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Pojo's Pokemon Card of the Day

		Golduck #22/102 HS Triumphant Date Reviewed: Nov. 23, 2010 Ratings & Reviews Summary Modified: 2.45 Limited: 3.75 Ratings are based on a 1 to 5 scale. 1 being the worst.  3 ... average.   5 is the highest rating. Back to the main COTD Page
Combos With:

Baby Mario 2010 UK National Seniors Champion	Golduck (Triumphant)   Golduck is one of those cards that I secretly want to be good. Especially with the Platinum Psyduck still in the format – that card is the most ridiculously fun way to screw over your opponent since Absol SW (you do need a bit of luck though).   As it turns out, Golduck is an interesting card with a lot going for it, but one horribly fatal flaw.   The 90 HP on a Stage 1 card is not really good enough in this format, where the only truly playable Stage 1s easily break the 100 HP barrier. The Retreat cost of one is, as we all know, acceptable without being brilliant.   Golduck comes with one PokeBody and one attack. The Body, Natural Remedy, states that whenever you attach a Water Energy from your hand to Golduck, remove two damage counters. That does seem like a nice bonus that would help make up for the poor HP. However, whether it would make much difference in this format of OHKOs is open to question. The attack, Powerful Splash, seems to have a nice synergy with the Body. For a very reasonable base cost of [W][C], you get 30 damage, plus 10 more for each Water Energy attached to all of your Pokemon (so, in effect, you will do at least 40).   The obvious combo here is Feraligatr Prime. Use its Raindance Power to put as much Water Energy as you like on Golduck to simultaneously heal it and boost its attack to a level where it will actually begin to hurt your opponent and take some one-shot KOs. However, this is where Golduck’s fatal flaw comes into play.   That flaw is, of course, the low HP combined with a disastrous Weakness to Lightning. Luxray GL (without even needing the LV X) will OHKO a damage-free Golduck with utter ease, making a complete joke of the healing PokeBody. Even without Luxray, common Pokémon like Garchomp C LV X can easily one-shot it (with a Crobat drop), meaning that your best bet is simply to Raindance the Energy on to Feraligatr itself to use as an alternative attacker for when Golduck dies.   Raindance decks have not made too much of an impact on the tournament scene. Largely, I think, because their need to run a lot of Energy and the means to get it in hand (and recover it), leads to them being somewhat slow and lacking in consistency. This will inevitably be true of a Golduck variant as well. It’s not going to be easy setting up Golduck AND a support Stage 2 with so many Luxrays around. Nevertheless, I don’t think Golduck is a bad card at all, and future formats might well allow it to shine a little more than it can do right now.   Rating   Modified: 2.5 (possible Raindance attacker of the (Luxray-free) future) Limited: 3.75 (brilliant in a slow format . . . if it can avoid the Electivire in the set)   Combos with . . .   Feraligatr Prime
virusyosh	Hello once again, Pojo readers! Today we continue our short COTD week by reviewing one of the new Water-types in the HS Triumphant expansion. Today's Card of the Day is Golduck. Golduck is a Stage 1 Water Pokemon. Water types see a fair amount of play: Gyarados is widely considered to be a top-tier deck by many, and you can find a wide variety of other decks with Water types in them, such as Kingdra and Rain Dance variants. 90 HP is decent for a Stage 1, but Golduck may have some trouble with the heavier hitters in the game once they are fully powered. Double Lightning Weakness is very bad in this format with the ubiquity of Luxray GL Lv. X, which will easily take Golduck out. No Resistance is the worst kind of Resistance, and a Retreat Cost of 1 is decent. As for abilities, Golduck has a Poke-Body and a single attack. The body, Natural Remedy, allows you to remove 2 damage counters each time you attach an Energy card from your hand to Golduck. This has a perfect partner in Feraligatr Prime, as multiple Energy drops per turn will greatly enhance Golduck's survivability (if it doesn't get OHKO'd, that is). The attack, Powerful Splash, also has great synergy with Feraligatr Prime. For [WC], the attack does 30 damage plus 10 more for each Water Energy attached to all of your Pokemon. Assuming that Golduck has [WW] attached when you first perform this attack, it will be doing 50 damage for 2 right off the bat (which is very decent), but will quickly increase as you attach Energy to Golduck to heal it with its body, or to power up any of your other Pokemon. The nature of this attack will draw up comparisons to Lanturn Prime, which has a very similar attack with slightly more damage output and better HP. However, Golduck's version of the attack is cheaper, doesn't require Lightning Energy (which is Lanturn's biggest problem in a Rain Dance deck). Additionally, Golduck has the capability to heal itself. However, Lanturn also has the ability to change its typing to exploit Weakness and Resistance, and doesn't have a very terrible Weakness to Lightning. So in an outright comparison I would say that Lanturn Prime is probably a better option in a Rain Dance deck if you decide to not use Blastoise UL as a main attacker, but Golduck is still an option, even if it isn't the best one. Modified: 2/5 It has low HP and a terrible weakness, and the attack isn't quite powerful enough in most circumstances to be competitive. However, not all is bad for Golduck. It works really well with Feraligatr Prime, which allows Golduck's damage output to become respectable as well as giving it a rather consistent source of healing. So if you want to build something slightly different, a Feraligatr Prime/Golduck build could be fun as a League deck or something. Limited: 4/5 I'm very high on Golduck here. 90 HP is good for a Stage 1 here, and there aren't too many Lightning types to give you problems (except for maybe Electrode). Since this is a high-Energy format, Powerful Splash will probably end up being quite powerful as well. Finally, the ability to heal consistently while doing more damage is great in Limited, making Golduck able to tank despite its low HP stat. Combos With: Feraligatr Prime
conical	11/23/10: Golduck(Triumphant)   A Water-type that likes energy attached to it? Can someone say, “Rain Dance partner?”   Today's card is Golduck, who aspires to abuse Feraligatr Prime's Power better than any of its predecessors have. It heals, and it does extra damage for each Water energy attached to all your Pokemon, what's not to like?   For some reason, Feraligatr has received no hype since the rotation. I haven't done any testing with Feraligatr, so it's possible that it is usable, but the fact that no one has messed with it may be telling. Golduck has the benefit of being a Stage 1, as opposed to options like Blastoise UL or Suicune/Entei Legend that are harder to set up. Still, this likely isn't the right format for Rain Dance to wreak havoc upon the metagame.   Still, I believe Golduck's the best option to abuse Feraligatr(save Magnezone Prime, maybe). It's just that that doesn't mean much at this time.   Modified:2.75 Limited: 3.5/5 Combos With: Feraligatr Prime, of course.