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Pojo's Pokémon Card of the Day

Baby Mario 2010 UK National Seniors Champion	Krookodile 62/98 (Emerging Powers) Hello and welcome to a new week of the yet-to-emerge Emerging Powers cards here on Pojo’s CotD. Ok, I know that a lot of you will have got your hands on some via prereleases, but they are not officially legal until 31 August. We kick off with a card that is, in its own way, pretty exciting. It’s nothing to do with the card as such, it’s just that this Krookodile happens to be an English exclusive (for the moment, anyway). That’s right, this is one of those extremely rare occasions where we get a card before the Japanese players do. So . . . what’s it like? Well, this Krookodile has a more than decent 140 HP, for a start. The Weakness to Water isn’t terrible as there just aren’t any really top tier Water decks around right now . . . Suicune & Entei LEGEND techs, the occasional Samurott maybe, and the new Beartic, if it lives up to the hype, is pretty much all you have to worry about. Meanwhile, the Lightning Resistance should definitely come in handy: Magnezone Prime will have to Lost Zone four Energy to one-shot this card, and Zekrom will find it almost impossible. When it comes to stats, the only downside is that huge Retreat cost of three. Play Switch, or even consider Dodrio UD if using or facing Vileplume. This Krookodile is also one of the very few Pokémon (so far) from the BW block that has an Ability. Black Eyes may not be as stellar as Gothitelle’s Magic Room or Emboar’s Inferno Fandango, but it’s decent enough: when Krookodile is active, you get a coin flip chance to discard an Energy from the Defending Pokémon. Obviously this is not much use against Yanmega, and it won’t often bother Donphan or Typhlosion-based decks either, but hey – it’s free, doesn’t waste an attack, and could form part of an effective Energy denial strategy with Lost Remover or even Crush Hammer. When it comes to attacking, Krookodile isn’t quite so good, and is certainly inferior to the Black and White version. Having just the one attack which costs [F][F][C] means that Krookodile will be a very slow Pokémon relative to the format. I suppose the attack-locking attacks of its pre-evolutions, plus the Energy removal Ability might give it a chance of getting powered up, but even when (or if) this happens, the base damage of 70 with a coin flip for an extra 20 (heads) or 20 points of self-damage (tails) isn’t exactly overwhelming. Again, you are going to rely on Energy denial to keep Krookodile in the game long enough to take Prizes, and that’s a risky strategy even if you aren’t facing a low-Energy deck. In the end, Krookodile is a decent Pokémon with some nice features. However, just being decent isn’t enough to get you a place at the top tables in competitive events. If you love Krookodile, by all means put him in a deck with the other one . . . and go have some fun at league. Rating Modified: 2.5 (An ok Pokémon that sadly falls just short of being competitive) Limited: 3 (Should survive long enough for its Ability to come good)
virusyosh	Welcome back, Pojo readers! This week we are continuing our reviews with some newly-released cards from the Emerging Powers expansion, and we're going to kick off the week with a card that was somewhat hyped before the set's release, largely because it wasn't fully spoiled and there was a lot of speculation over what it was going to do. Today's Card of the Day is Krookodile from Emerging Powers. Krookodile is a Stage 2 Fighting Pokemon. Donphan Prime is the most popular Fighting Pokemon at the moment, seeing play in decks as both a dedicated main attacker and as a secondary attacker or a tech. Aside from the armored elephant, not too many Fighting-types are seeing play right now, which is a bit surprising given the popularity of heavy hitters Zekrom and Magnezone Prime. 140 HP is our modern standard for a Stage 2, allowing this croc to take a few unboosted hits before going down, even surviving Zekrom's Bolt Strike and Reshiram's Blue Flare. Water Weakness means that Beartic, Blastoise, and other Water-types will potentially make quick work of Krookodile. Lightning Resistance is great, forcing Magnezone Prime to remove four Energies for Lost Burn to OHKO. However, even with the damage reduction, Zekrom will still KO the next turn with either Outrage or Bolt Strike. Finally, a Retreat Cost of 3 is very large, if somewhat expected. Make sure to use Switch or Super Scoop Up to get Krookodile out of the Active Position. When Krookodile was first spoiled as the cover card for the Power Play theme deck for this set, the Pokemon world was abuzz over what this Pokemon's "Black Eyes" ability would be. With the card's release, we now know that Black Eyes acts as a Crushing Hammer (or Energy Removal 2, for you more veteran players): Once per turn, if Krookodile is your Active Pokemon, you can flip a coin. If heads, you choose an Energy attached to the Defending Pokemon and discard it. Basically, this Ability is great as it has the capability of slowing your opponent down quite a bit, especially if they are running a low Energy deck or a deck that is very reliant on Special Energies. That being said, any Energy discard is great, especially when it is reusable as an Ability on a Pokemon. The only downsides is that it is quite flippy, so there is a chance you won't get anything out of using the Ability, and it's also quite useless against Yanmega Prime, one of the most common attackers in the format. Krookodile also has one attack, Thrash. Thrash starts off at 70 damage for two Fighting Energy and a Colorless, and allows you to flip a coin. If heads, the attack does 20 more damage; if tails, Krookodile does 20 damage to itself. Nothing terribly interesting, although it is worth noting that even without the coin flip, you will OHKO both Zekrom and Magnezone Prime as long as they aren't using some kind of damage reduction. Against other decks, 70 (or even potentially 90) damage will rarely make the cut for three Energy, so it's probably best to try to pair Krookodile with something else, as well. Modified: 2.75/5 Krookodile is a mixed bag. It has very good Fighting typing that will easily deal with Zekrom and Magnezone, two of the biggest threats in Modified right now, but loses to Yanmega and Beartic. Additionally, even though it has the potential to OHKO Zekrom and Magnezone, the decks that run those Pokemon have forms of great Energy acceleration, meaning they will probably be up and hitting a turn or two before Krookodile. Black Eyes has the potential to be a very good Ability, but it also relies on coin flips and doesn't affect Yanmega at all. Finally, Thrash deals decent damage, but ultimately not enough to be very effective as a Stage 2, especially as it can damage itself. All in all, Krookodile has a lot of potential, but it really needs something else to partner with to shine in this format, and I don't know if we have a good partner for it right now. Limited: 4/5 Black Eyes is absolutely disgusting in Limited, as setting back your opponent's Energy drops, even if inconsistently, is great. Thrash is decent here as well, as 70 damage is still fairly good. As with most Stage 2s, if you can get it out, your opponent will likely have trouble dealing with it, and you should win.
Mad Mattezhion  Professor Bathurst League Australia	Krookodile 62/98 (Emerging Powers)   Welcome to a new week here on Pojo. We start with the centrepiece of the Fighting theme deck from the set, Krookodile.   Krookodile is a Fighting type Stage 2 with 140 HP, Water weakness, Lightning resistance, a retreat cost of 3, an Ability and an attack.   The HP is acceptable for a Stage 2 and is improved by the resistance, forcing Zekrom to attack at least twice and making Magnezone Prime burn 4 energy (Thunderus won't even tickle). The reatreat cost is a pain so Switch/Machamp Prime's Fighting Tag is a must. Sadly, the Water weakness is easily exploited by Kingdra Prime, along with the less common Feraligatr Prime and friends. Finally, being a Fighting type is great for hitting many common Poke'mon with double damage but the support for both the type and the energy is very thin on the ground (at the moment it is pretty much limited to Machamp's Poke-power mentioned above). Since the attack requires several Fighting energy you are going to be evolving and powering up the old fashioned way (at least you have Rare Candy).   The Ability is the reason I like this card. Black Eyes is a once-per-turn Ability that lets you flip a coin. If you flip Heads, you can choose an energy attached to one of your opponent's Poke'mon and discard it. It doesn't matter whether it is a Special or Basic energy and you can get multiple uses from multiple Krookodile EP cards. Unfortunately, the text states that you can only use Black Eyes if Krookodile is Active, so unless you have an unbelievably good setup and plenty of Switch cards you won't get more than one shot (which has a 50% failure rate).   Black Eyes would be a lot more impressive if Crushing Hammer hadn't been released in the same set with the exact same effect for far less deck space and trouble to play. True, you can't easily search out Crushing Hammer and you have to play a Junk Arm or Good Rod if you want multiple uses but the vast majority of players will find Crushing Hammer to be far more suited to their deck than a Stage 2 which has to be Active to be effective.   There is one deck that may find Krookodile a better choice though. If anyone likes using the Torment attack from the BW version Krookodile EP becomes a lot easier to use. With a few Switch in your hand you have an extra weapon for your lock on your opponent's attacks, or you can simply tech in a single copy to use against energy-heavy hitters.   The Ability looks usable if Krookodile's attack allows it to hold its own in the Active Slot. Sadly, Thrash has never been a good attack in either the TCG or the video games.   For the cost of [f][f][c] You get 70 damage and a coin flip, which gives you 20 extra points of damage if you flip Heads but reverses those same 20 points to damage Krookodile if you flip Tails. 70 damage will net a 1HKO against every Fighting-weak Poke'mon in the format so the coin flip is only a real problem against non-Fighting-weak Poke'mon and resistance. Oh, and all of those situations where knocking yourown  HP down is a bad idea... which will be 99% of games.   Thrash can't be accelerated by cards like Double Colourless Energy so you won't be able to attack before Turn 3, and from there on in it is likely that you won't have the time to build a proper replacement attacker if Krookodile gets taken out (although if you have another Krookodile BW evolved and ready to roll you can drop a DCE and start the Torment). As such, Krookodile EP is just too expensive for anyone but a Krookodile player to take it seriously.   Modified: 3 (I want to try this out but I doubt it will be anything worth bragging about. Still, for a new Poke'mon Krookodile is getting a lot of love from the printers and I tip my hat to the interesting mechanics being used, even if the execution leaves a lot to be desired)   Limited: 3 (again, this Krookodile is expensive with less damage output than most of the Stage 2 cards in this set. Still, Black Eyes becomes far more effective in the slower format, especiialy if you pulled a Crushing Hammer or 2 to complete the energy destruction).   Combos with: the other Krookodile from B&W, but I think Krookodile has been edged out by Beartic anyway.
Otaku	Krookodile still gives me cravings for Cookie Crisp cereal. How is Pokémon’s marketing missing this connection? Oh, and at a glance it looks like a promising card. Stats Krookodile is a Stage 2 Fighting-Type Pokémon. This means it’s going to have to be a major component of any deck that runs it, but hopefully gives it access to stats and effects beyond mere mortal man… and lower Stage Pokémon! Being a Fighting-Type could be handy, as it is a very common Weakness, even on some very popular Pokémon like Magnezone Prime and Zekrom. Sadly, there isn’t really any Fighting-Type support, as what exists isn’t performing as well as hoped and technically supports Fighting Energy and not the actual type. 140 HP is good overall though amongst the Black & White era Stage 2 Pokémon its actually dead center of “average” (note: not a mathematical mean). Krookodile should last at least a turn and possibly two against many decks, except for Water and Lightning-Type decks. Water decks will enjoy exploiting its Weakness and probably score a OHKO and no worse than a 2HKO. Lightning-Type decks smack into Resistance, made even more effective by so many Lightning-Type Pokémon being Fighting Weak, and so if they get going they will have a hard time scoring a OHKO and if they don’t get going, even a 2HKO will be hard to manage! The three Energy Retreat Cost is hefty and you should build your deck to avoid it: either pack plenty of Switch (yes, on top of maxing out Junk Arm), try to include some cards to prevent/heal damage, or perhaps the best choice is to do both! Effects Krookodile has an Ability and an attack. The Ability is what could get this card played: while Krookodile is Active, Black Eyes (as it is named) will allow you to toss a coin and to discard an Energy attached to your opponent’s Active Pokémon if it is “heads”. This isn’t amazing, but it’s fairly useful when you’re not dealing with an Energy acceleration focused deck. Unfortunately that is much of the metagame right now. The attack is unfortunately much worse. You get a slightly wimpy 70 points of damage for (FFC) that has a mandatory coin toss: on “heads” the attack hits for an extra 20 points of damage, but on “tails” Krookodile hits itself for 20 points of damage. If the effect was optional the attack would be better. If the cost was (FCC) it would be a lot better. That isn’t the reality so in the effects department, this card is “slightly good” but depressingly all from an Ability is has to be Active to use, meaning you’ll need to work very hard to get it out of the way or use the poor attack. Usage As a Stage 2 Pokémon, Krookodile has to Evolve from something. In this case that would be Sandile and Krokorok. Sadly the newest versions from BW: Emerging Powers lack Lightning Resistance. All other stats are the same as the other legal-to-play versions. As such I’d go with the Black & White version of Sandile and Krokorok as they have as good or better attacks and Resistance. I’d also probably run this version alongside the Black & White version of Krookodile because its got identical stats to today’s CotD with one very good attack and one fairly good attack. So what to run with the Krookodile line? You’d have to Bench two Dodrio in order to enable a free Retreat on Krookodile, or run Metagross (HS: Unleashed 4/95) and some source of Psychic Energy. Even that would only give you two shots at Black Eyes without having to add even more to the combo, so I’d say that was out. Spamming Switch doesn’t make sense either: the Ability is a restricted Crushing Hammer in terms of effect and since it’s so hard to use more than one a turn, maxing out Crushing Hammer (and perhaps Lost Remover due to its similar effect) on top of Junk Arm would make much, much more sense. If you can make a Krookodile/Machamp Prime deck function, that is actually the best “changing out” strategy I can think of. Sandile and Krokorok aren’t the worst openers, so you could be attaching Energy to them, Evolve to Krookodile, use Black Eyes, and if it wasn’t worth attacking with Krookodile just drop a Machamp Prime. Perhaps the best Modified strategy is to simply use this to augment the other Krookodile in a deck focused on its soft lock. The other Krookodile can only hit harder than this one if the Defending Pokémon is already damaged, so despite seeming so weak the attack might be worth using. Black Eyes can help out against certain decks, and if you aren’t using Vileplume to shut down Item usage you could even consider using Switch and alternating Krookodile to try strengthen the lock. If can trap something with a high Retreat Cost up front, Black Eyes can try and keep it from building up Energy while Torment (from the other Krookodile) keeps the less expensive attacks from working. If Black Eye works they won’t be able to Retreat or use the more expensive attacks. Granted, that seems too complicated to bother with, but I felt it worth mentioning in case some future card made it more effective. Mostly I’d just pack it for those match-ups where the Torment soft lock just isn’t effective. In Unlimited it’s pretty much useless: even without the killer “first turn win” decks, you’d just use Energy Removal or Super Energy Removal. If you don’t want to deal with Trainer denial, well the space you saved on building a deck around a Stage 2 allows for plenty of counter-counters. In Limited Krookodile can really shine. First all the normal benefits apply. I didn’t see any Energy acceleration options and with the slower pace of Limited and often severely multi-color decks, Krookodile and its Black Eyes should be quite potent. You will need to dedicate a decent hunk of your deck’s Energy to Fighting Energy, though. Ratings Unlimited: 1/5 Modified: 2/5 (3.25/5 if used with the other Krookodile) Limited: 3.75/5 Combos with: Krookodile (Black & White) Summary Not completely useless, but I honestly had higher hopes for this card when I first saw it. Namely, I missed both “only while Active” restrictions. Given how fast the current format is, I think Krookodile could have been relatively balanced (at least) even if Black Eyes had worked from the Bench and let you target any opposing Pokémon. We have several Energy acceleration decks in the format and the rest of the attack is so poor that using Pokémon Catcher to force it out would be a fairly safe Prize (or half-step to a Prize). Swarming a Stage 2 Pokémon is not easy, and while a full four would be devastating, getting them out in time to matter is a challenge. Plus the deck would still struggle against opposing Energy acceleration decks.
conical Deck Garage	Alex