Hello, and welcome to the continuation of our mini-Arceus
preview thing (I hope yo get what I mean there, because
I don't), and we continue with Pikachu. Why on Earth did
Nintendo decide to release a Pikachu as a preview card?
It may be popular, but really, who actually cares? No
one. Anyway, onto the card itself and the Basics of it.
60 HP is almost the best for a Pikachu, and in general,
fairly good for an evolving Basic. +10 Fighting Weakness
hopefully won't actually be to bad since it shouldn't
ever be used outside the first couple turns against a
Machop (DP or SF, which ever) that's used in a Machamp
(SF) deck. -20 Metal Resistance is nice against Dialga G
(PL), but again, you shouldn't be using it too much on
this Pokémon that often since you should evolve it
quickly. 1 Retreat Cost is nice, if you need to use it
at any point, but again, hopefully you won't need to.
Abilities now, and we start with Pika Ball, which for L
does 10 damage. Outside of the first couple of turns, if
you ever use this attack, you deserve to leave the game
and never return since it's pointless. There are plenty
of attacks that do 10 damage for C instead, which is
better. If it needed C, then it'd be better in a deck
using more than 1 type. If it did 20 damage, that
wouldn't be too bad either since at least then it can
actually do enough damage early on to threaten other
Basics.
Mega Shot is slightly pointless as well. For LCC, you
have to discard all Lightning energies attached to
Pikachu to deal 40 damage to one of your opponents
Pokémon. Again, I feel this attack is pointless. Chances
are you will be playing a mono-Lightning deck and then
have to discard all of your energies for a 40 snipe. If
you aren't playing a mono-Lightning deck, then it works
better, but you'd probably be discarding 2 energies at
least anyway since most Raichus use attacks that cost at
least 2 Lightning energies, so you'll want to be
attaching at least 2 Lightning energies to your choice
of Pikachu, and here, it won't really help.
So, combos, and really, you can only really use it with
Raichu, and even that isn't a good enough idea since
your energy arrangement will mean you won't be able to
attack early game, or have to discard loads of energies
if you use Mega Shot at any point (which you hopefully
won't have to).
Counters, and really, the main is when you realise how
bad this Pikachu is. Really, most others are better. The
SF one is nice for 70 HP, thus able to survive a Dragon
Pump from Kingdra (LA), and the MT one is great for
Electro Recycle getting energies back.
Ratings:
Modified: First of all, I must mention that I hate
rating non-fully evolved Pokémon. That over with, this
Pikachu is really bad. You really can't justify the use
of this card for a couple of reasons. First, your energy
line must be absolutely perfect to get the most out of
this card - to allow it to attack first turn with Pika
Ball, and then not discard too many energies with Mega
Shot. I don't see it being enough if you can though,
since the SF and MT ones are both miles ahead for one
main key feature each, either the HP, or the Poké-Power.
1.5/5
Limited: I can't really justify it here either. If Pika
Ball was a Colorless attack, then I could, but without
it, needing specific energies hurt it in a format where
you can't search for energies that easily, and probably
won't be playing many Lightning energies anyway, thus
meaning you'll find it hard to draw into them. Mega Shot
is nice, but the cost is a little on the high side, but
if you can do it, why not really. 1.75/5
Meganium45
OK, yay, another 60 HP weak to fighting Pikachu with 1
retreat cost, and resistance to metal.
Attacks are 1 for 10, which believe it or not is
overcosted, with a lightning energy requirement (should
be 1 colorless or 0 energy cost)
Attach 2 is 3 for 40 to anything, discard all lightning
energy. Can use with only one lightning on him, but
still an overcosted attack.
There are many better Pikachus to use than this one, but
OK, the picture is nice. Pikachu looks happy and it
appears to be fall. YAY.
Ratings…
Modified 1.5/5 Better ones out there.
Limited 2.5/5 Not a horrible basic, can be splashed in,
and the bench hitting for 40 is much more valuable here.
I would probably take this card in a 4-5 slot if passed
to me. (I will do an article on this later, 4-5 slot
means the 4th or 5th card you take from a pack in
pass-draft)
See you this weekend at the Battle Road in Mid Rivers
Mall at Neutral Zone (located on the 2nd floor, up the
central escalators, of the mall) on Saturday the 26th –
Registration begins at 10 am and ends at 11 am
Sunday we will be at Fantasy Books in Belleville,
registration at noon, and registration ends at 1pm
Thanks!
Vince
Baby Mario Top 4 UK Nats
Pikachu (Platinum-Arceus)
Another new set, another new Pikachu. Did you know that
there are currently TEN legal Pikachus in Modified
format (including Flying and Surfing versions)?
And yet, when was the last time you saw one in a
competitive deck? Will the 11th Pikachu make a
difference? Let’s see . . .
This Pikachu’s 60 HP makes it one of the sturdier ones.
The Fighting Weakness doesn’t matter much as the most
common Fighting-type attacker, Machamp SF will just use
Take Out. Metal Resistance is better than nothing, but I
don’t see it making much of a difference. The Retreat
cost of one is predictable and neither good nor bad.
Pikachu’s first attack, Pika Ball does a vanilla 10
damage for one Lightning Energy. Nice to have a single
Energy attack (though a Colourless one would be better),
but this is unlikely to strike fear into the hearts of
opponents. The second attack, Mega Shot, can do 40
damage to any Pokémon for [L][C][C] and the discard of
all [L] Energy attached to Pikachu. While sniping the
bench is very nice, do you really want to put THREE
Energy on a 60 HP Basic to do it (and lose at least one
of them)? Of course you don’t. You would much rather
just use Honchkrow G and Crobat G, wouldn’t you?
Inevitably, Pikachu’s only use is as a stepping stone to
Raichu. For that purpose, this Pikachu is not much worse
than any other. It’s just a shame that all the legal
Raichus, with their low HP and Energy-intensive attacks
are just not tournament viable at the moment.
Rating
Modified: 1.25 (Poor attacks, no decent Raichus in
Modified)
Limited: 1.5 (the Raichu in the set isn’t too bad for
Limited)
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