Haxorus
(Dragon Vault)
Haxorus
doesn’t seem to get the love that
Dragons from other Generations have.
Maybe it’s his slightly weird,
insect-like
appearance, maybe it’s the fact
that he’s nowhere near as good in the
video games as
Dragonite,
Garchomp,
Salamence, or even
Flygon. So
far his appearances in the TCG have been
on cards that aren’t
bad exactly, but are too mediocre to
really be worth anyone’s while. Let’s
see if being printed in the shiny Dragon
Vault set will make any difference.
The fact that
Haxorus is a Stage 2 means it
will have its work cut out for it. Stage
2s need to be spectacularly good these
days if they are going to compete with
the immense power of the Basic EX
Pokémon and cards like
Terrakion
NVI, and only
a handful of Pokémon make the grade (Empoleon
DEX, Hydreigon
DRX, Garchomp
DRX to an extent). It’s a Dragon Type
which is on the whole a good thing as
most decks will not be hitting it for
Weakness and those that do are also
vulnerable to
Haxorus itself. It also has some
support in the shape of
Altaria for
damage boost and
Gabite DRX for Pokémon search.
What isn’t good is that Retreat cost of
two: too high to pay, and not high
enough for Heavy Ball.
The First attack, Axe Slugger, is at
least cheap. It costs two Energy of any
Colour (or preferably a Double
Colourless), and for that you get 60
damage. Not the worst value out there,
but not enough to really put the hurt on
the opponent’s Pokémon, especially when
you consider this is a Stage 2. If,
however, the Defending Pokémon is
Colourless, Axe Slugger does
another 60
damage. That 120 for two Energy
is very good
but . . . what would you be using it
against exactly? Right now the only
Colourless Pokémon you are likely to see
are
Tornadus-EX
(which is fast enough to stop
Haxorus
before it can evolve) and
Bouffalant
DRX (which is only played as a counter
to EX Pokémon). Neither of those cards
are
especially common, so you won’t often be
getting to use Axe Slugger to its full
potential.
Dragon Pulse,
Haxorus’ second attack, is much
more expensive. I don’t really
understand why they give these cards
such weird attack costs. What does
Haxorus have
to do with Fighting or Steel? Oh well,
you’ll need both of those, and a Double
Colourless to do 100 damage with this
attack. Oh, and you also have to discard
the top card of your deck. It’s like an
overcosted
version of Garchomp
DRX’s Dragonblade.
In fact, the whole card feels like it’s
just a worse version of
Garchomp,
and that is not good news for its
playability.
Still, I’m sure it will look nice in the
binder.
Rating
Modified: 1.75 (does nothing to justify
the inconvenience of running a Stage 2)
Limited: N/A (mini set)
