Now for a challenge: a
Pokémon Legend!
This floored me
when I semi-returned to
the game, since it is a
fascinating new mechanic
that my friends and I
half-joked about in the
past.
Now it is real!
Today’s CotD is
Ho-Oh Legend, and
unlike the Pokémon
“Prime”, Legend is
indeed printed on the
top half of the card and
so is part of its name.
First I’ll run
through some relevant
rulings on Pokémon
Legend in general, taken
from
The Pokémon
Trading Card Game
Rulings Compendium LVX
are that you can only
have a total of four
copies of the Pokémon –
each half still counts
as the card.
You don’t have to
run an even amount of
tops and bottoms, but
you
cannot run
four of each.
You have to put
both halves of the card
into play at the same
time, at which point
they are treated as a
single Pokémon for the
purposes of game effects
and rules, like taking
one bench space, one
prize when KO’d, etc.
Card effects that
let you search for “a
Pokémon” or “a [insert
type/] Pokémon” will
work on them, but not
something that specifies
Basic Pokémon or Evolved
Pokémon, because they
are officially
considered an “Unevolved
Pokémon”.
This means you
can’t lay them down
during your set-up
before the first turn
either.
Effects that put
Pokémon into play won’t
work on them since each
half counts as “Unevolved
Pokémon” and they are
always two of such a
card, not one.
Whew!
That explains a
lot.
So when we look at
Ho-oh Legend, we
have to take into
account that it takes
twice the deck space and
perhaps more than twice
the effort to run of a
Basic Pokémon, and is
more complicated to run
than a Stage 1 Pokémon.
In a sense, it is
the worst of both
worlds.
Which explains
the fantastically high
140 HP.
Outside of Lv.X.
X Pokémon, only four
others top this.
Other than Water
Pokémon (who can take
advantage of Water
Weakness for double
damage) OHKOing this
card requires a lot of
luck (and deck with
damage boosting tricks).
For that matter,
anything but a main (or
Water) attacker will
probably require three
full attacks for the KO.
This is quite
nice, but again is
warranted by the complex
nature and required
effort of playing the
card.
As for the
aforementioned Weakness,
I’d rather it Water than
the other obvious
choice:
Ho-Oh is a
Fire/Flying Type in the
video games so Lightning
Weakness is appropriate
(but less desirable).
The Fighting Resistance
is welcome: unless
you’re facing a Fighting
Pokémon that can bypass
or gets a bonus against
it, it will take a lot
to KO this card: one big
shot doing 160 points of
damage or multiple shots
that need another 20 for
each extra shot.
The two Energy
retreat cost is
annoying, but not
crippling: you can pay
it if you must but
dedicate at least two
slots to something to
get around it.
The actual effects of
the card don’t
disappoint: Sacred
Rainbow turns all
attached Energy on
Ho-oh Legend into
Fire Energy.
It’s a trick that
has been around under
different names since
the Base Set, but it
still screams for abuse.
Bright Wing hits
hard: 100 damage takes
most Basic or Stage 1
Pokémon down in one hit.
To use it,
though, you need
something providing 4
Fire Energy and then you
have to discard an
Energy as well.
That knocks it
down from “great” to
“good”: after all that
you’re getting a slight
bonus and the Poké-Body
does allow you to abuse
Double Colorless Energy.
Otherwise it looks like
it needs a partner along
the lines of yesterday’s
Typhlosion so that
you can consistently get
off 100 damage each
turn.
Indeed,
Typhlosion (Prime),
Ninetales (with
Roast Reveal), and
Ho-oh Legends looks
like a sound deck.
It doesn’t look
like a tournament winner
to me, though.
Unless you are insanely
fortunate and can get
both halves at a Limited
Event, in which case you
should risk running it
(unless you plan on
selling it afterwards).
The bad news is
that it will be hard to
get out.
The good news is
that any deck can afford
the Energy, and provided
you can get it out when
your opponent doesn’t
have anything with a lot
of HP or Water out, it
should turn into at
least two, probably
three Prizes as a trade
off.
Ratings
Modified:
2/5 – Looks great but
needs an “engine”
capable of manipulating
Special Energy cards.
Limited:
4/5 – If you pull both
halves.
