Today,I'm going to look at every
card from the Neo Discovery set,and also a
few Neo4s(Thanks to Edo for the
translations).First will be Fire
Fire:
Houndour(Holo)
That's
it? Fire got ripped. Anyway,Houndour is nothing great,but it is the
best
Houndour in the set and a good setup for Houndoom.
So Fire got an ok
card.Next is Lightning,which got ripped even worse.
Lightning:
Mareep
Trash.Before you even think about using it,don't.
So
Lightning got absolutely nothing.Moving on...
Metal:
Forretress
Magnemite
Scizor
Forretress.An average card.Probably will only
see play as a combo with other
cards such as the Beedrill in this set.Other
than that,don't bother.
Magnemite is NOT good.Some people say it is,but its
HP is just too low too
require 2 turns to attack. Now Scizor is a great
card.Early middle or late,it
is very solid.By the way,the Double Claw
problem is still out there.I emailed
WotC and they said it automatically
does 20 damage.I guess you can just play
it how you want to,everyone I know
plays it with an auto 20, and it should be
since that's what the Japanese
card does.
So Metal got Scizor,and possibly Forretress. Now to Darkness.
Darkness:
Houndoom
Houndour(Uncommon)
Tyranitar
Umbreon(Holo)
Umbreon(Rare)
Houndoom is great! Crunch is very
good,and Flamethrower is good also. Expect
to see a lot of Houndoom decks.
Houndour's attacks aren't bad,but his HP is
way too low.Just use the other
one.Tyranitar is a power house.He is energy
intensive and has a high
retreat,but other than that, he is great. Good combo
with Unown D. Umbreon
(holo)is a killer card.People will think twice before
using Cleffa and
Igglybuff. Also kills a benched Sneasel in 2 hits. Almost
forgot the other
Umbreon(Rare).This card is good,but there is no reason to
play him when you
have the holo Umbreon.
So the Darkness type is emerging as possibly the
best type out there.It has
Murkrow and Sneasel, and now it has
Umbreon(Holo),Houndoom,and Tyranitar.
Better start playing Unown D.Next type
is Colorless.
Colorless:
Dunsparce
Eevee
Igglybuff
Sentret
Smeargle
Teddiursa
Ursaring
Dunsparce looks like
a dead slug that's been run over by a bike. And, it's
about that useful.
DON'T USE IT! Eevee is a great card for an Eeveelutions
deck, but it isn't
good with Umbreon(Darkness energy hurts it if you don't
get heads on the
coin flip). Igglybuff is an awesome card.It shuts down Dark
Plume,
Slowking,and others.However,Umbreon might keep this card from being
played a
lot. Sentret is better than the Neo one,but since Furret sucks, it
doesn't
matter.Smeargle is okay,but Clefable is a much better choice,so don't
expect
to see a lot of Smeargle. Teddiursa's HP is too low for Rest to make a
difference.Bad card.Ursaring is way too expensive energy wise and is also
too
flip intensive. No way is this card worth using.
So Colorless
emerges with Eevee and Igglybuff as good cards.Moving on with
Fighting.
Fighting:
Hitmontop
Larvitar
Omanyte
Omastar
Poliwrath
Pupitar
Tyrogue
Hitmontop. He's good on both an
offensive and defensive standpoint,but his HP
is just too low. Almost
playable. Larvitar is weak and pathetic. Evolve as
soon as possible.Omanyte
is great! The Pokemon Power is awesome,allowing
Fossil decks to get out
Kabuto and Omanyte without Mysterious Fossil.Very
playable. Omastar is also
very good. Spike Barrage good do unlimited
damage,and Squeeze does 30 damage
and Paralysis for just one energy and a
heads. Another good card. Poliwrath
has nice attacks and HP,but the fact that
he evolves from too bad Pokemon
which also need different energies to attack
makes him unplayable. Pupitar
is almost as bad as Larvitar. You'll need
Breeders if you're playing
Tyranitar.Tyrogue can kill a Jigglypuff in one
hit,but Wiggly is rarely
played. Tyrogue just isn't worth it.
So Fighting gets 2 great
cards,Omanyte and Omastar. Mysterious Fossil decks
need these guys,and
Fossil decks are a lot of fun to play(trust me,I play
one). Now, it's time
for Water...
Water:
Corsola
Kabuto
Kabutops
Poliwag
Poliwhirl
Politoed
Wooper
Corsola would be okay if it didn't
need 2 different types of energies, but it
does,so don't play it. Kabuto is
good, because his Pokemon Power gets more
Kabuto on the bench. Kabutops is
broken. One of the best cards in the set,
his only problem is that he is a
Stage 2. I have a deck with Kabutops in it
and so far it is 13-2. Poliwag is
weak.Poliwhirl kills himself with Belly
Drum. Politoed is not good because
it is too hard to get out 4
Poliwag,Poliwhirl, Poliwrath, or Politoeds on
the bench and keep them alive.
Not to mention his attack is very risky and
expensive.
So Water emerges with Kabuto,and a killer card in the form of
Kabutops.
Expect Grass to get good cards too.
Grass:
Beedrill
Butterfree
Caterpie
Hoppip
Kakuna
Metapod
Pineco
Scyther
Spinarak
Weedle
Yanma
Beedrill is awesome.
Another killer card, Triple Poison kills even Steelix,
which gives most
Grass Pokemon nightmares. And Pin Missile is not that bad.
On average it
does 3 for 40,which is ok. Butterfree is another great Grass
type (think
WotC wants us to use Stage 2s)? Magic Dust is great, I love
Confusing and
Poisoning my opponents Pokemon. Hyper Reverse is great against
people who
like to load their Darkness Pokemon with Darkness Pokemon with
Darkness
energies. Caterpie has a nice HP but kills itself attacking. Use the
Base
Set one. Hoppip is too weak to play. Might as well say GOW me. Kakuna is
a
great stall card. They will think twice about attacking,which gives you an
advantage. Metapod is another good card (who would have thought that cocoon
Pokemon that can barely move would be as good as they are) Hatch can get you
a 2nd turn Butterfree,along with no damage on it. Pineco was good until WotC
changed its translation.Now it is worthless. Scyther is risky but lots of
fun,and you gotta love that 90 damage possibilty.( Once killed a Blaine's
Arcanine doing that,man that kid was mad). Spinarak is too weak to be
waiting
2 turns to use a sorry attack. Weedle is risky,but you might as well
use this
one because the only time you'll be attacking with a Weedle is when
you have
absolutely no other choice.Yanma is ok, and it helps against Steel
Pokemon,
but its attack is too expensive for 60 HP,and Beedrill is better
for that
anyway.
So Grass gets many playable cards: Beedrill,
Butterfree,Kakuna, Metapod,a
better Weedle,and possibly even Scyther,but
only in a Grass deck. Our final
type is Psychic,and it is also the largest.
Psychic:
Espeon(holo)
Espeon(rare)
Unown A,D,E,F,I,M,N,O,U
Wobbuffet
Holo Espeon is anti Rocket's Zapdos. Every time it uses
Plasma, Psychic does
more damage (unless there are no Lightning energies in
the discard pile). The
rare Espeon is average at best in the first place,
and with the holo one
around,this card is useless. Unown A is ok, it can
make its fellow Unowns do
1 for 40, but it is GOW bait with 30 damage on it,
and that's if you can even
get that exact amount on it. Unown D is great for
slowing down Dark Pokemon
and helps a Tyranitar deck. Just watch out for GOW
and Iggly.Unown E is bad
because a Power that lets you and your opponent
draw up to 4 cards and you
can only use it once is definetly not worth it.
Unown F has a good Power, but
it will be hard to get 4 Unowns and keep them
alive. Unown I and Ruin Wall
will help. Unown I is good help with FIND, but
other than that, it has no
use. Unown M is not as useful as Unown D, but
it's still good since
Scizor,Skarmory, and Steelix are out there. Unown N
might put out Wiggly for
good and is also helpful with Chansey. Pretty
playable card. Unown O is like
a Pokedex every turn on your opponent, but
they can just Oak anyway, so don't
bother with this card. Unown U's Pokemon
is a lot like F's, but U's is even
harder to pull off. Don't expect to see a
lot of this card. Wobbuffet is one
of my favorite cards looks-wise (got
laxative), but it is bad without Scoop
Up. Probably won't see much play.
So Psychic gets a few good cards: Espeon(holo) Unowns D,M,N, and
possibly F.
Trainers are all that's left for Neo Discovery.
Trainers:
Energy Ark
Fossil Egg
Hyper Devolution Spray
Ruin Wall
Energy Ark is a less reliable Energy Search. Can you say
firewood? Fossil Egg
is another card in a Mysterious Fossil deck that helps
get down those Stage
1s. Requires a flip, but is still worth it. Hyper Devo.
Spray is better than
Devo. Spray but still probably won't see much use. Ruin
Wall is good for FIND
and UNDO, but since combos won't be used much at all,
forget it.
So the only useful Trainer from Neo Discovery is Fossil Egg.
And now, it's
time for my bonus section, 4 Neo4 cards:
Dark Ampharos
Stage 2 Lightning Pokemon
LV36,HP70
Pokemon Power:Battery: Whenever
your opponent attaches an energy card to a
Pokemon from his or her hand,this
Power does 10 damage to that Pokemon.
(Don't apply Weakness and Resistance)
This Power stops working is Dark
Ampharos ia Asleep,Confused, or Paralyzed,
or another Dark Ampharos is using
Battery
LCC: Shock Bolt 50: Discard
all L energy cards attached to this Pokemon in
order to use this attack.
Weakness:Fightning. Resistance:None.Retreat:CC. (Holo)
This card is
very good. Battery is a great Power, most likely doing 10 damage
a turn. Add
in some ER and SERs,and your opponent will have an energy crisis.
Shock Bolt
may seem bad at first, but add 2 Darkness energies in place of the
Colorless
( It's DARK Ampharos,so it won't get hurt by Darkness energy)and
you'll be
doing 70 damage and only discarding 1 energy.
Dark Feraligatr
Stage
2 Water Pokemon
LV44,HP 80
Pokemon Power: Compress: Your opponent
cannot use the attacks or Pokemon
Powers of his or her Baby Pokemon. This
Power stops working if this Pokemon
is Asleep, Confused, or Paralyzed.
WWW: Destruction Attack 50:Flip a coin. If heads, choose 1 energy card
attached to the Defending Pokemon and discard it.
Weakness:Grass.Resistance:None.Retreat:CCC (Holo)
Compress is
awesome! Good bye Cleffa,Igglybuff, whatever. All baby Pokemon
are useless
when this card is in play. Of course,you can still use yours. And
Destruction Attack is great too. As if 3 for 50 isn't good enough already,
you can also discard an energy card attached to the Defending Pokemon if the
flip is heads.
Dark Gengar
Stage 2 Psychic Pokemon
LV37,HP70
Pokemon Power: Unpleasant Dream: Each Pokemon that is Asleep at the end of
each turn flips 2 coins instead of 1. If both coins are heads, that Pokemon
is no longer Asleep. This Power stops working if Dark Gengar is
Asleep,Confused,or Paralyzed.
PPP: Switch Out 30: The Defending Pokemon
is now Asleep. If you wish, before
damage is done, you may choose 1 of your
opponent's Benched Pokemon and
switch it with the Defending Pokemon.
Weakness:None. Resistance:Fighting. Retreat:CC. (Holo)
Wow! The
Power is a sickening combo with Neo 3 Misdreavus. That could become
a
popular archetype. The attack is good too 3 for 30 and auto Sleep with a
GOW
built in is nothing to sneeze at. One more Neo4 to go. It's the first
Neo4
holo I got from Neo4(duh) booster pack.
Dark Tyranitar
Stage 2
Fighting Pokemon
LV47,HP90
F: Mountain Burst 20x:Flip a number of coins
equal to the number of F Energy
cards attached to Dark Tyranitar. This
attack does 20 damage times the number
of heads. Then, discard a number of
cards from the top of your opponent's
deck equal to the number of heads.
FFFC: Divide attack 50: If your opponent has any Benched Pokemon, this
attack
does 30 damage,and choose 1 of your opponent's Benched Pokemon. This
attack
does 30 damage to that Pokemon. ( Don't apply Weakness and Resistance
for
Benched Pokemon)
Weakness:Grass. Resistance:Lightning.Retreat:CCC
(Holo)
Mountain Burst is broken. This could unlimited damage plus
discarding
energies from your opponent's deck. (Did you notice all these
cards are Stage
2s?). Use that Team Rocket's gym Stadium card from neo 3,and
you've got a 110
HP monster.
So, after days of writing,I finally
finished. I do card Strategies. If you
want me to do one, or just want to
talk, email me at: Scizor15 @aol.com. Pojo
Rulz, cya!