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Pojo's Pokémon Card of the Day

 

 Volcarona
- Steam Siege

Date Reviewed:
Nov. 1, 2016

Ratings & Reviews Summary

Standard: 2.0
Expanded: 2.0
Limited: 3.0

Ratings are based on a 1 to 5 scale.
1 being horrible.  3 ... average.  5 is awesome.

Back to the main COTD Page


aroramage

Moving right along with our dual-typing, we've got Volcarona, who is also part-Grass! The other aspect of that is part-Fire, and before you start trying to pair him up with Volcanion-EX, no, that Ability won't work since Volcarona's a Stage 1. 

Shimmering Scales is a 1-for-20 hit that can inflict the opponent with one of two statuses: Confusion or Paralysis, depending on the coin flip. This is probably one of the few instances in Pokemon where you'd prefer the coin to land on Tails, since that's what gives you the Paralysis, but honestly I'd really have preferred Poison or even Burn compared to the Confusion Status. So easy to avoid ever since they took out the Retreat clause on that. 

Now Power Hurricane is a noteworthy 3-for-120, but it does come at the cost of discarding all the Energy attached to Volcarona. If you were using Shimmering Scales, at least one of those is Grass, since that's the only way to use that attack, so it's a big shame in that regard, but if you were classy and avoided Shimmering Scales in favor of taking advantage of Volcarona's part-Fire typing - since keep in mind, those 3 Energy are completely Colorless - you can use Burning Energy with him to neutralize part of if not all of the cost, depending on how many you put on him. 

Unfortunately, that's really the drawback to Volcarona - his most powerful attack is only good with a certain Special Energy, and Shimmering Scales doesn't really work to Volcarona's secondary Typing. Remember, those Dual-types prefer their first Type for their attack costs rather than their second. And while you can evolve into him quickly with Forest of Giant Plants, I don't think you're gonna really be able to take advantage of him otherwise. He's clunky, his attacks aren't that great, and he just can't keep up with some of the other noteworthy Pokemon out there. 

Not to mention he's ironically weak to Fire. 

Rating 

Standard: 2/5 (he's got a niche purpose with Shimmering Scales at best, and that's just a 50-50 chance of getting a great effect) 

Expanded: 2.5/5 (at the very least he could do well with Emboar, but that's about all I can say for him) 

Limited: 3/5 (the lack of Energy acceleration will hurt him, even in arenas where things are slower) 

Arora Notealus: At least they're trying some interesting mix-ups with their Dual-typing. Even though Volcarona can't take much advantage of the Fire boosting powers, he can at least work with some of the older stuff alongside the boost from Forest of Broken Plants for instance. 

Next Time: GOSH DANGIT ANOTHER GRASS ONE


Zach Carmichael

Today’s Card of the Day is Volcarona from Steam Siege. Like Shiftry from yesterday, Volcarona is also a dual-type Pokémon, being both Grass and Fire. It will be interesting to see how these dual-types impact the Primal Clash-on Standard format, though I am not sure how viable Volcarona will particularly be.

Because its previous Evolution, Larvesta, is a Grass-type, Volcarona can take advantage of Forest of Giant Plants to evolve as early as the first turn. Its 110 HP is pretty average for a Stage 1 Pokémon, but its Weakness is a bit unfortunate given the popularity of Volcanion decks. It has two attacks: Shimmering Scales and Power Hurricane. The former does 20 damage for a single Grass Energy and has an interesting effect. If you flip heads, the opponent’s Active is Confused, but if tails it is Paralyzed. Right away I can see some uses with this card. Perhaps it can be partnered with Vileplume thanks to its typing and ability to inflict Status Conditions alongside Item lock. The second attack does 120 damage for three Energy, but you have to discard all Energy attached to Volcarona. This attack could have potentially been solid if it weren’t for this drawback. The damage output is nice, allowing you to one-shot threats like Zygarde-EX and Greninja BREAK, but that’s really about it.  

One way I have seen Volcarona played recently is alongside Xerneas in Rainbow Road decks. Because Xerneas’s Rainbow Force damage is dependent on the number of types on your bench, the deck greatly benefits from dual-types such as Galvantula and Bisharp. Volcarona is certainly an option and provides a way to counter M Scizor-EX, a card that is normally a big threat considering it can OHKO Xerneas while also disrupting your Stadiums and Special Energy. Power Hurricane hits for weakness, but unfortunately the Energy discard holds it back to the point where other dual-types should be considered instead. For this reason, I don’t think Volcarona is particularly playable right now, though this might change as the Standard format progresses. 

In Expanded, I don’t see Volcarona really seeing play. It can take advantage of Blacksmith because of its Fire-typing, but you would need to use it every turn because of the drawback of having to discard all Energy. Such a reliance on a single Supporter is the same reason why Yanmega decks often do not see play, so I can’t see why Volcarona would be treated differently.  

Ratings 

Standard: 2/5

Expanded: 1.5/5

Limited: 3/5 

Summary: While I am really intrigued by Volcarona’s dual-typing, I don’t think the card will be played anytime soon. Shimmering Scales doesn’t deal enough damage to justify using it despite the guaranteed Status Conditions, and having to discard Energy to use Power Hurricane holds the card back too much. Some Rainbow Road players might opt to play Volcarona to score a quick KO against threats like M Scizor-EX, but otherwise I can’t recommend playing it competitively at the moment.


Otaku
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