Zoroark
67/98 (Emerging Powers)
The last time we got a
Zoroark card
(in the previous set),
it was a rule-breaking utility tech with
a versatility we have not seen since Mew
ex LM. So . . . today’s card has a lot
to live up to.
. . .
and
predictably enough, it falls so far
short that you almost feel embarrassed
for it. Like
Zoroark BW, this version has a
so-so 100 HP (making it an easy KO for
Dragons); a Fighting Weakness that is
still a drawback, even though
Donphan
seems to be getting less play at the
moment; and an almost irrelevant Psychic
Resistance. For some reason, the card
designers decided to give
Zoroark a
slightly awkward Retreat cost of two,
which is higher than the far superior
version.
While Zoroark
BW has attacks that make you go ‘What!?
I need to check the rulings’,
Zoroark EP
has attacks that won’t get a response
better than ‘meh’.
Fury Swipes is cheap at a single Dark
Energy and gives you three coin flips
for 20 damage each.
I guess that if you flip all heads and
have a Special Dark attached, you will
do 70 for one, which would be excellent.
Unfortunately, I think we all know that
things don’t work out that way in real
life, and you will be left with a cheap
but mediocre vanilla attack almost all
the time.
Which is still probably better than what
you get with Night Daze, which is a more
expensive mediocre vanilla attack.
Doing 80 damage for [D][C][C]
might not seem terrible, but the fact is
that it isn’t very effective or
efficient. Yes, it
will OHKO most Basics and some
Stage 1s, but then so will a lot of
other, cheaper attacks on more durable
Pokémon. As for
Zoroark’s chances of sticking
around long enough to score a two-shot
KO on something big . . . like the card
itself, I don’t rate them very highly.
Rating
Modified: 1.5 (nearly useless)
Limited: 3.75 (pretty good here:
reasonable damage at a good cost)
