Time to review some new Pokémon!
Terrakion is a part of the
“musketeer trio” of Legendary Pokémon
according to Bulbapedia.
Since I don’t own Pokémon
Black or Pokémon White and
probably won’t for quite some time, I
decided to allow this part to be
“spoiled” to better review the cards.
So first this tells me that it is a
Basic Pokémon that has no Evolutions
available: the burden to see play rests
solely on its stout shoulders.
It is a Fighting-Type, which
makes sense since in the video games it
is a Rock/Fighting hybrid, so far the
only representative of that Type
combination.
Terrakion has 120 HP, and that is
great!
The only Basic Pokémon to surpass
that are
Reshiram and
Zekrom while many Stage 1 (and even
some Stage 2) Pokémon aren’t that large!
Terrakion can definitely take a hit,
except perhaps from its Weakness.
Grass Weakness means a Grass-Type
only has to do 60 points of base damage
to OHKO the “Cavern Pokémon”.
Of course Grass Pokémon might be
the least played type right now and have
a poor track record of dealing big
damage reliably.
Even those that do usually have
to rely on some trick or combo:
Terrakion is most fortunate in this
regard.
The lack of Resistance is a
disappointment, but not only is it
largely irrelevant as usual (due to so
many Pokémon lacking it) this card is
already shaping up well enough that it
might not have needed one anyway.
Well, we do have one really bad
stat for this card, the Retreat Cost:
four is awful and you’ll rarely be able
to pay it, let alone want to.
Make sure you have another card
to get this out of the Active slot or be
prepared to let it go down fighting… and
be forced up prematurely by
Pokémon Catcher.
The first attack on this card is Boulder
Crush.
Boulder Crush is a solid attack,
doing 40 points of damage for (FC).
There is no other effect, and
while I wish the card could attack for a
single Energy, this is enough to take
out many Fighting Weak Pokémon and with
a
PlusPower and a decent amount of
Basic Pokémon in general.
The second attack is an
adaptation of a video game attack with
the same name: Sacred Sword.
I don’t know if it is a good
conversion of the attack, but for (FFC)
it does 100 points of damage.
There is a major drawback to it
though: you can’t use it the next turn!
Still, between the two attacks
you’ll average 70 points of damage per
turn, and by splitting the damage in
this manner, you can pull off some solid
tricks.
Examples would be changing out
one
Terrakion for another, or if your
opponent
KOs
(or nearly
KOs)
Terrakion before you have the full
three Energy attached, you can adapt.
I’d say these attacks are
adequate… which since the stats are
fantastic means we still have a good
card.
Of course had the attacks been priced at
(CC) and (FCC) respectively we’d have
had something to rival
Reshiram and
Zekrom, even with the attack
restricting clause on Sacred Sword.
As is, can we find a use for it?
I believe so.
My basic thought for this card is
open with
Tyrogue (or any Pokémon that allows
you to attack without Energy) so that
you can ignore the turn where it can’t
attack.
Next turn drop a second Energy
and decide: keep attacking with the
no-Energy opener or Retreat back
Terrakion.
In the case of the latter your
opponent is going to have a very hard
time OHKOing it, and if they aren’t
making any headway you can easily drop
the third Energy needed and go for a
Sacred Sword.
Now I did set this up for a particular
deck…
Machamp Prime.
It is a bit risky using one of
the HS Baby Pokémon, protected by Sweet
Sleeping Face, now that we have
Pokémon Catcher but keep reading
because we are going to make the
opponent think hard about what they hit.
If they take out the Baby, it is
fine so long as you got the needed
Energy on
Terrakion to attack.
If they take out
Terrakion quickly then obviously I
was really wrong about this idea.
Personally I think most decks
will need at least two shots, especially
this early, to take it down, which means
you can rescue the two
Fighting Energy used to power it by
dropping
Machamp Prime and using its Poké-Power
to both Bench
Terrakion and transfer said
Fighting Energy.
Then its your choice whether you
rebuild
Terrakion and/ whether to keep the
damage counters it might have
accumulated on it or use a
Seeker to bounce it to hand then
drop it back down, fresh as a large,
angry daisy with horns.
The other Modified use I can come
up with is a musketeer trio deck,
specifically one backed by
Serperior with Royal Heal.
The other two members have tricks
that offset there just slightly lower HP
scores, and 120 HP could go a long way
with that healing.
So what about Unlimited play?
Probably too slow, but at least
it is less sad than most first attempts
at Legendary Pokémon.
The HP does mean that if you are
a little more donk resistant than some
other Pokémon, so if you aren’t
alternatively caught by a
lock/disruption strategy you might be
able to set-up the Pokémon needed to
speed
Terrakion up and keep it going.
Too bad they’d be better used on
something different.
In Limited play I am assuming
this card will be great.
Unless there are a
lot of decent Grass Pokémon in this
set, you just need to work in four or
five
Fighting Energy so you can at least
reliably use the first attack:
Terrakion should be a force to
reckon with.
Sacred Sword might not even be
needed, and even when it is it will
probably be a OHKO.
Sacred Sword for KO, Boulder
Crush twice for KO, and you might even
still have enough HP for one more Sacred
Sword after that!
Ratings
Unlimited:
1.25/5
Modified:
3.5/5
Limited:
4.5/5
Summary
I really doubt
Terrakion will make the impact of
Zekrom or
Reshiram, but I can honestly see
real potential despite the drawbacks.
Check out my
eBay auctions! Pojo is in no way
responsible for any transactions,
though.
