aroramage |
Well, I'm not gonna oversell Goodra
here, he's still only okay. Actually, if anything, the
other versions are better, but that's really just one
small opinion.
Don't get me wrong, Goodra's got
some interesting attacks here. Liquid Blow hits for 20
damage on any one Pokemon based on how much Energy is in
their Retreat Cost, so "heavier" Pokemon will end up
taking more damage. At most, I think you'll only end up
doing 80 damage with this attack, though (160 on the
Active though, since this attack does still apply
Weakness/Resistance against the Active Pokemon), but
most Pokemon that I know of have 1-2 Energy in their
Retreat Cost. Contrary to what Goodra here would like
you to believe, there aren't so many that have 3-4
Energy.
Shining Breath is a nice protective
attack, though at 4 Energy it's pretty hefty for
something that only does 110 damage. And on top of that,
it only prevents Goodra from getting a Special
Condition, something that while in Expanded will work
well against HTL, in Standard it won't see much save for
battle against Ariados and Sceptile-EX, and even then,
there are probably better ways of going about it than a
Stage 2.
A little slow, doesn't have the
powerful recovery option of his Flashfire counterpart
nor the Tool-negating force of his Phantom Forces
counterpart, Goodra here will probably be one of the few
cards in the set that doesn't see much play outside
Limited.
Rating
Standard: 2/5 (too slow for what he
does, but he does do some interesting things)
Expanded: 2.5/5 (he'd do alright
here, especially against stuff like HTL and Vanilluxe)
Limited: 3/5 (eh, he's alright)
Arora Notealus: I still love my
goopy dragon though.
Next Time:...meh. After that,
though!
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Otaku |
Time to
throw something at the wall and see what sticks as we
look at Goodra (XY: Ancient Origins
60/98). It is our second Dragon-Type this week, so
unless I got it wrong the first time or something
changed overnight… yes I am aware that XY:
BREAKThrough officially releases today but as such
it won’t be tournament legal for another three weeks.
I’ve got no firsthand data from using it yet and no
reliable second hand information either; this will be a
review for a pre-XY: BREAKThrough environment.
Also, I am already sick of capitalizing the “break” in “BREAKThrough”.
Just felt like sharing that.
So back
on track; Goodra is a Dragon-Type which means
·
It only hits Weakness against BW-era Dragon-Types
·
Never will encounter natural Resistance
·
Has only one “anti-Dragon-Type” card to worry about and it isn’t a
good one
·
Enjoys a little support but not as much as most other Types, though
Double Dragon Energy is potent.
So the
Dragon-Type isn’t as impressive as several other Types
but it does have a trick or two.
Being a
Stage 2 is difficult; the format favors crowded decks
with a breakneck pace, making it difficult both to have
room for the other two cards and three turns needed to
reach Goodra (other two cards and two turns with
Rare Candy). Not sure if this is the most
difficult Stage to use: Stage 1s that Evolve from
Restored Pokémon and even Mega Evolutions rival it, as
both have needed a lot of support to get to where they
are at and it isn’t even all that impressive in the case
of the former. It does have an impressive 150 HP;
just 10 below the maximum printed on Stage 2 Pokémon and
enough to sometimes survive a hit from a deck, usually
one with an incomplete set-up or focused more on attack
effects than damage like Seismitoad-EX and its
“Quaking Punch”; it doesn’t get much better than this
without being worth two Prizes instead of one. The
Fairy Weakness shouldn’t be a huge issues right now as
Fairy-Types aren’t really seen outside of their own
decks, with only variations on Aromatisse (XY
93/146) having had any real success (and not much
lately) and usually fielding attackers that were already
scoring a OHKO or close to it. The lack of
Resistance is not only disappointing and the worst a
card can have but also quite typical so no use dwelling
on it. The Retreat Cost of [CCC] is definitely
high enough you’ll rarely want to (let alone be able) to
pay and/or recover from it; include workarounds of some
sort.
Goodra
has two attacks, the first of which is “Liquid Blow” for
[CC]. This attack allows you to select one of your
opponent’s Pokémon in play and hit it for 20 damage per
[C] in its Retreat Cost, not applying Weakness or
Resistance (as usual) for hits to the Bench.
Unless you were planning on copying the attack with
something else, Resistance will never matter regardless
of being Active or on the Bench, with Weakness seldom
being important either. You’ll need combos if you
want to get reliable minimum damage, including options
to deal with cards like Float Stone which zero
out Retreat Costs. As long as something has a cost
of at least [CC] it is a solid attack due to the
sniping; cards with costs of [CCC] or [CCCC] are pretty
nice hits. For [WYCC] Goodra can use
“Shining Breath” to hit for 110 damage and protect it
from Special Conditions; the damage is a bit low for the
Energy invested but not by too much and the effect is
welcome but this is on a Stage 2 Pokémon, so a decent
2HKO seems like a poor return, at least when it may be
this hard to set-up. At least with Double
Dragon Energy and Double Colorless Energy
you’ve got some decent speed for both attacks and this
allows whichever attack is better for the situation to
be used, like Shining Breath scoring a OHKO against a
Shaymin-EX (XY: Roaring Skies 77/108,
106/108) if you can catch one in the Active slot.
Goodra
begins with Goomy and we can pick from XY:
Flashfire 72/106 (reprinted as XY: Phantom Forces
75/119) or XY: Ancient Origins 58/98. Both
are Basic Dragon-Type Pokémon with Fairy Weakness, no
Resistance, Retreat Costs of [CC] and no Ancient Traits.
XY: Flashfire 72/106 (and XY: Phantom Forces
75/119) have 50 HP and two attacks: “Gooey” for [C]
which heals 10 damage from itself and Tackle for [WY]
which does a flat 20 damage. XY: Ancient Origins
58/98 has only 40 HP, one Ability and one attack.
The Ability is “Water Down” which triggers when you
attach a [W] Energy from your hand to it; you then get
to search your deck for a Goomy to add to your
Bench. Regrettably I need a ruling on when Water
Down “checks” the Energy in question; if it doesn’t
worry about the Type until after being attached, this is
the better version; attach a Double Dragon Energy
on a Goomy that has been in play a turn, get
another Goomy, Evolve. If it only works
with basic Water Energy, then only if a build has
several of those should you bother; use XY: Flashfire
72/106 or XY: Phantom Forces 75/119 for their 50
HP otherwise.
Next is
Sliggoo… unless use Rare Candy, such as if
these have no real reason for being played. XY:
Flashfire 73/106 (reprinted as XY: Phantom Forces
76/119) and XY: Ancient Origins 59/98 are you
only options; all are Stage 1 Dragon-Types with Fairy
Weakness, no Resistance, Retreat Costs of at least
[CCC], no Ancient Traits, no Abilities and two attacks.
XY: Flashfire 73/106 (and XY: Phantom Forces
76/119) have 80 HP with “Gooey” for [C] again, only this
time healing 30 damage, and “Gentle Slap” for [WYC]
which hits for 40 (and only 40) damage. XY: Ancient
Origins 59/98 has just 70 HP with its first attack
being “Bubble” for [C], giving you a coin flip to try
and Paralyze the opponent’s Active, or “Melt” for [WY]
which hits for 20 (and only 20) damage. You
probably should have at least one in case of Item lock,
but otherwise use Rare Candy as these are almost
pure filler; both versions are terrible so decide with
10 more HP and desperate healing of 30 is more likely to
keep something alive than a 50% chance of Paralysis.
There
are also two other Goodra: XY: Flashfire
74/106 and XY: Phantom Forces 77/119 (this time
not reprints of each other). Both are Stage
2 Dragon-Type Pokémon with Fairy Weakness, no
Resistance, Retreat Costs of [CCC], no Ancient Traits,
an Ability and single attack. XY: Flashfire
74/106 has the same 150 HP as today’s version with the
Ability “Gooey Regeneration”, which acts as a built in
Super Potion, except it requires the Energy
discard up front. It can be used more than once
per turn so with sufficient Energy you can heal all
damage from this Pokémon. For [WYC] it can use the
attack “Heavy Whip”; fun name but a bit unreliable in
the damage department as it is 80 with a coin flip that
jumps it to 120. 80 for three is “okay” and 120 for
three is “good”, but as a Stage 2 if one is knocked down
it will take some time to set up another.
Additionally its healing only matters when you can spare
some Energy and survive a hit; neither are
likely. We reviewed this card
here
and I was far, far too generous at least in score.
This one isn’t going to help or be helped by today’s
subject.
XY:
Phantom Forces
77/119 has only 140 HP (though that isn’t a huge
difference) and its Ability is “Slip Trip” which
prevents players from attaching Pokémon Tools to their
Pokémon. The bad news is that it hits both players
but the good news is you would have a small window to
attach your own. Preventing Spirit Links,
Float Stone, Muscle Band and whatever is
being used to activate “Garbotoxin” on Garbodor (BW:
Dragons Exalted 54/124, BW: Plasma Freeze
119/116, BW: Legendary Treasures 68/113), though
a player running Hex Maniac could also give him-
or herself a turn to attach Pokémon Tools, plus as a
Stage 2 this effect can at the earliest hit the field on
your own second turn, so your opponent may will a turn
or two then as well. For [WYCC] you can use Dragon
Pulse for 130 damage, though you also must discard the
top card of your deck. It requires effort but this
one could rise to OHKO level a little more easily.
Its review is
here
and seems about right, at least for the time; the
numerical score is probably accurate though the
specifics have changed along with the card pool and
metagame. This one is at least tempting for a
“fun-but-occasionally threatening” deck and might be an
option to run alongside today’s Card of the Day.
So…
should you run today’s Goodra? Probably
only as a “fun” deck. Pokémon like Team Aqua’s
Muk or Jellicent (BW: Boundaries Crossed
45/149) as well as the Stadium Team Aqua’s Secret
Base can all raise Retreat Costs across the board,
with the two Team Aqua cards affecting anything
that isn’t Team Aqua while Jellicent
specifies your opponent’s Pokémon. With just a
Double Colorless Energy or Double Dragon Energy,
Goodra could then snipe for enough to take out
Benched (well, or Active) Shaymin-EX as four of
either Stage 1 plus the Stadium bump its Retreat Cost up
to [CCCCCC] for 120 damage. If you go with Sky
Field instead (and somehow find room for it all) you
could get really crazy, upping Retreat Costs by upwards
of [CCCCCCCC]... which means anything that doesn’t have
its Retreat Cost permanently rewritten to “free” (such
as with Float Stone) would take at least 160
damage from Liquid Blow. Pretty unrealistic to
manage a deck with not only a Stage 2 line but also two
4-4 Stage 1 lines even in a “fun”, but the amount was so
high I decided to mention it anyway. Four of your
preferred Stage 1 backer and some cards to deal with
Float Stone, Darkrai-EX and Fairy Garden
(the last two being the other Retreat Cost
nullifying options that see play) and this might
actually work. Probably not in a competitive
setting unless we see an uptick in important attackers
with high Retreat Costs.
I am
unsure if there is any major benefit for Standard versus
Expanded… or rather if the added benefits (Jellicent
becomes an option, Jirachi-EX may be another
target, etc.) outweigh the increased difficulties (Darkrai-EX,
Float Stone until that is officially Standard
legal again, etc.) or not. As such I’m just going
to score them the same. This is a very potent pull
for Limited, though the lower Stages still drag it down
a little (technically they are a bit better here but
still bad) as of course does the difficulty of pulling a
solid line. I would not dwell on running it with
Fairy Energy and Water Energy; if the rest
of your pulls work with those go for it but the main
focus is on Liquid Blow and Bench hits. Still when
it all works out, Shining Breath is also appreciated as
Special Conditions are more valuable here.
Ratings
Standard:
2.25/5
Expanded:
2.25/5
Limited:
4.75/5
Summary:
I think this Goodra can at the very least be a
“fun” card; build an oddball deck with it and win a few
(but not a lot) of games, sometimes against “real”
decks. Liquid Blow and the prominence of
Shaymin-EX Jirachi-EX can lead to some nice
hits.
|
Emma Starr |
Today we look at Goodra, who already has her
third card in the TCG already with this card! I guess
it’s not THAT surprising though, since Goodra is the
obligatory signature Dragon type of the 6th
generation. So, what can this one do?
150 HP and Fairy weakness are both nice, so
Goodra may have some staying power! The problems are,
however, that Goodra is a Stage 2, and has a Retreat
Cost of 3 to compliment that. However, Goodra may have a
saving grace with her attack, Liquid Blow, which does 20
times the Retreat Cost to ANY of your opponent’s
Pokemon! Thought Golbat and Crobat were good snipers?
Well, they still are. Mostly because Goodra has to be
active for this to be active, though the damage is
certainly better. The energy cost honestly isn’t too bad
either, as you can use either a DCE OR a Double Dragon
Energy, the latter covering the second attack nicely for
the Water and Fairy energy requirements. Speaking of
that attack, it’s an expensive 4-for-110 attack that
protects Goodra from special conditions. May be useful
against Ariados, or Hypnotoxic Laser in Expanded, but
Goodra’s main niche is using Liquid Blow to kill off
weakened Pokemon on your opponent’s bench, as an
alternative to running Gol/Crobat.
In fact, Goodra may even take up
less space in your deck than Gol/Cro, depending on how
many of each you run. At the very least, you don’t need
to rely on Super Scoop Ups as much as Gol/Cro do, if at
all (although they may still be useful if you have a
very badly damaged Goodra). Goodra also has more means
to protect itself if Lysandre’d, unlike Crobat’s
additional 30 damage drop (which can still be good, but
Goodra may still be doing more damage in the long run in
most occasions, especially with the higher Retreat Costs
we’ve been seeing lately). Either version will
definitely want a number of Wallys, or even Evosodas, to
deal with the fact that you’re running Stage 2s, but
that shouldn’t be a surprise to you. They both may take
a good deal to get out, but I shudder to think of what a
deck that can effectively utilize both Gol/Cro AND
Goodra could be capable of…if anyone is gutsy enough to
make that happen…
Standard: 2.75/5 (Goodra definitely
has some untapped potential, if used right…)
Expanded: 2.75/5
Limited: 1.5/5 (Lack of DCE and DDE
hurt, and there aren’t enough good Fairies in this deck
to bother with running Fairy at all…)
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