it. Finally, it's an SP Pokémon, so
gets all the usual SP support, which is nice.
Abilities now, and after those frankly average basics
all in all (alright HP and Resistance, bad Weakness and
good Retreat Cost), you may be thinking the abilities
are going to be the same, and you are right. First, for
C or an Energy Gain, we have Collect, which draws you 2
cards. Great, but it's an attack, so it isn't really.
It's a starting sort of attack, but because it's random
what you will get, unlikely with something like Sableye
(SF) or even Pachirisu (GE), it's not as good as them.
Still, at least it doesn't have to cost much.
It's second attack, Primal Breath, is slightly
interesting. It costs FC or F and an Energy Gain, and
does 30 damage. Nothing particularly interesting or
exciting there. However, it's effect is. It stops the
Defending Pokémon from evolving or leveling up during
your opponents next turn. Now, it might be disruptive,
but it does depend upon what you have just attacked. If
it's their main attacker's Basic form or Baltoy (GE), it
might be brilliantly disruptive, stopping them from
getting their main attacker or Claydol (GE) out.
However, if it's against your opponents starter, or some
SP Pokémon, it's pointless. It's not the worst attack
ever, but it does have to be used correctly to get the
most out of it.
Combos? Well, if I'm honest, there aren't any real ones
really. You could use it for disruption in an SP deck,
but there are plenty of better disruptors available to
them (I would start listing them, but I would double the
length of this review if I did, so I won't), so isn't
very useful there. You could try it in Machamp (SF)
decks to try and keep as many of your opponents Pokémon
in their Basic form for as long as possible, or until
you get Machamp out, but if you are doing that, then you
really need to speed your deck up. And no, Collect isn't
good enough.
Counters, well, smart people who will give you something
that can't evolve for you to Primal Breath, and thus
make it do esentially nothing to them, or just use
Machamp and Take Out Aerodactyl GL. If you want to
conter Collect (and oh dear if you do), just make your
opponent shuffle their hand into their deck. Simple.
Ratings:
Modified: It's not a bad card, but it's not a playable
one either. Collect seems nice, but it isn't as good as
other starters attacks or good drawing Poké-Powers, and
Primal Breath is nice at disrupting your opponent, but
only if you use it correctly. It's a bit too easy to
counter, and very easily over-shadowed by other Pokémon,
so won't stand out when you want to make your deck, but
that's mainly because it isn't as good as those Pokémon.
Not dreadful, but there are better choices. 2/5
Limited: Better here. Collect is nice since it draws
cards, and there aren't many cards that can do that
here. Primal Breath is a little more circumstantial
here, since just because a Pokémon can evolve/level up,
it doesn't mean your opponent is running them, so why
you may think it's being disruptive, it really isn't.
Still, worth at least 1 or 2 slots in your deck if you
get the chance, just because of Collect. 3.5/5
drtomoe123 Professor
League Leader
Aerodactyl GL Rising Rivals
Common
In the history of the Pokemon TCG, Aerodactyl has had
some very interesting cards. Back in the Fossil
expansion, Aerodactyl had a Pokemon Power that prevented
any Pokemon from being evolved, which was pretty
gamebreaking at the time. Interestingly, Aerodactyl GL
has a similar effect, but does it manage to live up to
the standard created by the Fossil Aerodactyl?
Not really.
Looking at the stats of the card, 80 HP is a pretty
average amount for a SP Pokemon. Unfortunately, it's 2x
Lightning weakness makes it extremely vulnerable to
Luxray, but its -20 Resistance to Fighting could
potentially be useful against Machamp's Hurricane Punch
(because Take Out kills Aerodactyl GL regardless) or the
Fighting Toxicroak G Promo that's been showing up in
quite a few decks, lately. However, the most important
stat here is the free retreat, which is GREAT,
especially on a card like this Aerodactyl GL. In
addition, the SP aspect of this Pokemon helps it a lot,
allowing it to use Energy Gain, PokeTurn, SP Energy,
etc...
Now when it comes to actually using this Pokemon, its
attacks make it obvious that this card is best used as
an attacker. If you're stuck going first, throw an
energy down and use Collect to add another 2 cards to
your hand and hopefully improve your setup when you get
to use trainers next turn. Its other attack, Primal
Breath, the one that channels the spirit of Fossil
Aerodactyl, costs one Fighting and one Colorless (or a
Fighting plus Energy Gain) and does 30 while preventing
the defending Pokemon from Leveling Up or Evolving from
the hand during the opponent's next turn. In theory,
this could be great, especially during the first or
second turn, or possibly even later in a game. You can
keep the opponent from getting out of KO range next turn
by keeping them from evolving, or you could keep them
from bringing out a Lv. X (especially when you're
playing against LuxNape). Unfortunately, this effect is
prevented by Unown G. In addition, if the opponent
switches, the restriction disappears. To make things
worse, it only keeps the opponent's ACTIVE Pokemon from
evolving...the bench is fair game. So, on paper, the
effect sounds great, but honestly, I don't really see it
doing too much in a real game. Your opponent should and
will find a way around it.
Of course, like I mentioned earlier, Aerodactyl GL can
make a solid starter. 80 HP is still solid, and the
ability to draw two cards is great, especially when
you're not able to use trainers. Then, take advantage of
the free retreat and send out something else to start
the beat down. I could see a combo with this in Machamp
decks, especially to keep the opponent in Take Out
range, but unfortunately, Primal Breath just doesn't do
enough. You're better off just sending out Machamp to
get the first or second turn donk most of the time...but
still, I could see this card being useful in some
situations. That's just it, this card's effect just has
too many loopholes...it's not consistent enough.
Ratings:
Modified: 2.5/5 It's really similar to yesterday's
Tropius RR...it's a pretty good starter, but that's
about it, and unfortunately, starters aren't really even
played that much nowadays. Look at it this way,
though...I'd much rather have this as my starting basic
over Baltoy, Uxie, or Unown G, right? It's attacks are
solid, drawing is always nice and the possibility of
stopping evolution is too, but they most likely won't
live up to most expectations.
Limited: 3/5 Draw support is very helpful in this
format. The second attack does okay damage if you can
get an Energy Gain attached, but in RR and SV drafts,
most people play SP Pokemon over evolution, so I doubt
that the no-evolution effect will help too much. Free
retreat is great, though.
Part of me likes this card, but I doubt I'll ever really
use it, and I really haven't seen decks that have found
a way to take advantage of it...I'd just stay away from
it for now.
