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Pojo's Pokemon Card of the Day

Latias - Dragon

Date Reviewed: 12.05.03

Ratings & Reviews below

Ratings are based on a 1 to 5 scale
1 being the worst. 3 ... average.
5 is the highest rating.

Thundachu	Latias Ex Overview: One of the most wanted cards in the set, Latias EX. For 1 colorless energy, Hypnoblast gives an automatic 10 damage as well as a chance at sleep. And Mistball for 1 water, fire and colorless does 100 damage if you discard 1 water and fire. In a word, sucks. It is a less of a lugia with an extra attack and 2 weaknesses. I only suggest this card for collectors. There are a few intresting qualities to it though. For one, it is weak to Colorless. This is one of the few pokemon TCG cards that exsist that is weak to colorless Pokemon, and it has TWO resistances, mize. While most ex pokemon would have 2 weaknesses, this one has 2 resistances, Psychic and Fighting. And ofcourse, being an EX pokemon makes it have the 2 prize rule. Your opponent kills it, your opponent gets 2 prizes. Bad. Also 2 retreat cost for a basic is a tad high, but what else can we expect from EX pokemon? Unlimited: No, play Lugia instead(sarcasm) 1/5 Modified: Keep it in the shoebox. 1/5 Draft: It could be a tad more useful in Draft. For some reason it always seems to me that EX cards come in handy at times in draft. My advice is add it to your deck atleast for stalling and if it works out great. If not, ebay's url is www.ebay.com 2/5
Hedge	Latias ex Lol… There is a shack, in Michigan, where once every week, a group of Pokemon players meet to hold a small scale tourney. And ever since Dragons was released, I have held an argument with a lot of good players there, including Sean, Burninate Torchic, and others, about this card and its cousin Latios ex. So I will dedicate this CotD review to these two cards (and how Latias is better lol). Now, everyone says that Latios ex is more gainful because of a higher HP count and an attack that retrieves energy. Now I understand that if you use Juggler you have a possibility of a second turn 100 dmg with Latios ex, but it is a flip, and it won’t happen often. I believe that Latias is better because often times 90 HP is just as good as 100 HP (with all of those even flip damaging attacks) and as for a starter, sleep will be more efficient in early game than middle game recovery-from-discard-tactics. As for middle and late game, since Latias’ Mist Ball attack only discards two energy, you could use Harvest Bounty Venusaur to do 100 dmg a turn (with a little help from a few good Fisherman I know lol). Not only can Latias ex do that, but it has better defenses also. Fighting is becoming a popular metagame type just because of Amphy ex… so it’s always good to have that as a resistance (not to mention lightning resistance lol), but who plays grass anymore? Aggron ex is too much of a threat… However, Latias ex’s psychic resistance is very valuable… Garde ex is way too strong right now. Plus, Latias ex does Sleep, which can come in handy with a bit of luck when in a tight situation. Let’s see if I missed anything… PPPR’s. Let’s check them out. Oddly enough, they both get the same PPPR; 14 ½ But anyways, you know my reasoning. Weakness to colorless makes them both vulnerable to DT (Drag0n TeCh; what I call cards that are splashed nowadays to beat colorless weak Dragons) such as Zangoose, Crystal Shard, and Skyridge Ditto (Yes people, I have had one of my Flygons defeated by a Ditto in a Scepticenter deck -__-). Alright then, I’ve already written more than I invest in my school science fair project, which is a warning sign lol, so I better go. Written By: ~Hedge Written December 2, 2003
Bullados	Strategy for Latias ex Attributes: 90 HP isn’t all that much for an ex type. It basically ammounts to a 50 HP and a 40 HP basic, which, IMO, isn’t all that great. Weakness to colorless is extremely new to this game, and it will be interesting to see how this pans out. Personally, I think that this particular weakness has been long in coming. Dual resistances are always good, especially here, where he has resistance to two of the major types in Modified: Psychic and Fire. Take advantage of this whenever possible. Finally, his RC is 2, which is payable, but you might not want to pay it all the time. Attack #1: “Hypnoblast” It’s a support attack, and pretty pathetic at that. Sleep was never a great status, and 10 damage leaves something to be desired on an ex type. Attack #2: “Mist Ball” Shades of Charizard, only more difficult to use. This is my main problem with these Dragon Pokemon: all of their main atttacks use at least 2 different types of energy. Here, you have to discard one of each, making it much harder to power up AND keep maintained. Ratings: Unlimited: Ummm, no. Not enough HP, too weak an attack, 2 prizes for your opponent. Also, it’s extremely ER and SER prone. Don’t use him here. 1.125/5 Modified: Much better. Try and play him in a Swampert deck for some extra fun. It’d be interesting to see how many [R] energies you can get piled on this guy before Swampert comes into play and really powers him up. Otherwise, don’t waste your time. 2.5/5 Limited: Amazing. Not quite a first pick in draft, but still extremely good. If you get him, use him as your main attacker. 100 damage is nothing to sneeze at, even with the heavy discard. You’ll be running multiple types anyway, so he’ll be fairly easy to power up. He should take 2-3 prizes before he is KO’d. 4.25/5 ~Bullados
Patriarch	Boy, I like legendaries! Brace yourselves, 'cause Latias ex is about to take you down at top speed! is knocked out of his chair This guy is pretty neat. At 90 HP, he'll be a virtual wall in many situations, so you'll be able to boost your bench. Hypnoblast, an attack with a 50/50 chance of sleep, isn't too thrilling. Use it only when it's early game, building him up, or find it absolutely necessary to stall. Mist Ball, however, is a cool attack! Although you must discard a water AND a fire, you'll be doing 100 damage: enough to kill most Pokemon, or severely damage Pokemon ex! His bottom stats make him...mixed, to say. On one hand, you have DOUBLE resistance: one to Fighting, and one to psychic! The latter is very attractive, as it may further help you handle Gardevoir ex and Wobbuffet! Unfortunately, he has a weakness to colorless: the most splashable of all types! You may find yourself being murdered by stupid little things like Delcatty and other dragons, even! Makes my life all the more challenging...to top it off, he's got a somewhat chunky retreat, and the stature of Pokemon ex. Now I'm not sure what to think... Unlimited (2/5): This is so chunky, it'll be eaten quickly by faster guys. However, the plus side to him is that he's fighting resistant: back off, Tyrogue! Modified (3.5/5): Since we have many things to worry about here, Latias ex may die quickly. However, if you keep him out long enough, then it'll all be worth it, as he can smoke countless guys...quickly! He could win you games, but make sure that you play buffer piece in any deck with this guy in it, or you'll be at the end of a Colorless poke, or snickers Crystal Shard. Limited (4/5): This guy is outright VICIOUS here! Although you need to make sure he's protected (again, buffer piece), this card will be able to win you games against EVERYTHING here! Combo him with cards like Magneton, and you're gonna do well! Unfortunately, there are more Dragons in...ex Dragons ^_^"". This means that you have to worry about weakness. Other than that, it's pretty good! "The Cabal is here, and everywhere."
Perfect0ne	We may have a new archetype on our hands. Unlimited- His energy requirements may seem high, but with Raindance, it may have a chance. If you pull off the 100 damage a turn, you will most likely pull a nice lead in unlimited, but with Wiggly and especially Fable, it runs into a wall. Also be aware of Unown N and Sprout tower. Like i said, it does have a chance. rating--- 2.5 Modified- Archetype material when used with Swampert. It needs to worry about decks that run Crystal shard, Ampharos ex, and opposing dragons unless you have multiple swamperts and another latias ex handy =/. Anyway, it really is a very basic idea, which really has proven very powerful in my testing, as well as Latios ex with Boost energy and support. Its too bad that its resistance is to psychic rather than electric, otherwise he would balance with Swampert so well. rating--- 4.125 Draft- Its good. in between waiting for the 100 damage attack again, his sleep inducing attack has a 25% chance of keeping them asleep on their turn. You could use him as back-up to OHKO one of their hitters thats hurting you. Its HP wont hold up long later in the game, but early, there wont be many threats and he may win you the game unless you run into energy denial or a fast opponent. rating--- 3.875 2 vs. 2- He doesn't seem to be a good candidate here, as he doesn't combo well with anyone specifically for this format. rating--- 4 Multiplayer- You get to choose who is the bigger threat, and with such a deck, your ally might get away with pulling off a slower or harder to pull off deck, such as Golem/ex, Charizard, or something with a Gust-like ability, such as cradily to lure out what latias wants to kill. rating--- 4.25
psychup2034	So this is the new combo with Swampert. Latias ex is kinda like Latios ex. Different double resistance, 10 less HP, one less energy discard from attack, energy discard from attack is limiting, and its first attack can't help it power up quicker, merely a measely stall tool that will prove to be less than useful 75% of the time. Latias is better than Latios in the game, by far, in terms of defense. It can handle 3 Ice beams (stabbed with low spec att), unlike its counterpart. This now Latias in the card game seems to be the opposite of defensive, carrying less defense, and a more economical attack. Here's the spoiler. Latias ex [C] 90 HP Basic Pokemon [C] Hypnoblast 10 Flip a coin, if heads the defending Pokemon is now asleep. [W][R][C] Mist Ball 100 Discard a [W] and a [R] attached to Latias ex. Weakness: [C] Resistance: [P][F] Retreat Cost: [C][C] This card is Fire/Water, not bad type combo, but you could really make good use of its ability to combo with some popular Stage 2s. The two combos that come to mind are Swampert and Blaziken. On second thought, Blaziken might not be that good with this card, since you don't get to choose any energy to discard (like Latios ex does). However, Swampert's power allows me to attach to Latias the turn after I Mist Balled, allowing me to use it the next turn. Its a good combo, but the problem is, how often is it acutlaly going to work. On top of that, how do you fix the problem that most heavy hitters with a Crystal Shard will take down this guy in one blow? These are questions to ask while building a deck around cards like these. Let's take a look at how this card would fare realistically. Hypnoblast won't do anything. 10 damage is like standard, and stay sleep is like 25%. How good can that be? Not very. Latias ex doesn't have as good of a first attack as Latios ex. I think I've made that clear by now. Once again, most Pokemon ex aren't very effective in unlimited. With the exception of cards like Scyther ex, Mewtwo ex, KAbutops ex, Gardevoir ex, and maybe Ampharos ex, most other ex cards are pretty shabby in Unlimited. Though scoop up will always do the trick, briney's compassion now replaces scoop up, but can't be used on this card. Unlimited: Well, let's see. Wiggly is still alive, so is Chansey, (even though lost metal), this thing is not worth playing. However, might work in rain dance decks. or even with rain dance/porygon2, well, I just got crazy with combos that won't work. 0.5/5 Modified: Combos with Swampert, Blaizken, Salamence maybe cards like Shyridge zam even, but its not such a great card. Unlike Latios ex who has a perfect combo with flygon, this thing's best bet is to be hanging out with swampert, who isn't that great, but puts an end to those ugly blazikens. 2/5 Limited: Good card here, should draw you about one prize, to give up 2. ._. Ok, actually, its not that great. Latios ex is better here once again, because it can power you up after you discard. This thing can just stall in sleep, and it requires you to discard 2 specific types, possibly screwing you the next turn. Colorless weakness is no good, since most of the draft/sealed decks contain salamence or flygon, and shelgon and vibrava takes this latias down pretty easily. 2/5 Thanks for reading. --- psychup2034
Otaku	Name: Latias ex Type: Colorless Stage: Base HP: 90 Weakness: Colorless Resistance: Psychic, Fighting Retreat: CC Attack#1: (C) Hypnoblast [10] Flip a coin. If heads, the Defending Pokémon is now Asleep. Attack#2: (RWC) Mist Ball [100] Discard a (R) and a (W) Energy attached to Latias ex. Attributes: We have the only Latias ex. As a Colorless Basic Pokémon, its closest competition is Chansey ex, Latios ex, and Rayquaza ex. In terms of attributes, there are also several close candidates who are not Pokémon ex. For the most part, in Unlimited, none of those Pokémon are really used-I know some people still use Base Set Chansey, and I myself use Jungle Snorlax, but we’re the minority. For Modified, we see even less Basic Colorless Pokémon. So I won’t be going for comparisons today: instead, I’ll just explain why the stats are hot or not. So, being Colorless originally was a “neutral” trait: nothing was Weak or Resistant to it. Then in the Neo sets, we got two sources of “artificial” Resistance: Pokémon Tower and Unown N. While many times we reviewers bring those up, it’s mainly as a caution in case the card proves abnormally potent. There are better Stadiums than Tower and Unown N is Zzap/GoW-bait. Anyway, being Colorless is almost balanced again: with the newer cards we see Colorless Weakness now… in fact, that’s what this card has. =P Colorless weakness is… “meh”. =/ In Unlimited, there aren’t a lot of “random” Colorless Pokémon in every deck, but the instance this thing becomes popular, watch all those Erika’s Jigglypuff re-assert their place in decks everywhere. Erika’s Jigglypuff just needs a Plus Power to FTKO Latias ex. In Modified, people have been stock-piling Zangoose for just this purpose. The evolved “Dragon” Pokémon get OHKO’d by Zangoose, while Latias ex is “only” 2/3 dead. Back up top for HP: 90. For a Basic, this is good. For a Basic Pokémon ex, its 10 shy of being “good”. Oh well. The Resistance is a first: double Resistance: both Psychic and Fighting. This is very nice in my opinion. It actually has a slight use in Unlimited (Tyrogues!). In Modified, it can slow down the infamous Gardevoir/Gardevoir ex decks (or Gex as I call them =P). There are also a handful of Fighting decks struggling to make it, and I think they have a shot. Let’s not forget the abundant use of Wobbuffet either. So yeah, these Resistances are good. Finally, the retreat is two. This is average: if you gotta retreat, you can pay it: otherwise don’t. Abilities: Hypnoblast is a nice, cheap, opening number. For a mere colorless energy, you get the obligatory 10 damage and a shot at Sleep as a bonus. Not bad… so long as the other attack proves it worthy of being a Pokémon ex. Mist Ball does 100 damage, and that’s nice. Only a few Evolutions (some of which are Pokémon ex themselves) would survive. The cost is steep however: we have both dual energy requirements and a dual discard cost. Normally, a different energy type in the [same] attack’s cost should be worth 5-10 extra damage: it requires a little more effort to play. I normally treat a discard as having paid another of that energy to attack. When both Energy types are involved in the discard cost, though, things get tricky. Let’s see, 2 colored and a colorless energy would normally yield 40; tack on an extra 5 per colored energy since there are two types and finally treat them as 2 more for being discarded (making it more like RRWWC), with a total plus 20 (like I said, +5 per colored energy) and… we come to 90. That sounds about right. Normally, that wouldn’t be so bad, but think: this is a Pokémon ex. That means we are risking 2 prizes for what? About 10 extra HP (The e-card Legendary Birds have 80 with really good attacks but horrible Poké-Bodies), a free chance at Sleep and 10 extra damage. The dual Resistance shows up on other “Dragons” that are not Pokémon ex, in case you were wondering: it appears to be meant to offset Colorless Weakness. Uses/Combinations: If it wasn’t a Pokémon ex, I would think of it like the e-birds even more: those cards, in a deck built around them, are still pretty strong. I can see similar uses for Latias ex: maybe use it with Harvest Bounty Venusaur so that it could attack every turn. I guess in decks that use the appropriate energy combination, it might work too… Ratings Unlimited: 1.5/5-with Chaos Gym and Harvest Bounty Venusaur, you can have a lot of fun… but not a lot of wins. Modified: 3/5-In Eon, the deck stands a chance at winning some more… but keep in mind that as occasional TecH and a deck focus, it gets a 3… normally I give something that’s really good and had a deck around it a 3.75 or more… so it’s still not so hot. If it had more HP and did a bit more damage (say both 120) then we could see a solid deck around it. Limited: 2/5-The only reason to risk it is that if you can bench and build it long enough, you might be able to use it to power through 2-3 Pokémon for the win. Otherwise there are a decent helping of colorless Pokémon in most sets, and they could eat it. Oh well, if this and/or the other Dragons become popular, at least some of the neglected Colorless Evolution lines from Skyridge would be of use (go Granbull, Persian, and Ursaring! ;) ). -Otaku
Ralphy	Ralphy- Sorry for the long layoff in writting reviews, I've been out filming for Thriller, a skate vid hitting a store near you soon. Latias Ex. had it not been an Ex Poke, would just be plain sick. Too bad it is a an Ex. Unlimited- I never thought I would see the day, but Latias Ex has a weakness to colorless. The new worst weakness to have in Unlimited in now colorless. Chansey, Wiggly and various other cards take this out in one shot, and get two prizes. Need I say more? Even if I have to. I wont. 1/5 Modified- Not too bad here. The 90 HP is nice, and it will go even further with the duel resistances. Boy is this card ever twisted, weakness to colorless and deul resistances. Latias Ex is like the Jackie Robinson of The Pokmon TCG. Well maybe not, but it is pretty cool. Anyway, attack wise, the first one just doesn't belong. In this day and age, when retreat gets rid of sleep, you shouldn't have to flip. Especially when combined with a 10 attack. Mist Ball is pretty decent. But you'll be buring through a lot of energy and the secondary attack doesn't do anything to back it up. Nice against Psychic which is making a stronger showing in Modified, as is rock. Not really worth it though, 2.25/5 here. Limited- Unless your building a fire/water deck, don't darft this. But, even if you are, think twice still. The sleep effect is nice, even if it is in a flip, and any resistance is good, and as the saying goes, "two is better than one." 90 HP is a nice add on. Mist Ball works for a nice KO is you need one to finish the game. Don't plan on getting too many more than that though. 2.5/5 here.

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