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Pojo's Pokémon Card of the Day

 

Countdown: Top 10 Plasma Freeze Cards

#2 - Kyurem  

- Plasma Freeze

Date Reviewed:
May 23, 2013

Ratings & Reviews Summary

Modified: 4.25
Limited: 4.75

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

#2 Kyurem 

In yesterday’s review, we looked at the Energy accelerator for Plasma Basics decks. If you were wondering ‘ok, but what would you accelerate to?’, then wonder no more because the answer is found in the #2 card of our top 10 countdown. When the Black and White set was released, both Zekrom and Reshiram found themselves in top tier decks . . . now it’s Kyurem’s chance to shine. 

Kyurem is a Basic Pokémon with a (still) very good 130 HP, and Weakness to Metal (which is only really a problem against decks running Cobalion – either the EX or the NVI version). He’s a Water Type, which makes him very useful against Landorus and (much less common) any Ability Emboar based decks that you might see from time to time. He also has a pretty serious Retreat cost of three, so obviously you are going to want to run Float Stone or Switch in a deck with him, especially bearing in mind the drawback of his second attack. 

Speaking of attacks, Kyurem has two and they are both good. The first, Frost Spear costs one Water and one Colourless Energy and is basically the same as Landorus-EX’s Hammerhead – it does 30 damage to the active and 30 to a Benched Pokémon. When boosted (for example by Hypnotoxic Laser/Virbank City Gym) this is usually sufficient to OHKO an evolving Basic like Squirtle and the Bench damage is more than useful for setting up KO’s on bigger Pokémon later in the game. If it’s big damage you want, then Kyurem does that too with his Blizzard Burn attack. Two Water and one Colourless gets you 120 damage with the drawback that Kyurem cannot attack at all next turn (which is why you will need to partner him with a switching card). Now some people may be thinking ‘120 damage? Sure, it’s pretty good but no more than Reshiram or Zekrom BLW manage, and it’s not enough to OHKO an EX either’, and that would be fair comment . . . if it wasn’t for the fact that Kyurem is a Team Plasma Pokémon. 

What does this mean? It means a ton of good things in terms of speed and the ability to hit those ‘magic numbers’ that get you a OHKO. Thanks to Colress Machine, Kyurem can use Frost Spear on the first turn. Thanks to Thundurus-EX, it can be powered up on the Bench while Thundurus does some early damage. Thanks to Deoxys-EX, the attack power of Blizzard Burn and Frost Spear can be boosted by between 10 and 40. Throw in a Laser and a Virbank Gym, or maybe some previous damage from Frost Spear or Thundurus, and you have a non EX Basic Pokémon that is well up for trading blows with the big boys in a way that makes sure you stay ahead in the Prize exchange. 

And that is really the key to why Kyurem is going to be such a powerhouse for the foreseeable future. Thanks to the Plasma support we have a non-EX that acts like an EX. A normal Basic that can match the damage output of Pokémon that give up twice as many Prizes when they are knocked out. Kyurem is one of those rare cards that is actually better in game play than they seem when you just look at the card (more often, the opposite is true). Put him in a deck with the right support and you will see just how well he can trade with pretty much everything in the format. Oh, and of course he isn’t fazed by EX counters like Sigilyph DRX or Plasma Klinklang either. 

This card is quite possibly the best attacker in the game right now. Certainly the best one that isn’t an EX. 

Rating 

Modified: 4.5 (This was my #1 pick)

Limited: 4.5 (durable, with attacks that will just devastate most Pokémon)

virusyosh

Hello once again, Pojo readers! Today we're reviewing the #2 card in our Plasma Freeze countdown, and today's card is incredibly popular in the new Plasma deck, and has just enough around it to make it very powerful in today's metagame. Today's Card of the Day is Kyurem.
 
Kyurem is a Basic Water Team Plasma Pokemon. Kyurem's Water typing doesn't matter all that much in today's metagame, although it will likely chase away threats like Landorus-EX. However, its Team Plasma status is very important, as Kyurem can be searched out with Team Plasma Ball, and, importantly, can have its damage output increased by Deoxys-EX. In terms of stats, 130 HP is great for a non-evolving, non-Pokemon-EX Basic, and serves as a high point on the card, since it is in 2HKO range for most Pokemon-EX. Metal Weakness isn't too big of a problem (Klinklang usage has dropped and Cobalion-EX can't touch Kyurem for Weakness easily); no Resistance is unfortunate; and a Retreat Cost of three is very large, but one can always use something like Switch, Warp Point, Float Stone, or Scramble Switch to move Kyurem from the Active Position.
 
The Boundary Pokemon has two attacks. Frost Spear does 30 damage to the Defending Pokemon and 30 damage to one of your opponent's Benched Pokemon for a Water and a Colorless, which is quite good considering this attack can be easily powered up turn one with a Water Energy and a Colress Machine. Even still, you'll likely be using Frost Spear most of the time anyway, since Blizzard Burn's secondary effect can be difficult to maneuver around. Speaking of that attack, Blizzard Burn does 120 damage for two Water and a Colorless, but Kyurem is unable to attack during your next turn. Switching around can help with this, but most of the time you'll end up using this attack as a KO move anyway, so hopefully you can catch your opponent on the rebound.
 
Modified: 4/5 Kyurem has stats just good enough and attacks powerful enough to make full use of the options available to it in Modified. On its own, the legendary ice dragon is somewhat unimpressive when compared to the behemoth Pokemon-EX that we're all too familiar with in this year's Modified metagame. Of course, Kyurem's perfect synergy with Deoxys-EX and other Plasma support (namely Team Plasma Ball and Colress Machine) make it a fantastic main attacker in a Plasma deck, and allows it to take on the aforementioned Pokemon-EX will still skewing the Prize trade in your favor. Couple this with three or four Deoxys on your Bench, and you'll be 2HKOing your opponents' Pokemon-EX left and right, while they'll only take a single Prize from your Kyurems. Expect to see a lot of Kyurem in upcoming tournaments, because it's a perfect anti-metagame threat when set up properly.
 
Limited: 5/5 Kyurem is a huge Basic that can snipe and deals a ton of damage quickly, and it's also a Team Plasma Pokemon (so it gets all of that support). Of course you should use it!


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