The Elegant Metagame: A BW5 Set Review

Magnezone_Elf

Sexy as ever!!!
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Word Count: 3253
Hello, PokeBeach, today we will be discussing the arrival of the new sets in Japan, BW5 Dragon Blade, and Dragon Blast.
There are many obviously good, but if course some obviously not-so-good, and some that I, and other people will probably have to play around with. First, we will be discussing the obviously good cards, then go on to the ones with potential.(P.S. I will be using the abbreviations DBd for Dragon Blade, and DBl for Dragon Blast.

Obviously Good Cards
  • Ho-Oh EX(DBd 09 and 51)
    Milotic(DBd 11)
    Golurk(DBd 23)
    Rayquaza EX(DBd 37 and 53)
    Garchomp(DBd 40)
    Bouffalant(DBd 45)
    Blend Energy 1- Types {W}{F}{L}{M}(DBd 50)
    Sigyliph(DBl 26)
    Terrakion EX(DBl 32 and 52)
    Blend Energy Types {G}{P}{R}{D}(DBl 50)
    Manectric(DBd 16)
    Large Cloak(DBd 49)
    Tool Scrapper(DBd 48)
    Garbodor(DBl 28)
    Devolution Spray(DBl 48)
    Roserade(Hydreigon Theme Deck 02)
    Altaria(DBd 36)
Now, on to explanations of how they can and why the above cards should be used.

Ho-Oh EX, Dragon Blade 09
This is a very interesting card. It's ability, Rebirth lets you flip a coin while the card is in your discard pile. If it's a heads, then Ho-Oh goes to your bench and you may attatch up to 3 basic energy cards from your discard pile to it. It's attack, Rainbow Burn pairs well with this, doing 20 damage, +20 more damage for each different type of basic energy attatched to the Pokémon. A strategy I thought of would be to play Sage's Training, discard the Ho-Oh and any energy in there, then use Rebirth to get it onto your bench, with accellerated energy attatching. This could also work with Professor Juniper.
Milotic, Dragon Blade 11
This is a very cool card. It's first attack, Clear Search lets you search your deck for any 3 cards, with the cost of {W}. Twins, a trainer card can be used for this purpose, but it only lets you search for 2, and you must have more prize cards left than your opponent. Plus, by the time we get this Milotic, Twins will be rotated out.
Golurk, Dragon Blade 23
This is one of my favorite cards in both of these sets. Golurk's first attack, Expert Punch, costs {P}{P}{C}, but it does 60 damage and lets you remove the top stage evolution card from your opponent's defending Pokémon. Most lower evolution stage Pokémon have 60 or less HP anyway, so you can One Hit KO them with one attack. But Golurk's second attack, Ghost Hammer does 90 damage and Golurk has no weakness during your opponent's next turn, which could be helpful, for a cost of {P}{P}{C}{C}.
Rayquaza EX, Dragon Blade 37 and 53
This is easily one of the best attackers in both of these sets. Its first attack, Heaven's Call, lets you discard the top 3 cards of your deck, and attatch all the energy you find there for a mere {C}! This is a form of acceleration for its second attack, Dragon Burst, which lets you discard all {R} energy or all {L} energy attatched to the card. It does 60x the amount of energy that you discarded. If paired with "Fandango Boar" from Black and White, and Eelektrik from Noble Victories, (Just my idea) it could be one of the most destructive cards around.
Garchomp, Dragon Blade 40
A great card. Its first attack, Sonic Cutter, lets you do 60 damage, and discard a Special Energy attatched to the defending Pokémon, for a mere {F}, contrary to Kyurem EX's Frozen Wings that has the same effect for the cost of {W}{C}{C}. Garchomp's second attack, Dragon Blade, which just happens to be the same as the name of this set, does 100 damage but discards the top 2 cards of your deck. However, there are plenty of cards that can get them back, though, Excadrill from Dark Rush, in particular caught my eye. This attack also requires {F}{W} to be used, but Blend Energy, from Dragon Blade, provides either of these types, but you should be focusing more on Sonic Cutter, anyway.
Bouffalant, Dragon Blade 45
This is a pretty good EX counter. It only has 100 HP, but its Ability, Afro Guard, does soften this up a bit by reducing damage done to it by 20, like Samurott from Black and White and Donphan Prime from HGSS. Its attack, Golden Break does 60 damage for a cost of {C}{C}{C}. But when attacking an EX, it does 60 more damage, making 120, for the same cost!
Blend Energy 1, Types {W}{F}{M}{L}
This card provides {C} if attatched to a non-{DRG} Pokémon, but if it is, than it provides any of the types of energy listed in the title. It would go well with the Garchomp mentioned earlier, as it has both of the types that Garchomp requires, an it can also provide {L} for Rayquaza, but using the basic energy would be better, because {R}, Rayquaza's other needed type is in Blend Energy 2.
Sigyliph, Dragon Blast 26
The Mewtwo EX counter, far better than Mewtwo V. Mewtwo, is Mewtwo V. Sigyliph. This is arguably the best card in either set, because it counters the single card that put our format in turmoil. Why? Sigyliph's Ability, Safegaurd, prevents all damage done to it by Pokémon EX. Its attack, Psychic, does 50+ 10 for each energy card on the defending Pokémon, another thing that takes down the fundamentals of Mewtwo EX.
Terrakion EX, Dragon Blast 32 and 52
This is another of the best card in both of these sets. The {L} type is the most played type in our, format, currently. Terrakion EX will most likely make it the least. Its first attack, Rock Tumble, does 50 damage and isn't effected by resistance, which is very helpful if you're attacking a Pokémon like Zapdos or Tornadus, becasue they have {F} resistance. It also had a pretty cheap cost, of {F}{C} But its second attack, Pump Smash, packs the real blow. Does 90 damage, but it also lets you attatch up to 2 basic energy cards from your hand to your Pokémon in any way you like, all for the cost of {F}{F}{C}! So in the end, we not only got {F} acceleraton, but any type acceleration, pretty cool, no?
Blend Energy 2- {G}{P}{R}{D}, Dragon Blast 50
This card provides {C} if attatched to a non-{DRG} Pokémon but provides any of the above types if attatched to a {DRG} Pokémon. It can be used on either Hydreigon, by that, I mean the Theme Deck one or the non Theme Deck one. It could also be used on Giratina EX, but that probably won't see very much play, becasue it will be ridiculously expensive, and will only be bought to KO those weaker Pokémon with its first attack, so this Blend Energy 2 is far less useful than the first one.
Manectric, Dragon Blade 16
This will counter a lot of things. It's a pretty good card in general, as its first attack, Lightning Crush, does 20x the amount of energy attatched to all of your opponent's Pokémon. Notice it says energy, that means that a Double Colorless Energy will count as 2 energy, therefore doing 40 damage, wheras, if it had said energy cards, it would count as 1 and only do 20 damage. Its second attack, Flash Impact is alright, but nowhere near as good as Lightning Crush. It does 80 damage for a cost of {L}{C}{C}, but does 20 damage to one of your Pokémon, so it should only be used if you're facing Chandelure or Yanmega, or your opponent just doesn't have many energy on the field.
Large Cloak, Dragon Blade 49
This card is a lot like Eviolite, except it increases HP, instead of reducing damage, and it works on any evolution stage of Pokémon. The full effect of the card is:
Pokémon Tool(So you attatch it to a Pokémon, and it stays attactched unless a card discards it and you can't attatch another tool while this is on the Pokémon and you can't attatch it to a Pokémon with a tool already attatched.)
The Maximum HP of the Pokémon this card is attatched to increases by 20.
It would work very well with Garbodor from Dragon Blast(Scroll Down), and it could be teched in a deck to deal with Pokémon that get KOed by 10 over their max. HP.
Tool Scrapper, Dragon Blade 48
This card is very interesting, and should be helpful with so many crazy tools running around, i.e. Eviolite, Large Cloak, Rocky Helmet. It the card is a Trainer-Item and this is its effect:
Choose up to 2 Tool cards from either player's Pokémon and discard them.
This could be used with Gothitell, Emerging Powers 47 agianst Garbodor, so if Garbodor gets a tool on before Gothitelle locks, you can play Tool Scrapper, discard the Garbodor's tool and Gothitelle's Magic Room(which locks trainers for those who don't know) comes into effect, preventing them from attatching any more tools to Garbodor.
Garbodor, Dragon Blast 28

This card was mentioned above, but here's the full ability effect:
Dust Toxin
As long as this Pokémon has a Tool card attatched to it, all effects of Abilities(yours and your opponent's) are negated.
This is a nice card, unless you're relying on abilites of course, though, as mentioned above, this card isn't as broken as it seems, though no one can deny that it is still a great card.
Devolution Spray, Dragon Blast 48

This card works well with Ninetales(DBl 10), as well as Shiftry from Next Destinies. The full effect is:
Choose one of your Evolved Pokemon, then remove the top evolution card from that Pokemon. Return that Evolution card to your hand. (The Devolved Pokemon cannot evolve this turn.)
So you could, if you were playing Shiftry, de-evolve your Nuzleaf, then evolve to Shiftry again during your next turn, and use Shiftry's Giant Fan ability again!
Roserade, Hydreigon Theme Deck 02

This is another card that goes well with Devolution Spray. When you play it from your hand to evolve one of your Pokémon, you may use its Le Parfum ability. It lets you search your deck for any 1 card, similar to the Milotic mentioned above, except it's an ability, not an attack, but it only lets you search for 1 card, to Milotic's 3. Which one should you play? It depends on your deck. And either way, it will probably be more of a preference thing.
Altaria, Dragon Blade 36

This is a cool card, it will go well in any dragon deck, as its ability Battle Song, makes your {DRG} Pokémon's attacks do 20 more damage, which can be the difference between taking a prize and not.

And that is all of the cards that I looked at and immedietley knew they were good. Now, we'll move on to the cards that could see some play, but aren't apparently, obviously good.
Cards With Potential
  • Jumpluff(DBd 03)
    Ninjask(DBd 05)
    Walerin(DBd 14)
    Emolga(DBd 17)
    Shedinja(DBd 18)
    Gothitelle(DBd 21)
    Gigalith(DBd 29)
    Registeel EX(DBd 34 and 52)
    Beautifly(DBl 05)
    Ampharos(DBl 21)
    Mew EX(DBl 22 and 51)
    Drifblim(DBl 25)
    Honchkrow(DBl 34)
    Aggron(DBl 37)
    Durant(DBl 38)
    Hydreigon(DBl 42)
    Rescue Scarf(DBl 49)
Now, on to explanations about these cards, and why I'm a bit unsure about them.
Jumplulff, Dragon Blade 03
This is a Stage 2, which is mainly why I'm not sure about it. Its ability,Passive Wind, lets you return it and all cards attatched back to your hand. Its attack,Acrobatics,is pretty cheap, requiring just {G}, and with Passive Wind, it is pretty good for a hit and run strategy, but again, it's a stage 2, so it requires a lot of set up.
Ninjask, Dragon Blade 05

This is a pretty good hit and run card, with its Night Slash attack, but it is very frail, and only does a light 60 damage. The one really good thing is its ability, Casted Shell. It lets you put a Shedinja from you hand onto you bench as a basic Pokémon, so it's 2 basics for the price of 1 evolution.
Walerin, Dragon Blade 14

This is a very interesting card. Its first attack,Ice Beam, does 80 for {W}{C}{C}. But its second attack,Soaked Ice does 60 and paralyzes the defending Pokémon for a cost of {W}{W}{C}{C}. The thing that makes the attack still balanced is that Walerin can't use Soaked Ice during your next turn. But you could hit for 80 with Ice Beam, still, doing 140 without taking a hit.
Emolga, Dragon Blade 17

With Pokémon Collector and Dual Ball being rotated out by the time that we get these sets, there will be a major shortage on acquiring basics. Emolga's first attack, Call for Family, solves that problem. It lets you search your deck for up to 2 basic Pokémon and put them right onto your bench, making them eligable to be evolved during your next turn! This attack's cost is just a mere {C}, too so you don't even have to fit in a Prism or {L} energy to use it if your deck doesn't play either already.
Shedinja, Dragon Blade 18

Like a Shedija before it, this one's ability Empty Shell prevents your opponent from taking a prize card when they KO Shedinja. This could combo well with the Ninjask mentioned earlier. You use Ninjask's ability to put Shedinja on your bench when you evolve your Nincada to Ninjask, then you attack with Ninjask, then switch to Shedinja, and it depends on the situation from there on out. But this could be an every-deck tech, sort of like Mewtwo EX, but for a completley different reason.
Gothitelle, Dragon Blade 21

Look at Gothitelle's first attack. It's been seen before, tried, but this time, it's different. With "ReflipTini", or simply "FlipTini" as some call it(Though the V-Blast one flips with its attack so there is a lot of confusion), you can choose to Re-Flip your coins, if they don't go your way. It's also nice, that with Gothitelle, you can obviously see whether to reflip or not, because you flip 2 heads, your attack suceeds, you don't, it fails.
Gigalith, Dragon Blade 29

Many people have said that this card is like Machamp Prime, except better. I disgree. Machamp Prime's Fighting Tag PokePower made it easy to attack, since you could move the energy from you active Donphan Prime(DonChamp) or Landorus(LandChamp) to Machamp and at the same time switch it to your active. The mindset of Gigalith will also be harder to deal with, becuse you won't know when to stop using Gaia Hammer(You will only be able to use Landorus since Donphan Prime will have been rotated out by the time we get this card). Also, a slight drawback is that Gigalith's damage output starts at 10 for {F}{C}{C} while Machamp's starts at 100 for {F}{F}{C}{C}.
Registeel EX, Dragon Blade 34 and 52

This card is an interesting sniper. Its Triple Lazer attack costs {C}{C}{C}, and lets you chose 3 of your opponent's Pokémon and does 30 damage to them. That is its first attack, with a minimum of {C}{C}{C}, which could be quicker charged up by Terrakion EX, but that would require energy attatchments of its own.
Beautifly, Dragon Blast 05

Similar to Milotic, this card lets you search your deck for 3 cards, except this time, it's energy, and it lets you attatch them to your Pokémon in any way you like for a cost of {G}. Though Beautifly is a stage 2, which will take time to set up. Though this is a nice form of energy acceleration, and it's nice to have it, as most of our current accelerators(i.e. Electrode) will be rotated out when these sets come out.
Ampharos, Dragon Blade 21

This card has potential. It's like Ampharos Prime from HGSS except it puts 3 damage counters instead of 1, but it has to be active, contrary to Ampharos Prime being able to be anywhere on the field, and its ability still working. This Ampharos's attack is okay, so it may not be such a burden. The 70 damage is okay, but you also get to snipe a benched Pokémon for 20, with a cost of {L}{C}{C}, so it may work out after all.
Mew EX, Dragon Blast 22 and 51

The hype for this card is pretty big. I really don't get it. Though it does have twice the HP of Mew Prime, I still feel Mew Prime is better, because Mew EX requires the Pokémon to be in play, which means you have to set them up, rather than with Mew Prime, you can use See Off to get the Pokémon to the Lost Zone and use their attacks, no set up required. Mew EX's attack could be helpful. The effect does exist in Shaymin from Unleashed's PokePower, but that will be rotated out by the time these sets come out. So, this card, at least in my opinioin, doesn't deserve the hype it's getting, but who knows, maybe I will be wrong.
Drifblim, Dragon Blast 25

{C} Shadow Sneak
Does 50x the amount of special energy cards in your opponent's discard pile.
That attack could work well with Crushing Hammer from Emerging Powers, the Garchomp mentioned above, or Kyurem EX from Next Destinies. It would be a great late game attacker, as special energy cards are becoming more popular, and more are being printed(i.e. Prism, Blend Energy {W}{F}{L}{M}, Bend Energy {G}{P}{R}{D},and Double Colorless).
Honchkrow, Dragon Blast 34

This is a pretty weird card. It has the same idea as Weavile from Unleashed, but instead of presenting it in the from of an Ability or PokeBody, it is in attack form, and you discard a random card, rather than getting to chose. Though it also does 70 damage for a cost of {D}{C}{C}.
Aggron, Dragon Blast 37

I've heard talk of putting this in Durant, but guess what! Heatmor will have been made by the time this comes out, so that won't be a good idea. So this could be a tech in some weird rouge, or not be played, but its ability is admittidley good, so how likley is that going to happen?
Durant, Dragon Blast 38

The Durant art on this card looked more white than the Noble Victories Durant. Maybe they're different tribes of Durant? Probably, because this Durant's first attack lets you search your discard pile for a card and put it on top of your deck, the exact opposite of the former Durant. I really don't know what this could be used with, because it has potential, but out of the cards with potential listed, I'd say it has the least out of them.
Hydreigon, Dragon Blast 42

I like this card because it has the best artwork in the set, but it's also a cool card. Its attack hits pretty heavy, and its ability is interesting. I don't know how this really could be used besides with Darkrai EX that will be in Dark EXplorers, by moving energy around to give free retreat.
Rescue Scarf, Dargon Blast 49

This is similar to Rescue Energy, from Triumphant, except it's a tool card, and not an energy. It is overwhelmed by other tools, such as Eviolite, Large Cloak, but could be used in future Gothitelle Emerging Powers Decks, to always keep a Gothitelle out when one gets KOed. Gothitelle will with no doubt become a popular card in the future.

Well, that's about it for my article on the new BW5 Sets, Dragon Blade, and Dragon Blast. Thanks to [member]Deus: Nightmare Autarch[/member] for our scans. They can be found here if you scroll down a bit. Thank you all for reading!
 

PG24

<Pride> I'm my wildest fantasy
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No u. :<

horrible comeback. Yeah, I was rude. Me after no sleep. >_>
 

Celebi23

Aspiring Trainer
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He put Mew-EX as "card with some potential." No from me.

But in all seriousness, aside from the terrible color scheme and over-use of symbols, this could at least have potential as a rough draft. He needs to get his facts straight and elaborate more though. I basically stopped reading after he said Ho-Oh would work well with Sage's Training, though. If we have to explain to him what to write, I don't think he should be writing.

Either way, the article has to wait until we know what the format is when this is released. If it's CoL-on, this article is pointless.
 

PMJ

happy thoughts
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Articles Head
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my eyes, the goggles do nothing
 

Professor Palutena

The Queen
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There needs to me more knowledge of the format when this set is released. It also wouldn't hurt to post the card spoiler for each card, as well as posting [W] instead of {W}.
 

iisnumber12

Team UN (White)
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Bippa said:
There needs to me more knowledge of the format when this set is released. It also wouldn't hurt to post the card spoiler for each card, as well as posting [W] instead of {W}.

Agreed, this wouldn't be a terrible article if someone fixed it up, but it'd have to be after the release of the actual set. We don't really need people to be bringing proxy BW5 decks to states.
 

Glace

Top 8, Worlds 2013
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Even if the codes where fixed, this is:

1) Too early
2) Bad quality
3) Short
4) Bad spelling/grammar (and that is coming from me, so you know it must be bad)
 

Professor Palutena

The Queen
Member
IMO, the length of the article doesn't matter as much as the content does. If you say everything you need to say, why add unnecessary filler?

As for the earliness, we've already addressed that.
 

PG24

<Pride> I'm my wildest fantasy
Advanced Member
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Glaceon said:
Even if the codes where fixed, this is:

1) Too early
2) Bad quality
3) Short
4) Bad spelling/grammar (and that is coming from me, so you know it must be bad)

Not to mention the entire article isn't credible. That's the main reason why this article is of bad quality.
 

Zorua

Zedd
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Just when I go to check to see if there is any new quality work coming in, this happens.

MY EYES D:
 
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