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Pojo's Pokemon Card of the Day

Baby Mario Top 4 UK Nats	Typhlosion (Prime) HGSS   For today’s review we are looking at the Prime which we missed when we did a week of them a while back. Only Donphan out of all the Primes seems to have made much of an impact at the recent State Championships. The others seem to either be not quite good enough to make the grade (Meganium) or waiting for new releases which will make the most of what they have to offer (Feraligatr). Let’s see which of those categories Typhlosion falls into.   Well, its got a nice big 140 HP to go with the predictable x2 Water Weakness (watch out for Gyarados!). The Retreat cost of two is a bit of a pain, but in most decks that play Typhlosion, it shouldn’t be too much of an issue.   Why? Well, because the main reason Typhlosion will be used (if at all) is for his Pokémon Power, Afterburner. This lets you attach an extra Fire Energy from your discard to any of your Pokémon, the downside being that you also have to put a damage counter on that Pokémon. Getting that Energy into the discard shouldn’t be a problem for Fire decks as they can always use Ninetales HGSS for draw support. This means that with Ninetales and Typhlosion on your Bench you have a useful draw/Energy acceleration engine for Energy hungry, discard-happy Fire Pokémon like Blaziken, Infernape, and Charizard.   Typhlosion also has an ok attack if you ever want to use it in that way. For [R][R][C], Flare Destroy does an acceptable 70 damage and requires both you and your opponent to discard an Energy from the active Pokémon. Obviously, this has some synergy with Typhlosion’s Power and could be nasty if you are chucking away your opponent’s Special Energies.   So . . . will the Energy acceleration and semi-decent attack make Typhlosion a card to be reckoned with? Well, there are two things standing in its way. Firstly, we already have Typhlosion MT, a card with a very similar Power. True, it can only attach to Benched Pokémon (easily remedied with a Stark Mountain Stadium), but it doesn’t have that potentially nasty drawback of placing a damage counter (which is a bit like giving your opponent a free Crobat drop on your active Pokémon). Seeing as Typhlosion MT hasn’t seen any play for a long while, it makes me wonder if the Prime version will fare any better. The second issue is that, in this format, low Energy attacks are much more efficient and effective than Energy acceleration. They are faster and require no set up. A deck which relies on getting  supporting Stage 2 and Stage 1 Pokémon into play runs the risk of being torn apart early by rush decks like Donphan, and SP decks using Energy Gain.   As for the future? Well, if the format slows down a whole lot after the rotation, and Fire decks can take advantage of having the best draw support after Claydol GE disappears from Modified, then possibly Typhlosion could be a decent card. It’s something to bear in mind when constructing a Fire deck, for sure. Right now, though, it will struggle.   Rating   Modified: 2.5 (Too slow and clunky for now. Could become useful in a slow format) Limited: 3 (Like all big Stage 2s, it’s good IF you can get it out)
Otaku	So beautiful… should have sent a poet…  Oh, why not?   From beginners’ ranks Arise leader of the flames Chosen Typhlosion   What, for a quickie haiku referencing the Pokémon and Transformers: The Movie (1986), it isn’t that bad. ;)   Typhlosion Prime is today’s card.  A Stage 2 Fire Pokémon with 140 HP, it should be large enough to be a hard OHKO.  Water Pokémon are excluded from this given the double Weakness.  The lack of Resistance might be justified if this card is as good as I hope.  Likewise, the two Energy needed to retreat is enough you won’t want to, but isn’t crippling.   The Poké-Power is what has me so excited: it’s a common trick for Fire but an effective one.  Afterburner, once per turn before your attack, lets you attach a Fire Energy card from your discard pile to one of your Pokémon.  The only drawback is that you have to add a damage counter as well.  Sounds like a good deal to me: no restriction on Type, Stage, location… if it is one of your Pokémon and in play, you can power it up!  The attack isn’t something to build a deck around, but it is good enough you’ll occasionally use it: Flare Destroy needs just (RRC) to hit for a respectable 70 damage, and then you discard an Energy card from Typhlosion and from the Defending Pokémon.   What can you run with this card?  Just about anything that can make use of Fire Energy.  What should you use with this card?  That narrows it down, but there are still a lot of potential dance partners.  Remember folks, I am slowly returning to this game.  I just brought up and read 112 Fire Pokémon to get an idea of what this can do.  I can see about a dozen potential decks, and half of them will survive the set rotation: indeed I’d say some will be helped by it.   In Limited, Energy manipulation/acceleration becomes extra potent when it is pretty much unrestricted.  While you can only snag Fire Energy, you should have plenty of Pokémon (Fire or not) that can make use of it.  Typhlosion Prime’s attack will even be more useful here.  In know this is going up on April 1st, but this isn’t a joke.   Ratings   Modified: 4.5/5   Limited: 4/5
KFC	Ah Typhlosion, the Fire-type Johto starter and also one of the many Pokemon Primes released in HGSS. Let's take a look.   First off, 140 HP is a good way to start things off. This kind of HP was rarely seen on nonLevel X cards outside of Wailord. Looks like Pokemon Prime are already off to a good start. However, that monstrous amount of HP might not last very long between Typhlosion's x2 weakness to Water, one of the most common types ever, and its lack of Resistance. I mean seriously, at least give Fire-types a resistance to Grass or a weakness to Fighting maybe. Mix it up a bit. Personal opinions aside, a retreat cost of two is a tad hefty, although most of the time you'll just be using Typhlosion as a bench-sitter. Still, being a Palkia LV.X's Restructure or a Luxray GL LV.X's Bright Look target will make you appreciate not having three or four as a retreat cost. After all, you can always drop a Double Colorless Energy.   Here's the meat of this card, it's Poke-Power. Typhlosion Prime's Power allows you to attach a Fire Energy from your discard pile to any one of your Pokemon, at the cost of placing one damage counter on that Pokemon. This power seems to be very similar to another Typhlosion's power, the one from Mysterious Treasures. Each has their own advantages and drawbacks. On one hand, Typhlosion MT lets you attach the energy without placing a damage counter, put it's limited to your benched Pokemon. This ca be easily remedied with Stark Mountain, Energy Link, or other similar cards. Typhlosion Prime lets you attach the energy to any Pokemon, but the damage counter can mean the difference between staying in play and getting knocked out, especially with repeated usage. However, it does free you to run another stadium such as Broken Time-Space.   Finally, we are at Typhlosion Prime's attack, Flare Destroy, which is an awesome name. For two Fire Energies and one Colorless Energy, Typhlosion does 70 damage with the added effect of discarding an Energy Card attached to Typhlosion Prime and one attached to the Defending Pokemon. This attack works well with Typhlosion's Poke-Power, but, as previously stated, Typhlosion is best left on the bench to support other Fire-types, such as Magmortar and Charizard. Still, in limited, this attack wreaks havoc as most decks are multi-typed and the loss of even one Energy can ruin a deck.   After rotation, Typhlosion Prime will be the energy accelerator of choice for the many Fire Decks that are sure to rise up with the addition of Ninetails from HGSS to the game. Until then, don't expect to see too much of this guy over his MT counterpart.   Modified 3/5 This card is good and works wonders with Magmortar, whose Poke-Body can heal the damage granted by Afterburner. In most cases however, this card is simply outshined by the damage-free Power of the Typhlosion from Mysterious Treasures.   Limited 4.5/5If this card was a tad faster or if Rare Candy was in HGSS, it would be a perfect five. If you manage to get a line of this sucker, use it. Flare Destroy is devastating and Afterburner game-breaking.