aroramage |
Cobalion has returned to us in an
interesting form. It's been a while since we last saw
him in the game, since he got rotated out with Legendary
Treasures last we checked. Now he's back, and
he's...better than ever? Let's just see about that!
Cobalion has two attacks, the first
of which is Quick Guard. It effectively makes him immune
to your opponent's Basic Pokemon's attacks, which is
fine and all...save for that you can't use it on your
next turn, and it doesn't do any damage. In other words,
it's at best a stall attack of sorts. It's got its uses
for sure, but what can't be done one turn can always be
done the next turn, and your opponent will no doubt take
advantage of that. So...don't let your guard down!
Revenge Blast is a familiar attack,
this one being 2-for-30 and adding on 30 more damage for
each Prize your opponent's taken. It's always been one
of those "come from behind" attacks, but it's only
really good late in the game when it's dealing 90-150
damage. It's more of something to be pushing for if you
need that big hit, not an attack to rely on.
So ultimately what does this make
Cobalion? At his best...he's okay. Not that great, but a
decent option of sorts. He'll probably be shooed out for
better options. Which is to say, this is pretty much
some of the best you can expect in this set - it's okay,
but there's probably something better.
Rating
Standard: 2/5 (Quick Guard is okay
for a turn's long stall maybe)
Expanded: 2/5 (but Revenge Blast
isn't strong enough to be its own thing)
Limited: 3/5 (Revenge Blast could
have a bigger impact on lower HP scores, but keep in
mind there are less Prizes too)
Arora Notealus: So Cobalion's
return is a bit marred by his mediocre attacks, but hey,
not every reprint can be amazing. Could be much worse,
they could be terrible!
Next Time: Well now
that's...captivating.
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Otaku |
The next of our runners up/honorable mentions/stuff that
didn’t quite make any of our lists is Cobalion (XY:
Steam Siege 74/114). It is a Metal Type which
means it hits all Fairy Types and some Water types for
double damage thanks to Weakness. Metal Resistance
is currently only found on XY-era Lightning Types.
If there are some anti-Metal effects (Pokémon or the
Energy) then I don’t remember them off the top of my
head and a quick search couldn’t find them either.
There are some impressive bits of Metal Type support,
for both the Pokémon and the Energy. Bronzong (XY:
Phantom Forces 61/119; XY: Black Star Promos
XY21) accelerates [M] Energy from the discard pile while
Klinklang (Black & White 76/114) can move
them around on your side of the field, both via
Abilities. For your Metal Types, Klinklang
(BW: Plasma Storm 90/135) offers total protection
from damage by attacks from your opponent’s Pokémon-EX,
one side of Reverse Shelter allows Metal Types to
soak 10 damage from attacks by the other player’s
Pokémon, Shield Energy also soaks 10 damage for
each attached and provides [M] (only for Metal Types,
but it stacks), and Steel Shelter prevents Metal
Pokémon from being affected by Special Conditions, and
removes any present when the effect activates. The
Type also has some useful Pokémon walls and beatsticks,
though some are easy to use off Type (though not to full
potential).
Cobalion
is a Basic Pokémon, the current best Stage; minimum deck
space, effort/time to put into play, can be your opening
Pokémon, a natural synergy with various card effects,
and Stage specific support like Fighting Fury
Belt more than compensates for Evolutions being
allowed more HP and the anti-Basic effects in the card
pool. The 120 HP on Cobalion is 20 shy of
the printed maximum for Basic Pokémon that are not
Pokémon-EX; in my estimation, this is just before it
becomes more likely to survive a hit than not. As
it is borderline, it also doesn’t seem more likely to be
KO’d than not either; actually a very good number, just
not great. The Fire Weakness is pretty dangerous
right now, thanks to players experimenting with new Fire
support from XY: Steam Siege; as Volcanion
and a few others now make lower damaging attacks a
regular thing, while Volcanion-EX can bump those
lower attacks into mid-range via its Ability, OHKOs that
wouldn’t have otherwise happened become common.
Psychic Resistance won’t mean much on its own, but the
Metal Type has the option of bolstering it with other
damage reducers, plus Cobalion has that 120 HP.
The Retreat Cost of [CC] is high enough you really won’t
want to pay it if you can avoid it, but low enough you
can if you must without it always seriously hurting your
chances of winning.
Cobalion
has two attacks. The first is “Quick Guard” for
[M], and it blocks all damage from attacks by your
opponent’s Basic Pokémon during his or her next turn.
It also states it cannot be used the next turn, so long
term stalling not only has to worry about Evolutions and
ways your opponent could mitigate the effect, but you’ll
need to deal with that last part as well. I
recommend just not expecting long term protection.
For [MM] Cobalion can use “Revenge Blast” for 30
damage plus 30 per Prize your opponent has taken.
This means a range of 30 damage to 180 under normal
circumstances for Expanded or Standard, but only 30 to
120 for Limited. Given the attributes on this
card, your opponent having taken no Prizes means a poor
30 damage, one Prize means a decent 60, two means a good
90, three means a very good 120, four means a great 150,
and five means an amazing 180. Both the pricing
and the effects work together; if you have to open with
Cobalion it can buy time for just one Energy,
while two Energy means it can be a decent supplemental
attack mid game and by end game, it is a great finisher.
Currently nothing Evolves from Cobalion, but
there are several other Cobalion cards that
directly compete with it for space but may also help
compliment it if you don’t need four of the new version:
BW: Emerging Powers 77/98, BW: Noble Victories
84/101 (also released as BW: Noble Victories
101/101 and BW: Legendary Treasures 91/113), and
BW: Black Star Promos BW72/114. All are
Basic, Metal Type Pokémon with Fire Weakness and Psychic
Resistance like XY: Steam Siege 74/114. BW:
Emerging Powers 77/98 has 110 HP and Retreat Cost
[CC], with the attacks “Metal Horn” and “Sacred Sword”.
The former needs [MC] to do 30 damage and forces the
opponent to change out his or her Active with one of his
or her Benched Pokémon (your opponent chooses).
The latter does 100 damage and cannot be used the next
turn. I reviewed it
here
and it is unfortunate I was on my own; simply put I was
wrong as it just wasn’t worth it for the attacks back
then, nor is it worth it now.
BW: Noble Victories
84/101 increases to 120 HP, but still has a Retreat Cost
of [CC] and two attacks. For the familiar cost of
[MC] it can use “Energy Press” to do 20 damage plus 20
more per Energy attached to the opponent’s Active;
naturally this is great against Energy heavy targets but
not so much against those with few or no Energy
attached. For [MMC] it can use “Iron Breaker” to
do 80 damage, plus place an effect on the Defending
Pokémon that keeps it from attacking on the next turn;
this soft lock is useful as it is combined with a good
amount of damage for the Energy involved. This
version of Cobalion was first reviewed
here
where Baby Mario and myself scored it highly, and later
here
where it was (again) an honorable mention/runner up.
In this case, it was for the Top 5 Cards Reprinted in
BW: Legendary Treasures. In the follow up, it
did not fare quite as well because of how radically
Pokémon-EX had changed our standards. BW: Black Star
Promos BW72/114 also has 120 HP with a Retreat Cost
of [CC], but changes things up by having an Ability with
one attack. The Ability is “Justified” which
increases the damage its attacks do to Darkness Type
Pokémon by 50. The attack is “Iron Head” which
costs [MMC] to do 60, but it also has you flip a coin
until you get “tails”, which adds +20 damage per
“heads”. So if reality gave us a perfectly even
distribution of results, half the time you would just do
60, a fourth of the time you’d do 80, an eighth of the
time you’d do 100, etc. Really only getting a good
deal against Darkness Types, which wasn’t good enough to
get the card played or reviewed.
XY: Steam Siege
74/114 is at least as good as BW: Noble Victories
84/101, or at least as good as it is now in Expanded and
would be if it were legal for Standard. Both have
attacks that are a bit specialized, but together give
you something for most situations. The good news
is you probably never will need a full four of either,
but the bad news is that they are most likely competing
for just one or two slots in the same deck in Expanded.
This means that Cobalion is technically better in
Standard, where it faces less competition. Its
niche seems to be Metal decks that in need of a low
Energy attacher, non-Pokémon-EX attacker. Decks
built around the previously mentioned Bronzong
often have just such a need, and specifically the deck
built around Bronzong and Genesect-EX (XY:
Fates Collide 64/124, 120/124) has exactly that
need. This isn’t Theorymon either; not only did I
test it myself, but the reason I tried it was because
Cobalion (XY: Steam Siege 74/114) in the deck
of Gustavo Wada of Brazil, which he piloted to a fifth
place finish in the Masters Division of the 2016 World
Championships this past weekend. In hindsight I
feel silly for not having tried it myself, as it
provides a cleaner that isn’t entirely dependent upon
Energy acceleration, though a little is appreciated, as
otherwise it takes two turns to prep Revenge Blast.
Though the damage output is lowered in Limited play, so
are typical HP scores so Cobalion remains a good
pull here… unless you can’t work basic Metal Energy
into your deck.
Ratings
Standard:
3.5/5
Expanded:
3.25/5
Limited:
3.8/5
Summary:
Cobalion may be a near staple for Metal Energy
using decks in Standard now, which translates to a good
but not great score. It isn’t like you can use
Cobalion in just any deck after all, but some of the
cards we review do fit in nearly all decks.
Meeting a need in a competitive, pre-existing deck is
still pretty great.
Cobalion
is another card that was in my Top 15, but I don’t
remember where because I rearranged it without saving
until I had shrunk it into a Top 10. Maybe this
set did deserve a Top 15 from the website and not just
me?
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