Tauros – Mythical Islands
Date Reviewed: January 22, 2025
Ratings Summary:
Ratings are based on a 1 to 5 scale. 1 is horrible. 3 is average. 5 is great.
Reviews Below:
Otaku
The 10th best card of Mythical Island is Tauros (Mythical Island 060/068)!
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Yes, we’re heading immediately into the next countdown. If the various articles detailing the release schedule for the Pokémon TCG Pocket are correct, the next expansion debuts on January 29th. Unlike with new sets in the full TCG, I’ll have to wait until the official release date to design a Top Picks list for it, giving me just enough time to cover what I think are the ten best cards of Mythical Island.
Tauros is a Colorless Basic Pokémon with 100 HP, (F) Weakness, (C)(C) Retreat Cost, and the attack “Fighting Tackle”. For (C)(C)(C), Fighting Tackle does 40 damage unless the opponent’s Active is a Pokémon ex. In that case, the attack does another 80 damage, meaning 120 total. Yes, that’s a weird way for me to say that, but as the card text makes this distinction, I don’t want to rule out future effects that – for example – only alter base damage or bonus damage. Tauros is available at the ♦♦♦ rarity.
The Colorless Type has no support, nor is anything (C) Weak. The Types main benefit is – so far – all (C) Types have all (C) Energy requirements, making them fit into almost any deck. There’s even a solid split in Weakness among (C) Types; even an all Colorless deck is likely to not share the same Weakness for every Pokémon. Tauros is the best Stage of Pokémon, though. Basics need no extra time or cards to hit the field, and so far is the only Stage with card support (Poké Ball).
For a non-evolving, single point Pokémon, Tauros’ 100 HP is solid. Anything less than a full force medium attack fails to OHKO Tauros, at least before combos or Weakness. I wouldn’t want to open with Tauros unless all you need is for it to be a meatshield in that match-up. It just takes too many turns to prep Tauros to attack. It’s (F) Weakness does matter, though it isn’t too bad; a few metagame relevant attackers do go from 2HKO to OHKO, or 2HKO to OHKO. The Retreat Cost of (C)(C) isn’t high enough to be “bad” or low enough to be “good”.
Fighting Tackle is… awkward. When not up against a Pokémon ex, it only does 40 damage for three Energy. That’s just bad. However, against Pokémon ex it does 120 damage for the same amount of Energy; that’s a OHKO against a Pikachu ex, and with a Giovanni, also against Celebi ex (Mythical Island 003/068, 075/068, 085/068), Mew ex (Mythical Island 032/068, 077/068, 083/068, 086/068), Starmie ex (Genetic Apex 76/226, 257/226), and Zapdos ex (Genetic Apex 104/226, 260/226, 276/226). If Tauros survives or has a partner that hits about as hard, it 2HKOs all Pokémon ex.
I’ll ask you indulge me, because Fighting Tackle is so close to being a much better card. Again, Tauros is not bad, hence making the countdown! I think Fighting Tackle is a tad under powered. I don’t think it needs to hit Pokémon ex any harder, I just wish it was doing more like 50 or 60 base damage, then with a respective +70 or +60 bonus against Pokémon ex. Compared to other cards, with a similar cost… I get why they did what they did. (C)(C)(C) doesn’t pay for too much in Pocket.
Tauros does not evolve, but there is another version of it already in Pocket: Tauros (Genetic Apex 204/226). It has the same stats as today’s Tauros, but a different attack. For (C)(C), “Horn Tackle” does 50 damage. A little low, given Tauros doesn’t evolve or have compatible Energy acceleration, but not actually bad. It’s rarity is only ♦♦, so it’s a decent filler Pokémon when you’re just getting started, and maybe even when you’re really uncertain what a deck needs. If you have to choose between the two, though, you’re almost always going with today’s Tauros.
Tauros is not a major player in the competitive game, but it does show up as a single in some Fighting Toolbox decks, Greninja decks, and Koga decks. Generally speaking, as you must painfully build up to three Energy via manual Energy attachments, Tauros needs a deck where you can actually spare some of those. Yet decks with Energy acceleration are iffy because all the Energy acceleration we’ve seen so far only attaches to Pokémon of a specific Type… and none of those Types are Colorless. Still, if a deck can (or already does) rely on enough low Energy attackers, Tauros could find a home int it.
Rating: 3/5
Fighting Tackle makes Tauros historically important to the Pokémon TCG Pocket, as our first “anti-ex” card. It has a foothold in the competitive sphere, though already faces indirect competition from cards like Druddigon (Mythical Island 056/068) and Mew ex. The future could bring better anti-ex cards that replace it, or it could bring some badly needed support. Even though they’ll see it coming in an actual match, Tauros still makes anyone running a Pokémon ex ask themselves “What about Tauros?”
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