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Pojo's Pokémon Card of the Day

Baby Mario 2010 UK National Seniors Champion	Beartic (Plasma Storm)   Is it just me, or does the 3D style card art from 5ban Graphics make that tuft of fur on Beartic’s underbelly look very weird indeed? I have to say I much prefer kawayoo’s awesome underwater illustration on the Next Destinies version of Beartic. Not that any of that is relevant, of course.   More to the point, Beartic is a Team Plasma Pokémon, which means he gets some nice support from Colress Machine and Plasma Energy (more to come in future sets!). He’s a Stage 1, which isn’t ideal, but he does have a healthy 130 HP . . . or at least it was healthy until Hypnotoxic Laser and Virbank City Gym made their appearance in the format. Thanks to those two cards, Beartic is now within OHKO range of Tornadus-EX or a Darkrai-EX with Dark Claw. Still, it does force your opponent to spend some resources on knocking him out. The Metal Weakness might be an issue if you come across Plasma Klinklang-based decks, though I wouldn’t worry about it too much as Conalion EX’s most potent attack actually ignores Weakness. Cobalion NVI will cause problems though. Meanwhile, the retreat cost of four is obviously something you will never want to pay, so I suggest running him with Switch and Heavy Ball for searching purposes.   But would you want to run him at all? That depends on the quality of the attacks, and I have to say they are . . . not bad. For one Water and one Colourless, you get Powerful Rage, an Outrage style attack that does 20 damage times the number of damage counters on Beartic. This might well force your opponent to use a weaker, then a stronger attack to deal with Beartic if they can’t KO in one hit but, as mentioned previously, a lot of decks won’t need to take that option. Still, if the opponent misplays and does 100 damage to Beartic, being able to reply for 200 at the cost of just two Energy is brilliant: I just don’t think you would be in a position to do that very often.   This leaves us with Glacier Drop, and attack that costs two Water and a Colourless and does 90 damage with the additional effect of discarding the top card of your opponent’s deck. That discard is really just a bonus. It could deny your opponent a crucial card, or it could help them by thinning out their deck a bit. The real attraction is that 90 is enough to two-hit KO any EX Pokémon (barring something like Eviolite or Giant Cape). It’s a very solid attack, even for the cost.   So, does this make Beartic playable? Eh . . . not quite. It’s actually a pretty good card by most standards. Unfortunately, the standards at the moment are being set by 180 HP EX Pokémon dishing out absurd amounts of damage. A Stage 1 that, despite relatively high HP, is vulnerable to OHKOs is going to find it very hard to keep up with the pace of today’s format. A shame really, because this is as close an attacking Stage 1 has come in a while. If only it had some kind of defensive Ability like Bouffalant DRX’s Bouffer . . . oh well.   Rating   Modified: 2.75 (so near, yet so far) Limited: 4 (very good here: high HP and no-one will want to attack it)
virusyosh	Greetings once again, Pojo viewers! Today we're reviewing a new Stage 1 Pokemon from Plasma Storm. Today's Card of the Day is Beartic. Beartic is a Stage 1 Water Team Plasma Pokemon. Water-types are still pretty popular right now, with Blastoise/Keldeo still seeing a lot of play (though the amount we saw at my local State tournament this weekend has been less than in recent weeks). As such, Beartic will need to do something extraordinary in order to see play. As a Team Plasma Pokemon, Beartic gets Team Plasma support, such as Colress Machine (with more to come in upcoming sets). In terms of stats, 130 HP is fantastic for a Stage 1, allowing Beartic to take most hits in Modified and survive, barring a Hypnotoxic Laser or a high-powered hit from Keldeo-EX or Rayquaza-EX. Metal Weakness is bad right now against the likes of Klinklang and Cobalion-EX, no Resistance is what we might expect, and a Retreat Cost of 4 is gigantic, so you'll definitely want to use Switch or Escape Rope to move Beartic from the Active Position. This Plasmafied polar bear has two attacks. Powerful Rage does 20 damage times the number of damage counters on Beartic for a Water and a Colorless, which is a very powerful attack indeed. With a way to reliably build up damage, Beartic can be quite menacing against the opponent. Of course, many common attackers in Modified will OHKO Beartic outright (the aforementioned Keldeo and Rayquaza, not to mention the common Metal attackers even boosted Landorus-EX), making this attack a risky proposition for Modified at best. In Limited, where attacks do much less damage, Powerful Rage can be a fantastic offensive move combined with Beartic's huge HP, and should probably win you some games if you opponent can't play around it.. Glacier Drop is Beartic's second attack, dealing 90 damage and discarding the top card of your opponent's deck for two Water and a Colorless Energy. 90 damage for three Energy isn't too bad nowadays, and the additional discard, while nice, will rarely be relevant. Even still, it's nice to be able to potentially disrupt your opponent, especially if they discard that crucial Special Energy or last Trainer card that they needed in order to push the game in their favor. Modified: 2/5 Beartic is a Pokemon that would likely see much more play if Pokemon-EX weren't around. Beartic has good support from both its typing and Team Plasma status, and its attacks are fairly effective. Of course, the metagame is relatively unkind to Beartic right now due to its reliance on being damaged for its most powerful attack and Metal Weakness. In a different format, Beartic could be quite effective, but as it stands, it's not going to make the cut. Limited: 4.5/5 On the other hand, Beartic is excellent in Limited. 130 HP is fantastic on a Stage 1, and should easily survive multiple assaults unless your opponent is packing a Pokemon-EX. Both attacks are very good in Limited, with Powerful Rage potentially OHKOing most opposing threats and Glacier Drop dealing solid damage while disrupting the opponent. If you're running Water and pull a Beartic line, it should be an immediate addition to your Limited build.
Jebulous Maryland Player	Beartic   Beartic is a Stage 1 Water Pokemon with 130 HP.  It is weak to Metal and has a retreat cost of 4.  It is searchable by Heavy Ball.  It is also a Team Plasma Pokemon.   'Powerful Rage' costs 1 Water and 1 Colorless.  It does 20 time the number of damage counters on Beartic.  I always thought 'Outrage' was crazy, this is so much crazier.  If it were 'Outrage', it'd max out at 140 (with no Items).  This maxs out at 2400.  It's ridiculous.  Added that Coloress Machine is out there, you can power it up in one turn.   'Glacier Drop' costs 2 Water and 1 Colorless energy.  It does 90 and you discard the top card of your opponent's deck.  This is lackluster compared to other attacks.  Beartic's first attack make the damage output of this look like nothing.  The milling is okay (when it doesn't help the opponent), but there are better milling cards out there.  There's no reason why you would have this Beartic powered up and you are trying to mill your opponent for game.   While 'Powerful Rage' is a very, very powerful attack, it has its flaws.  First, you need damage on Beartic.  Any smart opponent would avoid damage on it until they could OHKO it.  Speaking of which, OHKOs are very likely with the 130 HP.  Speed Darkrai decks now can OHKO it with their combo.  Keldeo can take it out with 4 Waters.  Rayquaza does have to spend 1 extra energy to OHKO it, which I guess is a good thing since Beartic is 10 HP shy of being OHKOed by 2 energies.  Unfortunately it is weak to Metal, and with the new Klingklang deck, it can see some trouble (though I haven't seen much Klingklang recently).   Modified: 3/5 Limited: 4/5 Combos With:  ...   Questions, comments, concerns: jebulousthemighty@yahoo.com