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Pojo's Pokémon Card of the Day

 

Top 10 Cards of 2011 Countdown- #7 -

Emboar #20/114

Black & White

Date Reviewed: Dec. 29, 2011

Ratings & Reviews Summary

Modified: 4.00
Limited: 3.87

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

Combos With: See Below

Baby Mario
2010 UK National
Seniors
Champion

#7 Emboar BW

When the spoilers for the first set in the Black and White Block started to appear, one card that got everyone’s attention was the #7 card on our countdown: Emboar #20 aka AbilityBoar aka the Good Emboar.

The reason for the hype and spiralling cost of this card? That would be the Inferno Fandango Ability.

Yes, this was Base Set Blastoise’s Rain Dance, only for Fire Pokémon, and we all know how Energy-demanding Fire Pokémon tend to be. But there was more: Inferno Fandango could attach unlimited amounts of Fire Energy from the Hand every turn, yes, but it could attach them to any Pokémon Type (unlike Feraligatr Prime who could only Rain Dance on to Water Pokémon, severely restricting its use). Not only did this make for a very effective (and blindingly obvious) combo with Reshiram, but it also meant that several other attackers that needed mass Energy drops suddenly became viable for the first time (Rayquaza & Deoxys LEGEND) or even more powerful (Magnezone Prime). In fact, in Magnezone’s case, it made the deck powerful enough for David Cohen to take the biggest prize of all with it at the World Championship.

Since its heyday in San Diego, Emboar has seen a steady decline in play. In the end, Typhlosion Prime won the battle to be Reshiram’s partner of choice in most decks, largely because it’s just much more efficient to recycle Energy from the Discard Pile than it is to keep drawing it into the hand. Even so, Emboar decks are still something of a force in the metagame: the fact that they fuel some of the biggest hitters out there (Magnezone, RDL, The Other Emboar) means that the card is likely to always be around somewhere. After all, Energy acceleration is one of the most game-breaking things a Pokémon can do.

Rating

Modified: 4 (Typhlosion Prime may have stolen some of its thunder, but you can never write off a card like Emboar)

virusyosh

Hello hello, Pojo readers! Today we are going to continue our Cards of the Year countdown with #7 on our list. This is a card that saw a lot of play toward the end of the last tournament season and the beginning of our current season, but has tapered off dramatically as the months progressed. Today's Card of the Day is Emboar (#20) from Black and White.
 
Emboar is a Stage 2 Fire Pokemon. Fire Pokemon were once a very common sight in Modified, but now with the release of Kyurem, the type's usage has somewhat dwindled. Emboar has a hefty 150 HP, meaning that it should be able to take at least one or two unboosted hits before being Knocked Out. Water Weakness is a problem against Kyurem, Vanilluxe, and Beartic; no Resistance is unfortunate; and a Retreat Cost of 4 is ridiculously huge, and you shouldn't pay it unless you absolutely have no other way of staying in the game. Use something like Switch instead.
 
Emboar has an Ability and a single attack. Inferno Fandango is the main reason Emboar sees a lot of play, acting as a Fire-type Rain Dance that can drop as many Fire Energy as you like onto any of your Pokemon (not just Fire-types). This Ability saw a lot of play with Magnezone Prime in Magneboar this year, and this combination was good enough to win the Masters Division of Worlds. That being said, Emboar can also pair up well with any other Fire Pokemon or Pokemon requiring acceleration, making Reshiram another good partner for it, as well as Hydreigon if you're able to get both Stage 2s up and running. Inferno Fandango is frequently compared to Typhlosion Prime's Afterburner in terms of Fire-type acceleration, and both have their various pros and cons. Inferno Fandango has no limit of attachment per turn, but you must have the Energy in your hand, whereas Afterburner can only be used once but makes use of the discard pile, allowing for easier rebounds off of KOs. However, once Typhlosion Prime rotates, Emboar will likely be the go-to Fire-type accelerator in Modified.
 
Heat Crash, Emboar's only attack, does a relatively unimpressive 80 damage for two Fire and two Colorless Energy. 80 damage for 4 is rather uninspiring, but if you have the Energy in hand to power it up and need to get a KO, it can be used in a pinch. Most of the time, however, Emboar will likely sit on the bench, dispensing Fire Energies around your board with Inferno Fandango.
 
Modified: 3/5 Emboar's Inferno Fandango is still powerful enough to standout in Modified, however the format has taken an unkind turn for the Mega Fire Pig. Modified is becoming increasingly populated with powerful Basic Pokemon like the Dragon trio, the Musketeer trio, and Tornadus, meaning that Stage 2s must either be incredibly disruptive or stand out incredibly well in order to see a lot of play. Unfortunately, Emboar has very stiff competition in Typhlosion Prime as a Fire-type accelerator, and Typhlosion sees more play due to its fantastic synergy with Reshiram as well as its ability to rebound off of KOs. Additionally, Water Weakness and a gigantic Retreat Cost hurt Emboar, as it is a very common Pokemon Catcher target while sitting on the bench.
 
Limited: 3.75/5 Emboar can easily accelerate all of your Pokemon to victory, however as a Stage 2, it can be difficult to get out. Having an attack that costs 4 Energy is also somewhat of a drawback for Limited, although 80 damage for 4 in Limited is actually pretty good. Unfortunately, you should still watch out for Water-types (like Samurott) and the Dragons, which still could give you problems in Black and White Limited.
 
Combos With: Magnezone Prime, Reshiram BLW, Hydreigon NVI

Mad Mattezhion
 Professor Bathurst League Australia

Top Card #7: Emboar 20/114 (Black & White)
 
For the seventh card on our Top 10 countdown for 2011, we have possibly the most broken energy accelerator of them all! Today's card is the awe inspiring FanBoar.
 
Being a Stage 2 is tough in this format but it isn't a death sentence, and the 150 HP goes a long way towards making Emboar viable. The Water Weakness can be problematic against Feraligatr and friends but for the most part you'll want to keep Emboar safely on the Bench anyway. The retreat cost is nothing less than expected but 4 energy is still far too steep a price to pay, so you'll need Switch and Junk Arm to deal with those horrible occasions where Emboar survives being dragged up by Poke'mon Catcher but you can't pull it back make room for your attacker. The Fire typing is almost irrelevant in this case because it against rather than with them, but I'm still glad that Emboar was designed this way instead of a Poke'mon from a different type. It does help if you face Royal Healing Serperior or Cobalion NV though.
 
The lone attack is the amusingly named Heat Crash, which is a vanilla 80 damage for [r][r][c][c]. Nothing special or eye catching, but since it can be powered up in a single turn it isn't the worst attack I've seen. Still, if you are attacking with Emboar then you're probably taking on water and about to sink into oblivion, although that 150 HP will buy you a turn or two to swim for the surface and save yourself.
 
Inferno Fandango is the star attraction on this card, which is an Ability that allows you to attach as many Fire energy from your hand to your Poke'mon as you like. The most important part is what the Ability doesn't say, because you aren't restricted to just Fire type Poke'mon (unlike Feraligatr's Rain Dance, which is restricted to Water type Poke'mon). This means that ou are free to use FanBoar to power up Colourless attacks as well as Fire type attacks, a major advantage for building a more flexible deck.
 
For example, you can use Inferno Fandango to pay for the Outrage attack on any of the Unova Dragons, you can completely power up a Tornadus, you can drop lots of energy to burn with Magnezone Prime's attack and dropping lots of energy to pay for Rayquaza & Deoxys Legend's attack just became a lot easier.
 
But there are other uses for the Ability too. In a pinch you can drop a few [r] energy to pay for a retreat cost to save a valuable Poke'mon, but by far my favourite trick is to match FanBoar with the Shuckle Promo HGSS15. Shuckle has a Poke-body called Fermenting Liquid which has the effect of drawing a card every time an energy is attached to Shuckle from your hand. Effectively every [r] energy in your hands means another card from your deck which adds up very quickly, proving especially helpful for finding those powerful but currently unsearchable cards like Pluspower, Poke'mon Catcher and Rocky Helmet. Then, once you've played as many energy as possible you can use Seeker or Super Scoop Up to return those energy to your hand and do it again for even more cards! And when you run out of SSU and Seekers for that trick, you drop a Shaymin UL to move those valuable energy to your attacker (R&D Legend is especially good for this trick) before unleashing doom on your opponent's head!
 
Warning: if that Shuckle is still holding those energy at the end of the turn, you are in for a world of hurt. Trust me, you don't want to make that mistake!
 
So, going back over the list we have a massive Bench sitter that will take a lot of sniping to remove with the power to fuel your various attackers with as many energy as you can draw, which by the way is something this Poke'mon does very well in combination with a pair of easily searched Basic Poke'mon. Sounds like a winner to me!
 
Modified: 5 (your opponent will want to destroy Emboar quickly but the gigantic HP makes that very difficult, and the energy acceleration is the best I've ever seen)
 
Limited: 4 (it's a Stage 2 with a lacklustre attack but this set had some good search and draw Trainers so that isn't such a big problem, plus the other Emboar and Reshiram both make great partners)
 
Combos with: Shuckle HGSS15, Interviewer's Questions, Energy Retrieval and Fisherman


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