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Pojo's Pokémon Card of the Day

Baby Mario 2010 UK National Seniors Champion	Virizion 13/101 (Noble Victories) Hello and welcome to a brand new week of cards here on Pojo’s CotD. We’ve got mostly good stuff for you this week too! We kick off with one of my favourite cards from the set: Virizion. It’s a unevolving Basic Pokémon, which is a pretty good for a start: easily searched out with Pokémon Collector, and able to benefit from the damage-reducing effect of Eviolite. The 110 HP, while not up to Zekrom standards, is still more than decent for a Basic, as is the Retreat cost of one. Not such good news is Virizion’s Typing. Grass hits virtually nothing significant for Weakness (Terrakion maybe?), while at the same time it is weak to the Fire decks which are still seeing a fair amount of play (though not as much as previously). Water Resistance is at least some compensation: Kyurem is appearing in a few decks now and an active Virizion takes just 10 damage from Glaciate. Virizion’s first attack is Double Draw. For the low, low price of a single Energy (any Colour will do), you get to draw two cards (wow . . . they obviously worked really hard naming this attack). Drawing two cards is . . . quite good. Drawing two cards on your first turn . . . that is actually very good compared to what most other Pokémon have to offer (usually just an insignificant amount of damage, if anything). Extra cards means more options on your next turn and more chance of getting what you need to set up. It may not be as useful as Cleffa – which allows you to play what you can from your hand, then refresh – but it’s still effective, low cost draw, and that’s almost always a good thing. One advantage that Virizion does have over Cleffa (and in fact over almost every other ‘starter’ Pokémon) is that it has a very usable attack. Leaf Wallop only requires [G][C], but then it only has a poor damage output of 40 on the turn it is first used (still enough to KO Babies and low HP Basics like Oddish and Tynamo, though). On each subsequent turn, however, Leaf Wallop will hit for 80 damage: a more than acceptable return on the two Energy investment. Unfortunately the attack-boosting effect ends if Virizion is sent to the Bench, but surprisingly this can work in your favour: your opponent is forced to either burn their Catchers, or spend resources KOing what is effectively your starter Pokémon. Either that or deal with a constant 80 damage which can put them under real pressure. In a lot of previous formats, Virizion would have been an absolutely stellar card. It can wall for a bit, draw cards, and serve as a decent attacker. In this format? Well, straight draw doesn’t seem as desirable as the shuffle draw you get from Cleffa and various Supporters, 110 HP Pokémon can be taken down in one hit, and the 40/80 damage is no more than average. Virizion does a lot of things quite well, but nothing absolutely amazing . . . which is what cards need to do these days. Nevertheless, Virizion is seeing some play as a starter/early game attacker in decks inspired by the Japanese ‘6 Corners’ lists (basically Virizion, the Unova Dragons, and Terrakion – abusing Outrage attacks and covering almost all Weaknesses). Outside of that deck, and looking forwards, I’m not sure I can see Virizion getting too much play. When we start getting the EX cards in the next sets, the format looks like it will shift even more in favour of huge Basic Pokémon that OHKO everything very quickly, making a set-up Pokemon like Virizion even more redundant. That’s a shame really, as it is a very well-designed card with a lot to offer. It’s only crime seems to be the fact that it isn’t ridiculously over-powered. Rating Modified: 3.25 (underrated card with a lot going for it . . . just maybe not in this format) Limited: 4.75 (a high HP Basic with drawpower and a cheap attack – it’s hard to see how you could do better)
virusyosh	Welcome back, Pojo readers! We are reviewing more Noble Victories cards this week, starting with a new version of a member of the Musketeer trio. Today's Card of the Day is Virizion. Virizion is a Basic Grass Pokemon. Being a Grass Pokemon isn't terrible nowadays, as Fire's popularity is dwindling and more people are utilizing Kyurem. 110 HP is fairly good for a non-evolving Basic, although it's still a bit lower than the dragon trio and the other Musketeers. Fire Weakness is bad against Reshiram, Typhlosion, and Emboar; Water Resistance is great against Kyurem, and the rare Beartic and Vanilluxe; and a Retreat Cost of 1 is great and easily paid. Virizion has two attacks, Double Draw and Leaf Wallop. Double Draw does exactly what its name suggests, drawing two cards for a single Colorless Energy. This attack is an excellent opening move, and is amazing for both Modified and Limited. Leaf Wallop starts at a rather paltry 40, but increases to 80 if you use the attack consecutively. The damage output is steady enough to 2HKO most of the big bruisers in the format, and can do very well against Terrakion in the Six Corners matchup. Modified: 3.5/5 Virizion is an effective member of the Six Corners deck that has recently gained popularity due to its good use as a starter and somewhat effective attacker. While Leaf Wallop isn't the most damaging attack in the format, 80 damage for two Energy is still very respectable, and Virizion should easily work as well in Six Corners, as well as a starter in any random Grass deck you may want to build, especially with Eviolite. Limited: 5/5 Virizion is a very effective starter in Limited regardless of the type of deck you're running. Double Draw is great pure card advantage in Limited, and Leaf Wallop can do a great amount of damage for a low cost. If you pull a Virizion in Limited, chances are you should run it, no matter what type you ultimately decide to play.
Mad Mattezhion  Professor Bathurst League Australia	Hey Bill, with any luck I'll have my top 10 list to you sometime tomorrow. Enjoy Christmas! Virizion (Noble Victories) We have another new print of the Musketeer Trio for you today, and I must say that this card is a vast improvement over its predecessor from Emerging Powers. Virizion is a non-evolving Grass type Basic with 110 HP, Fire Weakness, Water Resistance, a retreat cost of 1 and two attacks. Aside from the unfortunate Weakness, Virizion has great stats and will survive at least 1 hit from anything except Typhlosion Prime, Reshiram or Zekrom (and Eviolite will stop Zekrom having an easy time of it). Against any other Poke'mon and Water types in particular, Virizion is a great wall. What makes Virizion so appealing to me however is the first attack. Double Draw costs [c] and draws you 2 cards, which is the best setup attack I've seen on any Poke'mon printed in a Black & White set. Combined with the high survivability, Virizion will give you 2-3 turns of draw power easily and will also prvoide the cover you need to evolve your more vulnerable Poke'mon (Magnemite TM and Hoppip HGSS come to mind). The fact that it is Colourless just adds to the utility and will make Virizion a valuable card in the near future, and even more so when all of the HeartGold/SoulSilver cards are rotated out. Leaf Wallop is nothing to sneeze at either. For [g][c], you deal 40 damage, which is acceptable but nothing special, and on your next turn Leaf Blade deals 80 damage instead. This damage boost is just plain awesome, allowing you to 2HKO a Dragon with the help of a Pluspower or a Rocky Helmet. Considering what the damge attack on a starter is usually like, Leaf Wallop is nothing short of astounding. Virizion is now one of only 4 Grass Poke'mon I can think of that are worth running (the others being Yanmega Prime, Royal Healing Serperior and Jumpluff HGSS) and it is the only Basic that Grass can claim is good. It's about time the scales were balanced, and I can see this card being used as the opening move in decks as new arechetypes are created. Get a playset now! Modified: 4 (There is still plenty of competition from other starter Poke'mon like Mantine HGSS, Pichu HGSS, Smeargle UD and Manaphy UL but Virizion is a solid inclusion in any deck that needs a few more Basics to tighten up the early game. And I expect that Virizion's stock will only go up!) Limited: 5 (Cheap attacks, card draw, a heavy body and plenty of Water types to make the Resistance count, as well as a few Grass Weak Fighting types to abuse. Virizion is dynamite here!) Combos with: any deck that suffers from too many lone starting Poke'mon, especially if said deck need some draw power to get a combo going.