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Shrine of Memories is
an...interesting card. Actually, it's interesting
because it's got the same effect as another card in the
format right now, and in a strange way it's better yet
worse. I know I said this isn't the Ilex Forest Shrine
(you know, the shrine where Celebi appears?), but it's a
bit too coincidental for me that Celebi-EX has an
Ability doing the exact same thing Shrine of Memories
does.
And what is that effect, you ask?
Any of your evolved Pokemon can use attacks on its
pre-evolutions. That's kinda nice in an Evo deck, since
you don't have to worry about getting locked out of
attacking cause you can't use a move, but the whole
reason you're evolving half the time - aside from
getting a bigger bulkier body - is to get stronger
attacks, right? You don't evolve into Empoleon because
you want to use Piplup's Charm attack.
So really what it comes down to is
do you run this or Celebi-EX (cause both of them is
probably just asking for trouble). Well, Celebi-EX gives
you a Pokemon and a way to get out of the Active Slot
through Wind Whisk, all the while dealing 60 damage for
3 Energy. That's pretty low in terms of Pokemon-EX
damage output, and let's not even start with how low
those HP are. Basically you run the risk of losing your
means of using previous attacks and 2 Prize cards in the
same fell swoop when running Celebi-EX.
Now what about Shrine of Memories?
Well it won't make you lose Prize cards, but it can't
really tack on damage like some of the other Stadiums (Virbank,
Fighting Stadium, Frozen City all come to mind). That,
and we're dealing with a much broader range of Stadium
cards to not only be able to fight against but be beaten
by. Playing Stadiums is a two-way street, but only one
car's allowed on the road at a time. It's weird like
that.
If you're running an Evo deck,
consider Shrine of Memories only if you've got attacks
on your weaker guys that you'd consider using even with
your stronger guys on top. Otherwise, I'd say give this
a pass.
Rating
Standard: 2/5 (Evo decks are the
only thing to make use of this, and that's really
dependent on what the evos used are)
Expanded: 2.5/5 (more Evos here, so
there's a broader range to find that perfect line-up)
Limited: 3.5/5 (you'll usually HAVE
to play Evos in this format in some form or another if
you don't draw a Pokemon-EX, and even if your Evos suck,
it can still get rid of Rough Seas or Scorched Earth)
Arora Notealus: Maybe the entire
card game needs a big boost. Like knowing that
evolutions are at a natural disadvantage card-wise
(consider the resources needed to evolve a Pokemon into
such a thing), it would seem obvious that boosting their
power is necessary. Then again, if you did that, you'd
have to figure out how to differentiate the Pokemon-EX
from the evos - in which case, maybe make the final eve
on-par with Pokemon-EX in the case of Stage 2s, with 180
HP and strong attacks while Stage 1s can be supplemented
with powerful Abilities like Pyroar's and Garbodor's.
It's a thought, but that's just what goes into card
games - and even then, we're still in a Pokemon-EX
dominated environment. Point being: MAKE EVOS WORTH
PLAYING
Next Time: Wait is that an Energy
card?
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