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Pojo's Pokémon Card of the Day

 

 Golem

- Flashfire

Date Reviewed:
July 11, 2014

Ratings & Reviews Summary

Standard: 2.0
Limited: 3.0

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

Baby Mario
2010 UK National
Seniors
Champion

Golem (Flashfire)

W end the week with a look at Golem, a big Energy-hungry Stage 2. I think we know where this is going . . .  

The 150 HP is solid enough, but the attacks are both expensive and impractical. Stone Edge needs a coin flip just to do 90 damage for its three Energy cost, and I’m sure we can all think of better ways to KO Fighting-Weak EX Pokémon like Darkrai and Thundurus. Meanwhile Explosion can hit the heights needed to OHKO any EX (with a little help from Muscle Band), but it costs four Energy  and inflicts 100 points of self-damage. This is a problem because it means losing an awful lot of resources when your severely weakened Golem gets KO’d next turn. 

The upcoming Furious Fists set is going to bring us a ton of great support for Fighting Type Pokémon. Fortunately, it also supplies some excellent Fighting Pokémon, so there is no need to waste it all on something as terrible as Golem. Don’t be seduced by the fact that it is theoretically capable of OHKOs on EX Pokémon: it’s far too slow and requires far too much investment to work in a speed-focused environment. 

Rating 

Modified: 1.5 (clumsy and impractical)

Limited: 2 (tough to use and only averagely rewarding)


aroramage

Hello all and welcome to the end of the week again! Here we've got a classic Gen I Pokemon in the form of "totally original character do not steal" Golem! (literally named golem, like the moving statue)

Now looking around at past Golems, there's a distinctive "hit myself for damage" trend in their attacks, usually to the benefit of an attack or just as a side effect of an even more powerful attack. Does this Golem's raw power allow it to soar to new heights over its predecessors, or does it just blow out its fuse like a dud? Let's check him out!

Golem here has two modest attacks which cost a lot and have a good damage output. The first attack, Stone Edge, costs 3 Energy (2 of which must be Fighting) and deals 60 damage with a 50% chance of increasing it to 90. That's not the greatest 3 Energy attack in the world (but let's face it, that's probably on a Pokemon-EX anyway), but it's still a solid damage dealer, an attribute most Fighting-TCG Pokemon are known for anyway. His other attack is Explosion.

Now when I first encountered Golem, he had Selfdestruct, an attack that did a high output of 100 damage; that was a lot back in a time when most Pokemon barely hit 90 HP let alone 100, so it was a guaranteed KO on two Pokemon. Yes, back then Selfdestruct meant, "I'm blowing myself up to low you up," since Golem dealt 100 damage to himself as well. Never mind the additional 20 damage on each Benched Pokemon that could, with the right set-up, net a person 2 or 3 Prizes.

Nowadays, Explosion and Selfdestruct haven't really improved much, and the power creep would pretty much neutralize the effects of even 40 spread damage on each Benched Pokemon for a chance at trading KOs. To be fair, Golem's Explosion does 150 damage, which can KO most any other Stage 2 in today's format. Not quite enough for most Pokemon-EX, but with some Muscle Band and a little Hypnotoxic Laser, Golem can deal just enough to KO most of them with an attack that guarantees he'll get KO'd next turn since Explosion deals 100 damage to him (unless you combine him with Protection Cube rather than Muscle Band).

Of course, with the upcoming Furious Fists expansion, Fighting-types are going to get a lot of good support for their damage-mashing ways, and Golem could be a potential heavy-hitter within those decks. Suddenly that 60 damage becomes 80 with a chance to add 30 for 110, or that 150 damage dealing Explosion not only goes up to 170 but then Golem doesn't get KO'd by the next attack!! (okay, I've been looking at the next set's Japanese list, I'm just excited.)

Golem is a decent casual player, but it might be that in the near future, he could be a contender. He could be somebody! He could dominate the world!

...or maybe he'll just sink into the depths of the earth again, who knows.

Rating

Modified: 2.5/5 (he'll need a little support for KOs, but at least he can deal damage)

Limited: 4/5 (combined with Protection Cube, Golem's a massive damage-dealer for no recoil!)

Arora Notealus: I dunno why, but those yellow-glowing rocks remind me of the ki blasts from the Dragonball series. Maybe Golem will have a Mega-Evo that turns him into solid gold and become a legendary Super Saiyan!

Weekend Thoughts: It's only another month till Furious Fists are unleashed on our faces! What sets in the past have you been excited for and why?


Otaku
otaku


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