Giant Hearth #8 – Top 11 Pokemon Cards in Unified Minds

Otaku

Clocking in at 8th place is Giant Hearth (SM – Unified Minds 197/236).  This Trainer-Stadium may be used once during a player’s turn; you discard a card from your hand, then search your deck for up to two [R] Energy cards (shuffling your deck afterward).  As a reminder, nothing other than basic Fire Energy counts as [R] while in your deck.  In other words, as long as you only need basic Fire Energy, it is a better Viridian Forest.  Is that really good enough to deserve a place in the Top 11, let alone 8th place?

Yeah, it is.  [R] decks have a lot going for them, and it turns out Giant Hearth complements what we already have.  As I’ve warned before, I’m still coasting on Theorymon, but from what I’ve heard, in addition to what I was already expecting, Fire Decks aren’t going anywhere.  In fact, it seems like the current strong examples are going to remain competitive, maybe even get better.  It will hurt that they lose certain cards, but gains like Giant Hearth are more than compensation.  Still, maybe it isn’t clear why this particular effect is so important:

Welder.

While Giant Hearth is in play, two basic Fire Energy are in your deck, and you’ve got one other card for discard fodder, you’ll be able to easily use Welder.  This won’t replace your copy of Heat Factory {*}, but expect two to four copies of Giant Hearth to back it up.  This is good enough that it might even be worth running alongside or instead of Scorched Earth in Expanded; draw would normally be preferred, but Expanded adds even more [R] support that runs on basic Fire Energy cards.Giant Hearth is pretty much an automatic inclusion for the Limited Format; even if you can’t work some Fire Energy into your deck, take it to discard opposing Stadiums and to look at your deck!

Ratings

• Standard: 3.5/5
• Expanded: 3.5/5
• Limited: 4/5

Giant Hearth is relatively simple, but also quite good.  Admittedly, this is because it released at a time when [R] decks are expected to do well (perhaps dominate) and also are bolstered even more by its effect!  I actually had it as my personal 8th place pick as well.

Vince

When looking at this Stadium card, I can help but think that there isn’t seem to be enough support. In terms of Fire related cards, we’ve got Fiery Torch that discards a Fire Energy to draw two, so does Scorched Earth. There’s Blacksmith who attaches two Fire energies from the discard pile into one of your Fire Pokemon. Welder attaches two Fire energies from your hand to one of your Pokemon as well as draw three. Speaking about draw three, Heat Factory makes you discard a Fire energy to draw three. Fiery Flint fetches 4 Fire energies from your deck after discarding 2 cards from your hand, and Fire Crystal recovers 3 Fire energies.

Even after all that, it still isn’t enough, but is it needed?

Giant Hearth is a Stadium Card that makes you discard a card from their hand so that you can grab 2 Fire energies from your deck. This could help facilitate Blacephalon decks even further. In a format where Stadium wars and competition against other stadiums make it hard to fit certain cards in a deck, Standard is a bit kinder to that as opposed to Expanded. While you can add 1 Heat Factory and 4 Hearths (and no risk of Field Blower), Expanded has Scorching Earth for you to decide, or do both but risk waste of deck space.

I don’t know what to make of this card. I guess it is a nice option for a type that seems to already have so much going for it (and same could be said on other types).

• Standard: 3/5
• Expanded: 2.5/5
• Limited: 4/5

aroramage

If you can believe it, this card was tied with Blue’s Tactics. Not to say the others didn’t think of Blue’s Tactics as a good card, but they probably thought Giant Hearth was better.

Giant Hearth’s a Stadium card that’s all about Fire Energy. Specifically, it lets either player discard a card during their turn to add 2 Fire Energy from their deck to their hand before shuffling their deck. Now I know in the past there have been a lot of Fire-related support cards, and they’ve always seemed really good, but I’m gonna be skeptical on Giant Hearth for a few reasons.

But let’s start with the upsides: you get to pitch any card to your discard pile, which is good for setting up later plays with discard pile-related cards – you know the ones, Pal Pad, Energy accelerators, etc. – and then you get to guarantee that you’ll not only have Energy in hand for the next two turns but also thin out your deck and reduce the chances of you drawing an Energy on your next turn by a good bit. Use this enough times, and you never have to worry about drawing Energy from your deck again!

Now here’s where the main problem I have with this card is: what do you do with that Energy in hand? Truth be told, a lot of the cards that deal with Fire Energy specifically are Pokemon that like discarding that Energy from either themselves or your hand – Blacephalon (UNB) is actually a pretty good example of the latter with Fireball Circus – but those kinds of cards haven’t really been that great for the most part unless you had a means of getting the Energy back onto them or into your hand, like with Fire Crystal. Some grab the Energy straight from your deck, like Volcanion (UNB), so they don’t care if it’s in your hand, and some want it in your hand to play, like Darmanitan (DRM) or Moltres (LOT).

Where do I see the most value in this card? Well, I think there are 2 ways of going about this. Yeah, you could combine it with Heat Factory <Prism>, but that’s just playing a better Stadium that’s a one-of over a weaker but more plentiful Stadium, so that doesn’t seem that great. The better cards to work with are Salazzle (UNB) and even Welder. Salazzle’s Roast Reveal can net you 3 more cards for just 1 Fire Energy, but Welder’s even better, letting you play those 2 Fire Energy you got and then drawing you the same 3 cards! The other way would be to utilize this with Ninetales (TEU) and its Nine Temptations Ability, which acts like a forced Switch on your opponent’s Pokemon (think Pokemon Catcher or Lysandre) for 2 Fire Energy. Not too shabby!

You do have some recovery options with Fire Crystal and Blaziken (DRM), but I think the trick with Giant Hearth is managing the discard and the Energy you get so that you come out on top instead of just throwing cards around for its effect. Do I think this propels Fire decks to absolute stardom? That’s up for debate, I think Giant Hearth and Welder are a match made in heaven. Do I think this is better than Blizzard Town? Absolutely, no question.

Will I ever stop putting down Blizzard Town? Probably not. I’ve got a lot of slots to go through.

Rating

Standard: 3.5/5 (I’m tentative about rating this higher, since the best combo still requires you have Welder in hand)

Expanded: 3.5/5 (yet more Fire support for decks in the past)

Limited: 3.5/5 (not as many cycles to pull back here, but I guess the deck thinning and Energy grab should suffice for here)

Arora Notealus: Now why didn’t I put this on my list…well, to be honest, as powerful as the cards Fire has gotten lately has been, there hasn’t been a super strong Fire deck in a while. Granted, that’s all different now, what with Reshiram & Charizard-GX topping the metagame lately, but that’s probably more to do with the fact that they’ve got Outrage rather than the overwhelming amount of support cards Fire has at the moment. Welder of course goes well with this deck, naturally, and it’s probably the best card aside from the Tag Team on Fire themselves, so Giant Hearth is likely to be prominent in that deck going forward as a natural combo with Welder and Reshiram & Charizard-GX. Do I think this makes the deck better? Probably not much better than it is already, considering where it’s at, but it’ll definitely push the consistency to the limit. Where’s a good Water deck when you need one…

Next Time: A classic duo takes to the field, showcasing their OG pride!