Tornadus-GX – SMP – Pokemon Review

aroramage

It’s a shame you can’t really play a card like the Jumbo Promo “Tornadus, Thundurus, and Landorus”, but then again that card would be pretty busted. I mean, a 500 HP Basic that deals 1000 damage for 3 Energy? AND the three of them go on legendary adventures? I hope they at least take you with them.

Tornadus-GX is a Basic Colorless Pokemon, 180 HP, with a Lightning Weakness, a Fighting Resistance, and a Retreat Cost of 2. He can use Gust, a 2-for-50 vanilla move, and he can use Wild Fury, a 3-for-90 move that flips coins until you hit Tails and deals an extra 30 damage for every Heads that got flipped along the way. Then there’s Destructive Cyclone-GX, a 3-for-130 move that discards all the Energy off of your opponent’s Active Pokemon.

This guy’s got a lot of offensive potential, and all you need to start him up is a DCE for 50. Gust is a decent start-up move to work into Wild Fury, which while it has the potential to explosively OHKO anything, it’ll more than likely just end up hitting for about 120. The GX move can definitely prove to be disruptive against Pokemon that require a lot of Energy, but it’s really more of a back-up option than something to use right away. So certainly he’s got potential!

Will Tornadus-GX see play though? It’s debatable. There’s a lot of Pokemon that can hit for a lot stronger for 2 Energy than he can, but not as many can work off of DCE, which may play to his benefit. That said, it’s likely to be the case that, by comparison to some other attackers, Tornadus-GX will end up feeling more like a weaker Pokemon to use, with some inconsistent outputs in terms of Wild Fury. Still, he warrants experimentation!

Rating

Standard: 3/5 (a very interesting Colorless attacker for many decks)

Expanded: 3/5 (he’s got a good amount of potential, and his Resistance is relevant!)

Limited: N/A (course being a promo means no such event for him to be at)

Arora Notealus: Unlike Thundurus-GX, which aims to set-up before methodically 2HKOing everything in sight, Tornadus-GX does much more aggressive tactics to push on OHKOing things with enough luck and 2HKOing on a somewhat more consistent basis. At least his GX Attack does more than flip coins.

Side Review: Cinccino – gotta say, Amazing Plea is startlingly accurate…as in it’ll be Amazing that your opponent ever says yes. Unless the two cards you add back are among the worst cards in your discard pile, your opponent is probably glad to be taking only 80 damage each turn, meaning at best you’re asking them three times to KO their stuff from a Pokemon that at any moment will get KO’d by them in one move. Needless to say, probably more worthwhile to stick to another method of getting your cards back – preferably one your opponent doesn’t control.

Weekend Thought: What were your favorite cards from this week? Think the promo genies have anything to work off of? Will you be playing Magnezone in your Lightning deck? Is the Burn strategy a viable one or just a gimmick?

Vince

One more before you enjoy your weekend is Ferocious Fridays since we’re looking at another promo card which is Tornadus-GX! It has three attacks, but two of them could be worth talking about; Gust is just CC for 50 damage. Wild Fury cost CCC for 90 damage plus 30 damage for each heads until you flip tails. This attack could, in theory, OHKO anything in the game. Destructive Cyclone also costs CCC for 130 damage and you discard all energy attached to the Defending Pokémon. This would’ve been a good attack if it wasn’t a GX attack.

You can make a fun deck that revolves of the Wild Fury attack. Choice Band makes it 120+ for EX/GX Pokemon, and the rest of the work would come from coin flips, needing around 4-5 heads to OHKO anything. Victini is an obvious partner so that you can re-flip coins if you don’t like the result. For deck construction, just those two Pokémon saves you tons of deck space, and you can put in other cards to help prolong your strategy. Expanded is a bit hard due to Fighting Fury Belt raising its HP if you lacked a Field Blower to remove it. If your opponent’s Defending Pokémon is loaded up, then a once per game GX attack can save you.

A card may not be exciting or competitive, but Torndaus-GX at least has some features to work with even if it is not consistent enough for the meta. It may eventually see less play due to another expansion that’s loaded with Lightning type support. Even if you face a Lightning attacker that does 10 damage for L or C, three uses of Electric Power will put Tornadus out of commission.

Standard: 3/5 (at least for now)

Expanded: 3/5

Limited: N/A