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Pojo's Pokémon Card of the Day

aroramage	So now the Regis have come back, and for some reason I'd like to think the president of Nintendo of America would be running them on his team of Pokemon...darn you, brain, why do you think these things, do you want me to laugh hysterically throughout my review?!  Anyways, so Regirock (heehee) isn't phenomenal. Obviously Rock Throw isn't worth the time of day, being a 2-for-40 vanilla strike. Granted, we do live in a world with Strong Energy and Fighting Stadium, so it's not SO terrible - you could be hitting anywhere from 40 to 100 with all that power, but you'd also be using that ideally on something else and something better.  Something like Unyielding Rock.  Now normally, it's a 3-for-60 strike - not much better. And again, the aforementioned cards can boost that up to 120-140, but wouldn't you use it on something that'd be worth it? Well Unyielding Rock promises to do more! If you hit a Pokemon-EX with Regirock's...uh...rocks, it'll do an extra 60 damage! So that 60 goes up to 120, and in turn that means it can POTENTIALLY reach 180-200 damage! He might be able to OHKO Pokemon-EX!!  ...for way too much investment.  To make Regirock good, you need to put a lot more effort into him than he's worth. You'd be better working with Lucario-EX - wait, no, that's not a fair comparison. It's more like stuff like Landorus, Gigalith, Hawlucha - YOU KNOW WHAT, HAWLUCHA IS A FAR BETTER EX ATTACKER THAN REGIROCK!!  Run Hawlucha. Don't run Regirock in place of Hawlucha.  Rating  Standard: 1.5/5 (his only purpose is to be an alternative to Hawlucha, but right now Hawlucha does everything much MUCH better - the only reason you'd use Regirock is perhaps because he can hit for Weakness, but that's really about it) Expanded: 1/5 (I like the promo better)  Limited: 3.5/5 (okay, MUCH better - lower HP makes the higher damage worth it, and if you go up against an EX, you can at least deal a fair chunk of damage to them before Regirock kicks the bucket)  Arora Notealus: I'm just saying: PRESIDENT REGI WANTS TO BATTLE!! REGI SENT OUT REGI ROCKS!! REGI SENT OUT REGI ICE!! REGI SENT OUT REGI'S STEEL!!  Next Time: Out of the fire, the moth rises...wait, that's not how that's supposed to work!
Otaku	Time to rock!  Regirock (XY: Ancient Origins 40/98) is our subject for today.  It is a Fighting-Type and that is still one of the best (if not the best) Type to be.  You’ll find many Colorless as well as nearly all Darkness- and Lightning-Types are Fighting Weak with Fighting-Type of various stripes being quite strong.  You will have to deal with Fighting Resistance and anti-Fighting-Type cards but while the Resistance is occasionally an issue, the anti-Fighting-Type cards have (in my experience) proven too specific and/or redundant to be especially effective.  Being a Basic is the best Stage, no room for argument: minimum deck space, minimum effort to get into play and while there are some anti-Basic cards, those too haven’t proven all that effective (and Expanded even contains some Basic Stage support to further tip the scales!).  120 HP is just 10 shy of the maximum 130 you see on regular Basic Pokémon (such as those that are not Pokémon-EX); it is still within OHKO range for most decks, but it is high enough so as not to be rapidly, reliably and repeatedly OHKOed by most decks; decent odds you’ll survive a hit.  Grass Weakness provides one of the exceptions as you would expect with a mechanic that doubles the damage taken.  Not too great of timing for this Weakness either, as XY: Ancient Origins gave us new Grass-Type attackers plus Grass-Type support as an excuse to try some of the older Grass-Types out again.  No Resistance is a bit disappointing but typical so moving on we see a Retreat Cost of [CCC]; bulky enough you’ll sometimes struggle to pay and/or recover from having paid it, so try to include some outs to manually retreating at full price.  Slight upside is that in Expanded it is a legal Heavy Ball target!  Regirock has neither an Ability nor an Ancient Trait, though at least it does sport two attacks.  For [FC] it can use “Rock Throw” for a flat 40 damage while for [FCC] it can regulate broadcast content… yeah I’m surprised I haven’t used a joke that bad before now.  So of course that is the cost for the second attack (Unyielding Rock) which does 60 damage, plus an additional 60 damage if the target is a Pokémon-EX.  These attacks are a bit mediocre; in the case of Unyielding Rock my only real complaint is that a 70/50 or 80/40 split would be preferable for obvious reasons, and if the end damage had to be just a bit lower (say 70/110 or even 70/100) it might be better because this just isn’t something you want to waste on “regular” Pokémon.  Having nothing that can be accessed for a single Energy really hurts as Fighting-Types aren’t too big on Energy acceleration.  Still, thanks to the Typing these aren’t bad attacks: Rock Throw can often get into 2HKO range against Weakness or from stacking bonuses with the same being true of Unyielding Rock except against Pokémon-EX.  Yes, even against Mega Evolutions!  There is one more Regirock available to use: XY: Black Star Promo XY49.  Differences are 10 less HP and besides different attacks, an Ancient Trait.  The Ancient Trait is probably its most important feature because it is “Ω Barrier” as it allows the card to sit almost totally unmolested on the Bench as well as cards attached to it like Pokémon Tools and Special Energy, at least by your opponent’s Trainers that aren’t Stadiums or Pokémon Tools.  This makes it useful for decks that need Bench filler and/or something to leave Energy on or that need a particular Pokémon Tool to remain in play: the best example is its usage in some Fairy Transfer decks.  The card’s “Land Maker” attack isn’t bad for [F] as it is probably the easiest way to get two Stadiums back from the discard pile (and there aren’t a lot of ways to get even one Stadium back).  Its second attack (Stone Edge) is less impressive because it is very expensive: [FFFC] is difficult to pay for without compatible acceleration and that is one of the few things the Fighting-Types lack.  If you invest that much you only score 80 damage, plus another 40 if you get “heads” on a mandatory coin toss (no penalty for “tails”, just no extra damage).  For that much Energy, you should at least do 120 and probably more (or else have a great effect).  You can see our review of it here.  This… is where the review begins to break down.  What do I mean?  There are cards that I look at and I think “Hey, that should be seeing play?” but it isn’t?  Well what about ones where you realize something is wrong but a lot is right and you’re not sure if people just haven’t discovered its use or if those flaws (or the competition) are worse than you realized?  That is today’s subject; finding decks that can handle the Energy cost and aren’t better off with something else can be pretty tricky.  This thing can do some amazing damage when you power it up in the tradition of dedicated Fighting-Type attackers that are supported by cards like Fighting Stadium, Korrina, Strong Energy, (maybe) Focus Sash, etc.  You can even get up to OHKO range against a 180 HP Pokémon-EX that are not Weak to the Fighting-Type.  Once you get to three Energy (especially as going that route means you probably need to eschew Double Colorless Energy and power up with as much Strong Energy as you can get) means you get incredible damage output for a non-Pokémon-EX… at least against Pokémon-EX but how do you do so quickly?  Landorus (XY: Furious Fists 58/111) is a thought but then one has to ask “Do I still need Regirock?”  You won’t be OHKOing a Pokémon-EX that isn’t Fighting Weak, but you’ll get a solid, non-Pokémon-EX beatstick with a single Energy attack that does damage while accelerating basic Energy from the discard pile and a solid “big” attack that for three Energy can do 90.  If we look at something that needs less Energy, there is Hawlucha (XY: Furious Fists 63/111) that can do 60 for [F] to Pokémon-EX and enjoys a free retreat: no damage if it isn’t a Pokémon-X and to exploit Weakness requires shutting off its Ability on a 70 HP frame.  In Expanded, there is still Terrakion (latest printing BW: Legendary Treasures 84/113) with its Retaliate attack good for 30 (plus 60 if one of your Pokémon was KOed the turn before) or 90 for a flat [FFC] again.  Of course if you did want to focus an entire deck around building it up, then it would seem redundant with what should be the main attacker: Primal Groudon-EX (XY: Roaring Skies 86/160, 151/160), as with the right Stadium and some Strong Energy it basically OHKOs everything.  With its Ω Barrier protecting it and Mega Turbo for some extra speed, it was already a proven quantity.  So we get back to that odd niche; decks that accelerate Energy to the point that a three Energy cost is manageable but not one with more than one [F] in the cost.    I personally tried using this Regirock alongside set-mates (and fell Regi trio members) Regice (XY: Ancient Origins 24/98) and Registeel (XY: Ancient Origins 51/98) but Regice seems to be too good on its own (I was accelerating Energy via M Manectric-EX) to justify including the others.  Perhaps if I only ran Regirock (no Registeel) and just a single… but for now it seems like another “no”.  So for Standard play I suspect this has some use but it’s pretty “fuzzy” with a lot riding on Type-matching against Pokémon-EX.  For Expanded it is the same but with a little more competition.  For Limited, this is a great pull; when you need the extra damage from Unyielding Rock it will thrill you, the rest of the time you should be able to squeeze in a few basic Fighting Energy cards and then enjoy the still-worth-it-in-Limited 60 for three Energy (thanks to the Typing and HP).  Ratings  Standard: 2.75/5  Expanded: 2.5/5  Limited: 4.75/5 Summary: Regirock is suited to a narrow range of strategies than I would like, especially as it isn’t overly Energy efficient.  Still it can clobber Pokémon-EX quite well and do decently against the rest, with it falling under the happy side of “average” due to existing competition in decks on top of its own flaws.
Emma Starr	Regirock, one of the very underrated legendary trio (...or quartet). I guess some people don’t like their designs, but I always found them cool, especially with their patterns on their ‘faces’, which is reminiscent to how you found them in Emerald.     First, the basics. With 120 HP and a Grass Weakness, any hit from a Grass Pokemon for 60 damage or more will be knocking it out.The Retreat Cost of three certainly is not helping this issue either. However, although Grass is certainly one of the better types to be right now, Fighting types still have a lot of support on their side as well! In addition, every Regi in this set is blessed with the effect of damage boost in one way or another to EX Pokemon, and Regirock is no different. So, let’s skip the meaningless Rock Throw attack, and go straight to the one you’ll actually want to use.     Unyielding Rock costs one Fighting and two Colorless (so you COULD get this going on Turn 3), and does 60 damage, and if the opponent is an EX, it does 60 more, for 120 damage. But let’s remember all the boosts that Fighting types get, too: Strong Energy for 20, Fighting Stadium for 20, Machamp for 20, and let’s not forget good ol’ Muscle Band for 20 as well! So, if all goes right, you COULD be OHKOing every EX every turn if things go in your favor! It may require set-up, and hope that your opponent isn’t running any non-EXs, but the typing is what really works in Regirock’s favor. Except with Grass weakness, which could cause even Bellossom or Vileplume to take you out. And let’s not even mention the bees here…       Standard: 2.5/5 (Requires the usual Fighting boosts for OHKOs, but for some opponents, this could lead to their very quick demise. Just be aware that Grass decks tend to run at least some non-EXs, which are much more common sight than in some other decks.)     Expanded: 2,5/5     Limited: 2/5 (I want to give it a higher rating, but Grass is REALLY powerful in this set, and not all of the Grass support are EXs, as you should know by now…)