aroramage |
Wouldn't you know it, it's a BASIC
GX!!
A quick reminder on the whole list:
this was a very divided list of cards. I'm sure otaku's
explained this, but given the three lists we
collaborated on, there were some cards that definitely
made some people's lists while it didn't make others.
And this set's list in particular had a lot of division.
Between the three of us, Tauros-GX here only scored 19
points out of a possible 30 - meaning somebody didn't
have it on their list......it was me. Not that that
should surprise you guys, you know what my top picks
were...Primarina-GX narrowly made it cause of me.
But enough about technicalities -
ONTO THE MAIN EVENT!! Tauros-GX doesn't seem like much,
especially when compared to other GX, but he's got a lot
of things going for him that the others don't. For
starters, he's a Basic-GX, meaning he can be played down
like a regular Pokemon-EX could be. He's also - and
here's the real kicker - completely Colorless, meaning
he can fit into any deck imaginable. Just consider the
idea of facing a Volcanion deck or a Trevenant or M
Mewtwo-EX deck - or heck, a Vespiquen build, a Decidueye-GX
build, ANYTHING - and then suddenly BAM!! There's Tauros-GX.
Teched in just to deal with you.
And he can be for the low low price
of DCE!!
...no seriously, all of his attacks
just cost 2 Colorless Energy. So let's get the boring
one out of the way! Horn Attack is the second attack
he's got, doing 2-for-60 vanilla damage. OKAY DONE NOW
FOR THE FUN PART!!
Both Rage and Mad Bull GX do very
similar things based on the amount of damage Tauros-GX
has taken - with Rage, it adds 10 more damage to the
base 20 he starts out with for every damage counter he's
got, and with Mad Bull GX, he delivers 30 damage for
every damage counter he's got. Both of these attacks
we've seen before on things like Zekrom and Reshiram in
Black&White Base Set - yeah, those old Outrage decks are
coming back with Tauros-GX! And if he's successful in
pulling off a major stunt with Rage or Mad Bull GX, you
can bet the trade-off for 2 Prizes will be more than
worth it against an opponent who can't KO him!
Tauros-GX may not have made my own
list - you can see what I really admired in these GX -
but it's no surprise he makes the others, and he'll be a
prominent force in his own right. There may be decks
running pure 4-ofs with just him - I can easily see that
being a thing, remember those old Entei-EX 4-of builds?
Strange decks, but they work. In any case, Tauros-GX is
a welcome addition to the line-up of Pokemon-GX, and
hopefully we'll see more prosperous examples of these
Pokemon all around and about in the sets to come!
Rating
Standard: 4.5/5 (my only real gripe
with Tauros-GX is honestly his Weakness and 180 HP
score)
Expanded: 4.5/5 (with Fighting
Weakness, he'll be vulnerable against Fighting-heavy
formats like when Furious Fists came out)
Limited: 5/5 (and with 180 HP, he's
basically working around the old 2HKO score - not that
120 doesn't still hit only for 2HKO)
Arora Notealus: Needless to say
that while he may not be the pinnacle of what GX Pokemon
have to offer - it's hard to top an instant KO or Energy
discard or mass damage spread - Tauros-GX does bring a
lot to the table that's hard to ignore, and chances are
there won't be too many Pokemon-GX that can top all of
that.
Weekend Thought: Do you agree with
our Top 10 List? As always, think there ought to be a
card on here that isn't? Think there's a card on here
that doesn't belong? Think there are cards with
potential? Think there are some cards that are gonna
fade away quick? It's a whole new format, and a whole
new world to explore! Hope you enjoy the Sun & Moon set,
and hope you enjoy the reviews to come!
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Otaku |
Our countdown of
the top 10 Sun & Moon cards comes to a close as
we review our numbers one pick today. If you’re
rushing immediately to the end, we determined this list
by having each current CotD reviewer (aroramage, Zach,
and myself) each submitted our personal top 10 list.
Each individual first place card received 10 voting
points, second place 9, third place 8, and so on down to
each 10th place receiving one. Reprints were
not permitted for the list; hopefully, only the
newest of players need to be told that Ultra Ball
is a fantastic card that works in all decks, and more
importantly, works as the best search Item in many, if
not most. This way we don’t have to debate things
like whether or not a card should rank lower because it
is already present or higher because it may prevent us
from losing a card at the next rotation.
Without further
ado, I present our first place finisher: Tauros-GX
(Sun & Moon 100/149, 144/149, 156/149).
After making such a big deal about overestimating
Pokémon-GX, only three cards in our top 10 were not
this retread of the now iconic Pokémon-ex introduced in
the EX-series (or Gen III) sets released just over 14
years ago. Plus we already had a revision of that
mechanic in the form of Pokémon-EX, such a major
presence in the BW- and XY-series of releases, which we
have been contending with for the last five and a half
years; Pokémon-GX are just even closer to the original
Pokémon-ex in their execution. When both of these
mechanics were introduced, many overestimated the first
wave. We didn’t have top 10 lists for sets with
the release of EX: Ruby & Sapphire (the specific
introduction of Pokémon-ex), but we do for BW: Next
Destinies, the first set to contain Pokémon-EX (also
the first set to receive its own top 10 in the general
CotD reviews). BW: Next Destinies contained six
then new Pokémon-EX and five of them made the top 10;
Mewtwo-EX (BW: Next Destinies 54/99, 98/99;
BW: Black Star Promos BW45; BW: Legendary
Treasures 54/113) lived up to the hype, none of the
rest did. This is why I keep stressing that just
because something is a Pokémon-GX, enjoying a
significant HP bump over plain counterparts, likely
stronger effects, and the new GX attack mechanic,
remember they are still worth two Prizes and soon will
face competition (more Pokémon-GX) and counters.
Tauros-GX
is a Colorless Pokémon, which means no exploiting
Weakness or dealing with Resistance unless we mess with
the Unlimited Format (and we’re not!). There are
some bits of Colorless Type support and a deck or two
where cards like Winona may matter.
Colorless Types only really gain synergy with one
another due to external effects like the aforementioned
Supporter and how most of them possess all Colorless
requirements for attacks, but that pricing structure is
not unique to them, so apart from that Type specific
support, they are just as comfortable going completely
off-Type. Ultimately this probably is an entirely
lateral move; Colorless Types don’t possess the added
bonuses of working together as most other Types do
but do gain important feature of working better
off-Type, which is quite valuable. Speaking of
valuable, Tauros-GX is a Basic Pokémon.
Basic Pokémon are still the best in terms of game
mechanics: barring a few exceptions, they take less
space in your deck, less time to hit the field, can
function as your opening Active, and because of these
things tend to work better with various other game
mechanics (search, bounce, etc.). While there are
anti-Basic effects, there are some fantastic bits of
Basic Pokémon Stage support; the net result is most
definitely in the favor of Basic Pokémon. Many new
Evolutions (Pokémon-GX or not) have more power, but we
do have similar Evolutions already in the competitive
metagame. TPC has tried this approach to game
balance before, and if it doesn’t collapse under its own
weight, we’ll just be able to enjoy a tiny percentage of
each Stage being competitive, with the rest as filler.
Can I get a sarcastic “Yay.”?
Tauros-GX
has 180 HP, the higher of the two typical amounts for
Basic Pokémon-EX, but how does it stack up against other
Basic Pokémon-GX? The lowest we have in English,
though peeking at some already revealed in Japanese,
Basic Pokémon-GX may be in line or only slightly higher
on average than Basic Pokémon-EX, and regardless, this
is still enough to frequently be able to survive a hit,
but probably not two unless the opponent has a weak
offense. Fighting Weakness isn’t as dangerous as I
would expect, given the Type specializes in hitting hard
and fast; there are a lot of great Fighting Types
that can easily OHKO Tauros-GX (and for low
Energy costs) but they aren’t as popular as they
once were, and the main Fighting Type that is -
Passimian - needs a perfect setup to do the deed
itself. Lack of Resistance isn’t good, but it is
so typical I hesitate to call it bad. The Retreat
Cost of [CCC] is chunky, so you may need to include a
few extra tricks to get a stranded Tauros-GX out
of your Active slot. I can actually speak to this
from firsthand experience, as it has cost me a few
games.
Tauros-GX
sports three attacks, each of which cost [CC]. We
have the familiar “Rage” attack that does 20 damage plus
10 per damage counter on Tauros-GX, the
straightforward “Horn Attack” which does 60 damage, and
“Mad Bull-GX” the Pokémon-GX attack, doing 30 damage for
each damage counter on Tauros-GX. Ignoring
the other attacks, each of these is solid, if not good.
Rage is a proven quantity, so long as the Pokémon in
question has a good chance of surviving at least one
hit; I normally want to do at least 40 damage for [CC],
and this can reach various 2HKO levels if hit by most
typical attacks. Quite obviously, an opponent does
not want to leave this card nearly KO’d, but
still capable of using Rage because that Base 20 damage
means the 170 to 190 HP crowd becomes a simple
retaliatory OHKO. Horn Attack is easy to
underestimate because so many decks built around
similarly priced attacks set up elaborate combos that
lead to OHKOs, vicious Item lock, etc. This
actually is good damage for the Energy invested, because
it works without said complications; and we’ll
eventually discuss how important it is to Tauros-GX.
Mad Bull-GX hopefully needs little explanation for why
it works so well, even disregarding how it compliments
the previous two; even 30 damage on Tauros-GX
translates to 120-for-two, which seems like a waste
given how hard this card can hit before it has lost even
half its total HP. Both Rage and Mad Bull-GX can
be played around by a savvy opponent, either going for a
full on OHKO or a lop-sided 2HKO where the first hit
just barely dents Tauros-GX. This is where
Horn Attack comes in; you can still press your opponent.
So how did this
take first place? Timing. Tauros-GX is
easy to work into most decks, with simple Energy
acceleration like Double Colorless Energy, Max
Elixir, etc. rapidly readying it. That means
established decks have a relatively easy addition to
still employ the GX-attack mechanic, while also gaining
what would be a good, big, Basic attacker. Ninja Boy
has been trying to work its way into decks since
it released, and the combo with Tauros-GX makes a
strong case for including them both into many decks.
I have crashed into this combo multiple times because it
is just such an easy play. When do you take the
chance that your opponent doesn’t have the all the combo
pieces handy, or is not running it at all? Even
decks with other Pokémon-GX can benefit from this trick.
Besides only getting one shot with a GX-attack, this is
another reason I prefer not making it central to
my deck. Having access to two worthwhile
GX-attacks keeps your opponent guessing. Your
opponent has to OHKO all of your Basics, or 2HKO
them in a manner that you can’t pull off a powerful
reversal. Even just facing off against Tauros-GX
regularly, this is a problem. We also have a new
deck that should look very familiar; back Tauros-GX
with Garbodor (XY: BREAKpoint 57/122) and
pack in a nice mix of Crushing Hammer,
Enhanced Hammer, Team Flare Grunt, and
(maybe) Team Skull Grunt. With Fighting
Fury Belt on your Tauros-GX, no Abilities to
help with Energy acceleration, and your opponents
struggling to use attacks that cost more than one
Energy, all three attacks can do their thing.
So I think I’ve
spelled out how Tauros-GX fares in Standard play;
what about Expanded? Unfortunately, I’m still
lacking in first-hand experience, or large amounts of
secondhand data. Overall I don’t think Tauros-GX
loses anything here, and may even benefit from some of
the compatibility hiccups that arise from the older and
newer cards interacting. For sure Battle
Compressor is a blessing as, even though you’ll also
be dealing with more Item denial, having easier access
to a clutch Ninja Boy should be terrifying.
Just remember Fighting Fury Belt isn’t as likely
to stick around. Of course, Muscle Band and
Silver Bangle are options here. Lastly,
this is a must run for Limited play. If you pull
it, you definitely have the option of just running it on
its lonesome; remember that most forms of Limited Format
play involve building a deck from the contents of
freshly opened boosters, building a 40 card deck, and
only playing with four Prize cards. Horn Attack
will probably take your first Prize, Rage your second
and third, with Mad Bull-GX taking the fourth… unless
your opponent is really slow, in which case Horn Attack
is just used for the first two Prizes. If you
don’t want to risk a loss should Tauros-GX
actually be KO’d quickly, just slap it into a more
fleshed out Limited deck.
Ratings
Standard:
4.5/5
Expanded:
4.35/5
Limited:
5/5
Summary:
At least for now, Tauros-GX is the best card in
the set. Maybe as we work things out, and probably
as more SM-era sets release, it will diminish, but for
present, show your opponents what happens when they try
to grab a bull by the horns.
Tauros-GX
earned 19 voting points, tying the almost as impressive
Decidueye-GX we looked at yesterday. It was
my number one pick, so 10 of those points came from me.
It didn’t win the tie because of that, however; it both
of these Pokémon-GX showed up on two lists, and there
wasn’t another tiebreaker option, so it all came down to
a roll of the die… which Tauros-GX won. I
hope you’ve enjoyed our countdown, and we’ll be looking
at more Sun & Moon cards next week! Well,
maybe not all Sun & Moon…
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