You don’t know how fortunate you are
folks… I don’t have time to come up with
a Transformers joke!
Don’t think today’s CotD,
Feraligatr “Prime” could lead to
some, I’ll remind you that all animated
versions of Optimus Prime have been one
of two things: semi-truck and trailer or
Fire Engines.
Granted, out of the latter two of
the three still looked more like semi…
Name:
Feraligatr
Rarity:
Prime
Set/#:
HeartGold and
SoulSilver 108/123
Type:
Water
Stage:
2 (Evolves from Croconaw)
HP:
140
Weakness:
Grass x2
Resistance:
None
Retreat Cost:
CCC
Poké-Power:
Rain Dace
As often as you like during your turn
(before your attack), you may attach a
(W) Energy card from your hand to 1 of
your (W) Pokémon.
This power can’t be used if
Feraligatr is affected by a Special
Condition.
Attack:
(WWWW) Hydro Crunch [60+]
Does 60 damage plus 10
more damage for each
damage counter on the
Defending Pokémon.
Name:
Croconaw
Rarity:
Uncommon
Set/#:
HeartGold and
SoulSilver 38/123
Type:
Water
Stage:
1 (Evolves from Totodile)
HP:
80
Weakness:
Grass x2
Resistance:
None
Retreat Cost:
CC
Attack#1: (WC) Wave Splash [30]
Attack#2:
(WCC) Big Bite [50]
The Defending Pokémon
can’t retreat during
your opponent’s next
turn.
Name:
Croconaw
Rarity:
Uncommon
Set/#:
Mysterious Treasures 44/123
Type:
Water
Stage:
1 (Evolves from Totodile)
HP:
80
Weakness:
Lightning +20
Resistance:
None
Retreat Cost:
CC
Poké-Power:
Evolutionary Vitality
Once during your turn,
when you play Croconaw
from your hand to evolve
1 of your Pokémon, you
may look at the top 5
cards of your deck.
Choose all Energy
cards you find there,
show them to your
opponent, and put them
into your hand.
Put the other
cards back on top of
your deck.
Shuffle your deck
afterward.
Attack:
(WC) Hover Over [30]
The Defending Pokémon
can’t retreat during
your opponent’s next
turn.
Name:
Totodile
Rarity:
Common
Set/#:
HeartGold and SoulSilver 86/123
Type:
Water
Stage:
Basic
HP:
60
Weakness:
Grass x2
Resistance:
None
Retreat Cost:
C
Attack#1:
(C) Gnaw [10]
Attack#2:
(WC) Wave Splash [20]
Name:
Totodile
Rarity:
Common
Set/#:
Mysterious Treasures 106/123
Type:
Water
Stage:
Basic
HP:
50
Weakness:
Lightning +10
Resistance:
None
Retreat Cost:
C
Attack#1:
(0) Bite [10]
Attack#2:
(W) Shining Fang [10+]
If the Defending Pokémon
already has any damage
counters on it, this
attack does 10 damage
plus 10 more damage.
Attributes:
Feraligatr Prime is a Stage 2 Water
Pokémon, so you’ll have to either take
it slow or rely on
Rare Candy.
Just like old times, we once
again have a Technical Machine that can
devolve your Pokémon, so as long as that
remains legal, going the slow, steady
route for at least some copies of
Feraligatr are a must.
Totodile and
Croconaw each have two options for
Modified.
Both
Totodile are average Pokémon: the
newest version has 10 more HP, but if
your metagame is diverse, it may be best
to split on them so you aren’t OHKO bait
on that first turn.
Croconaw
is not an average Pokémon or I wouldn’t
be starting a new paragraph to talk
about it.
I feel it worth the space to
discuss; while we still only have two
versions, both know interesting tricks.
The lesser of the two is the new
one: it can hit reasonably hard for its
size and the Energy put into it, and at
least sometimes, the effect of Big Bite
will be an asset since a second Big Bite
or Evolving into
Feraligatr and attacking will net
you a Prize.
Not spectacular, but above
average for a “filler” Stage 1 Pokémon.
The older
Croconaw from Mysterious Treasures
has Evolutionary Vitality as a Poké-Power.
Reading the Rulings Compendium
LVX you can
Rare Candy from
Totodile into
Croconaw and still get the effect,
though this is a reverse of an older
ruling (originally involving
Dark Crobat).
As we want to avoid
Feraligatr being KO’d by devolution
and have Energy in hand to Rain Dance
(which I will get to in the next
section), the
Croconaw from Mysterious Treasures
should have a spot in your deck.
Getting back to
Feraligatr itself, it has a sturdy
140 HP that should let it survive some
serious hits… unless they are from its
Weakness, Grass.
Water Pokémon tend to be Weak to
Grass, Lightning, or Metal Pokémon in
the TCG.
Grass tends to be the safest as
they don’t seem as prone to hitting hard
and fast like Lightning Pokémon or able
to soak damage as well as Metal Pokémon.
It is still a big enough problem
that your deck will have to pack answers
(note the plural) for it.
You also get no Resistance to
help offset your Weakness, and of course
any Resistance is better than none.
It always strikes me as a bit
lazy, since very few cards would be
broken by having a Resistance (the only
valid reason I can think of for having
none). A
hefty three Energy Retreat Cost means
you should pack something to get around
it.
Feraligatr will find paying a little
easier due to its Poké-Power, but its
still a waste of resources.
Abilities:
Rain Dance is the reason to run
this card.
It will be the focus of
your deck.
Cards that bend the major rules
of the game, like Energy attachment,
rarely fail to generate a strong deck.
As
long as you can load and reload your
hand with Water Energy, Rain Dance will
you instantly fuel your Water Pokémon,
making most attack costs irrelevant.
Since you only have so much room in your
deck,
Feraligatr will have to attack.
Hydro Crunch isn’t a perfect fit,
but it will do.
Without Rain Dance, it would
require a lot of support.
You’re investing four Water
Energy and only getting 60 damage
against a healthy Defending Pokémon.
If they are already injured, then
you’ll get an extra 10 damage for each
damage counter already on them.
You’d need something else
spreading damage to set up for
Feraligatr.
Thanks to Rain Dance you should
be able to go in swinging, scoring a lot
of two hit
KOs.
Most of the time, your opponent’s
deck won’t be able to keep up since you
can crank out the
Feraligatr fully powered in a single
turn.
So the attack and Poké-Power have the
basic kind of synergy you’d expect, but
nothing spectacular.
Against most opponent’s, the
extra damage won’t be needed for a two
hit KO and won’t be enough to take a
Prize in a single hit.
Uses and
Combinations:
For now, I’d say
Blissey.
As I alluded to in her CotD, this
is another kind of deck that can reap
the benefits of Blissful Nurse while
shrugging off the cost: flush away all
your damage counters as the cost of all
your Energy.
Early game normal draw power and
late game a
Fisherman should snag enough back to
power your next attacker.
Certainly not a perfect strategy,
as you have to way the risk of a Bench
full of injured Pokémon against a
smaller return from using
Blissey early, but it should be a
strong strategy nonetheless.
As more sets come out, we’ll see other
potential partners for
Feraligatr.
I don’t know enough to say
whether they’ll replace
Blissey or supplement her, but once
you have Rain Dance it’s hard for Water
Pokémon to completely fail.
In Unlimited, Rain Dance was
strong for years before it got most of
its modern day line-up: the ability to
nearly ignore Energy Cost kicked every
Water Pokémon up a notch.
Ratings
Modified:
3.5/5 – I feel like I am scoring it low
because I know it will become better and
better.
Right now, if Rain Dance is shut
down, so is the entire deck.
We may just have to re-review
this card in a few sets.
Limited:
3/5 –
Feraligatr will be vicious when it
hits the field and powers itself up.
The problem comes from only
affecting Water Energy and Water Pokémon
when it will be nearly impossible to run
a mono-Water deck.
You’ll have to settle for mostly
Water and a weak deck if
Feraligatr, its lower Stages, and
your Water Energy don’t show up
together.
Summary
Feraligatr
is totally dependant upon
Rain Dance to make its attack (and
deck strategy) work.
Since Rain Dance can and will
face decks that shut your Poké-Powers
down, that’s a serious weakness.
If Rain Dance isn’t shut down,
skilled play should allow you to wear
your opponent down as you trade Prizes
for a few turns before they can’t keep
up.
I expect Rain Dance decks to
place high in tournaments, but no
regularly win them with the current card
pool.
