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Pojo's Pokemon Card of the Day

Ho-Oh - Neo 3



Pojo's Average Rating -
Unlimited: 2.64 (based on 5 reviews)
Modified: 2.81
(based on 5 reviews)
Draft: 4.11
(based on 5 reviews)
Reviewed April 30, 2002

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


Pokepop

Man, this thing has more Fire Energy symbols on it than it has Hit Points!

Stoke is good to help power up this energy hog's attacks. However, both of its damaging attacks are tails-fails flip dependent. Granted, they give you a lot of flexibility. You can either pick off weak basics on the bench, or take out the main hitter in the front in one shot. But if you flip a few tails while trying to do those things, Ho Oh will be Oh Oh!

Unlimited: The flips kill him here. You don't get too many turns where you can miss with your attack and expect to win the game. 2.5/5

Modified: A bit better here, but I would hate to have this up against a Baby: "Flip for Baby rule - Heads! Flip for attack - Tails. Your turn." 2.75/5

Draft: Ah! Now we want this card! Here we have a Basic that powers itself up and can take out any opponent in one or two shots and 90 HP so it will last a while against the 20-30 damage per turn that is usually done in a Draft game. This is a first choice! 4.75/5

TwInSeN21

Ho-oh (Holofoil)

One of my favourite cards! 90HP Basic that has 3 attacks (only one of the two cards in the TCG, the other being Rocket's Mewtwo) and the art is just awesome! Right now, I have 13 sitting in my binder! But it all boils to one ultimate question: Is it playable? To a certain extent...

90HP for a Basic is nice. 2 Retreat Cost is also decent. Let's look at the attack.

Stoke is a great attack. It speeds up Ho-oh considerably so that you can use Dive Bomb on the 3rd turn! One of the Blaine's Growlithes has this attack too.

Sacred Fire is a nice attack. You get to do 40 damage to ANY of your opponent's Pokemon. If there wasn't a flip involved, the attack would've been undercosted as it only require 2 Energy for 40 damage. It's a great Baby Killer if you want to get a few quick prizes. Blaine's Charizard has a similar attack as well.

Dive Bomb, 5 Energies for 90 damage, but it's a Tails-Fails attack. 90 damage is huge but the attack is too unreliable for my taste. Fossil Moltres has the same attack too.

The problem with Ho-oh is the card is simply too unreliable. It can't deal consistent damage and you might end up powering it up and dealing ZERO damage! Not really worth it. If you combo it with Holo Entei though, you can start flipping for Dive Bomb on turn 2, which is really nice. On average, you should be able to do 90 damage on turn 3. If you went first, 90 damage can almost KO anything on the board.

In Unlimited, the attacks are simply too unreliable for my taste. I would only use it for it's high HP and Sacred Fire. Don't bother powering up for Dive Bomb unless you're desperate.

In Modified, Feraligatr is still strong force to contend with. Maybe after new Modified "Modified" Format rolls in, Ho-oh will be better.

In Draft, this card is a bomb! I would definitely 1st pick this card. It thins your deck, has high HP, and Dive Bomb is actually a decent attack. 

In the end, if you got bored of Entei-Cargo, you might as well try Entei-Blaine's Moltres first before you choose Ho-oh. It's a nice card with interesting concepts and great artwork, but just too luck dependant for it to be really competitive.  

Unlimited Rating: 2.7/5
Modified Rating: 2.8/5
Draft Rating: 4.0/5
Artwork Rating: 5.0/5!! <(^_~ <)


Random

People like this card for it's holo, not for it's play ability. Personally, I hate it. It's pointless and redundant. Why would you play this card? Go trade it for a Crobat. I'm serious. Forget Ho-oh. =/
If you are looking for a solid fire basic, I recommend Fossil Magmar. It's got 70 hp and it's solid. This guy... he's like so ER/SER prone it's pathetic. =/
I'd review more, but I can't because this card makes me nauseated.
I give this guy a standard rating of 1.5/5. Play it, and you lose automatically, you don't even have to play! It goes to your opponent by default.
In modified, he's slightly better, but still weak. 2/5.
In draft, he's actually "good". "I don't get it." I give him a 3/5.
 
~ RaNd0m

Lord Gothmog

Ever notice how legendary Pokemon sometimes get the shaft when it comes to card version(I.E. Neo Genesis Lugia)? Not so this time.

In unlimited, you have your choice of 2 good Magmars for big bad fire basics. Unfourtunately, you can only have a max 4 of any given Magmar in a deck. So, Ho-Oh can fit right in if there's need. 90 HP is good, 2 retreat is managable, and the attacks, ... well, let's go in depth on those: Stoke is an excellent attack if Ho-Oh is one of your first Pokemon to hit the table. It gives you an energy advantage. With it, you can be using Sacred Fire on turn 2, or Dive Bomb on turn 3. However, I would go with Stoke to Sacred Fire unless your opponent is getting a dead man's hand, because coin flips are involved, and 5 energy for a flip attack is generally not a good choice. Sacred Fire picks off Unowns, Babies, and some evolution line basics, which is a rare thing for a fire card. It's a good control card. I have to give it a 2.9/5, considering it's high energy costs and retreat. 

In modified, You only have the choice of 1 good Magmar. Not the best support options. Ho-Oh doesn't lose any speed in modified, and gains even more advantage from it's Stoke attack, considering the slightly slower nature of the format. However, it's weakness to water(why'd they rock the boat by starting to give the legends a weakness anyway?) makes it get crushed by Gatr like a saltine under a Panzer. 3.2/5 here.

In draft, honkin' big basics that charge themselves up for honkin' big beatdowns are ALWAYS good. 90 HP and no needed trainers to combo mean smile for those who break open a pack of Revelation and see a shiny new Firebird to park in their deck. 4.3/5

Lurili

Ho-Oh (Holo)

Unlimited: Well, not really the best thing in the world but a step up form many of the other Basics we have. An extremely good counterpart to Magmar in Sped-Up Fire deck, I’ve seen this thing do pretty good in Standard, just not against RainDance, though ;.)

Modified: Awesome! In Entei-Magcargo or Entei-Ho-Oh, it could be out in no time. The only problem is its effectiveness. You have to flip coins to kill, unlike the certain damage of 70+ dealt by most Modified Basics and Evo’s.

Limited: What the… This guy can take out an entire army by itself. DEFINITELY a FIRST pick! Just be careful on throwing it into your deck as Energy requirements might see you playing strictly Fire, a color that usually discards Energy.

Unlimited (Standard): 3.6/5

Modified: 3.3/5

Limited (Draft):4.5 /5

 


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