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Pojo's Pokémon Card of the Day

 

 

Emolga  

- Legendary Treasures

Date Reviewed:
January 10, 2014

Ratings & Reviews Summary

Modified: 3.13
Limited: 3.75

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

Emolga (Legendary Treasures) 

We end the week with the last of our ‘pretty in pink’ Pokemon, the unbelievably adorable Emolga. Who cares that he’s just Generation V’s obligatory Lightning-Type Cutemon (see also Pikachu, Pachirisu, Plusle, Minun, and Dedenne)? 

Since it was first printed in Dragon’s Exalted, this card has seen sporadic play, but never quite made the impact that was expected. As a ‘starter’ Pokémon, Emolga has a lot going for it: decent HP for a Pokémon of this kind, a great Resistance, free Retreat, and a half-usable cheap offensive attack. The real attraction though is Call for Family: an attack which allows you to search you deck for two Basic Pokémon and Bench them. Pretty useful for avoiding donks, getting out evolving Basics quickly, or just setting up a swarm of big attackers, no? 

In theory, yes, very much so. In practice? Not so much as it turned out. Decks just don’t have the space to run the multiple copies that are needed to maximize the chances of opening with a starter. This has been a viable way to deck-build in the past (remember the popularity of Holon’s Castform and Dunsparce SS?), but just doesn’t seem to work now. Of course Emolga also has to contend with the fact that the Tropical Beach Stadium is available (to Worlds competitors and people with lots of money to spend), and this has tended to be the opening play of choice for those decks which don’t otherwise have a decent first turn attack. 

The recent rule changes hurt Emolga a fair bit too: if you go first, you can’t even use the Call for Family attack anyway (whereas you can use Tropical Beach). I suspect that this is enough to mean that the last few traces of Emolga are likely to disappear from competitive play altogether. It’s a shame really, because in the right format, he’s a very solid starter who could have had a chance to shine. 

Rating 

Modified: 2.75 (the format doesn’t much like this type of card)

Limited: 4.5 (still excellent here)


HEZ

Emolga LTR

 

Modified:

This Emolga has been with us a while now, first released in Dragons Exalted. The game has changed around it though, with the new no attacking if you go first rule, setup Pokemon such as Emolga just got slightly worse. However, the type of decks that like to use such a card (ones that want to set up evolutions) gained a little more survivability, avoiding turn 1 donks a little easier.

It's not the best set up Pokemon ever made, lagging behind setup legends like Dunsparce (Sandstorm) and Spiritomb (Arceus) but currently, it's just the best we have in Modified. Call for Family can get the ball rolling in a deck like Empoleon that wants to get lots of Pokemon out quickly whilst also taking the first hit instead of one of the decks main Pokemon. Providing it survives the early game, the free retreat can be nice as you can send it out after one of you Pokemon has been KO'd, see what you can do during your turn, then (hopefully) retreat into an answer. That's pretty much it; it's not a big, impressive Pokemon (though you can get a Full Art of it!) but it has a job and it does it well.

 

Limited:

Another Pokemon to get several printings in this set, we get it both at uncommon and also as a not-so-secret rare Full Art. Emolga can fill several roles in this format. It's 20 damage isn't going to do much here either so it's all about Call for Family again. Emolga helps set up the good Pokemon that you pulled, in a format with very little deck searching. It can also be used in a deck utilising a big EX. Rather than go the well known 1 EX 39 Energy route, you can use Emolga and a few other decent Basics alongside your EX. This way Emolga can start the game by finding your EX and other Basics afterwhich your EX can safely set up behind the cannon fodder and come in for a clean sweep when it's ready, rather than gradually taking hits as you attach energy to it.

 

Unlimited 150:

As I said in the Modified review, Emolga isn't the best setup Pokemon ever made, it's just the most recent. Emolga is woefully outclassed in U150 but... people still use it! Possibly because it's easy to get right now, maybe because it's available in Full Art (U150 decks never rotate so there's no rush, foiling and FA'ing them out can be a few years work!), perhaps people just like Emolga.

Like previously stated, the free retreat is useful too, allowing you to set up after a KO then retreat into a counter, of which many exist in this format, there's an answer to almost anything somewhere in a well-built 150 deck! Even Static Shock could see some use in an Electric deck, if you've already set up you could start removing some uses of Darkness Grace from a Spiritomb or hit a Squirtle for Weakness etc.

In summary, not the best setup Pokemon available in this format, but still solid.

 

Ratings.

Modified: 3.5

Limited: 3

Unlimited 150: 2


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