Dodrio-V – Fusion Strike
Date Reviewed: January 22, 2022
Ratings Summary:
Standard: 2.0
ART: 3.0
Ratings are based on a 1 to 5 scale. 1 is horrible. 3 is average. 5 is great.
Reviews Below:
Blocky
Dragon
Dodrio-V
Dodrio-V is a Pokemon-V and has a rule box, which could be good and could be bad, but it’s generally a good thing. Even though more and more anti-V effects and attacks are popping up, Pokemon-V have remained the dominant force in Standard for a long, long time. As a V, Dodrio is a Basic, which means it’s easy to get in play. It has 200 HP, slightly low for a V, but not TOO low. Its type is colorless, meaning it doesn’t have to deal with weakness or resistance. This is not great, as weakness has proven to be an incredibly strong mechanic. It is weak to lightning, which is an average weakness in my opinion. Fighting resistance is good, as fighting is one of the most prominent types in Standard, especially due to both Urshifu-VMAXs being meta. Dodrio’s retreat cost is just one energy, low enough to pay to retreat. Finally, it is a rapid strike pokemon, which allows it to access all kinds of rapid strike support such as tower of waters which removes its retreat cost, and rapid strike energy.
Dodrio-V has two attacks. Its first attack is No Reprieve, which costs one energy of any type and does 20 damage, plus makes the defending pokemon take 80 more damage during your next turn. This attack is horrible in my opinion. Two-hit combos like this rarely work, as you’re basically doing nothing for a whole turn and letting the opponent attack you freely. Plus, even if you do survive the next turn, 80 more damage isn’t a whole lot. Dodrio’s second attack is Rampage Drill, which does 160 for three of any energy, but does 30 recoil damage to Dodrio itself. 160 for three is slightly above average, and it’s very good if you take into consideration the fact that any energy can be used. You can use all sorts of energy acceleration to meet this cost, such as Welder, Melony, Triple Acceleration Energy, Double Colorless Energy, just to name a few. However, many of the options are in expanded, not standard. The 30 recoil damage can hurt, but you can shrug it off the majority of the time. If you used No Reprieve the turn before, Rampage Drill now does 240 damage! Since No Reprieve does 20 damage, the defending pokemon now has at least 260 damage on it! That’s enough to kill almost all EXs, Mega EXs, Vs, GXs, some Tag Teams, some VSTARs, and no VMAXs.That is outstanding for the energy cost of 3 at most, but like I said, a two-hit combo rarely works out. You’re better off getting something that can do that much damage straight up. One more thing Dodrio has to deal with is being a fairly standard V in a growing pool of Vs. There are many other Pokemon that have a similar second attack as Rampage Drill. Dodrio does have the easy to pay energy cost and rapid strike support, but I would still play things like Galarian Moltres-V over Dodrio-V, as Moltres has a great ability and 30 more damage, plus the ability to hit Psychics for weakness.
Overall, Dodrio is not too bad of a card, but it is very replaceable. Its art is also run-of-the-mill, being a CGI artwork. It does look nice and clean though, and shows a bit more “life” than some other V cards I’ve seen.
Standard: 2/5
Art: 3/5
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