Pojo's Pokemon news, tips, strategies and more!

Pokemon Home

Pokedex

Price Guide Set List

Message Board

Pokemon GO Tips

Pokemon News

Featured Articles


Trading Card Game
- Price Guide
- Price Guide
- Card of the Day
- Professional Grading
- Killer Deck Reports
- Deck Garage
- William Hung
- Jason Klaczynski
- Jeremy's Deck Garage
- Johnny Blaze's Banter
- TCG Strategies
- Rulings Help
- Apprentice & Patch
- Apprentice League
- Spoilers & Translations
- Official Rules
- Featured Event Reports
- Top of the World
- An X-Act Science
- Error Cards
- Printable Checklist
- Places to Play


Nintendo Tips
- Red/Blue
- Yellow
- Gold & Silver
- Crystal
- Ruby & Sapphire
- Fire Red & Leaf Green
- Emerald
- SNAP
- Pinball
- TCG cart
- Stadium
- PuPuzzle League
- Pinball: Ruby/Sapphire
- Pokemon Coliseum
- Pokemon Box
- Pokemon Channel


GameBoy Help
- ClownMasters Fixes
- Groudon's Den
- Pokemon of the Week

E-Card Reader FAQ's
- Expedition
- Aquapolis
- Skyridge
- Construction Action Function
- EON Ticket Manual


Deck Garage
- Pokemaster's Pit Stop
- Kyle's Garage
- Ghostly Gengar


Cartoon/Anime
- Episode Listing
- Character Bios
- Movies & Videos
- What's a Pokemon?
- Video List
- DVD List


Featured Articles

Pojo's Toy Box

Books & Videos

Downloads

Advertise With Us
- Sponsors
-
Links

Chat

About Us
Contact Us


Magic
Yu-Gi-Oh!
DBZ
Pokemon
Yu Yu Hakusho
NeoPets
HeroClix
Harry Potter
Anime
Vs. System
Megaman



Pojo's Pokémon Card of the Day

 

Accelgor #12

Noble Victories

Date Reviewed: Dec. 7, 2011

Ratings & Reviews Summary

Modified: 2.50
Limited: 4.25

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:

Baby Mario
2010 UK National
Seniors
Champion

Accelgor 12/101 (Noble Victories)

What happens to a Shelmet when it ditches its armour? It turns into an Accelgor, apparently, and I’m sure it feels a lot better as a result. (I believe that Karrablast picks up the discarded armour and uses it to become an Escavalier . . . something like that anyway).

Free of the extra weight, Accelgor is no longer burdened by the massive Retreat cost of its Basic and becomes one of only a very few free retreaters from the Black and White series. Free Retreat is a very good thing to have: it conserves Energy and makes it easier to get out of Status Conditions and Effects of the Defending Pokémon. So score one to Accelgor. Not so impressive is the low-ish 90 HP. This card isn’t taking many (by which I mean more than one) hits in a format full of monstrous Dragons, regardless of its Fire Weakness.

Acid Spray is Accelgor’s first attack. It’s very low cost (one Energy of any Colour), but then it only does 20 damage: not terrible value, but not something you want to set up a Stage 1 for. It also gives you a coin flip chance of discarding an Energy from the Defending Pokémon, which is a nice bonus I suppose and could be annoying if it hits. This isn’t the attack that players have been looking at, however: that would be Accelgor’s second option, Slashing Strike.

Slashing Strike is also very cheap to use (just one Grass Energy). It also does a big (for the cost) 60 damage. There is the drawback that it can’t be used on successive turns, but with free Retreat and a couple of Accelgor in play, that shouldn’t be an issue. In the past, attacks that do 60 for one have always been considered pretty great: think of Donphan Prime or Kingdra LA. Does this mean that Accelgor is ready to take its place alongside them as a real tournament-calibre card?

Hmmm . . . I’m not so sure. There are quite a few reasons why those Pokémon are superior to Accelgor. For a start, they are/were a lot more durable. They also have other things going for them as well (Donphan can abuse its own Bench damage by powering up Outrage attacks from the Dragons, while Kingdra had a bonus snipe for 20). Then there is the matter of Typing. Being a Fighting Pokémon, Donphan can hit key metagame cards for Weakness (Magnezone, Zekrom). Accelgor on the other hand is not going to encounter much that is weak to Grass: Feraligatr Prime? Just maybe. Kyogre & Groudon LEGEND? Not really. Gigalith? Don’t make me laugh.

Yes, Accelgor is capable of dishing out 60 damage on the player’s second turn (and possibly KOing a Basic), but we have other cards that can do as much or better. The Weather Genies (Tornadus, Thundurus, and Landorus) are all Basics that can all do a second turn 80 damage; then there’s Zekrom with Pachirisu and Shaymin that makes 120 possible on the first turn! If it’s quick wins you are after, then any of those cards (and Donphan Prime) are superior to Accelgor.

If we ever get a metagame deck that features Pokémon who are Weak to Grass, then I can see Accelgor being a useful tech. Until that day arrives though, there are better alternatives out there.

Rating

Modified: 2.5 (it’s hard to give a low rating to a card that does 60 for 1, but power creep, frailty, and poor Typing all combine to keep the score down)

Limited: 4.25 (don’t worry, a Stage 1 with cheap attacks is still brilliant here)


Copyright© 1998-2011 pojo.com
This site is not sponsored, endorsed, or otherwise affiliated with any of the companies or products featured on this site. This is not an Official Site.