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Pojo's Pokémon Card of the Day

 

 Jirachi

- Generations

Date Reviewed:
March 24, 2016

Ratings & Reviews Summary

Standard: 1.8
Expanded: 1.6
Limited: 4.5

Ratings are based on a 1 to 5 scale.
1 being horrible.  3 ... average.  5 is awesome.

Back to the main COTD Page


aroramage

Ahhhh, Jirachi, getting the extra special Radiant treatment today. Yes, the Generations set brought back the Radiant Collection featured in Legendary Treasures, so now we get SUPER SHINY cards! 

But shiny does not a good card make...just sometimes expensive. Jirachi here doesn't lead up into anything major, since Heart Sign is merely a 3-for-50 vanilla strike. Not that a sign of a heart would do all that much, I mean what was Jirachi going for here? In any case, you wouldn't play Jirachi for Heart Sign, so let's look at why you might consider Jirachi in your deck. 

Wish is a super simple attack - for 1 Psychic Energy, you get to add a card to your hand. That's it, just...add any card you need to your hand. I think it's pretty self-explanatory when you've got an attack that can add ANY card to your hand that you need, and searching has always been a good thing as well as ADDING cards to your hand that you NEED. I hope I'm not ADDING too many of these ADDITIONS just to ADD to my POINT. 

That all being said, Jirachi is very fragile, and chances are higher than not that he won't survive the single turn with only 70 HP. You are bound to lose a Prize, but the real question is it worth it to have whatever card you need for your next turn? Potentially, though he'll mostly be running in decks with Psychic Energy or that can afford to slap Rainbow Energy onto him. 

It's the little things that keep cards from being broken. 

Rating 

Standard: 2.5/5 (super small Basic Pokemon with the ability to grab whatever you need is useful!) 

Expanded: 2/5 (really it's the attack cost and HP that keep me away from him)

Limited: ?/5 (I guess he'd be a 3/5, but you know how it is...weird sets) 

Arora Notealus: Seriously, Jirachi, you're from space! Use some kind of stardust attack instead of hearts when you wanna beat something up! 

Next Time: I think I can hear the ocean from this one...


Otaku

Jirachi (Generations RC13/RC32) is a Psychic-Type Pokémon.  The Psychic-Type has some solid support (both direct and indirect) and enjoys hitting the primary subdivision of Fighting-Types and Psychic-Types for double damage.  It also means crashing into Resistance against nearly all Darkness-Types and Metal-Types.  Jirachi is a Basic which is the best Stage; basic game mechanics tend to favor it and while there are some “anti-Basic” effects, there are also pieces of Basic Stage support.  The 70 HP is not good, though anything below 120 seems like a probable OHKO so it is just a very probable OHKO; it still might survive due to an incomplete set-up on the opponent’s part.  Psychic Weakness further lowers those odds but isn’t as much of a liability because - again - 70 HP is a probable OHKO already.  Lack of Resistance is a disappointment but also the most common and with 70 HP, was unlikely to matter even the fraction of the time Resistance comes in handy.  A Retreat Cost of [C] is affordable; easy to pay and recover from having paid. 

Jirachi has two attacks and nothing else.  For [P] it can use “Wish” to search your deck for a card and add it to your hand.  For [PCC] it can use “Heart Sign” for 50 damage (nothing else).  These both seem overpriced.  Heart Sign really needs to hit for more like 90 damage to be competitive, though I suppose even 70 would be a significant improvement as with a Muscle Band you’re scoring a 2HKO against much of the format.  The thing is that probably isn’t the real use for the card; if “Wish” were priced as [C] then Dimension Valley would make it a no Energy attack.  Not a bad opening play.  Not a great opening play either, though.  There are two other Jirachi: XY: Roaring Skies 42/108 and XY: Black Star Promos XY67.  Both Standard legal, Metal-Type Basic Pokémon with 70 HP, Fire Weakness, Psychic Resistance, Retreat Cost [C], no Ancient Trait, no Ability and two attacks.  XY: Roaring Skies 42/108 sports “Diminutive Desire”; it costs [M] and has you look at the top seven cards of your deck, pick one, and add it to your hand.  For [MC] it can use “Doom Desire”, which forces it to discard all Energy attached attached to itself, then the Defending Pokémon is KOed at the end of your opponent’s next turn.  We looked at it here, thought it might have some merit but also might be too finicky and so far, looks like it was indeed too difficult to get that KO effect to stick around. 

XY: Black Star Promos XY67 can use “Stardust” for [C] to do 10 damage and (if one is attached) discard a Special Energy card from the opponent’s Active.  If that second bit happens, then Stardust also protects Jirachi from damage and effects from attacks by your opponent’s Pokémon during your opponent’s next turn.  It also has “Dream Dance” for [MC] to do 20 damage and put both Active Pokémon (Jirachi and the opponent’s Active) to Sleep.  This Jirachi was our 10th best card of 2015 and I am glad we looked at it then, as the metagame has once again shifted (as expected) and so now it is a lot less impressive… but it is also still the only current Jirachi worth playing in a competitive deck.  If you can somehow use Jirachi (Generations RC13/RC32) in a Limited Format event, it is a great pull, nearly a must run.  The way Generations products are released I don’t think there has been anything official using it for Limited play, so this is practically a “N/A” but I’ll score it anyway down below. 

Ratings 

Standard: 1.15/5 

Expanded: 1.1/5 

Limited: 4.5/5 

Summary: I can’t remember why I scheduled this Jirachi (Generations RC13/RC32) for review.  I suppose it was a good excuse to update people on XY: Black Star Promos XY67, but I have no idea if it will remain where it is at, become even less useful, or become more useful as things unfold, but I don’t think anyone was going to mistake this as a competitive card (my other excuse for reviewing such things).


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