kentucky
fried
torchic |
Today we're going to be reviewing one of the Johto
starters from the HeartGold&SoulSilver set, Feraligatr.
Not the Prime mind you, but let's see if this one can
make a dent in the organized play.
To start off, Feraligatr has 130 HP, the average amount
for a Stage Two Pokemon, ensuring that Feraligatr can
survive a hit or two. His weakness is a whopping x2 to
Grass, although the most common Grass decks I can think
of are Leaftile, Tangrowth, or Scizor. Most of these
decks are quite rare right now, so you generally don't
have to worry about being one-shotted to often. At least
it's not a x2 to Lightning after all. No resistance is
to be expected, as Water Pokemon usually don't have any
unless they have multiple types in the video games which
Feraligatr does not. Finally, our card has a retreat
cost of two, which can easily be remedied with a Flygon,
or an evolved Mysterious Treasures Mantine.
Feraligatr's first attack is Spinning Tail, a name that
should sound very familiar to anyone who's seen the
Stormfront Tyranitar. It does the same effect, 20 damage
to each of your opponent's Pokemon, but instead of
costing five Darkness Energies, it costs one Water and
two Colorless, meaning you can charge it up quickly with
a Feraligatr Prime or a Double Colorless Energy.
Nidoqueen cancels out the damage over the course of a
round, but besdies that this is a nice attack, and one
that goes very well with Feraligatr Prime's attack.
Feraligatr's second attack is Surf, which does a simple
80 damage for two Water and two Colorless Energy. Once
again, this a good card to use Double Colorless energy
with, and Surf can be a good finishing attack after a
couple of round of Spinning Tail. An effect would've
been nice, but with all of the energy acceleration this
Pokemon can get, Surf is fine the way it is.
Overalll, Feraligatr makes a nice counterpart to its
Prime form, giving you more options when evolving your
Totodile or Croconaw. You might not see it run too much
yet, but after rotation, decks based around the Johto
starters are likely to gain popularity. The main
downside is the energy intensive attacks, but there are
plenty of ways around that.
Modified 3/5
This card is good, but just not good enough in this
format. Feraligatr Prime lacks a good Pokemon to
support, but come future sets, the Feraligatr line might
see a lot more play. When that happens, you can expect
to see Feraligatr teched in as a backup attacker.
Limited 4.5/5
If you pull the Feraligatr line, use it. Spinning Tail
is excellent with the limited healing in HGSS, and Surf
can wipe out a huge part of the set in one hit. Even if
you don't pull DCE or Feraligatr Prime, the lack of
sniping in the set means you can charge your Feraligatr
on the bench, generally worry free. Just watch out for
Meganiums.
~kentuckyfriedtorchic
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Otaku |
Today we look at the
other
Feraligatr from HeartGold &
SoulSilver.
Like most
Feraligatr, this is a Stage 2 Water
Pokémon, allowing it to tap the more
prominent Prime version for support.
It has a solid 130 HP that will
allow it to take a big hit and survive
from all but Grass Pokémon (to which it
suffers x2 Weakness), and multiple
lesser blows.
The lack of Resistance is
frustrating as always, but at least it
has a relatively average (in terms of
performance) two Energy Retreat Cost:
you’ll rarely want to discard that to
retreat, but you can in a pinch.
This card has two attacks, both of which
need Water Energy.
The first is Spinning Tail, and
attack I’ve always liked but found
frustrating to execute when I first saw
it.
Pokémon tends to be a fast game
and while 20 damage to all of your
opponent’s Pokémon is good, it isn’t
“great”.
At least the cost of (WCC) is
easy enough to meet: either a
Double Colorless Energy or
Feraligatr Prime will make it fairly
painless.
If you can get this up and
running your second turn, it could get
off two or three Spinning Tail… enough
to seriously hurt your opponent in the
long run.
The catch is you’ll need an
opponent who already benched several
Pokémon for that to work.
If they didn’t, it may be hard to
finish what you’ve started and while
it’s a strong position, it the short run
your opponent might trash enough of your
own Pokémon that you can’t follow
through.
The second attack is pretty
vanilla: for (WWCC) you’ll hit for 80.
This is adequate damage for the
Energy required and Stage of the
Pokémon: not especially good when
slugging it out against another heavy,
but capable of OHKOing a lot of Stage 1
and lower Pokémon, or finishing off an
injured larger Pokémon.
I can really see this being run
alongside
Feraligatr Prime if you find you can
set up one-of-each quickly and reliably.
If you can have them both out by
your second turn, you can soften up an
opponent for
Feraligatr Prime to finish off.
I’d very much like to test this
in my proposed
Blissey Prime/Feraligatr
Prime deck, since that might extend its
life long enough for Spinning Tail to
score multiple
KOs,
but it’s a bit of a stretch.
When playing this in Limited, it can
really shine: it may set up a hair slow
but so does everything else.
Players are more apt to have a
bench full of smaller Pokémon as well,
and combined with only four Prizes to
start, you might find yourself winning
by taking all your Prizes in one turn.
Ratings
Modified:
3.25/5
Limited:
4/5
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