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Pojo's Pokémon Card of the Day

Baby Mario 2010 UK National Seniors Champion	Charizard (Boundaries Crossed)  Even people who don’t know Pokémon mostly know who Charizard is, and most people think he’s pretty awesome: an iconic dragon (not a Dragon Type!) and pretty much the unofficial mascot of the game for people who think Pikachu is a bit girly. So, every time a new Charizard card is released, there are a ton of players willing it to be good, and prepared to go the extra mile to try and engineer a way to make it playable.   At first glance, there seems to be something to work with here. Sure, he’s a Stage 2 and that doesn’t help. Yes, he’s Weak to Water and that’s a bit off-putting with Blastoise/Keldeo being so popular, but he does have great HP for a non-EX and a couple of attacks that seem as if the could be good.  The first, Split Bomb, is a version of an attack that has proved successful in the past (think Exeggutor δ and Empoleon MD). It costs a pretty steep one Fire and two Colourless Energy and does 40 damage to any two of your opponent’s Pokémon. Unfortunately, whereas this has been good in older formats, it really isn’t very effective now: most Pokémon have much higher HP than they did in the past and do much more damage, so it’s harder to take Prizes and even tougher to stick around long enough to do so. Yeah Charizard might pick up a Prize or two from things like Sableye DEX or Fliptini, but even a humble Eelektrik NVI will take three turns to KO with Split Bomb, and that is way too long.  But Charizard does seem to have a way to deal with the big HP monsters of the format: Scorching Fire does a huge 150 damage: enough to one-shot anything that’s not an EX. Hey, even the mightiest EX can be KO’d if you follow this attack with Split Bomb (assuming they don’t heal or use Eviolite). Unfortunately, it costs a staggering five Energy (only one of which needs to be Fire though). The additional cost of discarding a Fire Energy is pretty minor, admittedly, but even so, the task of setting this thing up and keeping the big attacks coming is just not practical in the current environment. You are going to need Energy acceleration for a start and that means another Stage 2 (Ability Emboar BLW). Even more of a concern is the amount of resources you lose: getting the amount of Energy you need to keep streaming Charizard is way beyond the capabilities of Energy Retrieval and running very Energy heavy or relying on Cilan hurts the balance and consistency of a deck.  What we have in the end is another big tease from the card designers. You want a Charizard? You want one that can do massive amounts of damage? Sure, we’ll give you that, and you will spend many hours trying to make it playable before giving up in frustration. I guess it’s time we learned our lesson: it’s been like this since day one.  Rating  Modified: 2.25 (not terrible, but not good enough either. It’s still a Charizard though) Limited: 2 (too slow, too difficult to use)
virusyosh	Greetings, Pojo viewers! Today we're looking at a fan favorite that's been around all the way since Generation I. This popular Pokemon has always seen a bit of play, regardless of whether or not the card was suitable for high-level Modified play or not. Today's Card of the Day is Charizard from Boundaries Crossed.   Charizard is a Stage 2 Fire Pokemon. As a Fire-type, Charizard's only real competition in Modified is Ho-Oh-EX, which works wonderfully as a support Pokemon in decks built around it. Aside from that, Blastoise and Keldeo-EX are one of the most common sights in Modified, making Fire-types somewhat weak right now. With a whopping 160 HP, Charizard should be able to take at least one major hit before going down. However, like other common Fire-types, Charizard has Water Weakness, meaning that both Blastoise and Keldeo can dispatch the fire lizard without any problems. Sadly, Charizard has no Resistance, but does have a rather large Retreat Cost of 3, meaning it is searchable by Heavy Ball (and by extension, probably requires Switch to get out of the Active position).   Charizard has two attacks. Split Bomb deals 40 damage to two of your opponent's Pokemon (without Weakness and Resistance for the Bench) for a Fire and two Colorless. This attack has great spreading potential, but is still largely outclassed by Darkrai-EX's Night Spear. On the other hand, Split Bomb works wonders in Limited, and can easily rough up an opponent's Bench or even grab a few KOs of their weaker, unevolved Pokemon.   Scorching Fire, Charizard's second attack, does a whopping 150 damage for an even bigger energy cost of a Fire and four Colorless, with the additional effect of discarding  a Fire Energy attached to Charizard. 150 damage will severely dent most Pokemon in the game right now, but five Energy is really difficult to accomplish without acceleration, and even then, Keldeo-EX does the same amount of damage in a more efficient deck. Of course, if you are able to power this up in Limited, your opponent will have an incredibly difficult time, as 150 damage easily takes out anything that isn't a Pokemon-EX, and even deals a major blow to those.   Modified: 2/5 While Charizard is a large Pokemon that can dish out a lot of damage, it has terrible typing and is too slow for the current Modified metagame. Most Stage 2s commonly played right now are done so for their Abilities, and Charizard's place as an attacker is generally better performed by big Basics like Pokemon-EX. That being said, with the right type of support, Charizard could see a bit of play, although it has massive problems with Blastoise/Keldeo, and there are generally much better options.   Limited: 4.5/5 Charizard is a great Limited Pokemon. Both of the fire lizard's attacks have very generous Colorless Energy requirements, while also being quite powerful for the format. Split Bomb has very nice damage output that can spread, and Scorching Fire will obliterate all of your opponent's non-EX Pokemon (though it does take down Celebi-EX quite effectively, as well). Unfortunately, Charizard is somewhat slow, but 160 HP should go a long way in Limited, especially if you manage to pull Potions or a Gold Potion. Overall, Charizard is an excellent Stage 2 in Limited, and should win you many games as soon as it hits the table.
Jebulous Maryland Player	Charizard   I finally pulled one of these last night... though I doubt it'll do anything but sit in my binder.   Carizard is a Stage 2 Fire Pokemon with 160 HP.  It is weak to Water and has a retreat of 3.  It is searchable by Heavy Ball.   'Split Bomb' costs 1 Fire and 2 colorless.  It does 40 to 2 of your opponent's Pokemon.  Not a good attack considering this is a Stage 2 and for 3 energy you put 80 on the board.  Darkrai EX is a Basic, puts 120 on the board, and has an ability...   'Scorching Fire' costs 1 Fire and 4 colorless energy.  It does 150 and you discard a Fire energy.  That's really good compared to past versions of similar attacks that make you discard multiple Fire Energy.  The biggest problem is the cost.  At a minimum it takes 3 turn to set up (2 DCE and a Fire).  If you are playing against a competitive deck, your opponent will know to take it down before you can set up (or worse, right before you finish setting up, so you lose all your energy).  150 is a big number, but that cost is even bigger.   So there was a Charizard/Celebi EX deck floating around that takes advantage of Charmeleon's attack.  I don't think it was too competitive seeing as how it's not played as much.  It can get nasty if it gains the lead, but in a format where your type needs energy acceleration and quick attacks... I don't see it getting any better right now.   Modified: 1/5 Limited: 2.5/5 Combos With:  ...   Questions, comments, concerns: jebulousthemighty@yahoo.com