Pokemon Examination: Brock's
Ninetales
by Sidewinder (April 14, 2000)
Here's another interesting card from
the the Gym set. Brock's Ninetales has a very cool power, and
both Vulpixes that come with it will
certainly make Spike happy. :-)
Brock's Vulpix
Type: Basic Fire Pokemon
LV.10 HP 40
R: Flare: 20
CC: Quick Attack: 10+
Effect: Flip a coin. If heads, this attack does 20 more
damage.
Retreat: C
Weakness: W
No. 037 (Common)
Brock's Vulpix
Type: Basic Fire Pokemon
LV.16 HP 50
C: Stare
Effect: The Defending Pokemon is now Asleep.
RR: Flame Ring: 20
Effect: Choose 1 of your opponent's Benched Pokemon. This
attack does 10 damage to that Pokemon. (Don't apply
Weakness and Resistance.)
Retreat: C
Weakness: W
No. 037 (Uncommon)
Brock's Ninetails
Type: Stage 1 Fire Pokemon (Evolves from Brock's Vulpix)
LV.30 HP 70
[Pokemon Power] Disguise
Effect: Once during your turn (before your attack), choose an
Evolution card in your hand, and attach it to this
Pokemon.
This Pokemon becomes that Evolution, but no additional
Evolution card may be attached. Once during your
turn (before
your attack), you may discard the Evolution card attached
to
this Pokemon. This Power stops working if this
Pokemon is
Asleep, Confused or Paralyzed, and all Evolution cards
attached to it must be discarded.
RR: Flare: 30
Retreat: C
Weakness: W
No. 038 (Rare Hologram)
Strategy:
Brock's Vulpix lvl.10 and lvl.16 are
both good. The lvl.10 version has does 20 damage for 1 Fire
Energy and has Quick Attack for a
Double Colorless. The downside is it's low 40HP. Lvl.16 Vulpix
is also good. Flame Ring is
exactly like Jungle Pikachu's Spark, except using Fire Energy. If you
need a little more HP, lvl.16 has
that, with a decent 50.
Brock's Ninetales has an interesting
Pokemon Power. It takes the longest explanation, so I'll talk
about the rest of it first.
First of all, Ninetales has a strong 70HP. It also has a good attack
for 2 Fire
Energy that does 30 damage. It
also has a low Retreat Cost of 1. Disguise is a Pokemon Power that
brings mixed reactions. I read
somebody who thought it has no bonus to change a Ninetales
(Stage 1) into a Stage 2 Pokemon, and
I understand his point. However, the key to Disguise lies in
one card DEVOLUTION SPRAY. Note:
Because of the large amounts of combos Brock's Ninetales
has, I will be putting up a combos
section in this article. I'll explain a little bit. Try evolving
Ninetales into a Blastoise and
Raindancing like CRAZY. After you've piled on 14 Energy to
Blastoise, use Devolution Spray and
evolve into Charizard. Now there's a use for the fattie!
Strengths:
Everyone in the family has at least 1
good attack, and none of them discard! Everyone also retreats
for only 1 Colorless Energy.
Vulpix lvl.10's Flare, Vulpix lvl.16's Flame Ring, and Ninetales's Flare all
are strong and economical. Also,
Ninetales's Disguise can be a very useful Pokemon Power.
Weaknesses:
The obvious one: WATER! That's
actually pretty much it, besides Vulpix lvl.10's HP.
Combos:
Ninetales + Blastoise + Water Energy
(14) + Devolution Spray + Charizard (I know that's a lot) = Six
prizes on demand!
Ninetales + Blastoise + Water Energy
(a lot) + Devolution Spray + Exeggcutor = Maybe even more
damage than Charizard!
Conclusion:
Another fun Pokemon to play. I
also think that it can become very lethal. The 2 combos I did list do
a ton of damage, although I've never
tried it yet, unfortunetaly.
Thanks,
Sidewinder