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Today we look at
Terrakion (BW: Noble Victories 73/101,
99/101; BW: Boundaries Crossed 151/149),
specifically its latest printing as a Secret Rare.
We’ve looked at this card once before
here;
hard to believe it but it missed that year’s top 10 so
it only has that one review, and as I missed the one
review we did do, I’ve never covered this card.
Time to rectify that!
Stats
Terrakion
is a Basic Fighting-Type Pokémon, starting off on a good
foot (hoof?): minimal deck space, maximum speed, and
good Typing.
It isn’t perfect, but being a Fighting-Type more
than makes up in lacking Type or Energy Support (and
having to deal with Resistance) by hitting Weakness on
many Colorless-, Darkness-, and Lighting-Type Pokémon.
130 HP is enough to survive one hit from most attackers
this format, and even the Weakness is about as good as
it gets right now: Grass-Types, few of which see serious
play and even then, mostly for the purpose of striking
Weakness.
The lack of Resistance is not unexpected; I wish they
would have had something but the Types (and
relationships between them) always get distorted by the
differences between the video games and TCG, and since
it is so common to lack Resistance it is just a missed
opportunity for the card.
The four Energy needed to Retreat is a serious flaw;
this is so big you will seldom if ever actually have
that much Energy attached to the card to discard, and
even if you did it would set you back too much to be
worth it… unless the entire game was on the line of
course.
You’ll need something to significantly reduce it, or
pack something to bypass retreating entirely (like
Switch).
There is some consolation; this hefty Retreat
makes the card a legal
Heavy Ball
target.
Effects
Terrakion
has two attacks.
The first is Retaliate; for (FC)
Terrakion
hits for 30 points of damage; pretty weak by modern
standards.
Fortunately it has an effect clause; if something of
yours was KOed by damage from an opponent’s attack the
previous turn, Retaliate does 30+60 points of damage.
90 points is enough that, after Weakness (and
assuming no other mitigating effects) you can OHKO
unprotected Pokémon-EX.
As long as the target in question isn’t Resistance, 90
is a solid amount to begin with and excellent for
finishing off whatever just KOed one of your own
Pokémon.
For (FFC), you simply hit for 90 points of damage; less
impressive for more Energy, but still a good, solid
attack.
The two attacks together are great when you can exploit
Weakness, and generally useful otherwise.
Usage
Terrakion
quickly became and has remained that Pokémon you run to
help you bounce back from
KOs
and often pull ahead in the case of Weakness.
Retaliate is just that useful.
Couple it with appropriate forms of Energy
acceleration, and it is quite common to see decks add
Blend Energy
WLFM, Prism
Energy, or even actual basic
Fighting Energy
cards just to make it an option.
This card works well even with lesser forms of
Energy acceleration, such as those that merely move
Energy already in play around.
Simply put, any deck that can meet the Energy
requirements will usually have at least a single copy of
Terrakion as
back-up, and many decks work hard to meet that
requirement.
Lacking it is rare, usually indicative of an
oversight or questionable build.
In Unlimited, even after allowing for decks that win or
lock a player on the first turn, the damage output is
much less impressive.
Coupled with
Focus Band,
it can be hard to strategically use Retaliate.
In Limited, though, this card is a must run…
barring pulling the right Pokémon-EX.
Ratings
Unlimited:
1/5
Modified:
4/5
Limited:
4.9/5
Summary
Terrakion
remains a great Pokémon.
I am glad this re-release finally resulted in me
reviewing it, since I missed it the first time.
Everyone should own at least a few copies, and
many if not most are probably running one in a deck even
now. It
isn’t quite as powerful as it originally was, but it is
still a most excellent card.
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