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Reshiram (Black & White)
Hey Pojo readers, today we have what you really want.
After weeks of waiting, we have one of the most heavily
hyped cards of the set up for review. Introducing
Reshiram!
You'll notice that we have the pimped out White
version up on display, but there is a normal holo
version with identical stats and attacks in the same set
as well so you have a decent chance of pulling this card
at a prerelease. And if you don't, you probably pulled
Reshiram's opposite number Zekrom (everyone at the local
League got one or the other during our prerelease).
Now for the stats. Reshiram is a Fire type
non-evolving Basic with 130 HP, Water weakness, a
retreat cost of 2 and two attacks.
Obviously that huge HP is the best thing about
Reshiram. In fact, I think that is the current record
for a Basic as far as HP goes (unless you count
Regigigas Lv X, but that isn't quite the same since you
have to Level Up first). The Water weakness is a
problem, however, as Kingdra, Rain Dance and Gyarados
don't give a damn about high HP when they are dealing
double damage. Being a Basic is also a problem as
Machamp SF is still popular and will ruin your day with
Take Out. The retreat isn't great but it is payable,
especially as Typhlosion Prime and Emboar BW (Fire
Dance? I don't know the name of the Ability) are natural
partners for Reshiram. Besides, cheap or free retreat
would be too much on this card.
Aside from the HP, the attacks are what make Reshiram
awesome. Outrage is the first attack, and is shared with
Zekrom as well. The cost is [c][c] and the effect is
cumulative damage. Starting with a baseline of 20
damage, Reshiram deals 10 more damage for each damage
counter on it leading to a maximum damage of 140.
Obviously damaging Reshiram intentionally to raise
the damage is risky but the attack does help take out
opposing Poke'mon that fail to score an OHKO if you
don't have the energy available for Blue Flare. Outrage
also makes good use of Typhlosion Prime with those
damage counters from Afterburner.
Blue Flare is the second attack and it costs
[r][r][c] with a discard of 2 [r] energy (but not 2
energy cards, so a double energy would pay the cost if
we get one in the future). The payoff is 120 damage,
which is brilliant value compared to similar attacks on
other cards, and the discard cost is easy to pay if you
use Emboar or Typhlosion Prime. Throw in Expert Belt to
boost damage (works well for Outrage too) and you have a
brilliant backup attacker for CharPhlosion or any other
Fire deck.
I expect to see Reshiram run as a single copy at the
very least in every Fire deck from now until it is
rotated out, simply beacuse the massive HP makes the
attacks easy to use. Having been freed from the fear of
OHKOs, the attacks become brutal instead of risky and it
becomes pretty easy to take multiple prizes before you
get Knocked Out.
The added bonus of being a Basic makes it easy to
tech in so it doesn't have to compete for space with
your main attacker, making it great for patching up
weaknesses in your decklist. Or you could make Reshiram
your main attacker and use the saved space for awesome
but underused techs like Entei & Raikou Legend and its
partner Rayquaza LA. Remember to add Manectric PT as
well to protect yourself from the backlash of Thunder
Fall, especially if you use Ninetales and Typhlosion
Prime.
Reshiram is awesome. If you get one, get another. If
you don't have one, start buying boosters! No collection
is complete without at least one copy, and the normal
Holo version is pretty easy to find so expect to come up
against this brute at Nationals.
To finisg up, the new holofoil design make both of
the Reshiram cards very pretty. Kudos to both the artist
and design team!
Modified: 5 (There are some bad matchups for Reshiram,
but it has a ready made deck in CharPhlosion and it
could easily have its own deck built around it in future
formats with so many Fire type techs around, both for
support and offense. The perfect score is the only way
to express the awesomeness!)
Limited: 4 (Blue Flare is much harder to use more
than once but it is still worth the discard and Outrage
truly shines because it is impossible to OHKO a healthy
Reshiram in Limited without applying weakness. Add the
recently buffed Potion to the mix and you know this is
what they had in mind when they made Legendary Poke'mon!
Just watch out for mirror matches and Zekrom, because
the same awesomeness can be used by your opponent and
Zekrom doesn't need to discard energy so Bolt Strike is
to be feared!)
Combos with: Typhlosion Prime, Ninetales HGSS, Emboar
BW (Fire Dance, Entei & Raikou Legend, Rayquaza LA,
Manectric PT
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