I found
time to review again! Hurray! I should have a review up for
yesterday’s CotD as well: check it out.
Skip straight to the scores and summary for a concise overview.
Please note that while I denote δ Delta Species Pokémon
by adding a δ to the end of their name, but that said symbol is
not actually part of their name for gaming purposes to my
understanding. For example, a “Pokémon δ” can Evolve from or
into a non-Pokémon δ, so long as no other rules are being
broken. That is, I can Evolve Dratini δ into a Dark
Dragonair, plain Dragonair, of the “Dragonair δ”.
I cannot, however, Evolve a Dark Dragonair into a
Dragonite δ or a Dragonair δ into a Dark
Dragonite.
Name:
Rayquaza ex
Set:
EX Dragon Frontiers
Card#:
97/101
Rarity:
Pokémon-ex
Pokémon-ex Rule:
When Pokémon-ex has been Knocked Out, your opponent takes 2
Prize cards.
Type:
Lightning
Stage:
Basic
HP:
110
Weakness:
None
Resistance:
None
Retreat:
CC
Poké-Body:
Rage Aura
If you
have more Prize cards left than your opponent, ignore all (C)
Energy necessary to use Rayquaza ex’s Special Circuit and
Sky-high Claws attacks.
Attack#1:
(LC) Special Circuit
Choose
1 of your opponent’s Pokémon. This attack does 30 damage to
that Pokémon. If you choose a Pokémon that has any Poké-Powers
or Poké-Bodies, this attack does 50 damage instead. (Don’t apply
Weakness and Resistance for Benched Pokémon.)
Attack#2:
(LLCC) Sky-high Claws [70]
Attributes:
Rayquaza ex is first and foremost a Pokémon-ex: as such
one must weigh that against its abilities. Before that, let me
mention that this is also a Pokémon δ, and will be able to take
advantage of such support while facing only minimal additional
negatives. In other words, that’s a good thing. ;) Especially
when that type change results in a normally Colorless Pokémon
becoming a Lightning Type. Colorless Weakness can be targeted
by just about any Pokémon using Crystal Shard, while
Colorless Resistance is still fairly rare and thus negligible.
Lightning Weakness is fairly common while Resistance is still
quite rare, so this definitely trading up for Rayquaza ex.
Also of note is that Rayquaza ex is a Basic Pokémon, and
still a Basic Pokémon with no Evolution or “Pre-Evolution”
available to it, and thus will need a slight “boost” for that
reason as well.
Now, as
for actual stats that need to reflect its Pokémon-ex status,
Rayquaza ex has 110 HP. This is the second highest they’ve
allowed a Basic Pokémon-ex, and so is quite, quite good. There
is no Weakness or Resistance on this card, and with this much HP
that is fine: while there will be nothing unable to hurt it,
neither will there be lucky match-ups that score super easy KOs
just due to Type matching. The retreat is two: high enough you
want to avoid paying when you can, but low enough you can pay
when you need to.
Abilities:
Let’s address the attacks first. Special Circuit gives at least
30 damage while the Energy pays for only 25. You also have the
ability to hit any opposing Pokémon in play, easily worth the
equivalent of another five points of damage, meaning the attack
is already worth another Colorless Energy requirement. Now
remember that against a fairly common secondary group of Pokémon
(those with Poké-Bodies and Poké-Powers), you’ll score another
20 damage. 20 damage hitting roughly half the time (and
assumption, I know) means the attack should cost another
Colorless Energy. However, that is before factoring in this is
a stand-alone Basic and a Pokémon-ex, at which point the attack
either fair or discounted up to a single Colorless Energy
requirement, which is still good.
Sky-high Claw costs enough Energy to yield 50 damage but does
70. Again, after factoring in that this is a stand-alone Basic
and a Pokémon-ex, that is either fair or a small discount and
still solid.
Now for
the Poké-Body, which puts this card over the top: Rage Aura
triggers when you are “losing” (your opponent has less Prizes
remaining in play than you do) and lets you ignore the Colorless
Energy costs. So the already fair to slight bargains become
major bargains: 30/50 that can hit anywhere for (L) and 70 for
just (LL).
This
all work so well together because, unlike some other recent big
Basics with potential cost reductions, the attacks are still
worthwhile when you are not fulfilling the condition required
for the discount.
Uses
and
Combinations:
Any deck that can meet the (L) Energy costs should really
consider it unless running a Basic Pokémon-ex δ would clash with
the rest of your deck. Still, space requirements are always a
concern so it’s reasonable you wouldn’t. Decks that can
actually get themselves “behind”, that is having more Prize
cards remaining than the opponent while actually gaining a real
advantage out of it (Liability based decks spring to mind)
should definitely make a serious effort to work it in.
Ratings
Unlimited:
1/5 – Not seeing an easy way to trigger the Poké-Body that
wouldn’t seem needlessly risky or complicated, so I can’t really
recommend it.
Modified:
4/5 – A most impressive card that seems like such an easy review
it has made me paranoid that I missed something.
Limited:
5/5 – I suppose you wouldn’t want to run this if you pulled so
many other good cards that it was impossible to work in the 4-5
Lightning Energy you’d want in a deck to use this.
Summary
This
looks like a fantastic card and may be a little too good. Then
again, this style of card has never been strong enough to be
played in a serious, tournament oriented deck and win so maybe
it won’t be that strong? I just worry because, like Scramble
Energy, it gives a permanent advantage to those who fall
behind even though the card itself seems so temporary. Its low
Energy needs make it almost like you got free Energy
attachments. Hopefully being a Pokémon-ex will keep it from
being an easy trade-off.
