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Name:
Dodrio
Set:
EX Emerald
Card#:
26/106
Rarity:
Uncommon
Type:
Colorless
Stage:
Stage 1 (Evolves from Doduo)
HP:
70
Weakness:
Lightning
Resistance:
Fighting
Retreat:
(C)
Attack#1:
(CC) Smash Kick [30]
Attack#2:
(CCC) Smash Turn [40]
After your attack, you may switch Dodrio with 1
of your Benched Pokémon.
Name:
Doduo
Set:
EX Emerald
Card#:
45/106
Type:
Colorless
Stage:
Basic
HP:
40
Weakness:
Lightning
Resistance:
Fighting
Retreat:
(C)
Attack:
(C) Paralyzing Gaze
Flip a coin. If heads, the Defending Pokémon is
now Paralyzed.
Attributes:
EX Emerald Dodrio is a Stage 1 Pokémon.
Those who have been paying attention to my reviews
know that this means we should see attacks and
abilities that are better than Basics and Stage 1
Pokémon that can Evolve further, and slightly more
potent than isolated Basic Pokémon, who can’t Evolve
further but are naturally easier to get into play.
While on the subject, of Evolution lines, let me
mention that the Doduo of this set is pretty
sad; 40 HP is pathetic, as is its over-priced
attack. The only thing it has going for it is
Fighting Resistance. The other Modified legal Doduo
is similarly small, but has better attacks,
especially given how I’ll suggest running Dodrio.
Dodrio
is a Colorless Pokémon, which is something of an
advantage, and yet isn’t. What do I mean? It
allows Dodrio to gain type advantage over
some popular (and potent) decks, and three Pokémon
are Resistant to Dodrio. Of course,
Crystal Shard means that any Pokémon can not
only exploit Colorless Weakness but also bypass
Resistance… except for Colorless Pokémon. So at the
cost of running a pretty useful Pokémon Tool, most
Pokémon can enjoy effectively being dual-typed,
which almost makes being naturally Colorless seem
bad – almost.
70 HP is definitely a handicap on a Stage 1 that
doesn’t further Evolve. As such, Dodrio will
need some “compensation” elsewhere. It doesn’t get
it when it comes to Weakness, though: being weak to
Lightning (Electric) Pokémon means that most of the
heavily played Lightning-Types can save Energy
they’d normally they’d have to discard (according to
their own effects) to KO something that wasn’t
Weak. For example, Zapdos ex would normally
have to discard one Energy to do 70 damage, but
thanks to the Weakness, it hits for 100 with no
discard. Still, it is better than Colorless (see
Crystal Shard), Darkness (they specialize in big
damage), or Metal (they do less damage to offset
being so hard to hurt) Weakness. We do finally see
why this card gets hit so hard in the HP department:
Fighting Resistance. This is useful, but far from
worth the hit it’s taken to HP. Since I feel most
cards should have a Resistance, my view may seem
biased, but even if that were not the case, Fighting
Pokémon frequently have ways to get around
Resistance: both inherent (attacks like Brick Smash)
and via Trainers (not only Crystal Shard, but
Magnetic Storm as well). It even makes
Medicham ex’s Sky Kick into a OHKO attack. At
least Dodrio only has a Retreat Cost of one.
One should note that of the four other English
versions of Dodrio, both the Jungle and the EX
Hidden Legends versions have a free Retreat Cost,
making this single Energy cost somewhat bitter
sweet.
Abilities:
Smash Kick is a filler attack. It is one Energy
requirement cheaper than this card’s big attack, but
it does hit for 30 points of damage when only 20
points worth was paid for. It also means that if
you have to “waste” a Double Rainbow
Energy on powering this card up, for just that
Energy it can hit for a respectable 20.
The real point in using this card comes from Smash
Turn. Aside from the name, it is identical to
Tuesday’s Grumpig’s Teleport Blast. You pay
for 30, but get 40 points damage and the option of
switching Dodrio with one a Pokémon on your
Bench. As the cost is entirely Colorless, you can
even use a straight Boost Energy to pull it
off. This is quite nice.
Uses and
Combinations:
This is decent support for a “Porter” deck. Between
it and its set mate, Tuesday’s Grumpig, you
can easily keep bouncing back to the deck and
letting Fossils take most of the damage. 40
points of damage a pop may not seem like much, but
when the opponent is effectively hitting back for
just zero, it adds up in your favor. Even if you
have to use a Double Rainbow Energy to
maintain speed (you can only use Boost
Energy so many times), 30 is still a respectable
amount.
Ratings
Unlimited:
1.5/5-It snags a small bonus for being “Tyrogue-proof”
and hitting hard enough to OHKO pre-Nintendo Baby
Pokémon with just a single Double Colorless
Energy. You can even combine it with well known
support and make a porter deck work. However, there
are better Porter Pokémon to choose from. Also,
there are some nasty Basic Lightning-type Pokémon
floating around here.
Modified:
3.5/5-It has been testing well for me as a partner
to Teleport Blast Grumpig. Others have their
eyes of different partners though.
Limited:
3.25/5-Much better here. First, while Fighting
isn’t too great in this set, neither is it absent.
More importantly, what is here are two of the
biggest threats in Limited: Pokémon-ex and AB3s.
You remember “Almost Big Bad Basic” Pokémon… no, I
guess most people have forgotten this little term.
Medicham ex can get around Resistance though,
but it still is pretty nasty that two of the cards
in this set are Basic Fighting Pokémon with
reasonably splashable attack costs and solid HP
scores. That is when this Resistance becomes nice.
There are quite a few Lightning Pokémon in this set,
but as a whole Dodrio comes out ahead.
Summary
Dodrio
is has a good attack that combos well with many easy
to come by cards, which explains it low HP. There
are a few other options that could combo with
Grumpig, and the Porter deck as a whole is weak
to widespread bench damage, but I have tried this
and it works reasonably well. Bullados suggested EX
Dragons Ninjask, which would also combo with
EX Deoxys Shedinja, but looking at those
cards, their extra abilities don’t look like they’ll
see a lot of use in a Porter deck. At least not
that Dodrio and some Mysterious Fossils
can’t do as well or better in their own way.
