Review
too long? Skip straight to the scores and summary.
Name:
Crawdaunt ex
Set:
EX Holon Phantoms
Card#:
99/110
Rarity:
Pokémon-ex
Pokémon-ex Rule:
When Pokémon-ex has been Knocked Out, your opponent takes 2
Prize cards.
Type:
Water
Stage:
1 (Evolves from Corphish)
HP:
110
Weakness:
Lightning
Resistance:
None
Retreat:
CC
Poké-Power:
Splash Back
Once
during your turn (before your attack), if your opponent has 4 or
more Benched Pokémon, you may choose 1 of them and return that
Pokémon and all cards attached to it to his or her hand. This
power can’t be used if Crawdaunt ex is affected by a Special
Condition.
Attack:
(WC) Power Blow [20x]
Does 20 damage times the amount of Energy attached to
Crawdaunt ex.
Name:
Corphish
Set:
EX Holon Phantoms
Card#:
62/110
Type:
Water
Stage:
Basic
HP:
50
Weakness:
Lightning
Resistance:
None
Retreat:
C
Attack#1:
(C) Corkscrew Punch [10]
Attack#2:
(CCC) Guillotine [30]
Name:
Corphish
Set:
EX Holon Phantoms
Card#:
63/110
Type:
Water
Stage:
Basic
HP:
50
Weakness:
Lightning
Resistance:
None
Retreat:
C
Attack#1:
(C) Flail [10x]
Does 10
damage times the number of damage counters on Corphish.
Attack#2:
(W) Crabhammer [10]
Attributes:
Crawdaunt ex is a Water Pokémon, which is a fairly solid
Type: in the history of Modified, Water decks usually are fairly
prominent. I would have loved for it to either be a Dual-Type
Pokémon or mono-Darkness, as that would allow it to avoid
Resistance entirely and still exploit some Weakness… but what we
have is good. 110 HP is as low as any current Stage 1
Pokémon-ex has, but most are that or 120, with a handful of
exceptions that get saddled with a double Weakness, so in the
end, it’s good/ Crawdaunt aren’t known for the HP in the
TCG anyway.
Lightning Weakness is “alright”. All other options that make
sense according to the video game Type pairing would probably be
worse, with the possible exception of Grass. No Resistance is
annoying and I wish they’d stop leaving it out. A Retreat Cost
of two is fine: it’s neither low enough to practically ignore
nor high enough to be a major concern.
Average, yet solid, for a Stage 1 Pokémon-ex, let’s take a look
at Corphish, which it Evolves from to see if there’s any
issues there. After all, Milotic and Gyarados are
only allowed so much power because their Basics are so horrid.
There are two Corphish this set: 62 and 63. 63 is poor:
one decent attack hurt by low HP and one overpriced attack
render it something to only use if you must. 62 is nothing
special, but it does have solid Attributes for a Basic and can
use any Energy to attack, even if it’s only for straight
damage. There is one other Corphish currently legal,
from EX Deoxys. It has Exoskeleton as a Poké-Body to reduce the
damage it takes, but only by 10 and it has just 40 HP and an
unremarkable attack. Given that there are cards that do more to
Poké-Bodies, I’d say 62 is the clear winner here.
Abilities:
Crawdaunt ex has a Poké-Power that is like a built in
Giant Stump that only affects the opponent. How so? If
your opponent has more than four or more Pokémon on their Bench,
you can choose one from the Bench and bounce it; that is send it
and all attached cards to the opponent’s hand. This can be done
whether Crawdaunt ex is Active or one the Bench and based
on the wording I believe it would stack if you have multiples in
play. So if the opponent plays a four Pokémon on the Bench, you
can send the most developed of their Benched Pokémon back to
their hand. So there is no point in them having more than three
on their Bench: otherwise you just bounce their best Benched
Pokémon. All in all, a nice ability as it hurts combo decks.
Power
Blow is a nice attack: needing only one specific Energy type,
it’s fairly easy to work into off type decks. 20 damage for
each Energy attached means a base damage of 40 if you are able
to use it and you get a fair or better return until you pass
five Energy attached. If you do choose to risk it, you can get
a slightly sub par return on Energy but reach the point where
you can OHKO any Pokémon in the game (and a little below that to
OHKO anything you are apt to encounter).
These
abilities compliment each other: your opponent has to keep a
small Bench which makes it much harder to keep up with a hard
hitting attack.
Uses
and
Combinations:
The basic idea for using this card is to combine it with
something that can attach extra Energy so you can power it up
more quickly. Meganium ex is a good candidate: it’s
risky running two Pokémon-ex and you are limited to Grass Energy
for the extra attachment but it also removes a damage counter
and all Special Conditions from the recipient, making
Crawdaunt ex last longer. Electrode ex is another
candidate using its normal tricks, though I don’t know if I like
using one Pokémon-ex going suicidal to power another. There are
also assorted attacks that can be used as well if you’d like.
Also
use Warp Point and Cyclone Energy to force an well
developed opponent to the Bench where there is potential to
bounce it and Rocket’s Admin, already a common deck
sight, is wonderful for getting rid of whatever you just sent to
hand. I am unaware of any card that is still legal and forces
the opponent to play more Pokémon, but if one is released or if
I just missed it, it’s a natural partner as well.
Oh, and
did I mention Boost Energy provides a quick +60 damage?
Ratings
Unlimited:
3.75/5 – Yes, I think it shows much promise here. With
Blastoise and or Slowking it is a force to be
reckoned with. After all, you can bounce an opponent’s
Slowking and Blastoise back to hand, no? This format
tends to have reasonable full Benches. I don’t know if it will
replace Suicune ex, but I think it has the potential
too. The only thing casting doubt in my mind is obvious: it’s a
Stage 1 Pokémon-ex. It also helps that in this format there is
Erika’s Perfume to force the opponent to Bench Basics.
Modified:
4/5 – Though opponents will probably have an easier time
avoiding Splash Back, I think that this should be at least the
next fad deck if not a longer lasting one. Unless the metagame
becomes almost all Lightning decks, this card should see play.
Limited:
4/5 – Obviously it’s a risk since it is half your Prizes should
it be KO’d. However, once it gets going it is hard to stop and
there are two different Corphish as common Basics, making
it easier to run. Of course, not being a Pokémon δ actually
hurts it some here: with so much support for them in this set it
is the norm to be able to use it. And this can’t.
Summary
Well,
maybe I’ll be wrong and make a fool of myself, but I truly think
this card is going to be starring in its own deck soon (or
working into an older deck at worst), and in both Unlimited and
Modified no less.
-Otaku
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