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Pojo's Pokemon Card of the Day

Baby Mario Top 4 UK Nats	Girafarig HGSS   Hello and welcome to another week of Pojo’s CotD.   We are having a shortened week this time because of the Pojo part of the interwebs being a bit broken for a while (or something like that anyway – not going to pretend I understand), but I am back from holiday and ready to review some cards, so let’s go!   First up this week is the cleverly-named palindrome Pokémon, Girafarig (it’s the same forwards and backwards, see?). Girafarig is a non-evolving Basic with a decent 70 HP, Psychic Weakness, and an acceptable retreat cost of one.   Its first attack, Show Off, deals no damage, but lets you search your deck for two Basic Energy cards. Clearly this card is designed to function as a starter Pokémon, which seems to be the job of non-evolving Basics these days (see Sableye, Pachirisu, Spiritomb, Jirachi etc). Unfortunately, Show Off needs an Energy to use in the first place, so your net gain is only one on the turn you use it. Also, using an attack to fish Energy out of your deck is not usually worth it . . . most decks get by perfectly well by using their normal draw engine plus Roseanne’s Research or Cyrus’s Conspiracy (in an SP deck). They simply don’t need that much Energy in hand when they can only attach one per turn anyway.   Even decks which need Energy in the hand to attack (Feraligatr MT, Raichu LV X), or which can attach multiple Energy in a turn (Feraligatr Prime) have better options. Smeargle SW’s  Color Pick attack will fetch THREE Basic Energy from your deck and doesn’t cost an Energy to use. Bronzong SF is another alternative, fetching you two Basic Energy per turn while sitting on the Bench and using its Cycler Pokémon Power. But even these cards see little or no play.   Girafarig’s second attack, Psyshot, is pure useless filler doing 20 damage for [C][C]. You could say the same about Girafarig itself if it wasn’t for the fact that it functions decently well in Limited, where you often run multiple Energy types and getting the right ones in hand early can be very helpful. That’s the only place where you should ever see one of these in a deck though.   Rating   Modified: 1.25 (does an unnecessary job and does it badly) Limited: 2.5 (quite useful if you end up with a rainbow deck)
virusyosh	SoulSilver set by reviewing Girafarig HGSS. Girafarig is a Basic Colorless Pokemon. Colorless Pokemon are very nice, as they can usually be splashed into any deck for effectiveness. 70 HP is average for a non-evolving Basic, but the value is a bit on the low side. Double Weakness to Psychic is meh, as there are still many potent threats in the metagame that are Psychic. No Resistance hurts the palindromic giraffe, but is somewhat expected. Finally, a Retreat Cost of 1 is decent, and totally payable if you decide to use Girafarig. Girafarig has two attacks. The first, Show Off, searches your deck for two Basic Energy cards and puts them into your hand for a single Colorless Energy. Getting Energy into your hand can be great support for a few decks, like Rain Dance. However, most searching options of this nature are better done by Trainers and Supporters or by pure card draw, so you may be better sticking with those than use an attack on a support Pokemon with relatively low HP. Girafarig's second attack, Psyshot, deals a very weak 20 damage for [CC]. Not worth using, in my opinion. Modified: 1.5/5 Show Off is a decent way to get Energy into your hand, but you're probably better using a Supporter like Roseanne's Research, or even just Claydol's Cosmic Power. Girafarig may see play in a few decks once the format rotates out as they search for a new support Pokemon, but right now it doesn't have the staying power to keep up with current standards. Limited: 3/5 I'm big on Girafarig in Limited. Colorless Energy requirements and the ability to search for the Energy you need here is great, especially if you really need a certain type of Energy. Psyshot still isn't very good here, but the support options are excellent. Just keep in mind that Girafarig is frail, so take caution if you decide to use it here.
Otaku	Girafarig from HeartGold & SoulSilver is a 70 HP Colorless Pokémon with appropriate Colorless Energy requirements, allowing it to slip into several decks and survive a shot or two from most other un-Evolved Pokémon.  It is weak to Psychic Pokémon, continuing the backwards trend of the TCG (in the video games, Psychic Pokémon are resistant to Psychic attacks), lacks Resistance (disappointing), and a single Energy Retreat Cost that is easy to pay.    Since Girafarig has no pre-Evolutions, Evolutions, or similarly related cards, it falls completely on its two attacks to justify its inclusion into decks.  The first attack Show Off requires a single Energy of any type and lets you search your deck for up to two basic Energy cards and add them to your hand.  Adding two cards to your hand is nice, but with such specific requirements, this could probably have been a Basic… after all, even the most obvious place to abuse it (Feraligatr Prime) would debate a Bench slot just to add two basic Energy cards.  That’s something most draw power will be able to accomplish.  As an attack, the effect is probably worth the Energy going into it… but only just, and without a combo it becomes a “Why bother?” scenario.  The second attack is Psyshot, a straight 20 points of damage for any two Energy.  The legality of Double Colorless Energy makes this passable… if the rest of the card was good.  This conforms to the old Energy curve of (C) yields 10 damage.  We (the players and the designers) learned you had to give a “doesn’t Evolve” bonus to cards like this, and that said curve should only be applied to Basics that can further Evolve.  When I think start thinking in the present and factor in we’ve had zero Energy requiring attacks for several formats now, Psyshot is clearly a dud.  Unless, of course, we are talking a Limited Event: like so many of the cards I’ve reviewed from HeartGold & SoulSilver, Girafarig is pretty good for Limited play.  In Limited, the stats go from good to great.  Show Off becomes valuable for running multiple Energy types in the same deck with much less pain while thinning your deck so you can draw less “once a turn” Energy cards and more Pokémon (and Trainers if your were lucky).  Psyshot then lets Girafarig avoid being useless if you have enough Energy or it shows up a bit late: 20 for (CC) is still weak but so are a lot of the Pokémon you’ll encounter in Limited. Ratings   Modified: 1.5/5 Limited: 3.5/5