Chandelure (ND20) [1/27/2012]
- Thread starter Celebi23
- Start date
Chandelure, my favorite Gen-5 Pokemon!
First Glance
Chandelure from this new set, Next Destinies, is a {R} type, rather than {P}. This also includes Litwick and Lampent. The new typing helps counter some {M} decks such as Durant and Cobalion-oriented CaKE decks. No resistance, and a weakness against {W} puts this cutie in prime place for a shot at maybe running in the metagame, since there are no current heavy-hitters running water, except Kyurem.
With 120 health, it's a step down from his 130hp {P} twin. While power of dragons are indeed dwindling, as Celebi23 states here, 120 is still a bit low for a Pokemon who must be offensive to attack. Both versions of this soul-sucking light have a {C}{C} retreat, allowing for continued Dodrio abuse.
Manliness
Flame Burst, Chandelure's first ability, costs {R} and does 30 damage to the defending Pokemon, and then 30 to two benched. This is extremely similar to Kyurem's Glaciate ability, which does 30 to all opposing Pokemon, although slightly weaker, since it can only hit 3 enemies, rather than up to 6. Costing just one energy, however, is where this ability shines. While getting a Stage 2 out isn't as quick as plopping down a Kyurem, a turn-two Flame Burst can be set up with relative consistency. Kyurem can only Glaciate on turn 3 at the earliest, unless he uses the help of Electrode Prime, a staple of the CaKE deck format.
Following that up, Chandelure's second ability is Inferno. This attack costs {R}{C}, and does 80 damage plus a guaranteed burn, which grants a 50% to do an additional 20 damage between each turn. The burn may scare the opponent into switching defending Pokemon to cleanse the status ailment, but this is merely a side-note. Inferno's havoc comes at a cost, requiring all energy to be discarded. Since it's only two energy, the net loss isn't large, however, the attack cannot be powered up with a Double Colorless Energy (DCE), preventing use back-to back without assistance from other Pokies.
Cuteness
Yes, he's very cute. Like, seriously. Heck, look at my personally drawn icon, doesn't it make you want to smile? Now take a glance at this illumination apparition, how innocent. Just chilling on a branch in the high moon, probably wondering how he is so dang cute.
Friends he can boogie with.
Initially, Chandelure can be imagined a sultry night paired with a smorgasbord of friends, such as Emboar to allow repeated use of Inferno, or Typhlosion Prime to also keep the Infernos rolling turn after turn. Both of these Pokemon have been used heavily in competitive play this season, though are now fading out due to the heavy pressure of CaKE, 6-Corners, and the likes with faster set up. The downsides of this are that Typhlosion's power will eat away at the already-low 120 health of a stage 2, or burn through your energy way too quickly with Emboar. Utilizing both of these supporting Pokemon would allow for an offensive battle using Inferno for the knockout.
However, there are many other uses that this violet ember can work with, such as ChandePlume. With the original Chandelure's ability, Cursed Shadow, he can drop 30 damage onto any chosen Pokemon, and then free retreat back into his fire twin, tossing up a Flame Burst for just one energy, doing 30 damage to three other Pokemon. Since ChandePlume doesn't typically run with much energy, or any, he can be fit in with minor adjustments, and the Tropical Beach can be removed since one would be having offensive attacking with the fire Chandelure. The other benefit of this deck is that there isn't a need for a separate line, the same Litwick and Lampent can be run as normal, and changed out with two fire Chandelures. This can help counter Durant Decks, as Flame Burst heavily damages the main Durant, while setting up the other two for a quicker death. The downside to this combination is that Flame Burst can only be used every other turn, unless the {P} Chandelure is switched out with a trainer/junk arm, due to the "One retreat a turn" limit. The other course of action here would be to remove the Noble Victories Chandelure, and replace the entire line with the Next Destinies version, however, this upsets the deck's intention and balance, turning it from a passive drop-and-hide deck into an offensive deck with defensive Pokemon.
Other original decks can of course be conjured up, and I do hope that this fire variant of Chandelure does keep his lights ablaze, and show us another fun deck that can be competitive.
Final Thoughts
Although he has a lower health pool, and needs energy to attack, I feel that Chandelure ND has a shot at becoming deliciously great, and will toss him an 8/10 rating. This, however, is all speculation and theory, and it is impossible to tell the future of a card that has yet to be released. Perhaps some genius will find an amazing rogue deck that tears everything apart and shifts the metagame, like Durant has recently, or maybe this card will fall into oblivion with a hoard of other unused Pokemon.
First Glance
Chandelure from this new set, Next Destinies, is a {R} type, rather than {P}. This also includes Litwick and Lampent. The new typing helps counter some {M} decks such as Durant and Cobalion-oriented CaKE decks. No resistance, and a weakness against {W} puts this cutie in prime place for a shot at maybe running in the metagame, since there are no current heavy-hitters running water, except Kyurem.
With 120 health, it's a step down from his 130hp {P} twin. While power of dragons are indeed dwindling, as Celebi23 states here, 120 is still a bit low for a Pokemon who must be offensive to attack. Both versions of this soul-sucking light have a {C}{C} retreat, allowing for continued Dodrio abuse.
Manliness
Flame Burst, Chandelure's first ability, costs {R} and does 30 damage to the defending Pokemon, and then 30 to two benched. This is extremely similar to Kyurem's Glaciate ability, which does 30 to all opposing Pokemon, although slightly weaker, since it can only hit 3 enemies, rather than up to 6. Costing just one energy, however, is where this ability shines. While getting a Stage 2 out isn't as quick as plopping down a Kyurem, a turn-two Flame Burst can be set up with relative consistency. Kyurem can only Glaciate on turn 3 at the earliest, unless he uses the help of Electrode Prime, a staple of the CaKE deck format.
Following that up, Chandelure's second ability is Inferno. This attack costs {R}{C}, and does 80 damage plus a guaranteed burn, which grants a 50% to do an additional 20 damage between each turn. The burn may scare the opponent into switching defending Pokemon to cleanse the status ailment, but this is merely a side-note. Inferno's havoc comes at a cost, requiring all energy to be discarded. Since it's only two energy, the net loss isn't large, however, the attack cannot be powered up with a Double Colorless Energy (DCE), preventing use back-to back without assistance from other Pokies.
Cuteness
Yes, he's very cute. Like, seriously. Heck, look at my personally drawn icon, doesn't it make you want to smile? Now take a glance at this illumination apparition, how innocent. Just chilling on a branch in the high moon, probably wondering how he is so dang cute.
Friends he can boogie with.
Initially, Chandelure can be imagined a sultry night paired with a smorgasbord of friends, such as Emboar to allow repeated use of Inferno, or Typhlosion Prime to also keep the Infernos rolling turn after turn. Both of these Pokemon have been used heavily in competitive play this season, though are now fading out due to the heavy pressure of CaKE, 6-Corners, and the likes with faster set up. The downsides of this are that Typhlosion's power will eat away at the already-low 120 health of a stage 2, or burn through your energy way too quickly with Emboar. Utilizing both of these supporting Pokemon would allow for an offensive battle using Inferno for the knockout.
However, there are many other uses that this violet ember can work with, such as ChandePlume. With the original Chandelure's ability, Cursed Shadow, he can drop 30 damage onto any chosen Pokemon, and then free retreat back into his fire twin, tossing up a Flame Burst for just one energy, doing 30 damage to three other Pokemon. Since ChandePlume doesn't typically run with much energy, or any, he can be fit in with minor adjustments, and the Tropical Beach can be removed since one would be having offensive attacking with the fire Chandelure. The other benefit of this deck is that there isn't a need for a separate line, the same Litwick and Lampent can be run as normal, and changed out with two fire Chandelures. This can help counter Durant Decks, as Flame Burst heavily damages the main Durant, while setting up the other two for a quicker death. The downside to this combination is that Flame Burst can only be used every other turn, unless the {P} Chandelure is switched out with a trainer/junk arm, due to the "One retreat a turn" limit. The other course of action here would be to remove the Noble Victories Chandelure, and replace the entire line with the Next Destinies version, however, this upsets the deck's intention and balance, turning it from a passive drop-and-hide deck into an offensive deck with defensive Pokemon.
Other original decks can of course be conjured up, and I do hope that this fire variant of Chandelure does keep his lights ablaze, and show us another fun deck that can be competitive.
Final Thoughts
Although he has a lower health pool, and needs energy to attack, I feel that Chandelure ND has a shot at becoming deliciously great, and will toss him an 8/10 rating. This, however, is all speculation and theory, and it is impossible to tell the future of a card that has yet to be released. Perhaps some genius will find an amazing rogue deck that tears everything apart and shifts the metagame, like Durant has recently, or maybe this card will fall into oblivion with a hoard of other unused Pokemon.
1. What is the purpose of this card? Does it bring anything special to the table?
Another playable Chandelure card! Honestly this shocked me because usually when a card is used again it can't even hold a candle up to it's other form. *snicker
Flame Burst allows you to spread 30 damage to multiple targets for just a single {R} - it's great to see more options out there to allow deck builders to focus on spreading damage around the board. Technically it's more efficient than Kyurem's Glaciate, but efficiency isn't always everything.
Inferno is alright, {R}{C} for 80 + burn is a pretty decent attack since it can be followed up by Flame Burst for 1 {R}. I feel that this is more of a last-resort attack, since most players won't be basing their deck around a stage 2 pokemon that has to discard energy for 80 damage.
2. What kind of combos or decks would this card do well with?
Many others have made the obvious connection to Noble Victory's Chandelure. The idea is very appealing - using NV Chandelure's Cursed Shadow while following up with ND Chandelure's Flame burst for a total of 120 damage for just a single {R}. The deck usually uses Vileplume and Dodrio to abuse retreating for Cursed Shadow damage. Other variants use Yanmega Prime / Switch. There are plenty of other decks out there that try to use Cursed Shadow to it's maximum, not just these two quick examples!
The problem with adding ND Chandelure to any NV Chandelure deck is that it is an entirely different energy type. This forces a deckbuilder to either start running Rainbow Energy, or implement a different energy tree. Both are things that would require an entirely different strategy, or a sub-par deck with important cards being cut to make room.
And thus, ND Chandelure has to be looked at on it's own, rather than alongside NV Chandelure!
Some obvious partners are Typhlosion Prime and Emboar, as Viole pointed out. The problem with having ND Chandelure as your main attacker with Typhlosion / Emboar as support is that you can't depend on 80 (possibly 100) damage per turn to get the job done. There are many 90 health pokemon out there, and if you have bad luck with flips, you won't be able even 2 hit KO some of the EX pokemon that are being released soon. You might as well be using Reshiram at that point - he doesn't have the two stage setup to worry about!
I truly think that ND Chandelure will mainly succeed with it's first attack, Flame Burst. It is very powerful against some of the Steel pokemon that are contenders out there (Scizor Prime, Cobalion, Durant, Bisharp NV), and is just a plain strong attack.
3. Final Thoughts
This Chandelure's typing isn't that bad - it'll have a hard time against Kyurem and NV Vanilluxe, but a great time against the Steel pokemon listed above and possible EP Liligant / ND Pinsir shenanigans.
And as a small note - the 120 HP keeps it in OHKO (One Hit K.O) range of Reshiram and Zekrom, which are both still vastly popular.
Overall, have mixed feelings about ND Chandelure. It certainly can work with NV Chandelure / Typloshion.Emboar, but not well enough to make it Tier 2 quality. I'm eager to see what kind of decks people will come up with that include ND Chandelure, and I certainly do think it has the possibility to make a splash in the metagame of the TCG. I wouldn't be surprised if it makes it into a Tier 2 deck, but we'll see if it's good enough for Tier 1.
Card Score: 7/10
Card Art: 6/10 (Not as cute as NV Chandelure!)
Another playable Chandelure card! Honestly this shocked me because usually when a card is used again it can't even hold a candle up to it's other form. *snicker
Flame Burst allows you to spread 30 damage to multiple targets for just a single {R} - it's great to see more options out there to allow deck builders to focus on spreading damage around the board. Technically it's more efficient than Kyurem's Glaciate, but efficiency isn't always everything.
Inferno is alright, {R}{C} for 80 + burn is a pretty decent attack since it can be followed up by Flame Burst for 1 {R}. I feel that this is more of a last-resort attack, since most players won't be basing their deck around a stage 2 pokemon that has to discard energy for 80 damage.
2. What kind of combos or decks would this card do well with?
Many others have made the obvious connection to Noble Victory's Chandelure. The idea is very appealing - using NV Chandelure's Cursed Shadow while following up with ND Chandelure's Flame burst for a total of 120 damage for just a single {R}. The deck usually uses Vileplume and Dodrio to abuse retreating for Cursed Shadow damage. Other variants use Yanmega Prime / Switch. There are plenty of other decks out there that try to use Cursed Shadow to it's maximum, not just these two quick examples!
The problem with adding ND Chandelure to any NV Chandelure deck is that it is an entirely different energy type. This forces a deckbuilder to either start running Rainbow Energy, or implement a different energy tree. Both are things that would require an entirely different strategy, or a sub-par deck with important cards being cut to make room.
And thus, ND Chandelure has to be looked at on it's own, rather than alongside NV Chandelure!
Some obvious partners are Typhlosion Prime and Emboar, as Viole pointed out. The problem with having ND Chandelure as your main attacker with Typhlosion / Emboar as support is that you can't depend on 80 (possibly 100) damage per turn to get the job done. There are many 90 health pokemon out there, and if you have bad luck with flips, you won't be able even 2 hit KO some of the EX pokemon that are being released soon. You might as well be using Reshiram at that point - he doesn't have the two stage setup to worry about!
I truly think that ND Chandelure will mainly succeed with it's first attack, Flame Burst. It is very powerful against some of the Steel pokemon that are contenders out there (Scizor Prime, Cobalion, Durant, Bisharp NV), and is just a plain strong attack.
3. Final Thoughts
This Chandelure's typing isn't that bad - it'll have a hard time against Kyurem and NV Vanilluxe, but a great time against the Steel pokemon listed above and possible EP Liligant / ND Pinsir shenanigans.
And as a small note - the 120 HP keeps it in OHKO (One Hit K.O) range of Reshiram and Zekrom, which are both still vastly popular.
Overall, have mixed feelings about ND Chandelure. It certainly can work with NV Chandelure / Typloshion.Emboar, but not well enough to make it Tier 2 quality. I'm eager to see what kind of decks people will come up with that include ND Chandelure, and I certainly do think it has the possibility to make a splash in the metagame of the TCG. I wouldn't be surprised if it makes it into a Tier 2 deck, but we'll see if it's good enough for Tier 1.
Card Score: 7/10
Card Art: 6/10 (Not as cute as NV Chandelure!)