Weekly TCG Discussion #2

Nigel

Nigel

Extra Spicy
Member
Hello there, Pokébeach. This is part two of a series of Portal Posts that I'd like to call the "Weekly TCG Discussion" series. The point of this series of portal posts is to get players informed of Pokémon TCG related news as well as promote Competitive observations of certain Japan-exclusive cards. Also in these Monday evening posts, you will get informed of any news that affects the TCG section of the forums. Without further ado, let us begin.

The Pokemon World Championships are over. Congratulations to Igor Costa (Darkrai/Mewtwo/Terrakion) for winning in the Masters Division, Chase Moloney (Zekrom/Eelektrik) for winning in the Seniors Division, and Shuto Itagaki (Terrakion/Mewtwo) for winning in the Juniors division! Make sure to earn an invite to Worlds this upcoming format in Vancouver, Canada!


Grains of Sand winners this past week!​
  • [member]Celebi23[/member] - 5 , 3 , 1 , 1
  • [member]Dark Giratina[/member] - 3
  • [member]RogueChomp[/member] - 2 (Observation of the Week Winner)
  • [member]9Tailz[/member] - 1
  • [member]Deoxysmatter[/member] - 1
  • [member]bphaun3[/member] - 1


PokéBeach news/reminders!​
  • The Website Feedback forum still exists! It's times like these where we are in need of member feedback! Every single post of feedback will be considered.
  • [mod]dmaster[/mod] has been chosen to be a mod again! Make sure to tell him congratulations!
  • We are in need of TCG articles. If you are interested, please PM [smod]Nigel[/smod] with a topic you are interested in writing about and I will let you know if it is taken.



TCG News in a Nutshell:​



Competitive Observation of the Week: ​

Lugia-EX - Colorless - HP180
Basic Pokemon (Team Plasma)

Ability: Overflow
For each of your opponent's Pokemon that is Knocked Out by damage from Lugia-EX's attacks, take 1 more Prize card.

[C][C][C][C] Plasma Gale: 120 damage. Discard 1 Plasma Energy attached to this Pokemon or this attack does nothing.

When Pokemon-EX has been Knocked Out, your opponent takes 2 Prize cards.

Weakness: Lightning (x2)
Resistance: Fighting (-20)
Retreat: 2

1) If you could change this card for the better, what would you change?

2) If any, which archetypes do you see this card in?

Please PM all answers to the Observation of the Week to [smod]Nigel[/smod]. The top most thorough answer will be featured in next week's Weekly TCG Discussion post and that member will be awarded 2 Grains of Sand!

Last week's winner:
RogueChomp said:
When you first look at Scolipede, you see a bulky 150 hp, higher than most Stage 2s, and its ability that poisons your opponent when damaged by an attack. However, it clearly isn't a perfect card; It has an awful retreat cost, a bad {P} wekaness, and a 4 energy attack that does a maximum of 120 damage, without that addition of Pluspower, Weakness, Poison damage, etc. Lets see what we can change without making it broken.

1. Retreat:
The retreat if this card is too bad. 4 is way too much, so I would drop it to 3 or 2. While 2 seems too good, Scolipede is a somewhat easy to KO pokemon, so it would be KOd with Catcher and Mewtwo easily. 3 however doesn't really change anything, because you are discarding most of your energy and 4 discards only one more. This pokemon could be paired with Darkrai/Switch to save it from KOs, but overall its retreat should definitally be changed to 2, as it would be the most effective way to fix it.

2. Attack:
The attack's damage is great. 120 with poison allows you to hit the magic 130 and 140 with poison, which is huge in OHKOing dragons, Hydreigons, Garchomps, Empoleons, Terrakions, etc. Its attack cost is pretty bad though. I'd change it to a {P} and a {C}{C}. Though it sounds broken, let me explain; Consistenly hitting Double Colorless is very hard, even with 4-ofs, and though this makes it faster, it makes it more suspectable to Enhanced Hammer. However, there is also a great advantage; The card is faster, can attack slightly more consistently, and can begin to hit hard early. Not only that, but its a 2 turn set up rather than a 3 turn with the {P}{P}{C}{C} cost. Also, lets face it: Not all decks play Enhanced Hammers. I think the attack would be lowered to maybe 70 just to make it fair, and it can still OHKO 130 hps, but I can't say the same for 140 hp pokemon without the aid of pluspower. In case you don't understand: They damage you and take 10 from poison. Then you attack and shoot 110. Poison is once again added, so 10 + 110 + 10 is the KO on the 130 hp.

Really, there isn't much more to change. You can't change the weakness because its only reasonable because its a poison type and its Hp is actually reasonable.

I can see this in only one deck in particular: Scolipede/Celebi EX
Scolipede is for the bulky HP and ability while you abuse Celebis ability to use Whirlipede's Venoshock attack for 1 {P}. It does + 60 if poisoned and thats pretty great. Celebi isn't the mose necessary card to use, but it certaintly is helpful, making the deck a little slower, but still getting a consistent attack. I think a list would look something like this:

4-3-4 Scolipede (Poison Point-Venoshock-Poison Point)
3 Celebi EX
Blend attacker (Shaymin EX, Sigilyph, etc.)
2 Emolga DRX
17 Pokemon

3 Level Ball
3 Ultra Ball
3 Rare Candy
3 Bianca
3 Juniper
3 Catcher
2 Large Cloak
2 Energy Switch
3 Switch
1 Gold Potion
1 Tool Scrapper
4 N
1 Super Rod

32 T/S/St

4 GRPD Blend
7 Psychic
11 Energy

Gold Potion is there to heal a damaged Scolipede to continue whipping out poison damage. Energy Switch is for a surprise Shaymin EX or to charge another Scolipede. Large Cloak is for an 170 HP Scolipede. Thats just awesome. Of course, the deck is suspectible to Mewtwo EX, but that can easily be KOd by another Scolipede. Tool Scrapper allows you to stall Garbodor for a turn, but Garbodor is a very bad matchup no matter what.

Overall, the card is pretty good and will see some play at Cities due to its great HP, nice attacks, and decent ability.
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