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Pojo's Pokémon Card of the Day

aroramage	It's Energy Search but in Great Ball style form! Hooray!  On the one hand, Energy Loto gets you an Energy card from your deck pretty easily. On the other hand, it's only the top 7 cards, it's an Item card, and if you don't find an Energy card in those 7...well, you get no Energy into your hand. Still, it is any Energy card - not just basic Energy mind you - that you can grab, so this is one of the reasons Energy Loto is probably proving popular among many decks.  I can see its appeal, and far be it from me to have it stifled by Garbodor, Trevenant, or Vileplume. I mean, that's a lot of Item hate right there, but it's not like it should keep it from seeing play, right? Well it'll depend on what people want out of their decks - and if they think they can handle the onslaught of Item-hate. Vileplume will keep things trapped in hand while Trevenant and Garbodor can benefit from the Items existing - so if you're prepared for that, then Energy Loto's an...okay card to run at least.  I mean when was the last time you heard of a deck running Great Ball?  Rating  Standard: 3/5 (decent Energy acceleration, although it only adds to the hand) Expanded: 3/5 (and it comes with the strengths and weaknesses of an Item card)  Limited: 4.5/5 (at least in Limited it's got a great chance of hitting an Energy card)  Arora Notealus: Energy Loto will probably be in flux for the duration of its lifespan. In and out, up and down, hot and cold, until we either figure it's going to be a great card or a mediocre one. Is it format-defining or an absolute staple? Not really, to be honest. But it's good if you want it, have the room for it, and aren't concerned with any consequences it might have.  Next Time: You know her, I know her, he/she/we knowwwwwwwwwww her~
21times	Energy Loto (Guardians Rising, 122/145) makes its debut in the Guardians Rising expansion set.  This card gives you the ability to look at the top seven cards in your deck and select one of any energy you find there and put it in your hand.  This card also works for Special energy, not just basics, and that’s where you’ll find the value of this card.  When I initially saw this I thought, “Ok it’s a really, really bad Professor’s Letter (Breakthrough, 146/162).  And, unless they’re rotating all of XY, Letter will still be in the format.  So where’s the use for this?”  It recently hit me though: what if you run a deck that only  runs special energy?  Some decks run only four Double Colorless Energy (Guardians Rising, 166/145).  For those decks, Energy Loto becomes an essential, probably four of, asset to help find energy to power up their Pokemon. Subsequent to this realization (and of course after I had previously completed my review), it dawned on me that Energy Loto can help with any deck that runs four Special energy cards, not just decks that only run four special energy cards.  For example, if you’re running Lycanroc GX (Guardians Rising, 74/145), you can use Loto to help you find both DCE and Strong Energy (Fates Collide, 115/124).  Basically, any deck that runs four of SPE can use Energy Loto.  The only decks that it won’t help are decks that don’t run any Special energy.  In case you’re wondering, about 58% of the decks I come across on PTCGO carry SPE. I still don’t know if this makes quad DCE decks practical – personally, I’m just not a fan of decks that only run four energy cards.  When I play those decks, my biggest complaint is always not being able to find energy.  Energy Loto may help with this, especially later in the game if you’ve used Special Charge (Steam Siege, 105/114) to recycle a couple of DCE back into your deck.  Obviously, Energy Loto is best used after you’ve gone through your deck a little bit.  If you play Energy Loto turn one with forty plus cards in your deck, don’t be surprised when you don’t find any DCE’s. Rating Standard: 2.5 out of 5 Conclusion Energy Loto has a definite place in the meta.  It has a niche that will allow it to see play, but that audience is somewhat limited to decks that run Special energy.  I have not run it in any of my decks yet but might try it with Lycanroc GX, Golisopod (Guardians Rising, 9/145), and Alolan Golem (Guardians Rising, 42/145).
Otaku	As my review usually rounds out the groups, not sense beating around the bush: we’re covering the runners-up from our Top 15 Cards of SM: Guardians Rising countdown.  Because I needed to layout these next few weeks in a hurry.  We don’t want to wait any longer to highlight some of the best cards you should be getting (assuming you don’t have them already).  Plus it will allow late bloomers time to show themselves.  Our first runner-up (meaning it ranked as our 16th place pick) is Energy Loto (SM: Guardians Rising 122/145).  I actually misread this as “Energy Lotto” until I finally got a good look at the card.  I… am still not 100% sure what this is about.  Based on Google searches, it might refer to lockout/tagout, a procedure for safely handling energy.  If that is true (and I didn’t mess up the terminology), that is kind of awesome.  That’s because it kind of ties into what Energy Loto does; Energy Loto is an Item that allows you to look at the top seven cards of your deck and add an Energy card you find there to your hand (if there is at least one).  You have to shuffle your deck afterward (like usual), but it works on any Energy, unlike most such cards that only work on basic Energy.  Thanks to Max Elixir, which only checks the top six cards of your deck, we know that seven is a solid range.  If you only need to add a basic Energy to hand, Professor’s Letter is still legal, searches your entire deck, and gets you two cards instead of one, while I already mentioned Max Elixir which gives you a free attachment (though it does have to go to a Benched Basic Pokémon).  Clearly, that makes Energy Loto something to use only with deck’s focused on Special Energy.  As an Item, Energy Loto is easy to use, unless you’re facing Item lock like Vileplume (XY: Ancient Origins 3/98) or something that punishes Item usage, like Garbodor (SM: Guardians Rising 51/145).  The good news?  If the Madison, Wisconsin Regionals from this past weekend are an indication (and my list of winners and their deck foci is correct), things are getting good again.  Yeah, Otaku is optimistic!  The game ain’t going where I think it really needs to go, but we’re seeing some variety in the final top eight.  Garbodor decks were there but weren’t dominant.  Vileplume still made an appearance, but again wasn’t part of the very top.  There were a few things I wasn’t expecting, but relevant to Energy Loto is you don’t have to be super paranoid about running it and then suffering for it just because it is an Item.  Instead, you gain a handy trick for the many decks that want to rely heavily on Special Energy cards… like Double Colorless Energy.  It was an important card in the earliest days of the game, and when it returned to Modified (Standard) play after nearly a 10-year absence, it quickly became vital to some top decks.  After toying with us by becoming a bit less prominent, we suddenly had multiple decks running on as little as four Double Colorless Energy, and nothing else.  The bad news is that such an approach makes it quite likely Energy Loto will whiff.  The good news is that such decks were already crazy fast and focused upon thinning, which means Energy Loto goes from farfetched to far fetching.  Even if you’ve only got two Double Colorless Energy cards left in your deck (at the moment), searching seven cards is effective when your remaining deck is probably down to 14 cards. So yeah, try it in Standard and Expanded.  It won’t be for every deck, but as long as you need to work with some clutch Special Energy cards (and don’t have some other trick to search them out), seems like a solid deal.  For Limited play, you’ll probably just be looking for the right Basic Energy while running a multi-Type deck, but it still does that well, so it remains a good pull.  Ratings  Standard: 3.25/5  Expanded: 3.25/5  Limited: 4/5  Conclusion  Energy Loto is moderately useful in general, with a few specific decks that really capitalize upon what it does.  That means the above are aggregate scores.  Running a deck in general with a few Special Energy you’d like to snag?  Energy Loto might be okay.  Running a deck where Special Energy are vital, whether you run only a few or several?  Energy Loto should be quite handy, maybe even essential.  Thinking (because I’m still lacking the time to test) of some of the decks where I expected to love it, I am hard pressed on what to cut from them to make room for Energy Loto, which could be a problem.  Energy Loto scored 16th place by tying with 15th place Trevenant but losing the roll off: a two versus a three.  It beat out tomorrow’s card by just one point  It was my 15th place pick, so for the most part, I’m okay with it finishing only one spot below.  Unless it turns out it’s being maxed out in several successful decks, it’s a solid finish.