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Pojo's Pokemon Card of the Day

Baby Mario 2010 UK National Seniors Champion	Larvitar (the good one) (Unleashed)   Just like with yesterday’s card, we are looking at the better version that appeared in Unleashed. No errata today, so let’s get straight on to the review!   As with any evolving Basic, Larvitar’s playability depends on how good its ultimate Evolution is. Tyranitar SF does still see some play (although not really at the top tables) and people are trying Tyranitar Prime decks and having moderate success, so it’s likely that if this Larvitar is any good, it may actually be used.   Larvitar has an acceptable 50 HP, Water Weakness, and a handy Resistance to Lightning. The Retreat cost of one is fine.   Larvitar’s first attack, Mountain Eater, is based on my favourite flavour text of all time: ‘It feeds on soil. After it has eaten a large mountain, it will fall asleep so it can grow’   Epic!   It’s not a bad attack either. For just [C] you get to discard the top card of your opponent’s deck and heal two damage counters from Larvitar. Nothing game-winning here, obviously, but the discard can be super-annoying for your opponent if you get lucky and hit something important (like a Poke Turn or a Candy). Reckless Charge is nowhere near as interesting. For the same cost, it does 20 damage and 10 to Larvitar itself. You won’t use it in preference to Mountain Eater unless you have some amazing fluke donk available (this + Crobat G vs a lone Magikarp?).   If you are going to build a Tyranitar deck there honestly isn’t much to choose between the various Larvitars. You will only want them there to Evolve anyway. However, at the moment, the Water Weakness ones are probably preferable to the Grass-Weak (thanks to Jumpluff), and none of the alternatives have an attack as good as Mountain Eater. So, I guess that this Larvitar is the one I would recommend!   Rating   Modified: 2 (it’s just an evolving Basic . . . but it can be a fun one!) Limited: 2.25 (Mountain Eater can be even more annoying to your opponent here)
virusyosh	Happy end of the week, Pojo readers! Today we're doing something a bit different and reviewing an evolving Basic Pokemon. Today's Card of the Day is Larvitar from HS Unleashed. Larvitar is a Basic Fighting Pokemon. There aren't many Fighting Pokemon played in the current metagame, save Machamp, Donphan, and a couple of random techs, but at the same time, Larvitar evolves into Tyranitar, which is generally Dark. 50 HP is not a lot, but for an evolving Basic, it could be much worse. Double Water Weakness means that Larvitar will probably get Knocked Out from a very small Water attack. Lightning Resistance is excellent, even on something with 50 HP. A Retreat Cost of 1 is totally acceptable. Evaluating evolving Basics is always a bit difficult, because most of the time decks are based around the final evolution stages. This particular Larvitar has two attacks, both for the cost of a single Colorless Energy. These costs are good, as it means that you don't necessarily have to invest in Fighting Energy for your Tyranitar Prime. The first attack, Mountain Eater, discards the top card of your opponent's deck and removes two damage counters from Larvitar. Discarding a key card might be nice but probably won't be useful most of the time, and the healing will only be useful against something that doesn't deal much damage, such as another Basic if your opponent is slow to bring out their big hitters. The second attack, Reckless Charge, does 20 damage but also deals 10 damage to Larvitar if you flip tails. 20 damage for a single Energy isn't bad, although helping your opponent with damage isn't a great idea either. So, how should one decide which Larvitar to use? There are currently 4 Modified-legal Larvitars in the format: Larvitar MT, Larvitar SF, this one, and another from Unleashed. The MT and SF Larvitars both have Grass Weakness, which may be used over this one if Gyarados or Kingdra are popular in your area. However, the other Larvitar from UL is also worthy of consideration, because it has 60 HP. Modified: 2/5 This isn't a terrible Larvitar to use, especially because you probably won't be attacking with it much anyway. Mountain Eater will allow you to stall for a bit if your opponent is slow to hit you for more than 20 damage (which is unlikely), though the other UL Larvitar is still probably better because it has more HP.  Limited: 2/5 Colorless Energy requirements are great, but dealing damage to yourself really isn't. Even still, this Larvitar can make a decent starter while you're waiting for your Pupitar, Tyranitar, or Tyranitar Prime.
Mad Mattezhion  Professor Bathurst League Australia	Larvitar (HS Unleashed)   Another Basic form to finish the week. Like yesterday, this is also a good one.   Larvitar has 50 HP with Grass weakness, Lightning resistance (nice!) and a retreat cost of 1. On par with other version of Larvitar, and good stats all round for a Basic (though I really would have liked 60 HP to stop Sableye donks, oh well).   The attacks are where it gets interesting. Larvitar has 2 respectively called Reckless Charge and Mountain Eater. Both attacks cost C to use, which is unusual for any Pokemon.   Reckless Charge deals 20 damage and 10 self-damage, which is paid for with Mountain Eater. This is by far the better attack, as Mountain Eater discards the top card of your opponent's deck and heals 2 damage counters from Larvitar. To be honest, I would rarely use Reckless charge as Mountain Eater is by far more disrupting to my opponent than a measly 20 damage, and after that I would evolve to Tyranitar if all was going well or attack with Moutain Eater again to heal if my hand was bad. A combination of healing and milling is awesome, especially as the cost is so cheap. Chnage to using this Larvitar in your Tyranitar deck now!   Modified: 3.5 (Tyranitar is still a great main attacker, and this is a great starting Pokemon) Limited: 4.75 (if you pulled Tyranitar Prime, you know you've already won, and the healing/milling is really danagerous with smaller decks and fewer OHKOs. Use it if you get it!)