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Pojo's Pokemon Card of the Day

		Lunatone  #25/102 HS Triumphant Date Reviewed: Jan. 18, 2011 Ratings & Reviews Summary Modified: 1.81 Limited: 2.65 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	Lunatone (Triumphant)   Hello and welcome to a new week of Pojo’s CotD. Doing the top 10 was so stressful that we needed to take Monday off. That’s my story anyway.   First up for review this week is Lunatone from Triumphant. It’s an unevolving Fighting-type Basic with just 60 HP. On the plus side, Grass Weakness is rarely a problem, and the Retreat cost of one is acceptable without being brilliant.   Lunatone has no Powers or Bodies, just two semi-useless attacks. Oh well . . . at least they’re cheap, I suppose. Lunar Blast does 20 for a single Fighting Energy. Not bad value-wise, but not likely to scare your opponent either. Lunatone’s second effort, Selfdestruct, adds a Colourless Energy to the cost and does 60 damage to itself and the defending Pokémon, and 10 to everything on the Bench. I suppose, you can imagine situations where this could possibly be useful . . . say against an active Luxray GL LV X to take the last Prize (and you could always use something like Defender to ensure Lunatone survives for that turn), but that’s ridiculously situational, and there better ways of doing it.   The only reason to play Lunatone at all would be for the combo with Solrock TM whose Heal Block PokeBody shuts off healing effects (to the delight of spread decks) if there is a Lunatone in play. However, if you were thinking of using this, you would definitely go for Lunatone SV whose Marvel Eyes PokeBody protects both parts of the combo from taking damage from LV X Pokémon (practically speaking, this means they won’t get sniped by Garchomp C).   When Lunatone SV gets rotated out, and if spread decks with Heal Block ever become viable . . . then today’s card will see play (assuming we don’t get a better one in the meantime). Not because it offers anything very good, but because Solrock needs a Lunatone in play. Until that happens though, this card stays in the binder.   Rating   Modified: 1.25 (play the vaguely useful Lunatone instead) Limited: 2.5 (cheap attacks on a Basic make this somewhat decent)
virusyosh	Welcome back, Pojo readers! I hope that you all had a good weekend. Since our Top 10 countdown is over, we will now return to reviewing cards from the HS Triumphant expansion. Today's Card of the Day is a rare card that may see some play when paired with something else. Today's Card of the Day is Lunatone. Lunatone is a Basic Fighting Pokemon. Fighting types have been seeing a lot more play recently with the release of Machamp Prime, as well as other common heavy hitters like Machamp SF and Donphan Prime. 60 HP is terrible for a non-evolving Basic, which means that Lunatone needs to be doing something extraordinary in order to see a deck slot. Grass Weakness isn't too big of a deal, as Jumpluff is rarely seen nowadays and no other Grass types are commonly played. No Resistance is unfortunate, and a Retreat Cost of 1 is average, and payable if necessary. Lunatone has two attacks. The first, Lunar Blast, does a vanilla 20 damage for [F]. Not bad by any means, especially early game, but attacks like this don't tend to win games (unless you are getting a donk). The second attack, Selfdestruct, is very similar to its in-game counterpart: it does a decent amount of damage (60, in this case) and 10 to each of your opponent's Benched Pokemon, however it KOs Lunatone in the process. Attacks like this have never really been good (especially now that the old Defender trick doesn't work), and 60 damage is unfortunately not a lot in this metagame, Therefore, neither attack is really worth using in Modified. So, where would you use Lunatone? It could work well in a deck with Solrock TM in order for Heal Block to be in effect, but Lunatone SV is generally a better choice for that. Modified: 1/5 Lunatone isn't totally useless here, although Lunatone SV is almost always a better choice (when paired with Solrock TM), but this Lunatone won't be doing a whole lot on its own. Limited: 2/5 Lunatone can be really good with Solrock here, and Lunar Blast can actually be quite good. I'm not so sure about Selfdestruct, though. Combos With: Solrock TM
conical	1/18/11: Lunatone(Triumphant)   And we return with our regularly scheduled Card of the Day reviews. That's right, no more Top 10 lists...until next year!   Back to Triumphant cards, we start with Lunatone. Its buddy, Solrock, has already been reviewed. Given that Solrock's Body only activates when Lunatone is also in play, using Solrock inevitably means that you will likely play one of the Lunatones in the format.   That said, this Lunatone is somewhat interesting, if only because it seems like they tried to make an attacking Lunatone. Both its attacks are cheap, and while other Pokemon have better energy efficiency, F for 20 is still good damage in Limited if nothing else. Selfdestruct is a classic self-KO attack that generally belong to bad Pokemon, such as Forretress LA. The only advantage Lunatone's version has over other Selfdestruct/Explosion variants is that it only takes two energy to use it, meaning that at least it doesn't waste as many energy drops. It does 10 damage to both players' bench, which is hardly inconsequential given Solrock's Body. Of course, if the Selfdestructing Lunatone was the only Lunatone on the Solrock player's field, then Solrock's Body doesn't activate.   There is one other Lunatone in the format, and by all accounts, it's the superior choice; Lunatone SV prevents all effects of attacks from Lv. Xes, and has a nifty spread attack that works well with Solrock TRI's Heal Block. It also has free retreat, unlike this Lunatone. The only advantages Lunatone has is that it's Fighting-type, and therefore can one-shot Luxrays with Selfdestruct if need be, and its Grass weakness is significantly better than Lunatone SV's Psychic weakness, given Gengar's presence in the metagame. It also makes a handy attacker in Limited with Lunar Blast. 60 HP is still pretty low, though.   Modified: 2.25/5 Limited: 2.75/5 Combos With: Solrock Triumphant
Mad Mattezhion  Professor Bathurst League Australia	Lunatone (HS Triumphant)   Here we have the eternal celestial partner of Solrock, but unfortunately this card is nowhere near as good as either the Solrock in this set or previous versions of Lunatone.   Let’s justify that opinion, shall we? Lunatone is a Basic Fighting type with 60 HP, Grass weakness, a retreat cost of 1 and 2 attacks.   So far, not too bad, but it isn’t a tech or starter with the lack or a Poke-power or Poke-body, and it sure isn’t going to survive a hit even with that obscure weakness, since 60 damage seems to be standard for the opening salvo in the current metagame (even weak attackers usually take advantage of Crobat G and Pluspower to start with more damage).   Okay, so are the attacks worth using? In a word, no.   Lunar Blast starts us off, costing [f] for 30 vanilla damage. This is a good return for your investment but it definitely isn’t high enough to compete with the steroid-loving attackers of today.   Selfdestruct has appeared on many cards throughout the history of the Pokemon TCG and the only thing that changes is the energy-cost-to-damage ratio. This is a better offering than most Selfdestruct attacks I have seen, costing only [f][c] to deal 60 damage. Of course, there are the ever-present downsides of dealing 10 damage to every benched Pokemon and having Lunatone deal 60 damage to itself.   Just a quick detour for the newbies and my own sense of nostalgia, all attacks that are titled ‘Selfdestruct’ deal a large (and always equal) amount of damage to each player’s Active Pokemon as well as dealing 10 damage to all benched Pokemon on both sides (barring damage boosts/reductions). Other attacks with similar effects but different costs always have different names. For example, Electrode G has an attack that deals 80 to the Defending Pokemon, 20 to each player’s benched Pokemon and 100 damage to itself. Because it isn’t the same ratio of damage as Selfdestruct, it is called Reckless Bomb instead. Do you follow me? It is the same on every other card in the history of the game; either it is Selfdestruct with the above rules, or it is a similar attack with different spread and/or unequal damage to each player’s Active Pokemon.   Okay, back to the review. This version of Selfdestruct is very cheap for the amount of damage, but the problem is that the damage isn’t enough to score a guaranteed KO on the variety of Pokemon you are likely to see in the Active position at the start of the game, especially as you have to attach 2 energy which gives your opponent a chance to set up (don’t even think of trying this attack late game!). The other downsides are needing to sacrifice a replacement Pokemon to your opponent’s return hit (which will have already been weakened by Selfdestruct), the self-damage to your other benched Pokemon, and the loss of a prize. The loss of a prize can be turned to your advantage with Twins or Black Belt, as can the damage with Machamp Prime, but having to sacrifice a second Pokemon can really put you behind. Also, you can’t use Selfdestruct if you don’t have a decent setup on your bench, as your opponent can quickly reduce your options with Seeker and take out your suddenly lonely Active Pokemon for the win.   Despite these downsides, Lunatone could have had a place in Donphan/Machamp Prime decks if the cost was only [f] as a quick way to guarantee being able to use of Twins and a back-up to set up the damage that makes Machamp Prime so formidable if Donphan isn’t in your hand to be played. Some players still might use Lunatone as a starter in play testing, but I don’t expect it will make the cut at the tournament level.   Lunatone is a nightmare in Limited with the cheap attacks and splashability, as well as the synergy with Twins, but it fails in Modified. So close, yet so far.   Modified: 2.75 (you might see it, but don’t fear it, especially if you have resistance) Limited: 3.5 (it’s dangerous to willingly sacrifice your own Pokemon, but if you have multiple Twins in your deck/hand it is worth it. Or just stick with Lunar Blast)   Combos with: Machamp Prime, Twins