Pokemon Home

Pokedex

Price Guide Set List

Message Board

Pokemon GO Tips

Pokemon News

Featured Articles

Trading Card Game
- Price Guide
- Price Guide
- Card of the Day
- Professional Grading
- Killer Deck Reports
- Deck Garage
- William Hung
- Jason Klaczynski
- Jeremy's Deck Garage
- Johnny Blaze's Banter
- TCG Strategies
- Rulings Help
- Apprentice & Patch
- Apprentice League
- Spoilers & Translations
- Official Rules
- Featured Event Reports
- Top of the World
- An X-Act Science
- Error Cards
- Printable Checklist
- Places to Play

Nintendo Tips
- Red/Blue
- Yellow
- Gold & Silver
- Crystal
- Ruby & Sapphire
- Fire Red & Leaf Green
- Emerald
- SNAP
- Pinball
- TCG cart
- Stadium
- PuPuzzle League
- Pinball: Ruby/Sapphire
- Pokemon Coliseum
- Pokemon Box
- Pokemon Channel

GameBoy Help
- ClownMasters Fixes
- Groudon's Den
- Pokemon of the Week

E-Card Reader FAQ's
- Expedition
- Aquapolis
- Skyridge
- Construction Action Function
- EON Ticket Manual

Deck Garage
- Pokemaster's Pit Stop
- Kyle's Garage
- Ghostly Gengar

Cartoon/Anime
- Episode Listing
- Character Bios
- Movies & Videos
- What's a Pokemon?
- Video List
- DVD List

Featured Articles

Pojo's Toy Box

Books & Videos

Downloads

Advertise With Us
- Sponsors
- Links

Chat

About Us
Contact Us

Pojo's Pokémon Card of the Day

Baby Mario 2010 UK National Seniors Champion

Scrafty (Plasma Storm)  I guess it’s somewhat appropriate that the ‘Hoodlum Pokémon’ appears to be a favourite of Team Plasma. All the Grunts seem to have one, so it’s no surprise that Scraggy turns up on a card with the Team Plasma mechanic. Right now, that means it gets a little bit of support (Colress Machine), with a lot more to come. Speaking of support, Scrafty is also a Dark Type, so it can also make use of Dark Patch and Dark Claw . . . the question is, is it worthy of all these good things?  In a word, no. Being a 90 HP Stage 1 doesn’t help for a start: it’s just too easy for anything to KO it one hit and for very little Energy investment. This is especially true for a Fighting Type, thanks to Scrafty’s Weakness – Landorus-EX with Lasers and Virbank can OHKO it for a single Energy . . . oh and the Basics will all suffer an even quicker death – if you must play it at least go for the NEX Scraggy which has 70 HP.  The real problem though is that Scrafty’s attacks don’t really do anything to make you want to play the card. The first, Kick Away does 30 for two Energy and forces the opponent into making a switch of their choice: sometimes this is mildly annoying, other times the opponent will positively welcome it. Either way, the damage output is too low for the attack to have much significance. Reinforced Headbutt at least does some good damage for its cost of two Dark and one Colourless Energy . . . if it has a Pokémon Tool attached that is. Without it, it will only hit for 50, but with the help of  . . . uh, Rocky Helmet, I guess, it can do 100 – enough to exchange two-hit KOs with an EX, if only Scrafty was likely to stay on the Field that long (which it isn’t).  To be fair, I’m probably being a bit harsh on this card (I’m not the biggest fan of Scraggy). There’s a lot worse out there, if I’m honest. Really, this is just pretty average . . . which is the same as saying that it won’t be troubling the competitive scene any time soon.  Rating  Modified: 1.75 (effectively just filler) Limited: 3 (Disruption is useful, and could hit big if you pull an Eviolite to go with it)

virusyosh

Greetings once again, Pokemon TCG fans! Today we're reviewing a new Team Plasma Pokemon from Plasma Storm. Today's Card of the Day is Scrafty.   Scrafty is a Stage 1 Darkness Team Plasma Pokemon. Darkrai-EX is by far the most commonly played Darkness-type in Modified these days with its friend Sableye in tow; therefore, if Scrafty is going to see some play, it will either have to help this dynamic duo or do something completely different. As a Team Plasma Pokemon, Scrafty gets support from things like Colress Machine, with more to come in later sets. 90 HP is standard for a Stage 1 these days, and sadly, Scrafty won't be surviving many hits in today's high powered metagame with such a low HP score. Fighting Weakness is equally bad, as Landorus-EX and even Terrakion will easily take out the Hoodlum Pokemon. Fortunately, Psychic Resistance is still decent against Mewtwo-EX (though the genetic cat still shouldn't have a problem getting rid of Scrafty). Finally, a Retreat Cost of 1 is good, and easily paid for if the necessity arises.   Scrafty has two attacks. Kick Away does 30 damage and forces the opponent to switch out after dealing damage for a Darkness and a Colorless, which is only really good in Limited, as you're better off using Pokemon Catcher in Modified (and 30 damage really isn't good for a primary attack in that format). Reinforced Headbutt is slightly better, starting off at an awful 50 damage for two Darkness and a Colorless, but also dealing 50 more damage if Scrafty has a Pokemon Tool attached. 100 damage for three Energy is pretty good, and Scrafty can also take advantage of Dark Claw to deal even more damage. Unfortunately for Scrafty, Darkrai-EX is a much better user of Dark Claw and has a significantly better Night Spear for the same Energy cost as Reinforced Headbutt, relegating Scrafty to Limited.   Modified: 1.5/5 Scrafty is outclassed by Darkrai-EX here, so you should use that instead.   Limited: 3.5/5 Scrafty is still quite good in Limited, though. Kick Away's disruption can be helpful for the price, and 30 damage here isn't so bad, even though it's still not optimal. Reinforced Headbutt is particularly nice, as a potential 100 damage for three Energy is not to be overlooked in this format. It is important to note, however, that the only Pokemon Tools available in Plasma Storm are Eviolite and Victory Piece, and neither will have any effect on Scrafty aside from boosting Reinforced Headbutt's damage output. Unfortunately, not everything is great for Scrafty, as it has low HP and attacks requiring a lot of Darkness Energy, but overall, if you're running Darkness, Scrafty is a good choice.