aroramage |
When I was younger, I like so many
children watched Pokemon. It was a great show (still
is), though it's a bit repetitive in nature, which is
probably why I gave it up eventually. Still, it's come a
long way since late 90s-style animation - if there's one
good thing that's come from being around for so long,
it's gotta be the improved animation and effects they've
been using! But the main reason I bring up the anime is
that I do distinctly remember one of the episodes having
the cast on a boat that gets attacked by a school of
Carvanha and Sharpedo.
And I gotta say that with Mega
Sharpedo around, they're gonna need a bigger boat! Huh?
Huhhhh?
...anywho, Sharpedo-EX, like
Camerupt-EX, has been denied his Mega Evo...for some
reason, but maybe he won't need it! After all he's got a
lot of Water supp-ooohhhh, right, Dark-type. Alright,
that's fine, still got support, and maybe he's got good
attacks too! Like Hunt looks decent, acts like a free
Pokemon Catcher AND deals 30 damage to the new Pokemon.
That's pretty good as a means of snagging those
Bench-sitters, making it difficult for opponents to get
em back!
Except for Keldeo-EX. And Float
Stone...and any sort of manual retreat-whoa wait! Maybe
you can combine this with some of that Team Aqua stuff
to increase the retreat cost to make it more difficult
for the opponent to switch out! Except that it'll affect
Sharpedo-EX too, but at least he starts out at 1. Heck,
you can even get rid of it all with Darkrai-EX on the
bench-OOOOOHHH, maybe I just came up with a new strat :P
And then there's Jagged Fang, which
is a 3-for-100 strike that can discard an Energy off of
both Pokemon. Could be useful if you combine it with
Head Ringer, making it so your opponent has an even
rougher time trying to fight back against Sharpedo-EX.
And the best part is, if they can't recover to do enough
against Sharpedo-EX on their next turn, he's probably
already KO'd them, meaning you don't have to discard an
Energy from him to keep them from doing their thing!
Sharpedo-EX here has a lot of
potential, so what's to stop you from using him? Well
not a whole lot, save for perhaps the better options
available. Compare him to Seismitoad-EX for a second;
both have two attacks that cost 2 and 3. Ignoring the
effects of these attacks, their first attack does 30
damage apiece - not too bad, though Seismitoad-EX has
the advantage of working out with any Energies whereas
Sharpedo-EX needs a Dark Energy. And then their second
attacks deal 100 damage (Sharpedo) and 130 damage (Seismitoad),
meaning one outmatches the other as a start. Throw in
the effects from these attacks, and you can see that
Sharpedo-EX doesn't match up.
And in a similar vein, he has a
rough time matching against other EX. Still, he's a
solid card, and I imagine he'd do better with support
like Dark Patch. Heck, maybe he is a tournament-level
card, what with that strategy from before! Your Garbodor
ain't safe no more, Seismitoad, cause Sharpedo's come
a-hunting for it!
Rating
Standard: 3/5 (not too shabby a
card, not the best EX but there's potential here that
could ruin Garbotoad)
Expanded: 3.5/5 (does better here
in a Dark deck, especially with Dark support hanging
around)
Limited: 4/5 (really good at
snatching Benched Pokemon, and if it weren't for things
like Alpha Growth, he could definitely go toe-to-toe
with even Primal Kyogre-EX; problem is...Alpha Growth
exists)
Arora Notealus: It's funny,
actually. One of Sharpedo's big traits is tearing things
apart and having the Rough Skin Ability, both of which
have been emulated with Sharpedo cards in the past. The
recent one in Plasma Storm, in fact, has the Rough Skin
Ability! The more recent Team Aqua's Sharpedo probably
fits the general Sharpedo trend the least but is a
powerful searcher for Team Aqua decks. Needless to say,
Sharpedo in any form can be dangerous.
Next Time: From the seas to the
sands...
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