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Suicune is an...interesting choice.
In an era where Pokemon-EX are fairly dominant in the
format, Suicune became a key option for decks to
counteract them as one of the few anti-EX cards. Sure,
there was stuff like Silver Bangle and Silver Mirror,
and Pyroar managed to form his own deck for a while, but
Suicune was always the original anti-EX Pokemon.
Some of the key differences with
Suicune and other "Safeguard" Pokemon like Sigilyph
(LTR), which is also rotating out, are what effectively
made him a powerful ally since his release and a strong
supportive attacker. Comparing him to Sigilyph, Suicune
has a higher HP score of 100, meaning he's usually just
out of range of a good portion of non-EX attacks, unlike
Sigilyph at a score of 90 HP. That's good!
And then there's Pyroar, who for a
time was his own deck - even made it all the way up to
Nationals! Now Pyroar differs from Suicune for a number
of reasons - and no, not just because he's a Fire-type
and Suicune's a Water-type. Between the two, Pyroar
seems to outpace Suicune. He's got more HP, and his
Scorching Fang is arguably a better attack than
Suicune's vanilla Aurora Beam - all at about the same
cost! And yet, I would say Suicune is technically the
superior...but why?
Well in a clash between the two,
Pyroar would win. While Suicune would hurt him for his
Weakness, Pyroar's Intimidating Mane has a specific set
of wording such that Suicune can't touch him: he takes
no damage from Basic Pokemon. So Suicune would lose if
he fought this Pyroar, oddly enough. Between the two as
tech though, Suicune wins out because of Intimidating
Mane's lack of coverage. Ignoring that Pyroar is also a
Stage 1, Intimidating Mane is worded to exclude two
important things: the effects of an attack, and
Evolutions.
Here's the thing: against most
Pokemon-EX, Pyroar wouldn't take a scratch. But when
you've got players in the game like Seismitoad-EX -
whose effects are far more harmful than his attack -
Pyroar doesn't help as much. Suicune can nullify the
Quaking Punch; Pyroar can't. And that's just one example
- think of effects like Gengar-EX's Night Attack or Dark
Corridor - both of which can harm Pyroar without
damaging him directly! And Landorus-EX will still hit a
Bench-sitter if you're not careful!
But more importantly, as the game
has evolved, Pyroar has had to face a threat that he
can't beat: Mega Evolutions. Technically speaking, Mega
Pokemon ARE Evolved Pokemon, meaning Pyroar will get
decimated by the likes of M Rayquaza-EX, Primal Kyogre-EX,
M Gallade-EX, M Gardevoir-EX - the list goes on. Any
Mega can hit Pyroar - but not one of them can touch
Suicune, because Suicune's Safeguard blocks all effects
including damage from any Pokemon-EX.
Suicune may leave Standard soon,
but of the Safeguard options, he remains the
most...legendary.
Rating
Standard: 3.5/5 (if his attack was
better, I'd rate him higher, but regardless, Safeguard
is an amazing Ability)
Expanded: 3.5/5 (he'll see a great
deal of play here, I'm sure of it)
Limited: 3.5/5 (there's only 6
Pokemon-EX in the set, but at least the overall HP
scores are lower in general, so Aurora Beam will still
be effective)
Arora Notealus: If it's not a
well-known fact that I hold Gen II in high regard, then
let it be said that I hold Gen II in high regard. GSC
and the remakes HGSS remain my favorite Pokemon games of
all time, and I'll always remember Suicune as the mascot
for Crystal. Probably the only time a legendary that
wasn't part of the main trio actually made it onto the
cover of a game - ain't that crazy?
Next Time: Speaking of
legendaries!!...again!!
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