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Greninja- Pokémon Genetic Apex Card of the Day

Greninja
Greninja

Greninja – Genetic Apex

Date Reviewed:  January 17, 2025

Ratings Summary:
Ratings are based on a 1 to 5 scale. 1 is horrible. 3 is average. 5 is great.

Reviews Below:



Otaku

The fifth best card of Genetic Apex is Greninja (Genetic Apex 089/226; Promo Series A 019/P-A)! It is a (W) Stage 2 Pokémon that evolves from Frogadier, which in turn evolves from Froakie. Greninja has 120 HP, (L) Weakness, and a Retreat Cost of (C). It has both an Ability and an attack. The former is “Water Shuriken”, which lets you select one of your opponent’s Pokémon and do 20 damage to them. Its attack, “Mist Slash”, costs (WC) and does 60 damage. Greninja is available as at the ♦♦♦ and Promo rarities.

Greninja isn’t our first (W) Pokémon in this countdown, let alone among all the Pokémon TCG Pocket reviews that have already been done. This grants Greninja access to:

Getting a little ahead of ourselves, I’ll mention that, while useful, none of these are essential to Greninja.

Greninja is a Stage 2, so you’ll have to go through Froakie (Genetic Apex 087/226) and Frogadier (Genetic Apex 088/226). Froakie and Frogadier are also (W) Pokémon with (L) Weakness and a Retreat of (C). Froakie has 60 HP and the attack “Flop”: for (C), Flop does 10 damage. Frogadier has 80 HP and for (C), can do 30 damage with its “Water Drip” attack. They’re mostly filler, a little fragile, but at least they can reliably do damage. You’ll also need two turns to manually evolve. Such is the life of a Stage 2.

The 120 HP is 10 above the minimum printed Stage 2 Pokémon. If you play enough games, with enough decks, and against enough decks, you’ll feel the difference between 120 and 130. It’s not a major threshold to cross, but it is a minor one. (L) Weakness is similar; it doesn’t bring Greninja into OHKO range for a lot of (L) Pokémon, but the few that do include some common attackers from competitive (L) decks.

Okay, but what about 2HKOs? The 120 HP and the (L) Weakness still matter, but it may not be as pronounced, but for the wrong reason; you should expect an Active Greninja to get OHKO’d. At least it should last several turns against all but the biggest Bench hitters. To finish off the card’s stats, Greninja has a good Retreat Cost of (C). Leaf is overkill, one X Speed will do ya, and if you have to discard an Energy, it’s often something from which you can recover.

Greninja’s Ability is why it sees competitive play. Which is why I’m covering its attack first. Mist Slash is actually good in terms of Energy-to-damage. Not “great”, but “good”. Needing just two Energy means you may even be able to attack Turn 5, as soon as Player 1 can evolve into a Greninja. One Energy requirement being Colorless means it isn’t too hard to power-up when mixed with another type. It also makes cards like Misty and Vaporeon optional. They can still enhance what Greninja can do, but unless you’re already on the back foot, they’re probably not needed.

Now it is time for Throwing Star. 20 damage to the opposing Pokémon of your choice is fantastic. On its own, it won’t rack up KOs quickly. Nothing in Pocket has less than 30 HP, so it won’t score OHKOs for you. However, it can fake being a reusable double Giovanni, and without using your actual Supporter for the turn. If you can get two Greninja into play, double Throwing Star really adds up. Not just because it can fake being a quadruple Giovanni, but because they can tag team the few 30 HP and 40 HP Pokémon.

Taking out such small Pokémon before they can evolve is actually huge. If not in general, then specifically because of Gyarados ex… or rather Magikarp (Genetic Apex 077/226) or Magikarp (Mythical Island 017/068). There’s more, though. Greninja isn’t the only Pokémon capable of hitting the Bench; they won’t all play nice together, but Articuno ex might be the most obvious, due to its “Blizzard” attack dealing 80 to your opponent’s Active… and 10 to each of their Benched Pokémon.

Greninja doesn’t need to stick to (W) attackers. It’s a little splashable in terms of its attack but… well… you’re rarely every need to attack with it, let alone want to. Water Shuriken means you can hide behind a non-attacking wall, or an attacker used for its effects more than its damage. Considering we don’t have anything (yet) that can negate Abilities, you may wonder why Greninja isn’t everywhere?

Because it is a Stage 2 and they’re not easy to run. In fact, they’re tricky. It is better than the first two or so years of the Pokémon TCG, or from about 2011 to 2022. I can’ speak about 2022 through to the present since I haven’t been playing these past few years. I have not built a good Greninja deck yet… because it slipped my mind. Thanks to being a Promo, if you aren’t a recent recruit to Pocket, odds are good you have at least one. I have realized I couldn’t win as two Greninja hit the back row before I could evolve a Magikarp into Gyarados ex…

Rating: 4/5

Greninja is great, even though its a little low on HP and attack damage. Good thing it’s a Bench sitter that can damage opposing Pokémon via its Ability, eh? The only thing I’ll add is that I find it odd the Ability does damage. This might be a side effect of Pocket wanting to be more accessible than the full TCG. An effect like Water Shuriken usually places damage counters instead of doing actual damage. This skips part of the damage step and in doing so, bypasses many protective effects.


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