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Pojo's Pokemon Card of the Day

Baby Mario 2010 UK National Seniors Champion	Double Colourless Energy (HGSS)  Ok, I know it’s spelled ‘Double Colorless Energy’ on the card. I’m British, ok? My spellchecker and I rebel against American spellings! I think my snarky comment in last week’s review of Heatran Lv X might have put DCE on the ‘to review’ list, but that’s ok too as it is an extremely important card.  Just like Defender, DCE is another reprint from Base Set. Unlike Defender,  it sees a ton of play and has made its way into very many top tier decks. DCE slugs it out with Double Rainbow and Scramble for the title of ‘best ever multiple Energy card’ and, although it is not as flexible as those other two (which can both provide specific Colour Energy), it doesn’t have any of their drawbacks either. It doesn’t  reduce your attack damage like Double Rainbow, and you don’t need to be behind on Prizes to get the benefit like you do with Scramble.  There’s one other absolutely crucial difference too. Unlike either of the above mentioned card, it can be attached to a Basic Pokémon.  This has had a huge impact on the metagame because it means that you can use DCE with SP Pokémon. With DCE in your deck, Garchomp C LV X can (with the help of Poke Turn) pull off consecutive 80 damage snipes, taking out Support Pokémon, potential threats, or just easy Prizes. Really, it’s the card that turned Luxchomp from being quite good into the undisputed king of the format.  But DCE’s usefulness goes beyond that. It can be used with Drifblim UD to shuffle away powerful tanks like Steelix Prime, and it can be used with Ambipom G or Dragonite FB to actually counter the dreaded Garchomp. It’s not just for SP decks either. Any Pokémon with [C][C] in its attack costs can really benefit from the acceleration it provides. Flygon RR, Torterra UL, and Garchomp SV are just some of the Pokémon that work well with this card. So can Arceus decks, which are getting a bit more attention these days.  It’s not the perfect solution to all of your Energy needs: cards with one Energy attacks like Jumpluff GS and Kingdra Prime have no use for it, and neither do Pokémon with more specific Energy requirements like Charizard AR and Dusknoir SF. Even so, this is one of the best cards in the format, and every player needs to own four of them.  Rating  Modified: 4.5 (made Garchomp C LV X into the best attacker around) Limited:  4.5 (Plenty of cards in the set with [C][C] Energy costs, so the speed boost is invaluable in a slow format)  Combos with . . .   Garchomp C LV X Anything with [C][C] in its attack cost
virusyosh	Hello again, Pojo readers! Today we are reviewing a card that has been around since the beginning of the Pokemon TCG, but has most recently shown up in the HeartGold and SoulSilver expansion. Today's Card of the Day is Double Colorless Energy. Double Colorless Energy's effect is very straightforward: it provides [CC]. Now, since it is a Special Energy card, you are only allowed four in a deck. However, this hardly detracts from the card's usefulness. Attaching Energy is generally a fundamental part of the Pokemon TCG (unless you're playing something like a Gyarados deck) and generally ways to speed up Energy attachment are great. As long as your Pokemon have at least some Colorless Energy requirements (and most nowadays do), Double Colorless Energy will probably benefit you by getting your Pokemon powered up a turn before it normally would. However, this doesn't mean that DCE belongs in every deck. Most speed decks like Gyarados and Jumpluff have very little reason to run the card, as their attacks are very cheap anyway. But for most decks that have Pokemon with Colorless Energy requirements (decks with Garchomp C Lv. X, for instance) will greatly benefit from the speed that DCE provides. Modified: 4/5 Is it necessary for every deck? Definitely not. However, in decks with Pokemon that have Colorless Energy requirements (even if it's something like [GCC] or [DCC], Double Colorless Energy will be welcomed to speed you up. The only thing to really watch out for is Scizor Prime, but if one of those comes up, just simply use other Energy to attack. Limited: 5/5 I don't really see any reason to not draft this, unless you have all non-Colorless symbols for some reason. The speed really makes a difference in powering your Pokemon up. Combos With: Anything with multiple Colorless Energy requirements (especially things like Garchomp C Lv. X)
Otaku	Double Colorless Energy is one of those cards that helped shape the game.  It managed to snag the #11 spot on Jason “Ness” Klaczynski’s Top 50 Pokémon Cards of All Time list.  There was a small window of opportunity where CotDs were happening and Unlimited was the Standard Format (Standard Format being the term WotC uses for whatever Format is the default for Organized Play).  With such a wealth of cards it probably seemed silly to look at such a straight forward card, and by the time the rest of the crew started reviewing alongside Ness, we were already playing using the first Modified Format (Rocket On).  It took until a few sets ago to get Double Colorless Energy back.  What made it so potent for so long?   The simple answer is it breaks the rules.  We all know that by default, you get one Energy attachment per turn.  Double Colorless Energy may only work for meeting Colorless Energy requirements, but it meets two in one shot.  This allowed some key Basic Pokémon like Base Set Hitmonchan to power up in just two turns and clobber just about everything else.  I don’t remember the exact percentage, but for a Stage 1 or 2 Pokémon to see competitive play, it had to be capable of using Double Colorless Energy, and effectively, or obscenely powerful.  The recently reprinted Base Set Charizard was able to use it… but not efficiently.  Blastoise was capable of breaking the rule with its own Pokémon Power so it didn’t matter that it couldn’t use it.  Venusaur had just enough combos to make it work, but only for a little while.  Once the next expansion, Jungle, hit the scene the Stage 1 Pokémon Clefable and Wigglytuff could both fuel themselves with Double Colorless Energy and players learned to fear and respect it.   It took TPC a lot of time and sets to start designing Pokémon that were strong and fun to play but still fairly balanced.  In my estimation, it wasn’t until the e-Card sets.  Double Colorless Energy didn’t return then, and it was a good thing.  Power creep, normally a bane for so many games, seems to have helped tame Double Colorless Energy.  It is still amazingly useful card but now it seems like Pokémon have been designed with it in mind: HP scores are no longer low enough that a Basic with 70 HP hitting for 40 points of damage a turn (starting second turn) can control the game.  There is no longer a Professor Oak to enable a player to burn through almost half their deck in a single turn, or Computer Search to guarantee an exact search for what you need.  There is Rare Candy to make sure evolutions speed out fast enough that Basics can’t control the field (at least without being part of a major theme).  There is also more Trainer denial and revised rules to keep Trainers useful but something you can’t rely all the time on, and quite a few attacks that only are worth using with Double Colorless Energy (or a substitute) available.   So you know the routine: if you have a Pokémon meant to attack and that attack requires at least (CC), you’re running Double Colorless Energy unless your Pokémon already have an Energy acceleration trick.  If your Retreat Cost is high as well, then you enjoy an easier time retreating as well.  If you don’t have enough worthwhile attacks that have at least two Colorless requirements… skip it.  Unless it is a Limited tournament: then if your Retreat Costs are high enough, you still run it in lieu of a Switch or similar card.   Ratings   Modified: 4/5   Limited: 4/5   I am still selling my former collectables on eBay.  I’ve had a lot of hobbies over the years, so at various times I’ll have comic books, manga, action figures, and video games on the auction block.  You can take a look at what’s up for bids here.  I usually add new stuff on Wednesdays and Saturdays.  Just a reminder, Pojo is in no way responsible for any transactions and was merely kind enough to let me mention the auctions here. ;)
Mad Mattezhion  Professor Bathurst League Australia	Double Colourless Energy (HeartGold/SoulSilver)   This is a beautiful little card. The effect is quite simple, which in Pokemon usually signifies something useful because simple effects are harder to cancel than complex ones (though that’s not to say complex effects aren’t useful either, but now I’m getting sidetracked)   DCE, as it is known in the game, does exactly what the name says. It provides 2 colourless energy to the Pokemon it is attached to. This card gets around the rule of “only-one-energy-per-turn” and the number of ways this can be used is incredible!   To start with, it can be used to accelerate any attack with 2 colourless symbols in its cost. Famous current examples are Nidoqueen RR, Garchomp C Lv X, Flygon RR and Machamp SF.   The second greatest use is for discarding. Pokemon with discard heavy attacks can use DCE to count as 2 energy (though this doesn’t work for specific types of energy, or when an attack says to discard “energy cards” instead of just energy). Garchomp C would have to be the best example, as the player will discard the DCE to pay for the attack and snipe your precious techs.   Also, when you are desperate you can use DCE to pay for a retreat, typically when your opponent has initiated a trainer lock. The most common example of this is when you have used Luxray GL Lv X to drag your opponent’s Vileplume UD active, and due to the body your opponent cannot play Switch or any other card that will return Vileplume to the bench. They can drop DCE on the Vileplume to return their attacker to the active position, and continue their game rather than having to wait another turn to retreat, or worse yet letting you dictate the pace of the game while you snipe and whittle away Vileplume’s health.   There are downsides to playing DCE. Due to the fact it is a Special energy, you can only play 4 in a deck, and they are difficult to search out. As such, you have to spend them wisely. Also, some cards specialise in negating Special energy, robbing you of your advantage (Scizor Prime and Raticate UD come to mind). DCE will also be the first target of any energy removal cards and is exceedingly difficult to retrieve from the discard pile. However, that does not count against the card because it wouldn’t be a target if it wasn’t worth it.   All in all, if your main attacker and at least one of your techs/backup attackers can effectively use DCE, then you need 4 in your deck.   Modified: 4.75 (it isn’t for every deck, but the number of ways it can be effectively used means you expect to see it) Limited: 5 (you know you want it, and a few cards in the set can use it to good advantage) Combos with: Too many to list, just any worthy Pokemon that uses 2 colourless energy symbols in its attack cost.