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Pojo's Pokémon Card of the Day

Baby Mario 2010 UK National Seniors Champion	Elgyem 55/101 (Noble Victories) Hello and welcome to a new week on Pojo’s CotD. We kick off the extraterrestrial Pokémon, Elgyem. Apparently the name comes from the acronym L.G.M. which stands for ‘Little Green Men’. That’s pretty neat, and I approve. Do I approve of today’s card though? Well, it’s an evolving Basic that has a bit more going for it than most. Not that I am especially impressed with the very average 60 HP, or the Psychic Typing (this isn’t an attacking Pokémon). The Retreat cost of one is fine I suppose: not too much of a pain to pay, and with Skyarrow Bridge Stadium confirmed for Next Destinies, it shouldn’t be too much of an issue. (In case you haven’t seen it yet, Skyarrow Bridge reduces the Retreat cost for all Basic Pokémon by one). I said that Elgyem wasn’t an attacking Pokémon, and when you see its only offensive attack, you’ll know why. Headbutt is one of those generic moves they give to cards when they can’t think of anything better to do with them, or they want to balance them out with something a bit rubbish. In this case, it costs [P][C] and does 20 damage. Luckily a bit more imagination was shown with First Contact, the alien-themed first attack. Don’t be fooled by the appropriate name, this is basically a version of the familiar Call for Family (CFF): in this case it costs just one Energy of any Colour, andallows you to search your deck for two Basic Pokémon and put them on your Bench. Worth playing as a set up card? Eh . . . probably not right now. After all, we do have Pokémon Collector for all your Basics needs. If Collector rotates without a similar replacement though, or there is some kind of format shift I can’t predict, then attacks like this can become very useful. After all, they have seen some play in the past (remember Pachirisu GE?). If Elgyem’s evolution ever gives us a reason to play it, then this card will also be an excellent Basic to run. Until that happens, or CFF becomes a great opening play, I don’t expect to see anything of Elgyem in tournament deck . . . but it’s good to know that cards like this are in rotation, should they ever be needed. Rating Modified: 2 (Not much use right now, but has potential) Limited: 4.25 (CFF is boss in limited. Elgyem is easy to pull and leads to great starts)
virusyosh	Welcome back, Pojo readers! I hope that all of you had great weekends, and that if you went to a Next Destinies prerelease this weekend, that you pulled well. We're still reviewing Noble Victories cards this week, but we'll probably start with the newer stuff soon. For now, we'll kick off the week with a Psychic-type that works very well in Limited. Today's Card of the Day is Elgyem.   Elgyem is a Basic Psychic Pokemon. Psychics aren't so common in today's Modified, with only Mew Prime and Gothitelle seeing any real play, however Mewtwo is quickly approaching the format. 60 HP is fairly average for an evolving Basic, and Elgyem should be able to take a hit or two before going down. Psychic Weakness will be a problem against the aforementioned threats, no Resistance is unfortunate, and a single Retreat Cost is easily paid.   Elgyem has two attacks. First Contact allows you to search your deck for two Basics, show them to your opponent, and put them onto your Bench, shuffling your deck afterward for a single Colorless Energy. First Contact is an amazing attack in Limited due to its flexible cost, setup potential, and deck-thinning ability, though in Modified, you're probably better off using Pichu if you're looking for this type of effect.   Headbutt, Elgyem's second attack, deals a vanilla 20 damage for a Psychic and a Colorless. Most of the time you'll probably stick to First Contact regardless of format, but it can be decent in Limited if you have no other options.   Modified: 2.25/5 First Contact has a bit of promise for Elgyem in this format, although the attack is largely overshadowed by Pichu's Playground. Additionally, Beheeyem isn't that impressive and Elgyem has little offensive value, meaning that while solid, Elgyem probably won't see much play.   Limited: 5/5 Elgyem is a fantastic setup Pokemon in Limited, regardless of whatever type of deck you are playing. First Contact's Colorless Energy requirements give a consistent deck-thinning attack that often acts like a Pokemon Collector in this format, allowing you to set up your Bench while thinning the deck so you can draw into Evolutions or other Trainers and Supporters. Headbutt can even get in some decent damage as well if you decide to run Psychic Energy. Overall, Elgyem is a fantastic setup Pokemon in the Limited format, and should be considered for most (if not all) decks that you'll consider to run in Noble Victories Limited.
Mad Mattezhion  Professor Bathurst League Australia	Elgyem 55/101 (Noble Victories)   Welcome to a new week here at Pojo, which we start with one of the most powerful of the evolving Basics in the set. I think this card could become the go-to starter in any Psychic build if we get a Beheeyem worth using, so keep any copies aside for future use!   Elgyem is a Psychic type evolving Basic with 60 HP, Psychic Weakness, a retreat cost of 1 and two attacks, which is pretty much standard fare for any evolving Basic. More HP would be nice (70 seems to be the new standard for healthy evolving Basics) but nothing about the stats jumps out as being difficult to live with. Just avoid any Psychic techs and Elgyem should last long enough to use its first attack, which is all that is required at this point.   Since Elgyem is easy prey for all of the Legendaries running around, you can probably guess that I'm not interested in the colourful blob for its damage potential. So Headbutt, the vanilla second attack, is nigh on useless at a cost of [p][c] and will almost never be used.   The amusingly named First Contact is a different story. Playing on Elgyem's resemblance to the alien stereotype known as 'greys', the dent headed little monster asks for a single energy and in return allows you to grab up to 2 Basics from your deck to play them on to your Bench. This is useful for a number of reasons, chief amoung them being that you can evolve the chosen Poke'mon on your next turn (great for a first turn play) and that you now have some redundancy on your Poke'mon Collectors, for builds where having the right Basic from the start is critical (I'm thinking Six Corners and Chandelure builds for a start).   However, Elgyem is not without significant competition. Pichu HGSS makes for a powerful Bench-filler when combined with Twins (although that is no longer a very popular approach due to the drop in Jumpluff's playability) and Girafarig UL can do the same job as Elgyem with the added bonus of having 70 HP instead of 60. Then there are the massive number of well supported Legendaries out there that do a fine job setting up by simply being huge (Outrage or Double Draw, anyone?). Between Poke'mon Collector and the Dual Ball/Junk Arm combo, attacking to grab Basic Poke'mon is the inferior option you use when you get an unlucky starting hand.   Until a Beheeyem card proves itself in the tournament arena, or the rotation next September removes all of the other starters (and Poke'mon Collector) from the card pool, Elgyem NV will sit on the sidelines as a rarely used starter, although I am keeping a set aside just the same. Besides, it's a good card for teaching newbies and in Limited it is solid gold.   Modified: 3.25 (right now Elgyem isn't going to make a splash but it is definitely worth keeping in mind when the card pool changes, especially with Mewtwo Ex arriving soon!)   Limited: 5 (there aren't any other Poke'mon search options in the set that I can think of so every Elgyem is a precious gem for starting your game the right way)   Combos with: a Beheeyem that complements Chandelure and Mewtwo Ex so you can justify including it, or failing that just wait until Poke'mon Collector bites the dust and there aren't any other better options for 'Call for Family' attacks.