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Pojo's Pokemon Card of the Day

 

Carnivine G Lv. 43

Promo

Date Reviewed: 09.05.09

Ratings & Reviews Summary

Modified: 1.63
Limited: promo

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

Baby Mario
Top 4 UK Nats

Carnivine G LV 43

 

Not as strange-looking as Probopass, but still . . . weird.

 

With the exception of Beedrill, Grass Pokémon are a rarity in competitive decks, although Roserade GL did see some play as an interesting tech in some SP decks at Worlds. Two reasons for this are that Fire Pokémon are a real threat once again (Blaziken FB, Infernape 4, Magmortar SV), and that there really aren’t many playable Pokémon that have a Grass Weakness (Claydol should never be active, and Rampardos is hardly ever seen).

 

A third reason, is that Grass Pokémon often lack raw attack power. Carnivine G pretty much falls into this category, though it’s attacks are not completely hopeless.

 

The first, Power Whip, does 10 damage to a Pokémon of your choice for every Energy that is attached to it. The fact that there is no restriction on the type of Energy is nice, and makes Carnivine somewhat splashable as a bench sniper. Unfortunately, Energy is a precious resource in Pokémon, and Honchkrow G can snipe 40 to any damaged Pokémon for [D][C] or [D] and an Energy Gain. To get the same result with Carnivine would need 4 Energy!

 

The second attack, Grass Know, cost a very reasonable [G][C] and does 20 damage plus 10 more for each Energy in the defending Pokémon’s retreat cost. It’s cheap, yes, but you will seldom do much worthwhile damage. Most Pokémon have a retreat cost of one or two, so you will be struggling to do more than 40 damage a turn, and cards that reduce retreat cost (such as Moonlight Stadium) will also modify the damage that Carnivine G can do. You could combine it with Ariados MT but . . .is it really worth it just to get an extra 10 damage?

 

Carnivine G falls into the same category as the Probopass G that we reviewed yesterday. Interesting attacks, reasonably costed, but in the end, just not doing enough damage to be worth including in your deck in place of the more obviously powerful cards.

 

Rating

 

Modified: 1.75 (snipe is ok, but the card is underpowered)

Limited: n/a

 
Steel_Winger Welcome back to the Pokemon COTD!

Today we end our Promo week with one of the lesser desired promos when it comes to playability. I present to you... Carnivine G. Okay... 80 HP on an SP Basic is average. A x2 Weakness to Fire really hurts it (*cough*Infernape4andBlazikenFBwreckit*cough). A -20 Resistance to Water is useful against Kingdra, Gyarados and Palkia G, but you still shouldn't expect it to last long. A Retreat Cost of 1 is also average, but if don't even want to pay that, there's always Poke Turn. Not to mention the other support it gets out of being an SP Pokemon.

No Powers or Bodies on this one either, but 2 somewhat mediocre attacks. The first, Power Whip, is the more useful attack, sniping for 10 times the amount of energies attached to Carnivine G for the cost of just one energy (or for free with Energy Gain, but then you don't do any damage ;'P). You could use this to get some early sniping going, but there are other cards that do it better such as Raichu GL or Infernape 4. Heck, even one of the Carnivines in the Platinum set. It gets better the more energy attached obviously, but if it isn't charging up on the bench, you won't get much out of it.

The second attack is Grass Knot. For a Grass and any other energy (or just the Grass with Energy Gain), 20 damage is done, and it increases by an extra 10 for every Colorless symbol in the Defending Pokemon's Retreat Cost (after applying effects). Good if you're going against big Pokemon like Regigigas or any of the large Legendaries, but most competitive ones are few and far between. Most Pokemon in competitive play have a Retreat Cost of 0-1, so you'll usually be doing 20-30 with this attack. That's not very appealing...

Combos? If you use this with Sceptile (GE), then every Grass energy attached will count as 2 energies, giving Power Whip a bit more... power. You can 2HKO a Claydol with 2 Grass energy cards attached to Carnivine G (or three if the opponent's Claydol is active for some unfathomable reason). Porygon2 and the Pixies will also be in a bit of trouble.

Other than that, I really don't see a use for this competitively.

Ratings:

Modified: 1.5/5 The attacks are too weak to be a force to be reckoned with and most of its stats are average.
Limited: Again, how do you rate a card in Limited if it's a Promo? I guess compared to most other promos, it'd get a 2.5/5. There are definately worse promos, but definately some better ones as well.

This is Steel_Winger, until next time!
 


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