Zapdos
(Next Destinies)
The Kanto Legendary Birds . . . when
were they last playable? Probably back
when Ho-oh SW featured in that
‘Skittles’ deck that has some (pretty
minor) success. Before that you need to
go right back to the days of
Zapdos ex
decks like ZRE. Recently though,
Legendaries seem to have become a lot
more playable and powerful than they
once were. The trend really started with
the SP Pokémon (Dialga
G and Palkia
G), and has continued through the
Unova
Dragons right through to
the
lastest
EX Pokémon like
Mewtwo and
Regigigas. Will
Zapdos ND be
part of this new wave of good
Legendaries? Let’s take a look.
Zapdos
is a Basic Pokémon with a nice enough HP
of 120. Sadly, this puts him in-range of
unboosted
KOs from the likes of
Zekrom and
Reshiram. On
the minus side, he is Weak to his own
Type (bad at the moment, as Lightning
decks dominate), and has a harsh Retreat
cost of two. One huge positive is that
Zapdos has
Fighting Resistance. This is important
because all playable Lightning Pokémon (Zekrom,
Thundurus,
Eelektrik)
are Weak to Fighting: having Resistance
opens up the possibility of Lightning
decks being able to tech
Zapdos
against Fighting, without having to go
off-Type.
Of course, that would be pointless if
Zapdos’
attacks were terrible but fortunately
they are pretty good. Yes they are
expensive, but remember that he is most
likely going to be run in
an deck which
features Eelektrik NV and its Energy
accelerating Dynamotor Ability. Random
Spark costs [L][C][C]
and does 50 damage to any of your
opponent’s Pokémon. If you can get it
working fast enough, this is great for
sniping Tynamos,
Oddishes,
Magnemites
etc before they get a chance to evolve.
It is also useful against Bench-sitters
like Vileplume
UD and Reuniclus
BW. Yes, it will take 2-3 turns to KO
them, but those decks tend to be
incredibly slow anyway and if you can
take out a
Vileplume to buy yourself even
one turn of Trainers . . . well, that
can be game-winning.
Zapdos’
second attack, Thundering Hurricane
(great name!), has potential too. For
the huge cost of one Lightning and
three Colourless
Energy, you get to flip four
coins and do 50 damage for each heads.
Now I wouldn’t for a moment suggest
relying on this as
a main attacking strategy
(not even with
Fliptini), but at the same time
it
is capable of
OHKOing every single Pokémon in
the game . . . including any EX with
Eviolite! If
you are using
Zapdos to tech against Fighting
Pokémon like
Donphan Prime and
Terrakion,
then, thanks to Resistance (and maybe
your own Eviolite),
you stand a very good chance of
KOing them
before they get
Zapdos.
Not every player will want to fit a copy
of this card into their
Zekrom/Eelektrik
deck, but it is certainly a valid tech
option if you find that your list needs
something to counter Trainer Lock, or
Fighting Pokémon. Or maybe you just want
a sniper with a huge risk/reward second
attack. Either way,
Zapdos has made an appearance in
some successful Lightning decks during
State Championships, and he’s well worth
testing in yours.
Rating
Modified: 3.25 (cute tech for Lightning
decks)
Limited: 4.25 (big
Basic that can snipe for Prizes
and take down anything if you get lucky)
