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Pojo's Pokémon Card of the Day

 

Dugtrio  

- XY

Date Reviewed:
February 28, 2014

Ratings & Reviews Summary

Standard: 2.50
Limited: 4.00

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

Dugtrio (XY) 

We finish the week with another 90 HP Stage 1 that could have made our top 10 list. That’s not something we’ve been able to say for a long while. Unlike Aromatisse, Dugtrio isn’t a Bench-sitter used for its Ability. Nope, it’s a straight up attacker. Ignore the over-priced Rock Tumble (three for 60 with Resistance not applied), and look instead at Earthquake. That’s right, it’s exactly the same attack that we saw on Donphan Prime: for a single Fighting Energy, it will do 60 damage and 10 to each of your own Benched Pokémon. 

Now 60 for one is always worth a look, and that self-damage can be prevented with Mr Mime PLF, but is it really enough to cut it with the 180 HP big boys of the format? Well, it might just be. See, if you slap a Silver Bangle on Dugtrio you are hitting 90, and thanks to Weakness, that’s enough to take down a couple of the most popular EX Pokémon around: namely Darkrai and Thundurus. Being able to accomplish that with a non EX, and for a single Energy can give you a big advantage in the Prize trade. 

Of course Dugtrio doesn’t have enough to win on his own. Plenty of decks don’t use those Pokémon, or also run Pokémon which care not about being hit by Fighting Types (such as Yveltal or Lugia). He could have a place in a 4 Corners style deck though, alongside cards such as Raichu XY and likely some Eeveelutions that can hit key Weaknesses like Flareon and Leafeon. 

Dugtrio is frail and only situationally useful, but he’s useful enough to be a part of the anti-meta puzzle. Definitely a card to be aware of if your deck has a conspicuous Weakness to Fighting Pokémon. 

Rating 

Modified: 3 (60 for one in a format with x2 Weakness is always decent)

Limited: 4 (cheap and pretty hard-hitting)


HEZ
Intro to
Unlimited 150

Dugtrio.

Standard.
To those who’ve been playing for a few years parts of this card will look familiar, particularly the first attack Earthquake being the same as the once popular Donphan Prime from Heart Gold Soul Silver. Unfortunately for Dugtrio, even Donphan was beginning to look underpowered once the Black & White series was well underway and apart from the first attack, Dugtrio is worse in almost every other way.
Sometimes Pokémon with cheap, powerful attacks make it into decklists as counters to commonly played Pokémon that are weak to its Type. But like most Evolved Pokémon released in the last 2 years, there’s a Basic that does the job better in every way, namely Terrakion who can be teched into a deck to revenge KO Pokémon weak to Fighting and can also utilise Prism Energy making the splash even easier.

Unlimited 150.

For a while a Dugtrio did find its way into the U150 meta due to its useful Ability. Crystal Guardians Dugtrio’s Sand Veil protects your benched Pokémon from damage but of course, the power-creep on Basic Pokémon has recently given us Mr. Mime in Plasma Freeze that even protects your Benched Pokémon from your own attacks! The Donphan Prime comparison from earlier is even more relevant here seeing as both are legal to play in this format.
If you really love Dugtrio though all is not lost, it’s not a dreadful Pokémon and you could build around it if you really wanted. This newest version actually teams up quite well with Mr. Mime (Plasma Freeze) allowing you to do 60 for 1 with no drawback whilst avoiding any ex errata like Donphan Prime. Dugtrio from Platinum also has an interesting effect in Sinkhole, punishing your opponent with 2 damage counters every time they retreat, so you could really theme your deck around Gust of Wind / Pokémon Catcher effects and force them into a lose / lose situation.
Overall, it’s not going to make any major waves in the format, but it does give a nice, fast attacker to Dugtrio fans.

Ratings.
Standard: 2
Unlimited 150: 2.5


Otaku
otaku


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