Hello, and welcome to the beginning of a new week and a
Promo week at that. I like promos a lot, so this is an
interesting week for me. Anyway, short of time today, so
it'll be a short review about the newest promo, it's
Dialga from the Supreme Victors poster box! Basics of
the card first, and it has a very respectable 100 HP,
which for a fully evolved Basic is the best you can get
without going into Lv.X forms at least, so should
survive a hit or two. x2 Fire Weakness is annoying since
Blaziken FB and it's Lv.X (SV) are popular, and
Infernape 4 and it's Lv.X (RR) have stayed popular as
well. -20 Psychic Resistance is also nice, though Gengar
(SF) is generally going to be the only thing it'll be
helpful against in reality. 2 Retreat Cost is a little
on the high side, so make sure you run some switching
cards.
Abilities now, and I'll start with Time Call. It's a
nice simple effect, which allows you to search your deck
for a card that evolves from one of your Pokémon and do
the evolution, which is nice. However, it costs M to
use, and there is another Pokémon in the format that has
a similar attack, and that is Phione (MD), and it's
attack costs C for exactly the same effect. Unless you
are running a Metal deck that relies on a lot of
evolutions, it's better to run Phione over this
particularly Dialga if you want to use either one of
these cards.
For MMC, Time Wager is a rather dismal loan attack. It
has 100 base damage, which sounds nice, but you have to
flip 2 cards, and if either are Tails, it drops down to
50 damage. Not that great for such an expensive attack,
and it won't even 2HKO most Pokémon in this format.
Combos, well, there aren't any, and to be honest, unless
you are the one in a million who runs a Metal deck that
bases on evolutions, then this can be a useful starter.
Otherwise, stick with Phione (MD), or some other
starter.
Counters? Well, any Fire Pokémon that deals 50 or more
damage quickly is a good counter. Infernape 4 (RR) and
Blaziken FB (SV) are quite good for this. Machamp (SF)
is another counter, but it's the bane of all Basic
Pokémon, so it doesn't deserve much attention. Quick
Amnesia users are useful for stopping Time Call earlier
in the game, but really, when people realise that this
is an inferior version of Phione (MD), that's a good
enough counter.
Ratings:
Modified: There is little use for this card. Time Wager
is pathetic, and Time Call has a nice effect, but needs
a certain type of energy whereas Phione (MD), it's main
competitor for this instant evolution start, only needs
C, so is a perfect combo with Call Energy, so Phione is
undoubtedly better. However, Phione isn't played much at
the moment, so I see very little reason to even consider
this Dialga for your deck, no matter what it may consist
of. 1/5
Limited: If only there was a limited format for Promos,
it'd be strange and awesome at the same time. However,
there isn't, so I've just wasted your time and mine by
writing this paragraph. N/A
Baby Mario Top 4 UK Nats
Dialga LV 69
Hello, and welcome to DP Promo week!
Traditionally, Promo cards haven’t been very playable,
but a few of the recent ones have sneaked their way into
some top tier decks (I’m thinking mainly of Toxicroak
G), and a few others have seen limited play (such as
Dusknoir).
The card we are reviewing today, Dialga LV 69, is
actually the second Dialga promo. The first, Dialga LV
68, was just an alternative art version of the DP card,
but this one has brand new attacks. Does this mean that
it will actually see some play?
Well, this Dialga has some good things going for it. A
very solid 100 HP for a start. Psychic Resistance is
very nice too, but a X2 Fire Weakness might make you
think twice with all the Blazikens, Magmortars, and
Infernapes that you can expect to see at Battle Roads.
The Retreat cost of two is expected, and means that
anyone playing this would be wise to include a couple of
Switches or Warp Points in their deck.
Dialga’s first attack, Time Call, is a pretty useful one
early game, allowing you to search your deck for a card
which evolves one of your benched Pokémon, and evolve
it. It is exactly the same as Phione MD’s Evolution
Wish, which did see some play last format. Unlike Phione,
Dialga actually has a powerful second attack. Time Wage
will do a massive 100 damage for [M][C][C], though, as
the name suggests, it is a gamble. You have to flip two
coins and if wither is tails, the attack’s damage is 50.
So, you either get big damage for a very reasonable
cost, or you end up with a pretty mediocre return on
your three Energy investment.
So, does all this make Dialga playable? Well . . .
probably not. The release of Broken Time-Space, together
with Rare Candy, means that we have faster and more
efficient ways to evolve Pokémon. In another format,
this could have been a decent starter Pokémon for set up
decks (especially ones which use Metal Energy like
Magnezone), but the game is really too fast at the
moment, and deck space is too tight, for starter Pokémon
to be worth their place in the deck. Maybe things would
have been different if Dialga LV X was worth playing,
but seeing as it is easily the worst LV X ever printed,
I expected to see Dialga LV 69 used rarely, if at all,
in tournaments.
Rating
Modified: 2.25 (not a bad card, but the format is wrong
for it)
