Skip straight to the scores and summary for a
concise overview.
Please note that while I denote δ Delta Species
Pokémon by adding a δ to the end of their name, but
that said symbol is not actually part of their name
for gaming purposes to my understanding. For
example, a “Pokémon δ” can Evolve from or into a
non-Pokémon δ, so long as no other rules are being
broken. That is, I can Evolve Dratini δ into
a Dark Dragonair, plain Dragonair, of
the “Dragonair δ”. I cannot, however,
Evolve a Dark Dragonair into a Dragonite δ
or a Dragonair δ into a Dark Dragonite.
Also, δ Delta Species Pokémon are now
appearing in sets other than EX Delta Species,
making me realize it was perhaps a poor idea to name
the set that.
Name:
Raichu δ
Set:
EX Holon Phantoms
Card#:
15/110
Type:
Metal
Stage:
Stage 1 (Evolves from Pikachu)
HP:
70
Weakness:
Fighting
Resistance:
None
Retreat:
None
Attack#1:
(C) Zzzap
Does 20 damage to each Pokémon that has any
Poké-Powers or Poké-Bodies (both yours and your
opponent’s). Don’t apply Weakness or Resistance.
Attack#2:
(MMC) Metallic Thunder [50]
You may discard 2 (M) Energy attached to
Raichu. If you do, this attack’s base damage is
90 instead of 50.
Name:
Pikachu
Set:
EX Holon Phantoms
Card#:
78/110
Type:
Lightning
Stage:
Basic
HP:
50
Weakness:
Fighting
Resistance:
None
Retreat:
C
Attack#1:
(C) Thunder Wave
Flip a coin. If heads, the Defending Pokémon is now
Paralyzed.
Attack#2:
(LC) Quick Attack [20+]
Flip a coin. If heads, this attack does 20
damage plus 10 more damage.
Name:
Pikachu
Set:
EX Holon Phantoms
Card#:
79/110
Type:
Metal
Stage:
Basic
HP:
50
Weakness:
Fighting
Resistance:
None
Retreat:
C
Attack#1:
(C) Tail Whip
Attack#2:
(MCC) Steel Headbutt [30+]
Flip a coin. If heads, this attack does 30
damage plus 10 more damage.
Attributes:
Raichu is a Pokémon δ, which explains why it
is a Metal Pokémon. Being a Metal-Type Pokémon is
fairly nice. Although there are more Pokémon
Resistant to it than Weak to it, but the important
thing is that if you have a Metal Energy on
here, it will reduce the damage you take by 10 for
each of them, and that is nice. Unfortunately with
only 70 HP, it won’t last too long – that HP is low
for the end of a Stage 1 line. Speaking of its
Evolutionary status, there are two Pikachu in
this set, and I recommend #78 (the Lightning-Type
version) as it is just a better card. No
Modified-Legal Pikachu is especially
thrilling, so you should probably experiment. I
didn’t list the Pichu above because they are
optional and not from the same set, but the EX Delta
Species version might be worth it since it can use a
(C) attack to get an Energy (including Special
Energy) from the discard pile and attach it to a
Pokémon δ.
Fighting Weakness can be a problem: Hariyama ex
and Medicham ex are still running around. I
keep waiting for someone to build a real good
Machamp deck using either (or probably both)
currently legal versions, the Dark Tyranitar
that is part Fighting-Type is at least used as TecH
in most Dark Tyranitar decks. Nidoqueen
is far from dead (though it was more a “surprise” –
oriented deck) and there are some other Fighting
Pokémon that I just don’t have time to delve into.
It’s the most common Weakness in the game, but it’s
pretty easy to find Resistance to splash in and much
like Fire Weakness, Fighting Pokémon do so much base
damage that most will OHKO a 70 HP Raichu
anyway. No Resistance is the worst Resistance and a
disappointment, but at least we have that perfect
free Retreat Cost.
Raichu
has a Bench Sitter’s stats, but what does it do?
Abilities:
Unfortunately, it’s an attacker. Fortunately, it’s
a fast one: Zzzap, an update of the classic gem
first seen on Neo Genesis Pichu (the update
is merely updated wording to reflect Poké-Powers and
Poké-Bodies existence). For its third go around, it
returns to its original (C) cost, though for a Stage
1 that seems fair. After all, it is a double-edged
sword: it hits yourself as well, so you need to be
careful with what you run alongside a Zzzapper.
Metallic Thunder is decent, doing 50 damage which
you more or less paid for (MMC= 15+15+10, and
another 10 for being a Stage 1) with an optional
effect (good since Raichu should have a bonus
since it doesn’t Evolve further) that gives a more
or less “fair” +40.
The two have some synergy, Zzzap being a great
opener and Metallic Thunder a solid finisher.
Uses and
Combinations:
Double Rainbow Energy is of course great for
Raichu: you’ll only get 80 damage discarding
it, but you can just discard said Double Rainbow
Energy, allowing you the potential four up to
four rapid hits with it. Of course, that isn’t that
great, but it isn’t horrid either. You can also use
a few different combinations, including
Holon’s
Pokémon which won’t get you Energy ahead but will
make it easy to discard something worth (MM). Most
tricks for attaching extra Energy are questionable,
because said tricks involve Poké-Bodies/Poké-Powers.
So
currently, the best idea for a deck using this card
is a) TecHing it into a deck that uses a different
Raichu or b) its own bizarre Turn 2 style
deck that hopes to overwhelm the opponent with Zzzap
and Metallic Thunder to quickly score the needed
KOs. The former concept is self explanatory, so
let’s look at the latter: you might consider
Rocket’s Meowth, since it is probably what was
supposed to be the de facto Swoop! Transporter
target, and unlike Jirachi you can keep a
Rocket’s Meowth on the bench so you have
something in play if your Raichu is KO’d and
while awkward, its Miraculous Comeback is a decent
“last ditch effort” kind of attack. From there,
it’d just be getting the right Trainer set up so
that the deck flows. It might be possible to turn
it into a new, no Poké-Body/Poké-Power version of
Four Corners.
Ratings
Unlimited:
1/5 – The reason I didn’t mention a Pichu to
use with this Raichu in Unlimited is simple:
you use Neo Genesis Pichu instead of
this Raichu if you want to Zzzap.
Modified:
3/5 – I think it’s not that bad a card, but its
finding a good use for it tricky. There’s enough
there that even if I am utterly wrong and no deck
with it will be all that good… neither will it be
all that bad.
Limited:
3/5 – There’s a decent enough chance that you can
pay for Metallic Thunder, but mostly you’d take it
because you already had a swarm of Pikachu
and Zzzap is kinda nice for this format.
Summary
Raichu δ
is one of those cards that are good enough not to
dismiss, but hard to utilize well. I’ve given my
thoughts on it, and it looks to be a decent bit of
TecH if you can make a decent Raichu using
deck.
-Otaku
