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Jigglypuff13 |
7/10 Infernape 4 Lv.X (RR)
Hello, and welcome to the end of the week with one of
the big cards from Rising Rivals, yes, it's Infernape 4
Lv.X! Half of the main card of the deck that won US Nats
last weekend, lets see why it's so good. The Basics of
the card first, and it has 110 HP, which for an SP Lv.X
is quite good, and just below the highest for an SP Lv.X
at the time of writing, so it should survive a hit or
two. x2 Water Weakness is expected, and really only
annoying when against Kingdra (LA) or Palkia G and it's
Lv.X (PL), but there aren't many other big water types
at the moment. No Resistance is no Resistance, there is
very little that can be said about it. No Retreat Cost
is perfect, and very little else can be said about it.
Finally, it's an SP Pokémon, so it can take advantage of
all of the brilliant SP support that's been released so
far, so Energy Gain, Poké Turn, SP Radar and the rest of
them are all able to be abused by thi card.
Abilities next, and I'll start off with it's Poké-Power,
Intimidating Roar. It's a nice little Poké-Power that,
when you use it once per turn, forces your opponent to
switch their active Pokémon with one of their bench.
It's amazingly disruptive, forcing your opponent to
switch, then allowing you to start either hitting their
new active, or hurt their bench with a sniper or
spreader. Also quite nice since the normal version of
Infernape 4 (RR) that you will have leveled up this
Pokémon from has Split Bomb, which is always a nice
spreading attack. The only downside I suppose is that
your opponent gets to choose what they bring up, meaning
it do virtually nothing to them if they have 2 fully
charged main attackers out. However, if they only have a
Claydol (GE) benched, then it becomes brilliant and
massively disruptive.
It's attack next, and it's a big one and a classic: Fire
Spin. For RRC (or RR and Energy Gain), you do 100
damage, but you have to discard 2 energies attached to
Infernape 4 Lv.X. The effect for Fire Spin has always
been the same, but it's quite a cheap little attack.
It's not really something that's going to work as the
main attacker in a deck, since you'd have to use it with
Heatran Lv.X (SF) in that case, and that probably won't
work very well, but is a nice attack for when you need a
quick KO.
Combos now, and I have already mentioned one which is
with Heatran Lv.X (SF) to stop Fire Spin discarding
Infernape 4 Lv.X's energies for a constant 100 damage
every turn. It may sound nice, but is easy to see
through, and a good player will get round it. However,
the main combo with this card is with Luxray GL Lv.X
(RR). The idea is to bring out something that you can
then hit them with a big attack or spread around damage
so you can KO everything in a few turns or just use the
appropriate tech to take out their new active. It's not
a bad little deck.
Counters, and first of all, like so many SP Pokémon,
Infernape 4 Lv.X doesn't really like being attacked by
Machamp (SF), especially if Infernape 4 Lv.X doesn't
have Unown G (GE) attached and Machamp (SF) uses Take
Out. However, that is quite a universal fear for all
Basic Pokémon. Infernape 4 Lv.X isn't too found of Water
Pokémon either, especially if they can do 60 or more
damage, since it'll get a OHKO on this Pokémon.
Infernape 4 Lv.X is not really being a big fan of Flygon
and it's Lv.X (RR), since Flygon (RR)'s Rainbow Float
will allow you to retreat almost anything you put up
with Intimidating Roar for free, and Extreme Attack will
happily OHKO Infernape 4 Lv.X, as with Power Swing from
the normal form as well.
Ratings:
Modified: Intimidating Roar is very disruptive, Fire
Spin is a nice finishing attack, it has decent HP, free
Retreat Cost, a good normal form and has a brilliant
combo (thank you Luxray GL Lv.X). There are better
switching Poké-Powers (Luxray GL Lv.X's and Palkia Lv.X
(GE)'s come to mind), and there are better attacks for
the same cost, but it is a good all-rounder, and has
good synergy with it's normal form since Intimidating
Roar will allow it to spread around damage easier. 4.5/5
Limited: If you get this card, then you'll probably also
have the normal form as well due to it's Uncommon
rarity. Fire Spin is a little expensive and hard to get
powered up each time, though it is likely to OHKO
everything you come across here (there are exceptions,
but they are rare). Intimidating Roar provides nice
disruption again, and more of a chance to spread damage
around again thanks to Split Bomb and just attacking.
Also a nice way of getting rid of a big threat your
opponent may have out, even for just 1 turn. 3.75/5
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