Pokemon Home

Pokedex

Price Guide Set List

Message Board

Pokemon GO Tips

Pokemon News

Featured Articles

Trading Card Game
- Price Guide
- Price Guide
- Card of the Day
- Professional Grading
- Killer Deck Reports
- Deck Garage
- William Hung
- Jason Klaczynski
- Jeremy's Deck Garage
- Johnny Blaze's Banter
- TCG Strategies
- Rulings Help
- Apprentice & Patch
- Apprentice League
- Spoilers & Translations
- Official Rules
- Featured Event Reports
- Top of the World
- An X-Act Science
- Error Cards
- Printable Checklist
- Places to Play

Nintendo Tips
- Red/Blue
- Yellow
- Gold & Silver
- Crystal
- Ruby & Sapphire
- Fire Red & Leaf Green
- Emerald
- SNAP
- Pinball
- TCG cart
- Stadium
- PuPuzzle League
- Pinball: Ruby/Sapphire
- Pokemon Coliseum
- Pokemon Box
- Pokemon Channel

GameBoy Help
- ClownMasters Fixes
- Groudon's Den
- Pokemon of the Week

E-Card Reader FAQ's
- Expedition
- Aquapolis
- Skyridge
- Construction Action Function
- EON Ticket Manual

Deck Garage
- Pokemaster's Pit Stop
- Kyle's Garage
- Ghostly Gengar

Cartoon/Anime
- Episode Listing
- Character Bios
- Movies & Videos
- What's a Pokemon?
- Video List
- DVD List

Featured Articles

Pojo's Toy Box

Books & Videos

Downloads

Advertise With Us
- Sponsors
- Links

Chat

About Us
Contact Us

Pojo's Pokémon Card of the Day

aroramage

And for our last card of the week, we take a look at...wait...they turned Trevenant into an EX? I mean, I know they did the same for Wailord and Skarmory, which are some pretty oddball choices, but Trevenant? Eh, alright, I guess we can take a look at him-HOLY COW HE'S A GRASS-TYPE EX!! Could he be the new partner of Virizion-EX, making a new VirNant deck?!  Probably not. For a Grass-type EX - or really just any plain old Pokemon-EX - Trevenant-EX leaves a lot to be desired. Dark Forest is an interesting attack, though pathetically weak at 1-for-20. But hey, at least the Defending Pokemon can't retreat! Except by Switch. And Keldeo-EX. And other effects of that nature, but nobody - sorry, EVERYBODY - has some form of thing or other. And if they ain't running it, it's cause they don't care - usually cause they've got something like Seismitoad-EX hanging around that they WANT out front!  Okay, well maybe Wood Blast will...no wait...it's just a 3-for-50 Hydro Pump knock-off. Sure, it does 20 more damage for each Grass Energy, and I can imagine combining it with Sceptile (8/160) to heal off 30 while dealing more damage each turn, but that's 2 Grass Energy necessary to be able to 2HKO most Pokemon-EX. Having the 3 Energy it requires all be Grass only makes it 110 damage at best - a number that only with Muscle Band (+20) and HTLBank (+30 between turns) makes it almost make it to the LOWER end of the EX spectrum (170).  Trevenant-EX...just doesn't do that much. His first attack is terrible, and his second attack would be better if it wasn't so low. At least Aegislash-EX had the benefit of a decent Ability and some fantastic acceleration, but Trevenant-EX? Not even close. I think it's gonna be terrible for Grass decks when VirGen finally rotates out of Standard. Hopefully by that point, they'll have SOMETHING better than Trevenant-EX and that...other...Grass EX...what was its name?  Oh right, it's not VirGen, doesn't matter.  Rating  Standard: 1.5/5 (rather abysmal for an EX honestly)  Expanded: 1.5/5 (YOU HAVE VIRGEN, DON'T RUN THIS GUY)  Limited: 4/5 (okay, here, it's okay, cause he's got BULK and hits those nasty Primal Kyogre-EX and Primal Groudon-EX for Weakness, making his attacks MUCH more intense! If you can combine him with Sceptile (8), go for it all the way, but even by himself he's MUCH better here than any other format)  Arora Notealus: Again we run into one of those cases where if he had been considered another Type, he could've been even better. Heck, he would have been MUCH better off as a Psychic Type card with all the support they got in the last set! Grass-types just haven't been majorly supported in the last few sets - their main supporter comes from PLASMA BLAST, for crying out loud! That's more than a year ago! Where's the good stuff for Grass?!  Weekend Thought: So we took a look at some of the Grass-types of the week, what are your opinions on them? Anything good? Maybe something we're missing from our reviews? You think Grass decks will still be kicking once VirGen rotates?

Otaku

We come to the close of our XY: Primal Clash week with Trevenant-EX (XY: Primal Clash 19/160, 145/160).  If you skipped directly to this review, throughout the week we took at look at what I believed (I was given the privilege of picking the cards for this week) to be the best Grass-Type Pokémon this set, though if you go back and read you’ll notice that it was more the “most interesting” as this set doesn’t seem to have had a lot of Grass-Type powerhouses.  Being a Grass-Type is actually pretty promising right now; Seismitoad-EX is still a popular and potent card right now and its Grass Weak and there are a few others as well.  There is no Grass Resistance and there is Grass-Type support, though what has proven success is the indirect support like Virizion-EX, which can work with anything that can work in a source of [G] Energy for Verdant Wind or Pokémon that can make use of the basic Grass Energy that Emerald Slash can accelerate.  Unlike the rest of this week, Trevenant-EX is a Basic Pokémon, meaning it enjoys the best position in the game right now: it doesn’t require lower Stages or extra time to Evolve and in Expanded, it even enjoys extra support like Prism Energy.  Of course Pyroar (XY: Flashfire 20/106) can stop it cold but Pyroar hasn’t been so hot lately.  Being a Pokémon-EX is technically a drawback; the benefits associated with it aren’t guaranteed and indeed sometimes have been absent, whether through intentional design or oversight on said designers’ parts.  What is guaranteed is that Pokémon-EX are worth an extra Prize when KOed, can be targeted by certain detrimental effects and can’t make use of certain beneficial effects (though that last one is rarely relevant).  Usually though it does mean improved HP and better effects (be they Ancient Traits, Abilities and/or attacks).  Trevenant-EX does sport 180 HP; outside of Wailord-EX that is currently the highest printed HP for a Basic Pokémon-EX.  180 is usually going to last two turns, though there are decks that can and will take a OHKO (or effective OHKO).    Weakness is one avenue for Trevenant-EX being OHKOed, and like the rest of this week its Fire Weakness.  As I’ve pointed out each day, no Weakness is good but Fire Weakness isn’t too bad because its a Type that often does overkill damage; Fire Weakness will still help out your opponent most of the time, but its less “impossible OHKO becomes easy” and more “You no longer need a Muscle Band.” barring that Pyroar again, which if you do encounter it will enjoy actually having a chance to go for a OHKO if it has something like a Muscle Band or Silver Bangle handy, when normally it would be a 2HKO.  Most Pokémon don’t have Resistance, so I view having it as a bonus as opposed to lacking it a disadvantage.  Trevenant has a chunky Retreat Cost of [CCC]; you already were likely to include an alternative to retreating at full price but this makes it a necessity.  Slight upside is that in Expanded it makes Trevenant-EX a legal Heavy Ball target.  Trevenant-EX has two attacks.  For [G] it can hit for 20 while blocking the Defending Pokémon from retreating with its Dark Forest attack.  For [CCC] it can use Wood Blast, an attack that does 50 damage plus another 10 per [G] Energy attached to Trevenant-EX.  These are good but not great attacks; a “Retreat lock” is a weak thing with the current card pool; a card like Switch or Keldeo-EX and its Rush In Ability will get around the effect of Dark Forest, but when those aren’t available it can be a nasty surprise for your opponent.  Wood Blast is similar to some attacks that have proven potent on other cards like Keldeo-EX and its Secret Sword, but it generally requires a source of abundant Energy acceleration so you can go from zero to OHKO level in one shot; even powered purely by [G] Energy the attack is hitting for 110 damage; good enough to 2HKO most things but well short of OHKO levels even using something other than Energy acceleration to boost the damage.  There are no other versions of this card nor is there a Mega Evolution, so it is competing against other Pokémon-EX in general and Grass-Type Pokémon-EX in specific… and is the card’s downfall, at least for now.  Most of what I can think of to run to support Trevenant-EX in a deck works at least a little better with something else.  Even if you can easily get [GGG] onto the card, think about what that can with your other options: Genesect-EX can hit for 100 and 20 to the Bench and if you add in G Booster you get that magnificent 200 point slam (even if it includes a two Energy discard cost and dedicating your Ace Spec slot).  Trevenant-EX fairs a bit better if the deck lacks room for any additional Team Plasma support (like Plasma Energy or G Booster) but not by much.  Then there is… actually the other attackers are either inferior with similar Energy amounts or intended to have another role (Celebi-EX, Shaymin-EX and Virizion-EX).  The real threat comes from Mewtwo-EX and perhaps a few other, similar attackers that can make use of indirect Grass-Type support.  Then there is the old standby of Mewtwo-EX; [GG] gets it using X-Ball; the damage return for the Energy attached to itself is far worse but X-Ball counts the Energy attached to the opponent’s Active Pokémon as well, which can often make up the difference.  Still, there might be a fun or “near” competitive deck here, waiting for some more support or else the correct metagame to come into being.  Sceptile (XY: Primal Clash 8/160) provides Energy acceleration.  Virizion-EX provides alternative Energy acceleration and protection from Special Conditions.  Mewtwo-EX provides an alternative attacker for when you need a different Weakness or the Defending Pokémon is loaded down with Energy.  Throw in one or two more supporting Pokémon, a pretty typical Trainer and Energy set-up and you’ve got something functional but that will likely be too easily outperformed by most other decks.  Ratings  Standard: 3/5  Expanded: 3/5  Limited: 5/5  Summary: Its a solid Pokémon-EX but in a field of great Pokémon-EX that isn’t enough.  Still its one of the many to keep an eye on and - you guessed it - pick up a playset when you can do so on the cheap.  After all Genesect-EX won’t be in the format forever.  While it gets some more support in Expanded it also faces more competition and threats, hence why the score is the same.  In Limited, it actually might be the best Pokémon-EX to pull this set, at least if you plan on a +39 deck.  It has an inexpensive, damaging disruptive attack to use for the first turn or two and once you’ve got 3+ Energy on it, you’ll likely be able to steamroll your way to victory before the opponent can rack up enough damage for the KO.  Among the other Pokémon-EX, it is actually one of the better pulls in Limited.