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Man, can you believe we've reviewed
3 Pokemon-GX in this list? I mean I'm sure it's not
surprising, but here we are!
So Drampa-GX is a lot like Tauros-GX
from the last set, which you might recall was our #1
pick from that set. Some of the big pluses for Tauros-GX
included it being Colorless and a Basic-GX, things that
it has in common with Drampa-GX! So what's different,
and does that mean Drampa-GX is worse than Tauros-GX or
not?
Drampa-GX starts out with a
1-for-20 hit in Righteous Edge, which while it costs
less than any of Tauros-GX's attacks does overall less
damage. To make up for that, Drampa-GX can discard a
Special Energy from your opponent's Active Pokemon,
which a lot of decks run Special Energy so you're more
likely to run into it than not. Heck, Tauros-GX is
likely to be carrying DCE himself most of the time!
Then there's Berserk, which is a
bit reminiscent of some of Tauros-GX's attacks, only
it's not with damage counters on himself. Drampa-GX
simply checks to see if there are any damage counters on
your Benched Pokemon, and if there are, his 3-for-80 hit
becomes a 3-for-150 hit, which combined with Righteous
Edge is powerful enough to strike down some of the lower
end Pokemon-EX and GX. On its own, though, Berserk can
2HKO anything in the game. Period.
Sure, Tauros-GX can likely OHKO a
great deal of things, but he puts himself at risk to do
so, while Drampa-GX simply takes charge to dish out the
damage himself, and at 180 HP himself, it's gonna take
an equally powerful threat to take him down at least.
But before all of that occurs, he'll have to use his GX
move, Big Wheel GX. For but a single Energy, it does no
damage but shuffles the player's hand back into the deck
and lets them draw 10 brand new cards. You heard that
right, that's a potential +10 in card advantage for a
single Energy.
Now why's that a good thing?
Basically Drampa-GX provides a GX move that you'd want
to use early on in the game to gather the pieces for
your set-up, and if you can push things onto an attacker
that doesn't need to use its GX move to be great, then
Drampa-GX's aid can easily help you get things out
faster than your opponent. It may not be a flawless
maneuver, but it's certainly not as risky as Tauros-GX.
But wait, if I've been talking
about the two like they're rivals, does that mean one's
better than the other? Technically speaking, I'd say
Tauros-GX is better for damage, but Drampa-GX is far
superior at support. In fact, I'm pretty sure you'd be
able to push the two of them together in the right
build...hmmmm...
Rating
Standard: 4/5 (a pretty good
Pokemon-GX overall)
Expanded: 3.5/5 (but far from the
best in the set)
Limited: 5/5 (and don't forget,
he's got a lot to offer but a lot of weakness too)
Arora Notealus: Being a Colorless
Pokemon lends him the Fighting Weakness, which makes a
Tauros/Drampa GX hybrid doable but a bit risky against
Fighting decks. Either way, they're both great Colorless
GX to put into any deck, so keep an eye out for builds
running both!
Weekend Thought: How were this
week's cards? Think some of them are a little strong to
be ranked so low? Or maybe some are overhyped into the
list? What cards are your favorites, and which ones are
you looking forward to trying out? Or at least getting
your hands on for that sweet sweet art, it's really nice
for some of them~
Next Time: HOLLER IF YOU KNOW WHO
THIS IS!!
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