After reviewing the four promotional cards (Electabuzz, Dragonite, Pikachu,
and Mewtwo) that came out with the pokémon movie, I've formed an opinion as
to their usefulness in the game. All are cool cards, and very distinctive
with the gold movie stamp on the picture, but not all of them are good.
All
of these pokémon have been released on different cards already, so I will
compare the promo cards to their original/Jungle/Fossil counterparts.
First off, let's take a look at Dragonite:
Name: Dragonite
Type: Stage 2 -- from Dragonair
Card #: card 1 of 4
Rarity: Promotional
Color: Colorless
HP: 90 HP
Weakness: None
Resistance: Fighting -30
Retreat: 2
Pokémon #: 149
Species: Dragon
Level: 43
Power: "Special Delivery"
Once during your turn (before you attack) you may draw a card. If you do,
choose a card from your hand and put it on top of your deck. This power
can't be used if Dragonite is Asleep, Confused, or Paralyzed.
Attack: [3] Supersonic Flight (60)
Flip a coin. If tails, this attack does nothing.
This Dragonite is so-so. Special Delivery would almost be broken if you
could use it more than once per turn, but as it is it's a sub-par power.
90
HP isn't too bad for a Stage 2, and the retreat cost isn't bad. The
attack,
though, is suspect... I'm always wary of an attack who's usefulness is
determined solely by the flip of a coin. Interestingly enough, however,
this Dragonite's not much of a step down from the Fossil version -- both
cards are somewhat disappointing for such a popular creature.
Now let's take a look at Electabuzz:
Name: Electabuzz
Type: Basic Pokémon
Card #: card 2 of 4
Rarity: Promotional
Color: Lightning
HP: 60 HP
Weakness: Fighting
Resistance: None
Retreat: 2
Pokémon #: 125
Species: Electric
Level: 20
Attack: [L] Light Screen ()
Whenever an attack does damage to Electabuzz (after applying Weakness and
Resistance) during your opponent's next turn, that attack only does half the
damage to Electabuzz (rounded down to the nearest 10). (Any other effects
of attacks still happen).
Attack: [2] Quick Attack (10+)
Flip a coin. If heads, this attack does 10 damage plus 20 more damage; if
tails, this attack does 10 damage.
What is immediately obvious is how much worse this guy is than the original.
Less HP, weaker attacks, and it still has a retreat cost of 2. Not
a BAD
pokémon overall, but after what we've come to associate with the name
Electabuzz (i.e. speed and power) this guy is a severe disappointment.
Next up is the movie's title character, the mighty Mewtwo:
Name: Mewtwo
Type: Basic Pokémon
Card #: card 3 of 4
Rarity: Promotional
Color: Psychic
HP: 70 HP
Weakness: Psychic
Resistance: None
Retreat: 2
Pokémon #: 150
Species: Genetic
Level: 60
Attack: [P] Energy Absorption ()
Choose up to 2 Energy cards from your discard pile and attach them to
Mewtwo.
Attack: [1PP] Psyburn (40)
This bada$$ is quite obviously the best of these four promo cards. Of
course, almost anything would have been an improvement over the old
Mewtwo.... Anyway, what we find here is 10 more HP, a cheaper retreat
(down
from 3 to 2), and rockin' attacks. Theoretically, if you had an Oak you
could have Mewtwo up and dishin' 40 by the second turn... that's nasty.
Energy Absorption makes Mewtwo almost immune to energy removal, and Psyburn
will lay the smack down. I expect to start seeing Psychic haymakers that
rely heavily on this card -- for it is this Mewtwo that makes a true Psy
haymaker possible. With the addition of this card, every color now has a
"haymaker" basic, which hopefully will lead to more variation upon the
rather staid Haymaker line.
Finally, we come to everyone's favorite yellow mouse, Pikachu:
Name: Pikachu
Type: Basic Pokémon
Card #: card 4 of 4
Rarity: Promotional
Color: Lightning
HP: 50 HP
Weakness: Fighting
Resistance: None
Retreat: 1
Pokémon #: 25
Species: Mouse
Level: 13
Attack: [L] Recharge ()
Search your deck for a Lightning Energy card and attach it to Pikachu.
Shuffle your deck afterward.
Attack: [LLL] Thunderbolt (50)
Discard all Energy cards attached to Pikachu in order to use this attack.
This version of Pikachu isn't that bad. 50 HP is about average for little
Pika, as is his retreat cost. Recharge essentially lets you attach 2
Energy
per turn, which should help charge up for Thunderbolt. Thunderbolt is just
a scaled-down version of Zapdos' attack of the same name, with the same
unfortunate result of discarding a whole lot of energy. Nevertheless, this
Pika has the most powerful attack of any I've seen (and there are a LOT of
versions of Pikachu). This little guy isn't bad, and might be nice if just
for the punch it provides, but don't give up on your Jungle Pikas quite yet.
Overall, that's still the better version.
My final analysis: I'll rate these cards in descending order, from (IMO) the
best to the worst.
1) Mewtwo
2) Pikachu
3) Dragonite
4) Electabuzz
Thanks for reading this! A wee bit long, I know, but I hope you enjoyed.
Feel free to email me at zluther@hotmail.com
-- I just might respond. ^_~
Have fun!
Zach Luther, aka Z
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