Galarian Sirfetch’d V – Pokemon Promo Review

Vince

With the countdown of Vivid Voltage completed, we’re looking at some more cards which has potential or being part of runner-ups. Here’s a card that was available to anyone in it’s own box called the Galarian Sirfetch’d-V Box that was released on September 25, 2020. And I think this is one of those times that I would give it a try. Or maybe it would be a important card because of what it does.

Galarian Sirfetch’d has some features which seemed familiar in the past. It’s ability, Resolute Spear, states that if this Pokemon from the Bench into the Active Spot, then you can move any amount of Fighting Energies from your other Pokemon to this Pokemon. This ability has been seen on previous cards like Xerneas (*) from SM Lost Thunder for Fairy Energies, Heatran-GX from SM Unified Minds for Fire Energies, and even Dragonite-EX from XY Furious Fists, and those cards did see play to some extent. And if Galarian Sirfetch’d were to get three energies attached to it, it can use Meteor Smash for 200 damage, which can achieve some OHKOs and 2HKOs (with Martial Arts Dojo or Leon helping you increase the damage you deal to secure certain KOs). You might not be able to attack with Galarian Sirfetch on your next turn, but that means you run switching cards to get it out of the Active Spot and promote another Pokemon to be on the Active Spot, ideally another Galarian Sirfetch-V, so that it can use it’s Resolute Spear ability and attack with Meteor Smash. The drawback wouldn’t matter if Galarian Sirfetch’d won’t survive your opponent’s attack on their next turn.

Dragonite-EX has the Bust In ability, which can move any Basic Energies from your other Pokemon to this Pokemon. However, its flexibility is short-lived when it’s Jet Sonic attack needs Grass and Lightining energy, and the damage is underpowered even if you discard an Energy attached to it for extra damage (80 + 40). Heatran-GX has an ability called Burning Road, which does the same thing Resolute Spear does, but instead of Fighting energies, it moves fire energies from your other Pokemon to this Pokemon. Additionally, Heatran-GX does have something that Galarian Sirfetch’d doesn’t: and it is it’s Hot Burn GX attack, which does 50 damage times the amount of Fire energies attached to that Pokemon. Despite being a one-time deal, it is enough to OHKO any Pokemon with enough investment, and Welder makes loading up fire energies much easier. However, outside of it’s GX attack, it has another repeatable attack that does 130 damage for three energies, which is still a decent vanilla attack that can be used to finish off weakened Pokemon in this range. Xerneas (*) has the Path of Life ability, which also does the same thing, but for Fairy Energies. Xerneas (*)’s Bright Horns does 160 damage for three Fairy Energies, and that attack also stops Xerneas from using it again unless it is switched (similar to today’s card). Xerneas may only be run with a single copy due to the (*) rule, but it is worth a single prize; Galarian Sirfetch’d can be run as many copies as you like, though the most players would run would either be one or two copies. After all, Heatran-GX was used in a single copy of a ReshiZard deck that even won the 2019 World Championships.

While it has an ability has seen some usefulness, the thing that I would be concerned about is if there’s enough partners for Galarian Sirfetch’d to be seen as a secondary attacker in case the primary attacker is in trouble. Fortunately, there is! Coalossal V-MAX seems like it’s the perfect candidate for it as it’s Eruption Shot attack can help fuel up energy cards if their top card of their deck has a basic Fighting Energy. GMAX Boulder does adequate damage for the cost. If Coalossal VMAX is on the brink of being KOed and you don’t want your opponent to take three prizes, then Galarian Sirfetch’d can take over while giving up two prizes, has 210 HP, and hits just as hard as GMAX Boulder. As for loading Fighting energies to your Pokemon, Bea can help you do that, though at the same time you could lose crucial cards from your deck. Overall, I think with those cards (and these aren’t the only examples), Galarian Sirfetch’d actually has enough to work with. The Expanded Format still contains several of type-based support regarding Fighting type such as Diancie (*), Regirock-EX, and Strong Energy to further make Meteor Assault deal more damage and might achieve certain KOs for the investment. The Float Stone plus either Keldeo-EX or Dawn Wings Necrozma-GX combo can also get around the drawback of Meteor Assault. And since this is a promo card, it is not legal for the Limited Format, though it would be decent there, though having to attack once every two turns is not good unless it KOs something.

Ratings:

Standard: 3/5
Expanded: 3.5/5
Limited: N/A (might be 4/5 if it were to be in an expansion)

Conclusion:

This ability has seen some competitive success, so I think Galarian Sirfetch’d-V will experience similar success in the future. I don’t know when that will happen or if it would continue to be, but currently there are some Fighting-weak targets that it can OHKO even the biggest Pokemon, and that’s might be incentive enough to use it.

Otaku

With our countdown of SW – Vivid Voltage concluded, we’ll soon be covering the runners-up… but first, an “Honorable Mention”.  No one nominated Galarian Sirfetch’d V (SW – Black Star Promos SWSH043; SW – Vivid Voltage 174/185) for the reason you just saw, if you read the reference sets and numbers I just gave after the card name.  The initial release of this card slipped past me, and so I mistakenly thought it was going to debut in this latest set, but it actually released a few months ago as a promo!  Which means it was not eligible for this countdown.  Now, would it have qualified had it been a legitimate option?  Let’s look at the card and find out!

What’s in a name?  Plenty, in this case.  Galarian Sirfetch’d V might someday belong to the “Galarian” family of cards.  Wait, why doesn’t it belong to that group now?  Currently, zero card effects specify them, though a few do mention “Galarian” with respect to specific cards, such as Galarian Runerigus.  I expect something will eventually materialize because that is how it was with the Alolan regional variants: they showed up, but no card effects mentioned them until we got a few, such as Aether Foundation Employee.  The other thing the name tells us is that this is a Pokémon V, so it will be excluded from certain beneficial effects and subject to certain detrimental ones.  The V rule textbox at the bottom also reminds us it is worth an extra Prize when KO’d.

Being a Pokémon V is not all bad, however.  Instead of being a Stage 1 Pokémon, as with the baseline Galarian Sirfetch’d, Galarian Sirfetch’d V is a Basic Pokémon.  This means it requires approximately half the space and time to field, taking advantage of general evolution (and Stage 1-specific) support, though it has to deal with the counters for such things.  Basics have their own support and face their own counters, so combined with the other inherent benefits, this is still a very good deal for Galarian Farfetch’d V.  It also receives an HP boost relative to the regular Galarian Farfetch’d, with 80 more than any currently released, while being a lower Stage of evolution (though not their lower Stage of evolution).  210 is the low-end of “normal” for Basic Pokémon V, which gives Galarian Sirfetch’d V a decent chance of surviving one attack.

Galarian Sirfetch’d V is a Fighting type, as expected given it is purely a Fighting type in the video games as well.  It is still early, with the cards newly released in SW – Vivid Voltage only having just become legal yesterday, as well as the new Bans in Expanded having only gone into effect on the same day.  If things go as I expect, enough Fighting Weak Pokémon will remain prominent (and maybe effective) in the metagame that Fighting types will enjoy a serious edge.  You’ll have to mind Fighting Resistance from time to time as well.  SW – Vivid Voltage also granted us some new pieces of Fighting type support, and that should further enhance their chances.  This card’s own [P] Weakness shouldn’t be too bad, and both a lack of Resistance and Retreat Cost of [CC] are typical.

Galarian Sirfetch’d V has one Ability and one attack.  “Resolute Spear”, a once-during-your-turn Ability in the sense that a particular instance of it may only be used once during your turn.  If you play another card with it, or the same instance leaves then returns to the field so that it counts as if it was a new instance, it may also be used.  Resolute Spear may only be used when Galarian Sirfetch’d V from your Bench to the Active position (again, during your turn).  This means you can use it anytime your Active Spot is vacated and this Pokémon steps up to fill the void, whether due to retreating, switching effects, etc.  When you use Resolute Spear, you may move any (up to and including all) [F] Energy attached to your Pokémon to Galarian Sirfetch’d V.  While moving Energy around is one of the weaker forms of Energy acceleration, it is still Energy acceleration; with the right specifics, it can be quite valuable.

In this case, it is almost all about Galarian Sirfetch’d V, as the Energy may only be moved to itself (specifically, whichever copy of it used Resolute Spear).  If this card’s attack is bad, then it’ll be a waste, barring additional combos.  Galarian Sirfetch’d V only knows  “Meteor Smash”.  For [FFC], this attack does 200 damage but it also places an effect on whatever Pokémon used it, stating that Pokémon cannot attack the next turn.  You can easily reset this through Benching and re-promoting Galarian Sirfetch’d V, but that probably isn’t necessary due to the Ability.  A three Energy requirement is not insignificant, but the Ability really helps.  The damage is a bit short of what I’d like, but we do have a few tricks to raise it.  As is, it is still more than enough for 2HKO’s.

Fortunately, I believe Galarian Sirfetch’d V released at a good time for a card like this.  Its combination of stats and effects lends it to shifting between being more offense focused and more defense based: both sword and shield, as it were.  In terms of offense, we just received Leon.  You have to use your Supporter on it for that turn, but you immediately hit that magic 230 damage for OHKOing your fellow basic Pokémon V (barring Resistance or defensive buffs).  Most of the time, you should have at least one basic Fighting Energy attached to your Galarian Farfetch’d, so Martial Arts Dojo can add an easy 10 damage, or 40 if your opponent has fewer Prizes remaining than you do.  You could tack Vitality Band onto that, but there are other Tools I think will help more.

One of those might be Karate Belt.  It won’t do you any good if you’re tied or ahead on Prizes, but when you’re in a pinch, behind on Prizes and don’t have three full Energy handy, Meteor Smash is now online for [FC].  If you still have a basic Fighting Energy attached and Martial Arts Dojo in play, you can still deliver 240 damage to your opponent.  Karate Belt might be too niche, but what about Air Balloon?  Now you can retreat for free, unless something else interferes.  I wouldn’t rely on just this, because there are other combos, but it was worth mentioning… and may prove to be the superior approach.  The Tool I am leaning towards most, however, is once that leans more towards the shield side of things: Cape of Toughness.  Resolute Spear does almost nothing for you if your currently Active Galarian Farfetch’d V is OHKO’d, taking its Energy with it.  Cape of Toughness adds 50 HP, giving Galarian Sirfetch’d V a score inline with TAG TEAM Pokémon: 260.

Focusing on the defensive side of things, instead of Martial Arts Dojo, you could use Circhester Bath.  It reduces the damage Basic Pokémon take from opposing Pokémon’s attacks by 20.  Sometimes this could backfire, but sometimes it even helps out Basic versus Basic; Galarian Sirfetch’d V barely survives an attack that would have OHKO’d it, gets shunted to the Bench so a second Galarian Sirfetch’d V can become Active, take its Energy (through Resolute Spear), and swing for another 200 damage.  When facing off against a Pokémon VMAX, some can still easily OHKO Galarian Sirfetch’d V, even with both Cape of Toughness and Circhesther Bath, but it certainly isn’t as easy… and the 10 or 40 bonus from Martial Arts Dojo is even less likely to matter in the same match-up.

If it still seems like a long shot, that’s because of two remaining pieces to the combo, which you should really run whether you’re focusing on offense, focusing on defense, or – as I suspect is best – alternating between the two: Stone [F] Energy and Mallow & Lana.  Each Stone [F] Energy provides [F] while attached to a Pokémon, and while attached to a Fighting type such as Galarian Sirfetch’d V, each also reduces the damage that Galarian Sirfetch’d V takes by 20.  So, not only do you improve the odds of Galarian Sirfetch’d V surviving an attack, not only do you still meet its Energy needs, but that protection can be passed onto the next Galarian Sirfetch’d V.  It isn’t safe to leave badly injured, multi-Prize Pokémon on the Bench, which is where we come to Mallow & Lana.  We need both switching and healing, which this card can provide.  This isn’t likely enough healing to remove all damage, but it means any Galarian Sirfetch’d V will still have at least 130 while on your Bench.

In Expanded, Galarian Sirfetch’d V faces some very serious counters, like Silent Lab, but it gains a lot of support.  Now Strong Energy can join Stone [F] Energy, or perhaps completely replace it you let Focus Sash do most of the heavy lifting of keeping Galarian Sirfetch’d V alive.  Acerola, AZ, and/or Max Potion can help with healing, though when using the bounce effects, make sure to time it for after you’ve already made use of Resolute Spear for the turn.  Still run basic Fighting Energy as well, because Max Elixir and/or Turbo Patch are valuable for setting up your initial assault, and as a fallback option if something does go amiss.  A copy of Regirock (XY – Black Star Promos XY49) with an Exp. Share is also a must, as it can soak up any basic Fighting Energy cards that would have been lost when your plans do fall through.  Finally, you can use Diancie {*}, and maybe even Regirock-EX, to increase how hard your hitting, should you feel the need for a greater offense.

Or you just include it as a single.  Yeah, after all of that, I should address the most likely, and easiest, use for Galarian Sirfetch’d V.  Slap it into another Fighting deck, and drop it for a quick, strong, maybe surprising blow.  It is a strategy we’ve seen in Fire decks, with Heatran-GX, and we’re not using up a GX-attack for the privelege here.  This is true of Expanded or Standard, though I don’t have any confirmed results of either… in the game outside of Japan.  Otherwise, you can find it in several of the Coalossal VMAX decks that did well at the Champions League Yokohama, held on October 3rd.

In the Limited Format, you still may enjoy Galarian Sirfetch’d V, however you’re only dealing with the one, higher rarity version in SW – Vivid Voltage.  Don’t bother using it for a Mulligan deck; the Ability won’t do you any good (no Bench means nothing to retreat), and Meteor Smash will not only take three turns to reach, but then will only be able to be used every other turn.  Sure, it’ll OHKO any single-Prize Pokémon from this set, and even the [F] Weak Pokémon V… but the typical deck is going to just overwhelm your 210 HP since they have nine attacks to do so, if nothing does wrong on your end and they’re just using single-Prize attackers themselves.  However, if you can build a deck with at least a few (probably at least three our four) basic Fighting Energy cards, and avoid putting them into play too early, then Galarian Sirfetch’d V makes for an excellent surprise strike.  If you can avoid “losing” your Fighting Energy in play, you may even be able to safely retreat it, then make use of a second Resolute Spear into a Meteor Smash.

Ratings

• Standard: 4/5
• Expanded: 4/5
• Limited: 3/5

While I haven’t heard much about Galarian Sirfetch’d V since it became tournament legal, from before the latest set dropped, and I’m worried my review may do more harm than good… because I focused on running Galarian Sirfetch’d V in its own deck, burying the more important point about its value as a general back-up attacker in other Fighting decks.  Good thing the articles have the ratings and this final section, so I can make sure such things are easily seen and retained.  Galarian Sirfetch’d would probably have made my list for SW – Vivid Voltage, had it not been released prior as a promo, and had a good shot at making the actual countdown as well.