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We fire up the week with Arcanine (XY:
Evolutions 18/108). As a Fire Type it will hit
most Grass and Metal Types for double damage thanks to
Weakness, with nothing naturally Fire Resistant unless
we mess with Unlimited-only cards (and we’re not).
The Fire Type has some nifty support but not a
lot of it is available to Arcanine in the
Standard Format. Blacksmith can provide a quick
double [R] Energy attachment from the discard pile at
the cost of your Supporter for the turn, but it’s
Expanded only. Volcanion-EX has an Ability that
allows you to discard a [R] Energy from hand to increase
the damage done by your Basic Fire Type Pokémon, but
Arcanine isn’t a Basic. Volcanion (XY:
Black Star Promos XY145; XY: Steam Siege
25/114) provides a high HP Basic Pokémon with a low
Energy attack that accelerates [R] Energy from the
discard pile but it is so good and can work with
Volcanion-EX, it tends to make more sense as a
focus. I’m not overly thrilled with Burning
Energy in the first place, but peeking ahead
we see that today’s Arcanine has no discard
costs, so Burning Energy isn’t any help. If
we don’t end up needing a Stadium for something else,
Scorched Earth is still an option. At least
most Fire-Type counters aren’t so hot; the main one you
are likely to encounter is the other effect on
Parallel City, which only drops the damage done by
[R] Type Pokémon (and [G] and [W] Types) by 20.
Even if that 20 does make a difference when it comes to
KO’s, your opponent is hitting his or herself with the
Bench-shrinking effect that normally gets Parallel
City into a deck.
Arcanine
is a Stage 1 Pokémon, the Evolution that requires the
least amount of cards and effort to hit the field.
Of course, the Basic Stage is the fastest and most space
efficient, but being better than the rest still leaves
Arcanine functional. 130 HP is around where I
find it more likely a Pokémon survives a OHKO than
doesn’t, but it’s a narrow margin of success; quite
often Arcanine isn’t sticking around for a second
turn while it remains Active. Its Water Weakness
is typical and could be problematic; Water Type
attackers aren’t everywhere in Standard, but the ones I
do see placing well at tournaments will most likely
benefit from the boost. It is worse in Expanded
where many of the same decks are still viable plus
Seismitoad-EX can be used almost anywhere and
often is, and it definitely enjoys the damage boost.
Lack of Resistance is typical and while Resistance can
help, -20 damage against Pokémon of one Type out of 11
wouldn’t make a difference all that often. The
Retreat Cost of [CC] is low enough you often can pay but
high enough you’d prefer not to; normally that would
mean you would have only the usual need for retreat
(assisting or replacing) or tanking options but
peaking ahead you’ll see something that suggests we’ll
need a little extra for Arcanine.
That something is the Ability on Arcanine,
“Burning Road”. This Ability states that once
during your turn (before you attack) if this Pokémon (Arcanine)
was on your Bench but became your Active, you’re allowed
to move any number of [R] Energy attached to your other
Pokémon to itself. Energy movement is an
interesting form of Energy acceleration; less blatant
than additional attachments, it can still enable some
exceptional combos, and is better at abusing cards like
Max Potion than the forms of Energy acceleration
with more raw power. Arcanine can use that
Energy to fuel its attack, “Scorching Breath”, which
costs [RRRC]. That is not an easy price to meet,
and the effect text states that “this Pokémon” can’t
attack again the next turn. The payoff is a single
big 150 damage hit. Without some good combos, that
is underwhelming; you’ll need a buff to take out your
typical Basic Pokémon-EX, even if they are not
sporting Fighting Fury Belt. It isn’t
worthless by any means, as retreating normally resets
such effects, and I believe Pokémon Ranger would
as well. Without the clause, it’s decent damage,
but even taking into account the combos which can fairly
easily get around said drawback, the damage ought to be
a bit higher.
So Arcanine has to come from somewhere, and there
are other Arcanine cards to consider, so
let’s address them. So for Growlithe we
have BW: Next Destinies 10/99, BW: Next
Destinies 11/99, BW: Legendary Treasures
RC4/RC25, XY: BREAKpoint 10/122, and XY:
Evolutions 17/108. For Arcanine we have
BW: Next Destinies 12/99, BW: Next Destinies
13/99, and XY: BREAKpoint 11/122. Not
available outside of Japan is Arcanine BREAK,
which I’ll go ahead and address on the unlikely chance
we get it as a promo, but unless I missed an
announcement for it, seems pretty unlikely it will
release anywhere else. Something we are
likely to receive is the already revealed Arcanine
for the first Sun & Moon inspired set, and I’ll risk
trusting a translated spoiler of the card and mention it
here as well. All are Fire Type Pokémon with no
Ancient Trait, and all but Arcanine BREAK
have Water Weakness with no Resistance (because BREAK
Evolutions gain those traits from their previous Stage).
All the BW-era released are only legal for Expanded play
while all the XY-era releases are recent enough to still
be Standard legal. None of these Growlithe
cards have ever been reviewed on their own. Arcanine
(BW: Next Destinies 12/99) was reviewed
here
while Arcanine (BW: Next Destinies 13/99)
was covered
here.
All Growlithe are Basic Pokémon and none of those
currently legal have an Ability. BW: Next Destinies
10/99 has 80 HP, Retreat Cost [CCC], and two attacks.
The first is “Stoke” for [C]; Stoke requires you flip a
coin and if “heads” you attach a [R] Energy from your
deck to this Pokémon while “tails” means the attack does
nothing. For [RC] it can use “Firebreathing” to do
10 damage and flip a coin; “heads” means +20 damage (so
30 total) while “tails” means just the base 10 damage is
done. BW: Next Destinies 11/99 also has 80 HP
but with a Retreat Cost of [CC] and just one attack -
“Combustion” - for [RC], doing 20 damage. BW:
Legendary Treasures RC4/RC25 also has 80 HP with
Retreat Cost [CC] but this time two attacks. [CC] pays
for “Rest” which heals all damage from itself but leaves
it Asleep. “Lunge” is the second attack and it requires
[RCC] to do 40 damage, but it requires a coin flip and
“tails fails”. It also has the power of very
adorable artwork. XY: BREAKpoint 10/122 drops
down to 70 HP but keeps the Retreat Cost of [CC].
It only has a single attack - “Bite” - for [CC] that
does 20 damage. XY: Evolutions 17/108 also has
70 HP and Retreat Cost [CC], but has two attacks.
For [C] it can use “Hind Kick” to do 10 damage, then
switch itself with one of your Benched Pokémon. A
Basic that doesn’t reliably help your setup (or slow
down your opponent’s) is mostly a placeholder, but as is
often the case none of the stats or effects really stand
out. A little to my surprise, XY: Evolutions
17/108 might be the best of the lot even though it’s got
the lower of the two HP scores; getting itself to the
Bench via attack is about as handy as +10 HP (at least
in the current format).
All Arcanine are Stage 1 Pokémon with no Ancient
Traits. BW: Next Destinies 12/99 shares the 130
HP of today’s Arcanine but has a Retreat Cost of
[CCC]. It is also the only other one with an
Ability; “Blazing Mane” only works while this
Arcanine is Active, Burning an opponent’s Active
that attacks and damages it (even if Arcanine is
KO’d by the attack). Recently in Japan, reports
indicate that the Burn Special Condition either has
changed or will change with the shift to Sun & Moon;
remember despite my preferred screen name I’m easily
discouraged so I’ve never gotten around to learning
Japanese and must rely on other sources. If true,
Burn will soon automatically place two damage
counters between turns. However there will still
be a “Burn Check” as well after that, with it now being
to see if Burn goes away on its own (like Sleep does).
That would probably help this card a bit; Burn’s main
issue is under the current rules it has only a 50%
chance of placing two damage counters between turns, and
with the combination of the game’s pacing and odds of an
opponent being able to shake Special Conditions on his
or her next turn, that makes it rather underwhelming.
This Arcanine has the attack “Fire Spin” for
[RRC] to do 100 damage, but it requires a coin flip;
while the attack works either way, if the result is
“tails” then Fire Spin discards two Energy from
Arcanine itself. With modern game pacing I
rather wish that the discard was automatic and the
attack hit harder, but as is Fire Spin is okay.
For now I don’t think this is Arcanine is worth
running instead of or alongside today’s, but after that
rules change, just maybe.
BW: Next Destinies
13/99 drops down to 120 HP, but still has a Retreat Cost
of [CCC], and it has two attacks but no Ability.
Its first attack is “Crunch” for [RC], doing 30 damage
and giving you a coin flip to discard an Energy from the
opponent’s Active. For [RCC] this Arcanine
can use “Heat Blast” do do 70 damage. While not
horrible, this card fell short back when it was new and
power creep has widened that gap. Again, not
something to run with or instead of today’s Arcanine
but this one you can safely leave in the binder
barring some bizarre, radical future support (something
that powers up Fire Type Stage 1 Pokémon that lack an
Ability?). XY: BREAKpoint 11/122 has the lowest
HP of the lot at 110, but it at least also gets the
Retreat Cost of [CC]. It also lacks an Ability but
has two attacks; “Flop” for [C] does 30 damage while for
[RRC] it has “Flamethrower” doing 90 damage but also
requiring you discard an Energy from itself. I
almost missed this Arcanine, and now I see why;
both attacks are somewhat decent attacks if they
are backing something else that is more substantial like
an Ability or a stronger, larger attack. So yet
again, not something to complement or compete with
today’s Arcanine.
The revealed Sun & Moon Arcanine has 130 HP and
Retreat Cost [CC]. It has two attacks but no
Ability. The first attack is translated as
“Searing Flame” for [RCC] and does 60 damage plus it
Burns the opponent’s Active. With the new Burn
rules in effect there, that’s an effective 80 damage for
three; decent by modern standards, but if the expected
power creep occurs, a bit low. Its second attack
is “Firestorm” and basically it tells you that this
Pokémon wishes to be Charizard (XY: Evolutions
11/108), reviewed just
last week.
For [RRRR] and a three Energy discard its Fire Spin does
200 damage. 10 less damage for costing [C] less isn’t
too bad, and Arcanine is a Stage 1, but
Charizard has its “Energy Burn” Ability that makes
the effective cost of Fire Spin on Charizard
[CCCC]. I wasn’t overly impressed with that
Charizard even though my inner Timmy was so excited
to see it, so I don’t expect too much out of this
probable future Arcanine. If we are
fortunate enough to get it, Arcanine BREAK acts
like a pseudo-Stage 2 (the same hassle to hit the field
but without some of the support). It has 160 HP
and brings the attack “Turbo Flame” for [RC].
Turbo Flame does 80 damage and attaches two basic Energy
cards from your discard pile to one of your Benched
Pokémon. I’m not sure if Arcanine BREAK
would be worth using even if we had it, but a similar
attack has done wonders on M Manectric-EX, being
slower (BREAK Evolution of a Stage 1) with less HP but
also being worth one less Prize hypothetically might
work, or we might be in the same boat. Still some
combo potential with today’s Arcanine.
So the bad news is I don’t have a proven deck for
Arcanine, but at least I have a decent one to at
least try. Burning Road moves [R] Energy from
any of your in play Pokémon when Arcanine
goes from the Bench to the Active spot; this means you
can tap multiple Benched Pokémon for Energy and that
brings us to Team Magma’s Camerupt (Double
Crisis 2/34). Yes our
second place pick
for the Top 5 cards of Double Crisis gets another
chance. Team Magma’s Camerupt has a poor attack
and decent Ability, “Burning Draft”. Burning Draft
allows you (once per turn before attacking) to attach
either an [F] or [R] Energy from the discard pile to
Team Magma’s Camerupt itself. Theoretically
this and some other cards could have given us a Team
Magma deck, and the card’s predecessor Team
Magma’s Camerupt (EX: Team Magma VS Team Aqua
19/95) actually was part of the deck that won the 15+
Age Bracket (what we now know as the “Masters Division”)
of 2004 Pokémon TCG World Championship. We already
have (and had) a big, Basic Pokémon-EX partner for
Team Magma’s Camerupt (Double Crisis 2/34) in
the form of Camerupt-EX but it never proved
viable. Do I think Arcanine can change
that? Probably not, but it does have some things
going for it like not being a Pokémon-EX and
being able to use the Energy from Team Magma’s
Camerupt to directly fuel itself. With Energy
moving around, you might be able to include Max
Potion (should Arcanine survive), but
Bursting Balloon (or Muscle Band in Expanded)
are probably better choices to help hit key damage
amounts. Basically, we probably have a solid fun
(maybe even budget) deck, but not something you’d take
to Worlds.
Today’s Arcanine (and its Growlithe
set-mate) are reworked updates of the original
Arcanine (Base Set 23/102; Base Set 2
33/130; Legendary Collection 36/110) and
Growlithe (Base Set 28/102; Base Set 2
42/130; Legendary Collection 45/110). The
original Arcanine was still a Fire Type Stage 1
Pokémon with Water Weakness and no Resistance, but
everything else is similar but different: 100 HP instead
of 130, Retreat Cost [CCC] instead of [CC], and two
attacks instead of an Ability and an attack, with
neither attack being Scorching Breath. 100 HP was
only 20 shy of the maximum for any Pokémon back
when this card first released, and unlike some other
examples, also the maximum when the most recent version
of it released as well. Excluding specialty
mechanics like Pokémon-EX, exceptional Pokémon like
Wailord (BW: Dragons Exalted 26/124), and
then rounding down the new and old HP scores are to
scale. The lowered Retreat Cost is a flat out
improvement, but what about the card effects? Well
the original Arcanine had Flamethrower for [RRC]
doing 50 damage and requiring you discard a [R] Energy
in order to use the attack. Its second attack was
“Take Down” for [RRCC] which did 80 damage to the
opponent’s Active and 30 damage to itself. I am
not sure if that was overpriced at the time: based on
how I calculated damage from Energy costs it was just a
tad bit over, but so were most cards of the time.
This Arcanine did not have a strong,
competitive deck but it did have a budget deck,
“Turbo Puppy” (sometimes called “Turbo Arcanine”).
In fact, this could have created a successful
deck except for two cards.
No, nothing to do with a strong Water deck at the time
(though that did exist), but rather because of Energy
Removal and Super Energy Removal. This
Arcanine was one of several Stage 1 Pokémon that,
either by taking a chance and building on the Bench or
by utilizing Electrode (Base Set 21/102,
Base Set 2 25/130) and Double Colorless Energy
you could get one Arcanine up and running while
building the next. Unfortunately S/ER meant you
got only one attack out of sacrificing an Electrode
and then Arcanine needed manual Energy
attachments or another sacrificial Electrode. Without
S/ER, at least according to my minimal testing, Turbo
Arcanine decks could quickly press the ever popular
Haymaker decks because they used all or mostly Basic
Pokémon in the OHKO range of Take Down. If your
opponent couldn’t take down Arcanine down in one
hit (even including the self damage), then Arcanine
could trade evenly with Haymaker Basic beatsticks.
In this hypothetical, you also could risk Super
Potion (the original, less impressive version) or
just settle for regular Potion to heal some of
the damage Arcanine was taking, and what is
historical fact is that when this deck was used, it
included Defender to both soak the self damage
and some of what your opponent would try next turn.
It might have had a chance being reprinted in the
Legendary Collection; while it was missing some
important dance partners it had some new ones as well,
but probably not as there were new rivals.
Arcanine
(XY: Evolutions 18/108) overall does improve on
the formula, but thanks to power creep it basically just
keeps pace; it was a solid budget deck in the earliest
days of the game, it will probably be a decent-ish one
now (and a suitable “fun” deck at least). It
should be a fairly solid pull for Limited play due to
the Ability; while you’ll still need a Fire Energy
heavy deck, Burning Road means that Energy can be
scattered about your various other cards, meeting [C]
Energy costs there. As long as you can promoted
Arcanine from your Bench and those other cards
managed to safely retreat earlier (or just never were
put into service), Arcanine is locked, loaded,
and able to OHKO almost anything shy of a Pokémon-EX or
BREAK Evolution (and sometimes even those). The
inability to attack again the next card is a bigger
hurdle here, but it is also plausible to try and save
Arcanine as either your finisher, or your emergency
attacker. You know, when you either don’t need to
attack again (you just won) or you may need to attack
again, but you were going to lose without it (because it
took down something about to defeat you).
Ratings
Standard:
2.15/5
Expanded:
2.15/5
Limited:
3.65/5
Summary:
Arcanine is an interesting update to its Base
Set counterpart, and while it can be very different
in some respects it ends up serving a similar role:
functional, but not truly competitive as it creates a
working deck but one that isn’t capable of winning
entire events. Enjoy it in casual play, and keep
an eye on it in case I missed something, or perhaps in
case a future release helps it out.
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