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Pojo's Pokemon Card of the Day

 

Blaziken EM

EX Emerald

 

Date Reviewed: 06.13.05

Ratings & Reviews Summary
Unlimited: 2
Modified: 3
Limited: 4

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

Jaeger Today's Card of the Day is Blaziken from Emerald.

Hit Points(110): Normally for a stage 2 you would expect 100-120 HP so 110 is about right.

Weakness(W): Ludcargo is extremly popular, not to mention Gorebyss varients, etc.

Retreat Cost(CC): Two really is not that high, it seems even lower when you combo it with the Firestarter Blaziken or a High Pressure System.

PokeBody(Blaze): WoW 40 more damage when it has 40 or less HP it kinda changes your view on this card when you look at the attack's and imagne 40 more damage on each of them.

Attack 1(Searing Flame): Ten and auto burn is nice but best case senerio they would flip tails and thats a total of thirty damage, then they would probally just evolve or retreat. I'd expect more damage out of a stage 2, but in its defense its only one energy so a turn one Rare candy then ten and auto burn could be pretty nasty

Attack 2(Damage Burn): Pretty straight foreward 50 damage plus 20 more if the defending Pokemon has two or more damange counters on it.

Summary: It has decent attacks and a great PokeBody but in my opinion it comes up short to Blaziken(Firestarter). Personally I would stick to Blaziken(Firestarter) but you could try running a combination of the two.

Unlimited: 2/5
Modified: 3.5/5
Limited: 4/5
 
Bullados Blaziken EM

Attributes: 110 HP is the most out of any Blaziken card to date, and only 10 below the maximum, not bad. Water weakness might be a problem, as Blastoise and Swampert almost always have a following. 2 retreat is not really a problem, because it can be dropped to 1 fairly easily, and Blaziken is not one to retreat from battle.

Poke-BODY: "Blaze"
Very similar to his video game ability, Blaziken can deal more damage when his HP gets low, and 40 damage is nothing to sneeze at. Unfortunately, you need to have at least 70 damage on you in order to use this Body, and 40 damage isn't difficult to come by, even from the smallest of opponents. Still, the extra 40 damage is usually enough to take out most opponents with Blaze's attacks.

Attack #1: [C] "Searing Flame"
A very simple attack, meant as a backup or against something with a lot of HP. Burn is a fairly hefty special condition if your opponent has bad flips. For [C], this attack has the ability to deal anywhere from 10 to 90 damage, depending on flips and the Blaze Body.

Attack #2: [RRC] "Damage Burn"
Just call this Second Strike and be done with it. With a maximum of 110 damage (if the stars line up right), and a minimum of 50, it's a pretty decent attack, but not something to build a deck around, at least right now.

Ratings:

Unlimited: Auto-Burn is pretty nice, but he is very energy intensive, and weak to ER and SER, which are still played very heavily in this format. Also, 50 damage isn't that much here. Still, it might be able to do something with the right backup and Trainer support.
2/5

Modified: Not much better here. The damage potential is above average, but why would you run this when the RS Blaziken is much better for the format? When the format changes after Worlds this year, then it might be pretty good. But, for now, it's average at best.
2.5/5

Limited: A beast if it can be gotten out. Considering the amount of Trainer support available in this set, and the fact that I pulled 2 of these things out of 6 packs, you could very easily get a 4-3-2 line of this guy working to your advantage, especially if you are in a pass draft.
4/5
 

Otaku

Skip straight to the scores and summary for a concise overview.

 

Name: Blaziken

Set: EX Emerald

Card#: 1/106

Type: Fire

Stage: 2 (Evolves from Combusken

HP: 110

Weakness: Water

Resistance: None

Retreat: CC

Poké-Body: Blaze

As long as Blaziken’s remaining HP is 40 or less, Blaziken does 40 more damage to the Defending Pokémon (before applying Weakness and Resistance)

Attack#1: (C) Searing Flame [10]

The Defending Pokémon is now Burned.

Attack#2: (RRC) Damage Burn [50+]

If the Defending Pokémon already has any damage counters on it, this attack does 50 damage plus 20 more damage.

Name: Combusken

Set: EX Emerald

Card#: 25/106

Type: Fire

Stage: 1 (Evolves from Torchic)

HP: 70

Weakness: Water

Resistance: None

Retreat: C

Attack#1: (RC) Lava Burn

Does 10 damage to 1 of your opponent’s Benched Pokémon. (Don’t apply Weakness and Resistance for Benched Pokémon.)

Attack#2: (RCC) Sharp Claws [40+]

Flip a coin.  If heads, this attack does 40 damage plus 10 more damage.

Name: Torchic

Set: EX Emerald

Card#: 69/106

Type: Fire

Stage: Basic

HP: 50

Weakness: Water

Resistance: None

Retreat: C

Attack: (R) Hypnotic Gaze

The Defending Pokémon is now Asleep.

 

Attributes: The new Blaziken is a Stage 2, of course.  As usual, this means that it will take some effort to get into play (a Torchic and either a Combusken or a Rare Candy), so it is allowed some very good attributes and powerful abilities to compensate.  It is a Fire Pokémon; this is a good type, since Weakness isn’t uncommon but Resistance is.  It would have been interesting had it been a Fighting Pokémon (Blaziken is both types in the video game).  It has the expecting Weakness for Fire Pokémon: Water.  This is bad, but so are all logical choices for a Fire/Fighting hybrid.  Watch out for Water decks – most I see hit hard and fast.  No Resistance is rather annoying, but at least it once again is understandable given the odd type combination.  Finishing off the bottom stats is a Retreat Cost of two Energy.  This is high enough to discourage excessive retreating, but low enough you should be able to afford it when it would be useful.

 

I would be remiss if I didn’t cover the lower Stages of Blaziken from this set.  Combusken has an adequate 70 HP for an “Evolvable Stage 1 with a nice, low Retreat Cost of one Energy.  It is also a Fire Pokémon.  Unfortunately, the attacks stink.  The only thing going for them is that you get more damage than you pay for.  Bench hitting for such a small amount isn’t that useful, even though it combos with Blaziken’s second attack (more on that later).  Plus, needing at least two Energy to attack is not too great for a Stage 1; due to the vulnerability of being de-Evolved, you really don’t want to toss a Double Rainbow Energy onto it unless it is all you have or would score a K.O.  Water Weakness means it’s an easy KO for any serious Water Pokémon – 40 points of damage

 

The Torchic is likewise pretty lame.  It has a solid 50 HP for a Basic that can Evolve twice, and a nice, easy to manage Retreat Cost of one.  That same Water Weakness all but the weakest Water Pokémon that can extinguish it in one shot.  All this is actually as good as it gets for Torchic, so that isn’t what makes it bad.  It is the attack.  Originally, when the game was first created, the original Special Conditions were likely though to be equal by TPC.  However, after several sets, TPC figured out that Sleep needed to be less “expensive”: sure, it could incapacitate a Pokémon for several turns, but half the time it was gone after it was inflicted.  So paying a full Fire Energy for an auto-Sleep is far too expensive.  You should do 10 points of damage with auto-Sleep; most other Special Conditions would require you do 10 points of damage and then flip to inflict at this price.

 

Simply put, don’t use these two unless it’s for Limited. ;)

 

Abilities: Blaze is a pretty nifty Poké-Body, but hampered by an overzealous restriction.  You get a sweet, sweet extra 40 points of damage, but only when you have 40 or less HP.  This is useful, but not something to build a deck around.  These kind of powers really either need to kick in sooner… or better yet, have a variable level.  Example: “For every two damage counters on this Pokémon, this Pokémon does 10 more damage to the Defending Pokémon.”  Too bad TPC doesn’t read these, eh?

 

Blaziken’s first attack, Searing Flame, may not seem too impressive, but it is most likely designed as more a fall back attack: if you need to bring out Blaziken before it is powered.  When Burn is automatically inflicted, it’s pretty nice.  Barring extreme luck, you’ll either get the damage you’d have gotten with Poison a little later, or a little faster.  Given how it works, it will rarely be less useful; if the Defending Pokémon has 30 HP left, you have a 50% chance of KOing it before the start of its turn (remember, 10 damage is coming from the actual attack).  If the opponent flips heads then flips tails after their turn, they are still KO’d, as they would have been with Poison.  So as long as extreme instances of luck balance out and the HP works out, you will at worst do what you would have with Poison.  Anyway, remember the Burn will shut down Poké-Powers, which is another good reason to like this attack.

 

Damage Burn is an improved version of Second Strike.  If the opponent is uninjured, they take 50 points of damage.  The attack is priced such that you are getting a slight discount (which Stage 2 Pokémon usually deserve).  Now, that is when the Defending Pokémon has no damage on it.  If it has any damage, the attack hits for 70!  Very nice.

 

These abilities have fairly decent synergy.  Blaze makes both into fantastic deals, and practically ensures that Blaziken will take something down with it.

 

Uses and

Combinations: The best use for this card is as TecH.  Toss one into your average Blaziken deck with Surprise! Time Machine.  When Blaziken/Blaziken ex is hurt, switch out to this.  It has more HP than “Firestarter” Blaziken, and is obviously better to lose than a Blaziken ex.  If you swap out a Blaziken ex with this Blaziken and score a KO, you’ve effectively gained a two prize advantage.  Yes, this card can hit harder than even Blaziken ex… at least to the Defending Pokémon if it has at least one damage counter on it and you have no more than 40 HP left.

 

Basically, this card is meant to be a back-up for another Blaziken, not to fly solo.  Also remember the appropriate “default” combos for Fire Pokémon, like High Pressure System, which drops the retreat to a nice, easy to afford single Energy.

 

Ratings

 

Unlimited: 1.75/5-If another Blaziken was better here, then so too would this be better.

 

Modified: 3.5/5-Why so high?  I personally think it can be a good investment for Firestarter decks.  Nothing hurts like having a Blaziken ex not only avoid being KO’d for two prizes, but also knowing that it’s back in the deck where it can show up again.  Well, it is worse when it just goes to the hand…

 

TMP: 3.75/5-Assuming you can reasonably assemble the line, it is pretty slick here.  Burn matters more.  Damage Burn is able to OHKO more Pokémon.  Blaze has a better chance of kicking in.  Unfortunately, there is a lot of good Water Pokémon in this set.

 

Summary

You’ll note that I am not really comparing this to “Firestarter” Blaziken.  That is because, even despite being the same Pokémon, the cards serve different functions.  Firestarter Blaziken is broken, even on its own.  As such, we don’t really want this to surpass or even match it.  Instead, having it compliment the card is much better.
 


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