Gholdengo – Shining Revelry
Date Reviewed: March 27, 2025
Ratings Summary:
Ratings are based on a 1 to 5 scale. 1 is horrible. 3 is average. 5 is great.
Reviews Below:
Otaku
Our second Honorable Mention is Pachirisu (A2b 025, 103; P-A 058)! It’s a (L), Basic Pokémon with 70 HP, (F) Weakness, (C) Retreat Cost, and the attack “Plasma”. For (L), Plasma let’s Pachirisu do 10 damage to the opponent’s Active, while also letting you attach a (L) Energy, from the Energy Zone, to one of your Benched (L) Pokémon. Pachirisu is available at the ♦♦♦, ✶, and Promo rarities.
The (L) Typing is useful for exploiting the Weakness on (W) Types. Besides allowing Pachirisu to OHKO a Magikarp (A1a 017), it increases the pressure even against larger (L) Weak targets, as it can setup 2HKOs. As for Lighting-Type support, there’s… Pachirisu. Yeah, this is the only effect specific to both (L) Energy and (L) Pokémon. The various other cards are restricted to two or three named Pokémon, are effects that a Pokémon can only use on itself. At least there aren’t any anti-(L) effects.
Being a Basic Pokémon is the best. No waiting to evolve, or needing to field a lower Stage, before Pachirisu hits the field. Pachirisu can function as your opening Basic, and in this case, that’s another positive. Celestic Town Elder (A2a 073, 088), the attack on Combee (A2 017), Poké Ball (P-A 005) and Shaymin (A2a 069, 081) are Basic support, while Pokémon Flute (A1a 064) and Victreebel (A1 020) have anti-Basic effects. Only Poké Ball and Shaymin see competitive play, so it’s a big net positive.
Pachirisu has 70 HP, and that’s reasonably good. You’re at low risk of being donked, and but you’re also not likely to survive being Active for more than a turn or three… and often not even one turn once your opponent has a solid setup. Especially against (F) Types; not only can they exploit Weakness, but they’ve got Lucario (A2 092, 170) to spike their damage even more. The Retreat Cost of (C) is good and low.
Plasma is a good attack. Attach a Lightning Energy to Pachirisu, attack and do 10 damage to your opponent’s Active (give or take other card effects), and so long as you have at least one (L) Pokémon on your Bench, you must attach a (L) Energy to it (or your choice of them, when you have multiple). I don’t expect Alakazam (A2b 031) to make Energy on your Bench a problem. There is something to remember about it, though:
You need to use it twice to come out ahead in terms of Energy. If used just once, you’re no Energy ahead as far as the rest of your Pokémon are concerned. Pachirisu still served as a meatshield, but it’s not that good of one, with just 70 HP and no natural defensive effect. I think comparing it to Manaphy (A2 050, 162; P-A 048) will help. It’s almost the same concept, but with 10 less HP, doing no damage, but attaching one (W) Energy to two Benched Pokémon!
Or considering Dialga ex (A2 119, 188, 205, 207). It’s attack costs two Energy, instead of one, but it also attaches two (M)(M) Energy to a single Benched Pokémon. While also having the HP to stick around long enough to do it more than once. Yes, it’s a Pokémon ex and worth two Prizes… there’s a reason we also looked at Manaphy. I’m not saying Pachirisu needed to be exactly like them, just that it’d be more than an “Honorable Mention” if it did no damage but attached two (L) Energy to anything other than itself. Maybe even if it did a bit of self damage…
Pachirisu is a good card, though. Potentially the new go-to opener for (L) decks. It can be risky giving up a Prize in a deck where most Pokémon are among the smallest relative to their Stage and whether or not they’re a Pokémon ex. Still, it’s can setup some 2HKO’s that were just barely out of range of being a OHKO, and soak a small hit, while prepping your actual attacker.
The biggest concern might be that (F) attackers have had a solid presence. Not always the big, harder hitting ones, but the smaller, more technical ones that benefit from a less-difficult 2HKO against Pachirisu. Unless Lucario is in play, then it can hit OHKO levels. And that’s just against Pachirisu; whatever Pachirisu was prepping is also likely to be (F) Weak.
Rating: 3/5
I actually had the chance to try Pachirisu in an otherwise stereotypical Pachirisu ex (A2 061, 183, 198)/Pikachu ex (A1 096, 259, 281, 285) deck. You can see Pokémon Zone’s take on that deck, but the older version before baby Pachirisu released. I’m hoping the new Pachirisu can elevate it to the Middle Tiers. Maybe it’ll even make something new viable. Either way, there’s enough for it to earn a solid score, which in turn is enough to make it an Honorable Mention.
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