Ampharos V – Vivid Voltage
Date Reviewed: February 5, 2021
Ratings Summary:
Standard: 2.00
Expanded: 2.00
Ratings are based on a 1 to 5 scale. 1 is horrible. 3 is average. 5 is great.
Reviews Below:
Otaku
Ampharos V (SW – Vivid Voltage 049/185, 171/185) is a Lightning type, which is good, though a card probably needs to play nicely with Pikarom decks to get the full benefit. As a Pokémon V, it gives up an extra Prize when KO’d, and being a Pokémon V is why Ampharos V won’t be able to take advantage of support like Scoop Up Net and has to sweat counters like Decidueye (SW – Darkness Ablaze 013/189; SW – Black Star Promos SWSH035). Being a Pokémon V comes with some benefits as well; the most obvious being Ampharos V is a Basic Pokémon. Instead of being a slow and demanding Stage 2, Ampharos V gets to be a fast and easy to run Basic Pokémon.
Being a Pokémon V also means Ampharos V has far better HP than its baseline counterpart, or even than any single-Prize Basic Pokémon. 210 is enough to survive an attack, but OHKO’s can and will happen. Even when not facing Ampharos V’s [F] Weakness. Fighting Pokémon tend to hit hard and fast, but we haven’t seen a Fighting-focused deck do well in quite a while. No Resistance is the worst Resistance, but Resistance doesn’t often matter in the modern TCG. The Retreat Cost of [CCC] is high enough it will rarely be worth paying. A slightly higher cost of [CCCC] is barely any worse because you’re using switching effects, and arguably better because you gain access to cards such as Buff Padding.
Ampharos V knows two attacks. For [LC], it can use “Dazzle Blast” to do 50 damage while Confusing your opponent’s Active. “Damaging Spark” requires [LLC] and does 120 damage, as well as 30 damage to each of your opponent’s Benched Pokémon with any damage counters on them. Thanks to tricks like Tapu Koko {*}, Dazzle Blast can be readied in a single turn. The damage is low, but Confusion provides a risky means of stalling and – with luck – placing some damage counters. For just one more Energy, you can bring Damaging Spark online. Though it is the card’s big attack, the damage done to your opponent’s Active is at the deep end of smaller attackers. That isn’t automatically bad, but even the top half of single Prize Pokémon cards will require two hits, let alone fellow Basic Pokémon V. As for Pokémon VMAX, they’ll require three attacks!
Provided something else is spreading damage counters around, though, Damaging Spark can earn its keep. Against a full six-Pokémon Bench, Ampharos V may be able to do a total of 270 damage for just [LLC]! That sounds good but consider the full implications. The damage gets split between multiple targets, so KO’s accumulate slowly. Something else is required to spread damage before Ampharos V attacks. That means running another attacker or spamming something like Galarian Zigzagoon (Sword & Shield 117/202). The bonus damage is also easily countered by Mew (SM – Unbroken Bonds 76/214; SM – Black Star Promos SM215).
Ratings
- Standard: 2/5
- Expanded: 2/5
I can’t recommend this card in Standard. Expanded offers slightly more hope due to cards such as Electropower letting you slam your opponent’s Active for a OHKO, presumably while still racking up the Bench damage. Still, the effort you’re putting into Ampharos V will probably produce far better results used with other Basic Pokémon V. However, the card does enough right that it avoids a minimum score.
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