Zamazenta – Vivid Voltage
Date Reviewed: February 9, 2021
Ratings Summary:
Standard: 1.00
Expanded: 1.00
Ratings are based on a 1 to 5 scale. 1 is horrible. 3 is average. 5 is great.
Reviews Below:
Vince
Haven’t done a rant review for quite a long while (and putting minimal scores in the process)!
Seeing Zamazenta from Vivid Voltage makes me wonder why this card is ever made besides being a collector’s card. It has two attacks, and one of them is identical. It has the same Metal Armament from its Amazing Rare counterpart of Zacian, doing 30 damage for C as well as attaching a basic energy card from your discard pile to itself. Amazing Shield costs a Lightning energy, a Fighting energy, and a Metal Energy for 180 damage and prevents all damage done to this Pokémon from your opponent’s Pokémon VMAX.
…
Yes, I am ranting about Amazing Shield because this attack isn’t amazing at all. In comparison to an older card, albeit only one year, Zamazenta-V is arguably better than today’s card in every regard (even though Zamazenta-V hasn’t seen as much play), and that’s because of several reasons:
-Zamazenta-V has more than twice the amount of Max HP (230 vs 110) with Grass Resistance helping it tank more damage (today’s card has no resistance). Also future support for Zamazenta-V in the form of a Pokémon Tool called Rusted Shield (that card is in Shining Fates), which gives Zamazenta-V 70 more HP, raising its Max HP from 230 to 300, while still being worth 2 prizes!
-It’s Dauntless Shield ability already has a built-in effect that prevent damage taken from Pokémon V-MAX without having to use an attack such as Amazing Shield for that same effect that only lasts for one turn (before factoring Boss’s Orders or other switching/bouncing effects that reset the protection clause). Which leads to…
-…using a different attack that’s considerably cheaper – not the atrocious three different basic energy types – and provides more utility or disruption. Zamazenta-V’s Assault Tackle only needs MMC for 130 damage AND it discards a Special Energy from your opponent’s Defending Pokemon.
Amazing Shield is sadly redundant at this point, and gives me an incentive not to run this card. You could argue that Zamazenta-V could face ability denial and also other hinderances of being a Pokémon-V, but I still think Zamazenta-V has the edge. Would it be a worthwhile spot for Ho-Oh EX/Golduck BREAK deck to rapidly meet the attack cost of Amazing Shield? Maybe, maybe not. How often are you facing VMAX Pokemon in the current format (there’s not many competitive VMAX decks yet)? You might theoretically OHKO certain Pokémon VMAX via Amazing Shield due to their Fighting weakness found on some Colorless types, most Lightning types, and some Darkness types, but that’s about it.
Ratings:
Standard: 1/5
Expanded: 1/5
Zamazenta-V might have taken around half of today’s review, but when there’s a new card that has a similar effect, it has to be compared with older cards that does the same thing. Zamazenta-V was the perfect example in this case. Now that I think about it, I was probably too generous with Zacian when it was the 14th best card of Vivid Voltage. Those cards under the “Amazing Rares” rarity are not competitively viable (with the exception of Jirachi) due to atrocious attack costs.
Otaku
Zamazenta (SW – Vivid Voltage 102/185) is an Amazing Rare. Mechanically, that doesn’t officially mean anything; it counts the same as any card named “Zamazenta”. What it means to us is that Zamazenta has a very, very high rarity in its set, and that we should expect at least one of its attack costs to require multiple types. However, there are no card effects or rules that reference it (good or bad), and it is only worth a single Prize when KO’d. Zamazenta is a Basic Pokémon, so no waiting to evolve or additional cards required for it to hit the field. It has 110 HP; low, but not terribly low. Outside of its Weakness, it can survive most small attacks. Speaking of Weakness, Zamazenta is Weak to Psychic, which isn’t too big of a problem right now. Mostly, watch out for Mewtwo & Mew-GX (which can probably OHKO Zamazenta without Weakness). No Resistance is technically the worse, but is how most Pokémon roll. A Retreat Cost of [CC] is neither low nor high; pay it if you must, but you’re better off if you have an alternative to paying at full price.
Zamazenta knows two attacks. “Metal Armament” costs [C], and does 30 damage. It also has you attach a basic Energy card from your discard pile to Zamazenta (or whatever used Metal Armament). That is a good, solid attack. Pity Zamazenta doesn’t have the HP to really afford a turn using it, as it would help set up its second attack, “Amazing Shield”. For [LFM], Amazing Shield does 180 damage while placing an effect on the attacking Zamazenta (or anything copying Amazing Shield) that prevents all damage done to it by attacks from Pokémon VMAX, during your opponent’s next turn. With a simpler to pay Energy cost, 180 for three is decent; a little low to OHKO all but the smallest Basic Pokémon V, but still decent. Which means the protective effect would mostly be a bonus; if your opponent is already relying on Pokémon VMAX, Zamazenta can all. If they haven’t evolved yet, its 110 HP isn’t in a great place to survive attacks from most serious attackers that are not Pokémon VMAX.
You may have noticed something: I haven’t talked about type yet. Zamazenta is a [F] type. The good news is that this means it can OHKO Pikachu & Zekrom-GX and Eternatus VMAX with Amazing Shield. It also means that Zamazenta can use Bea for Energy acceleration; risky, but it is one method for quickly meeting the ugly Energy requirements for Amazing Shield. The problem is Zamazenta doesn’t really hit hard enough to justify running as a Fighting type, but if it were a Metal type, it could rely on an enhanced defense to survive a turn or two. While the Energy requirements would still be a pain, between Metal Saucer, Tapu Koko {*}, and (maybe) Karate Belt, I think it could be manageable. Though, Metal Goggles would probably be preferable, letting Zamazenta have a chance at surviving to attack again, even if your opponent has a non-VMAX attacker.
As is, Zamazenta can reach some significant numbers, but it will need you to be behind on Prizes, so it can use Martial Arts Dojo for the full +40. Which still whiffs against non-Weak targets with 230+ HP. You really need all the options available for boosting damage in Expanded, I think… but in both Standard and Expanded, you just have better options. I’ve made it clear the protective effect should be seen as a bonus. That is because, if I treat it as the meat of the attack, its horribly inadequate. To get an idea why, consider two fellow, Basic Fighting type Pokémon released this set: Terrakion (SW – Vivid Voltage ) and Zygarde (SW – Vivid Voltage 093/185). They have 140 and 150 HP, respectively, just enough to survive all the small attacks. They run on just [F] and [C] Energy, making it a lot easier to work in Stone [F] Energy if you need a bit more durability.
For [FFC] Terrakion can do 80, plus another 80 if you have a Stadium in play. For [FCC] Zygarde can also do 80 plus 80, but the bonus damage this time is when you’re down in Prizes. So, with relatively easy to satisfy conditions, they’re hitting just as hard as Zamazenta. The lack a protecive effect, but also sport better HP. I’m not even saying that they’re good, just that they’re good enough I’d rather run them than Zamazenta.
Ratings
- Standard: 1/5
- Expanded: 1/5
Having forgotten what Zamazenta’s second attack did until I went to write this review, I was actually getting hopeful. Like I said, it can use Bea, so the awful Energy costs might be manageable. Unfortunately, Zamazenta has a decent first attack it isn’t durable enough to use, and a second attack that doesn’t hit hard enough, or else, protect thoroughly enough, for the effort.
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