|
Otaku |
Name:
Arcanine
Type:
Fire
Stage:
1 (evolves from Growlithe)
HP:
80
Weakness:
Water
Resistance:
None
Retreat:
C
Poké-BODY:
Fire Veil
If Arcanine is your Active Pokémon and
is damage by an opponent’s attack (even if Arcanine is Knocked
Out), then the Attacking Pokémon is now Burned.
Attack:
(RCC) Burn Up [60]
Flip a coin. If tails, discard all
(R) energy cards attached to Arcanine
Name:
As an Arcanine, this card has a good deal of
competition from past cards: 4 “plain” Arcanine and a Light
Arcanine. This is a mixed blessing. One can run a combination of
these, but other than Light Arcanine, you must run one less of
each other version to run one more of another. Still, if this is
the best version or has a much different place in the environment,
that won’t matter, will it?
Type:
Good old Fire: About half to 2/3 of Grass is Fire-Weak, and all
Metal Pokémon that I know of are also Fire Weak. Best of all,
there is nothing Resistant to Fire Pokémon. Probably one of the
better types (in terms of what it can do).
Stage:
Being a Stage 1 is generally better than being a Stage 2 and worse
than being a Basic, as most of you already know. The reason
evolutions are automatically at a disadvantage is that they depend
on another card(s) to get into play. To offset this, most
evolutions are made “better” than basics or lower evolutionary
stages: being given cost breaks on attacks and access to Pokémon
Powers. A quick reminder, when I want to refer to Poké-POWERS,
Poké-BODIES, and Pokémon Powers collectively, I will just say
Pokémon Powers. This is because Poké-POWERS and Poké-BODIES are
sub-catagories of Pokémon Powers just like a human and a cat are
both mammals, but a human is a human and a cat is a cat and a
mammal can be either or neither… yes, that was annoying, but I
have found a distressing number of players still have difficulty
with this. *sigh* Where was I? Ah, yes, so evolution cards
tend to get perks that are not allowed to lower stages of
Pokémon. As for being a Stage 1 Fire Pokémon, there are many of
them, so Arcanine has to face even more competition for deck
space. =/
Being an evolution card also means
more space requirements, which means running it limits your
options more than an equivalent basic Pokémon would, as you need
to dedicate more space for the lower stages. In this case, we
need at least one Growlithe (and preferably at least as many as we
have Arcanines) for each Arcanine. This brings us to another
thing: which Growlithe to use? Having looked at all 6 currently
available, all seem to have a purpose. First, I mention that
having 6 versions available is definitely an advantage, since more
than once a card released at a later date has altered the
“preferred” version of a card (look a Gyarados and Magikarp
selections and how they changed after Recall became available).
All but two versions of Growlithe have 50 HP, and all have a Water
Weakness, no Resistance and a retreat cost of one. The original
Base Set version and the Uncommon Aquapolis version have 60 HP.
The Base Set version and the new Sandstorm version both possess a
slightly over-costed Flare at (RC) to do 20-(R) does 15 and (C)
should do10, ergo (RC) should do 25 (so probably round up to a
slightly discounted 30 or get a minor effect). Chances are, this
was done on purpose to offset the Base Set versions 60 HP and the
Sandstorm version’s Poké-Body, Fire Veil (works the same as
Arcanine’s). That Uncommon Aquapolis version does 30 for (RC),
but with a discard of (R), which again us probably over-pricing
for balance. The Neo Destiny version can do a straight 20 for
(CC). The Common Aquapolis version can make your opponent Switch
out there active for (C) or do 10 with a 50% chance of 20 for
(R). Lastly, the Skyridge version can do 10 for (R), which is
bad, but does 20 times the number of heads (from two flips) for
(CC). Since all of them have different perks, chose one that fits
how you plan to use Arcanine. If you want to run few fire energy,
the Skyridge or Neo Destiny versions are best, since they can work
with none. If fire energy is abundant (and available for
discard), then the Uncommon Auqapolis version would be best. If
its not, then you might want to try the Base Set one. If you are
comboing with something like Neo Revelation Aerodactyl or Memory
Berry, then the common Aquapolis version might be good due to
reliable damage and moderate bench disruption. Lastly, the
Sandstorm version’s Poké-BODY works nicely as it matches our
Arcanine we are looking at. Nothing like watching someone’s eyes
light up because they think they’ll be able to safely “attack”,
only to see more of the same coming.
Hit Points:
Arcanine’s HP is a mixed bag. For the record, 80 HP is more or
less good, particularly for a Stage 1. It’s 10 above the
“minimum” acceptable score of 70: most Pokémon with reliable
attacks won’t be able to OHKO Arcanine. Still, including discards
and attacks with uncertain elements like flips can do it without
relying on the Weakness. As for how it stacks up, amongst Stage 1
Fire-types its reasonably common. Amongst “plain” Arcanines, it’s
just about the mean of 85, (mathematical average), and is the
median (score that is halfway between highest and lowest values in
the set) and the mode (most common HP score in the set). I didn’t
include Light Arcanine as “Light” Pokémon are supposed to have a
bit more HP than non-Light version. If we do include it though,
then the mean becomes 86 and 1/3, the median becomes 85, and the
mode becomes 80 and 100 (as both show up twice), still not too
bad.
Weakness:
Like all weaknesses, this hurts. A Neo Genesis Wooper, with just
two of any color Energy has a 25% chance of OHKOing a completely
healthy Arcanine. Still, that is not always a viable option since
most Water Pokémon have a significant weakness of their own.
Resistance:
*sighs* Moving on…
Retreat:
A single energy. Nice. Second best retreat you can have. A
little rarer on evos, making it a little bit sweater. You should
be able to high tail it to the bench if the need arises with
little effort.
Poké-BODY:
Fire Veil is fairly nice. Even with no energy, you are a threat,
unless they back off and don’t attack you. It only works
while active, but if it worked on the bench then it could lead
too… complications, like from Pokémon that can hurt their own
bench mates. Now Burn is, as far as Special Conditions go, on the
weak side. While it averages the same damage as Poison, if your
opponent’s makes their Burn check, then retreats or heals it, they
basically mess up your efforts. Since this afflicts them after
they attack, they have to wait until their next turn, giving you a
25% chance of them having to place at least 2 counters on the
afflicted Pokémon. There are a few ways they could heal after
attacking, but most are inefficient.
Attak#1:
Burn Up looks good at first, then you see the fine print (50% of
losing all your attached Fire Energy) and then if you are good you
notice it needs one lone Fire Energy for the attack, meaning yes,
it is good. ;) (RCC) should yield (15 + 10 + 10=35) damage. There
is a 50% of losing a minimum of one Fire Energy from Arcanine,
which of course is an added cost and thus should result in more
damage. 25 damage for a discard of one Fire Energy half the time
sounds good too me. :D As long as you play smart, this is a good
attack.
Uses/Combos:
This card screams to be combined with another color, given its
relatively low energy requirements (even for a “discarder”). Give
its Special Condition inducing Poké-BODY, I would think that it
should at least be interesting, if not effective, to run it with
Cacturn (which Poisons an opponent when attacked), or Sharpedo
(which places damage counters). All three of these bad boys have
basics with identical (or nearly identical) Poké-BODIES. Only
that Growlithe, this Arcanine, and Sharpedo need specific colors
of energy, though Sharpedo will need some Dark Energies to reach
its full potential. Still, in a 20 energy deck, you could include
4 Multi Energy Rainbow (don’t use them if you have another special
energy attached ;) ), 6 Fire, 4 Dark, and 6 Water. Now, if you
want to simplify, just use one or the other with Arcanine, and
just include like 6 to 8 Fire Energy. In Unlimited, one could use
a Double Colorless (and maybe No Removal or Chaos Gyms) to
actually build a deck around Arcanine. Not apt to be too
effective, but it could be fun. In general, things that make it
harder for your opponent to shake a status effect or remove your
energy would be good. *coughslowkingcough*
Miscellaneous:
This Arcanine appears to be meant to be run in a
multi-colored deck. As such, it really doesn’t compare to the
other Arcanine directly: they were more or less meant for
mono-fire decks. The other versions all need discards for serious
damage or have some other negative that makes their second attack…
tricky.
Ratings
Unlimited:
3/5-You could build a fun deck around it, particularly with
Slowking. Plus, it throw Pichu for a loop: if it Zaps, if
Arcanine is active its Poké-BODY would burn Pichu! Take that, you
annoying yellow rat!
Modified (Neon):
3.25/5-Things like ‘Gatr, Encargo, Damage Swap Mewtwo ex,
and all the other old archetypes smack it down due to their
comparative speed. Still, it has potential. Broken Ground Gym
could be useful here…
Modified (LC/Eon):
3.5/5-Here it starts to come into its own
better. Of the main archetypes to fear, Scizor is weak to Fire
and can be Burned. Mewtwo ex would be the real threat to
it.
Nintendo Only:
3.75/5-Possibly higher… Special Conditions seem to
be more effective here, given that I think Maril is the only free
retreating basic. Add in solid damage and the potential to be
easily run with another color, and we could have half an archetype
here.
TMP:
3.5/5-Low HP hurts, but you could run it with the
Pokémon mentioned above in the other deck and this with
Damage-Swap Alakazams for some potential carnage.
2-on-2:
4/5-Going out on a limb here, but with this and either Sharpedo or
Cacturn, I think it could be a dominating force. Just pack what
little healing there is in the Nintendo cards.
Draft:
4.5/5-Okay, the Sandstorm Growlithe, as established, has the same
Poké-BODY, and needs only one fire energy. So I though think that
it would be a good draft pick anyway, given the potency of Special
Conditions in Draft. Add in that this Arcanine seems to be meant
to be run in a minimum two color deck and does even damage to OHKO
most small basics while at the same time Burning whatever attacks
it and its just sick. The only downside is you need to run some
non-Fire Energy unless you want to mess yourself up. |
