Baby Mario
2010 UK
National
Seniors
Champion |
Reshiram
(Next Destinies)
Hmmm . . . ‘why are you reviewing
Reshiram
again?’ I can hear some readers ask.
Well, the answer is simple: if Pokémon
keep printing it, we’ll keep reviewing
it. So far it’s been in the Black and
White set (normal and Full Art
versions), a tin promo, a box promo, and
now it surfaces once more in the Next
Destinies set. It’s also available in
the Explosive Edge theme deck if
anyone’s interested.
Is there anything wrong with this card
(along with Zekrom)
getting so many reprints? Not really (in
my opinion). This is one of the cards
that has
helped to define the post-BW
metagame.
Having it easily and cheaply available
is a
good thing. Funny how the people who
complain about the price of cards like
Mewtwo-EX
are usually the same
people who whine about a card
like Reshi
getting reprinted, isn’t it?
Anyways, by now you don’t need me to
tell you that
Reshiram is a Basic Pokémon with
massive HP (which the EX Pokémon have
since surpassed), and excellent attack
in Outrage (which punishes any Pokémon
that can’t take it out in one hit) and a
very powerful second attack (Blue Flare)
which can dish out a constant 120 damage
with a little help from an Energy
accelerator like
Typhlosion Prime or Ability
Emboar (the
lesser option in my view).
Reshiram’s
journey through the format has been a
bit up and down. It was initially more
successful than its Lightning
counterpart, being part of David Cohen’s
Magnezone/Emboar
deck that won the World Championship.
With Typhlosion,
it dominated Autumn Battle Roads, but
since then it has been eclipsed by the
success of Zekrom.
Why has this happened? Well, it’s mainly
due to the fact that
Zekrom has a
Stage 1 Energy acceleration engine in
Eelektrik NV which is faster and takes
up much less deck space than
Typhlosion
or Emboar
(which need a Stage 2 Evolution line
plus Rare Candy). When you consider that
Lightning has a lot of other great
attacking options (Thundurus,
Zekrom-EX,
the forthcoming
Raikou-EX), then it’s not
surprising that
Reshiram use has tailed off a
bit. Nevertheless, it’s still a very
solid card that performs very well
against the all-powerful
Mewtwo-EX
(discarding Energy means the Purple Cat
struggles to KO it), and even with the
handicap of needing to run a Stage 2,
Typhlosion/Reshiram
decks seem to be holding a place in the
second tier and even picking up the odd
win here or there.
Regardless of how much use it gets in
the future,
Reshiram is one of the cards that
has made the
format what it is today. Some people
will think that’s a bad thing. Me? As a
player, I have to learn to adapt and I
for one welcome our new Dragon
overlords.
Rating
Modified: 3.5 (not the force it was, but
don’t write it off just yet)
Limited: 4.25 (high HP Basic that can
Outrage for KOs all day)
|
|
virusyosh |
Happy Friday, Pojo readers! Today
we're going to end our COTD week by reviewing a card
that I've been talking about in passing all week.
Today's Card of the Day is Reshiram, mostly recently
from Next Destinies.
Reshiram is a Basic Fire Pokemon,
and chances are, if you're playing Fire, you're playing
Reshiram. 130 HP is great on a Basic, although it isn't
as great as it once was, given the presence of Pokemon-EX.
Water Weakness is once again a problem against Kyurem
and Kyurem-EX, although Kyurem is hard-pressed to do any
real damage to Reshiram without being hit first.
Reshiram also has no Resistance, and a Retreat Cost of
2, which can be lowered to one with Skyarrow Bridge, but
can also be paid fairly easily.
Reshiram has two attacks. Outrage
deals 20 damage plus 10 more for each damage counter on
the Vast White Pokemon for two Colorless Energy. This
attack allows Reshiram to take weak attacks with
relative ease, and even sometimes not so weak attacks.
In fact, most Reshiram/Zekrom/Kyurem matches involve
neither player attacking for a while, as their know the
attacks will simply fuel Outrage. Being powered by a
Double Colorless is also great, as it allows for faster
powering up if need be, too.
Blue Flare, Reshiram's second
attack, deals 120 damage for two Fire and a Colorless,
but you must discard two Fire Energy attached to
Reshiram. This attack was used commonly with Typhlosion
Prime and Emboar BW due to their abusing Energy
placement, but these strategies have fallen into disuse
recently since the Evolutions don't have quite what it
takes anymore against the high-powered Pokemon-EX in the
format. That being said, the attack is very powerful in
its own right, and will significantly dent many of the
metagame's top threats, even if it isn't quite as
devastating as it used to be.
Modified: 3/5 Reshiram is still a
decent Pokemon, but it has largely fallen out of favor
for its Lightning counterpart, Zekrom. Reshiram's
attacks are both very useful, but Zekrom largely
outclasses it in this speedy format. Reshiphlosion and
Reshiboar are still playable decks in Modified, but they
are generally too slow against Eels and CMT to see much
high-level tournament action.
Limited: 5/5 Reshiram is great in
Limited. Although Blue Flare is a bit hard to use in
Limited where Energy recursion is difficult, Outrage and
high HP is great for this format. Just watch out for
Water-types!
Combos With: Typhlosion Prime,
Emboar BW #20
|
