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Hello friends and welcome to another card review!
This time we're going to chill out with the mighty
Walrein! Maybe Wulfric takes some inspiration off of
him, they do look very similar! Can Walrein bring the
pain and shatter the opponent's dreams, or does he
blubber out and just end up on the frying pan with the
others? Let's find out!
Right off the bat, Walrein has two high-cost attacks
at 3 and 4 Energy each, and if he weren't a Water-type
that might have proven a problem, but luckily he's got
synergy with our old friend Blastoise (BCR)! But are
either of these attacks worth running two Stage 2s in
the deck? Especially when both have Retreat Costs of 4,
mandating cards like Keldeo-EX and Switch?
Powder Snow might, seeing as it deals 60 damage and
puts the opposing Pokemon to Sleep. Being Asleep is an
interesting condition, causing a player to flip a coin
to see if the Pokemon remains Asleep or not; problem is
that unlike other Status Conditions like Poison or
Paralyzed, Asleep has a 50% chance inbetween turns to
just *poof*, which isn't good. Never mind that Keldeo-EX
or Switch exist and can erase the condition instantly -
just the idea of dealing damage and hoping the opponent
doesn't wake up to strike back is a bit of a risk.
Big Tusk isn't much better. Don't let that impressive
120 damage fool you - there's a reason there's a minus
sign next to it. That's always been an interesting thing
to see on a card when most others have pluses or
multipliers (+ and x respectively), and then all of a
sudden you see a card that's got a nice number attached
to it but with this weird "-" next to it. This is a
Karate Chop from OG Machoke Base Set kind of attack that
says, "Hey, you can do a lot of damage - but only if
you've not taken any."
And that's just not happening these days where 90's a
good number to be hitting. Sure, if you set-up a Walrein
for a surprise attack (in Pokemon, ah ha, ah ha, ah ha),
you could land a powerful smack-down with Big Tusk
before any damage occurs and finish them off with Powder
Snow, but that's still 2 turns to try and KO another
Pokemon. You could work with Hypnotoxic Laser to add
some extra damage, alongside Virbank City Gym, but
that's going to be a casual deck more than a tourney
deck. Walrein can do damage, that much is for sure, but
the set-up to make him work will either happen or not.
Know his limits, and Walrein could take you far.
Rating
Modified: 2.5/5 (we've got better options than
running 2 Stage 2s)
Limited: 2.5/5 (set-up is going to take longer
without Blastoise, but he should still be able to hit
hard)
Arora Notealus: You'd think his thick blubber would
repel enemy attacks well enough to get an Ability that,
I dunno, repels an enemy attack?
Next time: 'ey, dis mighty lissard can generate so
much electricity, it's more dan enough ta power a
skyscraper! (...sorry, no more Brooklyn accent)
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