We end the week with
Reshiram (BW: Plasma Freeze
17/116), a new version of one of the
“poster-mon” for the Black & White
games!
Stats
Type:
Reshiram is a Fire-Type; they don’t
have any useful support (not that many
Types do), you hit Weakness for most
Metal- and Grass-Type Pokémon (of which
only a handful see competitive play),
but you don’t have to worry about
Resistance (unless you are playing in
Unlimited).
This isn’t good… in fact of the
Weaknesses we’ve actually seen printed
in the current Modified card pool
(Darkness, Dragon, Fighting, Fire,
Grass, Lightning, Metal, Psychic, and
Water), Fire is the safest… but it isn’t
all bad, as because no one expects it,
it can be quite upsetting for the few
decks that have it.
Stage:
Reshiram is a Basic… just a plain
Basic Pokémon.
This means it is space efficient,
easy to get into play, and all and all
as good as it gets.
You can tap the support that
exists purely for Basic Pokémon (like
Prism Energy) and certain pieces of
general support (like search) works
better since it is one and done.
Hit Points:
130 HP is as good as it gets for Basic
Pokémon without also being a Pokémon-EX.
This isn’t enough to guarantee
surviving a hit, but most of the time
you’ll be trading blows with Pokémon-EX
or Evolutions; in the case of the former
even trading two to one and you break
even in Prizes or committing fewer
resources in the case of the latter.
Only against other Basic Pokémon
will you risk falling behind in all
areas.
Weakness:
Sadly, Fire-Type Pokémon all are Water
Weak lately; this is boring and makes
them vulnerable; a Fire-Type deck would
be very vulnerable to popular Water-Type
attackers like
Keldeo EX… and
Reshiram has the HP so that the
extra damage from Weakness is required
for an easy KO.
The thing is… Water Weakness
doesn’t fit a Dragon/Fire hybrid; both
Water- and Ice-Type attacks (which
convert to the TCG Water-Type) only do
normal damage to this kind of hybrid in
the video games.
Dragon Weakness would have been
appropriate, and two thirds of what
makes the TCG Fighting-Type (Ground-Type
and Rock-Types) would also be
appropriate… though I do not know if
these two Weaknesses would have been an
improvement.
Resistance:
No Resistance is the worst Resistance,
and
Reshiram could have used one; with
130 HP even absorbing 20 points of
damage could buy you an extra turn… two
if your opponent’s deck isn’t at full
steam.
There are even several reasonable
options based upon what a
Dragon/Fire-Type is Resistant to in the
video games: Grass (Grass and Bug),
Lightning (Electric), Metal (Steel), and
Fire (…Fire).
Retreat:
A Retreat Cost of two is disappointing.
In another format, it would be
the functional average; something you
could pay most of the time, but wouldn’t
want to because of how badly it would
set you back.
This format, not only are you
unlikely to need to change out of the
Active slot frequently, but you seldom
will want to discard two Energy in order
to do it.
There are effects to lower the
Retreat Cost, but they work just as well
on higher Retreat Costs which would also
qualify
Reshiram as a
Heavy Ball target.
Effects
Attack#1:
Purifying Flame requires (RCC) and hits
for 50 points of damage, and while
BW: Plasma Freeze has changed things
a little, the going successful rate
tends to require you hit for at least 70
and preferably more like 90 points of
damage for that much Energy in order to
be competitive.
You do get a beneficial effect,
but it is one of those ill thought out
healing effects; Purifying Flame removes
Special Conditions from
Reshiram (or if something is copying
it, that Pokémon).
In a format with a heavy focus on
Poison (due to
Hypnotoxic Laser), how is this not a
good thing?
While it might be handy, it isn’t useful
enough to be hitting almost half as hard
as a competitive attacker needs to for
three Energy, and remember that of the
five Special Conditions, only Burn and
Poison do not interfere with attacking;
Confusion will require you get “heads”
on your Confusion Check, while Paralysis
and Sleep will prevent you from
attacking and thus healing yourself.
Attack#2:
Fusion Flare requires a massive (RCCC),
and hits for base damage of 80 points.
This is too low, but there is an
effect; if you have a
Zekrom on your Bench (any card with
that exact name), then the attack hits
for an extra 40 points of damage… and
that is a good amount of damage for four
Energy.
Actually keeping a
Zekrom on your Bench shouldn’t be
too hard, though doing so while keeping
the rest of the deck competitive may be
a challenge.
I would prefer it hit a little
harder, or even just hit harder without
Zekrom and ended up with the same
120 after the bonus: 100 for four, even
though that isn’t much more than what is
expected for three Energy, still proves
useful enough.
Synergy:
The attack costs are nearly identical,
with Purifying Flame being the slightly
cheaper lead-in attack.
Both are fairly basic forms of
synergy, with the former being much more
useful than the latter.
The mostly Colorless Energy cost
and status as a Basic Pokémon should
make
Reshiram easy to fit into many
decks, at least other than the fact it
is so much Energy.
Usage
Card Family:
There is one other version of
Reshiram; it has been released
multiple times but debuted as Black &
White 26/114.
It has identical stats to today’s
card, including two attacks.
Its first attack is the blatantly
superior Outrage, requiring just (CC) to
use and hitting for 20 points of damage
plus 10 points of damage per damage
counter on itself.
For (RRC) you can use Blue Flare
for a fairly good 120 points of damage,
though it then forces you to discard two
Fire Energy from itself; this can get
very pricey.
Based on the effect and the back story,
Zekrom is kin to this card.
There are two distinct versions
of
Zekrom; the oft printed version that
debuted as Black & White 47/114
which has finally been joined by a new
version, BW: Plasma Freeze
39/116.
Both are Basic, Lightning-Type
Pokémon with 130 HP, Fighting Weakness,
no Resistance, a two Energy Retreat
Cost, and two attacks.
The first Outrage again, and
still a great attack while for (LLC) the
second attack, Bolt Strike, hits for 120
points of damage but
Zekrom hits itself for 40 points of
damage as well.
The new
Zekrom is the set mate and apparent
counterpart to today’s card: for (LCC)
it can use Mach Claw for 50 points of
damage, but its effect is ignoring
Resistance which can come in handy on
occasion but still isn’t worth not
hitting for an extra 20 points of damage
(which would accomplish the same end
result against Lightning Resistant
Pokémon).
For (LCCC) it can use Fusion
Bolt, and as the direct counterpart of
Fusion Flare it hits for 80 points of
damage, and if you have a
Reshiram in play it hits for an
extra 40 for a total of 120.
Neither of these cards is bad, and the
older
Zekrom was once one of the best
attackers in the game.
Which
one is better to partner with today’s
Reshiram is all about the rest of
your deck.
If it is a deck running a decent
source of Lightning-Type Energy, the
classic
Zekrom is already a solid pick.
If the deck runs mostly Fire-Type
Energy or at least can’t furnish a good
amount of Lightning-Type Energy, then
the newer
Zekrom could be competent, though
Outrage might still be strong enough to
make the original a better choice.
Combos:
There are no “real” combos I can think
of for
Reshiram;
Prism Energy can make it an easier
fit into a few decks and the best use I
can think of for it is to add it to a
deck built for
Rayquaza EX.
This way, you would use
Eelektrik (BW: Noble Victories
40/101) and already will be running a
source of Fire-Type Energy, so you just
need to also squeeze in a
Zekrom (probably the older version
unless you are worried about
self-damage).
A reliable 120 points of damage
from a non-Pokémon-EX is quite, quite
useful, and this would allow you to hit
Fire-Type Weakness fairly effectively…
useful against Plasma Steel decks.
Future:
The main benefits for this card in the
future are that two Fire Weak,
Grass-Type Pokémon are likely to be
quite popular (Genesect
EX and
Virizion EX) and two Pokémon Tools
we should get next set as well:
Silver Bangle and
Silver Mirror.
Silver Bangle, if attached to a
non-Pokémon-EX, causes its attacks to do
an extra 30 points of damage to
Pokémon-EX.
This allows Fusion Flare to hit
for 150 (assuming
Zekrom is on your Bench), which
means
Hypnotoxic Laser (assuming Poison
isn’t being blocked by
Virizion EX) plus
Virbank City Gym can hit for 180
points of damage.
Silver Mirror prevents all effects
of attacks (including damage) done to
the attached Pokémon by Team Plasma
Pokémon, though the card states it won’t
work when equipped to Pokémon-EX.
Ratings
Unlimited:
There are better options for raw damage.
1/5
Modified:
I believe there is a niche use, as
described above, for some
Eelektrik variants.
If we ever get a Fire-Type deck
up and running, with some Energy
acceleration, this might also be worth
considering over the original
Reshiram, if replenishing discarded
Energy is too taxing.
The latter is a bit of a stretch,
but the former shows a decent amount of
promise.
3/5
Limited:
Even if you can’t get a
Zekrom to go with it, this a format
where 130 HP is amazing, where healing
Special Conditions with an attack can
come in handy, and where even without
the bonus effect 80 for four points of
damage is good.
If you pull this, make room for a
few
Fire Energy cards and run it.
5/5
Summary
Call me optimistic, but I really do like
a reliable (even if expensive) 120
points of damage on a non-Pokémon-EX.
If we did a Top 20,
Reshiram might have taken the bottom
spot, especially given how some of the
cards I actually did pick for my Top 20.
Yes, I often submit a Top 20 for
our Top 10 lists; my picks can be quite
a bit different from the picks of the
rest of the crew, so I hedge my bets for
tiebreakers this way.
I shall be moving relatively soon and am
trying to finish selling off my various
collectables from over the years.
You can find my eBay sales
here; keep checking back as I list
more items (by the time this goes up, I
may have nothing current).
Pojo.com is not responsible for
any transactions, and is merely kind
enough to let me link at the end of my
articles.
