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Pojo's Pokemon Card of the Day

Murkrow - Sandstorm

Date Reviewed: 11.26.03

Ratings & Reviews below

Ratings are based on a 1 to 5 scale
1 being the worst. 3 ... average.
5 is the highest rating.

Heidi Craig	Murkrow Modified 2/5 Murkrow has decent hit points for a basic. It has resistance to psychic which is popular in the modified format but the card seems weak. Surprise uses 1 colorless energy and allows you to take 1 card from your opponents hand and shuffle it into their deck. I think this attack could cause hand disruption for your opponent but isn't reliable. A good trainer to combo with this card is Desert Shaman to really disrupt your opponents hand. Dark Mind could be good in early game to do some quick damage to the active while hitting the bench for 10 damage. It doesn't seem like it would be to good in late game. Heidi
Pscyhup	CotD today is Murkrow, 10 more HP, one more retreat, one more weakness, etc. Surprise! Today's Murkrow is from sandstorm. I don't have much time tonight, because being in an accelerated high school in new york is difficult. I'll do a regular review. My first review without typing a spoiler. Surprise is an interesting attack. Although Murkrow's doesn't do 10 damage like Lombre's does, its a basic pokemon with a colorless attack. Again although you don't get to choose a card to shuffle like Mawile, you can basically take anything away, its just the odds. Unlimited: Play the Neo Gen Murkrow, this card sees little use. If you need something to surprise, then go for it, but there are better disruption cards like The Rocket's Trap. Not a great card. If you need Dark Mind, the go where the pros go, Fossil Gengar. 1/5 Modified: Slightly better here, but no-one will be playing him, at least not when Sableye's still around. Dark Mind is better, and so is Surprise, but its not really worth not doing damage from an attack. 60 HP is decent, but something like Zangoose, Seviper, or Buzz can easily replace this card. 1.5/5 Limited: Very nice. Draw is limited to one per turn, if you can keep on Surprising their hand till it reaches 0, then you can get an advantage because it is about luck of the draw. definitely a nice card in draft, though you need multi to use dark mind. 3.5/5 Thanks for reading, and sry for short report, bah. --- psych
Hedge	Murkrow I don’t know about this card. I mean, it has pretty good stats and disruption, but not enough fire power. I don’t know if I’ve mentioned this before, but I dig fire power. Status effects can be good, but often times good players can counter then too easily. If you destroy your opponent quick and take out some of their key resources, then you’ll cripple their big hitters and make it much harder for them to recover. Anyways, Murkrow doesn’t do that. It can work hand disruption… Good in early game. However, the damage and bench disruption just isn’t worth the darkness. Sorry. Unlimited: 0.5/5 – Come on!!!! Which would you rather have, this or Sneasel??? Modified: 2/5 – Early game? Uhhh…. No. 2 on 2: 2/5 – Don’t need explanation by now ~_^ . Draft: 2/5 – Nice BBP, but it needs darkness… srry Krow. Written By: ~Hedge Written November 25^th, 2003. Thanks for posting Pojo! P.S. : Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!!!
Bullados	Strategy for Murkrow (Sandstorm) Attributes: Like many of these almost BBPs, Murkrow is just 10 shy from the "Magic Number" of 70 HP. Again, 60 is nothing to sneeze at, but 70 is much better. Fighting weakness, once again, is nothing to really worry about. There are very few fighting decks out there, and the ones that are there would KO Murkrow without the help of that weakness. Psychic resistance is this card's greatest ally. God- I mean Gardevoir and Mewtwo ex are the driving forces for Modified, and Mewtwo ex is fast replacing his promotional cousin as a BBP. Having resistance to a type that dominant is always a good thing. One retreat, on this guy, IMO, is pretty bad. Remember that his Genesis form had no retreat. This is the first Murkrow to my knowledge to have a retreat cost. Attack #1: "Surprise" Personally, I like this attack. The ability to disrupt your opponent's hand, even if he can get that card back, is indespensible when it is available. The HP doesn't help out this attack much, but it's just a supporting Pokemon and a supporting attack. Attack #2: "Dark Mind" Not as great as the good old Feint Attack from Genesis, but it does have its good points. It deals 30 damage (40 with [D] Energy) for a relatively cheap cost, and places 10 of that damage on the Bench. IMO, this attack is not as good as Electabuzz, which was reviewed just a couple of days ago, but it's worth the cost if he's your only Darkness Pokemon, or if all other types are filled in your deck, or you can't spare the energy for Electabuzz. Ratings: Unlimited: His Genesis cousin beats him out almost 2 to 1 mostly because of the Mean Look attack, which, when combined with Feint Attack, was brutal to many a deck. This guy, even with the 10 extra HP, just doesn't stand up. 1.125/5 Modified: Better, but still not all that great. There are other cards that do what he does better than he does. Electabuzz attacks the bench better. Lunatone's better Darkness support (when with Solrock). There's too much competition for deck space for him to really be considered. 2.5/5 Limited: In Sandstorm, Multi Energy is relatively common compared to many other rares in the set. That only makes Murkrow better, since his first attack serves to wittle down your opponent's hand in a format where very little card drawing is available, and a large hand is your best friend. Nine times out of ten, the person with the larger hand will win the game. This guy puts you well on your way. 4.5/5 w/o Multi, 4.75 w/Multi ~Bullados
Otaku	Name: Murkrow Type: Dark Stage: Basic HP: 60 Weakness: Fighting Resistance: Psychic Retreat: C Attack#1: (C) Surprise Choose 1 card from your opponent’s hand without looking. Look at the card you chose, then have your opponent shuffle that card into his or her deck. Attack#2: (DC) Dark Mind [20] Does 20 damage to 1 of your opponent’s Benched Pokémon. (Don’t apply Weakness and Resistance for Benched Pokémon.) Name: Murkrow Type: Dark Stage: Basic HP: 50 Weakness: None Resistance: Psychic Retreat: None Attack#1: (D) Mean Look The Defending Pokémon can’t retreat as long as Murkrow remains your Active Pokémon. (Benching or evolving either Pokémon ends this effect.) Attack#2: (DC) Feint Attack Choose 1 of your opponent’s Pokémon. This attack does 20 damage to that Pokémon. This attack’s damage isn’t affected by Weakness, Resistance, Pokémon Powers, or any other effects on the Defending Pokémon. Name: Murkrow Type: Dark Stage: Basic HP: 40 Weakness: None Resistance: Psychic Retreat: None Attack#1: Call for Family Search your deck for a Basic Pokémon card named Murkrow and put it onto your Bench. Shuffle your deck afterward. (You can’t use this attack if your Bench is full.) Attack#2: (CC) Flock Attack [10+] Flip a number of coins equal to the number of Murkrows on your Bench. This attack does 20 damage plus 10 more damage for each heads. Name: Murkrow Type: Dark Stage: Basic HP: 50 Weakness: Fighting Resistance: Psychic Retreat: C Attack#1: (D) Evil Eye Choose 1 of your opponent’s Pokémon. Put a damage counter on that Pokémon. Attack#2: (CC) Blindside Choose 1 of your opponent’s Pokémon that has a damage counter on it. This attack does 20 damage to that Pokémon. Don’t apply Weakness and Resistance. Let me start by saying that Neo Revelation Murkrow is net to worthless except in Limited, so I just listed it for completeness-it’s the third one listed from the top. I will compare Sandstorm Murkrow (the top listing) with Neo Genesis Murkrow (the second Murkrow listed). For Eon, I will compare it with the only other Murkrow for that format: the Skyridge version (last one listed). Attributes: Okay, being a Murkrow (as opposed to another Pokémon) is probably a bad thing for Unlimited and a neutral trait for Eon. In Unlimited, you will want to run the Neo Genesis Murkrow, as I will slowly explain. For Eon, there is no real advantage nor disadvantage, as the Skyridge Murkrow never sees any real use. They are, of course, all Dark, Basic Pokémon. Being a Dark Pokémon is nice since Resistance is (as far as I know) non-existent, unless you count certain Pokémon Powers. Being a Basic is the best Stage to be, since it means you can drop it whenever you feel like. Sadly, there is no pre-evolution or Evolution for Murkrow. Moving on to HP, Sandstorm Murkrow is a clear winner, with the highest score of 60, which is adequate for a non-evolving Basic Pokémon. Sadly, it has a Weakness to Fighting, only shared by the Skyridge Murkrow. The others top them by lacking a Weakness (the “best Weakness). This makes little sense when you look at the source material: the Gameboy game. Murkrow is Flying/Dark, so it is immune to Fighting and Ground types moves. It really should have been weak to Electric types. At least most Fighting Evolutions hit for more than 60 damage, so the Weakness matters little in that respect… well, for Eon. In Unlimited, it means Tyrogue OHKOs this bad bird. Oh well. Thankfully, All Murkrow have a useful Psychic Resistance, which is good. Lastly for attributes, we come to retreat. Neo Genesis and even the nigh unplayable Neo Revelation version have the new comers beat by having free retreats. Still, the Sandstorm and Skyridge versions only have a retreat of one, which is still sweet. To summarize the attributes, Neo Genesis Murkrow wins out in Unlimited since a free retreat and no Resistance is much better than a measly +10 HP. In Eon, Sandstorm wins out since the only difference is that it has 10 more HP. Abilities: Sandstorm Murkrow can nab (at random) a card from your opponent’s hand for a mere Colorless Energy, and then shuffles said card back into the deck after seeing it. This is better accomplished via Trainers in Unlimited, and Neo Genesis Murkrow’s Mean Look is definitely more useful. In Eon, on the other hand, this tops the single damage counter placement of Skyridge Murkrow’s first attack. It’s is also colorless, meaning that Murkrow could be used in a deck sans Darkness Energy for disruption. As for the Sandstorm version’s second attack, Dark Mind, it’s not too bad. For DC, you can hit the active and a benched Pokémon. If it ignored effects on the active, it would be on par with Feint Attack, which can hit the bench or the active, not both at once. This is definitely better than Skyridge Murkrow’s second attack: which can only further injure the already wounded. Look at the cost: DC should yield 25 damage, but the total damage done so long as there is a bench is 30! Quit nice. To summarize the Abilities section, again, Neo Genesis has the upper wing for Unlimited but the Sandstorm version is the best for Modified. Uses/Combinations: Simply put, don’t use it in Unlimited, but in Modified its easy disruption and if you can include some Dark, a decent offensive attacker with some quick bench damage. A must for a Skyridge Crobat-disruption deck: with a little luck and a Desert Shaman, you can probably strip their whole hand away. Ratings Unlimited: 1.5/5-If you really need a pitiful amount of disruption, I guess this could work. Seriously though, go with Neo Genesis Murkrow. Modified: 3/5-Run this in the few disruption decks of Eon. This thing is a staple in such decks, and it can be a nice opener otherwise. I am finding more people playing Desert Shaman, and the two of them together can be insane. Limited: 4/5-Take it. It can frustrate Psychic Types, which is nice, but more importantly, in most limited events, the trouble seems to be getting around filler to the cards you “really” want. With Surprise, you’ll either get something they need and shove it back into the deck, or shove something they don’t need back in, hoping they draw it again. If it weren’t for being Fighting weak in a set with a lot of Fighting Pokémon… -Otaku

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