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Pojo's Pokemon Card of the Day

 

Torterra Lv. 51

Diamond & Pearl
Majestic Dawn

Date Reviewed: 05.20.08

Ratings & Reviews Summary

Modified: 3.14
Limited: 3.00

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

Back to the main COTD Page


Jermy101
2005 World
Champion

Check out my eBay Store

Torterra

 

Modified - 60 damage for only 2 energy is awesome, but the drawback of 10 to your bench can hurt.  4 Energy for 100 is decent.  Better pack in some switches or something with his hefty retreat cost. 3/5

 

Limited - Good luck getting out a stage 2. If you do, it's great, since any energy can be used for Earthquake. 2/5

Arbok14

Name:   Torterra Lv. 51

Set:   Majestic Dawn

Rarity:   Rare

 

Analysis: OK, first of all, I think that Torterra is a really cool Pokemon. As for the card, I think this is a slight improvement from the one in Diamond and Pearl's base set. Same giant retreat cost and weakness to fire. Not a good start. 140 HP? Very nice. Earthquake should only ever be used if you are in a severe energy drought. And I mean severe. Or if you benefit from damaging your Pokemon, though I don't know of any good combo that does. Despite that, Earthquake is probably better than the puny Body Slam of the original. Frenzy Plant is a great heavy hitter. If you can't afford to do the Lv. X's move (because of damage to self) use this. Remember: If you use this card, pack a lot of Switches and/or Warp Points.

 

Modified: Pretty good. Loses the ability to heal self, but gains stronger attacks than the first Torterra from Diamond and Pearl. (3.5/5)

 

Limited: You will find that this is a TANK in limited. Attacks aren't desirable for this format though. (2.5/5)


Greenzan
goose

Torterra Lv.51 MD

 

Hello, today is Tuesday, May 20th, 2008 welcome to the future. Anyway, today’s COTD is a beast when used right, but only when played in the right deck. First off, 140HP is nothing to Slack Off at, it’s the largest non-Wailord, non-EX, non-Lv.X HP available out right now. The first attack is great (C)(C) for 60 is nice, it defenently outweighs the 10 bench damage to your own bench (Although you should be careful not to KO your own pokemon… and you may want to add a Dugtrio CG or Bastiodon to make sure your opponent doesn’t kill all of your injured benched pokemon.) The second attack is something that is awesome when used at the right time, there is only a few problems though, with 4 retreat cost you are almost never going to retreat, and only able to do 100 or 60 Torterra just missed the two big numbers, 80 and 120… The fire weakness isn’t good, isn’t bad. There is one idea I have been saving up, but I guess I am obligated as a COTDer to share it with you (Since it is about this card.) You simply run Torterra with Weavile and Darkrai with a bunch of Moonlight Stadium and it helps Torterra get over all of its weak points. No more retreat cost and with 2 (D) energies attached Torterra does 80 or 120 damage (90 or 130 with a strength charm.) And you can charge up Torterra with Weavile early game so you only have to use a DRE or 2 (G) energies to use Frenzy Plant. You then simply make sure you have 2 fully charged Torterra, and at least 1 Weavile (And maybe a Darkrai if you want it,) and then attack with one Torterra, retreat next turn to the other Torterra and attack with it, then repeat as desired.

 

Pros –

Large non-variable attack

Large HP

Large first attack for (C)(C)

 

Cons –

Large retreat cost

Large attack isn’t quite large enough

 

Modified – Could work if used correctly, but only if it is the main part of the deck. 4/5

 

Limited – (C)(C) is easy to get out, just pray you don’t kill your own benched pokemon. 4.5/5

 

I wonder; would Torterra mind if I rented out his back for a park?

 

“It is better to live rich than to die rich.”

Jigglypuff13

5/20 Torterra (MD)
 
So today is the day of Torterra Lv.51 from Majestic Dawn.
 
140HP is the hallmark of a tank. However, the attacks are the hallmark of a suicidal attacker, so straight away, we can see it's a Pokémon that doesn’t know what it wants to be. Earthquake is a standard bad attack. 60 for CC is nice, just the 10 to each of your bench Pokémon isn’t. This isn’t going to be a main attack unless you can get a bench full of Pokémon who can’t be damaged at all while there, such as Mudkip (CG) and Old Amber (MD), which then stops you from setting up another Torterra or anything, really, which makes it a counter productive attack. Even so, 60 isn’t going to be a massive threat now, only 2HKOing the weakest of main attackers. However, Frenzy Plant does make it a bit more of an attacking threat, doing 100 with that, and then doing the 60 from Earthquake will KO most Pokémon in the metagame. A Plus Powered or Strength Charmed Frenzy Plant with OHKO any 110HP Pokémon, including the ever popular Gardevoir (SW) or Magmortar (SW), so long as DRE isn’t used. The retreat is a massive pain, though, so if damaged, I wouldn’t count on getting it to the safety of the bench in a hurry.
 
Even with all of this power, it isn’t going to do much in a hurry. It has consistent damage, but is still quite unreliable. Why? Because the choice of when to do Frenzy Plant makes it so unreliable, since you may end up wanting to do it 2 turns in a row, and without a bench to help you or enough energy in play to do so, that’s going to be a bit of a struggle. Also, there‘s the self bench damage, which can cause more damage, and thus be risky with a larger bench, but also be risky with less bench due to the amount of 1 or 2HKOs that ahppen a lot in this format, which could get rid of Torterra quickly when you have no bench. It may be better to play it more as a tech in Torterra deck that focus on the DP one, allowing it to get the important 100 damage into the deck. However, at that point, it has to battle with the Lv.X, which also does bench damage (your opponents, this time), has a fairly useful Poké-Power and 20 more HP to be combined with the DP’s stalling attack. However, it also self damage, but that’s countered by using the DP’s Torterra healing Leaf Storm attack.
 
Then there are Torterra MD’s weaknesses. Gallade (SW), a part of the most popular deck at the moment, can take it down quickly, either by flipping 4 prizes to OHKO it, or going for a Sonic Blade/any attack combo to KO it quickly. Yes, Unown G can stop that, but then Windstorm can get rid of that. Fire can take it down quickly as well, with Magmortar (SW) being able to deal large amounts of damage quickly with Flame Blast or by using it’s Lv.X form. Infernape (MD) can cause headaches as well, with an activated Scrambled Mega Bravo OHKOing Torterra. Then there’s it speed. A big attacker needs to be fast to keep up with the likes of G&G, Magmortar, T2 decks and whatever we get from MD. Torterra just doesn’t. 4 energies for it’s main attack can be too slow, even with DRE speeding it up, but stopping it’s ability to OHKO 110 HP Pokémon with a single Plus Power or Strength Charm. Scramble is nice, and can work, and is the most useful special energy for Torterra, but you have to be willing to sacrifice a Pokémon or 2 to use it. Sceptile (GE) could work, but you’d then need to set 2 Stage 2’s up, which is always slow without a searcher.
 
Ratings
 
Modified: In the Torterra line, it’s a misfit. They should be tanks with their enormous HP, but it isn’t, with no good self healing attack or Poké-Power or Body. This is a massive attacker, that tries to take the place of Torterra Lv.X, but can’t successfully. It screams to have some way of being used, but is too slow to be successful, and too unreliable to be truly effective, as a tech or a main attacker. 2/5
 
Limited: 100 every 2 turns is nice, and when mixed with 60 every turn in between, it’s going to do a lot of OHKOing. Combined with it’s 140 HP, it isn’t going to be KO’ed quickly. Earthquakes drawback is nasty, since you are likely to have a bench of weak Basics who won’t survive many Earthquakes. Then there’s actually getting it in Limited. Get it if you can run it, and set it up as soon as possible. 3/5

monster
Monster
of the Lake

aim PoJoMOTL
"Jermy, what are you doing?! Stop hitting that kid!"

Erm, sorry about that. While Greenzangoose tries to calm Jermy101 down, I should reiterate that you should never, ever play the Eevee with "Sand Attack." The "Call for Family" Eevee is so much better!

Today's COTD, you say? Oh, right!

Torterra!

With 140 HP, this thing is a beast. But what are you supposed to play it with?

Combos

You could certainly use a DRE to power up the first attack to do a quick 50 for a single DRE; however, the obvious combo for this card is Sceptile GE. With its Poké-Body Wild Growth, you can do 60 with a single Grass energy! Quite impressive, even for a stage 2, although the damage spread to your own bench should be kept in mind. With Sceptile, a second stage 2 line, you shouldn't tech in a Dugtrio, even though it might be tempting to stop the self damage spread. Leafeon Lv.X is another candidate, however Sceptile does the job a lot better, and you won't be teching Torterra in an Eeveelutions (or Leafeon Lv.X in a Torterra deck, for that matter).

As with any stage 2, you should obviously run Rare Candies and have a strong draw engine to draw into your candies and Torterras before your opponent sets up and tears your poor little Turtwigs apart, but that is a given and shouldn't warrant a mention (well, other than this one).


Attacks

Assuming you have a Sceptile up alongside Torterra, Torterra's attacks aren't that bad at all. The self damage spread is negligible unless you're playing Magmortar -- and if you are, you should just scoop -- and G for 60 is simply fantastic. The second attack will do 100 for GG, you could do worse than run a few PlusPowers and Strength Charms to hit that magical number of 110 (Gardevoir, Magmortar, Beedrill, Leafeon Lv.X without the Espeon, Infernape, and the Firestarter Typhlosion).

The best scenario for this card, other than all Fire types being removed from the format, is having Torterra Lv.X and Sceptile CG out, and alternating between Frenzy Plant and Vigorous Dash every turn. Takes a while to set up though, and there are some problems..


Fire, fire, and more fire

Mega-ouch. While Magmortar is slowly getting ousted (though by no means wiped out), there are some new Infernape builds, and the crazy donk machine that is Skittles (Ho-Oh/Togekiss). Fire hurts, and although the weakness remains at +30 even with the Lv.X, two turns will be more than enough for most Fire types to knock Torterra out. And that's discounting Lake Boundary.

The ubiquitous Gallade will need to flip 4 (5 for Lv.X) prizes to get a OHKO on a fresh Torterra, but they don't need to -- Torterra can be Sonic Bladed down to 50 for a single DRE. At least Gardevoir won't threaten Wild Growth, so you can hit them back, if you can survive the required two turns.


Bottom stats

Unlike Base Gastly, this card has terrible bottom stats. Weakness to Fire isn't very helpful, and the retreat cost of 4 (GG with Sceptile, still a hefty amount) means you will be stuck with this thing as your active. Watch out for Masquerain.

Turtwig, Grotle, and Torterra Lv.X

There are 3 Turtwigs in HP-On. They all have 60 HP and a RC of 2, so go with the fastest attacker -- Turtwig DP/S6. Don't waste your time on either of the Grotles, try to Candy into Torterra as fast as possible.

As mentioned above, the Lv.X doesn't have 2x Weakness like most Level-up cards, so there is no reason to not play one. The GoW power is really useful, especially as you will probably be down in prizes for playing such a weak deck and thus can use its power.


Ratings (1 - Sux, 3 - Meh, 5 - Rox)

Modified: 3/5. It's one of the better combos with Sceptile, but in the end you still have to get two stage 2s out, and unlike Gardylade, they don't have the same Basic.
Limited: 4/5. Good luck drafting an entire stage 2 line. If you do, you're in good shape, as no one will be taking your 140 HP monster down anytime soon. Other than that guy who drafted the 3-3-3 Infernape line, of course. And then you cry and quit Pokémon.
Unlimited: 1/5. Just too slow. ERs and SERs will tear this thing apart. Have fun trying to Rare Candy against Vileplume ex. "Hang in there Turtwig!"

Well, that's all for today. Tomorrow's COTD will be another Eeveelution, and Jermy will hand out more beatings to those who are using bad Eevees.

(6:27:31 PM) PoJoMOTL: What do you have to say about Torterra MD, if anything?
(6:27:58 PM) RMarlow8086: it looks pretty good but I don't think it works right now
(6:28:09 PM) RMarlow8086: that's...about it
Brad Valila
Canada
Torterra, May 20th
 
Continuing the week with another card I don't like. While this has a great amount of HP for a stage 2; Magmartar would have a field day, and with a retreat cost of 4, its hard to save. Now while I'd never complain about an attack that does 60 for 2 colourless, it damages your bench, which means its great if you HAVE NO BENCH. Torterra's second attack doesn't offer much aid since you can't use it for consistant KOs. As well, no poke-power/body.
 
Limited-If you can pull the prerequisites to play this use it, especially with the high HP.
 
Modified-2
Limited-2
Alazor  
Squirtle

Well todays review is the only card this week is not a eeveelution and it is Torterra and I dont really like him his first attack is good but hurts your own bench and his second attack just does not seem good enough for a stage two and when you add in his massive retreat cost and no resistance just like jolteon from yesturday the only good thing about this card is the art which is really awesome

Modified 2/5
Limited: 2/5

  I have a late COTD for Torterra (MD)....

Reviewing Torterra (Majestic Dawn) after mowing the lawn....

Alone it has a pretty high attack cost. It's 1st attack is OK, 60 damage for 2 energy and damage to your bench. It's second attack is better but you can't use it 2 times in a row and it costs 4 energy. The best way to go is probably play this with Torterra lv. X and Sceptile (Great Encounters). You could also play a 1-1 Tech of 1-1 Sunflora (SW), it might be a little more set up but could counter the damage done by Torterra's 1st attack.

Modified: 3/5
Limited: 4/5 If you can get him out.


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