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Now here's a Pokemon card that has
had people a little torn up over. I've heard that this
card is great and that this card is terrible too. It's
hard to figure that out without taking a look at this
card itself.
Alolan Ninetales-GX looks pretty
solid at first glance. 210 HP, Stage 1 GX, with Metal
Weakness is all pretty good, especially given all the
Water support as of late. So perhaps we've got a strong
contender already, but then what's got the snowy fox
thinking about taking on the big leagues? Well its first
attack, Ice Blade costs 2 generic Energy and deals 50
damage to any Pokemon you'd like it to. That's not bad
on its own for sniping Bench-sitters - it will even 2HKO
the smaller folk, which could include crucial Basics
that your opponent would have to react quickly to in
order to keep them from getting KO'd. Not bad, but
nothing outright spectacular either, consider there's no
damage to the attacker if you chose a Bench-sitter.
Then there's Blizzard Edge, which
is a powerful 3-for-160 move that comes with a drastic
drawback of discarding 2 Energy. Honestly, that discard
is the most painful part of the card. If it didn't have
that, Alolan Ninetales-GX could even be a 2HKO machine
on most any Stage 1 GX and lower Pokemon. 160 on its own
can KO most non-EX and non-GX Pokemon anyhow, and it
doesn't take much to push it into OHKO range for most of
them! Still, the discard's pretty hefty...
And then there's the GX attack, Ice
Path GX. It costs the same as Ice Blade, but it does
something far nastier - it moves all the damage on
Alolan Ninetales-GX to the opponent. It's like an old
kitsune's curse to pull off a move like that, and if
your opponent isn't careful with how they handle their
damage output, Alolan Ninetales-GX can heal itself for
all the effort they put in and severely hurt their own
Pokemon - if not knock them out. Remember, it doesn't
just remove its counters and put up to the same amount
that it had onto the opponent's Pokemon - it pushes ALL
the damage onto it.
So to me, Alolan Ninetales-GX has a
simple goal in mind: trade back and forth with Ice Blade
and Blizzard Edge as need be, and when you're in a
pinch, Ice Path GX to wreck your opponent and keep
pushing forward. In the right hands, it can be powerful,
and there has even been some rumored success for a deck
in Japan that runs Alolan Ninetales-GX. I've even looked
into a few decks that run it to see what their builds
were like and see if the hype can be believed.
So what's my opinion? Well, Alolan
Ninetales-GX has a lot of great support going for it
right now in this day and age...but I'm not 100% sold on
it being a huge deck. My main concern comes with
Blizzard Edge's discard cost, as that means you need to
have a steady stream of Energy hopping back onto Alolan
Ninetales-GX to keep it trucking along with its most
powerful attack. Sure, the GX Attack makes up for it in
part, but that's relying on your opponent being a little
naive about it and not trying to plan around it so they
can surprise your Alolan Ninetales-GX with a big KO
before you can even use the attack.
So be wary of Alolan Ninetales-GX
not only in your playing against the deck, but also if
you're playing it in your deck - be smart when using it,
and it'll take you far. One wrong step, and you might
not be able to push back for the victory.
Rating
Standard: 3.5/5 (it's not a bad GX
card, maybe not the greatest but not bad)
Expanded: 3/5 (if anything, it's
all a matter of how well you play with and around it)
Limited: 4.5/5 (probably one of the
more skillful cards in the set)
Arora Notealus: I can appreciate
the designers for introducing cards like this into the
game, cards that aren't just mindless add-ins or
take-out-and-dump-its, but stuff that actually requires
a little extra thought. How would I approach this card?
How do I get around its attacks? How can I make its
attacks work for me? At least Alolan Ninetales-GX
doesn't have to worry about any major pesky Metal
Pokemon in the format...yet.
Next Time: A curious dragon shows
up to say hello!
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