We begin this week by looking at
Gyarados (BW: Legendary Treasures
31/113).
Gyarados is one of those Pokémon
that have a sizable fan following; a few
years ago IGN polled its user base to
determine the Top 100 Pokémon, and
Gyarados secured the number 100 spot.
Popularity can be an easy to
forget aspect of the Pokémon TCG;
whether intentionally or subconsciously,
some people are going to run their
favorites even when they aren’t the
best, most logical choice and that can
really shake up the metagame.
Historically,
Gyarados in the TCG exemplify this;
plenty of duds, a few studs, several
that were somewhere in between, and just
to keep things complicated a few that
started off as one then metamorphosed
into the other as the then metagame
developed.
I am happy to report that whether
this card proves champ, chump, both or
neither, today’s version at least isn’t
vanilla filler.
So let’s break it down.
Being a Water-Type is somewhat useful
due to the predicted increase in
Fire-Types as an attempt at countering
Fire Weak Pokémon (most popularly
Genesect EX and
Virizion EX), but it lacks true Type
support; yes there are some amazing
Water-Type Pokémon out but they aren’t
restricted on what they can help, and
sometimes instead of providing synergy,
being the same Type just means other
Types access that same support while
providing more coverage.
Given how middle of the road the
rest is, you can understand how the
normally insignificant mechanic that is
Resistance in the TCG may be the
deciding factor on Type; those
Grass-Types I mentioned earlier?
Some like
Virizion EX are sporting Water
Resistance just to make it even harder
to KO.
Being a Stage 1 Type Pokémon is still
bad.
It isn’t as bad as it was before
the rules change, but said changes
didn’t really fix problems so much as
try to ignore them and thus cause some
new problems.
Most Evolving Pokémon are still
filler, giving you no reason to try and
use them for the turn that basic game
mechanics require, and we’ve still got
non-Evolving Basic Pokémon that are
amazing as soon as they hit the field;
no attacks first turn gives the Evolving
filler time to Evolve but doesn’t really
hold back the non-Evolving attackers
significantly… except for the ones doing
it right by not being about insane
offense but set-up or disruption, which
would be a great use to put Evolving
Pokémon towards.
Huh?
Right, reviewing
Gyarados; being a Stage 1 is still
bad.
130 HP is good… if you’re a Basic
Pokémon that isn’t a Pokémon-EX.
Otherwise it’s bad.
The format is such that 130 might
survive for one turn, which is
acceptable when you’ve got a Basic that
(thanks to the amount of acceleration
and/or inexpensive attacks) can attack
with little to no prep work.
By definition a Stage 1 (has to
Evolve from a Basic Pokémon) has a turn
and another Pokémon card invested in it,
which means it needs to be bigger.
Unfortunately TCG HP scores are
all squished together (when compared to
the source material) due to a smaller
range and restriction to 10 point
increments.
This means that Stage 1 Pokémon
need to be as big as Stage 2 Pokémon…
which may not be a bad thing if you want
all ending Stages to be equally
competitive relative to the same role.
Gyarados
gets off lucky with Lightning Weakness;
right now the Type isn’t as popular as
it once was because there just aren’t
that many decks that use it for a main
attacker.
The
popularity of some other Lightning Weak
Pokémon keeps Lightning Weakness from
being safe, but it’s hardly the worst
Weakness to have right now.
Plus the TCG mechanics don’t
factor in how in the video games, the
dual-Type nature of
Gyarados (it’s Water/Flying, or is
that Flying/Water?) actually means it
should take quadruple damage from
Lightning-Types.
It did get gypped by losing its
Fighting Resistance, but as I said
earlier when looking at it from the
other direction, Resistance isn’t that
strong of a mechanic in the TCG.
The chunky Retreat Cost of three
is a pain to pay but makes
Gyarados a legal
Heavy Ball target, which itself is
usually only useful if there is at least
one other target in a given deck (and
Magikarp won’t qualify).
I also have an aversion to given
Flying-Types a large Retreat Cost, but
that is purely about game aesthetics and
“flavor”.
So in the Stats department,
Gyarados is wanting but not abysmal;
what can it do?
Two attacks, and because it’s
clearly bad, I’ll start with the second;
Hydro Splash has a printed Energy cost
of (WWCCC).
Although technically some great
attacks will utilize five Energy, it’s
as an optional cost; the attack has a
variable effect and can make use of that
much Energy, or does something to its
own Energy so if you can get off a
second shot you’ll need extra.
Actual printed requirements this
high rarely turn out well, because four
Energy has rarely been easy to pay.
Even with a mostly Colorless
cost, this is still too little damage
for the investment.
Any deck that can meet this cost
without a major hassle has better
options, and the amount of effort you
have to put into meeting the cost can
easily bump up the damage of “lesser”
attacks.
So in the end it is all riding on that
first attack, Howling Rampage.
The required Energy is (WC),
which isn’t easy to pay but neither is
it especially hard; a turn of building
or a simple combo (such as
Energy Switch off another Pokémon)
handles it.
The attack then does 20 points of
damage times the number of Prizes taken
by both players, a range of 0 to 220
(barring extenuating circumstances).
I like the idea behind the
attack; it can be a “come from behind”
kind of attack as it doesn’t car which
player is winning; as long as someone is
taking Prizes the attack becomes better.
With the first attack being so bad,
there is no wiggle room for the first.
While in the past the cost of the
attack would be rewarded as soon as two
total Prizes had been claimed, as of now
you need to be hitting 80 or 100 points
of damage minimum to keep pace, and to
justify the dangers of running this
card, you pretty much need to get the
point of OHKOing Pokémon-EX (at least
boosting tricks like
Silver Bangle can help), and that
basically means this card has to be a
cleaner.
Even if you intentionally give up
Prizes, it takes five of your own
(meaning any KO wins the opponent the
game) to hit that 100 points of damage
range.
There just aren’t any Pokémon
with the capacity to self-KO (especially
via an Ability) to make the whole deal
worth it, and if you’re using something
that can quickly KO enough of your
opponent’s Pokémon to make Howling
Rampage build quickly… why would you
stop using that attacker to switch to a
clunky Stage 1 Pokémon?
After all that, let me remind you
that not only are the two Modified Legal
Magikarp so unimpressive that even I
don’t feel like analyzing them… but they
each have only 30 HP, meaning even with
the new rules you could still lose first
turn if your opponent runs and opens
with
Virbank City Gym and
Hypnotoxic Laser!
Unlimited would allow you to tap some
more support, but it is still too
fragile a combo… or two clunky if you’ve
already enabled the appropriate lock (by
which point just about any beatstick
would do).
For Limited, does Gyarados
finally fare better?
Magikarp (BW: Legendary Treasures
30/113) is a bad card, even by Limited
standards.
Without any form of acceleration,
Hydro Splash will require sacrificing a
lot to buy build time (at which point it
is kind of awesome) and Howling Rampage
is diminished because its range is now 0
to 140.
So technically
Gyarados is better, but
Magikarp is even worse because you
may be subjected to it much longer.
Ratings
Unlimited:
1/5
Modified:
1.5/5
Limited:
1.5/5
Summary
Gyarados
has some interesting tricks but the
uninspired second attack,
Magikarp options, and raw brutality
of this format make it a resound “no”
for competitive play.
