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Pojo's Pokémon Card of the Day

 

Crobat G Lv. 44

Platinum

Date Reviewed: Nov. 1, 2011

Ratings & Reviews Summary

Modified: See Below
Limited: See Below

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

Back to the main COTD Page

Combos With: See Below

Baby Mario
2010 UK National
Seniors
Champion

Crobat G (Platinum)

Next up in our week of scary Pokémon is Crobat G. How scary is Crobat? Well, I get that it’s a vampire-ish bat, but compared to something like Gliscor, it’s a pretty straightforward design and doesn’t quite have the same mutant horror that that Pokémon does.

As a card though? That’s quite a different story.

Crobat G absolutely ruled in modified play when it was legal, despite being an 80 HP Basic with a bad Weakness (remember, this was the Luxray format) and a mostly terrible attack. How did it manage this? By being a searchable, re-usable method of doing 10 damage to anything on your opponent’s side of the field, courtesy of Crobat’s Flash Bite Power.

Put simply, this card won games. Backed up by the suite of SP Support which added to its seachability (SP Radar) and made it a multiple use card (PokeTurn), Crobat G meant that you were never 10 (or even 20 or 30) damage short of a OHKO; it gave you a way of working around Gengar SF’s Fainting Spell; and it made free Prizes out of heavily damage Pokémon on the Bench. Even the apparently bad attack got used as a somewhat counter to Donphan Prime (Poison the Donphan, survive it’s attack due to Resistance, then free retreat for something else for the KO – yes, Crobat G even had free retreat as well).

If you really want an idea of how good this card is, consider two things: firstly, it got played outside of dedicated SP decks with things like Jumpluff, Gyarados, and Gengar – that’s how universally useful it was. Secondly, this card is an absolute bomb in Unlimited, a format where nothing is worth playing unless it’s just about broken.

A card that can be dropped out of nowhere to throw off your damage calculations and give your opponent an unexpected Prize? Yeah, that is really scary.

Rating

Fear Factor as a Pokémon: 3

Fear Factor as a TCG card: 5

Mad Mattezhion
 Professor Bathurst League Australia

Crobat G (Platinum)

Now this is a truly scary card! Coming in from it's #2 spot on 2009's Top 10 cards is the bat we all learned to love and loathe, Crobat G!

Unlike yesterday's card, I have had a ton of fun playing with and against this card wherever it cropped up. Along with Gengar SF, it had to my favourite card of the last format. Between the annoyance of Toxic Fang, the free retreat, the brutality of Flash Bite and the SP support (particularly Poke Turn and Cyrus' Conspiracy) it was powerful beyond belief and quite splashable. Not only that, but it was fun!

Maybe I take too much pleasure in making my opponent suffer, but between Flash Bite and Gengar's Shadow Room there wasn't a single evolving Basic that I couldn't reach. When I added Kingdra Prime for even more sniping, Dialga G for the Trainer/Poke-body denial and Mesprit LA to destroy Poke-powers I couldn't help but let out a maniacal laugh... up until my opponents played Garchomp C and and Tyranitar Prime to punish my insolence. Still, despite my lousy competitive track record with my Speed Gengar/SP hybrid deck last format, it was some of the most fun I had ever had with cards (what can I say, I like being a troll).

Even without the combo tricks that Crobat G exploited to the fullest, it was an intimidating card. Just look at the art. The slight blur to indicate a swooping dive, the wings fully extended to make it look larger and the way the face is turned to hide those teeth (which happen to look terrible on most of the Crobat cards, just look at the Prime!). The urban background completes the feeling of being suddenly attacked in a dark alley with no chance to defend yourself, so full points to Mokoto Imai for a flawless delivery. I haven't seen a Crobat card this eery since Dark Crobat from Neo Destiny, which was backlit by a cloudy full moon while Crobat is swooping over a heavy swell, hunting for an unlucky sailor to feed upon (Shin-ichi Yoshikawa knew how to make Crobat look good!).

Coincidentally enough, Dark Crobat had a coming-into-play Poke'mon Power called Surprise Bite (I'm senisng a theme here) that dealt 20 damage to a target on your opponent's side of the field. The matching Dark Golbat was released earlier in the first Team Rocket expansion and had the same Poke'mon Power but it only dealt 10 damage and was called Sneak Attack, which was great at the time for taking out the ever-annoying Cleffa by getting around the Baby rule.

As you can see, Crobat G has a proud history of abusable coming-into-play effects and impressive artwork, and now it has joined its ancestors as a force to be feared in Unlimited. I shudder to think of these cards in the cutthroat Sableye SF donk deck with Broken Time Space to abuse Dark Golbat, Dark Crobat and Jolteon ex for damage/damage counters. In fact, if I can get a few copies of the Golbat and Jolteon to go with my Dark Crobat I might just give the deck a try myself!

Crobat is an imposing Poke'mon (unless you look at the teeth and crack up laughing at how silly they look) and Crobat G remains a terrifying card. For a Halloween theme you couldn't find a better choice!

Forgive me for shamelessly stealing your scoring system Baby Mario.

Fear Factor as a Poke'mon: 4 (I have to take marks off for the those outrageous teeth no matter how much I love Crobat!)

Fear Factor as a TCG card: 4.5 (you didn't automatically lose when you saw this purple monster on your opponent's side, but you had to feel the burn and fear the worse pain to come!)

Combos with: fond memories of the last few formats (even if you hated SP Poke'mon, Crobat was both powerful and, if not balanced, at least short of broken by virtue of the number of counters available). Also, Sableye Donk decks run this card as their right hand for getting rid of opposing Poke'mon (now THAT combo is broken!)

virusyosh

Hello once again, Pojo readers! Today we continue Scary Pokemon Week by reviewing everyone's favorite bat (at least from the last two formats, anyway). Today's Card of the Day is Crobat G from Platinum.

Crobat G is a Basic Psychic Pokemon. Crobat is also an SP Pokemon, so it can take advantage of all of the SP support like Poke Turn and Energy Gain. 80 HP is fairly decent for a Basic SP, as Crobat will be able to take a hit or two that isn't for Weakness. That being said, Lightning Weakness means that Crobat G gets destroyed by that type, especially from Luxray GL when it was in the format. Fighting Resistance is good against Pokemon like Machamp, although Machamp SF would still OHKO with Take Out, if we were talking about DP-on or MD-on Modified. Finally, Crobat G has free Retreat, which makes it an excellent Pokemon to send up if you've just had a KO, or if you need to get it out of the Active Position.

Crobat G has a Poke-Power and a single attack. The Poke-Power, Flash Bite, lets you place a damage counter on one of your opponent's Pokemon when you play Crobat G from your hand to the Bench. This Power is why Crobat has seen a lot of play, as that one extra damage can be incredibly useful, acting as a non-Trainer PlusPower as well as activating other effects that affect damaged Pokemon. Additionally, in Platinum block, Poke Turn works wonders with Crobat, allowing you to bounce Crobat multiple times, probably adding enough damage to get you a KO.

Crobat's only form of offense, Toxic Fang, wasn't commonly used in Modified, but can be good in the right deck. For a Psychic and a Colorless Energy (or a Psychic and an Energy Gain), Toxic Fang Poisons the Defending Pokemon, but they get 2 damage counters in between turns instead of one. This can be useful in a pinch (or in Limited), but chances are you won't be using it in Modified (when it was legal).

Modified: N/A. Crobat G is from Platinum, which rotated out of Modified earlier this year. However, Flash Bite has such amazing versatility that it would see play now, even though all of the SP support is gone. Therefore, I'd give it a 4/5 for both DP-on and MD-on, and a 3/5 if it were legal now.

Limited: 3.5/5 Crobat G is good in Platinum Limited for a number of reasons. Free Retreat and Flash Bite make Crobat nice in the format, and while Toxic Fang isn't amazing, it can still get the job done. Overall, Crobat is a solid addition to your Limited deck, especially if you pull a lot of SP support cards.
'
Combos With: Poke Turn, Super Scoop Up, Seeker, etc.


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