Today we look at the next to last runner
up from our dual Top 5 lists,
Cobalion (BW: Legendary Treasures
91/113).
This is a reprint of
Cobalion (BW: Noble Victories
84/101, 100/101), first reviewed
here.
So what makes it so special?
First and foremost, reprinting returned
it to legality, which was a requirement
for my own Top 5 Reprints list.
Second, this is a big, Basic
Pokémon… always a good start in the
Pokémon TCG.
Being a Metal-Type allows it to
tap some support, and hit a few cards
that are (were?) seeing competitive play
for double damage.
120 HP is good; 10 under the max
printed on Basic Pokémon that lack
special gimmicks (like being a
Pokémon-EX).
It doesn’t guarantee you’ll
survive a hit, but most decks will need
to invest quite a few cards to pull a
OHKO off.
Fire Weakness is not the worst Weakness
to have right now.
Yes, Fire Decks are getting a
shot again and thanks to the popularity
of
Virizion EX and
Genesect EX, hitting said Weakness
will be quite rewarding.
I would expect to run into some
Fire decks as people try to revive
something old or invent something new
thanks to the new rules.
I don’t expect most to succeed,
at least with the current card pool.
Victini (BW: Noble Victories
15/101) is no longer part of the format,
and that was one of the best, semi-splashable
Fire attackers we had… which is good
news for
Cobalion and other Fire Weak
Pokémon.
Cobalion
enjoys not only Resistance, but one that
might be relevant: Psychic!
We’ll have to see if
Mewtwo EX keeps ascending towards
its former glory, remains where it is at
now, or begins to fall again… but at
least until the next set I am expecting
the next two.
This in turn means that reducing
damage by 20 forces
Mewtwo EX to score 140 points of
damage (less
Hypnotoxic Laser induced Poison
damage, if applicable)… which is
normally going to put
Mewtwo EX into a dangerous place as
loading it up with Energy has its own
hassles.
To finish off the bottom Stats, the two
Energy Retreat Cost is not good; most
decks will be able to reduce it/bypass
it, so it isn’t a deal breaker, but
lower is obviously better (you then
don’t have to rely on the other options)
and it turns out that if this had a
Retreat Cost of three or more, there are
enough decks that use
Heavy Ball that could also work in
Cobalion.
So while not apparent when this
card was first released, a Retreat Cost
of two ended up being the worst option
for it.
Now while the stats are solid, they
aren’t enough to make this card worth
playing.
When we first reviewed
Cobalion, the attacks were solid;
nothing great, but certainly not bad.
Since then, things have really
improved for it.
The most recent change is that
while the card requires (MC) or (MMC) to
attack, the new first turn rules will
give it more time to build up to said
attacks, and the nerfing of
Pokémon Catcher means it should be
safe being powered up on the Bench.
Energy Press was already an attack worth
using; with the pace slowed down even by
just a single turn, this attack no
longer needs to “rush”.
It also means single Energy
attacks (that weren’t fun for
Cobalion to face) also aren’t as
impressive as they can no longer be used
first turn.
Iron Breaker suffers because most
decks are capable of either retreating
for free or using an effect to change
out Actives (either of which reset the
effect), sometimes it will work and
sometimes when it doesn’t, just forcing
the change out will be beneficial (if
not the damage).
So… what decks can use
Cobalion?
The most obvious would be
Klinklang [Plasma] decks; while said
decks still are unproven (in recent
times) and no longer can no longer run
Klinklang (Black & White
76/114), the protection provided by
Plasma Steel, the Ability of
Klinklang (BW: Plasma Storm
90/135) is still a fantastic thing, and
this gives them access once again to a
non-Pokémon-EX big, Basic attacker worth
using.
Otherwise, while the second
attack is too Energy specific to be
easily splashed into decks, we still
have
Prism Energy and
Blend Energy WLFM to make it work
well enough for decks already running
those.
Unlike its “big brother”
Cobalion EX, this card can also make
excellent use out of both
Silver Bangle and
Silver Mirror.
For Unlimited play, the best you can
likely accomplish is a “soft lock” with
Iron Breaker, which will still require
so many resources it compares poorly
with generic beatdown decks let alone
First Turn Win or other lock decks.
You just can’t shut down all the
options here.
It is hard to tell how Energy
efficient the Pokémon you encounter will
be, and thanks to
Focus Band you will probably need
Tool Scrapper or
Hypnotoxic Laser to score a OHKO
even if Energy Press is hitting hard
enough.
For Limited play, you might be able to
risk this in a +39 build.
The downside is your opponent can
try to build something good on the
Bench, or just overwhelm your 120 HP
before you can take four Prizes.
The good news is that both
attacks are even more potent here – you
often aren’t facing the most efficient
Pokémon and average HP scores are lower,
making both attacks more potent; the
lack of alternatives to retreating and
the cost of doing it manually will make
Iron Breaker more useful… to the point
its soft-lock prevents your opponent
from finishing
Cobalion before you take enough
Prizes.
Unless you have so many fantastic
pulls that you get a different big,
Basic Pokémon better suited to a +39
deck or that allows you to build a
Limited deck that can’t afford a few
copies of
Metal Energy, you should be running
Cobalion.
Ratings
Unlimited:
1.25/5
Modified:
3.8/5
Limited:
4.9/5
Summary
Cobalion
may be proving that absence makes the
heart grow fonder; I didn’t think I
would “miss” this card but as it might
help revive Plasma Steel decks and it
might benefit from the “slow down”
forced by new rules more than many other
previously successful big, Basic
Pokémon, I think it should become a
familiar site in the right decks… at
least until the next set.
