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Pojo's Pokémon Card of the Day

Baby Mario 2010 UK National Seniors Champion	Escavalier 80/101 (Noble Victories) Ok, I just want to say that this Pokémon has a very clever name. It’s a snail (escargot in French) that looks like a knight (chevalier). So . . . Es-cavalier. Brilliant. The card itself? Eh . . . not so much. We have a 90 HP Metal Type (meaning bad Fire Weakness but decent Psychic Resistance and the option of using Special Metal to reduce damage taken). Now Metal Types are usually high HP Pokémon (like Steelix or Aggron), I mean, they are covered in Armour. Escavalier must be some kind of really fast Metal Type that has speed instead of bulk, right? Wrong. It’s slow as anything in the video game, and this is reflected in the TCG with a terrible Retreat cost of three. But in the video game, Escavalier has a huge amount of attack to compensate. Does the same thing happen here? Well, yes and no. Escavalier’s first attack is Guard Press. The damage output represents decent-ish value: 40 for [M][C], and it has the effect of reducing the damage taken by Escavalier on the next turn by 20. Now that’s better than nothing, I guess. It’s not going to make any difference to Reshiram or Zekrom of course, but it might buy you a turn against less overpowered Pokémon. That extra turn gives you the chance to attach another Energy of any Colour and use Twineedle. This attack gives you two coin flips with 70 damage for each heads. Get lucky and that’s a more than respectable 140. Average luck nets you a below par 70, and of course there’s always the chance that you could do nothing whatsoever. It’s that risk of mediocre/zero damage that, together with the low HP, really condemn this card to the binder. Of course tomorrow’s card might help with that, though as we shall see, it has many more attractive combos than with Escavalier. In a fast, high damage format, it just doesn’t have what it takes to compete. Rating Modified: 1.75 (outclassed by too many other things to be worthwhile. Being frail and flippy doesn’t help either) Limited: 4 (Guard Press can be very useful in a low damage environment, and its ability to KO anything if you get lucky makes it a good choice)
virusyosh	Happy December, Pojo readers! Today we're continuing our COTD week by reviewing the evolution of yesterday's card and the star of the Furious Knights theme deck. Today's Card of the Day is Escavalier. Escavalier is a Stage 1 Metal Pokemon. Metal-types aren't very common in Modified due to the omnipresence of Fire, although Metal can work well against the newly-popular Kyurem and random Vanilluxe. 90 HP is fairly average for a Stage 1, and is probably too low for an attacker in Modified even with the boosts from Special Metal Energy. Fire Weakness is once again bad, as Reshiram, Typhlosion, and Emboar are all very common; Psychic Resistance is good against Mew Prime and the increasingly rare Gothitelle; a Retreat Cost of 3 is huge and shouldn't be paid. Use Switch instead. Escavalier has two offensive attacks in Guard Press and Twineedle. Guard Press deals 40 damage for a Metal and a Colorless, and gives Escavalier 20 points of damage reduction during your opponent's next turn. Not a terrible attack by any means (and a great tanking move in Limited), but the attack probably isn't going to see play in Modified due to its relatively low damage output. Twineedle is your standard flip attack, allowing you to flip 2 coins and deal 70 damage times the number of heads for a Metal and two Colorless. The possibility of 140 damage is fairly good in this format (as 130 seems to be the magic number for many prominent threats), but Escavalier probably will only be doing 70 damage on average and will likely be revenge killed. One could use Victory Star Victini as a potential partner to ensure a high damage output, but there are generally better options for abusing Victini, such as Vanilluxe NV or Sharpedo TM. Modified: 1.5/5 While Escavalier can easily OHKO a Kyurem and has the possibility to deal 140 damage with two coin flips (possibly with help from a Victini), its low HP, damaging Weakness, and high Retreat Cost will keep Escavalier from seeing competitive play. Limited: 3.5/5 Escavalier is a fairly strong Pokemon to use in Limited. Guard Press is an excellent tanking move, keeping weaker Pokemon at bay while you power up other Pokemon on the Bench (and lowering the damage output of stronger attacks as well). Twineedle is a high-risk, high-reward attack for Limited, but works very well if you manage to also play a Victory Star Victini. Escavalier's somewhat rare typing, low HP, and high Retreat Cost hold it back from being an automatic inclusion into your Limited deck, but it is still very good in the format. Combos With: Victini (Victory Star)
Mad Mattezhion  Professor Bathurst League Australia	Excavalier (Noble Victories)   Today's lucky contestant is Excavalier, the weirdest knight ever to roam the fantasy lands. Will Excavalier succeed inits quest to fin the fabled Fountain of Tournament Playability?   Not a chance, sadly. The 90 HP is right at the bottom rung for playable Stage 1 Poke'mon and the Fire Weakness is another strike against it. The retreat cost is an insult to a fine jouster like Excavalier and the Metal typing leaves the poor quester without any notable support Poke'mon (although the Special Energy are a small consolation). If Excavalier is to rise above these obstacles, it had better have some broken attacks!   Guard Press and Twinneedle do not carry the classification of 'broken'. Heck, they don't even carry the classification of 'would be good if support gets printed later'.   Guard Press is decent value, costing [m][c] to deal 40 damage and reduce incoming damage by 20 (which stacks well with the Psychic Resistance and Special Metal Energy) but it doesn't do nearly as much as other attacks that require the same investment (Yanmega's Linear attack, Zoroark's Foul Play, Donphan's Earthquake, Simisear's Flame Burst, Cinccino's Do the Wave, the list goes on). As such, it is only an early option for when you are short on energy or the Defending Poke'mon is 40 HP away from being Knocked Out.   Twinneedle is a flippy attack costing [m][m][c] which flips two coins, dealing 70 damage for each Heads result. While the maximum output of 140 damage is certainly impreesive, the average is only 70 damage and the 25% chance of complete failure is painful. Even with the new Victory Star Victini around, the odds don't improve that much and you still have to deal with the problem of manually attaching 3 energy to a Poke'mon that will most likely be hit with a revenge KO. Even a magic coin that always flips Heads won't save Excavalier from the discard pile!   At the end of the day, Excavalier is a mediocre card that is already playing at a disadvantage. Keep it in the binder for trade fodder.   Modified: 2 (even if Metal types had energy acceleration so they could keep up fith the Fire types, I doubt Excavalier would make the cut)   Limited: 3.5 (Guard Press will serve you well and Twinneedle is also is improved by the lack of other options. The useful Karrablast and Shelmet Poke'mon are another plus)   Combos with: the binder