10. Umbreon/Exeggutor (G) - I couldn't decide between these 2
cards for the final spot. Umbreon from Aquapolis at first glance didn't
really look all that appealing, but I tried it out, and it surprised me,
Dark Moon is actually very disruptive, despite letting your opponent
draw the same amount of cards that you just got rid of, you can
effectively slow down evolutions with this guy, considering you get him
out fast enough. Also Shadow Bind is a decent attack especially with
Dark Energy on him, 40-60 damage combined with your opponent not being
able to retreat is pretty deadly.
Then there's the Grass Exeggutor from AQ, to be honest, I don't really
like Super Eggsplosion all that much, but Called Shot is nice, with 3
Grass Energy, you can pick off babies on the bench, and then when a
heavy hitter comes out, you can Super Eggsplosion and with that same 3
energy, you can at least expect 40, maybe even 80 damage. Combine this
guy with Harvest Bounty Venusaur (or maybe even Bellossom), and you've
got a deadly combo.
9. Bellossom - Well, to start off, he's got that newfangled
water resistance, which takes out a ton of good pokemon in the current
metagame, which does count toward his ranking. Flower Supplement is also
a great power, if you can somehow get 3-4 Bellossoms out at a time, you
will have uncontested speed over your opponent. Finally it's attack,
Knife Leaf isn't all that overpowered, but it's good nonetheless.
8. Magneton - The AQ Magneton could quite possibly become one
of the more used cards you'll see. Crobat/Murkrow decks are at a big
risk against Magnetic Flow. And then with the new grass types that could
see some use, the resistance could be very useful. Finally, Steel Wave
is a much better attack then it gets credit for, the colorless
requirements make it a possibility in all decks to help against pokemon
that like to swarm, such as Kingdra, Jumpluff, etc... The only thing I
dislike about this guy is his low HP, and usually steel energy helps
with that.
7. Copycat - Well, I think this guy's the best of the new
trainers, this card can get you a measly 2 cards, or you may end up
drawing 19, bottom line is this guy has the potential to be a Professor
Elm on speed, as one of the best drawing powers available, this thing
deserves to be in every deck.
6. Venusaur - No... not the Fury Strikes one, we're talking
Harvest Bounty, the less broken Rain Dance that works for all types of
energy. This power is just amazing, I've actually seen one person combo
this guy with Lanturn from Aquapolis (the water one), and on turn 3, got
to flip 5 coins for Conduction, got 3 of them heads, that's 150 damage
on turn 3. And that's not the only combo, you've also got Exeggutor,
Magcargo, the Pokemon Park Stadium, there are just so many
possibilities.
5. Victreebel - Erika's Victreebel? where? Fragrance Trap is
back, and ready to take over, and Acid Melt is just as good as Razor
Leaf was, if not better. Fragrace Trap is one of the best forms of
disruption available in the game. "Don't wanna take a chance on
attacking that baby? Okay then... Fragrance Trap! Send out that helpless
Donphan on your bench." Not only that, but this guy's not helpless
against steel types either. Acid Melt them, and get that burn, watch it
eat away at the defending metal pokemon, or force your opponent to
retreat it, and we all know that metal-types usually have hefty retreat
costs.
4. Octillery - Okay, you want to retreat that Crobat, that's
fine, just discard all of your energy. I for one love this card, it's an
amazing energy killer, and Smokescreen is excellent too, 40 damage is
quite a bit, and you also might not even get attacked on the next turn,
and due to Octillery's power, retreating the Smokescreen effect off
might be a problem.
3. Scizor - "Uh-Oh! No grass resistance, it's worthless!" I've
actually heard someone say that about this guy, that statement couldn't
possibly be more incorrect. First off, he can't be poisoned.... well...
it's better than nothing... Secondly he's got 80 HP, pretty nice for a
Stage 1 pokemon. Then, there's Heavy Metal... the move is just evil...
First off, it says "metal energy" not "metal energy cards", so you get
more flips with attached Rainbow Energy as well. You've also got the
defense boost that comes from the Metals. So, in a nutshell if you've
got 3 Metal/Rainbow Energy attached to Scizor you've got the obvious
defense boost, and an average of 50-70 damage per turn, the thing is
just dangerous, and there's really no specific strategy to taking him
down outside of using fire.
2. Jumpluff - 5 words come to mind "Tyrogue on a caffeine
binge" That's all it really is, if you look at it, a grass-type Tyrogue
with more HP that gets to attack twice per turn. It's power basically is
the same thing as a baby power, and it's attack is just 2 Smash Punches
at the same time. Attach a Rainbow Energy to this guy, and you've got
the power activated without having to take a hit. Give this thing a
Focus Band, and there aren't many cards more lethal.
And the best card available so far in the E-Card sets is.... drum
roll please....
1. Hypno - Yes, there is finally a useable Hypno! First thing
that comes to mind when looking at this guy is Hypno + Dark Gengar +
Misdreavus = Automatic Win. Dark Gar/Missy by itself is a hugely
powerful combo, Hypno just makes it straight out broken. If you can get
this set up fast enough it's unbeatable... Night Eyes puts them to
sleep, and even if they do manage to wake up through Gengar's Deep
Sleep, retreat Hypno out use Sleep Pendulum, and retreat Missy back out
for Auto KO with Perish Song. Yeah, you'd think "It won't work, Hypno's
retreat cost is always 3 or something, I can't waste that much energy."
Hypno's retreat is only 1... ONLY ONE, I saw this and did a double take.
Well, that's about it... Oh yeah his attack... Spiral Aura is nice,
nothing really great, but it gets the job done.
Well, these are my takes on Expedition and Aquapolis, you look back
at the list and see 5 grass types, not a fire in sight, and only 1 grass
resistant metal type, but don't bet on grass dominating anything,
remember this is only the E-Card sets, Entei/Magcargo is still out
there, along with Dark Gatr, Light Dragonite, Steelix, etc... but
definitely look for some of these cards to become a big part of the
metagame. Any comments, feel free to e-mail me at
TheTruePlatinum@aol.com