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Pojo's Pokemon Card of the Day

TV Reporter - Dragon EX

Date Reviewed: 1.27.04

Ratings & Reviews below

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

Heidi Craig	TV Reporter Modified 3.5/5 This is a good search engine especially in decks that use Oracle and/or Pokemon that retrieve energy from the discard pile. In some decks this card would be a good choice and others you may prefer Bill's Maintenance. It depends on how you design your deck would you rather shuffle or discard. Sometimes a good mixture of both is good in decks. Unlimited 1/5 There are much better search engines in this format to choose from, I probably wouldn't use this card. Draft 5/5 Any search in this format is a good thing, I would definitely use this card.
Ausen	TV Reporter. Like Bill. Only better. But worse. But better. With Dragons came a bunch some new draw cards and a bunch of cards that affect the "deck scene". However, none will see more play than TV reporter. Many people saw this and said, "Gee, it's Bill's Maintenance but DISCARDING." Well, yeah, but that's a good thing. WHAT? During matches, you're going to find there are cards you don't need. If you TeCH Crystal Shard for Rayquaza ex decks, and find out your opponent runs Gardevoir, do you really want to Copycat and draw both of them? NO. There will be times where you'll have to discard things you'd prefer to keep, but more often than not you'll notice that the Discard didn't really hurt you. TV lets you get rid of the card you don't need. This works really well in Blaziken decks, where you can discard fire energies and then just put them back onto Blaziken/Ninetales/Whatever. The other major difference is that you discard AFTER you draw. If you topdeck this, you get a choice of 2/3 cards. That means you end up gaining an extra card in hand (-1 TV, -1 discard, +3 draw), which is good, but you get a choice on what to have. In unlimited, don't bother. Bill isn't really that useable there and this is an upgrade on him which isn't much more useable here. Save your supporter per turn for Fan Club, Copycat or something more worth it. Unlimited: Better Draw Options 1.5/5 Modified: GREAT card 4/5 Draft: Draw = God 5/5 The Bottom Line: This card will see play in New Modified. It's just that darn good.
pERfeCt0nE	TV Reporter Bill's Maitenance has a cousin! But which is better? Unlimited- There is enough draw power. Professor Oak, Elm, Bill, Erika, and tons of other draw cards available. TV reporter doesnt help here. rating--- 1.5 Modified- Most decks that overuse a certain card in order to draw it early in the game can abuse this card by using this to discard it so it isn't totally useless. You can also discard omanyte and kabutos and have Underground Lake allow you to play it as a basic pokemon on the first turn! Most decks use this as part of their draw engine anyway. I've used this with Roselia in order to discard mystery plate delta when it was too late to use it. It doesn't break it or anything, but its more useful when you have bait for it. rating--- 3.875 Draft- I never got one! Mr. Brineys Compassion and this card were the only automatic choices here. If you get it- use it!!! Free cards in Draft!? Get your evolutions faster and win! rating--- 4.25 2 vs. 2- Nothing special. Same as in Modified. rating--- 3.875 Multiplayer- You can use this on your ally to help them discard whatever they need to get rid of as well as draw for them. It can help them alot if they use blaziken, which is incredibly popular. rating--- 4
Ralphy	Ralphy- If it looks like, smells like, and oh yes, tastes like Bill's Maintenance, it probably is, right? Wrong. At first glance, this card looks like Bill's Maintenance but with a gender change, but the key difference is the discard. Actually, it's the only difference. It can be worse, but in the right deck, it is so much better. Maybe even better than my right hand man, good ol' reliable Bill... Unlimited- I am a Fireman, not like the FDNY, I just love to play fire. And fire loves discard. TV Reporter delivers just that. Every fire deck ever made loves this card. But, if you are not mesmerized by fire, I suggest using Bill's Maintence instead. Wait, what am I saying? This is Unlimited, just use straight Bill. Don't let my flame grilled mind fool you, Supporters and Unlimted don't mix, not even with fire decks. Okay, maybe a little with fire decks. 2/5 here. Modified- As you may have already guessed, if you do not play big fire in Modified, use Bill's Maintence. It's just about the same thing as Reporter, but you don't lose a card. You don't want to be discarding cards unless you benefit from the discard, or the card is really good, like Oak. 3/5 Limited- Card drawing is good, no great. Who cares is you have to discard? Who cares is it's a Supporter? 4.75/5 here/
Bullados	TV Reporter Advantages: Stgraight draw. This is always an advantage in a format where there is precious little draw support. You also get to discard any card from your hand, which can be both an advantage and a disadvantage depending on how you use it. Disadvantages: lack of flexibility. There really isn’t anything that you can do about this, just bear with it. Also, the discard is always a problem unless you are running something specifically designed to bring back what you are using. The supporter rule is also terrible for this particular card. This is the type of card that is ment to be strung together with others of its kind. Ratings: Unlimited: You have so much else at your disposal, why would you use this? Oak, Juggler, Bill, and Misty’s Wrath. Use those over this thing. 1.125/5 Modified: Juggler is still better than this thing. I also think that Bill’s Maintenance is better, because of the lack of a discard. It’s decent, but there’s much more that’s better. 3.0/5 Draft: I’ve decided to seperate Draft and Sealed because there are different strategies for each. TV Rep is amazing here, a first pick always, any card drawing is a first pick. 4.75/5 Limited: Use it if you can get it. It’s good, extremely good, and will help you win a good number of games just by itself. 4.75/5 ~Bullados ~~Bull23924@aol.com
Patriarch	Well, I'm back reviewing. Band, GTA: Vice City, Eternal Darkness, and my City Championship preparations have kept me away, but I'm back! Oooh, and I return on a good note: we get to review TV Reporter, a Supporter from the most recent set, EX Dragon. Basically, you draw 3, discard 1...simple, huh? A quick Delcatty without all the fuss? That's the jist of things. Unlimited (2/5): Not necessarily a bad card...it's just that you have more options. What's better at cycling through a 47-card deck: a Professor Oak, or this? Modified (4/5): Unlike Unlimited, Modified has a lack of pure draw, save Professor Birch. Now we have this! Although a simple concept, it does what powerhouses Research, Copycat, and Shaman cannot: actually fish stuff out of the deck, as opposed to putting it back in. Although it particularly likes Blaziken variants, TV Reporter fits in just about any deck, and I mean ANY! 'Though certainly not the staple of E-on, it will be seen at a CC near you, fo sho! Limited (4.5/5): Basically, with 40-card decks, you're fishing out 4 1/2 cards, due to new odds. ALL draw is important to have in Limited, guys, so use it!!!
Otaku	If you can’t tell, I am trying to match up my review styles for Pokémon, Trainer, and Energy cards. Name: TV Reporter Set: Dragons Type: Trainer Sub-Type: Supporter Text: You can play only one Supporter card each turn. When you play this card, put it next to your Active Pokémon. When your turn ends, discard this card. Draw 3 cards. Then discard any 1 card from your hand. Attributes: First I’ll state the obvious-this is a Trainer card. What does that mean? Under normal circumstances, you can play as many Trainers per turn as you want. What else? You have to worry about Chaos Gym, Dark Vileplume, and Neo Genesis Slowking blocking it. Most Trainers are one-shot deals, as this one is no exception. It is a Supporter, so it is a touch harder to play and makes other Supporters harder to play. This sounds bad, but wait until the next section before judging it: simply put, just as a Stage 1 or 2 Pokémon needs to be better than a Basic to justify the trouble of playing it, so too does a Supporter. Abilities: So, what does TV Reporter do? Get mistaken for Graceful Charity. ;) That’s a Yu-Gi-Oh card for those that aren’t familiar with that game. Seriously though, TV Reporter is one of the few sources of non-shuffling draw power. The only other non-shuffling draw power I can recall is Juggler (there are a few cards that might be counted, but they are borderline draw/searchers) for Modified. Some decks need that. Most decks can also stand the discard cost-I used this Saturday in a small tournament and only once did I not have something that was more or less painless to discard, like an extra energy or Dunsparce. Town Volunteers or certain Pokémon Powers remedy that nicely. If it weren’t for that and the state of the current Modified draw pool, this card wouldn’t be so great-it’s two cards for three, plus your Supporter for the turn. Uses/Combinations For decks that don’t want to shuffle, this is extra nice. Juggler has more options, but this is easier to pay. It can be a slight alternative to Juggler in decks that need to discard Energy-it won’t let Mewtwo ex Energy Absorption to full power, but will still help it be ready to go turn two. It does open up an interesting possibility for Omanyte and Kabuto: combined with Underground Lake, you can get them into play first turn. Ratings Unlimited: 1.95/5-I think a few decks might run one or two as extra draw power, but the downsides make Bill probably a better choice. Modified/2-on-2/TMP: 3.65/5-I find it to be a solid draw card from experience. Not too fast, but not too slow. More reliable than Copycat or Professor Birch, less costly (or easier to pay as stated above) than Juggler, and thins the deck better than Bill’s Maintenance, Professor Oak’s Research or Desert Shaman. Now, all those cards excel in certain decks, and this will probably be no different. This opens up some new deck possibilities too. Limited: 4.5/5-Unless you draft with Base Set, this will probably be some of the best draw power you can get. Discarding a useless card is usually easier in this format as well. Summary Like most recent cards, it won’t really affect Unlimited, though it will have an impact (positive, I think) on Modified. I found them to be quite useful in my SS Steelix/Xatu deck, and that has two important Stage 1 lines, eight non-basic Energy cards, and no real “extra” Trainers. -Otaku (nintendotaku@hotmail.com)
Meganium45	Allright, a trainer worth talking about! Bill is back, but better! This little gem lets you draw three (3) cards, then discard any card (including possibly one you just drew) from you hand as a cost!!! This is great for most any deck looking for a little extra draw. Yes, it is a supporter, and has to compete with Oak's Research, Copycat, and others, but it combos perfectly with ORACLE!! You oracle the previous turn, putting 2 on the top, then TV reporter the next turn, making sure you get the cards you need, both from your initial draw, and then the reporter. It also has been likened to a Delcatty, without the Pokemon. Personally, I still like the holo R/S delcatty for draw support, but if you can't spare the deck space, then hey, use the reporter. This card is also extremely effective for heavy evolution decks that do NOT want to shuffle their hands back in, but need more cards. TV reporter allows you to keep you hand size, while simply adding to it. This is good in most instances. Bad if Gardevoir EX is staring across the table at you!!! In my mind, this is a bill, but improved upon, and is great for any deck, cough BLAZIKEN cough which relies on pulling energy out of the discard pile. A veritable mini-juggler, and a juggler that does not require you to have the energy in your hand to use it. This will see more and more play with lower energy Blaziken decks. Man, you would think a trainer would have a simple review, but that got pretty in depth. Ratings - Unlimited - still creamed by the big trainers of Computer Search, Oak, and Copycat. Not a bad fifth or sixth choice. Noone runs energy draw type power in unlimited, the format is simply too fast. If you have extra trainer space, this may not be bad when debating between it and bill, unless you max on copycats as your supporter of choice. 2.9/5 Modified - In Blaziken Decks this gets a 5/5, if you don't run it, you may be labeled, for other decks, this is still a nice trainer, especially with the diversity and tech cards we all play, you should always have something you can discard 4/5 Limited - A great trainer in an area where trainers are few and far between. I would usually pick this as a first pick, because you will always have something to discard in draft. If there was a RAQ EX, or some other have-to-have in the pack I may be torn, but if it was passed to me I would laugh all the way to my deck. 4.9/5 OK, more to come later...Come see me on my City Championship World Tour next month - I will be at Dok's event in Chicago on 2/14, I will be running Colinsville, IL on 2/21. I will be running St. Louis at the Gathering Ground on 2/28 and then we will start the prereleases! Hope to see you at one of the upcoming Championships. Meganium45

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