Zeraora V – Chilling Reigns
Date Reviewed: July 16, 2021
Ratings Summary:
Standard: 3.00
Expanded: 2.00
Ratings are based on a 1 to 5 scale. 1 is horrible. 3 is average. 5 is great.
Reviews Below:
Otaku
Zeraora V (SW – Chilling Reign 053/198, 165/198, 166/198) is one of the cards I saw on non-Pojo Top Picks lists for SW – Chilling Reign. It is a Basic Pokémon, so minimal time and effort to field it, which is great! It is a [L] Type, which might be good; it depends on whether Zeraora V leads to a new [L] deck that can hang with Pikachu & Zekrom-GX decks… or if it just plays nicely with them, becoming part of their crew. It is a Rule Box Pokémon, specifically a Pokémon V. This is a mixed bag; giving up an Extra Prize when KO’d but having significantly higher-than-normal HP, being unable to make use of certain beneficial effects but being subject to other detrimental ones yet potentially having better effects relative to costs, and probably a few more I’m missing.
Speaking of the increased HP, Zeraora V has 210, the lower-end of what is typical of Basic Pokémon V, 20 more than Zeraora-GX, and 90 to 110 higher than baseline Zeraora cards. Its [F] Weakness is dangerous (Rapid Strike Urshifu VMAX), its lack of Resistance is technically the worst (but usually doesn’t matter), and its Retreat Cost of [CC] is neither high nor low. The last trait to take notice of is that this card belongs to the Rapid Strike Battle Style, giving it access to some solid support. For stats, these aren’t really good or bad. How about effects?
Zeraora V only has a single attack, “Cross Fist”. For [LCC], it lets Zeraora V attack and do 100 damage to your opponent’s Active. If one of your other Rapid Strike Pokémon attacked the previous turn, Cross Fists’s effect kicks in and hits one of your opponent’s Benched Pokémon for 160 damage. We already have the ruling and yes, as long as it was a different copy of Zeraora V, one Cross Fist can set up for the next. No bonus effect makes Cross Fist a mediocre attack (at best), though it is nice that – in a Rapid Strike deck – at least it can use Rapid Strike Energy to cover the [CC] portion of the attack cost. When you do get the bonus effect, you can OHKO a small Pokémon while OHKOing up to a medium-sized one… which includes Dedenne-GX!
There’s more, though. As a Rapid Strike Pokémon, Passimian (SW – Chilling Reign 088/198; SW – Battle Styles SWSH115) can use its “Throwing Coach” Ability to tack on an extra 30 damage against Benched Pokémon-GX or Pokémon V… which brings Crobat V, Eldegoss V, Kricketune V, etc. into OHKO range. Against larger targets, you can still deliver a decent wound to even the big boys while Active, and half KO all but the biggest that are on the Bench (give or take other card effects). Even having to work in a source of [L] Enregy, Zeraora V seems like a solid partner for Rapid Strike Urshifu VMAX.
I don’t think it can rival Pikachu & Zekrom-GX but I think it could partner with them. The catch is there aren’t any good additional Rapid Strike attackers to join them both. There are some more decent ones, but they either need a lot of Energy to do their thing or are Evolutions or have their own kind of quirky requirements. So, unless we find something, I guess this is actually a “No” on Zeraora V in Pikarom. As for other Rapid Strike decks… it is a “maybe”. If you’re trying to avoid multi-Prize cards, you can’t really afford to include Zeraora V. If you’re just focused on hitting the Bench… uh… that would be a Rapid Strike Urshifu VMAX deck, and I already explained that yeah, Zeraora V should work there.
Ratings
- Standard: 3/5
- Expanded: 2/5
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